Saint Haralambos: The Youthfulness of Old Age – Fr. Pimen Vlad

Saint Haralambos is the best example to show us that the saints are, in fact, moving from death to life, while sinful man moves forward in death to total disintegration.

Listen to Father Pimen Vlad who tells us the life of Saint Haralambos, a life that proves this.

Enjoy!

Well, my dear ones, we meet again. Look at what beauties are behind me, the top of Athon dressed in white, in snow, as if of crystal! See how beautiful it is? Just last night there was a bit of snow here too, for about 10 minutes. Just that, it reminded us that it’s winter. It’s pretty cold, you can see I have my jacket on, it was sunny, but it’s a frosty sun. So we enjoy the snow. I can’t wait to come down here!

I wanted to speak to you now of a great saint in every way. Here’s his icon, those of you who know him. Holy Great Martyr Haralambos. Some bear his name. In our time, perhaps this Saint would have been listed in the Guinness Book of Records. Why? Because he lived 113 years. He is the oldest Saint of all the martyrs we have on the calendar. Several saints passed 100, but he lived 113 years. Do you realize? And he was still in power at 113, serving, doing his mission.

He was from Magnesia, somewhere in Asia  Minor, let’s say present-day Turkey. He grew up there and for his holy life became a bishop. He was born at the beginning of Christianity, in the year 89 and in 202 he passed to the Lord. So 113 years. It was in the time of Severus, a pagan, persecuting king. It is said that Saint Haralambos performed many miracles among Christians, he did his mission there, and the news about him reached the higher ups, whom he rebuked in his sermons. He told Christians what persecutors do, how they kill Christians, how they worship all kinds of boulders and offer sacrifices there. At the same time, he strengthened Christians and told them not to mix with pagans. Of course all this was heard by the rulers.

In that area, the ruler was Luchian and he had a helper named Luchie, the two commanded there, they were named by the emperor. Of course, they immediately sent soldiers who brought Saint Haralambos and began to reproach him because he dared not worship and did not offer sacrifices to the gods, and especially because he spoke against the emperor. Then they ordered to strip him of his garments. 

The saint, as you see in the icon, had a long beard below his waist. And they began to torment him in every way. They tied him up and hung him in the air and had two servants with a kind of iron claw tear the flesh off him. They tortured him, until they got tired and said to the ruler: “His body is stronger than these iron claws, They got blunted, and nothing happened to his body!” 

And then Luchian worried: “Does Christ protect him? Maybe God wants to reveal Himself to us in our area, here, in Asia Minor, to Christianize us too?”

“How dare you speak such a thing? Get out of the way, you are lazy!” Luchie, the helper, took those claws, and when he put them on the martyr’s body, an unseen sword cut off his hands. His hands were left hanging on the martyr’s body and Luchie, without hands on his elbows, fell and began to shout to the ruler for help, but he was frightened and did not know what to do.

Then the two servants said they too were Christians, and three other women, who were around, also converted. Seeing this miracle, many of those around asked to be baptized Christians. Even Luchie, the helper, wanted to ask him: “Saint, I know that you can have mercy on me…”, but the ruler, who was very hardened, approached the Saint and spat in his face, and that moment his head twisted behind his back and he began to have great pain.

Then the helper began to pray: “I know that you do no evil, you do only good, please, ask God to have mercy, to have mercy on us, me and the ruler, as we have done wrong!” And the Saint began to pray to God for them, even though they were persecuting him.

I put a sign in my book, which reads:

“Then all the pagans and all who were there began to cry out to God, saying, ‘Do not lose us who have wronged You. Forgive us, O God, for now you have punished our rulers, to bring us to light and make us worthy of eternal life.”

Many believed in Christ at that time, and the Saint prayed for them and a voice came from heaven, from the clouds, which said: “Rejoice, Haralambos, enlightener of the earth and brighter of heaven, partaker of angels, fellow of prophets, friend of apostles and worthy soldier of martyrs. I have heard your prayers and received the words of your lips. Behold thy word be healing to the sick!” and immediately Luchie and Luchian the ruler were healed.

Did you see? The saint responded with kindness, received an answer from heaven, and they were healed. And then, it is said, Luchie asked for baptism and was baptized, and the ruler released the Saint, not daring to persecute him anymore. He released him for a while, until he went to the emperor to see what was going on.

