Saint Martyr Valentine's Relics
Today pilgrims in the monastery can worship the small piece of St Martyr Valentine’s relics and ask for his prayers and protection. Nowadays the man of God is more popular in the Roman Catholic Church and is inevitably connected with the so called holiday of lovers. But everyone can use his own judgement to what extend it is pious after he gets acquainted with the saint’s passional.
Saint Martyr Valentine’s Suffering
In the 3AD in Ombria, an Italian region, in the town of Intermna, the Bishop was Saint Valentine, a man ordained by God with the gift of cure. Curing people of all kinds of illnesses and infirmities by prayer and invoking the Most Holy Name of Jesus Christ, he converted the infidels from idolatry to God. At that time the pagan polytheism still dominated over the world and impious kings in the West and East persecuted the Christians.
In those days three young men, students, Athens born, pagans by faith, called Proculus, Ephinus and Apollonius, came to Rome to study. They wished to get acquainted closer with the language and Roman science and arts. They found a man of letter called Cratonus, experienced in both Latin and Greek, entered for education and lived in his house. It happened that one of Cratonus’s sons, Herimonus, fell seriously ill. His spine bent strongly, head between his knees, and he could not stand upright at all. Many doctors had been called but they could not help the sick boy. In this way he suffered for three years and lost any hope of being cured.
One day a tribune (a military rank) called Phrontonus, came to Cratonus’s home. Having seen the sick boy, he said: My brother had such an illness but he was cured by a Christian Bishop called Valentine who lives in the town of Intermna. The tribune announced that and advised Cratonus to send his sick son to the bishop. He also added about his brother that after he had been cured, he didn’t want to leave the saint but attracted by his goodness, he took a liking to him.
Having heard all that Cratonus sent some honest and devoted to him people to the man of God to ask him to come to Cratonus’s house because it was impossible to send his sick child on such a long journey. The bishop hurried to come to Rome for God’s glory and was received with honours. Cratonus showed the saint sick Herimonus and started to ask the bishop to cure his son as the bishop had done with the tribune’s brother.
St Valentine said: - If you want your son to be cured, give credence to Christ, the Only True God and your wish will come true.
- I will give you half of my wealth, only if you cure my son – replied Cratonus.
- I wonder – the saint answered back, - that you, a good teacher, don’t understand my words. I repeat, if you wish, the sick boy will come through the illness because if you believe in my Christ, everything is possible for the believer. The believer is far more pleasant to God than the unbeliever whose hope is in worldly and worthless things and who worships as gods idols of evil men lived in the past, idols made of wood and stone. How is it possible to suppose that men sunk in foul deeds and exercising in cruelty and with none hour free of unlawful acts, could be gods? If you adopt the faith I am offering you rejecting the pagan impiousness and if your only hope is in the Only God, Almighty and Invisible, your son will be given health as you wish. Give out that half of your wealth you offer me to the poor, let they pray God for your son. I ask only for faith. Give credence to Jesus Christ, God’s Son, that He is the True God, give up all your idols and you will see your son healthy.
Cratonus replied: - Even though I don’t know what your faith consists of, but I have heard that everyone saves his soul by his own faith. Someone’s faith cannot help another man and vice versa. Someone’s infidelity cannot harm another person.
The saint Bishop answered: - There are things in man’s life that can neither help, nor harm .Parent’s infidelity cannot harm son’s faith. But in need and in curing the sick parent’s faith can help the son, sister’s faith her brother, master’s faith his slave. In the Holy Writ we read that, owing to his faith, the centurion received cure for his dying slave ( Math.8:5-13 ), owing to his faith, the superior of the synagogue saw his dying daughter brought to life ( Math. 9:23-25 ) and sisters crying for dead and buried Lazarus saw him raised from the dead by God’s word on the fourth day, and they rejoiced ( Math.11:1-44 ). There are a lot more examples in the Old and New Testament that clearly show that one’s faith can help another man. It happens that one’s infidelity brings harm to the others. For example pharaoh’s infidelity caused a variety of death penalty in Egypt and even killed him together with his army.
