February: Day 13: Venerable Martinian of Caesarea

February: Day 13:
Venerable Martinian of Caesarea
 
(On the Means of Combating Temptation)

By Archpriest Grigory Dyachenko

I. The Venerable Martinian, whose memory is celebrated today, was a hermit, who lived ascetically first in the vicinity of Caesarea in Palestine, and then on a rocky island. He died in Athens at the beginning of the 4th century; his relics were transferred to Antioch.

One harlot, who tempted the righteous man, was converted by him to a virtuous life and, under the name of Zoe, spent 12 years in severe asceticism in a Bethlehem monastery.

This is how it happened.

Having taken off her luxurious clothes and put on a torn rag instead, this woman, on a stormy, rainy night, penetrated into the hermit's solitude and, approaching his deserted cell, with feigned crying and a frightened voice asked him to shelter her from the bad weather and not to give her over to the beasts as a sacrifice.

Taking pity on the wanderer caught in the storm, Martinian took her in, lit a fire so that she could warm herself, brought dates and, leaving her alone, locked himself in a special half of the cell, where, as usual, he prayed and sang psalms all night.

The next day, when the sun rose, the woman threw off her rags, dressed herself in beautiful clothes hidden in a beggar's bag, put on precious jewelry and, seeing the hermit, greeted him.

“Who are you and where did you come from?” asked the hermit, not recognizing the wanderer.

Then she told him that she had decided to resort to cunning in order to see him, and began to talk about the world and its joys, and persuaded him to break his useless abstinence.

The righteous man was confused by the woman’s words and beauty. A sudden, unexpected temptation washed over him like an unstoppable wave. But it was only for a short moment.

“Wait a little,” he said to the woman, “many have the custom of coming to me for a blessing; I will go and look along the road to see if anyone is coming to me.”

He left his cell and, standing on a high stone, looked into the distance, and his spiritual gaze saw the truth that one must turn away from sin. And in his soul there arose that strength that had matured in him through long asceticism - that strength that enables the soul to stand on the right path.

There was dry brushwood lying under his feet; he picked it up, returned to his cell and, throwing the brushwood on the ground, lit it. When it flared up, Martinian took off his shoes and stood in the middle of the fire. His feet were being cruelly burned by the fire, and he said to himself: "What, Martinian? What is this temporary fire and what is the pain from it? Can you endure eternal torment? In that case, do as this woman says."

Finally, he could no longer bear the pain from the fire, he fell to the ground and cried out: “Lord, my God, be merciful to me, a sinner!”

As if from a terrible dream, the woman suddenly awoke. The cry of a pure soul touched her spiritual hearing, the Divine light illuminated her soul. She shuddered, realizing the full abyss of her fall. Her past life seemed to suddenly burn in fiery repentance.

"Teach me how to save myself!" she cried, throwing her luxurious clothes and precious jewelry into the fire.

“Go to Bethlehem,” Martinian told her, “you will find the ascetic Paula there, who founded the church; open your soul to her, and she will teach you how to be saved.”

"Pray for me, a sinner!" The woman called Zoe, whom he had turned to God, said goodbye to the man of God and, shedding pure tears, set off on an unknown journey. She did not stop in the city any more; she suddenly renounced her past life and irrevocably set out on a new path until she reached a saving refuge in the monastery of the great Paula of Palestine. Here, after twelve years of a contrite and ascetic life, she gained a peaceful exit into the kingdom of eternal glory.

And Martinian? When, after several months, his burn wounds were healed, he wished to protect himself in the world with complete solitude and, leaving his cell on the mountain, he went to the sea and here he spent six years in deep solitude on one island.

II. Venerable Martinian is an excellent teacher of the struggle with the power of temptation. Here are some pieces of advice that can be offered to those who are forced to struggle with temptations.

a) Remove yourself from tempting surroundings, as did the Venerable Martinian, who first lived in the desert and then moved to a secluded island. “External temptations are so strong,” says the Venerable Nilus, “that those living in the world are sometimes carried away by them, as it were, against their will, and therefore it is necessary to leave the world and seek peace and quiet in the desert, where nothing wounds the soul, does not strike the imagination, does not irritate the passions. There the eye does not see temptation, and what the eye does not see does not come to mind, and what is not in the mind does not touch the imagination and does not excite passions. Undistracted by anything, the hermit has time and convenience for moral self-observation and improvement; he exterminates sin at the very root, destroying thoughts and desires before they are revealed in actions.” (November 12, see the life of Saint Nilus the Faster).

b) Avoid wicked people, as the now glorified Saint of God, Martinian, avoided them. “As bodies perish from the infection of spoiled air,” says Saint Chrysostom, “so the soul often suffers harm from communicating with wicked people. Therefore, Christ commanded not only to avoid such people, but also to reject them: 'But if,' He says, 'your right eye offends you, pluck it out, and cast it away from you' (Matt. 5:29), understanding in this commandment not the eyes - for what evil can the eye do when the soul is in a healthy state? - but friends who are close to us and have become, as it were, our members, commanding us not to value their friendship, in order to more safely work out our own salvation. Therefore the Prophet says: 'I will not sit with the vain congregation, and will not enter with transgressors' (Ps. 25:4). And the Prophet Jeremiah praises him who sits alone and takes the yoke in his youth (Lamentations 4:27-28). Also in the parables much is said about this and convincingly instilled in everyone that it is necessary not only to avoid, but also to flee from people who advise evil, and not to deal with them - for if material objects are often damaged by us from touching something bad, then how much more so are free beings?"

c) Curb the lust of the eyes, through which temptation comes into the soul.

Let us listen to what Saint Ephraim the Syrian says for our instruction: “A great thing is restraint of the eyes. If you do not restrain yourself from the wandering of the eyes, then you will not apply the direct paths of chastity. Do not allow your eyes to circle here and there and do not gaze at someone else’s beauty, lest your enemy overthrow you with the help of your eyes. If, through passion, you allow your eyes to look at vanity, then quickly stop them, lest you fall into the shame of carnal indulgence.”

d) “Despise this world with its charms, and love the one God and eternal life, and you will live in peace, unharmed like Lot in Sodom” (St. Tikhon of Zadonsk).

"When birds soar in the air, you cannot catch them with a net: so you will not be caught by the nets of passions and temptations when you look at the heights, as Saint Martinian did. He who has ascended to the top of a mountain, to him the city and its walls appear in a small form, and people walking on the ground seem like ants: so to you everything earthly will seem insignificant and trivial, if you ascend to the heights of wisdom." (Chrysostom).

d) Finally, remember the eternal torments and fire of Gehenna, and you, like Saint Martinian, will conquer every temptation. We are conquered by our passions only because we forget about the torments that follow them. Saint Tikhon of Zadonsk speaks thus about the beneficial effect of remembering the eternal torments of Gehenna: “You see a man afflicted with fire, or tormented by fever; or having entered a bathhouse you feel great heat; or you see a furnace blazing with fire. From this fire, come with your mind to the fire of Gehenna, in which unrepentant sinners will suffer endlessly. This reasoning teaches you to propitiate the goodness of God with repentance and tears, in order to be delivered from that misfortune.”

III. May these instructions of the God-wise Holy Fathers serve us as a guide to avoid temptations! 

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