THE PERSECUTION OF THE PIOUS

The Apostle Paul, my beloved, passed his final days in prison in Rome. From there he wrote his last charges in his second letter to Timothy, and relates the adventures of his life – his persecutions – how from them all, the Lord delivered him, and for this he thanks Him. He notes:

You have observed my teaching, my struggle, my purpose, my faith, my longsuffering, my love, my endurance, my persecutions, my sufferings, which happened to me in Antioch, in Iconium and in Lystra; such persecutions I suffered, and the Lord delivered me from all of them – and all those who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. (II Tim. 10-12)

He gives him an indirect hint: You see, my beloved child Timothy, what persecutions I endure. You see what difficulties I pass through – however, I am not alone – everyone else who wishes to be pious in Christ Jesus will be persecuted as well. As if saying to him: If you remain pious – and I urge you to remain pious in Christ Jesus – have this in mind, you will be persecuted.

So then, is this a rule? My beloved, it a rule. There are no exceptions. There is not one exception. Persecutions are the criterion of a true, pious life.1 Of course, there are also persecutions which bring miseries, temptations which are brought on by a false piety. Here no one is to blame but the one who bears this false piety. What is this? His indiscretion. The Apostle Peter says: …not suffering among you from a passion or a shortcoming, because then, if he suffers, whatever he may suffer, no one is to blame but himself (if a Christian is a fickle person, if he does not have the discrimination to judge at every moment how he should act, then in this case, for every affliction which he may experience, no one is to blame but himself) (1 Pet. 2:20).

There are also many who do not realize that they themselves are the very causes of their situations when they say: “I do good to everyone; I have love for everyone; I don’t step on a little ant; Why is everyone after me?” My brother, examine yourself to see if perhaps you are in the wrong and how you could be in the wrong. You have some virtue; no one questions you about this, but this virtue of yours is without discrimination. Whatever virtue it may be, if it is without discrimination, then it can even be transformed into something detrimental. You may be merciful, you may love (what is more beautiful, what is better?), but if you do not know how to exercise your love and your compassion, in the end it can be to your detriment. And when you begin to complain, this is an indirect indication to you (if you understand) and to those around you, that you do not have a mature piety, a correctly placed piety.

But let us look at genuine piety. A certain ecclesiastical writer says: “This is the only godly life: that which is in Christ Jesus.” The teaching is very comprehensive. If it were to be analyzed, perhaps many things could be said about what exactly the godly life in Christ is… but now is not the time, because I would like to look at something else, another side, the side which the Apostle says: “Whoever will desire to live a godly life will be persecuted.”

The question is reasonable anyhow: “Why?” Who do they tempt? Why should they be persecuted? and why should persecution be a criterion of their piety, and if you like, their authentic piety, that is, if they have genuine piety. Why? Because behind those who persecute him, behind the temptations, is the great adversary, the devil, and the devil does not love Christ; he is the adversary of Christ. When Christ came into the world, the devil looked at Him and wondered: “Who is this? I see much holiness in Him. Who is this?” He heard at His baptism: “You are my beloved Son, in You I am well pleased.” (Mt. 3:17; Mk. 1:11; Lk. 3:22; 2 Pet. 1:17) “Strange…” he thought. He watches Him for a time. He observes Him in the desert. “He fasts…” He has doubts. “Who is he?”

Of course, the devil did not know the Three Persons [Τριαδικόν] of God. Of course, the devil had not suspected the Incarnation of the Son of God, even though there were a multitude, a plenitude of prophecies in the Old Testament (and the devil, according to St. John Damascene, knows Holy Scripture). However, the prophecies were veiled, and it was necessary to fool the devil. The devil, then, is ignorant: “Who is this?”

And when the devil was defeated, after he himself went to challenge the Lord, with that threefold temptation, he was again defeated – definitively and overwhelmingly (at least for the present time, in this present age) on the Cross of Christ, but completely and overwhelmingly when Christ will appear again in the world (and eternal hell awaits him). The devil sees Jesus Christ as his dreadful adversary; this is why the devil resents and hates all the works of God, especially the work of Christ on earth.

