The Hieromartyr Clement, Pope of Rome, was born at Rome into a rich and illustrious family. Separated from his parents from childhood by force of circumstances, Clement was raised by strangers. Living in Rome, the youth received a fine education, he was surrounded by luxury, and had access to the imperial court. But these comforts brought him no joy, and pagan wisdom failed to attract him. He began to ponder the meaning of life.
When the news of Christ and His teaching began to reach the capital, Saint Clement left his home and estate and went to the lands where the Apostles were preaching. At Alexandria Saint Clement met the holy Apostle Barnabas, listening to his words with deep attention, and perceiving the power and truth of the Word of God. Arriving in Palestine, Saint Clement was baptized by the holy Apostle Peter and became his zealous disciple and constant companion, sharing his toil and sufferings with him. Shortly before his own sufferings and death, Saint Peter consecrated Saint Clement as Bishop of Rome. After the death of the Apostle Peter, Saint Linus (67-79) was the next Bishop of Rome, succeeded by Saint Anacletus (79-91), and then Saint Clement (92-101).
The virtuous life, charitable works and prayerful activity of Saint Clement converted many to Christ. He once baptized 424 people on the day of Pascha. Among the baptized were people of all social classes: slaves, officials, and even members of the imperial family.
The pagans, seeing the success of his apostolic preaching, denounced Saint Clement to the emperor Trajan (98-117), accusing the saint of insulting the pagan gods. The emperor banished Saint Clement from the capital, sending him to the Crimea, to work at a stone quarry near the city of Cherson. Many of the saint’s disciples followed after him voluntarily, preferring to go into exile rather than live without their spiritual Father.
When he arrived at the place of exile, Saint Clement found many Christian believers there, sentenced to labor under harsh conditions amidst a scarcity of water. He prayed together with the condemned, and the Lord appeared to him in the form of a lamb and revealed the location of a spring, from which gushed forth a veritable river of water. This miracle attracted a multitude of people to Saint Clement. Hearing the zealous preacher, hundreds of pagans were converted to Christ. Each day 500 or more men were baptized. And there in the stone quarry, a church was built, in which he served as priest.
The apostolic activity of the saint aroused the wrath of the emperor Trajan, and he ordered that Saint Clement be drowned. They threw the martyr into the sea with an anchor tied to his neck. This occurred in the year 101.
The saint’s faithful disciples Cornelius and Fibius asked the people to pray that the Lord would permit them to see the martyr’s body. The sea drew back a distance of three miles from the shore and the people walked out on the seabed until they found a marble cave shaped like a church. There they found the incorrupt body of their archpastor in this “Angelic Church” formed by God. After this, each year on the anniversary of Saint Clement’s martyric death the sea receded, and for seven days Christians were able to venerate his holy relics.
During the reign of the Byzantine Emperor Nikēphóros (802-811), by divine providence, the sea failed to withdraw, and the relics of Saint Clement became inaccessible for fifty years. In the time of the emperor Michael and his mother Theodora (855-867), Saints Cyril and Methodius visited Cherson. When they learned of the concealed relics of Saint Clement, they asked Bishop George of Cherson to pray that the Lord would show them the relics of the hieromartyr.
Saints Cyril and Methodius walked along the shore in procession with the clergy who came with them from Constantinople. Through the fervent prayers of everyone gathered there, the holy relics of Saint Clement miraculously appeared on the surface of the sea at midnight. They solemnly took them to the Church of the Holy Apostles at Constantinople. A portion of the relics were then brought to Rome by Saints Cyril and Methodius, but a large portion of the relics was later brought to Kiev by the holy Prince Vladimir (July 15) and placed in the Desyatin-Tithe church, together with the relics of Saint Fibius, where a chapel dedicated to Saint Clement had been built. The hieromartyr Clement is widely venerated in Russia. From ancient times, many churches have been dedicated to him.
Saint Clement, who belongs to the Apostolic Fathers, has left to us a spiritual legacy (two Epistles to the Corinthians) the first written examples of Christian teaching after the writings of the holy Apostles.
“I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge – that you may be filled to measure of all the fullness of God.” Ephesians 3:16-19
Jesus is full of power and love and it is His pleasure to fill our lives, our days, with that same power and love through His Holy Spirit. St. Paul’s prayer teaches us how to pray over our families, our kids, and our people. He loved the Ephesians and longed to see them walking closely with God. His desire was that they would be continually strengthened with God’s power, and living out their faith with the example of the love of Christ. We must learn from Apostle Paul to pray for every aspect of our lives. But no matter what we might be facing or feeling, we must always remember to stand together as the body of Christ, dependent on Jesus for His Spirit’s fresh filling of power and love, and pray for others to open their hearts to receive His holy power and love. For Jesus’ love encompasses all and it reaches every dark spot in our lives and fills every need or longing. It gives us the power to forgive others and to let go of the past. It delivers sin’s hold and gives peace to the hurting. It is powerful and surpasses our own knowledge and understanding. It is wide and it stretches to a greater expanse and extent than we can ever imagine. It is long and it encompasses the length of our days, before and all beyond. His Love never fails.
