Asterius of Amasea, Homilies

paying attention with their mind to the evangelical scripture, in which the Lord, exhorting the holy and God-loving athletes, says: If anyone confesses me before men, I will confess him before my Father, for the sake of this confession, with steadfast minds they bore sharpened iron, and they walked upon fire, and they gave their body over to the mouths of beasts, and each one submitted their back to whips, and their sides were torn by the points of claws, and they endured bonds of iron, and they bore the dark dungeons of prisons; 10.3.3 and they were oppressed by hunger and dried up by thirst, and they set their faces like stone to those who slapped them, they heard insults as if deaf, they were silent toward those reproaching and reviling them as if mute, they were paraded before crowds and in theaters, they were led through marketplaces and streets with completely naked bodies, not only men, but also women, the most wretched thing. Others were consumed by fire, others froze in winter; in various ways they apportioned their heroic deeds among us, so that in falling they might be victorious. 10.4.1 For this reason, having reverently shrouded their pious bodies, the vessels of election, the instruments of blessed souls, the homes of philosophical inhabitants, we keep them as most precious treasures for all of life, and we guard them as our advantages, and the church is walled with the martyrs as a city with noble soldiers, and public festivals are gathered, and we enjoy the gladness of the feasts. 10.4.2 But those oppressed by human circumstances or misfortunes hasten to the resting places of the thrice-blessed as to some refuge, making them intercessors for their prayers and petitions on account of their exceeding boldness. From here poverty is loosed and diseases are healed and threats of rulers are put to rest; and the sacred shrines of the martyrs are calm harbors from all the disturbances and storms of life. 10.4.3 Thus a father or mother, having taken up their sick child and wrapped them in their arms, runs past clinics and doctors, and flees for refuge to untechnical help; and coming to one of the martyrs, through him brings the request to the Master, using such words to the mediator: "Having suffered for Christ, intercede on behalf of suffering and disease. Having boldness, lend a word to your fellow servants. Even if you have left our life, yet you know the sufferings of humanity; you too once called upon martyrs before you became a martyr. Then seeking you received, now having, grant. For