posted with permission from the author
By Father James Thornton
Beloved Children in Christ,
The formal study of the Holy Church Fathers is referred to by the terms Patrology or Patristics, a terms derived from the Greek “πατέρας” (father). Johannes Quasten, who made Patrology his life’s work, defines this discipline as “the science of the Fathers of the Church,”[1] which definition is precise and wholly adequate.
Yet, Quasten further defines his field of inquiry as the study of “that part of the history of Christian literature which deals with the theological authors of Christian antiquity.”[2] That definition, while adequate from the standpoint of a Western churchman, which Quasten was, is flawed from the standpoint of Eastern Orthodox Christianity, since it restricts the term “Church Father” to antiquity, that is, to the early centuries of the Christian Era. Professor Otto Bardenhewer errs similarly, and for the same reason, in that he avers that the four marks of a Church Father are “orthodoxy of doctrine, holiness of life, ecclesiastical approval, and antiquity.”[3] By way of contrast, Orthodox Christianity holds that Holy Church Fathers are not confined to antiquity but that the Church “has always produced and will always produce, until the end of time, true spiritual Fathers to guide and nourish Christ’s flock. The authentic Patristic witness is not confined, therefore, to this or to that century or era.”[4] Moreover, for the purposes of this series of inquiries, we have somewhat expanded the meaning of the term “Church Father” to include not only men who taught us through their writings, but who witnessed to Christ’s Truth in exemplary fashion by their lives, without having left behind any writings. Such is the case with the man we consider today, Saint Philaretos the Merciful.
Saint Philaretos was born in the eighth century in the town of Amnia in the Province of Paphlagonia, a region in the north of Asia Minor, bordering the Black Sea. He was a man of wealth and high social standing, part of the class known as the gentry, in other words a gentleman of the provincial nobility. His extensive property holdings included vast tracts of land, fine vineyards, and numberless flocks of livestock. To attend to the needs of his estate there was a veritable army of servants and, furthermore, he was blest with a large family. In short, “God had given him goods and riches of all kinds in abundance.”[5] However, unlike most men in similar circumstances, Saint Philaretos’s purpose in life was not the increase of his goods and riches but to live a God-pleasing life, which to him meant to regard himself not as the owner or master of the wealth he controlled but as the custodian or guardian of that wealth, the aim of which was to alleviate the distress of his fellow men. And so it was that whenever a neighbor would express pain over some material loss, or the slightest need for anything, he was there to extinguish the pain and erase the deficiency by giving generously from his own abundance. And for many years God showed his favor by augmenting the Saint’s wealth to the same degree that it was depleted in being distributed to others.
Men and women of this fallen world are not, however, strengthened in their Faith by ongoing placidity and good fortune. Faith is tested in adversity and is strengthened by misfortune. And so God allowed bands of marauding Saracens to attack Paphlagonia and devastate the estate of Saint Philaretos, leaving it a wasteland. The Saint, suddenly reduced to poverty, remained undisturbed, vowing to provide for his family by working the land himself. Despite the abrupt plunge into poverty, the philanthropic propensity did not leave Saint Philaretos. He gave away his last ox to a neighbor whose ox had died. His last horse he gave to man requiring a horse to ride in defense of the homeland in battle. His last cow, and its calf, he gave to a man whose livestock had been stolen. Thus from poverty, the Saint sank into total destitution. His family, hungry and desperate, wailed in fear of the future. Yet, his faith was unshaken. Praying to God, he thought of Christ’s words: “Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment? Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they?”[6] Remembering the Savior’s promise, he assured his wife and children that God would not abandon them.
At that very moment, envoys of the Emperor appeared, seeking a pious young maiden of great beauty as a suitable bride for the monarch. By the Grace of God, upon visiting Saint Philaretos and meeting his beautiful granddaughter, Maria, they at once discerned that they had found the proper consort for the Emperor. Indeed, they were correct, since the Emperor was so pleased by the choice that he not only married the girl, but brought Saint Philaretos and his family to the capital, and, since they were to be part of the Imperial family, endowing them with a fine residence and great riches. God provided exactly as the Saint was so sure He would do.
Even in Constantinople, there was no change in the Saint’s charitable activities. As Saint Nicholas of Ohrid and Žiča tells us, he “did not become proud in this change of fortune but, with gratitude to God, performed still greater deeds of charity than before, remaining thus for the rest of his days.”[7] The story is told, for example, that “he ordered his family and servants to prepare the finest of banquets, in as much as he expected the imminent arrival of ‘royal visitors.’ Everyone believed, of course, that the Imperial family was about to arrive. But this was not so. St. Philaretos went to the center of the city and invited hundreds of beggars, cripples, and the poor to dine with him. Each received a lavish meal and, upon departure, a gift of money in the form of ten nomismata. Who was the "royalty" who visited and who dined in the home of St. Philaretos? None other than Jesus Christ, symbolically embodied in the poorest and most wretched of the local citizens.”[8]
Saint Philaretos departed this life in the year 797 and is commemorated December 1st.
It is obvious that from the example of Saint Philaretos the Merciful we learn very nearly all that there is to learn about the virtue of charity or love of neighbor. He was filled to overflowing with this noblest and most Godly of virtues. Nonetheless, of equal magnitude in his life were the virtues of faith and hope. Let us focus on the virtue of faith.
When disaster overwhelmed the tranquility of the life of Saint Philaretos, his faith in God remained unconquerable. He “surrendered his whole being to the mercy of God.”[9] There was not the least concern in his mind that God would fail to provide, not the least temptation to despair, and not the least decrease in his love for God. His faith and forbearance were the same as those of the Holy Prophet Job the Righteous of the Old Testament who, although he also lost everything in a series of catastrophes, still affirmed, “Naked came I out of my mother's womb, and naked shall I return thither: the Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.”[10]
Few of us will every rise to the great wealth of Saint Philaretos, and fewer of us still into the depths of his poverty. Our highs and lows will most likely be of a more modest nature. Yet, we shall undoubtedly face some manner of distress and adversity in our lives. When those times come, let us be reminded of the faith of Saint Philaretos the Merciful. Though he lived in the world and was married, with children and grandchildren, his was truly a Life in Christ in the highest degree.
We read that when he was on his deathbed the Saint called together all of his family to instruct them to be generous to the poor and to remain close to the Church, to visit the sick and those in captivity, to love their neighbors and their enemies, and, to quote him directly, to “do as you have seen me do in my life, so that God will keep you under His protection.”[11] Having conveyed his instructions, he began reciting the Lord’s Prayer. He reposed just after reaching the words “Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”
Let us strive to follow his instructions; let us strive to follow his example; and let us strive always to assure that in our lives we do God’s will on earth as it is done in heaven.
[1] Johannes Quasten,
Patrology, Vol. I (Westminster, MD: Christian Classics, Inc., 1992), p. 1. [3] Otto Bardenhewer,
Patrology, p. 1. [4] Father James Thornton,
Wealth and Poverty in the Teachings of the Church Fathers (Berkeley, CA: St. John Chrysostom Press, 1993), p. 142. [5] The Synaxarion, Vol. 2, p. 291. [7] Prologue vol. 4, p. 270 [8] Father James Thornton,
Wealth and Poverty. Pp. 134-135. [9] The Synaxarion, Vol. 2, p. 292. [11] The Synaxarion, Vol. 2, p. 294.
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The Very Rev. Protopresbyter
Father James Thornton, Rector
Holy Trinity Orthodox Church,
Oxnard, California
Orthodox Church of Greece
Synod in Resistance