So behind every persecution is the devil; and behind his instruments [όργανα], the persecutors, is the devil also. This is something extremely significant, which we must undoubtedly be aware of.

Of course, there is a psychology here as well, which is not so obvious. The pious person becomes the target and also the controller of the one who sins shamelessly. If I speak the truth, I become your control – even if silently, without saying a word to you – by my presence alone, to you who speak lies. If I am pure and you are immoral, my presence – my presence alone – to you becomes a control.

So then, the impious cannot bear to see the pious. He is controlled! How do we do this? There is a conscience. As much one might try to sear it, there is still a conscience, and since the conscience exists, it follows there is this to control, even if only slight. And how does the conscience become aware? Only if there is a comparative element – the pious man in front of it. About this, the Wisdom of Solomon wonderfully says to us, outlines for us, describes this psychology of the impious in front of the pious. And what does it say?

Let us set a trap for him, for he is unmanagable and he opposes our works (comes into conflict, even if silently as I told you, with our works); he has become to us a censurer of our thoughts (whatever we conceive, whatever we think, whatever we want, with him in front of us he becomes a living control); it is burdensome for us to even look at him (it is a burden even to see him; that is, just to see him… Why? It is heavy! Because it is a very heavy burden on their consciences), because his life is unlike the others, and his ways are different (this is the reason: “Because,” it says, “his life is different from ours and his ways of life are different; he lives differently; he doesn’t live as we live.”) (Wis. 1 2:12-15)

So then, it is very psychological. The impious very much feels the presence of the pious as something that crushes him. We only have to bring to mind, my beloved, the many many cases, historical cases, which confirm this reality.

Why did Cain murder Abel? (Gen 4:8) What was it that made him suffer inside? Because he saw his brother standing with piety, and God accepting his piety. This made him unable to feel good inside. He was moved, out of envy, to the point of murdering his brother with malice.

Remember also Joseph. Why did his brothers envy him? (Gen. 37:4) They reached the point of wanting to kill him – they sold him – because they could not stand Joseph’s virtue. There is a place in the book of Genesis where it says that they did something among themselves, something ugly, something evil. (37:2) Perhaps they committed some immoral act among themselves. Perhaps. This is what it appears to be. Joseph realized it and went to tell his father Jacob. Well… that stands as the first motive, and there were also some others mentioned later. They didn’t feel good with Joseph around.

Remember also, my beloved, St. John the Baptist, how he controls Herod. (Mk. 6:18) Herodias, that adulterous woman, who left her husband to marry her husband’s brother – that dreadful woman, how badly sick she was! – think how much she could have benefited after the senseless Herod (her second husband) watched his daughter dance in front of him (who was not his daughter; she was his niece, his brother’s daughter, because Salome was born from him) and said: “I give you up to half of my kingdom!” (Mk. 6:23) The passion of hate and malice in the soul of Herodias had reached the point that she didn’t ask for a single penny – but for what? – only the head of John “on a platter”! (6:25) Do you see the control, how formidable a thing it is? Why? Because John told him: “You are not allowed to have your brother’s wife” (Mk. 6:18).

Didn’t the Lord also fall victim, to the Pharisees? In the Gospels, are we not told: “…out of envy they handed him over”? (Mt. 27:18; Mk. 15:10) Weren’t the Jews constantly persecuting the Apostles and the Christians, because they weren’t feeling good?

Even in the Gentile world, that is, outside the borders of Jerusalem, outside the borders of Judea, were they not after the Christians there as well? They were, because they saw that the pagans were becoming Christians and they were terribly jealous and felt badly; they felt disadvantaged. Will not the pagans hereafter persecute the Christians?

