The Translation of the Relics of St. John Chrysostom

January 27, 2013 is the feast of the translation of the relics of St. John Chrysostom from the place of his exile and death back to Constantinople in 438 A.D..

For this particular feast there were extra readings from the Old Testament at Vespers the night before.  There was something about the third reading in particular which stood out to me.  It was from the Wisdom of Solomon (selections from Proverbs and the Wisdom of Solomon actually).

(Prov. 29:2; Wis. 4:1, 14; 6:11, 17-18, 21-23; 7:15-16, 21-22, 26-27, 29; 10:9-10, 12; 7:30; 1:8; 2:1, 10-17, 19-22; 15:1; 16:13; Prov. 3:34)

"When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice; but when the wicked rule, the people groan. Better than this is childlessness with virtue, for in the memory of virtue is immortality, because it is known both by God and by men. For his soul was pleasing to the Lord; therefore He took him quickly from the midst of wickedness. Therefore, set your desire on my words; long for them, and you will be instructed. The beginning of wisdom is the most sincere desire for instruction, and concern for instruction is love of her, and love of her is the keeping of her laws, and giving heed to her laws is assurance of immortality. Therefore, if you delight in thrones and scepters, O monarchs over the peoples, honor wisdom, that you may reign forever. I will tell you what wisdom is and how she came to be, and I will hide no secrets from you, but I will trace her course from the beginning of creation, and make knowledge of her clear, and I will not pass by the truth; neither will I travel in the company of sickly envy, for envy does not associate with wisdom. May God grant that I speak with judgment and have thought worthy of what I have received, for He is the guide even of wisdom and the corrector of the wise. For both we and our words are in His hand, as are all understanding and skill in crafts. I learned both what is secret and what is manifest, for wisdom, the fashioner of all things, taught me. For in her there is a spirit that is intelligent, holy, unique, manifold, subtle, mobile, clear, unpolluted, distinct, invulnerable, loving the good, keen, and irresistible. She is a reflection of eternal light, a spotless mirror of the working of God, and an image of His goodness. Though she is but one, she can do all things, and while remaining in herself, she renews all things; in every generation she passes into holy souls and makes them friends of God, and prophets. She is more beautiful than the sun, and excels every constellation of the stars. Compared with the light she is found to be superior.  Wisdom rescued from troubles those who served her.  When a righteous man fled from his brother’s wrath, she guided him on straight paths; she showed him the Kingdom of God, and gave him knowledge of angels; she prospered him in his labors, and increased the fruit of his toil.  She protected him from his enemies, and kept him safe from those who lay in wait for him; in his arduous contest she gave him the victory, so that he might learn that godliness is more powerful than anything. It is succeeded by the night, but against wisdom evil does not prevail. Therefore, no one who utters unrighteous things will escape notice; and justice, when it punishes, will not pass him by. For they reasoned unsoundly, saying to themselves, “Short and sorrowful is our life, and there is no remedy when a man comes to his end, and no one has been known to return from Hades. Let us oppress the righteous poor man; let us not spare the widow nor regard the gray hairs of the aged. But let our might be our law of right, for what is weak proves itself to be useless. Let us lie in wait for the righteous man, because he is inconvenient to us and opposes our actions; he reproaches us for sins against the law, and accuses us of sins against our training. He professes to have knowledge of God, and calls himself a child of the Lord. He became to us a reproof of our thoughts; the very sight of him is a burden to us, because his manner of life is unlike that of others, and his ways are strange. We are considered by him as something base, and he avoids our ways as unclean; he calls the last end of the righteous happy, and boasts that God is his father. Let us see if his words are true, and let us test what will happen at the end of his life. Let us test him with insult and torture that we may find out how gentle he is, and make trial of his forbearance. Let us condemn him to a shameful death, for, according to what he says, he will be protected.” Thus they reasoned, but they were led astray, for their wickedness blinded them, and they did not know the secret purposes of God, nor hope for the wages of holiness, nor discern the prize for blameless souls. But Thou, our God, art kind and true, patient, and ruling all things in mercy. For Thou hast power over life and death; Thou dost lead men down to the gates of Hades and back again. Toward the scorners He is scornful, but to the humble He shows favor."

The section in bold draws out the attitude of secular authority towards St. John Chrysostom during his life time.  It is also applicable to our own times in that we are being constantly persecuted.  Monies are taken from us by force and used to fund social programs that violate our Christian conscience.  Granted, many of the things that our taxes support are good and should be paid for, but the government forces us to give a portion of our income to support things in our society that  we know are wrong.

Our freedom of speech is trampled upon.  It is frowned upon to question abortion, forms of birth-control that abort the child, and the modern definition of what constitutes a married couple among other things.  In some cases this questioning of society can be defined as hate-speech and result in severe fines.  That being said, mutual respect and clean language go a long way to facilitating dialogue, however, simply because one side or the other is verbally caustic does not mean that their right to free speech should be curtailed.  The right to free speech is one of the bases upon which democracy rests.  It has been thrown out of the window and replaced with the tyrannical rule of the majority in these cases.  This situation causes me no little anxiety.

It is a reality not just of Christianity, but also of philosophers.  Those who question society have a history of being persecuted, and in many cases killed.  Socrates comes to mind.  If this situation persists and a militant form of atheism becomes the guiding force behind our society we can only expect more of this in greater severity.

And what response should we offer to this testing of our patience?  St. Paul says in his second Epistle to the Corinthians 4:7-12, 16-18

"But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us.  We are hard-pressed on every side, yet not crushed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not foresaken; struck down but not destroyed- always carrying about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body.  For we who live are always delivered to death for Jesus' sake, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh.  So then death is working in us, but life in you.  ...Therefore we do not lose heart.  Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day.  For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen.  For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal."

This suffering is but for a moment and it will pass away.  Through our suffering we are able to die to the world and come alive to Christ thus entering into His suffering, death, and glorious resurrection.