February: Day 17: Holy Great Martyr Theodore the Tiro

February: Day 17:
Holy Great Martyr Theodore the Tiro
 
(Observing the Fast is Very Important)

By Archpriest Grigory Dyachenko

I. After the death of the Holy and Equal-to-the-Apostles Constantine the Great, who, as is well known, stopped all persecution of Christians and elevated the faith in Jesus Christ Crucified to the throne of the Caesars, the Roman Empire, and after several short successions, it fell to one of his relatives, Julian. As blessed Constantine was a chosen vessel of grace, so unfortunate Julian proved to be an obvious vessel of destruction and rejection. One of the first acts of his dark reign was that he rejected Christ and the gospel, and turned to the overthrown pagan idols. He did not initiate an open persecution of Christians, not out of pity for them, but out of confidence in its futility; instead, a cunning secret persecution immediately began. The apostate now degraded Christians from honors and dignity, as if contrary to their humility; then he deprived them of their property and wealth, as if incompatible with the poverty of the Gospel; then he forbade them to study science, under the pretext that everything necessary for Christians was contained in their Gospel; then he called heretics from prison, so that with their intrigues he could confuse the Church of Christ.

Among these evil devices, Julian devised the following: the Christian forty day fast were approaching. Knowing with what purity and abstinence the Christians spent it, the apostate summoned the governor of Constantinople and ordered him to secretly remove from the marketplace all ordinary food for the following days, and to offer only that which had already been sacrificed to idols and therefore was considered defiled by Christians. No one knew of the plan, therefore many thousands of souls on the most holy days would be defiled by tasting that which had been mixed (as Julian ordered) with blood sacrificed to idols. This would be a matter of regret for them for the rest of their lives; but for Julian, or rather for Satan who inspired him, it would be a joy and great triumph. The same apostate, after fulfilling his plan, would not fail to proclaim to the whole world that the followers of Jesus of Nazareth (as he called the Lord) during their very fast ate food sacrificed to idols.

But He Who, like the apple of His eye, guards the simple and humble souls and always puts to shame the wise in their wiles, did not allow the enemy's plan to be accomplished even now. In the middle of the night, but not in a dream, a certain radiant warrior suddenly appeared to the then Archbishop of Constantinople and told him to immediately gather his spiritual flock, inform them of the threatening danger, with the order not to buy anything in the marketplace in the coming days. "How will so many people feed themselves these days," the Saint asked, for many have nothing in their homes? "With koliva (or boiled wheat)," the one who appeared answered, "which you, having found to be in possession by some, must distribute to everyone." "Who are you," the Archbishop asked, "knowing all things and caring in this way for your brethren?" “The martyr of Christ Theodore,” answered the one who appeared, that is, this was that holy ascetic of Christ who, being a warrior many years before this, during the reign of the wicked Maximian, suffered many terrible torments for the name of Christ and thus, after his martyric death, earned for himself the name of Great Martyr in the Church of Christ.

The Saint immediately carried out the command from above, and the Christians of Constantinople were preserved from desecration; while the wicked Julian, seeing that his plan had been destroyed, ordered that the former freedom be granted to the markets.

II. Let us give thanks to the Lord Jesus, Who never leaves His faithful servants without help and puts to shame the foolish opponents of the Gospel and the Holy Church. Let us glorify the memory of the Holy Great Martyr, who by his miraculous appearance turned away temptation and sorrow from the Church of Constantinople. In the meantime, let us take a lesson for ourselves from here.

What is the lesson? That the observance of the holy fast is a very important thing. For if fasting could be disregarded as a thing of indifference or insignificance, then they would not have been so busy with it in heaven, and the Holy Great Martyr would not have left the bright abodes of the Heavenly Father only to point out to his earthly brethren the means of avoiding breaking the fast. Such appearances of saints in our world occur for no other reason than the most important. How then, after this, do some dare to think and say that it makes no difference whether to fast or not to fast? No, to fast means to be a humble and obedient son of the Holy Church; and not to fast means to be infected with freethinking, self-will and the spirit of contempt. To fast means to curb one's sensuality, to control one's desires; and not to fast means to be a slave to the flesh, to be a captive to one's belly. To fast means to care for the salvation of one's soul, to seek freedom for one's spirit, to strive in the footsteps of the angels; and not to fast means to be like the dumb, who do not know fasting, to be cold to prayer and to the cleansing of one's soul from lusts. To fast means to repent of sins, to despise worldly pleasures, to prepare for eternity; and not to fast means to wallow in earthly things, to give oneself up to perishable things, to walk the broad path that leads to destruction.

A minor, an old man, a feeble person, a traveler, a soldier may still have reasons for excuse when they do not fast; for here there is more or less need and necessity; but we, as the Apostle says, are called to freedom, only that this freedom should not be for guilt or indulgence of the flesh (Gal. 5:13). But whoever can abstain from foods prohibited by fasting and does not abstain, sins both against the Church and against himself, for the fast established by Her is needed not for Her, but for us, since it is one of the most powerful means of curbing our sensuality, from the predominance over us of which the pure and holy in us perishes.

III. If after all this the evil flesh were to approach you with a proposal to lay down the holy fast, under some pretext, then remember Saint Theodore and the miracle he performed, and say to it: "Go and ask permission from the Great Martyr, and without this I cannot break the holy fast." Amen. 

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