We heard in the spiritual reading today how important it is to have good notes and even to read them well. It may be a surprise to us to learn that these values are not just of earth but also of Heaven. Today, it would be profitable for us to delve into the story of some of God's secretaries, with a deep desire to do their jobs well, taking accurate notes, but ultimately in a quandary concerning what should be included and what not. We shall hear how Heaven itself intervened to resolve their problems, give them accurate and good notes, and how those notes preserved the Church's faith for future generations.
This story has several episodes. The first took place in 304. In that year, there was a terrible persecution of Christians in Asia Minor (what is now Turkey). One particular young woman was swept up in that persecution. Her name was Euphemia. Refusing to turn away from the worship of Christ, she was sentenced to death, but her captivity turned into days, then into weeks and then into months, because the authorities kept trying to kill her, but could not seem to succeed. First, they tried to torture her on the wheel, but an angel shattered the wheel. Then, they tried to burn her in a furnace, but she emerged from the fire unharmed. They tried to drown her in a cistern used for sewage collection, but not only did she come up from it alive, but she was unstained by the contents. Finally, she was thrown to wild beasts, but she said a short prayer and gave up her soul to God before the beasts reached her. For her endurance of all these sufferings, she was designated as one of the "Great-Martyrs" by the Church.
Over a hundred years later, in 449, the second episode begins. In that year, an Ecumenical Council was called together to meet in Ephesus, just as the bishops had met there in 431. In fact, just as the Council of Ephesus had been under the presidency of the St. Cyril, the Patriarch of Alexandria, so this Second Council of Ephesus was to be presided over by his nephew Dioscorus, the new Patriarch of Alexandria. In those days, Ephesus was a wooded and lush place, more like Tahoe than the terrible desert place that it is today. It was not until the 11th century that the area's new inhabitants, the Turks, burned the forests, because they wanted open pastureland for their flocks. Dioscorus, just like his uncle, St. Cyril, came to Ephesus with an army of Paraboli (urban monks, whose special vocation was burying the dead). At a certain point during the council's proceedings, at a signal from Dioscorus, the Paraboli rushed into the Church of the Mother of God in Ephesus and severely beat Flavian, the Patriarch of Antioch, leaving him half dead. (He was, in fact, to die as a result of his wounds some days later.)The papal legates, a priest and a deacon, took refuge in the sanctuary during the melee and there, in the name of Pope Leo, placed sentence on the council, declaring it null and void. Pope Leo later personally heard the testimony of both his legates and confirmed their sentence. He also, at the same time, anathematized Dioscorus, uttering his own famous condemnation of the so-called council: "Non est concilium, sed latrocinium" (That's not a council, but a den of thieves).
Pope Leo, the Emperor Marcian and his wife, the Empress Pulcheria, immediately began to plan for a real council to bring the despicable Dioscorus to justice and restore true faith to the Church. The Second Council of Ephesus had decreed that there was only a Divine Nature in Christ, and no human nature. (Many of the bishops had been forced to sign the documents in duress, under threat of the same thing happening to them that had already happened to Patriarch Flavian.) The new Council met in Chalcedon, near the imperial capital, in 451. Naturally, they met in the Church dedicated to the local saint, the Great-Martyr Saint Euphemia. The proceedings were at first tense and difficult. This was so much the case that the fathers of the Council finally determined that it was necessary to take a break for prayer and fasting to last for three days. For safe keeping, the fathers instructed the secretaries of the council to take all their notes and documents and place them in the sarcophagus of St. Euphemia. All the minutes of the council, the records of its proceedings and the documents that had been read into the record of the council were all taken and place into the tomb of the saint. Among the documents were the heretical writings of Eutyches and Dioscorus, as well as the Tome of St. Leo (which had not yet been read into the record). The Tome of Leo taught that Christ is one, single Divine Person, Who subsists in two natures, Divine and human, and that there is no mixture or confusion between these two natures.
After their three days of prayer and fasting, the secretaries returned to the sarcophagus of Saint Euphemia and they were astonished. They summoned the fathers to see what they had found. Even though all the papers of the council had been put into the sarcophagus in one single pile, the Tome of Leo had been separated out. It was now in the saint's right hand, pressed to her heart. On the other hand, the heretical writings had also been separated out. They found them under the saint's feet.
That very day, the Tome of Leo was read into the record of the council. When they heard it, the bishops acclaimed together, "Peter has spoken by Leo!"
Yes, indeed, the service of a good secretary and accurate minutes are very important. So important, in fact, that even Heaven agrees. Whenever there are questions by the secretary concerning what to include and what not, perhaps a prayer to the Great-Martyr Euphemia may be of help. You never know. The accuracy of your minutes might just save the Faith.
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