to the point that in Thessaloniki, the city where
he was martyred, that they have an entire holy
week leading up to the celebration. And yet if
we look at his martyrdom, he doesn't have the
peeling of the flesh, he doesn't have the wheel
of torment and the things that we see in the
martyrdom of, say, St. George the Trophy Bearer
or that we see in the martyrdoms of other great
martyrs. But what we have in, of course, St.
Demetrius is really a perfect patience and trust
in God until the very end. Actually, in the Madden's
Gospel, it says, By your patience acquire ye
your souls. And for the fathers, of course, when
we hear patience, that doesn't mean just resignation.
That doesn't mean inactivity. Because patience,
you know, of course, in Revelations, Apostle
John, the theologian, teaches that the saints,
of course, run the race with patience, and their
patience is, of course, keeping the commandments.
So being patient doesn't mean giving up, but
it means keeping one's eye always on the goal,
always on the goal, which is, of course, union
with Christ. St. Demetrius, above all in his
life, he always had the face of Christ before
him in all of his actions. And in Thessaloniki,
where he, of course, was a great, in the military,
he had attained to significant rank. But what
everyone noticed was, of course, that he was
peaceful, that he was loving, and that somehow
he had heard the preaching of the apostles. In
other words, the teaching of the apostles. And
that became like a flame in his heart. And he
simply... would tell the good news over and over
again of Christ God incarnate for our sakes,
born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius
Pilate, died crucified, and rose from the dead.
And Thessaloniki, which was itself a pagan city,
suddenly became the name of Christ was heard
everywhere in the streets because of, of course,
Saint Demetri. head Roman ruler came through
and he heard of this. He brought St. Demetrius
before him and St. Demetrius was calm, patient,
kind, loving, but he didn't move an inch from
his, of course, confession that Christ is God
and Christ is absolutely everything. Everything
for him, everything for the faithful, and there
was no way that he could tempt him either through
promise of earthly honors and earthly wealth
or even from the promise of torment and he was
thrown into of course the sewers in Thessaloniki
where he simply continued to pray Nestor came
to get his blessing and after getting his blessing
he went to fight the chief gladiator of the of
the ruler of the time. And there he cried out
by the prayers of St. Demetrius, he says, I will
defeat you. And of course, this young Nestor
was not particularly of the same size as the
great gladiator. He was completely victorious.
The emperor, he went, and the leader, and he
sent someone to, of course, kill St. Demetrius
with a spear, which the writers of the Lives
of the Saints never fail to mention, very much
like, of course, our Lord, who they pierced him
with a spear. But what we see above all in that
life is simply looking... always towards Christ,
looking with patience, and just keeping one's
focus on that. You know, often in the writings
of the fathers, they talk about the proper honor
of the saint is the imitation of the saint. And
how do we imitate him? It's not that we, of course,
look for suffering, because the saints, the martyrs,
didn't look for suffering. But we imitate them
above all by always looking to Christ. No matter
what comes our way, what temptation, what difficulty,
we look to Christ. And we imitate them above
all by their love for Christ. Because it's their
love for Christ that enables them to be patient.
It's their love for Christ that enables them
to fight any kind of temptation or torment that
the devil would, of course, unleash upon them.
And so, on this day in which we celebrate the
great martyr, St. Demetrius, let's make a commitment
to be patient, but to be patient with love. Patient,
looking towards Christ, doing what we can, fulfilling
the commandments, and so be accounted worthy
of that kingdom which St. Demetrius has inherited
and all the saints with Christ our Lord. Amen.