December: Day 14: Holy Martyrs Philemon and Apollonius

December: Day 14:
Holy Martyrs Philemon and Apollonius
 
(The Voice of God's Grace Calling Everyone to Salvation)

By Archpriest Grigory Dyachenko

I. During the persecution of Diocletian, a multitude of Christians were once brought to the temple of the idols. Some of them sacrificed to the idols and were released; those who did not agree to honor the idols with incense were subjected to cruel torture. Among the Christians brought to the temple was a church reader named Apollonius , whose memory is celebrated today. He saw how cruelly they tortured those who did not want to offer sacrifices and was afraid, but he did not want to be among the apostates. Reflecting on his situation, Apollonius suddenly saw near him a certain pagan named Philemon, a skilled musician, who delighted the ruler of the country with his playing. Apollonius promised to give him four gold coins if he, covering himself with his clothes, would offer sacrifice to the idols. Philemon agreed; he dressed himself in Apollonius' clothes and covered his face. But as soon as he approached the altar, a miraculous change instantly occurred in his heart, “by the action of the grace of God, calling everyone to salvation,” he involuntarily crossed himself and became one of the martyrs who did not want to offer sacrifice to idols. He was forced by torture to offer a sacrifice, but he called himself a Christian. Seeing such a miraculous conversion of Philemon to the faith of Christ, Apollonius was ashamed, repented and decided to undergo any torture in order to atone for his cowardly timidity. Apollonius and Philemon were tortured and buried together.

II. Thus the grace of God called Philemon, and through him Apollonius, to salvation; thus it calls us all, brethren, to salvation, that is, to turning to Christ our Savior and repentance for our sins, to correction of life, to mercy toward our neighbors, to works of piety.

a) So that every sinful soul may come to know his Savior, turn to Him with all his heart, unite with Him by faith and love and surrender himself entirely to His all-holy will, for this the grace of God uses many means that act equally on each and everyone.

For this purpose the Lord has given us His living and active word, “sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and judging the thoughts and intentions of the heart” (Heb. 4:12), in which the whole will of God concerning us and the whole path of our salvation are revealed, everything that God has done for our salvation and what we must do in order to be saved.

For this reason He commanded our conscience to cry out within us with an unceasing voice of either condemnation and reproach, or consolation and encouragement, a conscience whose voice is equally obligatory for all people - for Christians and pagans.

For this He has appointed an external guardian of our souls – His holy Church, with its divine and life-giving sacred rites and mysteries, with its holy and sanctifying institutions and rites, with its inexhaustible priesthood and pastorate.

For this reason He calls us, at times, to the judgment seat of repentance, to make us think about His terrible and final judgment and about what will follow this judgment.

For this reason He shows us His cross and tomb, reminds us of the sufferings and torments of the cross He endured for our sins, in order to soften and touch our hearts with the warmth of His abundant love for us sinners.

For this reason He Himself appears and comes to us in the mystery of His Body and Blood, allowing us to unite with Him in an inseparable, eternal union.

But besides this, there are days in a person’s life of special visitations from God, striking and astounding, when the call to repentance is louder and reaches the depths of the sinner’s heart; when the grace of God appears to him, so to speak, face to face and seems to say to him one of two things: either for repentance and mercy, or impenitence and destruction; when the sinful soul itself involuntarily feels the importance of what is happening to it, begins to express a desire to know the will of God, to leave the path of sin and wickedness, to turn to God and begin a new, better life.

b) Blessed is that soul which, having been thus sought from the Lord, does not limit its conversion to Him to one external, fleeting expression of love and zeal, but, having surrendered itself to Him as its King and Lord, once and for all, entirely and inseparably, walks in His footsteps, fulfills His all-holy will in everything, and does not depart from Him in deed, thought, desire, or intention. Blessed is the soul which, having united itself with the Lord by a strong love that never falls away, with all its thoughts and feelings, with all its desire and zeal, abides in Him, like a rod on the vine and like a child in the arms of its mother. The Lord receives such a soul under His special protection and into close fellowship with Himself, moves in and dwells in it, becomes its mentor and shepherd, feeder and guardian, physician and comforter, light and life, and never leaves it until, having cleansed and sanctified it, He leads it into His heavenly chamber, into the abode of eternal joy and blessedness in the house of the heavenly Father. Whatever happens to it in this life, whatever calamities and sorrows it may be subjected to in this world, nothing will diminish its blessedness, nothing will separate it from the Lord, as long as it itself constantly abides with Him and in Him - with faith, love and hope, with all the life of its spirit, with all the strength and fortitude of its will.

c) But woe to him who, with all the voices of God's grace calling him, does not turn from sin to God sincerely, firmly, irrevocably, with all his soul and heart, or, like the ancient inhabitants of Jerusalem, limits himself to only external, fleeting signs of turning to God, without changing his life for the better, without renewing his spirit and heart, without bringing forth worthy fruits of repentance. Woe to him who, having begun to follow in the footsteps of the Lord, "rests," in the words of the prophet, "on both sides of the fence," and looks back, having begun to serve God, does not abandon even the pleasing of the world and his passions, fears and avoids that complete self-denial which the Lord demands of His followers. Such frivolity in relation to the eternal fate of one's soul, such a bifurcation of the heart between God and mammon, such hesitation between life and death cannot continue forever; its usual consequence is the preponderance of evil over good in a person’s soul – greater darkness in the mind, greater cooling and hardening of the heart, a deeper fall into the abyss of sin.

III. We shall inevitably perish, brethren, if we do not understand the time of our visitation; if we do not wish to delve into and reflect on the true purpose of our existence on earth, that is, on what the Lord our God has destined and called us to, what He has done and what remains for us to do in order to be participants in eternal glory and blessedness in the house of the heavenly Father and not to be cast out for all eternity from the Kingdom of God into outer darkness; if earthly and temporary things so blind our spiritual eyes that we do not see in the many different paths of our life the paths of God's providence, seeking us, calling us to repentance, awakening us from the dark sleep of sin, drawing us to God, to the kingdom of light, joy and blessedness; if, with all the actions of God's love and truth, mercy and justice upon us, we remain indifferent and insensitive; if we respond to all the calls and voices of God’s grace with the usual frivolity, coldness and inattention.

In order that our sins may be washed away by the tears of the Lord, who once wept over the hardening of the hearts of the inhabitants of Jerusalem, who had not known the visitation of God, it is necessary that our bitter tears for our sins be mixed with them, so that the sorrow over the impenitence and destruction of man, which filled the heart of the Lord, may pass into our soul, fill our heart and drive out of it all the impure joys of sin, for this sorrow according to God makes repentance unto salvation. In a word, it is necessary to truly repent, to be renewed and reborn, to leave forever the sinful life and to begin a life pleasing to God and holy. Amen.

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