The Holy Apostle Timothy,
The Holy Monk-Martyr Anastásios
the Persian
Holy Apostle, remember us to our Lord
The Prologue of Ochrid
Saint Timothy was one of the Seventy Apostles. He was born in Lystra in Lycaonia of a Greek father and a Jewish mother. The Apostle Paul praised his mother and grandmother because of their sincere faith. "I yearn to see you again, recalling your tears, so that I may be filled with joy, as I recall your sincere faith that first lived in your grandmother Lois and in your mother Eunice and that, I am confident, lives also in you" (II St Timothy 1: 4-5).
Timothy first met with the great apostle in Lystra and was himself a witness when Paul healed the one lame from birth. Later, Timothy was an almost constant traveling companion of Paul, traveling with him to Achaia, Macedonia, Italy and Spain. Sweet in soul, he was a great zealot for the Faith, and a superb preacher. Timothy contributed much to the spreading and establishing of the Christian Faith. Paul calls him "my own son in the faith." "Paul an apostle of Christ Jesus, Who is our hope, to Timothy, my own son in the Faith: grace, mercy and peace from God our Father and Jesus Christ our Lord" (I St Timothy 1-2).
After Paul's martyrdom, Timothy had St. John the Evangelist as his teacher. But when the Emperor Domentian banished John from Ephesus to the island of Patmos, Timothy remained in Ephesus to serve as bishop. During the time of an idolatrous feast called Katagogium, the pagans, resentful of the Christians, treacherously and in disguise, attacked Timothy and killed him about the year 93 A.D. Later his honorable relics were translated to Constantinople and interred in the Church of the Twelve Apostles along side of the grave of St. Luke the Evangelist and St. Andrew the First-called.
St. Timothy's Skull1945
were discovered in 1945 during restoration to the Basilica Cathedral of Termoli. For many years, the relics had been concealed to keep them safe, so much so that awareness of the saint's resting place was forgotten, even by local residents. The small niche was discovered with a marble tile, reading "here rest Blessed Timothy disciple of the Apostle Paul. The skull had always been kept in a private chapel apart.
2 Saint Timothy 1:3-9 KJV
3 I thank God, whom I serve from my forefathers with pure conscience, that without ceasing I have remembrance of thee in my prayers night and day;
4 Greatly desiring to see thee, being mindful of thy tears, that I may be filled with joy;
5 When I call to remembrance the unfeigned faith that is in thee, which dwelt first in thy grandmother Lois, and thy mother Eunice; and I am persuaded that in thee also.
6 Wherefore I put thee in remembrance that thou stir up the gift of God, which is in thee by the putting on of my hands.
7 For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.
8 Be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me his prisoner: but be thou partaker of the afflictions of the gospel according to the power of God;
9 Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began,
Saint Matthew 10:32-33, 37-38, 19:27-30 KJV
32 Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven.33 But whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven.
37 He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.
38 And he that taketh not his cross, and followeth after me, is not worthy of me.
27 Then answered Peter and said unto him, Behold, we have forsaken all, and followed thee; what shall we have therefore?
28 And Jesus said unto them, Verily I say unto you, That ye which have followed me, in the regeneration when the Son of man shall sit in the throne of his glory, ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.
29 And every one that hath forsaken houses, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my name's sake, shall receive an hundredfold, and shall inherit everlasting life.
30 But many that are first shall be last; and the last shall be first.
Humility and the Love
of
One's Enemies
of
One's Enemies
 |
Saint Silouan the Athonite |
If we view the entire two-thousand-year history of Christianity, we can see the endless wealth of achievements of Christian culture. Enormous libraries, filled with the great works of human minds and spirits. A great number of academies, universities, institutes, where hundreds of thousands of young people approach the banks of this great ocean, sometimes with baited breath and pounding hearts, thankful for the fortune and joy given to them, in other cases with a burning enthusiasm, so that they feel no need to sleep or care for themselves, and drink greedily of the living waters of wisdom. Tens of thousands of beautiful temples, magnificent creations of human genius. Uncounted precious creations of other forms of art: music, art, sculpture, poetry. And much else besides. And the Elder ignores this and sees only one thing: humility and love of one’s enemies — this is all there is.
As wise and learned and fine-looking as a person may be, if he does not love his enemies, i.e. any other person, he cannot reach God. And the opposite is also true, however simple a person may be, and poor and ignorant, but if he carries within himself that love, then "he is with God and God is with him."
The Elder maintained that it was impossible to love one’s enemies outside of the One True God. The carrier of such love is a participant in eternal life, and he carries within himself an undeniable witness of this. He is the abode of the Holy Spirit, and knows the Father and the Son through the Holy Spirit, knows them with a true and life-giving knowledge, and in the Holy Spirit he is a brother and friend of Jesus Christ, he is the son of God, and close to God in grace.
 |
The Lord condensed all the law and prophets into two brief commandments (St Matthew 22:40). And during the Mystical Supper, before His path to death on the cross, said to the Apostles, "There is no greater love but that a man lay down his life for his friends," adding, "You are My friends... I call you friends because I have told you all that I have heard from My Father" (St John 15:13-15). Thus in these few words was said everything. And without them all the laws, prophets, cultures, are nothing.
In order to remain in the love of God, it is necessary that anger and "hate" be multiplied to their limits, but they must be directed at the sin that lives inside me, at the evil that acts within me, within me, not within my brother.
All the energy of the struggle with cosmic evil is contained in the deep heart of the Christian, even as externally he — as Christ commanded — "must not resist evil" (St Matthew 5:39).
Elder Silouan walked the earth, labored with his hands, and lived among people as a simple human, but nobody except God ever knew him.
Holy Father Silouan - Pray God for us!
No comments:
Post a Comment