SAINT ATHENOGENES TEACHES US “BLESS GOD IN ALL THINGS”

The Holy Hieromartyr Athenogenes is famous for two things. First, he wrote the hymn that the Byzantine Church still uses as the centerpiece of the Evening Service “Phos Hilaron” (Tranquil Light):

Tranquil Light, Light and Holy Glory,

Of the Father Immortal, the Heavenly, Holy,

The Blessed One, O Jesus Christ,

As we come upon the sunset,

As we see the evening light,

We sing to God, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.

At all times, You are worthy,

Of being hymned by joyful voices,

O Son of God and Giver of Light,

For this the whole world glorifies You.

The hymn is particularly significant because it came from this author, because of the second reason why Athenogenes is so famous: as bishop of Sebaste in Armenia, he witnessed his entire Church butchered before his eyes. The Roman authorities under the Emperor Diocletian ordered them all killed starting with the priests, then the deacons, then the lower orders of ministry, then finally all the laity. Lastly, the governor Philomarchus came to Bishop Athenogenes and said to him, “Now, offer sacrifice to the gods, so that the same thing does not befall you.” Athenogenes replied, “So that the same thing does not befall me? Thus you show the depths of your ignorance. All of those people are now in Paradise with Christ, where they will reign with him forever.” The holy bishop was then killed with the sword. Indeed, he saw “the evening,” “the sunset” of his high priestly ministry and his Church, and he blessed God for it.

Still, he must have been tempted to think that all his efforts had been for naught. He must have been tempted to think that his labors had been a failure. After all, every Christian in the city of Sebaste had been killed. It is true that the city would be re-evangelized in the coming generation. In fact, the brother of St. Basil the Great, St. Peter of Sebaste did much of that work. Still, the original Church of the city, presided over by Bishop Athenogenes would, from that day, continue only in Heaven.

Athenogenes must have reflected, and probably reflected deeply upon the fact that times of such apparent failure are apt opportunities for blessing the Lord, Whose judgments are not always to be understood. It is true, for example, that the Scriptures are full of soaring praise for God’s deliverance from calamity, but at the same time there are also examples of simple resignation (and praise nonetheless) in the face of calamity that God has decided not to avert. The insight of the Book of Ecclesiastes is that in the judgment of God “there is time to be born, and a time to die.” Well, Athenogenes’ Church had come to its “time to die.” The Scriptures are full of great laments by which the judgments of God are received, accepted, embraced and, finally, praised.

Look and see, all you who pass by the way. Look and see whether there is any suffering like my suffering—a suffering with which the Lord has afflicted me on the day of His blazing wrath. My eyes run with tears. I looked around for consolers; not one could I find.

Athenogenes must have thought, “Thank you, O Lord, for the time You have given us. Thank you for the work You have allowed us to accomplish. Thank You for all who have come to salvation through our hands, and for all who have heard Your Gospel through us. Forgive us everything that we should have done, but did not do. After all, we did not convert the entire city to Your Name. Forgive us the many ways we have been neglectful in the work you have entrusted to us. You have willed that we should wither on the vine. Blessed are You, O Lord! May you be glorified in our withering on the vine. You have willed that we cease to be on this earth. Blessed are You, O Lord! May You be glorified in our ceasing to be. We have come upon the sunset. May You be glorified in the sunset just as much as You are in the dawn and the noonday. As we see the evening light, we bless You and commend ourselves into Your hands. May there be some who remember that we were. May they remember what we did in Your Name, so that You may be glorified unto the ages of ages.”