The Shepherd, August 2008
THE COMING MONTH
THE LAST MONTH of the Church Year, August, brings festivals of glory. In the first, the Transfiguration, we see the glory of the Divinity of our Saviour shining forth from His human form, and in the second, the Dormition, we see that glory shared by one who had become a god by grace, the Most Holy Theotokos, the Mother of God. Thus at the end of the year we see the end of our calling. Yet how seldom do we have this end in view! Often we are neglectful of our religious calling. Or we might ascend a step or two on the ladder and see our rôle as simply fulfilling certain religious requirements. Perhaps we go a little higher and see the need to engage in a moral struggle so that we live righteously. Annually by the cerebration of these two festivals, the Church calls us to look up and se that we are called to a greater glory.
At the end of the month, although it is not numbered among the Twelve Great Feasts, we also have the feast of the Beheading of St John the Baptist, and so we are reminded that we can only begin to aspire to attain that greater glory, by putting off the delights of this world (the partying of Herod and Herodias) and its sinfulness (their adultery and drunkenness), and by becoming confessors in word and deed, as did the Forerunner, of the righteousness of Christ. Such a course is inevitably accompanied by suffering. In the Baptist’s case by being hated, a victim of spite, by imprisonment, by being under-valued and mocked (his life was worth less to Herod, who nonetheless had heeded his advice on occasion, than the entertainment given by a licentious girl and the approbation of a party of drunken officials), and in the end by death. This sobering thought should inspire us to make renewed efforts in the Coming Year, “esteeming,” as the holy Apostle Paul says, “the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt” (Heb. 11:26), as did Joseph the All-Comely of old, as did the Baptist himself. and all the Saints.
Among the Saints celebrated in August, we have the Holy Martyrs Adrian and Natalia and those with them (26th August / 8th September). When they were martyred, Adrian and Natalia had been married for only just over a year. Adrian was a pagan, but his young wife was secretly a Christian. During the reign of the impious Emperor Maximian and the persecution of the Christians raised by him, twenty-three Christians were found hiding and were arrested and taken in for interrogation. Adrian’s duty it was to supervise the cross examination, but he was touched by the martyrs’ steadfastness, how peaceful and meek they appeared even when threatened with terrible tortures, and so he began to ask them about their hope and about their Faith. They told him of the blessedness of the elect in the heavens, and hearing this Adrian suddenly turned to the scribe recording the proceedings, and ordered him, “Put my name down among the Christians.” When the Emperor heard this, he thought Adrian had lost his senses, but on questioning him he came to the conclusion that he would not be shaken. Natalia rejoiced exceedingly to hear of her husband’s conversion, and came to visit him in prison, and encouraged him when he was put to torture. Adrian and the twenty-three were eventually put to death by having their limbs broken by hammers, and so received the crowns of martyrdom. Natalia collected their sacred remains and gave them reverent burial. Some time later, Adrian appeared to her, bathed in heavenly glory, and called her to come and enjoy that same glory, and she peacefully gave her soul into the hands of her Saviour, being re-united to her young husband.
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