The Holy Martyrs Acindynus, Pegasius, Aphtonius, Elpidephorus, and Anempodistus.
1 Thessalonians 2:20-3:8; Luke 11:29-33.
Read 1 Thessalonians 2:20-3:8
In today’s reading, we hear St. Paul say of the church at Thessalonica, “…you are our glory and joy.” St. Paul writes these words upon hearing the report from St.Timothy about the faith of the Thessalonians. Paul, in the midst of his own struggles responds saying “In all our distress and affliction we have been comforted about you through your faith.”
Notice who is comforting whom. We usually picture the apostle strengthening the believers. Here it runs the other way. Paul is the one in distress, and what consoles him is the faith of ordinary people.
Commenting on this situation, St. John Chrysostom, notes that there are real familial bonds between the members of a church community. “…The attitude of a teacher should be such as to regard his disciples as everything. “Now we live,” Paul says, “if you stand fast in the Lord.” And again, “What is our hope, or joy, or crown of rejoicing? Is it not even you in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ?” You see Paul’s concern in this matter, his regard for the good of his disciples, not less than for his own. For teachers ought to surpass natural parents, to be more zealous than they. And it is right for their children to show deep affection for them. For he says, “Obey those that rule over you, and submit yourselves; for they watch for your souls as they that must give account (Chrysostom, Homilies on Thessalonians)
Anyone who has raised children knows the feeling. Parents give and give, and then one day a child does something good on their own, keeps a promise or shows kindness when no one is watching, and the parent’s heart is full. Nothing they achieve for themselves compares to it.
St. Gregory the Theologian said something similar when he stood before his people in Constantinople at the end of his time as their bishop. Asked to give an account of himself, he pointed to them. You are my defense, he told them, my witnesses and my crown of rejoicing.
The same is true in our parishes. You are loved by God first, and you are loved by your clergy. Your faith reaches further than you think. When you come to confession after a long absence, when you bring your children to the chalice, when you keep praying through a hard year, your pastors see it, and it consoles them more than you know. Clergy carry their own burdens and griefs. Very often what lifts them is the quiet faithfulness of the people in front of them.
“Now we live,” Paul says, “if you stand fast in the Lord.” Stand fast. It is the best gift you can give to God, and to those who watch over your souls.