November: Day 18: Holy Martyrs Romanos and the Child Barulas

November: Day 18:
Holy Martyrs Romanos and the Child Barulas
 
(Lessons From Their Lives:
a. Heavenly Truth is Revealed to Infants, and
b. An Exhortation to Take Care of the Upbringing of Children in the Spirit of Holy Faith)

By Archpriest Grigory Dyachenko

I. The Holy Martyrs Romanos and the child Barulas, whose memory is now being celebrated, suffered under Maximian, at the beginning of the fourth century. When Maximian raised a persecution of against the Christians, Romanos, meeting the eparch Asclepiades, who was going to an idol festival with a crowd of people, began to persuade everyone to abandon the idols and turn to Christ. The eparch gave orders to torture him. Saint Romanos, seeing the youth Barulas during the torture, said to the eparch: “This child, although small, is wiser than you, for he knows the true God.” Then Asclepiades, having given the order to strangle Saint Romanos, asked the child: “Whom do you honor as God?” “Jesus Christ,” the child answered. “Why do you honor Him?” “Because He is the true God, and your gods are demons.”

The disgraced eparch ordered the boy to be beaten with strong rods, wishing to force him to renounce Christ, but the holy child bravely endured the cruel beating. Exhausted, bleeding, tormented by thirst, he asked only those standing by for a little water to quench his thirst; but when his mother, standing there among the people, reproached him for his cowardice, urging him to endure everything for Christ the Lord in the undoubting hope of eternal life, he silently endured all the torments of the torturers. Even more disgraced not only by the mind, but also by the patience of the child, the eparch ordered his head to be cut off. Then his pious mother took him in her arms and herself carried him to the place of execution. On the way, with motherly love and tenderness, she persuaded him not to fear death, but rather to rejoice that he was going to the Lord Jesus Christ, would see His divine glory and would live with Him forever in unspeakable joy, rejoicing with His holy angels. It is not surprising after this that this holy child not only fearlessly, but willingly and joyfully bowed his head under the executioner's sword.

II. a) Do you see, my brethren, with what precision the word of the Lord is fulfilled, that the heavenly Father hid His holy truth from the wise and prudent and revealed it to babes? Do we not see the same thing now? Look at a child brought up in Christian piety, who, to your question: "Where did the world come from?" will answer you with all the sincerity of heartfelt faith: "God created heaven and earth by the power of His almighty word." Is he not wiser than those sages who write great books in order to gloss over with various twists of the mind and pass off as a new conclusion of science a very old pagan fable, that the world is original, that matter itself has powers by which, little by little, over the course of countless centuries, everything that we now see in the world around us is produced? If anyone were to agree with this mad fable, he would have to agree that the house built itself, and the book composed itself from letters scattered at random, without any participation of any rational force. But if even such insignificant things as building a house or writing a book cannot be accomplished without the rational will of man, then who except a madman can assert that such a marvelous, such a beautiful, such a wisely and purposefully arranged world, with its countless creations of God, could arrange itself from a random combination of particles and develop according to a known plan? Or, when to your question: "Where did man come from?" A child will tell you that the Lord God created the body of man from the earth and animated it with a rational and immortal soul, created in the image and likeness of God. Is it not a thousand times wiser than those intellectuals who boast of a new discovery of their foolish wisdom, that they have generated from animals and that the lot of man and the lot of cattle are one lot? Truly, “Lord of heaven and earth, You have hidden these things from the wise and prudent, and have revealed them to babes. Even so, Father, for so it was pleasing in Your sight!” Thus do You punish with blindness those who turn away from You, the true Light that enlightens every man! Thus do You seize the wisdom of this world, “because in the wisdom of God the world did not understand the wisdom of God!” (1 Cor. 1:21). Thus You give over “to an unskilful mind to do unseemly things” those who do not want to know “You, the only true God, and the One You sent, Jesus Christ!” Thus You leave to go the path of eternal darkness and destruction those who do not want to follow with sincere faith and love the One Who is “the way, the truth, and the life!”

b) It is especially instructive for us, brethren, that in the ancient Christian Church pious parents considered it their sacred duty not only to teach their children the truths of the faith of Christ from the earliest age, as soon as their spiritual powers began to develop, but to inspire them with that strong, invincible love for the Lord Jesus Christ, which strengthened even infants to endure terrible torments for the name of Christ, and with that living hope of eternal life in Christ Jesus, which made death for Christ not terrible, but joyful for them. The child Barulas - that was the name of this marvelously beautiful Child-Martyr, was not prepared in any special way for such a test of faith. He was taken suddenly from among children like him, and yet he turned out to be not only perfect in the knowledge of Christ the Lord, but also ready to suffer and die for His holy and worshiped name. In this truly Christian upbringing of children lies true parental love for children; because only such upbringing makes not only children but also the parents themselves truly happy. Unhappy are those parents who, having not nourished their children from their earliest age with the milk of the word of God and Christian teaching, having not enlivened their hearts with love for the Lord Jesus Christ, having not rooted in their souls the saving fear of God, are forced to weep later over their psychic and moral corruption. Even here on earth they receive a worthy reward for their negligence; what awaits them beyond the grave? Do you remember with what love and goodness the Lord Jesus Christ received the children who came to Him, “and took them in His arms,” “laid His hands on them, and blessed them.” So precious in the eyes of God is the soul of a Christian child, washed in the blood of Christ! Whoever preserves such for the kingdom of God will render a most precious service to the Lord Jesus Christ. "Leave the children to come to Me and do not scold them, for of such is the Kingdom of God." (see Dimitri, Archbishop of Herzegovina, Vol. II).

III. Beloved in Christ Jesus, our Lord, brothers and sisters! Let us imprint these lessons on our hearts and pray to the Lord that He will grant His heavenly help to follow them, so that we do not lose eternal life and do not ruin our children for it by our negligence. Amen.

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