October: Day 19: Holy Martyr Varus

October: Day 19:
Holy Martyr Varus

(On Devotion to God)

By Archpriest Grigory Dyachenko

I. When the Holy Martyr Varus, whose memory is celebrated today, who lived in Egypt during the reign of the Roman Emperor Maximian, was put to death amidst the most terrible tortures for confessing the name of Christ, and his body was thrown out of the city by his torturers to be devoured by dogs, then a certain pious Christian widow, named Cleopatra, with her devoted servants, secretly took the body of the Holy Martyr at night and buried it for a time in her house. This Cleopatra was a native of Palestine and had recently lost her husband, who was a military commander. She had such faith in the Holy Martyr that, returning to her homeland with her only son John, she decided to take with her the sacred relics of the Martyr in order to place them in her family cemetery. Cleopatra asked the government for permission to transfer the body of her husband, but under the guise of him she transported the body of the Holy Martyr Varus to her homeland. Such zeal and respect of blessed Cleopatra for the memory and sacred relics of the Passion-bearer attracted God's blessing upon her: her only-begotten son was safely coming of age, preparing to enter the royal service.

Blessed Cleopatra decided to build a temple in honor of the Holy Martyr Varus, to which the relics of the Holy Martyr were transferred. In an abundance of joy at the fulfillment of her sincere desire, Cleopatra, during the celebration of the Liturgy in the newly consecrated temple, especially fervently prayed to the Holy Passion-bearer for intercession before God for her and her son, that the Lord would arrange for them, according to His good and perfect will, what is necessary and useful to them. After the end of the Liturgy, Cleopatra made a treat for the clergy, the people, the poor and wanderers, and she herself served at the table with her son.

That same day, towards evening, her son fell ill and died by midnight. The mother, stricken with inconsolable grief, ran to the Church of the Holy Martyr Varus and, falling down at his grave, cried out: "O Saint of God! Have you rendered me such help for all my zeal for you? My hope is lost: who will feed me in my old age, who will commit my body to the grave? Return my son to me, as Elisha once raised the son of the Shunammite woman, or take my soul now." Thus, crying out from great sorrow, Cleopatra fell asleep. Before her stood the Holy Martyr, holding John in his arms: both were in shining precious garments and girdles, having crowns on their heads. The Holy Martyr said to the grieving mother: "Why do you cry out to me with complaint? I remember all the beneficence that has been done to my body, and I always pray to the Lord for your family, among whom you placed me. Finally I begged the Lord for your son, that he might be numbered among the holy angels, and now he stands in glory before the throne of God. Take your son and give him to serve the earthly king, if you do not want him to be a servant of the heavenly and eternal King." At these words, the youth firmly embraced the neck of the Holy Martyr and said to him: "No, do not give me back to the world, full of injustice and all kinds of lawlessness, leave me forever in the abode of the saints. And you, mother, if you love me, rejoice in my happiness and do not distract me from the heavenly kingdom into earthly wretchedness." Thus was blessed Cleopatra miraculously consoled in her grievous sorrow! Filled with joy and happiness, she solemnly buried the body of her son at the tomb of the Martyr, escorting him to the grave not as a dead man, but as a bridegroom to the bridal chamber.

She spent the rest of her life in a secluded cell at the Church of the Holy Martyr Varus, devoting herself entirely to philanthropy. After her blessed repose, she was buried next to her son in the same church.

II. So, brethren, in all the misfortunes that befall us, like the misfortune that happened to Blessed Cleopatra, we must not grumble against God, but strengthen ourselves with complete devotion to the will of God, knowing that God does everything with us for the best.

