The ancient
martyrology of the Church of Rome marks February 14th as the remembrance of
"the martyr Valentine, presbyter of Rome" (Valentinus means
"vigorous" in Latin). Unfortunately the historical data for the Saint
is incomplete.
Saint Valentine
lived in Rome in the third century and was a priest who helped the martyrs
during the persecution of Emperor Claudius II the Goth. The great virtue and
catechetical activities of the Saint had become known. For this he was arrested
and brought before the imperial court.
"Why,
Valentine, do you want to be a friend of our enemies and reject our
friendship?" asked the Emperor.
The Saint replied:
"My lord, if you knew the gift of God, you would be happy together with
your empire and would reject the worship of idols and worship the true God and
His Son Jesus Christ."
One of the judges
stopped the Saint and asked him what he thought about Jupiter and Mercury, and
Valentine boldly replied: "They are miserable, and spent their lives in
corruption and crime!"
The judge furiously
shouted: "He blasphemes against the gods and against the empire!"
The Emperor,
however, continued his questions with curiosity, and found a welcome
opportunity to finally learn what was the faith of Christians. Valentine then
found the courage to urge him to repent for the blood of the Christians that
was shed. "Believe in Jesus Christ, be baptized and you will be saved, and
from this time forward the glory of your empire will be ensured as well as the
triumph of your armory."
Claudius became
convinced, and said to those who were present: "What a beautiful teaching
this man preaches."
But the Mayor of
Rome, dissatisfied, began to shout: "See how this Christian misled our
Prince."
Then Claudius
brought the Saint to another judge. He was called Asterios, and he had a little
girl who was blind for two years. Listening about Jesus Christ, that He is the
Light of the World, he asked Valentine if he could give that light to his
child. St. Valentine put his hand on her eyes and prayed: "Lord Jesus
Christ, true Light, illuminate this blind child." Oh the great miracle!
The child could see! So the judge with all his family confessed Christ. Having
fasted for three days, he destroyed the idols that were in the house and
finally received Holy Baptism.
When the Emperor
heard about all these events, he initially thought not to punish them, thinking
that in the eyes of the citizens he will look weak, which forced him to betray
his sense of justice. Therefore St. Valentine along with other Christians,
after they were tortured, were beheaded on 14 February in the year 268 (or
269).
The Relics of the
Saint in Athens
After the martyrdom
some Christians salvaged the body of the Saint and put a bit of his blood in a
vile. The body of the Martyr was moved and buried in the Catacombs of St.
Priscilla, a burial place of most of the martyrs. Over the years somehow he was
"forgotten", since almost every day there were buried in these
catacombs new martyrs for several decades. The memory of Valentine's martyrdom
however remained robust, particularly in the local Church of Rome. Officially
the memory of St. Valentine was established in 496 by Pope St. Gelasius.
Fifteen centuries
pass and we arrive at 1815, at which time divine intention was to
"disturb" the eternal repose of the Saint. Then the relics were
donated by the Pope to a gentle Italian priest (according to the custom of the
time). After this the relics are "lost" again until 1907 where we
find them in Mytilene in the Roman Catholic Church of Our Lady. It seems that
after the death of the priest that a descendant of his had inherited the relics
and had migrated to Mytilene, which was then a thriving community of
West-European Catholic Christians. There they remained until 1990 when they
were moved to Athens in the Church of Saints Francis and Clara's Italian
community, where they are today.
Saint Valentine the
Greek
We should first say
that there is not sufficient information on the national origin of the Saint,
though there are some other (shades of) evidence that the Saint was of Greek
origin. For example, the earliest depiction of the Saint bearing the
inscription «O ΑΓΙΟC
BAΛΕΝΤΙΝΟC" in Greek is in the Church of Our Lady the
Ancient (Santa Maria Antiqua) of the 6th century which was the parish of Greeks
in Rome. The church particularly venerated saints who were Greeks and generally
from the East. The decoration and renovation of the church was ordered by the
Greek Pope John VII (705-707) and finished by his successors, including the
last Greek Pope Zacharias (741-752). But perhaps it is no coincidence that
after seventeen centuries, the remains arrived in Greece. The issue here still
requires research.
Saint Valentine:
Patron of Lovers
Apart from the
scant historical data we have for Valentine's life, there is accompanied
various legends, such as from those who say he is the patron saint of lovers.
The Saint had a
reputation as a peacemaker, and one day while cultivating some roses from his
garden, he heard a couple quarrel very vigorously. This shocked the Saint, who
then cut a rose and approached the couple asking them to hear him. Even though
they were dispirited, they obeyed the Saint and afterwards were offered a rose
that blessed them. Immediately the love returned between them, and later they
returned and asked the Saint to bless their marriage. Another tradition says
that one of the charges against Valentine was that he did not adhere to the
command of the emperor which stated that men who had not fulfilled their
military obligations were not allowed to marry; meanwhile the Saint had blessed
the marriage of young Christian soldiers with their beloveds.
Besides all this,
the likely choice of him as the "saint of lovers" is to be associated
with the pagan festival of Lupercalia, a fertility festival, celebrated by the
Romans on February 15. Others connect the celebration of this feast with the mating
season of birds during this period. Certainly, however, the Saint has nothing
to do with the commercialism (marketing) of flowers, gifts and secular centers
which trivialize Eros, this great gift of God.
Saint Valentine and
Orthodoxy
Many, however, raise
the objection that St. Valentine is not mentioned anywhere in the calendar of
the Orthodox Church. Indeed on 14 February in the calendar of the Church there
are commemorated Saints Auxentios, Maron and the martyrs Nicholas and Damian.
The explanation is simple: in ancient times hagiographic directories,
biographies and martyrologies were written to be primarily used locally in
their own character, and the fame and reputation of a saint locally does not
mean that it extended also throughout the Church. So there may be saints
honored widely in one region and completely unknown in another, as for example
St. Demetrios, who is famous throughout the Eastern Church, yet in the West is
not honored at all, and is almost unknown, but this does not mean that he is not
a saint. Another example of the modern Church: St. Chrysostomos of Smyrna (†
1922) who in Greece is known, yet in Russia is completely unknown, but this
does not mean that he is not a saint.
Honor Martyrs - Imitate Martyrs
We honor our saints
and St. Valentine when we imitate their courage to proclaim their faith in
Christ the Savior, which they did even at the cost of their lives. We honor
them when we beseech them to appeal to God to have mercy on us and forgive our
many sins. We honor them when they are our models of the life in Christ. We do
not honor the saints when we measure their 'worth' by worldly amusements and
festivities even in the best circumstances ... To honor the Martyrs is
to imitate the Martyrs!
Source: http://www.johnsanidopoulos.com/2011/02/orthodox-saint-valentine.html
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