Having listened to these words, Cratonus, the teacher, fell to the Bishop’s feet and said: - I believe in the Preached by you that He is the True God and that there is no one but Him, Who orders to the illness and death to go away and they do, and Who orders to life to return and it does.
The saint told him: - Christian faith must be declared not only in words but it must be revealed in actions.
- What are these actions – asked the teacher – through which the faith could be revealed?
- Give up the idols – the Bishop thaught – made up by human hands and take the holy washing to join God’s sons.
- How can water that washes body uncleanliness cleanse from sins? – Cratonus asked
- When the Name of the Holy Trinity is called above the water it mysteriously receives the Holy Spirit Who cleanses all the sins of the baptized man – the Bishop answered.
- Our talk is prolonging more and more, – said Cratous - and my son’s life is getting shorter and shorter.
St. Valentine replied: - If you don’t believe in that that you have never been able to hear or see, your son cannot be cured.
- What could it be that I have never been able to see or hear?
- Have you heard – explained the saint – about the Virgin who conceived purely and gave birth and after the birth still remained Virgin? Have you ever seen a man walking on the sea as if on the land? Have you heard about the Man Who calmed down the sea storm by a single word and eventually was crucified , died, was buried, rose from the dead on the third day, ascended to heavens before the eyes of a lot of people and that the angles appeared clearly to people and testified that He would come again from the heavens to judge the dead and alive? If you believe all that happened as I tell you, then step on and adopt baptism. Your son will be cured and you yourself will obtain the eternal life.
- I will do everything you told me, let only my son receives health.
The saint said: - As the whole worldly wisdom that you teach is nothing before God and you cannot believe so perfectly as the very faith asks for it, give me your word that you and all your family will convert to God and adopt baptism after your son, by my faith, receives health.
Than Cratonus, the teacher, called his wife and all his family, fell to the saint’s feet and they promised to become Christians. After that the saint ordered them to prepare a room for him and told them to spend the whole day and night in silence. And he took the sick boy into the room. The sick boy’s body was bent like a ball, his head was between his knees. Not a single part of his body was healthy. He wasn’t able even to speak and only moaned. None of the doctors could neither understand, nor cure that disease. St Valentine took his wooly garment on which he usually prayed, laid it on the floor and placed the sick half-dead infant on it. He himself prayed and glorified God all the night.
At midnight the room became radiant with a heavenly light so that it seemed to the people outside the room that a fire had been made. After midnight the child came through the illness and started to praise God in a loud voice. His parents and all home folks heard Herimonus’s voice and his words and rejoiced very much because they had been hearing only moans from him for three years. They came to the door and started to knock at it asking the saint to open the door for them to see Herimonus. But the Bishop answered he wouldn’t do that until he finished his usual prayers. And they waited till morning being pleased with what had happened. When the day began the saint opened the door, took out the boy who was absolutely healthy as if he had never been sick and returned him to his parents. Cratonus together with his family believed in Christ and were baptized. Everybody rejoiced spiritually in God, their Savior.
Herimonus, the cured boy, didn’t want to leave his doctor Valentine. In the same way three students mentioned above, leaving behind the worldly wisdom after their baptism, eagerly took a liking to their spiritual teacher, the God’s Bishop and became his disciples, followers of his holy life and seekers of their own salvation. Other students, their coevals, prompted by admonitions and the example of their honest and virtuous life, converted to Christian faith, too, and were baptized. Thus many students started to come in flocks to them and having listened to God-inspired teaching, stepped on the road of the Truth. The town superior’s son, Avundius, believed in Christ and was baptized. He became zealous to God and before all people openly professed himself to be Christ’s slave. His father and the other superiors became very angry, caught the teacher of the Christian faith, St Bishop Valentine and beat him mercilessly. They wanted to persuade him to idolatry but he didn’t wish to fulfill their will. That is why they tortured him again more severely and put him in dungeon. The saint was happy that he had the chance to suffer for Christ, his Lord, and, adorned with his wounds as the apostles did, he boasted of them like priceless adornments and said:
- I am bearing our Lord’s wounds on my body ( Gal. 6:17 ). I am filling the lack of Christ’s sorrows in my body for Corpus Christi which is the Church (Col.1:24 ).
