Homilies and Sermons 19.0–19.8

On the holy Forty Martyrs.

[1] What satiety of the memory of martyrs could there be for one who loves the martyrs? For honor shown to the good among our fellow servants is a proof of goodwill toward our common Master. It is clear that one who welcomes brave men will not fall short of imitating them in like times. Call the one who bore witness blessed with all your heart, so that you may become a martyr by your will, and depart, without persecution, without fire, without whips, counted worthy of the same rewards as they. We have set before us to admire not one, nor two only, nor does the number of those we call blessed go only as far as ten; but forty men, having as it were one soul in divided bodies, showed in one harmony and concord of faith one endurance of the terrors and one steadfastness for the truth. All were alike, equal in will, equal in contest; therefore they were also counted worthy of crowns of glory of equal honor. What speech, then, could reach their worth? Not even forty tongues would suffice to hymn the virtue of so many men. Indeed, even if the one admired were only one, he would suffice to overpower the power of our words; how much more so great a multitude, a military phalanx, a body hard to fight, equally unconquered in wars and unapproachable in praises.

[2] Come, then, bringing them into the midst through remembrance, let us make the benefit from them common to those present, [setting out] the men's feats of valor as in a painting. For the brave deeds of wars too are adorned in words by writers and [depicted] on panels by painters, and both have roused many to courage. For what the word of history presents through hearing, painting silently shows through imitation. So let us too remind those present of the men's virtue, and, bringing their deeds as it were before their eyes, move to imitation those who are nobler and nearer to them in purpose. For this is the encomium of martyrs: the exhortation of those assembled to virtue. For words about the saints do not consent to be slaves to the laws of encomia. Those who praise take the starting points of their praises from the resources of the world; but how can anything in the world provide a resource for distinction to those to whom the world has been crucified? The saints did not have one homeland: one had set out from one place, another from another. What then? Shall we call them men without a city, or citizens of the inhabited world? For as in contributions to a common meal what each brings becomes common to all, so with these blessed ones the homeland of each is common to all, and all are from everywhere, giving one another their homelands in exchange. Rather, why must we go about their homelands lying on the ground, when we can think of the city that is now theirs? The city of the martyrs is the city of God, whose craftsman and builder is God, the Jerusalem above, the free, the mother of Paul and of those like him. Their human family was one from one place, another from another; but the spiritual family is one for all. For their common father is God, and all are brothers, not born of one man and one woman, but brought by the adoption of the Spirit into the concord of love … great [company] of those who from of old have glorified the Lord, not gathered one by one, but transferred all together. What was the manner of their transfer? These men, surpassing all their contemporaries in size of body, prime of age, and strength, were assigned to serve in the army lists; and through their experience of war and courage of soul they already held the first honors from the emperors, being renowned among all for their valor.

[3] When that godless and impious proclamation was published, that Christ was not to be confessed, or else dangers … the anger of the judges was great and savage, … and tricks were stitched together against them, and varied kinds of torture were devised, and those who inflicted the outrages were inexorable; the fire was ready, the sword sharpened, the cross fixed; the pit, the wheel, the whips. Some fled, some gave in, some wavered. Some were struck with terror at the mere threat, before the trial; others grew dizzy when they came near the terrors; others entered the contests but then could not last to the end of the labors, and gave up somewhere in the middle of the contest, and, like those storm-tossed at sea, made shipwreck of the cargo of endurance they already had. Then these unconquered and noble soldiers of Christ came forward into the midst, and when the governor displayed the emperor's letters and demanded obedience, with free voice, boldly and bravely, not cowering at anything they saw nor terrified by the threats, they proclaimed themselves Christians. O blessed tongues, which uttered that sacred word! The air received it and was sanctified; angels heard it and applauded; the devil with the demons was wounded; and the Lord in heaven …

