On Saint Lucian

1What I feared yesterday has now come to pass and reached its end: once the feast was over, the crowd departed along with it, and our gathering has become smaller. I knew this would certainly happen, but I did not for that reason abandon my exhortation. Even if not all who heard yesterday were persuaded, neither did all disobey, and this is no small comfort to me. Therefore I will not give up this counsel today either. Even if they do not hear through me, they will certainly hear through you. Who could bear their great indifference in silence, or offer them pardon and defense? They saw their mother after so long a time, enjoyed the good things within her, and then went away. They could not bring themselves to turn back a second time. They imitated not Noah's dove but the raven—and this while the storm still rages, while that winter continues, while a harsher squall rises every day, while this holy ark stands open in the midst, calling everyone and drawing them to itself, offering great safety to all who take refuge in it. For it does not beat off floods of water or waves, but the constant assaults of the most irrational passions. It destroys envy and calms arrogance. The rich man here cannot look down on the poor man, because he hears from the divine Scriptures: 'All flesh is grass, and all human glory is like the flower of the grass' (Isaiah 40:6). Nor will the poor man, seeing another grow rich, be seized by envy, because he too hears another prophet say: 'Do not fear when a man becomes rich, or when the glory of his house increases; for when he dies he will take nothing with him, nor will his glory go down with him' (Psalm 49:17-18 (LXX 48:18-19)). Such is the nature of this abundance: it does not move with those who have it, it does not travel with those who possess it, it does not stand by them when they are judged there and called to account, but it is cut off entirely by death. Many it has abandoned even before death. Its use is untrustworthy, its enjoyment unstable, its possession dangerous. But the things of virtue are not like this, nor the things of almsgiving. This treasure is unplunderable. How is this clear? The one who spoke philosophically about this wealth and said, 'His glory will not go down after him,' also taught us about the treasures of almsgiving—the treasures that remain forever and are never plundered—when he said: 'He scattered, he gave to the poor; his righteousness endures forever' (Psalm 112:9 (LXX 111:9)). What could be more paradoxical than this? What is gathered is destroyed, and what is scattered remains—and very rightly so. For the one kind God receives, and from God's hand no one can snatch anything away. The other kind is stored in human treasuries, where it is subject to many plots, where envy and jealousy abound. Do not, then, beloved, neglect your time here. If any despondency troubles you, it is put to flight here. If worldly cares trouble you, they flee. If irrational passions trouble you, they are quenched. But from the marketplace, the theaters, and the other gatherings outside, we return home dragging with us many cares, despondencies, and diseases of the soul.

2If you spend time here continually, you will certainly put away whatever evils you picked up outside; but if you jump away and flee, you will certainly lose whatever good things you acquired from the divine Scriptures, as your wealth is gradually dragged away by the gatherings and conversations outside. And that these things are true—when you leave here, make a point of seeing those who stayed away today, and you will see how great the distance is between your cheerfulness and their despondency. A beautiful and charming bride sitting in her bridal chamber is not so lovely as a wondrous and glorious soul appearing in the Church, breathing spiritual perfumes. For the one who comes here with faith and zeal departs carrying away ten thousand treasures; and if he only opens his mouth, he immediately fills those who are with him with every fragrance and spiritual wealth. And if ten thousand terrible things fall upon him, he will bear them all easily, having received from here from the divine Scriptures ample resources for endurance and self-discipline. And just as the one who stands continually on the rock laughs at the waves, so the one who enjoys continual assembly and is watered by the divine words, having set himself as on a rock of right judgment about things, will not be captured by any human thing, having placed himself above the assault of worldly affairs. And not from counsel only, but also from prayer, and from a father's blessing, and from the common gathering, and from the love of the brothers and sisters, and from ten thousand other things, he reaps much benefit and refreshment of soul, and so departs, carrying home ten thousand good things. See, then, how much blessing you will enjoy today, and how much loss they will endure. For you will go away receiving a martyr's reward; but they, besides being deprived of this gain, will also endure another loss, dragging along with themselves from their useless pastimes a great heap of cares. For just as the one who receives a prophet in the name of a prophet will receive a prophet's reward, and the one who receives a righteous person in the name of a righteous person will receive a righteous person's reward (Matthew 10:41), so the one who receives a martyr in the name of a martyr will receive a martyr's reward. And receiving a martyr means gathering for his remembrance, sharing in the telling of his contests, marveling at what happened, imitating his virtue, and carrying his brave deeds out to others. These are the gifts of hospitality for the martyrs; this is how one receives these holy ones—just as you have done today.

