September: Day 20: Teaching 3: Holy Great Martyr Eustathios Plakidas

September: Day 20: Teaching 3:
Holy Great Martyr Eustathios Plakidas
 
(In Misfortunes One Should Not Become Despondent and Despair, 

But Should Place All Hope in God)

By Archpriest Grigory Dyachenko

I. The Holy Great Martyr Eustathios, whose memory is today, was a Roman commander, had enormous wealth, many slaves, was happy and famous. But then, grief after grief, misfortune after misfortune began to pursue him. First of all, death visited his house; then unkind people came, robbed him, and he became a beggar and a helpless wanderer. A robber took away his good and pious wife; wild beasts carried off his two sons, and Eustathios was left alone with his grief. What could be more terrible than his situation? But he was not lost in it. “For I weep like a man, O Lord,” he said, “but I am strengthened in You, my Provider and the builder of my path, and I trust in You, and with Your love, like cool dew, and with Your desire, like sweetness, I sweeten the bitterness of my misfortunes.” Thus, having nothing on earth, he turned entirely to God, and God consoled him. The time came and he became even richer and more noble; he found his wife and children miraculously preserved by God, and later he found such grace and mercy from the Lord that he was worthy of the crown of martyrdom.

II. There are misfortunes, brethren, in which we can still apparently find help or consolation from people; but there are also those in which people are completely powerless to help or console. In these latter misfortunes, instead of turning to God with prayer for help, and placing all our hope in Him as the Almighty, we often give in to complete faintheartedness, and, as they say, completely throw up our hands. From this it often happens that many of us, without faith and trust in God, in misfortunes from faintheartedness pass to despair and perish. And yet, is there any grief in which the Lord could not console us? Or does He have little love and compassion? Or does He not see our troubles and sorrows? There is no need to speak of His omnipotence and omniscience, and that He has love and compassion for the afflicted is evident from the fact that He Himself calls them to Himself and promises them His help. "Call upon Me," He says, "in the day of your sorrow and I will hear you." Therefore, righteous people do not act like us in misfortunes: they remain in trust in God, unshakable, like a rock, and their trust does not put them to shame; the Lord unexpectedly changes their sorrow into joy and their grief into gladness. (See "Prologue to the Instructions" by Priest E. Guryeva).

III. Let us not be exhausted by misfortunes, let us abandon faintheartedness and despondency, and let us not seek healing from mortal melancholy in some absurd, sometimes superstitious means. But when a wearisome sorrow weighs upon our soul, let us rather fall down before the Lord in tearful prayer, let us reveal our sorrow and proclaim our grief to Him. He is merciful, and therefore He will either send us His gracious power, which will give our soul patience and generosity, or He will completely deliver us from all troubles and sorrows. Amen.

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

 

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