[4] Each of them, then, coming forward into the midst, said, “I am a Christian.” And as in the stadiums those passing in for the contest declare their names together and go over to the place of combat, so then these too, casting off the names given them at birth, each called himself after the common Savior. And all did this, each joining himself to the one before. So there came to be one name for all: no longer this one or that one, but all were proclaimed Christians. What, then, did the ruler do? For he was clever and versatile, able [to soften] by flattery and turn aside by threats. First he tried to bewitch them with flatteries, attempting to loosen the tension of their piety: “Do not betray your youth, nor exchange this sweet life for an untimely death. It is absurd for men accustomed to excel in wars to die the death of criminals.” Besides this he promised money, and some he gave; honors from the emperor and distributions of dignities; and he besieged them with countless contrivances. When they did not yield to this attempt, he went over to the other kind of device: he held out blows and deaths and the trial of incurable punishments. Such were his words; and what were the martyrs'? “Why,” they say, “do you entice us, God-fighter, to depart from the living God and serve destructive demons, holding out to us your good things? What do you give that is worth as much as what you are eager to take away? I hate a gift that procures loss; I do not accept an honor that is the mother of dishonor. You give money that stays behind, glory that withers. You make me known to the emperor, but you estrange me from the true King. Why do you pettily hold out a few of the things of the world? The whole world has been despised by us. The things that are seen are not worth as much as the hope we long for. Do you see this heaven, how beautiful it is to look at, how great? And the earth, how vast? And the wonders in it? None of these equals the blessedness of the righteous. For these pass away, but ours remain. I desire one gift, the crown of righteousness; I am stirred by one glory, that in the kingdom of heaven. I am ambitious for the honor above; I fear the punishment in Gehenna. That fire is fearful to me; but the one you threaten is a fellow servant; it knows how to respect those who despise idols. I reckon your blows as the arrows of children. For you strike a body, which, if it holds out longer, is more splendidly crowned, and if it gives up sooner, goes off released from such violent judges, who, having received the service of our bodies, strive to rule over our souls too; who, if you are not preferred even to our God, are angry as if you had suffered the utmost outrage from us, and hold out these fearful punishments, bringing piety as a charge against us. But you will not meet cowards, nor lovers of life, nor men easily terrified, where the love of God is concerned. We are ready to be put on the wheel, racked, burned, and every kind of torture …

[5] When that boastful barbarian heard these things, unable to bear the men's boldness and boiling over with anger, he considered what device he might find to prepare for them a death both long and bitter. He found a device; and see how harsh it was. Observing the nature of the country, that it is cold, and the season of the year, that it was winter, he watched for a night on which … to die freezing under the open sky in the middle of the city. You who have experienced winter know well how unbearable this kind of torture is. For it cannot be shown to any but those who have examples of what is said stored up from their own experience. A body that has fallen into the cold first becomes all livid, as the blood congeals; then it shakes and seethes, the teeth chattering, the sinews convulsed, and the whole bulk contracting involuntarily. A sharp pain and unspeakable anguish reaches through to the very seats of feeling. Then the extremities die: for the heat, withdrawing from the extremities of the body and fleeing together into the depth, leaves dead the parts it has left, and gives pains to those into which it is crowded, death approaching little by little through the freezing. Then, therefore, they were condemned to spend the night in the open, when the lake around which the city is built, in which the saints contended, had become like a plain for riding horses, the ice having transformed it; and, made into dry land by the frost, [it] safely … the ever-flowing rivers, bound by the ice, stopped their streams; the soft nature of water was changed into the hardness of stones; and sharp blasts of the north wind [drove] every living thing to …

[6] Then, hearing the command (and observe here the men's invincibility), each joyfully threw off even his last tunic and went to the death by cold, urging one another on as if in the plundering of spoils. “We are not taking off a garment,” they say, “but putting off the old man, who is corrupted according to the desires of deceit. We thank you, Lord, that with this garment we cast off sin as well. Since through the serpent we were clothed, through Christ let us be unclothed. Let us not cling to garments, for the sake of the paradise we lost. What shall we render to the Lord? The Lord too was stripped. What great thing is it for a servant to suffer what his Master suffered? Rather, it was we who stripped the Lord himself. For that outrage was the work of soldiers: they stripped him and divided his garments. Let us wipe out by ourselves the charge written against us. Bitter is the winter, but sweet is paradise; painful is the freezing, but pleasant the rest. Let us wait a little, and the bosom … let us take in exchange. Let the foot be burned, that it may dance forever with the angels; let the hand fall off, that it may have boldness to be lifted up to the Master. How many soldiers of ours fell in battle, keeping faith with a perishable king; and shall we not give up this life for faith in the true King? How many have undergone the death of criminals, caught in wrongdoing; and shall we not bear death for righteousness? Let us not turn aside, fellow soldiers; let us not turn our backs to the devil. It is flesh; let us not spare it. Since we must die in any case, let us die that we may live. Let our sacrifice come before you, Lord, and may we be accepted as a living sacrifice, well-pleasing to you, burned as a whole offering in this cold: a fair offering, a new burnt offering, offered whole not by fire but by cold.” Giving one another these exhortations and urging one another on, as if keeping an outpost in war, they passed the night, bearing the present nobly, rejoicing in what they hoped for, laughing at the adversary. There was one … … stadium; forty may we be crowned, O Master. Let not even one be lacking from the number. Honored is the number which you honored by the fast of forty days, through which the law came into the world. Elijah, seeking the Lord in fasting for forty days, obtained the vision.” Such was their prayer. But one of the number, giving way before the terrors, deserted his post and went off, leaving unspeakable grief to the saints. Yet the Lord did not allow their petitions to remain unfulfilled. For the one entrusted with guarding the martyrs, from somewhere nearby … ready to receive any of the soldiers who fled to it. For this too … promising [warmth] to those who were freezing. What their opponents had maliciously devised, finding such a place for the contest, where the readiness of relief would weaken the resolve of the contestants, this showed the endurance of the martyrs as more splendid. For the enduring man is not the one who lacks necessities, but the one who holds out under the terrors amid an abundance of enjoyment.