Meanwhile, Emperor Severus came to Antioch. And then the ruler went and told him that there was a 113-year-old elder and told him the things he was doing. The emperor sent 300 soldiers, the cruelest he had, kind of mercenaries, to bring him. They went, took Saint Haralambos, beat him, instilled sharp spikes all over his body, and then took him and began to pull him by the beard, to bring him to the emperor. And as they walked along the road, a soldier’s horse began to speak in a human voice: “Don’t you see that God is  with this man and the Holy Spirit is with him? You wicked and inhumane, don’t you see that God’s punishment awaits you for what you do?” And suddenly fear entered the soldiers, when they heard the horse speak.

But, as was the king’s command, they took him to the emperor. When they got there, without asking him anything, the king took three small sharp spears and stuck them spitefully into Haralambos’ chest, and began to reproach the Saint for being 113 years old and not wise to serve the gods for so long. While he was reproached, Saint Haralambos began to speak to the king gently, to rebuke him and to tell him about God.

And then the emperor, with much hatred, commanded to torture him, to burn him. For before the Saint came to the king, the devil took the form of a man, went to Severus and said to him: “King, be careful, into my kingdom came one, Haralambos, and turned all the soldiers against me, and took away my kingdom, and I was cast out. I heard he comes to you now, be careful! Get rid of him as soon as possible, kill him so you don’t suffer the same!” And that’s why the emperor was very set against the saint when he came.

It is also said that the king’s wife, while the Saint was being reproached, took hot ashes, almost with embers, and poured them on the Saint’s head, threw them on his face, and cried: “Die, old man, die so we get rid of you, to torment us no more!”

And then her sister rebuked her: “Are you not ashamed of the man of God? Do you dare to do this just to do the king’s will? Aren’t you afraid of God?” She was severely rebuked then.

The king ordered the Saint to be tormented every way, and when the fire was extinguished, he began to ask him if he knew how to raise the dead, in order to tempt Haralambos. The saint replied that it was not in human power to do this, but only in the power of Christ.

Then the emperor, knowing that there was an impoverished man whom the devil had been tormenting for 35 years, ordered him to be brought, to see what Haralambos could do. When they carried the man, it was only as he approached the Saint that the devil began to scream, 

“Please, man of God, do not torment me ahead of time. If you want, command me to come out of the man and I will get out, but do not torment me. If you want, I’ll tell you how I got into this man!”

And then the devil told how that man saw a neighbor of his that had a lot of wealth, and he thought of taking all the wealth himself, and he went secretly and killed him. Because he was in this sin, the devil had power to enter him and for 35 years he has been tormenting him. And then the Saint told him to come out of the man, and at that moment the devil came out with screams and left.

The king marveled, and tormented him no more, but put Saint Haralambos in prison. After a few days, a young man died, and the king ordered to bring the dead man and brought the Saint out of prison, telling him that if his God was true, he should raise that dead man again. Haralambos prayed and the dead, resurrected, arose.

And then the king marveled, and again stopped tormenting him. He was puzzled, what to do?! Is the real God the one Haralambos worshiped? The emperor had an eparch, a sort of senator, among his advisers named Crisp, who was very cunning. He came to the king and said, “Why do you listen to this sorcerer?” He taught him to torment and then kill the Saint. Just as it happens today,when the rulers, who have power in their hands, have around them cunning people, who always advise them to do this or that, this is how Crisp was then. He again turned the king, who again subjected Haralambos to torment.

But in the moments when they began to torment the martyr, Severus got demonized and with such hatred began to blaspheme Christ and God, starting to shoot with his bow, with his arrow to heaven, crying:

“Christ, whenever you can come down here on earth to fight with you, because I am ready, I have an army to face you, and I can also get the sun down from the sky to take your Kingdom!”

And as he said these words, at that moment an earthquake began, and lightning and thunder began, trembling voices were heard through the sky, and an unseen power took the king and the eparch, and kept them hanging in the air. Then they both began to tremble with fear, and seeing this, the emperor’s daughter (who was a well-raised girl who had also begun to be attracted to the Orthodox faith), seeing also the torments of the Saint, came to her father and urged him to repent and ask forgiveness so that God would have mercy on him.

