but he also observed the flock itself, lest anyone had received a dart, lest anyone had suffered a grievous wound, and immediately he would apply the remedy. As he did these things, he leavened them all into the true faith, and he did not cease until God provided for the blessed Meletius to arrive and take the whole mass; he sowed, and the other came and reaped.
So too it happened with Moses and Aaron. For they, too, moving like leaven in the midst of the Egyptians, made many zealots of their own piety. And Moses bears witness to this, saying that a great mixed multitude went up with the Israelites (Exod. 12:38). B Imitating this Moses, he [Meletius] practiced the works of leadership even before he held authority; for even he, before he was entrusted with the care of the people, firmly and generously punished the wrongdoers, defended those who were suffering injustice, and, abandoning the royal table, honors, and precedence, ran to the clay and the brick-making, considering the care of his own kin to be preferable to all luxury, ease, and honor. Looking to Him, he himself then exhorted all the rulers to have similar care for the people, and he preferred hardships to ease, and by accepting daily, persistent, and all-around pressures and hatreds, he considered them all soft; for the subject matter of the events afforded him sufficient consolation for what occurred. Therefore, having given thanks to God for all these things, let us emulate the virtues of these saints, so that we may also share in their crowns, by the grace and love for mankind of our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom and with whom to the Father, together with the Holy Spirit, be glory, honor, and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.
PRAISE I. ON SAINT ROMANUS THE MARTYR. 1.
C 1. We are members of the Martyrs, or rather of Christ. Again the memorial of the martyrs, and again a festival, and a spiritual gathering. They struggled, and we rejoice; they contended, and we exult; theirs is the crown and the common glory, or rather, the glory of the whole Church. And how, one might say, can this be? Because the martyrs are our parts and members. D For whether one member suffers, all the members suffer with it; or one member is glorified, all the members rejoice with it (1 Cor. 12:26). The head is crowned, and the rest of the body exults; one man becomes an Olympic victor, and the whole people rejoices, and receives him with much acclaim. If, in the Olympic games, those who have contributed nothing to those labors harvest such pleasure, much more could this happen with the athletes of piety. We are feet, the martyrs are the head; but the head cannot say to the feet, "I have no need of you."
Eulogy 1. Chapter 1: We are not members of the martyrs, but rather of Christ.
Glorious are the members, but the excellence of glory does not make them alien to the conjunction which is with the remaining parts; for they become most glorious when they have not severed this conjunction which exists with us. For even the eye, although it is more splendid than the rest of the body, preserves its own glory when it is not severed from the rest of the body. And why do I speak of the martyrs? For if the Lord of them did not shrink from becoming our head, much more do they not shrink from being our members; for they possess a rooted charity; but charity is accustomed to join and bind together those things which are disjointed, and it does not inquire very accurately about dignity. As, therefore, they sympathize with us in our sins, so also we rejoice with them in their virtuous deeds. Thus also Paul commanded to rejoice with them that rejoice, and to weep with them that weep (Rom. XII, 15). But to weep with them that weep is indeed easy, but to rejoice with them that rejoice is not very easy; for it is easier for us to grieve with those who are in calamities than to rejoice with those who have prosperous affairs. For there, indeed, the very nature of calamity can bend even a stone to compassion; here, however, in prosperous affairs, envy and malice do not allow him who is not greatly philosophizing to become a partner of the pleasure. For just as charity joins and binds together those things which are divided: so also envy divides those things which are united. Wherefore, I pray you, let us strive to rejoice with those who act rightly, that we may purge the soul of malice and envy; for nothing so much expels this disease, which is grave and difficult to cure, as to rejoice with those who live in virtue. Hear, therefore, how supreme Paul is in both of these: Who, he says, is weak, and I am not weak? Who is scandalized, and I am not on fire (II Cor. XI, 29)? He did not say, And I am not troubled: but, I am not on fire, he said, wishing to show us the highest pain by the word "to be on fire." And again, writing to others, he says, Ye have reigned without us: and I would to God ye had reigned, that we also might reign together with you (I Cor. IV, 8). And again, Now we live, if ye stand fast in the Lord (I Thess. III, 8). See how greatly he strove that the affairs of his brethren might be set right, who did not even think he was alive if they were not safe.
