November: Day 15: Teaching 1: Holy Martyrs Gurias, Samonas and Habibus

The Gothic warrior makes an oath before the graves of Sts Gurias, Samonas and Habibus (18th cent.).

 

November: Day 15: Teaching 1:
Holy Martyrs Gurias, Samonas and Habibus
 
(Lessons From the Miracle They Performed:
a. It is Necessary to Fulfill the Given Legal Oath,
b. To Love Your Wives, and
c. Not to Lose Heart in Misfortunes, But to Turn to God in Prayer With Tears)

By Archpriest Grigory Dyachenko

I. The Holy Martyrs Gurias, Samonas and Habibus, who suffered for their loyalty to Christ during the reign of Diocletian in the city of Edessa, are revered as patrons and protectors of wives in cases of family troubles and misfortunes, as a result of one of their miracles.

One of the warriors of the Greek emperor, a Goth, while staying in the house of the pious widow Sophia, a resident of the city of Edessa, married her daughter, the beautiful Euphemia, while he was already married, i.e., he committed the grave sin of adultery.

When he was leaving with Euphemia for his homeland, Sophia, at the grave of the Holy Martyrs now being glorified, took an oath from him that he would not do any harm to her daughter, but would love and protect her.

Approaching his homeland, the Goth announced to Euphemia that he was married and that she should be his wife's slave, and he forced her to do so by threat of death. Euphemia gave birth to a child. The Goth's wife poisoned the child, and Euphemia, wanting to test whether her child had really died from this poison, put some of this poison in the food of her mistress, whom she assumed to be guilty of her son's death. Euphemia's assumption, unfortunately, was justified; the Goth's wife died. The relatives of the deceased decided, as a punishment for Euphemia, to shut her in a burial vault together with the deceased. Then Euphemia turned with great tears and prayer to the Holy Martyrs Gurias, Samonas and Habibus, and they instantly carried her, while she was sleeping, to her homeland, to the church, to their graves.

Waking up there, during the celebration of Matins, she told everyone about the miracle of her salvation. After some time, the Goth had to be in Edessa, and he boldly went to his mother-in-law. Sophia asked about her daughter; the Goth said that she was healthy, had given birth to a son, and would soon arrive to meet with her mother. When he said this, Sophia called her daughter. What surprise and fear the Goth had when he saw Euphemia alive? Then, by order of the commander, he was executed.

II. This story from the history of the miracles performed by the Holy Martyrs Gurias, Samonas and Habibus teaches us, brethren, many great truths.

a) First, we see from it that the given oath must be strictly observed if the object of the promise is morally possible, just, honest and in agreement with common sense and with the law of God, ecclesiastical and civil. “If a man makes a vow to the Lord, or swears an oath to bind himself by some agreement, he shall not break his word; he shall do according to all that proceeds out of his mouth” (Numbers 30:2). “Many say," as Saint Gregory the Theologian notes, "the tongue pronounces an oath, but the mind did not give it. Let no one deceive himself in the least: in any case, an oath has been given, and duplicity only increases the sin.”

The Holy Scriptures record a terrible example of God's judgment on an oath-breaker. King Nebuchadnezzar went against Jerusalem and captured it. He left King Zedekiah on the throne, but took an oath from him that he would be faithful to him. Despite this, Zedekiah made an alliance with the Egyptian king against Nebuchadnezzar and thus broke this oath. For this oath-breaking, the Lord then reproached Zedekiah through the mouth of the Prophet Ezekiel, who said of him: "My oath which he despised, and My covenant which he broke, I will return on his head. And I will spread My net over him, and he will be caught in My snares, and I will bring him to Babylon, and there I will plead with him for his treachery against Me." This divine threat was soon fulfilled: Nebuchadnezzar recaptured Jerusalem, took Zedekiah to Babylon, where his eyes were gouged out and he was thrown into prison, where he died. This was the punishment that befell Zedekiah for his perjury.

b) Secondly, from the story of the punishment of the perjurer Goth, we see that the Lord will strictly demand of husbands for the bad, cruel treatment of their wives. "My wife, I will do with her whatever I want." This is what some rude and unreasonable husbands say, completely alien to the spirit of Christian love in relation to their wives. But this should not be. The Holy Apostle Paul says: "Husbands, love your wives" (Eph. 5:25), and as an example he presents Jesus Christ Himself, the Son of God, Who loves His Church above all love comprehended by reason. "Husbands, love your wives as you love yourselves" (Eph. 5:25). This apostolic commandment should always be in the minds and hearts of husbands. They should not stray from it even a step. If anyone, contrary to this commandment, begins to offend and oppress his wife, then the punishment of the Lord, a terrible and horrible punishment, sooner or later, in this life or the next, may befall him, as it befell the treacherous, adulterous and cruel-hearted Goth.

c) From the story of the miraculous punishment of the perfidious and perjurer Goth by the Holy Martyrs Gurias, Samonas and Habibus, you finally see, brethren, the power of prayers combined with tears. The unfortunate Euphemia with a great cry turned to God for her deliverance from a terrible death, asking the Saints of God Gurias, Samonas and Habibus to intercede for her before God. And her prayer was heard: the Holy Martyrs, by the will of God, miraculously freed her from her terrible prison - the grave and carried her during her sleep to her homeland.

Tears have great power with God! This can be proven from the words and the way of expression that the Holy Scripture uses about them.

In the First Book of Kings, Hannah, the mother of Samuel, after long childlessness, prays to the Lord and receives a fruit, and at that "the one much desired," i.e. Samuel the prophet and judge of all the people of Israel, a great and holy man. And to show what was the main reason for this, the Scripture adds: "She was of a tender soul, prayed to the Lord, and wept and cried" (1 Kings 1:10). So not only did Hannah pray, but she also prayed "weeping"; and this rain "made the barren field grow."

The Holy King David often says in his Psalms that God did not so much listen to his prayer as He looked upon his tears, or listened to the voice of his tears. "You have laid," he says, "my tears before You" (Psalm 55:8). Explaining this passage, Cassiodorus was not afraid to say that tears used in prayers, as it were, "do violence to God."

King Hezekiah, according to the testimony of the Prophet Isaiah, having fallen ill to the point of death, prayed to the Lord and wept with great weeping (Isaiah 38:3); and the Lord immediately answered Hezekiah through Isaiah: "I have heard your prayer, and have seen your tears: behold, I add unto your years fifteen years" (ibid., v. 5). But another place in Sirach is also worthy of note: "When orphans and widows pour out their prayers, He does not ignore them" (Sirach 35:14-15). The power of tears before God is very amazing, when the Holy Spirit so clearly promises that a widow will not be despised by God, if she speaks more in tears than in words. And again the same son of Sirach continues: “The tears running down a widow's cheek cry out in accusation against the one who has caused her distress” (ibid., v. 5)? i.e., although the widow’s tears fall to the ground, her cry through the voice of tears ascends to God against the one who, oppressing the widow, wrings tears from her.

Here we can cite as an example Monica, the mother of blessed Augustine, to whom, when she was continually and inconsolably weeping before God for the conversion of her son from the Manichaean heresy to the Orthodox faith, Ambrose, the pious Bishop of Milan, said: "Depart from me in peace, and live thus; for it cannot be that the son of such tears should perish!" She accepted this as if it were a voice thundering from heaven. And her tearful prayer was heard by heaven: her son subsequently became a great teacher of the Church and attained a high degree of moral purity, freeing himself from his former religious and moral shortcomings.

III. So let us learn from this story to strictly fulfill the vows given, to have love for our wives, and in misfortune, even in the most terrible, not to lose heart, but to turn to God with tearful prayer.

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