Hieromonk Athanasius (Deryugin)
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit!
Today’s feast, the Day of the Forty Martyrs of Sebaste, always falls in Lent and is, in a sense, an occasion for special joy during this Lenten season. In one of the hymns of Vespers, we heard the words: “The Forty Martyrs sanctify the forty days of Lent,” that is, they give us joy in the days of Lent. In Russia this festival is celebrated especially solemnly, and when it falls on a Saturday, the special commemoration of the departed is not even performed. Some folk customs are also associated with this day—for example, baking forty cookies in the shape of larks. There are various versions as to why this feast is so popular in our country. It is believed that the bishop who baptized Russia in the tenth century came from Sebaste in what is now Turkey, where the Forty Martyrs suffered. There are other traditions as well. Be that as it may, this day is a special favorite for all of us Orthodox Christians and religious people.
We know the names of these Forty Martyrs—they are in the Church calendars. But in addition to their names and biographies, there is another testimony that has come down to us from these saints—this is the “Testament of the Forty Martyrs of Sebaste.” It has been published, and you can find it. The martyrs wrote their “Testament” when they were preparing for their martyrdom.
As we read this “Testament”, I would like to draw special attention to the fact that it also lists the names of the Forty Martyrs, but one of these names is missing in our calendars. We all know the Lives of these saints, and we know that one of them, one of those who was condemned to death along with the other thirty-nine, could not endure, escaped from the place of martyrdom, from this lake, and eventually died an ignominious death. According to the “Testament” of the Forty Martyrs, at first this one was the most important of them: he was their leader and, of course, together with all the others expressed the desire and willingness to suffer for Christ; but it all ended so disgracefully and sadly. And another martyr—whose name now stands last among these forty, Martyr Aglaius—on the contrary, from a guard, from a tormentor whose task had been to guard these martyrs, became one of them. It is a very important moment, which, on the one hand, reminds us all of how precarious our position is, and on the other hand, of how easily people who seem to be far from God can become very close to Him.
In one way or another, even at the level of our thoughts, it sometimes seems to us that we are better than others—especially since we believe in God, go to church and participate in Church sacraments. And, of course, in our mind we tend to exalt ourselves over those who do not live this way. And in this regard the story of the Forty Martyrs of Sebaste should bring us down to earth and remind us that we can easily lose everything we have if we are negligent and if we fail to keep the grace that the Lord has given us and the zeal for God that, by the mercy of God, each one of us has at least to some extent—as happened to one of these Forty Martyrs, who started with everybody else and ended his life so ignominiously. And the same applies to people who are now far from God. Like Martyr Aglaius, anyone can convert to God and in an instant become much closer to Him than us, who regularly participate in Church services, attend church and try to lead a Christian life.
Let us keep this in mind, and looking at the example of the Forty Martyrs, let us keep ourselves in proper Christian fear and the awareness that at any second we may stumble and fall unless we are sustained by the grace of God. Let us pray to the Forty Martyrs of Sebaste that the Lord may give us such firmness as they had. All our sufferings are nothing compared to what these martyrs endured, compared to standing on a frozen lake on a bitter winter night, with all the torments they endured until they froze to death. Let us always pray to them and, beholding their martyric labors, try to be watchful and always invoke God’s help, without which we will definitely not be able to remain Christians. And then, God willing, we, like these Forty Martyrs, will receive crowns from Heaven, and receive a reward in the Heavenly Kingdom not according to our merits, but by the grace of God.
Amen.
