The Holy Martyr Conon.
Day 18 of the Great Fast.
Sixth Hour – Isaiah 11:10-12:2; Vespers – Genesis 7:11-8:3; Proverbs 10:1-22.
Read Genesis 7:11-8:3
There was once a paradoxical figure who, condemned as a traitor, emerged as a symbol of integrity. Urged by churchmen and family to conform to an evil man’s abomination in order to save his own life, churchmen and families now urge their sons to conform to his example of principled death.
This figure is St. Thomas More, who resisted six years of pressure to conform to an evil generation. Noah, by good estimates, resisted not six years but a century of pressure to conform and abandon God’s call. There is a theological irony here. In Genesis 2:7, God “forms (yēṣer)” man. In Genesis 6:5, that dynamic act becomes a static noun (kol-yēṣer), describing unrighteous man: “every formation of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the day.”
• God formed man externally from dust.
• Man forms evil internally by desire.
The consequence of forming evil within appears in the divine wrath related in this reading. The flood is judgment on internal corruption, not merely outward violence. Beyond destruction, it is vindication for those who conform to God’s model of righteousness. Noah and his family conform to God’s living form rather than the world’s stale style.
From this we see that a righteous man is:
• One declared right by God’s standard, whole in loyalty
• One who walks with God
• One who obeys revealed commands
• One who persists in covenant obedience despite mockery
• One who stands distinct from the culture
This gives hope as we are surrounded by violent and immoral men who pressure us by mockery and intimidation to violate God’s gift of life and light. You may walk with God in the light of obedience; or spend your days treading water in a flood of clever cavil, discovering all too late that bad form is dead lead.