Patient endurance
The apostle Paul writes: With patient endurance we run the race of
faith set before us. For what has more power than virtue? What more
firmness or strength than patient endurance? Endurance, that is, for
God’s sake. This is the queen of virtues, the foundation of virtue, a
haven of tranquility. It is peace in time of war, calm in rough
waters, safety amidst treachery and danger. It makes those who
practice it stronger than steel. No weapons or brandished bows, no
turbulent troops or advancing siege engines, no flying spears or
arrows can shake it. Not even the host of evil spirits, nor the dark
array of hostile powers, nor the devil himself standing by with all
his armies and devices will have power to injure the man or woman who
has acquired this virtue through Christ.
–St. Nilus of Ancyra
<<>><<>><<>>
February 16th – Martyrs of Cilicia
+
Suffered during the persecution against Christians, initiated by the
emperor Diocletian in the years 308-309 at Cæsarea in Palestine.
+
The holy martyr Pamphilius, a native of the city of Beirut, was
educated at Alexandria, after which he was made a priest at Cæsarea.
He devoted much labor to collating manuscripts and correcting copyist
errors in the texts of the New Testament. The corrected texts of St
Pamphilius were copied and distributed to anyone who wanted them. Many
pagans were converted to Christ through them.
+
His works and concerned matters at Cæsarea were gathered up into the
extensive library of spiritual books available for the enlightening of
Christians. St Jerome (4th-5th century) deeply respected St Pamphilius
and considered himself fortunate to have located and acquired several
of his manuscripts. Actively assisting St Pamphilius in proclaiming
the faith in Christ were St Valens, deacon of the church at Eleia, a
man stooped with age and well-versed in the Holy Scriptures, and St
Paul, ardent in faith and love for Christ the Savior. All three were
imprisoned for two years by Urban, the governor of Palestinian
Cæsarea.
+
During the rule of his successor Firmilian, 130 Christians were
sentenced in Egypt and sent to Cilicia (Asia Minor) to work in the
gold mines. Five young brothers accompanied them to the place of
exile. On their return to Egypt they were detained at Cæsarea and
thrown into prison for confessing Christ.
+
The youths appeared before Firmilian, together with those imprisoned
earlier: SS. Pamphilius, Valens and Paul. The five Egyptian youths
took the names of Old Testament prophets, Elias, Jeremiah, Isaiah,
Samuel and Daniel. Asked where they were from, the youths said that
they were citizens of Jerusalem, meaning the heavenly Jerusalem.
Firmilian knew nothing of such a city, since Jerusalem had been razed
to the ground by the emperor Titus in the year 70. The emperor Hadrian
(117-138) built a new city on the site, which was called Aelia
Capitolina.
+
Firmilian tortured the youths for a long time. He sought to learn the
location of the unknown city, and he sought to persuade the youths to
apostatize. But nothing was accomplished, and the governor ordered
them to be beheaded by the sword with Pamphilius, Valens and Paul.
+
Before this occurred, a servant of Pamphilius endured suffering. This
was the 18-year-old youth Porphyrius, meek and humble. He had heard
the sentence of death for the condemned martyrs, and asked the
governor’s permission to bury the bodies after their execution. For
this he was sentenced to death, and thrown into a fire.
+
A witness of this execution, the pious Christian Seleucius, a former
soldier, in saluting the deeds of the sufferers, went to Pamphilius
and told him about the martyric death of St. Porphyrius. He was seized
by soldiers and, on Firmilian’s orders, was beheaded by the sword
together with the condemned.
+
One of the governor’s servants, Theodulus, a man of venerable age and
a secret Christian, met the martyrs being led to execution, embraced
them and asked them to pray for him. He was taken by soldiers to
Firmilian, on whose orders he was crucified.
+
The young Julian, a native of Cappadocia who had come to Cæsarea, saw
the bodies of the saints which had been thrown to wild beasts without
burial. Julian went down on his knees and venerated the bodies of the
sufferers. Soldiers standing by at the wall seized him and took him to
the governor, who condemned him to burning. The bodies of all twelve
martyrs remained unburied for four days, but neither beasts nor birds
would touch them. Embarrassed by this situation, the pagans permitted
Christians to take the bodies of the martyrs and bury them.
+
This story is one of overwhelming interest for all who are concerned
with Christian hagiography, for it is the account given by Eusebius,
the father of Church history, who was not only living in Cæsarea at
the time, but was the intimate friend of the St. Pamphilus here named,
the principal martyr who suffered on the same occasion. To mark his
devotion to his friend, the historian loved to call himself “Eusebius
(the disciple) of Pamphilus”. St. Pamphilus, however, is commemorated
separately on June 1, and will come before us again on that date. The
Greek text of Eusebius, with a French translation en face, may
conveniently be consulted in the edition of E. Grapin (vol. iii, pp.
259-283), forming part of the series of Texts et documents pour
l’étude historique die Christianisme. It forms the 11th chapter of the
Book on the Martyrs of Palestine, of which there is an English
version, with the Ecclesiastical History, by H. J. Lawlor and J. E. L.
Oulton (1929).
+
Saint Quote:
Dismiss all anger, and look a little into yourself. Remember that he
of whom you are speaking is your brother, and, as he is in the way of
salvation, God can make him a Saint, notwithstanding his present
weaknesses. You may fall into the same faults or perhaps into a worse
fault. But supposing that you remain upright, to whom are you indebted
for it, if not to the pure mercy of God?
— St. Thomas of Villanova
+
<><><><>
“He that keepeth his mouth and his tongue, keepeth his soul from distress.”
(Proverbs 21:23)
+
“To restrain the tongue is therefore a great good, and on the other
hand, not to restrain it, a poisonous evil”
+
“Behold also ships, whereas they are great, and are driven by strong
winds, yet are they turned about with a small helm, whithersoever the
force of the governor willeth. Even so the tongue is indeed a little
member, and boasteth great things.
+
“Behold how small a fire kindleth a great wood. And the tongue is a
fire, a world of iniquity. The tongue … defileth the whole body, and
inflameth the wheel of our nativity, being set on fire by hell. For
every nature of beasts, and of birds, and of serpents, and of the
rest, is tamed, and hath been tamed, by the nature of man.
+
“But the tongue no man can tame, an unquiet evil, full of deadly
poison. By it we bless God and the Father: and by it we curse men, who
are made after the likeness of God. Out of the same mouth proceedeth
blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not so to be.” –
James 3:4-10
+