your prize, ask for our gain. May we be healed by your wound as the world was by Christ's." 10.4.4 Another, hastening to a wedding, makes the prayer in the martyria the prelude to the bridal chambers; and someone hurrying to a voyage does not first loose the ship's cables, before he has called upon the Master of the sea through the martyrs; and tribes of the poor and swarms of the needy possess the resting place of the martyrs as a common hearth and nourishment; and the martyrs are sung of everywhere on land and sea. Rightly and according to their worth. 10.4.5 For they did not, like many, accomplish righteousness, but they carried the cross in their very body; they did not scatter money, but shed blood; they did not pity a poor man, but had no mercy on themselves; they did not visit the afflicted one in prison, but they themselves wore the chains. For this reason they reaped glory and honor equivalent to their endurance and affliction. 10.5.1 Thus, then, are the martyrs; but where are their tyrants and murderers, those who thought lofty thoughts and threatened arrogant things, those sitting on high thrones and not knowing their own ruler? They roared more than lions, they ran more than leopards, they tore more than bears, they shed blood like wolves, they did evil like foxes. They lie more disgusting than dead donkeys, oblivion has covered their life; and they have Hades as their tomb and impiety as their monument and dishonor as their memory;

τῷ εὐαγγελικῷ γράμματι προσέχοντες τὸν νοῦν, ἐν ᾧ προτρέπων τοὺς ἱεροὺς ἀθλήτας καὶ φιλοθέους ὁ Κύριος λέγει· Ἐάν τις ὁμολογήσῃ με ἔμπροσθεν τῶν ἀνθρώπων, ὁμολογήσω αὐτὸν ἔμπροσθεν τοῦ πατρός μου, ὑπὲρ ταύτης τῆς ὁμολογίας ἤνεγκαν ἀτρέπτοις τοῖς λογισμοῖς σίδηρον τεθηγμένον καὶ πυρκαϊᾶς ἐπέβησαν καὶ θηρίων στόμασιν ἔκδοτον τὸ σῶμα παρέσχον καὶ τὸν νῶτον ἕκαστος ὑπέθηκαν μάστιξι καὶ ταῖς ἀκμαῖς τῶν ὀνύχων τὰς πλευρὰς ἐσπαράχθησαν καὶ δεσμῶν τῶν διὰ σιδήρου ἠνέσχοντο καὶ δεσμωτηρίων ἤνεγκαν σκοτεινὰ καταγώγια· 10.3.3 ἐπιέσθησαν δὲ λιμῷ καὶ δίψει κατεξηράνθησαν, παρέθηκαν δὲ ὡς λίθους τὰ πρόσωπα τοῖς ῥαπίζουσιν, ἤκουσαν τῶν ὕβρεων ὡς κώφοι, ἐσιώπησαν πρὸς τοὺς ὀνειδίζοντας καὶ λοιδορουμένους ὡς ἄλαλοι, δήμοις καὶ θεάτροις ἐπομπεύθησαν, περιήχθησαν ἀγορὰς καὶ ἄμφοδα ἐν ὁλογύμνοις τοῖς σώμασιν, οὐκ ἄνδρες μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ γυναῖκες, τὸ σχετλιώτατον. Ἄλλοι πυρὶ κατεφλέχθησαν, ἕτεροι διὰ χειμῶνος ἐπάγησαν· ποικίλοις τρόποις τὰς ἀριστείας ἡμῖν κατεμερίσαντο, ἵνα πεσόντες νικήσωσιν. 