January: Day 2: Teaching 1: Saint Sylvester, Pope of Rome

January: Day 2: Teaching 1:
Saint Sylvester, Pope of Rome
 
(The Virtue of Hospitality)

By Archpriest Grigory Dyachenko

I. Saint Sylvester, Pope of Rome, whose memory is celebrated today, lived at the end of the third and the first half of the fourth century A.D. His favorite occupation was to care for weak and tired "wanderers." When the Holy Bishop Timothy arrived in Rome to preach the gospel, Sylvester received him into his home, and when he was tortured and beheaded for his preaching, Saint Sylvester brought the body of the martyr into his house at night and buried it. Here the relics of Saint Timothy remained until they could be transferred to a church, which was later built in their honor by a pious Christian woman.

Saint Sylvester ruled the Roman Church for more than twenty years and died in the year 335 A.D.

II. The life of Saint Sylvester, Pope of Rome, teaches us to be hospitable.

This is how the great teacher of the universal church, Saint John Chrysostom, teaches about this high Christian virtue, obligatory for all Christians:

"Let us show hospitality to the Lord in the person of the poor and the strangers, he says, for 'he that receives one of these who are least, receives Me" (Matthew 18:5; Luke 9:48). By how much the brother may be least, so much the more does Christ come to you through him. For he that receives the great, often does it from vainglory also; but he that receives the small, does it purely for Christ's sake. It is in your power to entertain even the Father of Christ, and you will not, for, 'I was a stranger,' He says, 'and you took me in' (Matthew 25:35), and again, 'Unto one of the least of these the brethren that believe in Me, you have done it unto Me' (Matthew 25:40) Though it be not Paul, yet if it be a believer and a brother, although the least, Christ comes to you through him. Open your house, take Him in. 'He that receives a prophet in the name of a prophet,' He says, 'shall receive a prophet's reward' (Matthew 10:41). Therefore too he that receives Christ in the name of Christ, shall receive the reward of him who has received Christ."

“Do not doubt the truth of His words, but believe. He Himself said that He comes in their person, and that you might not doubt it, He appointed punishments for those who did not receive them and honors for those who did, which He would not have done if He had not been both accepted and rejected. You have received Me, He says, into your dwelling place, I will receive you into the kingdom of My Father; You have delivered Me from hunger, I will deliver you from sins; You have looked upon Me when I was bound, I will grant you release; You have looked upon Me a stranger, I will make you a citizen of heaven; You have given Me bread, I will give you the entire kingdom, your inheritance and possession. 'Come,' He says, 'inherit the kingdom prepared for you'” (Matt. 25:84).

"Oh, truly blessed are the hands that perform such good deeds, that are worthy to serve Christ! The feet that went into prison for Christ will easily pass through the fire; the hands that touched Him when bound will not feel the weight of the bonds. You clothed Him with the robe, and you will be clothed with the robe of salvation; you were with Him in prison, and you will be with Him in the kingdom. He confesses this without shame, but acknowledging that you have looked upon Him."

“But you will say: Many of them are deceivers and ungrateful. So much the greater will be your reward if you receive them in the name of Christ. If you are sure that they are deceivers, then do not receive them into your house; but if you are not sure, then why do you condemn them without distinction? But what justification do we have if we do not receive even those whom we do not know, but lock the doors to everyone? Let your house be a refuge for Christ for everyone; let us ask a reward from them, not silver, but for making our house a refuge for Christ; let us go everywhere, attracting them to ourselves, chasing them as for prey; here we ourselves rather receive than bestow benefits. He does not command that the calf be slaughtered: give bread to the hungry, clothing to the naked, shelter to the stranger.” (From Homily 45 on the Acts of the Apostles).

III. Through the prayers of Saint Sylvester, may our Lord Jesus Christ grant us His all-powerful help to be established in the saving virtue of hospitality, for which Saint Sylvester, Pope of Rome, who is now remembered, was glorified.  

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