[7] While they were contending, and the guard was watching for the outcome, he saw a strange sight: certain powers descending from heaven and distributing great gifts to the soldiers, as from a king; and they divided the gifts among all the others, but left one alone without a prize, judging him unworthy of the heavenly honors; and he at once, giving up under the pains, deserted to the enemy. A pitiable sight for the righteous: the soldier a fugitive, the champion a captive, Christ's sheep caught by a beast. And what is more pitiable, he both missed eternal life and did not even enjoy this one, for his flesh at once dissolved in the onset of the heat. So the lover of life fell, having transgressed in vain; but the executioner, when he saw him turn aside and run off to the bath, put himself in the deserter's place, and, throwing off his clothing, mingled with the naked men, crying out the same cry as the saints: “I am a Christian.” Astonishing those present by the suddenness of the change, he filled up the number, and consoled the grief over the one who had grown soft by adding himself, imitating those in a battle line who, when the man in the front rank falls, at once fill up the phalanx, so that their locked shields may not be broken by the gap. Such a thing he too did. He saw the heavenly wonders, he recognized … the martyrs. He renewed the story of the disciples: Judas went away, and Matthias was brought in instead. He became an imitator of Paul, yesterday a persecutor, today preaching the gospel. He too had his call from above, “not from men, nor through man.” He believed in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ; he was baptized into him, not by another, but by his own faith; not in water, but in his own blood.

[8] And so, as day began, still breathing, they were handed over to the fire, and the remains from the fire were thrown into the river, so that the contest of the blessed ones passed through the whole creation. On earth they contended, in the air they endured, to the fire they were handed over, the water received them. Theirs is the word: “We went through fire and water, and you brought us out into refreshment.” These are they who have taken possession of our country, like a continuous line of towers providing security against the incursions of enemies; not shutting themselves up in one place, but already lodged as guests in many places, and adorning many homelands. And the marvel is that they do not visit those who receive them divided one by one, but dance in union, mingled with one another. O the wonder! They neither fall short in number nor admit any increase. If you divide them among a hundred, they do not exceed their own number; if you gather them into one, they remain forty even so, after the nature of fire. For fire passes over to the one who kindles from it, and is whole with the one who has it; so too the forty are all together, and all are with each. O abundant beneficence, grace that is not spent! A ready help for Christians, a church of martyrs, an army of trophy-bearers, a choir of those who give glory. How much would you have toiled to find somewhere one … forty, sending up a harmonious prayer. “Where two or three are gathered in the name of the Lord, there he is in their midst.” Where there are forty, who doubts the presence of God? The one in distress flees to the forty, the one who rejoices runs to them: the one to find release from his difficulties, the other that his better state may be preserved for him. Here a pious woman is found praying for her children, asking the return of her husband who is abroad, the recovery of one who is sick. Let your petitions be made with the martyrs. Let the young imitate those of their own age; let fathers pray to be fathers of such sons; let mothers be taught the story of a good mother. The mother of one of those blessed men, seeing the others already perfected by the cold, while her own son was still breathing through his strength and endurance of the terrors, and the executioners were leaving him behind as one who might still change his mind, lifted him with her own hands and placed him on the cart on which the rest lay together being taken to the pyre: truly a martyr's mother. For she shed no ignoble tear, nor uttered anything low and unworthy of the moment, but said, “Go, my child, on the good journey with those of your age, with your comrades; do not be left out of the dance; do not appear before the Master after the others.” Truly a good shoot from a good root. The noble mother showed that she had nourished him with the doctrines of piety rather than with milk. And he, so nurtured, was so escorted by a pious mother; but the devil went away put to shame. For having stirred up the whole creation against them, he found everything defeated by the men's virtue: a night of bitter wind, a wintry homeland, the season of the year, the nakedness of their bodies. O holy choir! O sacred band! O unbroken line of shields! O common guardians of the human race, good partners in our cares, fellow workers in our prayer, flowers of the churches! The earth has not hidden you, but heaven has received you; the gates of paradise were opened to you. A sight worthy of the army of angels, worthy of patriarchs, prophets, and the righteous: men in the very flower of youth, despising life, loving the Lord above parents, above children. In the very prime of their age … they disdained the temporary life, that they might glorify God in their members; becoming a spectacle to the world, to angels, and to men, they raised up the fallen, … the doubtful, and doubled the desire of the pious. All set up one trophy for piety, and were adorned with one crown of righteousness, in Christ Jesus our Lord, to whom be the glory and the power to the ages of ages. Amen.