January: Day 31: Teaching 2: Holy and Wonderworking Unmercenaries Cyrus and John

 

January: Day 31: Teaching 2:
Holy and Wonderworking Unmercenaries Cyrus and John
 
(To Those Complaining About the Difficulty of Salvation)

By Archpriest Grigory Dyachenko

I. Saint Cyrus, today remembered by the Church, was born and educated in the Egyptian city of Alexandria. He was a famous physician and treated people for free; loving his neighbors with all his heart, he never took anything for his labors. Visiting the sick, he at the same time gave them moral advice and urged them to guard against sins, saying that spiritual illness is much more dangerous than physical illness. Often pagans, listening to the instructions of Cyrus, abandoned their errors and turned to Christ.

At that time, Diocletian reigned, a cruel persecutor of the true faith. When the governor of Alexandria was informed that Cyrus was spreading Christianity among the pagans, he was ordered to be seized. Having learned of this, Cyrus withdrew to Arabia and there continued to heal spiritual and physical ailments. Here he was joined by a young soldier, John, a native of Edessa; he began to study with Cyrus and imitate his holy life. Together they helped the sick and preached the word of God.

At that time, Athanasia and her three daughters, Theoktista, Theodotia, and Eudoxia, were taken to torture; they were brought to the city of Canopus (in Lower Egypt). Cyrus and John went there, found Athanasia and her daughters in prison, and urged them to courageously confess Christ and to meet, if necessary, a martyr's death for Him. When the city governor, Sirian, was informed that two unknown people were teaching Christian women to be stubborn and not to worship idols, Sirian ordered them to be seized and brought to him, and sternly demanded that they renounce their faith and offer sacrifices to the gods, promising them rewards and honors for this; seeing the futility of his attempts, he ordered the Saints to be put to death (in 311).

II. Brethren! One often hears how some, in discussing the path to the Kingdom of God, find it so difficult that they are ready to say: “Who can be saved?” (Luke 18:26). “It is difficult,” they say, “to be saved; it is impossible to be saved in the world.” Saints Cyrus and John serve as powerful denouncers of such wiseacres. Who were they? Doctors, i.e., worldly people and closely associated with the world, who, however, by strong faith in God and love for their neighbors, attained eternal blessedness in heaven. Let us examine our complaints about the difficulty of salvation.

a) “It is difficult to be saved.” This is true. Salvation requires patience, asceticism, labor. But what comes to us without effort? One sin, one destruction of the soul comes to us easily and without effort. Where and in what is patience, effort, and asceticism not required? Do we really get temporary well-being, earthly blessings for free? What cares do we not subject ourselves to, what labors do we not spend for our present, temporary well-being? And yet we almost never complain about these labors. Why do some of the labors undertaken for the salvation of the soul seem difficult to us, and we want to avoid them, as if they exceed our strength, or as if they are not so necessary for us? Is eternal well-being less than temporary? Is the present life, which can end today, worth our labors, and the future, which will have no end, not worth our worries? Ah, brethren! We think little of our souls, we value their salvation little, we do not think about what God has called us to and what He wants to give us, but we direct all our attention, all our care, all our labor to earthly life and temporary well-being. This is the true reason why the path to salvation seems difficult to us. But in fact, it is not only not difficult, but also easy and pleasant. After all, the Lord said that “His yoke is easy” and “His burden is light” (Matt. 11:30).

And how light, and how easy! Just take the path of God, just begin the work of salvation, and help is already ready for you, the Lord is already with you by His grace. And how easy and pleasant it is to live and work with the Lord and for the Lord! The love of God inflames, the hope of future bliss inspires the worker, and the path of salvation becomes so smooth and pleasant for him that, even if troubles and misfortunes meet him here, even if death threatens him, he will not leave it, and will not exchange it for the crossroads of the world.

b) “In the world,” they say, “it is impossible to be saved.” Why is that? It is not so convenient, that is true, but that it is impossible is unfair to say. Let our relations with the world, family concerns, service duties, and occupations in every kind of calling distract us a little, but can they serve as an obstacle to salvation, when in themselves, if they are fulfilled in the spirit of true faith, honestly and sacredly, they constitute good deeds, which are precisely what is required on the path to salvation? Kings, princes, and shepherds of the Church lived in the world and had a constant relationship with the world, and yet many of them not only were saved, but also became famous as holy saints of God. Let us encounter temptations, charms, and enticements in the world; but it depends on us to be carried away by them, or to despise and reject them.

It is up to us, brethren, to follow the path of salvation, or to wander along the crossroads of the world. No one and nothing forces us to live contrary to Christian rules. And if we are inclined to sin, then the reason for this is our own sinful will; if we cannot resist the light temptations and seductions of the world, then this is our fault, our own weakness.

c) “It is impossible to be saved in the world.” But do you know that Christians of the world were even higher and more perfect in spiritual life than the famous hermits, so that the Lord pointed the latter to the former as a high example and model of Christian perfection. Listen to what the Church records tell us. Once the following happened to the Venerable Makarios: while standing at prayer, he heard a voice: “Makarios! you have not yet compared yourself with two women living in such and such a city.” Makarios immediately went to this city, found the said women, and asked them to tell him about their pleasing deeds. The women at first denied it, saying that "we live with our husbands, and there is nothing special about us," but then one of them said to the elder: “Except for this: we are two daughters-in-law, both of us have been married for fifteen years, we live in the same house, and during all this time not only have there been no quarrels between us, but we have not heard a single unpleasant word from each other.” This is what the feat of the aforementioned women consisted of: in constant mutual agreement, peace and love. The feat, you see, is the most convenient, but, as it turned out, the most favorable to God. And there is nothing surprising. After all, love is the main and highest Christian virtue. It is precisely this that constitutes the “law of Christ” (Gal. 6:2). The Lord clearly commanded us all to love. “This,” He said, “I command you, that you love one another” (John 15:17).

III. And if so, is salvation difficult for us after this? Is it reasonable to think and say that it is impossible to be saved in the world? What is inconvenient for a worldly Christian? Are Christian Church duties - prayer, fasting, repentance, communion of the Holy Mysteries? Yes, all Christians are called to this. Are Christian spiritual qualities - love, harmony, humility, obedience, sincerity, honesty? Yes, for this everyone is usually loved and respected. Are Christian public deeds - philanthropy, hospitality, care for the poor, help for the unfortunate? Yes, for this there is gratitude and goodwill on earth. No, brethren, we should complain not about the difficulty of salvation, but about our sinful habits. Amen. 

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