The Shepherd, September 2004
THE COMING MONTH, 2
On 3rd / 16th September, we celebrate the dedication festival of our church Saint Edward the Martyr here twenty years ago in 1984. For that reason we will keep the feast with a Vigil Service on Wednesday 15th September, and the Divine Liturgy with the Lesser Blessing of Waters on the Saint’s day itself, the 16th, praying that through his intercessions our life here and our work here may be blessed, protected and granted increase, as through the mercies of God it has been for the past two decades and more. All who attend are also invited to join us for a buffet breakfast after the Liturgy.
On the same day as St Edward, the Church commemorates the Holy Hieromartyr Anthimus of Nicomedia, although because it is our dedication feast here his service will not be chanted. St Anthimus was brought up from childhood as a Christian, and took up the ascetical life. In time he was elected Bishop of Nicomedia, and was such through a period of the most bloody persecution for the Christians. He was Bishop during the reigns of in infamous Emperors, Diocletian and Maximian. It was during his episcopate that the Twenty-Thousand Martyrs of Nicomedia, members of his flock, were burned to death in their church while celebrating the Lord’s Nativity (feastday 28th December). They were not the only Christians in that region to suffer and die for their Faith during this most horrible period. St Anthimus withdrew to a village, Omana, outside the city, not because he feared death for Christ’s sake, but so that he could strengthen his spiritual children in their contest and continue to nurture the flock entrusted to his care. However, one of his letters of encouragement to the Christians in gaol fell into the hands of the authorities and he was tracked down. The Emperor sent soldiers to arrest the holy hierarch. He, discerning that the time of his martyric contest had come, went out to meet them and invited them into his house and offered them hospitality, before revealing to them that he was the man they had come to arrest. When they learned of this fact, the soldiers, who had been touched by his kindness, urged him to hide and said that they would report that they had not been able to apprehend him. Anthimus, however, would not allow them to lie, and said it would hinder God’s purpose. He insisted that they fulfil their duty. On the way back to the city, he took the opportunity to instruct the soldiers in the Christian Faith and baptised them. Then he was handed over to the Emperor, was put to torture and finally beheaded with an axe, so gaining his victor’s wreath.
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A Short Extract from “Deification as the Purpose of Man’s Life”
WHEN we go to church to attend the holy Liturgy and meet there people who do not pay attention to the divine Liturgy and who in fact talk to each other, causing distraction, a reasonable thought passes through our mind. This thought is: “What is it that I actually gain from coming to church? Would it not be better if I stayed at home where I would have more peace and comfort for prayer?” We, however, must prudently contradict this evil thought: “I may have more external peace at home but I will not have God’s Grace to deify and sanctify me. I will not have Christ who is present in His Church nor will I have His Holy Body and His precious Blood which are found in His Holy Church, on the Holy Table. I will not partake in the Last Supper of the Holy Liturgy. Iwill be severed from my brethren in Christ who - together with me - compose Christ’s body.” Consequently, whatever happens, we will not go out of the church, for only within it do we find the path to deification.
--Archimandrite George, Abbot of the Holy Monastery
of St Gregory on Mount Athos.
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