October: Day 26: Teaching 1: Holy Great Martyr Demetrios of Thessaloniki

 

October: Day 26: Teaching 1:
Holy Great Martyr Demetrios of Thessaloniki

(On the Attitude of Christians Towards Pleasures)

By Archpriest Grigory Dyachenko

I. A native of the city of Thessaloniki, Saint Demetrios, who is commemorated today, was the ruler of his native city. He cared for the welfare of the citizens of his city - not only the present, but also the future - teaching them the faith of Christ. Emperor Maximian, who arrived in Thessaloniki, imprisoned him for this. After that, the emperor indulged in one unworthy amusement: he watched as a certain strongman, named Lyaios, threw people from an elevated place down onto spears. But a Christian youth was found who deprived the emperor of his unworthy amusement. Nestor, that was the name of this youth, planned to destroy Lyaios; he went to Saint Demetrios and asked for his blessing to enter the competition with the strongman. Saint Demetrios praised the intention of the youth, encouraged him and predicted both victory over Lyaios and a martyr's death. Indeed, Nestor, with God's help, threw Lyaios onto spears. The Emperor became angry and ordered Nestor and Demetrios to be pierced with spears. After some time, while digging ditches, the relics of Saint Demetrios were found, which exuded healing myrrh.

II. Regarding the gross and immoral pleasures enjoyed by the pagan emperor Maximian, which is described in the life of the Holy Great Martyr Demetrios of Thessaloniki, let us discuss the attitude of Christians to sensual pleasures in general.

a) The general pretext and general goal of all pleasures and amusements is the necessary rest from labor. Labor in itself is necessary for us, as a commandment of our Creator Himself. Even when man was innocent, he was charged with the duty of "working and keeping" the paradise entrusted to him. And this labor was a source of pleasure for him: for he saw and felt how all nature was subjected to his work, how everything around him was elevated and perfected by his work. After the fall of man, labor is already imputed to him as a punishment and therefore is accompanied by exhaustion of strength, depletion of the bodily organs, fatigue and decrepitude of the body: "By the sweat of you brow shall you eat your bread," said the Lord God to him, "till you return to the ground from which you were taken." Moreover, even this exhausting labor is rarely accompanied by pleasure, but most often by sorrow and grief of the soul; for the earth, cursed by the works of man, does not fully submit to his most difficult labors and efforts. Therefore, not only does man's body need rest and renewal of strength, but his soul, tired by the vanity of its affairs, also needs rest, refreshment and renewal. The body is strengthened by food and sleep, but the soul seeks lack of awareness of its sorrows, refreshment and encouragement of its strength - in other words, more natural to it, pleasures. It calls on art for help, diversifies its amusements and wants to create for itself something similar to the lost paradise. All this is natural, even necessary, and therefore cannot be condemned. "All things are lawful for me."

b) But before indulging in pleasures, it is necessary to test yourself, whether your body and soul are really tired, by exhausting but useful, important and necessary labors, and deserve to be allowed one or another pleasure? Is not boredom and spiritual heaviness the fruit of inaction, and not of labors; of idleness, and not of unnecessary activities? In such a case, it is necessary not only to deny yourself pleasure, but to motivate yourself to work when others are having fun, to subject yourself to strict abstinence: "Let him who labors not neither eat," says the Apostle.

c) It is also necessary to consider whether the proposed amusement and pleasure will serve to strengthen, and not to further exhaust the strength of the body; whether it will raise your fallen spirit, or, on the contrary, weaken it even more, whether it will revive your heart with that pure, deep and life-giving joy that fills, pacifies, elevates and encourages the soul, makes it cheerful in labors, good-natured in sorrows and tribulations; or, on the contrary, will it excite your heart even more and disturb your soul, so that it will be necessary to seek new means to calm it? In the latter case, it is obviously better to refuse amusement, to flee from pleasures that will be accompanied by obvious harm. This is why the Holy Apostle advises to seek real peace for your body and spirit, truly life-giving joy for your heart, life-giving renewal and strengthening of your spiritual powers - in pleasures that are not carnal, but spiritual: “Do not get drunk with wine, but rather be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another in psalms and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your hearts to the Lord.”

d) Finally, it is necessary to consider whether the proposed entertainment will not distract from some of the most important activities, will it not interfere with the fulfillment of the highest and most sacred duties? In such a case, the most innocent pleasure becomes not only harmful, but also criminal. If, for example, a mother loves to indulge in pleasures and amusements, when her small children, in the hands of mercenaries, are exposed to the danger of suffering bodily or morally, then can such a pleasure be called innocent? If someone who is entrusted with some service to society, requiring constant attention, constant readiness to fulfill the demands of those in need, both today and tomorrow, leaving everything, goes to amuse himself with amusements, then will this pastime be harmless? If the head of a family, instead of quiet, soul-warming family joys, almost every day seeks entertainment outside his home, leaving his family as strangers to him, then will not his pleasures be worthy of condemnation? If an Orthodox Christian spends in amusements the time when the Church calls him to praise God and pray, when it celebrates the great mysteries of our salvation, glorifies and thanks God for the greatest miracles of His love and mercy; then will not his amusements be a mockery of his faith, an obvious contempt for the statutes of his Church, an insult to the majesty of God worthy of punishment? Thus, my brethren, even the innocent in itself can become criminal, and the harmless harmful. "All things are for my benefit, but not all things are for my profit."

d) But the main danger of sensual pleasures is that they can bind our very hearts to themselves, become an irresistible need of our soul, an object of passionate infatuation, take possession of our soul and deprive us of spiritual freedom. A Christian should value above all else that freedom with which Christ has freed us – that independence from everything earthly, which is not tempted by anything and fears nothing, that self-control which makes him the master of his desires and feelings, the true king of his inner world. Only with this freedom of spirit can he conquer every temptation, always and in everything fulfill the will of God and follow the straight path of the Lord's commandments. It is obvious that such freedom of spirit can be achieved only through constant self-denial and patience, constant conquest of one's inclinations and rejection of one's will, the ability to always deny oneself everything. But if we always satisfy our inclination to sensual pleasures, then will we not voluntarily submit and obey it and will we not give it the power to become stronger, more demanding and more persistent from day to day?

III. Christian brethren! To be possessed by anything other than the will of God, which rules over all, is a shameful slavery for our God-like, rational and free soul. But to give it over to slavery to carnal pleasure, to be possessed by sinful passion, means to become a slave to sin, from which may the Lord deliver us.

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