St. Cosmas of Aetolia and the Message of the 13th Sunday After Pentecost

ALL DEEDS: A SACRIFICE TO GOD

On the twenty-fourth day of August, the Greek Church celebrated the memory of its saint, St. Cosmas of Aetolia. St. Cosmas was a simple monk, who left the safety of his monastic life in order to preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the people of the north of Greece, in the region that is called Aetolia.  In past ages, this particular region had been Christian, but due to universal ignorance of the truths of the Christian faith as a result of the power and influence of Greece’s Muslim government, the faith had all but died in this area.  St. Cosmas began to walk from village to village teaching and preaching to the people.  The life of St. Cosmas as an itinerant preacher was difficult. Each day, he rose before dawn, and after his prayers, he began to go from house to house speaking about the Lord Jesus Christ to all who were willing to listen to him.  Often he traveled more than thirty miles in a single day. Slowly, the people of the region began to return to the Christian faith. Old parishes were restored, and new ones were established, although secretly because of the oppressive laws of the Muslim government.  After many years of profitable labour, the Muslims found St. Cosmas and arrested him. He was not so much as given a trial, but on the 24^th of August, the agent of the local pasha entered his cell and strangled him to death with a garrote. 

     St. Cosmas was a faithful worker in the vineyard of the Lord.  Today, we noted that the vineyard is an image of God’s People, the Church.  The vineyard is also a symbol of the universe renewed and restored in Christ.

     Christ’s presence through His Church has sanctified the entire Creation.  Through the works of Christ, the Creation has become the instrument of our salvation. Now, each human act (that is not contrary to the moral law) has value, if we offer this acts to God as sacrifices.  The Paschal Mystery of Christ’s suffering, death and resurrection created a new spiritual environment, for the universe became the vineyard in which we can work in order to accomplish our salvation.  The vineyard is a place in which it is necessary for us to labour, just as the Lord Jesus Christ tells us: “The Kingdom of Heaven can be likened to a man, a householder, who rose early in the morning to find workers to labour in his vineyard.” And again, the Lord gives to us this illustration: “One man had two sons. Going to the first, he said: ‘Go, child, and work in the vineyard.” The entire universe is for us like a vineyard in which we must work, just as the Lord God made the first man “to work in the Garden of Eden and to care for it.”

     We need to offer to God all of our simple works with a constant intention, which we can express in prayer: “Lord God, I offer to You this, my work.”

     In our contemporary circumstances, we hear again and again about the environmental movement. Daily there are concerns about CO2 and other greenhouse gases, as well as toxins which pervade our water supplies.  But there is no concern about the real poisons which destroy our very life: anger, envy, greed, lust, pride and vanity. If we were to purify our hearts of these poisons, then indeed we would find that our natural environment was very, very pure.

     Actually, it is the sacrifice to God of simple human works, which purifies our environment.  In the office to the martyrs at Vespers, we sing: “O most blessed martyrs Christ, you gave yourselves up freely to be sacrificed. With your blood you sanctified the earth. You brightened the air by your departure from this life. Now, you live in Heaven in a never-setting light. O martyrs, who see God, always pray for us.” How is this possible? Well, when we offer our works to God, we receive grace in return, and Divine Grace ameliorates our world both materially and spiritually.  The Canadian spiritual author Catherine Doherty wrote that all human labours are able to be apostolic.  For example, she believed that her sweeping was capable of gaining numerous souls for Christ.  Her faith in God’s grace was so great that her time spent with a broom was as if she was preaching in far off lands to unbelievers.

    It is indeed possible to offer all our works to God, but to accomplish this we must have courage. Courage is necessary to eject passion from our lives, and, instead to welcome peace and prayer into our hearts.  We can accomplish great things for Christ, and all in the course of our everyday activities, but only if we have the same sort of courage as we see in St. Cosmas.