Hebrews 10:32-38, especially vs. 32: "But recall the former days in which, after you were illuminated, you endured a great struggle with sufferings." In the Christian Mystery, we are called by our Master, Lord, and God, Jesus Christ, to Holy Illumination. Thereafter, as we participate in the Divine Liturgy, we recall "all those things which have come to pass for us: the Cross, the Grave, the Resurrection on the third day, the Ascension into heaven, the Session at the right hand, and the second and glorious Advent." In the passage from Hebrews appointed as the Epistle for the Feast of the Hieromartyr Ignatios of Antioch, the Apostle prompts his readers to recall the shape of the life in Christ - a life that begins with the call to Holy Illumination (vs. 32) that is received in the Holy Mysteries of Baptism, Chrismation and Communion and requires great endurance in order to live in Christ, daily awaiting the coming of the Lord Jesus (vs. 37) by Whom we shall receive of the eternal and great "promise of God" (vs. 36).
Herein, the Apostle also reminds us - as at first he reminded those to whom Hebrews initially was addressed - that following Holy Illumination, there ensues real life struggle for those who take up day to day living in and for Christ. In this present passage, the Apostle recalls some very specific events in the struggle through which he personally had passed as well as some of the tribulations which his earliest readers had faced (vss. 33,34): imprisonment, public ridicule, looting of property, and anguish at witnessing the depredation of others. So how, we may ask, does such struggle relate to our circumstances? The majority of us have not had to endure catastrophic events such as these as a result of having commended "ourselves and each other and all our life unto Christ our God." What then?
Struggle in the Christian life takes many forms, but the most common, and the one shared by all, is not even outward tribulations, but the struggle within. Holy Illumination enlightens our spiritual eyes to the image of God within us. But it also reveals to us the grave distance between what God is in His perfection and what we are like within ourselves. The image is there, but the likeness is badly deformed, disfigured, corrupted. The Christian Mystery only sets us on the road to labor for the recovery of that pristine beauty which Adam had before the fall into sin. It is humbling, as St. Theodore reminds us, to be awakened "from the slumber of negligence, to be cleansed of the filth of indifference and of the sluggishness of worldly thoughts and [the coldness] of the flame of our recitation [of prayers] night and day." There is the continuous, unremitting struggle of all who have united themselves unto Christ and bowed down before Him.
Very quickly, for those who take up the painful interior struggle to live in and for Christ, there forms a bond and fellowship with all others who likewise are endeavoring, with the help of the Holy Spirit, to increase in stature in Christ and to become victors "even unto the end." There grows up a true companionship with others who are also struggling in Christ (vs. 33), a tender compassion for one's fellow sufferers (vs. 34), and an inextinguishable joy at worldly losses, so long as our "enduring possession...in heaven" holds its claim firmly upon our hearts (vs. 34).
The true issue is holding fiercely to the "great reward," to the Divine "promise" of God in Christ (vss. 35,36). Once one has truly sampled what God graciously is offering us, the greatest fear becomes the discovery of any loss of faith in one's self, that one is simply living by rote or habit, and is not keeping up the vigorous effort to claim our blessed heritage. Easing back is a subtle course by which to "cast away"God's promise and to "draw back" from His grace.
O Christ our God, keep us ever as warriors invincible in every attack of those who assail us; and make us all victors even unto the end, through Thy crown incorruptible.