Charity without martyrdom is profitable; martyrdom without charity is not profitable. To Romanus the tongue is amputated: why? A man who had been caught up to the third heaven, and carried off into paradise, and who had been a partaker of ineffable mysteries, and had attained such great confidence before God, did not greatly receive a sense of those goods, unless he had also seen his brethren saved with him. For he knew, he knew clearly, that there is nothing greater than charity, nothing equal to it; not even martyrdom itself, which is the head of all goods. But how this is so, learn this way. For charity indeed makes disciples of Christ even without martyrdom: but martyrdom without charity cannot do this. Whence can this be known? From Christ’s own words; for He used to say to His disciples: In this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another (John XIII, 35). Behold, charity makes disciples without martyrdom. That martyrdom, however, without charity not only does not make disciples, but does not even profit the one enduring it, hear Paul saying: If I deliver my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing (I Cor. XIII, 3). A Since therefore he has today gathered us together, the blessed Romanus, I say, because with his martyrdom he also showed great charity toward Christ: wherefore for him also his holy tongue was amputated. And indeed it is fitting to examine this also, for what cause the devil led him not to other kinds of torments, punishments, and tortures, but amputated his tongue. For he did not do this rashly, but with the greatest malice; for this beast is cunning and wicked, and does nothing without moving and acting against our salvation. Come therefore, let us examine why he proceeded to the amputation of his tongue: but let us begin the discourse from a little further back: for in this way we shall know the goodness of God, and the endurance of the martyr, and the malice of the devil; and when we have learned the goodness of God, we shall give thanks to the Lord; but by knowing the patience of the martyr, we shall imitate our fellow-servant; and by understanding the malice of the devil, we shall entirely loathe the enemy. B For therefore God gave us the knowledge of his machinations, that having him in greater hatred, we might the more easily overcome. For that his thoughts can be known, hear what Paul says about the one who had committed fornication: for writing to the Corinthians he says thus: Confirm your charity towards him, that we may not be circumvented by Satan: for we are not ignorant of his devices (II Cor. II, 8, 11). What is, therefore, the cause, on account of which he amputated his tongue? Grant that I may repeat the matter from a little further back. A grave war was once excited against the Churches, not by barbarians making incursions against the cities, nor by any aliens, but by those who seemed to preside over this world of ours, treating those who obeyed their empire more inhumanly than any tyrants. C For not only liberty, and fatherland, and money, and the present life were then coming into peril; but the kingdom of heaven, and the goods which are laid up for the just, and the immortal life, and the confession of Christ. And a new mode of captivity was devised; for they did not expel them from the city which is here, but they endeavored to deprive them of the supernal Jerusalem, which is free, and compelled each one to sacrifice his soul upon the altars, and to abjure his own Lord, and to subject himself to the tyranny of demons, and to worship demons, the enemies of our salvation, which was more grievous and intolerable to generous souls and those who love Christ than a thousand deaths and any hell. Then, indeed, when many were being submerged, and the waves were being lifted up on high, and very many were making shipwreck, this blessed Romanus, coming into the midst of them, did not immediately consider in what way he might deliver himself to dangers; but he first collected those who had fallen, struck with fear, who had betrayed their own safety, he animated them, he made them prepare to renew the battle, raising up those who had fallen, D and for those who stood, securing them with prayers, and exhortations, and counsels, regarding the things to come...
