March: Day 19:
Saints Chrysanthos and Daria
(On the Beneficial Influence of the Word of God on the Soul)
By Archpriest Grigory Dyachenko
Saints Chrysanthos and Daria
(On the Beneficial Influence of the Word of God on the Soul)
By Archpriest Grigory Dyachenko
I. A certain renowned man, named Polemonos, moved from Alexandria to Rome in order to give a better upbringing and education to his only son, later the Holy Martyr Chrysanthos, whose memory is celebrated today. The most famous teachers in the sciences were invited, and Chrysanthos, a gifted and diligent youth, made rapid progress in them. One day, among various books, Chrysanthos found the sacred books of the New Testament. In his curiosity, he read them with intense attention. The high truths of Christian morality captivated his heart. He regretted that he did not know about such a treasure of knowledge for so long! Having tasted the sweet, he no longer wanted the bitter, so he left the pagan teachers-philosophers and their teachings, and found himself a mentor in the person of the Presbyter Karpophoros. Having come to believe in Jesus Christ, he received Holy Baptism. A moral revolution had taken place.
Chrysanthos soon embarked on the open feat of confessing Christianity before unbelievers and triumphantly completing it to the end. He courageously endured imprisonment and hunger in prison, where his pagan father threw him. Brought out of prison, he resisted the temptations of luxury and various pleasures; surrounded by beautiful girls, he overcame the most tempting seduction for youth. Finally, his father chose a bride for him - intelligent, educated, beautiful in appearance, named Daria, a zealous pagan, and placed his primary hopes on her in seducing his son. Chrysanthos convinced Daria to prefer the holy faith to paganism, virginity to marriage; and both finally - virgins and confessors - were honored to receive the crown of martyrs. They were buried alive in the ground.
II. Where do all these wonderful feats have their beginning?
a) In the word of God! Its power enlightened the mind of Chrysanthos with the light of true knowledge of God and warmed his heart with love for piety. It opened the door for him from the realm of darkness and sin to spiritual rebirth and the kingdom of heaven; it showed him the insignificance of paganism and the immeasurable superiority of the Christian faith; it convinced him of the joyful truth that beyond this temporary, earthly life, full of exhausting labors, illnesses and all kinds of sorrows, there is an eternal, heavenly afterlife, so blessed for righteous Christians that no human word can describe all the joys and beauty of their heavenly abode. Together with this, it is the foundational word of God that showed him that eternal, joyless, terrible torment awaits all who do not believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and do not do His holy will, that one should not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul, which is immortal and so precious in the eyes of God that the death of the Son of God was required for its deliverance from sin, the curse, and death.
b) You too, beloved brethren, can feel such an all-conquering power of the word of God if you read it with reverence, as the living word of God Himself, with full faith and trust that it is the incorruptible seed of a grace-filled life and daily bread that nourishes the spirit for growth and strengthening in a good life, that it is a spiritual sword for repelling passions, for cleansing from sinful impurities, for conquering the devil and all his wiles, that it is the best means of consoling a person amid the sorrows of his earthly and quickly passing life. And for this most precious treasure there is no need to cross seas or undertake long journeys; it can and should be with you always and everywhere.
III. Brethren! Let us actively fulfill the commandment of the Apostle Paul: "Give attention to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine... Continue in them, for in doing this you will save both yourself and those who hear you" (1 Tim. 4:13, 16). Let the example of the Holy Martyrs Chrysanthos and Daria convince us of this now.
Source: A Complete Annual Cycle of Short Teachings, Composed for Each Day of the Year. Translated by John Sanidopoulos.