“For as the name Christians is intended to indicate this very idea, that a man, by the knowledge and doctrine of Christ, is distinguished by modesty and justice, by patience and a virtuous fortitude, and by a profession of piety towards the one and only true and supreme God; all this no less studiously cultivated by them than by us. They did not, therefore, regard circumcision, nor observe the Sabbath, neither do we; neither do we abstain from certain foods, nor regard other injunctions, which Moses subsequently delivered to be observed in types and symbols, because such things as these do not belong to Christians.” (Eusebius Ecclesiastical History, Book 1, Chapter 5 (c. 315 A.D.):)
God’s voice to man is a form of inspiration or guidance that the Holy Spirit gives to man, and therefore, His voice or guidance must carry His characteristics and signs. First, it enlightens the mind by knowing the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven and God’s will; that leads us to the truth of the Gospel. The voice of the Holy Spirit cannot contradict the truth of the Gospel and the commandments of Christ. Second, it will be accompanied by the peace and joy of the Holy Spirit, and it will be steadfast, giving proof of faith, not wavering skeptical, troubled, and hesitant in thought. Thirdly, it leads to the fulfillment of God’s pleasure and desire, which is the love for one another and our unity with Christ. It cannot lead to hatred and division. It can also heal wounds and not hurt oneself or others. Fourth, it should be in harmony with the power of forgiveness of the blood of Jesus Christ and not a trigger for feelings of guilt and depression. Fifth, God’s voice releases our souls into the freedom of the glory of God’s children, not to be bound by chains of the love of the world, the lusts, and the desires of Satan.
History has failed at different stages and in many places worldwide to present the Gospel of Christ for what it is. In contrast, religious people and some clergymen have shown faint images of a God who does nothing for human beings. They deny the reality of the crude contradiction between an Old Testament full of the history of the ancient people and their laws ordering the killing of males by the sword and the plundering of women and children (Deuteronomy20:13-14,) and the Gospel of Christ and His New Covenant calling us to love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us (Mathew 5:44-45.) Their churches and meetings became devoid of Christ’s works of love to heal the sick and to free those bound from Satan. Unfortunately, these ministries turned into a form of business and wealth. And it is these images, which do not reflect the truth of the Gospel or Christ’s applied works in human lives, that the young people see as Christianity as presented by them.
Therefore, it was necessary to alert everyone’s mind to the importance of reading the Gospel of the New Testament yourself to find out the truth of Christianity and the principles of the teaching of Christ, free from the Jewish intellectual influences carried by many missionaries and preachers. They underestimated and clouded the importance of God’s appearance in the flesh in Jesus Christ to reveal to the whole world the truth and the essence of God the Father by holding on to the preaching of the stories of the ancient people and their history who were waiting for the Savior’s coming as their prophets prophesied. Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God, came to reveal to all humanity the love of the Heavenly Father, His salvation plan, and His direct intervention in the lives of His people yesterday, today, and tomorrow. He came to give us the power over sin and death, which entered the world through Satan’s temptation, “Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned” ( Romans 5:12.) God the Father is not a killer, He is the source of life to man “ For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.” (John 3:17.) The killer is Satan who came to steel, slaughter, and to destroy, “The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly”(John 10:10.) If we begin a real and profound relationship with Christ; in that case we will choose the life-changing power of Christ’s presence that is active in us, that changes us from a formal Christianity that has done nothing for man to the life of Christ filled with the triumph over evil, joy, and peace with God and the others.
Now we know that God gave us commandments to follow not as rules to be obeyed, and if not obeyed, we will be punished, but as guidance to be away from the devil, the enemy, and the killer of man. He created us with a free will to choose either His guidance and so to unite with His eternal life and His goodness or choose Satan’s worldly, tempting, and sinful ways and so to unite with his evil spirit, his death, and his eternal fire. This is the New Testament and Christianity.
Lord,
Help me to forever remember what a gift it is to sit with you the creator of the whole universe and talk to you. Thank you for loving me and for your good care to me every day. I pray that I’ll be able to draw nearer & nearer to you & give thanks for everything you do in my life.
Lord, give me the desire & the ability to focus on you. I come to you now asking your help to do this. I confess that I’ve been lazy & so distracted lately. I want to renew my commitment to spending more time with you & leaning on you every day. I pray you renew a passion in me to sit with you more & talk to you. Help me to recognize the stirring in my heart when you want to talk to me and to direct me. Help me to have the clarity to hear your voice.
In Jesus’ Name I pray.
Amen
“Repay no one evil for evil. Have regard for good things in the sight of all men. If it is possible, as much as depends on you, live peaceably with all men. Beloved, do not avenge yourselves, but rather give place to wrath; for it is written, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,” says the Lord. Therefore “If your enemy is hungry, feed him; If he is thirsty, give him a drink; For in so doing you will heap coals of fire on his head. ”Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.”
The Behavior of God’s children:
1- Repay no one evil for evil.
2- Do good things in the sight of all men.
3- Live peacefully with all men.
3- Do not avenge for themselves because the Lord is the one who will repay.
4- Feed their enemies if they are hungry.
5- Give their enemies a drink if they are thirsty.
WHY the children of God must do all of this?
FOR in doing so, they will heap coals of fire on their enemies’ heads
What does that mean?
The EVIL ONE cannot do GOOD THINGS so when he sees good things he GET BURNED.
“Do not be overcome by evil,
BUT OVERCOME EVIL WITH GOOD.”
So, in order for God’s child to OVERCOME EVIL he must
NOT REPAY EVIL WITH EVIL BUT OVERCOME EVIL WITH GOOD.
