On St. Dimitrios, True Christian Hero
On 26 October Old Style (Monday, November 8), we will celebrate the Feast of the Holy Great-Martyr Dimitrios of Thessaloniki.
St. Dimitrios witnessed to Christ unto death during the period of the last great persecution before the peace of the Church which came about under St. Constantine the Great, the persecution of Diocletian and Maximian. Made Military Governor of Thessaloniki by Maximian and commanded to persecute the Christians, Dimitrios instead proclaimed his faith in Christ, preached the Gospel, and brought many to the Holy Faith. Enraged by this, the pagan emperor had him imprisoned and finally slain in his slain by soldiers who ran him through with their spears.
Immediately upon his death, St. Dimitrios began to work miracles. His blood-soaked cloak was taken away by his faithful servant Lupus, who with the martyr’s blood healed the sick and cast out demons. Eventually, after the triumph of the Church in Thessaloniki, a great church was built over the relics of the martyr, which for centuries gave forth a fragrant myrrh that performed countless miracles.
In our days, when Orthodox boys and young men may be led by the society around us to fall into confusion in their identity as Christians and men, it is a very great blessing to have noble warrior saints such as St. Dimitrios and St. George to be for them models and intercessors, so that they too may acquire true manliness, courage, and Christian nobility. Think how many of the greatest saints were soldiers: St. George, St. Dimitrios, the 40 Martyrs of Sebaste, the Holy Martyrs of Amorion, Sts. Menas and Victor; the list can go on for some time. These noble and courageous men gladly performed their duty for their earthly king, but when called upon to answer the higher call, to witness to their heavenly King, they did not hesitate. They proved that true courage is not always demonstrated with the sword, but rather that frequently it is most in evidence when we suffer the rejection, ridicule, and persecution of those who deny our holy Faith or who demand that we join them in their evil deeds and hate us when we do not.
In television, movies, professional sports, and video games, boys constantly see a grotesque caricature of masculinity in the form of violent and coarse “good guys” fighting barely distinguishable “bad guys”. This false masculinity is characterized by mindless and spectacular violence, vulgarity, swearing, bragging, swaggering, threats, delight in the suffering of others, and every other kind of barbaric and sub-human behavior, including insane sexual behavior with equally vulgar women.
At the other end of the spectrum, boys are also bombarded with images of the emasculated, effeminate “metrosexuals” and outright homosexuals. What will they become if these are their examples?
True Christian heroes, by contrast, like St. Dimitrios, can impress the heart of a boy with quiet and lofty nobility, profound spiritual strength, and true manliness. And how much more does this lesson hit home, when his own father also demonstrates such virtues, reinforcing by deeds the validity of the words he spoke when praising the saint to his son!
The training of our sons must include our reading to them the Lives of these great heroes, of acquiring their icons for our sons’ rooms, teaching them to pray to them and invoke their help in all of life’s difficulties, that they too may become true men and true Christians, heroes of the Faith. And we must back this up, dear fathers, by our own steadfastness and courage in moral witness, patriarchal and pious authority in our homes, and self-sacrifice for our wives and children. Through the prayers of the noble Dimitrios, O Christ God, save us!
The Martyrdom of St.s Dimitrios and Nestor
While St. Dimitrios was imprisoned, the Emperor was amusing himself with games in the circus. Now Maximian had a renowned wrestler named Lyaeus, who belonged to the tribe of the Vandals. The Emperor ordered that a high platform be constructed in the arena, and he entertained himself by watching Lyaeus wrestle other brave men and cast them down on spears below. It happenend that there was a young man present named Nestor, a Christian known to St. Dimitrios. When Nestor saw how Lyaeus slew many and that he was especially eager to slaughter Christians without mercy, he was set aflame with zeal and wished to contend with the Vandal. He went to St. Dimitrios, who sat in the prison, and told him how the wrestler Lyaeus had killed numerous Christians. He asked the saint’s prayers and his blessing to contend with that pitiless manslayer. St. Dimitrios signed him with the Cross and said, “You shall prevail over Lyaeus and be deemed worthy to suffer for Christ.” As Nestor hastened to the arena, he cried out with a loud voice, “O God of Dimitrios, help me!”
Nestor then entered into contest with the mighty foe, hurling him to a bitter death on the sharp spears below. The Emperor was greatly grieved by Lyaeus’s death and immediately commanded that the blessed Nestor be beheaded with the sword. When he learned that Dimitrios had blessed Nestor to slay Lyaeus, he ordered that the saint be run through with lances. “Let him perish in the same manner as did our champion, whose he caused,” said the Emperor.
But the senseless persecutor was deceived, supposing that the repose of a saint could be like that of a sinner, for the death of sinners is evil, while precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints.