The New Martyrdom

“Living a chaste Christian life is sometimes more difficult than suffering a martyr’s death.” -St. Mark the Ascetic

I was at the annual convention for college youth of the Coptic Orthodox Diocese of Southern California last week, and it was quite an experience. There was our Bishop, and the Bishop of Melbourne, Australia, and several priests from our Diocese. There were over 210 youth in attendance, and A.C. Green, who was formerly a basketball player for the Los Angeles Lakers came and spoke to us on purity. I will reflect on some of things that came out of the retreat which are beneficial to us as Christians in a western society.

The topic of the retreat was called “The New Martyrdom.” Some will probably get confused when they read this and wonder as to what it is referring. I have quoted from others before in this blog the saying which says that living a pure life in this culture and society is a type of martyrdom. This retreat went on to define that better and help us to lead a pure life.

After we had dinner and got into our groups we went to the conference hall and received our Bishops. Our Bishop, Bishop Serapion, then introduced His Grace the Bishop of Melbourne, Bishop Suriel, and we commenced in the talks. Bishop Suriel gave an introduction as to what the New Martyrdom is and said two important things in this first talk. First was that in western society peer pressure is disappearing because we are no longer being pressured into things, others EXPECT us to do these things which are not acceptable for us as Christians. This EXPECTATION is one of the main reasons as to why western society is starting to go downhill quickly. He then talked about something which he called, “The Frog in Kettle Syndrome.” He described how if one puts a frog in a kettle of water, the frog won’t like it at first but then will become used to it very quickly, and if one keeps raising the temperature higher and higher the frog will keep adjusting. He used this to illustrate how tolerance works and how in the end tolerance will burn up the person because of all the bad things it leads us into and unfortunately as time goes on, it leads the people to approve the things they once didn’t. Afterward we sang our praises and prayed, then we were finished for the day, which means our free time, even if it’s 11:30 at night.

The next day commenced with prayers and breakfast then Bishop Suriel began the second talk. This talk was about how we as Christians view sexuality and what God commanded us, and how the world views it. This talk was supported by some very strong statistics. One of these statistics was absolutely horrifying: 70% of young women and 62% of young men have had sex by the age of 18. Wow, what happened? What happened is God is no longer the focus of these people; their desires are first to them. They have also lost the meaning of true love and confused it with lust. “Love gives, lust takes; love values, lust uses; love endures, lust subsides,” His Grace Bishop Suriel said.

The west has concerned itself with the lusts of the flesh and the lusts of the world. It has become very materialistic. They always want the newest things on the market and still there is no satisfaction and still the complaints continue. All these things they use to pick out a mate, and then have sex. Sex has become one of the biggest concerns and fascinations of this western society. That is why most of the movies that come out today have sexual scenes in them. Honestly, if one goes to a theater and compares how many movies rated PG-13 or R to PG or G there are, they will find that the former is way more than the latter. Another thing His Grace Bishop Suriel said which we should contemplate on is “Love is a process, sex is an act; love is learned, sex is instinctive.” This rampage of premarital and even extramarital sex has darkened this world. Our Lord Jesus Christ said, “The lamp of the body is the eye. If therefore your eye is good, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is that darkness!” (Matthew 6:22-23)

Following the second talk, we had group discussions, quiet time, free time and lunch. After lunch A.C. Green came and spoke to us about how he kept his purity during his career in the NBA. He spoke about some of the temptations that he went through, and how he didn’t compromise himself by overcoming the temptations. One of the things that he said which has been fixed in my head is that he said that we always have an audience of one, and that One is the Lord Jesus Christ. We should follow his example and keep the same mindset as he has kept. His talk was really refreshing, to see someone like him valuing his faith more than anything else.

I will now skip to the last talk which took place later that night by His Grace the Bishop again. This one spoke about practical application to staying pure. It gave more statistics as to problems in this country because of its insatiable desire for sex. One statistic I found very interesting which observed that 2/3 of divorces in a year is caused by pornography. He then spoke about the whole armor of God, and how the helmet’s purpose is to protect the head, that is to protect us from the evil thoughts that we have. He made another illustration of an open house. He said our lives are not like an open house policy because if a storm comes it will enter the house, and ruin everything in it. He reminded us in the end that some kinds do “not go out except by prayer and fasting” (Matthew 17:21). Thus we are encouraged to fast when we enter into temptation, and how often does that happen! This is why our Church exercising the authority that our Lord Jesus Christ gave Her ordained so many periods of fasting, that we would be able to overcome temptation, grow in our faith, focus on our prayers, and cause them to be heard by God.

A saying that kept coming up again and again in this convention was one by St. Anthony which goes something like, “There will come a day when the mad people will look at the normal people and say, ‘Look at the normal person, he is mad because he is not like us.’” (Or something like that, I couldn’t copy down the whole quote in time). And this is true. People today think it is strange for us to value our virginity and purity. They are not able to understand why we keep ourselves pure. It is because God is not their focus, and they are not close to Him. They are carried away by the lusts of the world and the lusts of the flesh. We are persecuted today because of this. I don’t mean like the martyrs of old, but mentally. How many times are we pressured to do what the world wants us to do, and are embarrassed and made fun of when we refuse to follow their ways, it is like St. Mark the Ascetic said, “Living a chaste Christian life is sometimes more difficult than suffering a martyr’s death.” Purity is the New Martyrdom.

And glory be to God both now and ever and unto the age of all ages. Amen.