609 philosophi- A zing much about things present, demonstrating the ephemeral nature of these and the permanence of those, weighing prizes against labors, crowns against torments, rewards against pains; teaching what the present life is, what the future is, and how great is the difference between them, and that it is altogether necessary to die; for even if we do not end our life in this way, we are altogether compelled by the law of nature, a little later, to depart from these bodies. Admonishing them of these and similar things, that blessed man raised up their drooping hands, strengthened their paralyzed knees, brought back the fugitives, cast out fear, drove away anxiety, instilled courage, made them zealous instead of cowardly, turned them from hinds and fawns into lions breathing forth much strength; he drew up the army of Christ, and B transferred our shame upon the heads of the enemies. When, therefore, the devil saw that a sudden change had occurred, and that those who but a day or two ago had feared and trembled before him were now mocking and defying him, rushing into dangers, leaping upon the tortures, and having recognized the culprit, he left everyone else alone and breathed with his whole might against him, moving all his power and madness against this blessed head. And what does he do? Observe the wickedness. He did not lead him to tortures, he did not behead him; for the past time had taught him that all these things were done in vain and to no purpose. For not only did he not stifle the zeal of those who believed, but he even increased it, and made it greater and more fervent. "I was spreading charcoal," he says, "but they ran as if to a spring; I kindled fire, but they threw themselves into it as if into fountains of cool water; I lacerated their sides and cut deep furrows and brought down C streams of blood, but they, as if being showered with gold on every side, were thus adorned; I cast them from crags and drowned them in the sea, but they were not as those descending into the deep, but as those ascending into heaven itself, thus they were disposed—leaping and rejoicing, and as if dancing in a sacred procession, and playing in a green meadow; thus each one snatched up the punishments, not as punishments, but as receiving spring flowers, and being crowned, and by the excess of their own zeal they outstripped my punishments. What then," he says, "must be done? Shall I cut off his head? But that which he prays for, that comes to pass, and the disciples receive a greater exhortation through his deeds; for he exhorted them that the death of martyrs is not death, but life having no end, and that especially for this life it is necessary to endure everything, and that one must despise the end of life. If, therefore, I cut off his head, and he bears it D nobly, he will teach them more clearly through his deeds that one must thus despise death, and he will raise up their spirits all the more, and the one who has died will inspire in them even greater zeal." For this reason he cut out his tongue, in order that, being deprived of the voice that the martyr's disciples enjoyed, and having fallen away from his counsel, and being left bereft of his exhortation, they might become more cowardly, and return to their former anxiety, not having the one who encouraged them, nor the one who stirred them up and armed them.
3. And observe for me the wickedness. Herod indeed cut off the head of John; but this one [cut off] not the head, but the tongue alone. Why so? Because of much wickedness and perversity. "If I cut off his head," he says, "and he dies, he will depart without seeing the destruction of his own brothers; 610 but I wish to make him a witness of the corpses and the calamity of his own soldiers, so that he may be strangled by the pain of seeing them falling, while unable to stretch out a hand, and as he has not the ability to advise these things as he did formerly, the voice having been cut out along with the tongue." But He that A catches the wise in their own craftiness turned this sophism back upon his own head, and not only did he not deprive them of counsel, but he made them enjoy even more exhortation, and obtain a more spiritual instruction. For since this had prevailed, the physician is then called for the cutting, and the executioner becomes, instead of the physician, not correcting the diseased member, but destroying the healthy one; and having pulled out the tongue, he was not able to pull out the voice along with it; but the tongue of the flesh was being cut out, while the tongue of grace was flying to the mouth of the blessed one; and nature released its own member, as the iron compelled it, but grace did not allow the voice to perish with it; whence, therefore, the disciples enjoyed more spiritual B instruction, hearing not with a human voice as before, but with a certain divine and spiritual one, and one that surpassed our nature; and all flocked together, angels from above, men from below, each desiring to see the mouth without a tongue, and to hear one speaking in this way. For it was indeed truly admirable and paradoxical, a mouth speaking without a tongue, bringing much shame to the devil, but much glory to the martyr, and great consolation and a cause for patience to the disciples. For it is the custom of God to be such from above and from the beginning, that whatever the devil may weave against us, these things He turns back upon that one's own head, and constructs for our salvation. And observe: that one cast man out of paradise, and God opened heaven to him; that one drove him from the authority C on earth, and God gave him the kingdom of heaven, and established our nature upon the royal throne. Thus He always gives greater goods than those of which the devil tries to deprive us. And He does this as well to make that one more slothful in the plots he constructs against us, and to teach us never to fear his stratagems; which also occurred here in the case of the martyr. For the voice of which he expected to deprive him, God granted to him as one much greater and more solemn. For it was not equal to speak with a tongue, and without a tongue; for the former was consequential and common to all, while the latter was above nature, and became his own alone. For even if the martyr had stood voiceless after the cutting out of the tongue, even so his contests would have been completed, and the crown perfected; for it was a very great defeat and a demonstration of D burial to cut out the tongue. For if he had not...
611 if you had cut off his tongue. For if you did not fear the martyr’s tongue, O wicked and execrable devil, why did you cut it out? Why did you not leave the argument of the combat, but instead closed the stadium? Just as if someone, about to wrestle in every kind of contest, had received heavy blows, and when he was no longer able to resist, ordered his hands to be cut off, and even so struck his opponent—there would be no further proof needed to decide the victory for him whose hands had been cut off. So too, in the martyr, the amputation of his very tongue was the most manifest proof of all of the victory against the devil. For although the tongue was mortal, since it inflicted immortal wounds upon the devil, it was for that reason that he breathed his poison into it, bringing greater shame upon himself, while rendering the martyr’s crown more splendid. For just as it is wonderful to behold a tree without a root or a river without a source, so too is a voice without a tongue.
