April: Day 27: Teaching 1: Holy Hieromartyr Symeon, the Lord’s Brother in the Flesh

 

April: Day 27: Teaching 1:
Holy Hieromartyr Symeon, the Lord’s Brother in the Flesh
 
(What Does It Mean To Believe In Jesus Christ?)

By Archpriest Grigory Dyachenko

I. After the martyrdom of James, the first Bishop of Jerusalem, Symeon, whose memory is celebrated today, was chosen as the second Bishop of Jerusalem. He was the son of Cleopas, one of the two disciples whom the Lord met after the Resurrection walking to Emmaus; and Cleopas was the brother of Saint Joseph, the betrothed of the Most Holy Theotokos; therefore Symeon is considered a relative of the Savior. The previous life of Symeon is unknown to us. After the ascension of the Savior, he was numbered among the Seventy Apostles, preached the gospel in Judea and saw the death of James. Then he governed the Church of Jerusalem for forty years. During the destruction of Jerusalem, in the reign of Titus, Symeon withdrew with other Christians to the city of Pella, in the vicinity of Jerusalem; then he returned again to Jerusalem and continued to govern the Church until the persecutions began under Emperor Trajan. The Romans especially persecuted Symeon, as one of the descendants of King David. They were afraid that the Jews who belonged to the royal family would dare to resist Caesar and restore their kingdom.

Symeon was taken and brought to the royal governor Atticus, and they tried in vain to persuade him to renounce the Christian faith, first by threats and then by torture. Symeon was one hundred and twenty years old; but despite his old age, he steadfastly endured the suffering. They beat him with rods and cruelly tormented him, but the holy elder did not cease to confess the name of Christ. Finally, he was crucified on a cross, remaining faithful to the Lord until his very death on the cross.

II. The Holy Hieromartyr Symeon, who was 120 years old at the time of his martyrdom, teaches us to firmly believe in our Lord Jesus Christ and not to betray Him until the end of our lives, no matter what suffering.

What does it mean to believe in Jesus Christ?

a) To believe in Jesus Christ means:

To believe that Jesus Christ is indeed the Son of God the Father and the true God (John 3:16),

To believe that He came to earth and became a man in order to make us children of God (1 John 3:1),

To believe that every word of His is the word of God, all His works are the works of God, and all the arrangements He made for our salvation are the arrangements of God (John 12:49, 50),

To believe that His life is an example of a holy life which we must follow (John 13:15); and His death is the source of our salvation (1 Peter 2:24),

To believe that He rose from the dead, ascended into heaven, sits at the right hand of God, His Father, and there prepares a place for us, His brothers (Rom. 8:34; John 14:2, 3),

To believe that He will come again to earth to resurrect all the dead, will judge all people, and will take all who truly believe in Him to the place prepared by Him for all - to eternal blessedness (Matt. 25:31-46 ),

To believe that we must love God most of all, and then love all people, as the Lord loved us (John 13:34), be kind to them, help those in need as much as possible, pray for them, sincerely forgive enemies (Matt. 5:44), obey superiors (Rom. 13:1-2), to destroy in ourselves all evil dispositions (Gal. 5:24), to keep our bodies in abstinence and purity, and to live in soul and heart in heaven (1 Cor. 6:15-17),

To believe not only in that which Jesus Christ Himself taught, but also in what His Holy Apostles taught, and in what He teaches us through His Holy Church (Acts 1:8; Ephesians 4:11-14),

To believe in Jesus Christ as surely as if we see Him with our own eyes being born, teaching, transfigured on Tabor, tortured in the house of Herod and Pilate, dying on the cross, rising again, ascending into heaven and sitting at the right hand of the Father,

To believe that He, as He promised (Matt. 28:20), is always with us, and therefore undoubtedly believe that when, for example, we enter a church, He is there personally; when we pray to Him, we pray to Him personally; when we thank Him, we thank Him personally; when we sit down at home to eat, He sits down with us and breaks bread for us; when we do some work according to our condition, He Himself sits with us and helps us,

To believe that every time we decide on some sin, He stands before us and says as if this: “I shed My blood for your souls; and you want to defile the soul so dearly redeemed from sin and sell it to the enemy devil in hell! Think again!”

To believe that He is our only support, our only Savior both in life and at death and in eternity!

This is how we must believe, but believe truly, believe as the Holy Apostles believed after the descent of the All-Holy Spirit upon them, as the Holy Hieromartyr Symeon, today celebrated, believed, not having renounced Christ even in view of the death on the cross to which he was condemned.

b) But faith in our Lord Jesus Christ should not be limited to thoughts and words alone: no, it must pass into deeds and into the whole life of a Christian. And if our faith does not show its life in us, then it is dead; for “faith without works is dead,” says the Holy Apostle (James 2:18), and consequently, it is also inactive, like a dead man, like a corpse. A dead man exists, but he does not see, does not hear, does not feel, does not speak, does not move, does nothing and can do nothing either for others or for himself. He who says: “I believe,” must prove his faith by deeds according to faith. “You have faith,” says the Holy Apostle James, “show me your faith by your works” (James 2:18): otherwise, what is in your faith? “Even the demons believe” (James 2:19)! How do you differ from them?

Thus, if we truly believe, then we must prove our faith by sincere, constant and most zealous fulfillment of all the universal laws of our Lord Jesus Christ – the laws of our behavior in relation to God, ourselves and our neighbors. (Gregory, Archbishop of Kazan and Sviyazhsk, 16th cent.).

III. Therefore, beloved brothers and sisters in Christ! Believe “truly!” Believe with a “living” faith! Pray with all your heart to the Author of faith, Jesus Christ: “Lord, increase my faith!” Brethren! Remember that “without faith,” namely that living and active faith, “it is impossible to please God and inherit eternal life” (Heb. 11:6). 

Source: A Complete Annual Cycle of Short Teachings, Composed for Each Day of the Year. Translated by John Sanidopoulos.