Yesterday our Master was baptized in water; today the servant is baptized in blood. Yesterday the gates of heaven were opened; today the gates of hell were trampled down. And do not be surprised that I called martyrdom a baptism; for here too the Spirit hovers over with great abundance, and there is a removal of sins and a wondrous and extraordinary cleansing of the soul. And just as those who are baptized are washed in water, so those who bear witness are washed in their own blood—which is exactly what happened in this case. But before the slaughter, it is necessary to speak of the devil's cunning. For when he saw that the holy man laughed at every kind of punishment and torture, and that neither by lighting a furnace, nor digging a pit, nor preparing a wheel, nor leading him up to a wooden stake, nor hurling him down cliffs, nor casting him into the teeth of wild beasts was he able to overcome the holy man's self-discipline, he devised another, harsher method, and went around seeking to find a punishment that would be at once both the sharpest and the longest.

3Since some punishments are unbearable and bring the quickest release, while others last longer and cut deeper into the pain, the devil was eager to find a punishment that had both at once—length and an incurable excess of suffering—so that by its intensity and by the amount of time it lasted he might break the firmness of the holy man's mind. And what does he do? He hands the saint over to starvation. But when you hear “starvation,” do not pass over what is being said lightly, for of all deaths this is the most severe. Those who have experienced it are witnesses—may we never experience it, for we have been well taught to pray not to enter into temptation. It is like an executioner sitting inside the bowels and tearing apart all the limbs, devouring the body from every side more violently than any fire or wild beast, producing a constant and unspeakable pain. And so that you may learn how great starvation is, mothers have often tasted their own children, unable to bear the force of this evil. The prophet, lamenting this disaster, said: “The hands of compassionate women boiled their own children” (Lamentations 4:10). Mothers ate the children they bore, and the womb that gave birth became the grave of the children born from it, and starvation overpowered nature—or rather, not nature only, but also the will. Yet it did not overpower this holy man's nobility. Who would not be astonished to hear these things? What is more powerful than nature? What is more easily swayed than the will? But so that you may learn that nothing is stronger than the fear of God, the will proved more vigorous than nature: it convicted mothers and made them forget their birth pangs, but it was not able to trip up this holy man. The punishment did not overcome his self-discipline, nor did the torture master his courage. He remained stronger than any adamant, delighting in good hopes and glorying in the cause of his contests, having in the reason for his struggles sufficient comfort—especially as he heard Paul saying every day: “in starvation and thirst, in cold and nakedness” (2 Corinthians 11:27), and again, “To this very hour we hunger and thirst and are poorly clothed and are struck” (1 Corinthians 4:11). For he knew, he knew clearly, that “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God” (Matthew 4:4).

But when the defiled demon saw that he was not yielding to such great pressure from the situation, he made the torture still more severe. He took food offered to idols, filled a table with it, and arranged for it to be placed before his eyes, so that the ready power at his disposal might weaken the vigor of his resolve. For we are not so easily captured when the things that entice us are out of sight as when they lie before our eyes—just as a person could more easily master desire for women if he does not see a beautiful woman than if he gazes at her constantly. Nevertheless, the righteous man overcame this ambush too, and what the devil thought would weaken his courage was the very thing that anointed him for the contests. Not only did he suffer no harm from the sight of the food offered to idols, but he turned away from it all the more and hated it. And what happens to us with enemies—the more we look at them, the more we hate them and turn away from them—that is what he experienced then with that defiled sacrifice. The more he saw it, the more he loathed it and recoiled, and the constant sight drove him further into hatred and aversion of what lay before him. And while starvation cried out loudly from within and the food before him urged him to touch it, the fear of God held back his hands and made him forget nature itself. Seeing a defiled and polluted table, he remembered another table, the awesome one full of the Spirit, and so he was set on fire, choosing to endure and suffer everything rather than taste those defiled foods.