10.4.1 ∆ιὰ τοῦτο τὰ εὐσεβῆ σώματα σεμνῶς περιστείλαντες, τὰ σκεύη τῆς ἐκλογῆς, τὰ τῶν μακαρίων ψυχῶν ὄργανα, τὰς οἰκίας τῶν φιλοσόφων ἐνοίκων, ὡς κειμήλια πολυτίμητα τῷ παντὶ βίῳ φυλάσσομεν, φρουροῦμεν δὲ αὐτοῖς ὡς ἡμετέροις πλεονεκτήμασιν καὶ τοῖς μάρτυσιν ἡ ἐκκλησία τετείχισται ὡς πόλις ὁπλίταις γενναίοις καὶ πάνδημοι πανηγύρεις ἀθροίζονται καὶ τῆς θυμηδίας τῶν ἑορτῶν ἀπολαύομεν. 10.4.2 Οἱ δὲ ταῖς ἀνθρωπικαῖς περιστάσεσιν ἢ συμφοραῖς πιεζόμενοι ὡς ἐπί τι κρησφύγετον τὰς ἀναπαύσεις τῶν τρισμακαρίων σπεύδουσιν πρεσβευτὰς αὐτοὺς τῶν εὐχῶν καὶ αἰτημάτων διὰ τὸ ὑπερβάλλον τῆς παρρησίας ποιούμενοι. Ἐντεῦθεν πενίαι λύονται καὶ ἰατρεύονται νόσοι καὶ ἀρχόντων ἀπειλαὶ κοιμίζονται· πασῶν δὲ τῶν ταραχῶν καὶ χειμώνων τοῦ βίου λιμένες εἰσὶν εὔδιοι οἱ ἱεροὶ τῶν μαρτύρων σηκοί. 10.4.3 Οὕτως πατὴρ ἢ μήτηρ ἀραμένη τὸν ἄρρωστον παῖδα καὶ περιστείλασα ταῖς ἀγκάλαις παρατρέχει μὲν ἰατρεῖα καὶ ἰατρούς, ἐπὶ δὲ ἄτεχνον καταφεύγει βοήθειαν· καὶ πρὸς ἕνα τῶν μαρτύρων ἐλθοῦσα δι' ἐκείνου τῷ ∆εσπότῃ προσάγει τὴν αἴτησιν τοιαύταις κεχρημένη πρὸς τὸν μεσίτην φωναῖς· «Παθὼν διὰ Χριστὸν πρέσβευσον ὑπὲρ πάθους καὶ νόσου. Ἔχων παρρησίαν χρῆσον λόγον τοῖς ὁμοδούλοις. Εἰ καὶ τὸν ἡμέτερον βίον ἀπέλιπες, ἀλλὰ γοῦν οἶδας τὰ πάθη τῆς ἀνθρωπότητος· παρεκάλεσας καὶ σύ ποτε μάρτυρας πρὶν γενέσθαι μάρτυς. Τότε ζητῶν ἐλάμβανες, νῦν ἔχων χάρισαι. Εἰς τὸ γέρας τὸ σὸν αἴτησον τὸ κέρδος ἡμῖν. Ἰαθείημεν τῷ σῷ μώλωπι ὡς τῷ τοῦ Χριστοῦ ὁ κόσμος». 10.4.4 Ἄλλος ἐπὶ γάμον σπεύδων προοίμιον ποιεῖται τῶν θαλάμων τὴν ἐν μαρτυρίοις εὐχήν· καί τις εἰς πλοῦν ἐπειγόμενος οὐ πρότερον τῆς νεὼς λύει τὰ πείσματα, πρὶν ἂν τὸν τῆς θαλάσσης ∆εσπότην διὰ τῶν μαρτύρων ἐπικαλέσηται· πτωχῶν δὲ φῦλα καὶ πενήτων ἐσμοὶ κοινὴν ἑστίαν καὶ τροφὴν κέκτηνται τὴν τῶν μαρτύρων ἀνάπαυσιν· ᾄδονται δὲ πανταχοῦ γῆς καὶ θαλάττης οἱ μάρτυρες. Εἰκότως καὶ πρὸς ἀξίαν. 10.4.5 Οὐ γὰρ ὡς πολλοὶ τὴν δικαιοσύνην καθόρθωσαν, αὐτῷ δὲ σώματι τὸν σταυρὸν ἐβάστασαν· οὐ χρήματα ἐσκόρπισαν, ἀλλ' αἷμα ἐξέχεαν· οὐ πένητα ᾤκτειραν, ἀλλ' ἑαυτοὺς οὐκ ἠλέησαν· οὐκ ἐν δεσμωτηρίῳ τὸν κεκακωμένον ἐπεσκέψαντο, ἀλλ' αὐτοὶ τὰς ἁλύσεις ἐφόρεσαν. ∆ιὰ τοῦτο τῆς ὑπομονῆς καὶ τῆς κακώσεως ἀντίρροπον τὴν δόξαν καὶ τὴν τιμὴν ἐκαρπώσαντο. 10.5.1 Οἱ μὲν οὖν μάρτυρες οὕτως· οἱ δὲ τούτων τύραννοι καὶ φονεῖς ποῦ, οἱ τὰ ὑψηλὰ φρονήσαντες καὶ τὰ ὑπερήφανα ἀπειλήσαντες, οἱ ἐπὶ θρόνων μετεώρων καθήμενοι καὶ τὸν ἑαυτῶν ἄρχοντα μὴ γνωρίσαντες; Ἐβρυ χήσαντο ὑπὲρ τοὺς λέοντας, ἔδραμον ὑπὲρ τὰς παρδάλεις, ἐσπάραξαν ὑπὲρ τὰς ἄρκτους, ἐξέχεαν αἵματα κατὰ τοὺς λύκους, ἐκακούργησαν ὡς αἱ ἀλώπεκες. Κεῖνται τῶν ὄνων τῶν νεκρῶν μυσαρώτεροι, λήθη ἐκάλυψεν τὴν ζωὴν αὐτῶν· ἔχουσι δὲ τάφον τὸν ᾅδην καὶ στήλην τὴν ἀσέβειαν καὶ μνήμην τὴν ἀτιμίαν·