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On Mamas the Martyr

HOMILY 23. On the holy martyr Mamas.

I am not ignorant of the greatness of the praises of the festival; but just as I know this, so also am I conscious of my own weakness. For the subject demands that something worthy be said of those who have gathered, and of the hope which they have in us, and of the subject. For since we celebrate today the memory of the greatest of martyrs, every mind is alert and every ear prepared, expecting to hear something worthy of the martyr, and with longing for him it leads the church on. For well-disposed children demand great praises for their fathers, and they would not accept that the greatness of those being praised be endangered by the littleness of the one speaking. So the greater the eagerness, the greater the danger. What then shall we do? And how shall we both fulfill your desires, and not ourselves depart with the present tasks unfinished? We will exhort each soul, what it came having in its memory, to renew these things in its mind, having provisioned itself from home, having gladdened itself with its own supplies, to depart.

Remember for me the martyr, all you who have enjoyed him through dreams; all you who, having come to this place, have had him as a helper in prayer; all you to whom, having been called by name, he was present in your works; all you travelers whom he has brought back; all you whom he has raised up from sickness; all you to whom he has restored children already dead; all you for whom he has made the terms of life longer. Having gathered all these things for me, compose a eulogy from a common contribution. Share with one another, what each one knows, to the one who does not know; what he does not know, let him receive from the one who knows, and so having feasted one another from the contribution, pardon our weakness. For these are the praises of a martyr, the wealth of 31.592 spiritual gifts. For we cannot extol him according to the rule of external praises; we cannot speak of illustrious fathers and ancestors. For it is shameful for one who is distinguished by his own virtue to be adorned with the ornaments of others. For they include such things in eulogies by the laws of custom. Since, in fact, truth demands that the praises of each be his own. For neither does the father's success in the race make a horse swift, nor is it praise for a dog to have been born from the swiftest. But just as the virtue of other living things is seen in each one itself, so also a man's own praise is that which is attested by his own achievements. What is the father's distinction to the son? Thus the martyr did not receive his distinction from another source; but he himself by his subsequent life kindled a lamp of good repute. Others come from Mamas, not Mamas from others. Let the children who have been taught piety by him be proud of him. For he himself pours forth virtue from his own home. He is not like a torrent priding itself on a foreign flood, but he is a spring pouring forth beauty from its own depths. Let us admire the man who is not adorned with another's ornament, but who prides himself on his own. Do you see the splendid horse-breeders? do you see their white tombs? how they are stones that are run past? But at the memory of a martyr every land has been moved, and every city has been transformed for a festival. Nor do the relatives of those run to the tombs of their fathers, but all to the place of piety.

They call this man, the founder of truth, father, but not fathers and founders of bodies. Do you see how virtue is honored, and not wealth? Thus the

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In Mamantem martyrem

ΟΜΙΛΙΑ ΚΓʹ. Εἰς τὸν ἅγιον μάρτυρα Μάμαντα.

Οὐκ ἀγνοῶ τὸ μέγεθος τῶν ὑπὸ τῆς πανηγύ ρεως ἐγκωμίων· ἀλλ' ὥσπερ τοῦτο ἐπίσταμαι, οὕτω καὶ τῆς ἀσθενείας τῆς ἐμαυτοῦ ἐπαισθάνομαι. Ἡ μὲν γὰρ ὑπόθεσις ἀπαιτεῖ ἄξιόν τι ῥηθῆναι τῶν συν ελθόντων καὶ τῆς ἐλπίδος ἧς ἔχουσιν ἐφ' ἡμῖν, καὶ τῆς ὑποθέσεως. Ἐπειδὴ γὰρ ἐπὶ τῇ μεγίστῃ τῶν μαρτύρων ἄγομεν τὴν μνήμην σήμερον, ὀρθὴ πᾶσα διάνοια καὶ ἐμπαράσκευος ἀκοὴ, εἰπεῖν τι ἄξιον τοῦ μάρτυρος προσδοκῶσα, καὶ πόθῳ τῷ περὶ αὐτὸν τὴν ἐκκλησίαν ἐπάγει. Καὶ γὰρ εὐγνώμονες παῖδες με γάλα ἀπαιτοῦσι τὰ τῶν πατέρων ἐγκώμια, καὶ οὐκ ἂν καταδέξαιντο ἐν μικρότητι τοῦ λέγοντος κινδυ νεύειν τῶν ἐγκωμιαζομένων τὸ μέγεθος. Ὥστε ὅσῳ μείζων ἡ προθυμία, τοσούτῳ μέγας ὁ κίνδυνος. Τί οὖν ποιήσομεν; Πῶς δὲ καὶ τὰς ὑμετέρας ἐπιθυμίας ἀποπληρώσομεν, καὶ αὐτοὶ μὴ ἀπέλθωμεν ἀσυντε λεῖς τῶν παρόντων; Παρακαλέσομεν ἑκάστην ψυχὴν, ἃ ἔχουσα ἦλθεν ἐν τῇ μνήμῃ, ταῦτα ἀνακαινήσασαν τῇ διανοίᾳ, οἴκοθεν ἐπισιτισαμένην, τοῖς οἰκείοις ἐφοδίοις ἑαυτὴν εὐφράνασαν ἀπελθεῖν.