But History continues, and it will continue down through the ages, whether we have mass persecutions or individual persecutions, and, if you like, these things happen in everyday life as well. Perhaps a pious woman, a wife, suffers all sorts of things from a godless husband? And vice-versa? Perhaps at a school there is a pious student and the others persecute him in every way and bully him, for no other reason than being pious and a Christian? …and on and on and on; these things happen every day.

My beloved, how do they persecute? A terrible weapon in the hands of the devil is irony – when the persecutor is ironic. Irony is persecution; it breaks bones. Irony is a terrible thing. Have you noticed that very many of us Christians cannot take irony, which can turn against them? Moreover, it is when the other person makes fun of you. This happens all the time. The oppression: marginalization, slander, defamation. All of these are persecutions. Would you like more? The martyrdom of the body also – death – sometimes a martyrdom of conscience, other times a martyrdom of the body, death. All of these are ways in which the persecutors persecute.

How is it possible for us to stand in the face of this reality? Because when I must be a Christian, and the word of God tells me that it is not possible to be a Christian unless I pass through the furnace of persecution, how must I stand? What must I do? When we know that persecution is an element of life for the spiritual man, we take our precautions, because one of the devil’s weapons is the surprise attack.

Very many of our Christians think that the life of a Christian is lined with roses, a life full of blessings and good times. Many times, God, at the beginning of the spiritual life, precisely to let a person grow a little stronger, so that he does not fall, gives him many such blessings, from material goods to successes. When he begins to mature spiritually, then the temptations begin, then the attack of Satan begins. The attack of Satan… It is dreadful. We must have realized this. This is why the Lord said: “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake (righteousness, in a general sense, is holiness or virtue; blessed are those who are persecuted for their holiness) for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” (Mt. 5:10). Ah, so I am blessed, then, if they persecute me. This is something I must realize.

“Blessed are you when they revile you and persecute you and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake” (5:11) (did you notice, “revile”? “And when they persecute you and say all kinds of evil against you” means telling lies; slandering you, smearing your name, in other words, saying you are this or that. But pay attention. As the Apostle Peter says, “Not if someone suffers as a murderer or a thief, but only when he suffers for being a Christian” (when He suffers all these things for no other reason but this) (1 Pet: 4:15). “Rejoice,” says the Lord, “and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven; for they persecuted the prophets in the same way before you” (5:12). We must know this. We must realize, then, that it is an element we will experience in life. We must have resolve. Someone who embarks on the spiritual life must have resolve.

Second. He must have patience and persistence. The devil has persistence in doing evil; patience, however, he does not have. This is why, many times, when he sees the patience of someone who is pious, he (to use a popular expression) “blows up”. And many times his agent, the wicked person, also blows up, when he sees the patience of someone who is pious. This is why the Lord says: “He who endures to the end will be saved” (Mt. 10:22) and “By your endurance you will obtain your lives” (Lk. 21:19).

A third. The pious man, everywhere and always – and especially in temptations – prays. The Lord said: “Pray that you might not enter into temptation” (pray before you enter into temptation; and if you enter into temptation, pray again; pray everywhere and always; prayer is a very formidable weapon against the enemy) (Mt. 26:41; Mk. 14:38; Lk. 22: 40,46).

Fourth. Did you notice precisely what the Lord said? “For they persecuted the prophets in the same way before you.” What does this mean? Well, my beloved, we are not alone. If you want more, the history of Christianity has shown, up to this day, millions of martyrs – millions of martyrs… The Lord knows the exact number. They produce some numbers from statistics, but I will tell you, the Lord knows the exact number; and up until the end of History, how many more will martyr for the name of Christ. If we too are among them, it would certainly be an honor, but in order for someone to obtain the honor, he must toil, he must sweat, he must stand correctly. He must also, perhaps, shed his blood. For this reason, then, the message we must learn is: the examples of the saints and martyrs must be in front of us.

The Apostle Paul notes these things to Timothy, and tells him: You also, Timothy, will be persecuted (2 Tim. 3:12), and he was indeed persecuted; he was stoned to death; they killed him in Ephesus, where he had checked an illegality that had taken place, a kind of carnival we would say.