Besides he also strengthened in the faith his disciples who came to him to the dungeon. Having known about that, the town superior got extremely angry, sent for him at night, took the Bishop out of the dungeon and cut off his head. Thus St. Valentine ended his suffering feat.
His disciples Proculus, Ephinus and Apollonius took his pure body and brought it to the town of Intermna. They bought a small plot in the suburbs and buried him with honours, abiding near the grave for several days and nights in fast, prayers and doxology of Lord. The believers from the town gathered around them and also many unbelievers came who became enlightened about the faith after students’ soul-saving words and sermon. After some time the town superior, Leontius, knew about that and imprisoned the three young men in the dungeon. When he saw that town people were in ferment and felt sorry for the young men, and because everybody loved them, he ordered to kill them at night. The superior was afraid to do that during the day, less the excited people should release them. Thus saint martyrs were beheaded at night and they left to the unfading light of the Kingdom of Heaven. St. Avendius, the Roman superior’s son, went to his beloved friends. When he learned about their death he got very grieved. He took their pure bodies and buried them with honours next to the grave of his teacher, Valentine, glorifying our Lord Jesus Christ Who lives and reigns together with his Father and the Holy Spirit for ever and ever.
The Holy Orthodox Church commemorates St Martyr Valentine on July 30
St Martyr Valentine and the Orthodox Church
Among Orthodox countries the greatest honour to St Valentine is given in Russia. Moscow and Terni are the other two places where relics of the saint are kept. The believer Christian can pray before them and beg the saint’s protection. Today St Valentine is honoured as the patron saint and healer of the youth. He did that during his lifetime: he protected many people from the devil’s evil, preserved them from his slyness. He showed the rightness of Christ’s teaching . St Valentine cured not only physically but mentally sick people, too. He put them back on the right way of the faith.
According to the Catholic tradition St Valentine is the author of numerous miracles but he has earned a reputation of a saint protector of the lovers or the saint of love. That happened after he had wedded the Roman legionary Placidio Furio in the time of Emperor Aurelianus’s persecutions ( 270-275 ). His guilt lied in the fact that he had replaced the ancient pagan cult of fertility, dedicated to god Lupercus, with a Christian religious rite. Because of his martyrdom he was proclaimed the patron saint of the town of Terni in 1644.
Other sources point out different grounds for the appearance of the feast. Some of them frankly claim that it grew up accidentally and was a sequence of pope Paul II act that proclaimed 14 February the lasses’ holiday in 1400. The nowadays basilica of St Valentine was built in 1605 on the foundations of former churches and keeps many valuable remains mainly in the crypt. Every year the town of Terni gives honour to St Valentine with different meetings and masses ( a Catholic variant of Liturgy ) intended for unifying the religious aspect with the non-clerical initiatives that point to the educational role of the feast.
But its worldly faith is owing to a legend originated in the Anglo-Saxon countries. According to it St Valentine gave a flower from his garden to a lass and a lad and after that a big love was born between them. Many other couples started to follow the example of their love. Later on it was decided to assign a special day of the year for an official celebration of weddings: the holiday of the vow. And on the vow day, before their engagement, future betrotheds from allover the world come to Terni and exchange vows of love wishing to repeat them and “renovate” their love on their 25th and 50thth anniversary.
Postscript:
If people substitute the truth with lie the result cannot be positive for them. The honour to the Christian, the Bishop from Intermna, St Martyr for Christ Valentine, has obtained a pagan character nowadays. This character is incited by the mercantilism of today.
And instead of following St Valentine’s example, the Road of the Faith, the Road towards the Truth, the Road of Life, people have created the serial self-deception and mirage. They have substituted the honour to the saint and Christ’s martyr with an honour to the sin.
In this case the right choice would be the choice from St Valentine’s passional. By the saint’s advice and prayers Cratonus, the Roman teacher , the best specialist in the worldly studies in Rome at that time, gave up the pagan delusion and adopted the holy Baptism together with his whole family , servants and students and changed for the better. The baptism after which his son instead of dying came through the illness! The Baptism after which everybody enrolled their names in the Book of Life.
Saint Martyr Valentine, pray God for us! |