Μνήσθητέ μοι τοῦ μάρτυρος, ὅσοι δι' ὀνείρων αὐτοῦ ἀπηλαύσατε· ὅσοι, περιτυχόντες τῷ τόπῳ τούτῳ, ἐσχήκεσαν αὐτὸν συνεργὸν εἰς προσευχήν· ὅσοις, ὀνόματι κληθεὶς, ἐπὶ τῶν ἔργων παρέστη· ὅσους ὁδοιπόρους ἐπαν ήγαγεν· ὅσους ἐξ ἀῤῥωστίας ἀνέστησεν· ὅσοις παῖδας ἀπέδωκεν ἤδη τετελευτηκότας· ὅσοις προθεσμίας βίου μακροτέρας ἐποίησεν. Πάντα μοι συναγαγόντες, ἐγκώμιον ἐκ κοινοῦ ἐράνου πονήσατε. Ἀλλήλοις διάδοτε, ἃ οἶδεν ἕκαστος, τῷ μὴ εἰδότι· ἃ μὴ οἶδε, λαμβανέτω παρὰ τοῦ εἰδότος, καὶ οὕτως ἐκ συνεισ φορᾶς ἀλλήλους συνεστιάσαντες, ἡμῶν τῇ ἀσθενείᾳ σύγγνωτε. Ταῦτα γὰρ ἐγκώμια μάρτυρος, ὁ πλοῦτος τῶν 31.592 πνευματικῶν χαρισμάτων. Οὐ γὰρ ἔχομεν αὐτὸν κατὰ τὸν νόμον τῶν ἔξωθεν ἐγκωμίων ἀποσεμνύνειν· οὐκ ἔχομεν λέγειν πατέρας καὶ προγόνους περιφα νεῖς. Αἰσχρὸν γὰρ ἀλλοτρίοις κόσμοις κοσμεῖσθαι τὸν τῇ οἰκείᾳ ἀρετῇ διαφανῆ. Συνηθείας γὰρ νόμοις τὰ τοιαῦτα ἐν τοῖς ἐγκωμίοις παραλαμβάνουσιν. Ἐπεὶ ὅ γε τῆς ἀληθείας ἴδια ἑκάστου ἀπαιτεῖ τὰ ἐγκώμια. Οὔτε γὰρ ἵππον ταχὺν ποιεῖ ἡ τοῦ πατρὸς περὶ τὸν δρόμον εὐμοιρία, οὔτε κυνὸς ἐγκώμιον τὸ ἐκ ταχυτάτων φῦναι. Ἀλλ' ὥσπερ ἄλλων ζώων ἡ ἀρε τὴ ἐν αὐτῷ θεωρεῖται ἑκάστῳ, οὕτω καὶ ἀνδρὸς ἴδιος ἔπαινος ὁ ἐκ τῶν ὑπαρχόντων αὐτῷ κατορθωμάτων μαρτυρούμενος. Τί πρὸς τὸν παῖδα ἡ τοῦ πατρὸς πε ριφάνεια; Οὕτως οὐκ ἔλαβεν ἑτέρωθεν τὸ περιφανὲς ὁ μάρτυς· ἀλλ' αὐτὸς τῷ ἐφεξῆς βίῳ λαμπτῆρα εὐ κλείας ἀνῆψεν. Ἀπὸ Μάμαντος οἱ λοιποὶ, οὐκ ἀφ' ἑτέρων Μάμας. Παῖδες οἱ παρὰ τούτου τὴν εὐσέβειαν διδαχθέντες τούτῳ σεμνυνέσθωσαν. Αὐτὸς γὰρ οἴκοθεν βρύει τὴν ἀρετήν. Οὐκ ἔστιν ὥσπερ χείμαῤῥος ἀλλοτρίᾳ συῤῥοίᾳ σεμνυνόμενος, ἀλλὰ πηγή ἐστιν ἀπὸ τῶν οἰκείων λαγόνων προχέουσα τὸ κάλλος. Θαυμάσωμεν τὸν ἄνδρα μὴ ἀλλοτρίῳ κόσμῳ κοσμού μενον, ἀλλὰ τῷ ἰδίῳ ἀποσεμνυνόμενον. Ὁρᾷς τοὺς λαμπροὺς ἱπποτρόφους; ὁρᾷς τὰ λευκὰ αὐτῶν μνή ματα; πῶς λίθοι εἰσὶ παρατρεχόμενοι; Μνήμῃ δὲ μάρτυρος καὶ πᾶσα μὲν χώρα κεκίνηται, πᾶσα δὲ πόλις πρὸς ἑορτὴν μεταπεποίηται. Οὐδὲ οἱ συγγε νεῖς τῶν πρὸς τοὺς τῶν πατέρων ἀποτρέχουσι τά φους, ἀλλὰ πάντες ἐπὶ τὸν τόπον τῆς εὐσεβείας.

Πατέρα τοῦτον τὸν ἀρχηγὸν τῆς ἀληθείας, ἀλλ' οὐχὶ πατέρας καὶ σωμάτων ἀρχηγοὺς ὀνομάζουσιν. Ὁρᾷς πῶς ἀρετὴ τιμᾶται, καὶ οὐχὶ πλοῦτος; Οὕτως ἡ