From the Lives of the Saints – Heroes of the Faith (2)
In the previous article, we spoke about the heroes of the faith, among the Apostles, evangelists, defenders, and fighters against heresies.
We spoke about Saint Athanasius the Apostolic, and then we opened another chapter:
Saints Against Arianism:
In the previous issue, we mentioned:
- Saint Hilary, Bishop of Poitiers.
- Saint Basil the Great, and his brother.
- Saint Gregory, Bishop of Nyssa (mistakenly mentioned as Basil). And we continue:
- Saint Cyril, Archbishop of Jerusalem.
- Saint Gregory the Theologian.
- Saint Ephrem the Syrian.
He defended the faith against Arianism, not only through his writings,
but also through his poems, which were set to melodies as hymns, memorized by the people and sung by them, thus strengthening them in the faith…
And there were many others besides these.
All of these were Fathers of the fourth century.
Saint Cyril the Great:
Or Cyril of Alexandria, who defended the faith against Nestorianism and presided over the Holy Council of Ephesus in 431 AD.
Many rose up against him and accused him of being “the Pharaoh of Egypt,” and they nearly caused a conflict between him and the emperor.
Because of the intensity of his defense of the faith, the Church calls him “Cyril, the Pillar of the Faith.”
Saint Dioscorus:
We call him “the Hero of Orthodoxy.” He defended the faith against Leo’s heresy concerning the two natures. He was exiled from his See for the sake of the faith in 451 AD and reposed in exile.
Saint Severus of Antioch:
He also, like our father Saint Dioscorus, is one of the saints of the Chalcedonian era. He came to Egypt at the beginning of the sixth century,
around the year 516 AD, fleeing from the persecution of Emperor Justinian, and spent 28 years in Egypt defending the faith and the doctrine of the One Nature,
going from city to city, strengthening the people in the sound doctrine.
He wrote theological letters and articles, and his theological heritage was published in two collections of the sayings of the Fathers:
Patrologia Orientalis
Patrologia Syriaca
Saint Jacob Baradaeus!
He too was one of the Fathers of Antioch, defenders of the doctrine of the One Nature against the Chalcedonian belief. His defense of our faith was so great that we called those who held the two natures Jacobites, after him.
This saint ordained thousands of priests and a very large number of bishops, in order to preserve the faith through them.
This was because the Chalcedonians thought that if they eliminated the clergy in our Church and eliminated the succession of the laying on of hands, they could then eliminate our faith.
Pope Theodosius of Alexandria:
The 33rd Patriarch. His position toward Emperor Justinian was extremely heroic.
He rejected all his offers and temptations and remained steadfast in the faith. During his time, the Copts were called Theodosians.
A Group of Martyrs and Confessors:
The Chalcedonian era also includes (451–641 AD) a group of martyr-confessors who shed their blood to preserve the faith.
Among them was Saint Mina (the brother of Pope Benjamin II, the 38th Pope), and Saint Anba Sarapamon the Confessor, who lost one of his eyes for the sake of the faith.
An article by His Holiness Pope Shenouda III — in Al-Keraza Magazine — Tenth Year (Issue Thirty-Two), 10/8/1979.
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