And you know, today, the beginning of the Triodion, instead of being a solemn period (it heralds the coming of Great Lent, the upcoming struggle, the upcoming arena, and prepares us little by little), what do we do? We do the exact opposite; we prepare for sinful revelries.

So this is what St. Timothy had reproved, and was ultimately stoned to death for it. But what does the Apostle Paul say to him? “As for you, continue in the things you have learned and believed, knowing from whom you have learned them (that is, from me, Paul)” (3:14). Thus the Saints might say: “Stand, O future Christians! We the previous Christians stood! Look to us! Look to our example!” The Apostle Paul in his letter to the Hebrews says, “Having such a great cloud of witnesses…” (a multitude of witnesses)2 (Heb 12:1) They all call us to follow their example.

There is also, however, the other side, if you will: the wretched end of the persecutors. We have an incomparable image from the holy Chrysostom, when he says:

Where are the Neros? Where are the Diocletians? Where are the frying pans?3 Where are the instruments of torture? They have all been silenced. As for the Church, it shines under the sun.

This is what is to come, this is the fate, this is the lot of the persecutors. This is why the Apostle Paul also says, my beloved: “But evil men and charlatans will only get worse, deceivers and deceived” (2 Tim. 3:13). This is the future of evil men and the persecutors.

And finally, there is also the knowledge of Holy Scripture. The Apostle Paul says to Timothy: “From infancy you have known the sacred writings, the things which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus” (2 Tim. 3:15). We must study Holy Scripture. We must be immersed in it.

The secret of Alexander the Great, which made him brave and victorious, is known. He had the Iliad under his pillow, and read from it every day, the book of heroes; and he was inspired by the Iliad and became “The Great” Alexander.

My beloved, we have something far greater than the Iliad. We have the book of Saints, and the book of God – a living God – who strengthens and empowers every believer in the struggle. The Lord Himself says: If they persecuted Me, they will persecute you also” (Jn. 15:20). What does this mean? They took Him all the way to the Cross. What does this mean? Christ is risen. We too will rise. Yes, my beloved, we too will rise. As the Apostle Peter says in his first letter:

Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial that is happening to you, as if it were something strange; ​but if you share in the sufferings of Christ, rejoice, so that you may also rejoice when His glory is revealed.​​​​​​​​​​​​ If you are reproached in the name of Christ (because you are Christians), you are blessed, because His glory and power and the Spirit of God rest upon you (because you have the Spirit of God within you; this is why the world ridicules you, because the world does not have the Spirit of God, but the spirit of evil) (1 Pet 4:12-14).

The Evangelist John says: “The entire world lies in wickedness (in the spirit of Satan, in thinking, always, morally)” (1 Jn. 5:19). So if the world persecutes us, it means that the Spirit of God rests with us. What do you need? Oh! What do you need? Courage!

The ancient Greeks regarded courage as one of the four great virtues. The Fathers of our Church also considered courage to be a great virtue. It refers to the mind and also to the heart, but above all, to the will. My beloved, courage is an important virtue, the one which we lack. This is why the Apostle Paul will note to Timothy: “God has not given us a spirit of cowardice, but of power and love and self-control” (2 Tim. 1:7). Consequently, we must develop this power which His Spirit gives us, and we must stand.

Do not let the temptation burn us, then, so that we say: “Why?” and “How come?” Quite simply, brother, from the moment you take up becoming a Christian, I have some news for you: You will enter the land of trials, of temptations and of persecutions.

THE END – TO THE GLORY OF THE HOLY AND TRIUNE GOD

1. St. Nikolai Velirimović: To be constantly persecuted, with brief intervals in between, is a characteristic of the Faith and of the Orthodox Church.” (Prologue, April 27)
2. μάρτυρες – in Greek, means both “witnesses” and “martyrs”
3. It was common for the early Christian martyrs to be tortured, fried, literally, on red hot griddles, as we read in the Lives of the Saints.