How Truth Instructs us in Silence: (III)

[Rich]

How Truth Instructs us in Silence: (III)

Therefore, let not Moses speak to me, but You, O Lord my God, the
Everlasting Truth, lest I die and bear no fruit if I am but warned in
word, and not kindled at heart; lest it turn to my condemnation, if I
hear Your word, but do no obey it; know it, but do not love it;
believe it, but do not keep it. Therefore, Speak, Lord, for Your
servant is listening. `You have the words of eternal life.'(John 6:68)
Speak to me, Lord, and comfort my soul: order my life to Your praise,
glory, and eternal honour.
--Thomas à Kempis --Imitation of Christ Bk 3, Ch 2

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June 14th - St. Methodius
Born in Syracuse, Sicily; died in Constantinople on June 14, 847.

Although he was born in a time when many in the Eastern Church were
iconoclasts, Methodius courageously defended the attempt of Christian
artists to inspire the faithful by means of beautiful icons. The saint
was educated in Syracuse. Then he went to Constantinople intending to
be a courtier of the emperor, but a holy monk so much impressed him
that he decided to retire from the world. He built a monastery on the
Greek island of Chios (Khios), intending to stay there for the rest of
his life. But the patriarch of Constantinople, Saint Nicephorus,
wanted Methodius by his side. Both men boldly stood up against the
destroyers of icons, but Nicephorus was deposed and sent into exile by
Emperor Leo the Armenian.

Methodius, too, was forced to flee. He was sent to Rome to report to
Pope Saint Paschal I on the destruction of sacred images. In 821, when
Michael the Stammerer was enthroned, Methodius returned to
Constantinople with a letter from Pope Paschal demanding the
reinstatement of Nicephorus. Instead the emperor condemned Methodius
as a seditionist and ordered that he be scourged and exiled.

For seven years he was kept in a tomb or mausoleum with three thieves.
One died and his corpse was left to rot in the dungeon alongside the
three living prisoners. When Methodius was released, we are told that
he looked like a skeleton, but his spirit was unbroken. He resumed his
opposition to iconoclasm under Emperor Theophilus, and was called
before the emperor. Blamed for his past activities and for the letter
that he supposedly incited the pope to write, he replied boldly, "If
an image is so worthless in your eyes, how is it that when you condemn
the images of Christ you do not condemn the veneration paid to
representations of yourself? Far from doing so, you are continually
causing them to be multiplied."

There was a respite for a time when Theophilus died in 842 and his
widow Theodora took control of the empire as regent for her small son,
Michael III. Happily, she supported those who defended icons and
repealed all decrees against images. Within 30 days exiled clergy were
recalled and images restored to the churches amid rejoicing. In 843,
Methodius became patriarch of Constantinople, replacing the iconoclast
John the Grammarian.

He had five more years to live. Speedily he summoned a synod in
Constantinople that endorsed the decrees of the Second Council of
Nicaea declaring icons lawful in the church. An annual 'feast of
Orthodoxy,' still observed in the Byzantine Church on the first Sunday
of Lent, was instituted to mark this victory for reason and devotion.
The patriarch also translated the relics of his predecessor,
Nicephorus, to Constantinople. Unfortunately, this period of
reconciliation was marred by a quarrel with some of his most ardent
supporters--the monks of Saint Theodore Studites--over some of the
abbot's writings. The saint died of dropsy. His immediate successor,
Saint Ignatius, instituted an annual celebration of Methodius's feast.

Saint Methodius was said to have been a prolific writer, especially of
hymns, though few of his writings still exist. Notable among his
extant works is a life of Saint Theophanes. He also authored
penitential canons, sermons, and an encomium of Saint Dionysius the
Areopagite, which some think incorporates the work of Hilduin that he
may have seen during his time in Rome (Attwater, Benedictines,
Bentley, Delaney, Encyclopedia, Husenbeth, Walsh).

In art, Saint Methodius is a Greek patriarch holding two candlesticks,
one three-branched, one two-branched, or holding a picture of the Last
Judgement (Roeder).


Saint Quote
The more we see of failure in obedience, the stronger should be our
suspicion of temptation and illusion. For when God sends His
inspirations to a heart, the first grace He sheds upon it is that of
obedience.
--St. Teresa

Bible Quote
Sing ye to the Lord a new canticle: let his praise be in the church of
the saints. (Psalms 149:1)


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An invocation of the Holy Ghost:

Come, O Holy Ghost, fill the hearts of Thy faithful and
kindle in them the fire of Thy love. Send forth Thy Spirit
and they shall be created and Thou shalt renew the face of
the earth. Amen.

Let us pray:

O God, Who taught the hearts of the faithful by the light of
the Holy Ghost, grant that, by the gift of the same Spirit, we
may be always truly wise, and ever rejoice in His
consolation. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.