Witnesses of the Lord
Witnesses of the Lord
There is no barren age… for God does not leave Himself without a witness.
And the Lord raised for Himself “a cloud of witnesses” (Heb 12), who testified to His commandments and to the holy life, whatever the circumstances and situations were.
Among these were the prophets of the Old Testament. And the last of them was John the Baptist, who bore witness to the commandment of the Lord—a testimony for which his head was taken on a platter. But his witness lived on.
And the twelve apostles of Christ, to whom He said: “And you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth” (Acts 1:8).
And the martyrs are also witnesses of the Lord…
They witnessed to the faith, rebuked paganism, offered their lives as the price of their testimony, and departed from the earth joyful… And in every generation, history records the names of those who were witnesses of the Lord, by their lives, their words, and their example.
Among these are the heroes of faith who fought heresies and innovations and refuted them…
Such as the great saints Athanasius, Basil, Cyril, Dioscorus, Severus, and a vast number of those who defended the faith in the early generations… And for the sake of the faith, they endured exile and imprisonment, and they endured deposition as well. But history recorded their struggle as heroes who offered all their effort, time, thought, and talents in defense of doctrine.
Among the prominent witnesses are the teachers of the Church… the professors of the theological school, such as Pantaenus, Clement, and Didymus the Blind… And also the servants of the pulpit such as Saint John Chrysostom, Saint Augustine, Saint Ephraim, and Jacob of Serugh. And countless others in every generation and in every church.
Among the witnesses of whom the earth was not worthy are the fathers of the desert and the life of stillness.
Those did not testify to doctrinal and faith truths as much as they testified to the life of holiness and the possibility of walking in the life of Christian perfection, as they testified to the possibility of carrying out the commandments of the Lord practically. Examples of these are Saint Anthony, Saint Macarius, the Fathers of Scetis, the Fathers of Nitria, and those like them, and all the anchorites and solitary fathers…
However, unfortunately, the recording of the history of the witnesses of the Lord did not continue for long.
There is no concern for following the lives of the cloud of witnesses after approximately the sixth century.
And we almost, when we speak of the saints, only mean the first five centuries of Christianity! And the Synaxarium almost stops after those ages, except for a few names added to it over fourteen centuries.
And among the witnesses of the Lord we mention:
Saint Anba Rewis, Saint Mark the Anchorite, Saint Barsoum the Naked, Saint George the Zealous, and Saint Peter of Sedment.
And among the witnesses of the Lord also in those later ages:
Saint Anba Abram, Bishop of Fayoum; Saint Sarabamon Abu Tarha; and Saint Sidhom Bishay… And we chose these from different ages.
Even the ages that some think were dark ages were not without witnesses.
And may it be a training for us to follow the saints of the Lord in every generation separately, to confirm for ourselves and affirm to others that God never left Himself without a witness, and that if the people were silent, the stones would cry out!
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