Brothers and sisters in Christ--
Among the commemorations that we have for today (24 August O.S.) is the Holy Martyr Syra, who was a close friend and follower of the great Persian saint, the Martyr Mary Golinduc, whom the Church commemorates on the 12th day of July. Syra was converted to the Christian Faith by the example of Golinduc. Syra's conversion was so obnoxious to her father that he betrayed her to the authorities, and she was arrested and tried for being a Christian. She endured enormous sufferings, and, in the end, she was strangled to death with a cord by the order of the Persian Emperor Chosroes II.
Meditating on the life of St. Syra by necessity calls to mind the various episodes in the life of St. Mary Golinduc herself, St. Syra's spiritual mother. There is one particular episode, which I would like to recall today. At one point in her great sufferings, she was thrown into a pit, and in the pit was an enormous venomous serpent. Because of Golinduc's faith and through her prayer, the serpent, rather than attacking the saint as expected, fled into the very furthest corners of the pit. There, as if it were being poisoned by the venom of a larger, more powerful serpent, gave forth a loud sound and died.
This is a good story for each and every one of us, because these same circumstances are played out again and again in our own daily lives. God often wills that we meet the power of the Evil One face to face. He wills that we battle temptation, which he launches against us through anger and pleasure, etc. Yet, it is with the Lord's own power that we battle, and we must never forget this. The Holy Apostle Paul, writing to the Corinthian Church tells us:
Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall. No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it.
What a tremendous honor and dignity we have to be able to fight God's enemy by God's own power. To Him be the glory for ever and ever.
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