Monday, July 26, 2004
Venerable Virgin-Martyr Paraskeva of Rome
Kellia: 1 Maccabees 2:31-48 Epistle: 1 Corinthians 11:31-12:6 Gospel: St. Matthew 18:1-11
1 Maccabees. 2:31-48, especially vs. 41: "So they made this decision that day:
'Let us fight against every man who comes to attack us on the sabbath day; let us not all die as our brethren died in their
hiding places.'" After receiving the Holy Gifts in the Divine Liturgy, the Faithful respond to the ineffable glories that have
been imparted from the Chalice with the singing of this hymn: "We have see the true light, we have received the heavenly
Spirit; we have found the true Faith, worshiping the undivided Trinity: for He hath saved us." What, however, shall we say
and what are we to do in those moments when the Holy Orthodox Faith itself becomes the focus of attack by dark lies, the
spirits of evil, and the forces of false religion which aim to extinguish the rightful worship of God?
The question is neither idle nor theoretical, as events in the two thousand years of Orthodox history make abundantly clear.
Like those in today's reading who "went down to the hiding places in the wilderness" (vs. 31), many, in the spirit of the
Lord, have sought to avoid direct confrontation with religious repression by withdrawal into the wilderness places and by
passive resistance. In the annals of the martyrs, there are countless examples of those who simply waited for the enemies of
truth to come and kill them without answer or the hurling of a stone or the blockading of their hiding places. Abba Moses,
whose Feast Day falls on the 28th of this month, foresaw an assault of barbarians against his monastery and urged his
disciples to flee, but he and six who stayed with him were run through when the raiding party descended on them.
A massive civil war was fought across the length and breadth of the Russian Empire during the earliest days of the
Bolshevik rise to power, for many of the Russian Faithful understood clearly the intentions of the militant revolutionary
government with respect to the Church and the Holy Faith. Their perception was quite correct, for, in the decades
following the defeat of the White Russian armies, murderous repression and systematic violence were used in an attempt to
stamp out the Faith, .
In the case of the resistance to Antiochus IV Epiphanes' efforts to paganize them, the vastly outnumbered Jews eventually
prevailed. The tiny region of Judah which had lived quietly under its former pagan Greek overlords within the Ptolemaic
empire, when faced with the blunt new policy of death or armed revolt imposed by the new Seleucid government, chose to
take up arms and resist. Choices under such conditions are always complex and difficult as the options of withdrawal and
hiding are no longer feasible. Take the case of those described in today's reading who were committed to keeping the
terms of the Old Covenant with its Divine ordinance given through Moses: "The Lord has given you the sabbath,
therefore...let no man go out of his place on the seventh day" (Ex. 16:29). A thousand died in "innocence" (1 Mac.
2:37,38).
Seeing what had happened to their brethren who were scrupulously faithful to the Divine Law, the Hasidim (called in the
text by the Greek form of the word, "Hasideans") chose to join Mattathias and his sons in armed revolt (vs. 42). Having
crossed the line from passive resistance to fighting "willingly for the Law" (vs. 42), they "organized an army, and struck
down sinners in their anger and lawless men in their wrath" (vs. 44). The pain of their decisions, "to violate the sabbath to
preserve the sabbath," set the stage for the violence that later was targeted against the Lord Jesus for healing on the sabbath
and asserting that "The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath" and that "the Son of Man is...Lord of the
Sabbath" (Mk. 2:27,28).
The Church is revealed to all as a brilliantly lit heaven, leading the Faithful in the way of light. Standing therein, we cry
aloud. Make firm the foundation of this house, O Lord.