December: Day 24: Teaching 1: Venerable Martyr Eugenia

December: Day 24: Teaching 1:
Venerable Martyr Eugenia
 
(Why Does the Word of God Have Little Effect in our Souls?)

By Archpriest Grigory Dyachenko

I. Saint Eugenia, whose memory is celebrated today, was the daughter of the Egyptian ruler Philip, who, although a pagan, treated Christians meekly. In his free time, Philip loved to teach his daughter everything he knew, and he knew a lot. Under her father's guidance, Eugenia learned to speak Greek and Latin perfectly - she read a lot, learned a lot. She had excellent abilities, especially a good memory. She only had to read or hear some new truth once and she never forgot it.

One day, Eugenia accidentally found the epistles of the Apostle Paul, read them attentively and decided to convert to the faith of Christ. She happened to be outside the city.

Passing by a monastery, she heard Christians singing: "All the gods of the peoples are demons, but the Lord made the heavens," and immediately remembered what she had read in the Apostle Paul. That same day she was baptized and entered the monastery. After some time, Eugenia converted her parents and brothers to Christ.

Having moved with her parents to Rome, she tried to spread Christianity among the women and girls she knew, for which she was beheaded with the sword.

II. You have heard, brethren, that the reading of the word of God, namely the reading of the epistles of the Holy Apostle Paul, made such a strong impression on the soul of the Venerable Martyr Eugenia that she soon broke all ties with the pagan faith and accepted Christianity.

Why did the seed of the word of God have such a powerful effect on the soul of Saint Eugenia?

Because it did not find in it any obstacles to its growth and fruitfulness.

In the Gospel, the Lord Jesus Christ compares the word of God to a seed and speaks of its sowing in the souls and hearts of men. The question arises: why is the word of God, or the teaching of faith and the Gospel law, likened to a seed? Because as a seed, although by its nature fruitful, if it does not fall on good soil, it cannot bear any fruit: so the word of God, although in itself useful "for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness" (2 Tim. 3:16), however, if there are some obstacles in the soul of the listener, can never produce its usual effect in it.

What are these obstacles, and how can we remove them from our souls so that they do not become the cause of our destruction?

a) The first obstacle that prevents the word of God from growing and maturing in the human heart is the laziness and carelessness of the listeners. Jesus Christ means this with the words: "Other seed fell by the wayside." By the wayside is meant the heart of a lazy and idle person (as Saint Chrysostom explains). Just as seed thrown on the road is trampled underfoot by those passing by, so the lazy listener does not pay attention to the word of God. He listens with greater pleasure when he is told empty fables than when he is instructed in the Christian life. Here is an example of this: one Greek teacher could not get the people to listen to him when he spoke about the most important national issues. Then he began to tell the people the following fable: "A certain young man in the summer hired a donkey from a certain man to travel from one city to another. When the sun began to scorch at midday, they both wanted to take shelter from the heat under the shade of the donkey; but one disputed with the other and pushed him away from the shade. The young man said that he had hired the donkey, and therefore the donkey's shade should be in his favor; but the owner of the donkey said that he had hired the donkey without the shade. Having said this, the teacher turned to leave, but the people held him back, demanding that he finish and say what the decision of the dispute was. Then the teacher laughed and said: “What kind of people are you! You want to hear about the shadow of a donkey, but you do not want to hear about the salvation of the fatherland.” So it is with some Christians: when they watch, listen to, or read something empty, they are not at all bored, even if it lasts a whole day. But if in church a sermon lasts for a quarter of an hour or even less, then how bored they are then! Should the heavenly Sower expect fruit here from His divine seed, which He has been sowing from the beginning of the world to this time, sometimes through the special action of grace within man, sometimes through His listeners?

b) Another obstacle that prevents the word of God from taking root in the hearts of men and bearing fruit is the hardening of these hearts. Jesus Christ compares people with hardened hearts to stones when He says: “Some (seed) fell on a rock, and when it had sprung up, it withered away, because it had no moisture.” How does a person become like a stone? Through long-term sin. The wise man says: “When the wicked comes into the depths of evil, he is careless” (Prov. 18:3), i.e. when a person gets used to some lawless deed, he hears neither the pangs of conscience nor the rebuke of preachers.

c) The third obstacle to this are worldly cares and pleasures. Our Savior summed up all this under the name of thorns, saying: "And other seed fell among the thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it." It often happens that people with tenderness, and sometimes with tears, accept the word of God and, it seems, want to correct their sins and turn to the true path. But then, not wanting to deprive themselves of some temporary benefit or even more desiring to increase it, due to spiritual weakness they remain the same as they were before. Therefore, Jesus Christ said: "You cannot serve God and mammon" (Matt. 6:24). In particular, carnal passions and love of money do not allow the word of God to mature in the human heart. The carnal and the avaricious do not listen to the admonition of Christ. Therefore the Apostle says: “The carnal mind is at enmity against God, for it is not subject to the law of God, nor can it be” (Rom. 8:7). Here by the carnal mind are meant carnal vices, such as: gluttony, drunkenness, fornication. Those who live in these vices, as “being in the flesh, cannot please God.” A drunkard and a debaucherer are like pigs who do not like fragrant flowers, but instead love stench, and they also do not like the sweetness of the words of God, the fragrance of prayer, they shun the temple, but instead go to sinful deeds, to unclean pleasures, indulge in revelry and debauchery and feed their souls not with the word of God, but, according to the Gospel parable of the Prodigal Son, with the husks that pigs eat (Luke 15:16). Jesus Christ also testifies about the love of money or stinginess, that it constitutes a great obstacle to entering the Kingdom of God, for He says: “It is difficult for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of God.” The young man mentioned in the Gospel, who asked Jesus Christ: "What should he do to inherit eternal life?" – was, apparently, ready to fulfill all the commands of the Lord, but when the Lord demanded of him that he correct his love of money, to distribute his property to the poor, then the young man, “hearing the word, went away sorrowful” (Matt. 19:16-24). Thus the heart of a money-loving man turns away from the word of God and, although with sorrow, nevertheless moves away from it, so as not to part with his passion.

III. These are the main obstacles to the acceptance and preservation within the soul of the saving seed - the word of God - which may God help us to overcome through the prayers of the Venerable Martyr Eugenia, so as not to lose the blessings of eternal life. Amen. 

 

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