March: Day 7: Venerable Aimilianos the Roman

 

March: Day 7:
Venerable Aimilianos the Roman
 
(Lessons From His Life:
a. We Must Remember the Last Judgment and
b. Repent of Our Sins)

By Archpriest Grigory Dyachenko

I. The life of the Venerable Aimilianos, whose memory is celebrated today, begins thus. In the city of Rome there lived a man named Victorinus. From his youth he spent his life in sin, but in his old age he came to his senses, remembered the sins of his life and trembled at the terrible judgment of God. He went to a monastery and became a monk, taking the monastic name Aimilianos. Living in the monastery, Aimilianos constantly had in his soul the memory of death, always preparing for the terrible judgment of God, as if to give an answer for his sins on the day of trial, and was constantly in fear of the torments of Gehenna. Remembering death and preparing for God's judgment, he led a life of fasting, humility and hardworking. All the monks were amazed at his great exploits and tried to imitate his life. They saw him every day exhausted from hunger and thirst, falling to the ground and tormenting his body for the salvation of his soul.

The monastery that Venerable Aimilianos chose for himself was on a high mountain. On one side of the mountain there was a cave where Venerable Aimilianos loved to retire for prayer. There he prayed to the Lord with tears all night. Noticing Venerable Aimilianos’ absence at night, the abbot of the monastery once went after him, wanting to know why the monk went to the cave. After some time, a heavenly light suddenly covered the entire mountain, and the abbot saw Venerable Aimilianos standing in the cave with his hands outstretched to heaven, in fervent prayer to the Lord, and heard a voice: “Aimilianos! Your sins are forgiven you!” The abbot hurried to the monastery in fear. After Matins, in front of all the monks, he asked Venerable Aimilianos: “Brother! Where were you last night?” Venerable Aimilianos answered, “I slept all night in the monastery.” But when the abbot forced him to tell the truth, he did not conceal the mercy of God, which the Lord shows to truly repentant sinners, and told the brethren the secret of how the heavenly light and voice descended upon him from the throne of God's mercy. Then the abbot said to the brethren: "Listen, my dear brethren, the Almighty God could have silently forgiven the sins of this brother, but He sent him obvious mercy in order to arouse our hearts to repentance."

II. Christian brethren! Following the example of Venerable Aimilianos, we all must always remember God’s judgment.

a) He who constantly fears the judgment of the just God does not set his heart on anything earthly, for he knows that everything earthly, no matter how dear, remains on earth, will be destroyed and decay. If he, like the Venerable Aimilianos, does not renounce the world and its earthly goods entirely, then in any case he will not apply his heart to them and will begin to generously give charity to the construction and splendor of the holy temples of God, to the establishment of schools, shelters, almshouses, to the publication and distribution of good and useful books for the religious and moral education of his neighbors, to help the poor and needy, to care for orphans, and other God-pleasing deeds of Christian philanthropy.

b) Fearing and expecting the terrible judgment of God, let us think about our sins and repent of them with a contrite heart, try to prepare good deeds for our souls, so that, having pleased God, we may be worthy of a peaceful, Christian death, give a good answer at God's judgment, avoid eternal torment and inherit eternal treasures and joys in heaven. That is why many great sinners, remembering their sins and errors, God's terrible judgment and eternal torment, turned to repentance and became great righteous men. And it is truly written in God's word: "Remember your last days," that is, death, God's judgment, eternal torment and eternal life, "and you will never sin" (Sirach 7:36). But our misfortune is that we almost never think about our death and God's judgment. We think and worry mostly about earthly and temporary things, we indulge in various worldly vanities. That is why we sin and are not afraid to sin, and with our sins we prepare eternal torment for ourselves.

c) For Venerable Aimilianos’ sincere repentance and fervent prayers, for his holy labors and exploits, the Lord forgave him all his sins. And now the Lord forgives the sins of all who truly repent and turn to good deeds. He does not want the death of a sinner, but wants everyone to repent, correct themselves, and live (Ezek. 33:11). In His great mercy, He still calls everyone to repentance and is ready to grant everyone unspeakable peace in His heavenly kingdom. He Himself said in His Gospel: "Come unto Me, all you that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest" (Matt. 11:28). Do you wish, Christian, to hear a voice from the throne of God’s mercy, proclaiming to you the forgiveness of sins, as Venerable Aimilianos was deemed worthy to hear? Come with humility to confession to your spiritual father, and here, before the Holy Cross and the Gospel, as before God Himself, bring true and sincere repentance for all your sins, and place in your soul the good intention not to sin in the future, but to live according to the commandments of God. Then the grace of the Lord will enlighten your soul, the shepherd of the church, as a servant of God, will bless you with the Lord's blessing and from the Lord Himself will say to you the joyful word: "I, an unworthy priest, by His authority given to me, forgive and absolve you from all your sins." And what He forgives and absolves us here on earth will be forgiven and absolved for us in heaven by God Himself (Matt. 18:18; John 20:23), and will not be remembered at God's Judgment, at the Second Coming of Christ.

III. Through the prayers of Venerable Aimilianos, may God, with His all-powerful grace, help us to imprint the saving lessons of his life in our souls. Amen. 

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