Wednesday, July 21, 2004
Fast Day
Victor of Marseilles
Kellia: 1 Maccabees 1:16-28 Epistle: 1 Corinthians 10:12-22 Gospel: St. Matthew 16:20-24
1 Maccabees 1:16-28, especially vss. 25, 26: "Israel mourned deeply in every
community, rulers and elders groaned...." As we noted yesterday, Antiochus IV Epiphanes aggressively imposed pagan
Greek culture on his kingdom to unify it. After his successful military campaign in Egypt (vss. 17-19), he intensified the
efforts to suppress the Faith of God's ancient people. He plundered the Temple, ordered an end to sacrifices and Sabbath
observance, destroyed copies of the Law, and required Jews to participate in pantheistic worship. Earlier in his reign, he
had replaced the orthodox High Priest, Onias III, with his brother Jason, a man sympathetic to King Antiochus' hellenizing
policy. Then, before the war with Egypt, Menalaus, an associate of Jason, offered the king a handsome price for the High
Priesthood, and Antiochus 'appointed' him as High Priest, a man not even in the lineage of Aaron, but of the tribe of
Benjamin. This was a grave scandal to pious Jews (Lev. 12:10-15).
Observe that the writer of Maccabees does not explain Antiochus' withdrawal from Egypt (1 Mac 1:20) after his successful
campaign there. Actually, the decision was forced on him by a Roman envoy who drew a circle around him in the sand and
exacted his promise to quit Egypt. The Romans were not about to have a Seleucid ruling both Egypt and Mesopotamia.
Understanding Roman power, Antiochus withdrew and came to Jerusalem where with the help of Menalaus he enriched his
royal treasuries by taking "silver and gold, and the costly vessels; he took also the hidden treasures which he found" (vs.
23) from the Temple. Antiochus' "murders" (vs. 24) were carried out among known opponents of Menalaus. His speech
of "great arrogance" (vs. 24) was a royal edict requiring all nationalities of his empire to worship the Greek deities. The
pious, Hasidic Jews felt shame and anger very "deeply in every community" (vs. 25).
For Orthodox Christians, the profound pain and bitter offense which the ancient People of God felt when Antiochus
Epiphanes sacked and desecrated their Temple is entirely understandable. The Temple and its "sanctuary and...the golden
altar, the lampstand for the light, and all its utensils" (vs. 21) were consecrated, set apart, as were the Priests and especially
the High Priest - all being "holy to the Lord" (Ex. 30:1-10). Similarly, our Orthodox churches, icons, sacred vessels,
Priests and the Divine Liturgy are all consecrated and set apart as holy to God Himself. Therefore, all these are treated with
great reverence as means for knowing God.
The awe which the Jews felt and which Orthodox Christians know in relation to holy things, persons, feasts, and practices
derives from the fact that these are tangible means which God uses to disclose Himself to the hearts and minds of the
Faithful. While worship always is reserved for God alone, veneration is natural around holy things used in the worship and
ministry of the Lord. How sad are those who have not opened their hearts to the Living God Who created them nor have
faced His Holy Presence in awe and reverence. As Bishop Kallistos Ware says, "Unless we start out with a feeling of awe
and astonishment - with what is often called a sense of the 'numinous' - we shall make little progress on the Way."
Saddest of all are those who not only do not know God but are determined to inflict their beliefs, ideologies, or false
religions upon the Faithful. History is replete with such antagonists and their desecrations. Two examples which the
Orthodox remember with pain come to mind: the conversion of the Hagia Sophia by the Islamists into a mosque with the
defacing of its icons, and, equally painful to the Faithful, is the memory of the Bolsheviks closing of churches with massive
executions and imprisonment of bishops, clergy, monks, nuns, and devout lay members.
Holy God, Holy Mighty, Holy and Immortal, have mercy on us!