B Where now are those who do not believe in the resurrection of bodies? Behold, the voice died and has come to life again, and both happened in a single moment of time. And yet, this is far greater than the resurrection of bodies; for there, the nature of the bodies is subject to the law of nature, and only the composition is dissolved. But here, the very foundation of the voice was taken away, and yet it has become more splendid than before. For if you were to remove the strings from a flute, the instrument would henceforth lie useless; but the spiritual flute is not so, for even though the tongue was taken away, it was not only not dumb, but poured forth a more melodious and more mystical song, and with greater wonder. Again, in a lyre, if anyone rips away only the plectrum, the artist is idle, the art useless, and the instrument vain; but here, there was nothing of the kind, but quite the contrary. For the mouth was the lyre, the tongue the plectrum, the soul the artist, and the confession the art. Yet when the plectrum was taken away—I mean the tongue—neither the artist, nor the art, nor the instrument became useless; rather, all showed their own power. Who did these things? Who showed these marvelous things that surpass all expectation? It is God, who alone does wonders, of whom David says: "O Lord our Lord, how wonderful is Thy name in all the earth! For Thy magnificence is elevated above the heavens; out of the mouth of infants and of sucklings Thou hast perfected praise" (Ps. VIII, 2, 3). And truly, then it was out of the mouth of infants and sucklings, but now out of the mouth of the tongueless. Then the nature was immature; now the mouth was empty of a tongue. Then there was a soft root in the children, but the fruit was perfect; here, however, the very root had been taken away, and yet the generation of fruit was not hindered. For voice is the fruit of the tongue. Truly, the later things are more marvelous than the earlier. For, lest you not believe at all, those things preceded so that we might not be troubled by these, since our mind had been accustomed to those. Therefore these things happened, so that those things which are hidden and ancient might be believed from these manifest things and those which have been newly performed. Thus, at one time, Aaron’s rod also flourished, just as the martyr’s mouth has now germinated. But for what reason did Aaron’s rod then germinate? Because the priest was suffering insults. But for what reason has the martyr’s mouth now germinated? Because the great High Priest, Jesus Christ, was being assailed with blasphemies and curses. See, therefore, what is the kinship and excellence of the miracle. For just as that rod, not being joined to a root, nor drawing moisture from the earth, but being utterly deprived of its sap and having lost its vital and fruitful power, suddenly displayed fruit; so too, here, the voice, deprived of its root and having no power from the instrument, suddenly germinated in a dry and sterile mouth. In this there is a kinship, but in the other is excellence; for there is a great difference between the two fruits. For that one was sensory, but this one is spiritual, and opens the very heavens to him who has then given forth that voice. For all these things, let us congratulate the martyr, let us glorify God who does these miracles, let us imitate the patience of our fellow servant, and let us give thanks to the Lord for His grace. From the things that have been said, let us receive sufficient consolation in temptations; and admiring the power and care and providence of God who made us, let us bring everything that is in our power, and the things that are from Him will surely follow. Whether men, or demons, or the devil himself should fight against us, they who oppose us will achieve nothing, provided we show our prompt zeal of soul and bring everything that behooves us to bring. For thus we shall draw down God’s help, and we shall enjoy great glory and salvation in the life to come, which may it be granted to us all to attain, by the grace and lovingkindness of our Lord Jesus Christ, with whom, to the Father, together with the Holy Spirit, be glory, honor, and power, unto the ages of ages. Amen.
CONCERNING THE HOLY MARTYR ROMANUS. ORATION II
A The games acquire strength and the skill of the athletic art for bodies, but the commemorations of martyrs arm souls against the arts of the demons and ready them for a struggle against them. For while they publicly display the athletic strength and the continuous struggle against the scourges, they corroborate piety with courage, and in the narration of tortures, as if in stadiums, they propose a course laid down by every martyr. Such is the commemoration of the martyr who has been crowned today. For who would not leap boldly into the stadium against the devil, having trained his soul in the struggles of the martyr, whom the multitude of so many dangers did not shake?