I would like to tell you that, while Saint Haralambos was in prison, the king’s daughter came to him and told him that she had a dream in which she was in a very beautiful garden, which had a spring in the middle of it, and there were beautiful trees, beautiful-smelling flowers, and in its center was a fruitful vineyard, and in the middle of the vineyard there was a beautiful cedar tree, which rose upwards, and from under that cedar came a water. At the gate of the garden was a fearful guard, who when her father and the eparch wanted to approach, drove them away. When the girl asked for permission to approach, the guard said that he would carry her on his shoulders to the garden.

Hearing the story of the dream, Saint Haralambos urged her to walk that path forward, towards God, and she would reach the garden of the dream. And so the girl received the Christian faith, being known today as Saint Galina. So Galina, daughter of Emperor Severus.

And now let us return to that time when the king and eparch were in the air, held by the power of God. The king’s daughter came and told her father to repent and not rise up against God. That’s when they began to repent and apologize. After that, the girl came to Saint Haralambos and asked him to have mercy on them and to forgive them. And the Saint prayed and the earthquakes and thunder and lightning calmed down, and the sun came out, and her father and the eparch were brought back on earth. They went into the palace, the king and his servant, and for three days they did not go out of there out of fear and fright.

But after a while, the eparch, who was also demonized, managed to convince the emperor that he must take the saint’s life. And then he commanded to have the Saint taken to a widow to mock him, because she was a woman of that kind who did unclean things.

And when they took him to her house, the 113-year-old leaned against a pillar of the house, and at that moment the pillar came to life and grew a big tree. When the widow saw this miracle, she asked Haralambos for forgiveness and told him to get out of her house because she was just a sinner. But the Saint taught her about the right faith, and so the woman began to believe in Christ. Of course, the neighbors all came, and when they saw the tree growing from the widow’s house, they saw the miracle and saw the Saint talking about God, they all wanted to ask for baptism and they all began to believe in Christ.

When the king heard of the miracle, he ordered the servants to take Haralambos and cut off his head. They took him to the place of slaughter and there the Saint began to pray. I loved how beautifully he prayed and wrote down the prayer:

“And they brought him to the place of slaughter, and a voice from heaven was heard: ‘Come, Haralambos, My friend, who hast endured much for My name’s sake. Ask Me what you wish, and I will give it to you.”

And the Saint said, “Great is this mystery, Lord, that You have made me worthy to see Your fearful glory. Lord, if it pleases You, I pray that You will give glory to Your name, that wherever my relics are placed and my memory is honored, there will be no famine in that place or corrupt air that will ruin the crops. But let there be, especially in those places, peace and bodily health, salvation of soul and sufficiency of wheat and wine, as well as multiplication of animals, for the needs of men. Lord, thou know that men are flesh and blood, forgive them their sins, and grant them abundance of the fruits of the earth, that they may be satiated and sweetened enough for their labor, glorifying Thee, their God, the Giver of all goodness; and may the dew that comes down from thee be their healing. A! Lord my God, pour out your blessing everywhere and protect them from the plague.”

So as the Saint was praying, the Lord said to him, “Let it be according to your request, my valiant soldier.” 

Did you hear the Saint’s request and how God answered it? God, the Savior Christ appeared, together with angelic ranks, and even the soldiers who were there saw this. And after that, God ascended into heaven with the angels and, at the same time, Saint Haralambos also went to the Lord, without the soldiers having time to cut him. He seemed to fall asleep and his soul rose to heaven with Christ.

The soldiers went to the king and told him that they could not even cut him because his God came down from heaven with the angels and took his soul to heaven. And then his daughter, Galina, went out and asked permission to take the body of the Saint herself, so that God would not punish her father for what he had done.

The emperor no longer dared to punish his daughter, even though he had previously threatened and beaten her, but allowed her to take the body of the Saint. Thus, Galina took the body of the Saint and carried it with great honor and buried it. This is how the Holy Great Martyr Haralambos completed his life.

Did you see what he asked of God? So pray to him for peace and to keep us from the plague, from various diseases, as there are now. For abundance, for health Saint Haralambos helps a lot. Pray to him in faith and he will not turn his back on you, you will not be helpless!

The oldest of all the saints, the Holy Great Martyr Haralambos, may he help us and intercede to the good God for us! God help us! Look, the Saint older than all saints, may he help us all! God help us!

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