4He also remembered the table of those three young men, who were taken as youths and had no one to protect them, yet in a foreign and barbarous land showed such self-discipline that their courage is sung about even to this day. The Jews, who had their own land, acted impiously, and even while spending their time in the temple they worshipped idols; but those young men, carried off into a barbarous land where idols and every occasion for impiety surrounded them, kept guarding their ancestral way of life to the end. If captives, slaves, and youths before the time of grace showed such self-discipline, he said, what pardon could we possibly deserve if we cannot even reach the same virtue they had?

Reasoning through all these things, he laughed at the devil's wickedness, despised his malice, and yielded to none of the things he saw. When that foul one saw that he was gaining nothing more, he brought him again to the tribunal, and while torturing him he kept putting forward question after question. But to each question Lucian answered only, 'I am a Christian.' And when the executioner said, 'What is your homeland?' he said, 'I am a Christian.' 'What is your occupation?' 'I am a Christian.' 'Who are your ancestors?' To everything he answered, 'I am a Christian,' striking the devil's head with this one bare phrase and dealing him wound after wound in rapid succession.

He had in fact received a secular education, but he knew clearly that in contests like these what is needed is not rhetoric but faith, not cleverness of speech but a soul that loves God. One phrase is enough, he said, to turn back the whole phalanx of the devil. To those who do not examine carefully, the answer seems irrelevant; but if someone pays attention to its meaning, he will see the martyr's wisdom even in this. For by saying 'I am a Christian,' he revealed his homeland, his family, his occupation, and everything. How? I will tell you. A Christian has no city on earth, but the heavenly Jerusalem. For the heavenly Jerusalem is free, and she is our mother (Galatians 4:26). A Christian has no earthly occupation, but fulfills the way of life above. For our citizenship is in heaven (Philippians 3:20). A Christian has all the saints as relatives and fellow citizens. For we are fellow citizens with the saints and members of God's household (Ephesians 2:19). So with one phrase he taught with precision who he was, where he came from, who his people were, and what he continued to do.

And with this confession he ended his life, and departed carrying the deposit safe to Christ, and by what he suffered he urged those who came after to stand firm and fear nothing except sin and denial alone. Since we know these things, let us train in time of peace for the things of war, so that when war comes we too may set up a shining trophy. He despised starvation; let us also despise luxury, and let us tear down the tyranny of the belly, so that if a time comes demanding such courage from us, having trained beforehand in smaller things, we may appear radiant in the arenas. He spoke boldly before rulers and kings; let us do the same now. Even if we sit in gatherings of rich and prominent Greeks, let us confess the faith with boldness; let us laugh at their error.

5And if they try to exalt their own ways while tearing down ours, let us not keep silent or bear it mildly. Instead, let us uncover their shamefulness and praise everything that belongs to Christians with great wisdom and boldness. Just as a king wears his diadem on his head, so let us carry the confession of the faith with us everywhere. For that crown does not adorn him as much as the faith and its confession are accustomed to adorn us. Let us do this not only through words but also through our very deeds, displaying in every way a life worthy of the confession, so that we do not put the doctrines to shame by the wickedness of our actions. Instead, glorifying our Master in all things, may we enjoy honor both here and there. May we all attain it, by the grace and love for humanity of our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom and with whom to the Father be glory, power, and honor, together with the Holy and life-giving Spirit, now and always, and to the ages of ages. Amen.