October: Day 1: Teaching 6: Venerable Romanos the Melodist

October: Day 1: Teaching 6:
Venerable Romanos the Melodist
 
(Where Does True Enlightenment Come From?)

By Archpriest Grigory Dyachenko

I. Remembered today by the Church, Venerable Romanos was a clergyman of Hagia Sophia in Constantinople and lived in the 5th century. Distinguished by his deep piety, Romanos observed strict fasts, prayed often, and led a most austere life. Romanos's ascetic life and obedience endeared him to Patriarch Euthymios; but other clergymen did not like the Patriarch's love and affection for Romanos and envied him. Moreover, Romanos was not as skilled in reading and singing as the other clergy of Hagia Sophia. Once, on the eve of the Nativity of Christ, Emperor Anastasios was listening to the service in Hagia Sophia; the clergy, wanting to mock Romanos, forced him to go out onto the pulpit and sing in the presence of the emperor, which Romanos could not do. After the service, the Venerable One wept for a long time and prayed before the icon of the Mother of God. That same night the Mother of God appeared to him in a vision and gave him a scroll with the command to eat it; having done so, he received the gift of skillful reading and singing. The next time he came to the temple, he went up to the ambo and, when it was his turn, he chanted the hymn: “Today, the Virgin bears Him who is transcendent, and the earth presents the cave to Him who is beyond reach. Angels, along with shepherds glorify Him. The Magi make their way to Him by a star. For a new child has been born for us, the God before all ages.” All those present in the temple listened to Romanos’s singing with amazement, and the Patriarch asked him where he had learned this wondrous hymn. Romanos related how the Mother of God had appeared to him in a miraculous vision and imparted to him the gift of singing. Then the clergy were ashamed of their previous behavior toward the Venerable One and asked his forgiveness for all the offenses and insults they had caused him.

II. From this narrative we see, brethren, Who is the Giver of wisdom and understanding. It is God – the eternal Wisdom. And indeed, to whom and when has God refused the grace of enlightenment? Which Christian cannot receive wisdom from God? What does the apostle say? “If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God who gives to all, without respect of persons, and it will be given to him” (James 1:5). “For the Lord gives wisdom, and from Him full knowledge and understanding” (Proverbs 2:6), confirms another God-inspired teacher. This is where one should receive education and enlightenment.

a) God teaches us such a teaching as no one will ever hear in even the most brilliant human school, a teaching that communicates to us such truths as no highest human reason can either conceive or comprehend, a teaching that leads us to such well-being, to such “good things which eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor entered into the heart” of the happiest man in the world “ascend” (1 Cor. 2:9). If only we had the desire to learn, if only we had the disposition to have the mind of God and to do the will of God. Do you know what happened to Cornelius the Centurion? He was a pagan, but a reverent and God-fearing man, he loved to pray to God and to do good to the poor. Heaven responded to the good striving of his heart for the heavenly. An angel of God appeared to him and commanded him to call the Apostle Peter to him, saying: “He will tell you the words by which you and your whole house will be saved.” Saint Peter, at the call of the centurion, came to his house, preached Christ the Savior, and baptized all who believed in the name of Christ (Acts ch. 10). Here is another circumstance. A nobleman of the Ethiopian queen was returning home from Jerusalem and, sitting in a chariot, was reading the book of the Prophet Isaiah. He was also a pagan, but apparently was disposed towards the God of Israel. And then the angel of the Lord tells the Apostle Philip to go to the road along which the nobleman was traveling. Philip, approaching the nobleman’s chariot, heard that he was reading the book of the Prophet Isaiah. By God’s arrangement, it happened that the nobleman was reading, in the book of the prophet, the prophecy of the suffering of Christ. Philip asked him: "Do you understand what you read?" He answered him: "How can I understand unless someone explains it to me?" Philip explained the prophecy to the nobleman, preached to him Jesus Christ, the Savior of the world, and baptized the nobleman who believed (Acts ch. 8). This is how wonderfully God teaches, what extraordinary methods He uses to enlighten a person, how soon He sees in him a good disposition and a desire to know the truth. This was, as you see, even in the times of the apostles. But what am I saying? Even one of the apostles was miraculously enlightened by God. This is Saint Paul. The Lord Jesus, having turned him from His persecutor into an apostle by His appearance, sent him to the Apostle Ananias for instruction, and the learned "Pharisee" (Phil. 3:5) had to be retrained by a simple, uneducated disciple of Christ (Acts ch. 9).

b) You will say: “These are extraordinary works of God. There have been, and if there are, not many such people enlightened by God.” Yes. God often does not perform miracles. And why? He performed the greatest miracle ever. He Himself, in His beloved Son, came down to earth, enlightened all those sitting in darkness and the shadow of death, taught them the knowledge of God, revealed His holy will to them and showed the way to salvation. Since then, there have existed and will exist until the end of time both teachers appointed by God and the worldwide school established by Him for the spiritual education and saving enlightenment of people. The teachers appointed and called by God are the Holy Apostles, the Holy Fathers and all subsequent Church Shepherds. What can one not learn from these teachers? The first teachers and preachers of God, the apostles, orally taught and enlightened all nations with faith; "their divine" message has gone out into all the earth, and their Spirit-bearing "words to the ends of the world" (Rom. 10:18). And their God-inspired Scriptures? For eighteen centuries they have been teaching and enlightening the human race and "converting" it "from darkness to light" and "from the realm of Satan to God" (Acts 26:18). How much the fathers and shepherds of the Church labored in enlightening the nations, and what precious treasures of Christian knowledge they left us in their immortal works! Thanks be to God! The science of salvation has never become scarce among Christians, and no one could or can consider himself deprived of the means to understand the truth. Come to every minister of the altar, the great or small shepherd of the church, and you will not be left without Christian instruction and clarification of the faith that you hold. Only he remains in darkness who does not come to the light, or does not yet love the light. And what a great Christian school, brethren? I mean the Holy Orthodox Church. What is not there? What divine reason, what lofty truths, what mysteries of God unknown to the human mind will you not hear in it! Everywhere and in everything the Divine light shines, in what is read, and in what is sung, and in what is done - and this not once, not twice, not one day, not one month or year, but always, daily, continuously and unceasingly. How much edification for the mind, conviction for the heart, revival and rapture of feeling is here! And nothing is required of anyone. The sanctuary of God is always open to all. "Everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat. Yes, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price... Listen carefully to Me, and eat what is good, and let your soul delight itself in abundance" (Isaiah 55:1, 2), this is the voice of the all-rich love of God, common to all, and at the same time our divine teacher, the Holy Orthodox Church!

III. Such, brethren, are our teachers and our school. Here let us resort for enlightenment and to receive eternal life, according to the word of the Savior: "This is eternal life, that they might know You, the only true God, and Him You have sent, Jesus Christ" (John 7:3). Amen.

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