a) The word of God teaches us always to submit to God and very strongly rebukes the folly of struggling with the determination of God: "Commit your way to the Lord, and trust in Him. Submit yourself to the Lord" (Ps. 37:5, 7). "Woe to him who strives with his Maker, a potsherd among the potsherds of the earth! Shall the clay say to the potter, 'What are you doing?' or shall your work say of you, 'This one has no hands?'" (Is. 45:9). "Who are you, O man, that you talk back to God? Shall the work say to him who formed it, 'Why have you made me like this?' Has not the potter power over the clay, to make of the same lump one vessel for honorable use, and another for dishonor?" (Rom. 9:20-21). "My son, do not reject the discipline of the Lord, and do not be burdened with His reproof; for whom the Lord loves He corrects, and delights in him, as a father his son" (Prov. 3:11-12, Heb. 12:5-6). "Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? Yet even if she forgets, I will not forget you, says the Lord Himself" (Is. 49:13:15). "The Lord has sent trouble, but will have mercy according to His great grace" (Lamentations 3:32).

b) The Holy Fathers and Teachers of the Church also exhort us to surrender ourselves to the will of God. Saint John Chrysostom says: "As clay takes on any form that the hands of the one who molds it give it, so too should a person conform to what God commands, and what God sends, and accept it with gratitude, without contradicting in any way and without making any investigations; because the destinies of God are incomprehensible not only for us, but also for holy and wonderful people who lived before us."

“Everything is governed by the goodness of the Master,” writes Saint Basil. “Whatever happens to us, we should not take it as distressing, even if it is in the present and sensitively touches our weakness. Although we do not know the laws by which everything that happens to us is sent to us by the Master for good; however, we must be sure that what happens to us is undoubtedly useful either to us ourselves because of the reward for patience, or to the soul stolen from us (i.e. through death), so that it, delaying longer in this life, does not become infected with the vice that has settled in the world.”

“We do not know the ways of God’s Providence,” writes the Holy Abba Dorotheos, "and therefore we must leave it to Him to arrange everything that concerns us... For if you want to judge what happens by human thoughts, instead of placing all your sorrow on God, then such thoughts will only burden you... Of all that God does, there is nothing that is not good, but all is good, and very good. So no one should grieve over what happens, but place everything on God’s Providence and be at rest... Whatever is God’s Providence is completely good, and serves the benefit of the soul, for everything that God does with us, He does for our benefit, loving and having mercy on us... In any case, we must look upward. Whether someone does good to us, or we suffer evil from someone, we must look upward and thank God for everything that happens to us, always reproaching ourselves and saying, as the Holy Fathers said, that if something good happens to us, then this is the work of God's Providence, and if something evil, then it is for our sins, for in truth everything that we suffer, we suffer for our sins.”

c) Let us also give several examples of complete devotion to God. “Who has not heard of Job, whose virtue was preached by God Himself before the assembly of heavenly powers? But in what does the strength of his virtue consist, if not in devotion to God, to Whose incomprehensible will he gratefully gave himself, and his children, and his wealth, and his health, and through this made all the efforts of the enemy of virtue and human blessedness insignificant? 'The Lord gives, the Lord takes away: blessed be the name of the Lord' (Job 1:21). Such devotion to God is a safe fence against all temptations.”

“Look also at Moses in the terrible moment, when the sea is before him, and the Egyptian army behind him. The people cry out to God, murmur against the leader: but what of the leader? He does not prepare the people for battle, does not seek a way to escape, does not raise a miraculous staff, does not even utter a single word of prayer to God. What does this mean? He surrendered to God, and leads the people into this devotion: 'The Lord will fight for you, but you be silent' (Ex. 14:14). Everything fell silent, and this silence resounded loudly in the heavens, and moved the miraculous power of God. 'And the Lord said to Moses: Why do you cry to Me? Tell the children of Israel to go forward ... And the children of Israel shall go on dry ground through the midst of the sea' (Ex. 14:15, 16). Here it is evident that devotion to God is the strongest and most effective prayer." (Metropolitan Philaret of Moscow, "Homily on the Day of the Annunciation of the Most Holy Theotokos").

III. Having such examples of devotion to God, let us, beloved brethren, surrender ourselves to God and not allow ourselves to grumble at the all-good and all-wise Providence of God, which always cares for us, although we do not notice it and although, having noticed it, we do not always understand it.

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