October: Day 8: Teaching 1: Venerable Pelagia of Antioch

October: Day 8: Teaching 1:
Venerable Pelagia of Antioch
 
(The Benefit of Reflecting on the Future Judgment)

By Archpriest Grigory Dyachenko

I. The Holy Venerable Pelagia, whose memory is celebrated today, was at first a famous dancer in Antioch and led a life full of lawlessness. She was brought to repentance and the Christian faith by the Holy Bishop Nonnus, who converted 30,000 Arabs to Christ. One day, when the Holy bishop was teaching the people in the temple, speaking about the terrible judgment and retribution, it happened that Pelagia entered the temple. The teaching had such an effect on her that she was struck with the fear of God and could not hold back her tears. She came to Saint Nonnus, fell at his feet and tearfully asked to be baptized, calling herself a sea of sins and an abyss of impiety. Bishop Nonnus, seeing the complete repentance of the sinner, baptized her. Two days after the baptism, the devil appeared to Saint Pelagia at night and woke her up, saying: “Was it not I who enriched you so? How have you been offended by me? I beg you, do not make me the laughing stock of Christians.” But the Saint made a prayer with the sign of the cross, and the devil disappeared and did not appear again. Then Saint Pelagia gave all her property to Saint Nonnus for complete control. He ordered that the property be distributed to the poor, saying at the same time: “Let what was collected by evil be squandered wisely.” Saint Pelagia dressed in the hair shirt and cassock of Saint Nonnus, withdrew to Jerusalem and with the male name Pelagius lived in seclusion. Here she died in 457.

II. Thus it is of great benefit to a person to hear and reflect on the future judgment and retribution of sinners and the righteous after death in the eternal afterlife. Not only Saint Pelagia, but many sinners, when reflecting on the future judgment, arose from their moral sleep and awakened to a new, Christian life.

a) The Holy Fathers of the Church and all the great ascetics highly praise the benefits of thinking about the Last Judgment.

“Let us,” says Saint John Chrysostom, “constantly say to ourselves and to others: there is a resurrection, and a terrible judgment awaits us. If we see someone vain and puffed up by present blessings, let us say the same to him, and declare that all this will remain here; if again we see another oppressed by sorrows and despondent, let us say the same to him, pointing out that there will be an end to sorrows; if we also see someone given over to carelessness and laziness, let us again present the same to him, pointing out that he will have to give an account of his carelessness. This speech can heal the soul better than any medicine... Let us imagine this (God's judgment) every day.”

“If we constantly have this in our thoughts, then nothing of the present and transient things will hold us back, because the visible is temporary, and the invisible is eternal. Let us constantly say to ourselves and to others: there is a resurrection and a judgment, and (it will be necessary to give) an account of our deeds. Let all those who allow fate to say this, and they will immediately be freed from this rotten disease... What do you say? Do you not expect a resurrection and a judgment? Even the demons confess this, but do you not confess it? 'You have come here,' they say, 'to torment us before the time' (Matt. 8:29). If they say that there will be torment, then they know, of course, that there will be a judgment, an account, and punishment. Let us not anger God, in addition to evil deeds, by also not believing the word of the resurrection” (Homilies on the Gospel of John).

In a similar way, St. Ephraim the Syrian teaches: “Let your conversation be only about the judgment and your justification. Whether you do any business, whether you are on the road, at dinner, on your beds, or do anything else, always have in mind the judgment and the coming of the righteous Judge. Consider in your hearts and say to one another: What is this outer darkness (Matt. 8:12)? What is this unquenchable fire and undying worm (Mark 9:42)? What is this gnashing of teeth (Luke 12:28)? Discuss this with yourselves always, day and night: How will the river of fire flow (Dan. 7:10), and cleanse the earth from the iniquities of those who live in it?.. It is necessary to reflect on this, day and night to think about it, for whoever always remembers death will not sin much.”

b) Many ascetics of piety have learned through their own experience the full benefit of the living idea of death and the future judgment.

Blessed Hesychius the Chozebite, who at first lived in negligence and laziness, after one serious illness decided to correct himself and, in order to strengthen himself in the new life, made it a rule to think about death constantly. Such thoughts not only distracted him from sins, but also placed him on a high level of virtue. For twelve years he spent in his cell as a silent man without leaving, eating only bread and water, weeping day and night for his sins. When the hour of death came for him, the brethren came to him and began to beg that at least before death he would say something for their edification. Convinced by experience of what benefit the memory of death brings to a person, Hesychius, instead of any teaching, exclaimed: "Forgive me, brethren! He who has the memory of death can never sin." And with these words he gave up his spirit to the Lord.

And truly, brethren, he cannot sin! “Remember your last days, and you will never sin,” teaches the wise son of Sirach (7:39).

Having freed ourselves, as much as we can, from sins, we will meet death with joy; for it is cruel only for sinners, but for the righteous it is a transition from darkness to light, from prison to freedom, from labor to rest, from a foreign country to a native country.

"A certain pious elder, having reached a ripe old age, finally lay down on his deathbed. The brethren surrounded him and wept bitterly over their separation from him. The elder, on the contrary, was full of joy and, opening his eyes, smiled quietly. After a short silence, he smiled again, and after a few minutes of silence, he smiled a third time. 'We weep, and you laugh,' said the brethren to him. 'Yes,' answered the elder, 'I laugh. And the first time I laughed because you all fear death, the second time because you are not prepared for it, and the third time because I am going from labor to rest.'"

III. Through the prayers of Saint Pelagia, may the Lord help us to rise from the vanity of life and make it a rule to think, at least occasionally, for example, for a few minutes before going to bed, about death and the future judgment: such reflection will certainly be useful for us, as it was useful for all who resorted to it.

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