The memory of the saintly martyr Methodius, bishop of Patar
The godly man Methodius, who from his youth had devoted himself to the service of the Lord, was an honest vessel brought in by the Holy Spirit; for this, by divine election, he obtained the episcopal dignity, becoming the archpastor of the word sheep of Patara, in the Lycian region [In Asia Minor].
In the days of the episcopate of St. Methodius there arose a heresy of Origen [Origen <unk> a famous teacher of the Alexandrian church, a miracle of his age in mind and depth of learning. Many of the most remarkable of the Church Fathers treated Origen's theological works and merits with deep respect; but later, while he was still alive, he was condemned as a heretic at two local Alexandrian councils and after his death at the Council of Constantinople in 543.
While not expressing his unorthodox views as unassailable truths, Origen was nevertheless wrong about many of the truths of the Christian Church's creed, which is why some questioned his firmness in the main Christian dogmas.
In developing the non-Orthodox doctrine of the pre-existence of souls, he wrongly thought of Christ, believing that God created a certain number of equal spiritual beings, capable of understanding the Godhead and being like Him; one of these created spirits with such a burning love aspired to the Godhead that he became inseparably united with the Divine Word or became His creature carrier; this, in Origen's opinion, is the human soul through which
God the Word could have become flesh on earth, since the direct incarnation of the Godhead, in his erroneous view, is unthinkable.
Holding a heretical view of the incarnation of God the Word and the creation of the world and man, Origen understood the death of Christ in an unorthodox sense, presenting it as something repeated spiritually in the spiritual world and having an effect there on the liberation of angels and attributing too much of the work of salvation to the action of ordinary forces with which our nature is endowed.
Origen was wrong in some points of his teaching about the resurrection and the life to come, for example, that the devil can be saved and in the interpretation of the Holy Scriptures he understood too much exaggeratedly in a mysterious sense, to the detriment of the historical meaning of the Scriptures.
In his schools he educated many remarkable fathers and teachers of the Church, some of whom owe to him their conversion from paganism to the Christian faith, with which he wanted to harmonize knowledge and philosophy.
<unk> In the persecution of Decius, Origen won the fame of a courageous confessor of Christ, died a seventy-year-old man in Tyre in 254.], seducing many; seeing her growth, St. Methodius, as an outstanding shepherd, like fire lit heresy with his denunciations, - a teaching full of wisdom and divine grace, he destroyed the heretical fog hanging over the faithful.
His divinely inspired instruction flashed like lightning over the universe, and like the sound of a sounding trumpet, his teaching spread over the earth.
Therefore, the invisible enemy was unable to endure the zeal with which St. Methodius was animated in his great works for the sake of godliness, for the sake of the Church of Christ; he armed his visible servants against the holy bishop - pagans who worshiped idols; at his instruction the pagans intended to give a torturous death to the servant of God, even before suffering "an animal death".
And the holy Methodius went to a better life, and he offered to God as a living sacrifice the one who at first served the Lamb of God, and then was slain as a lamb. Thus was crowned with a double crown the good devotee, who fought with heretics and confessed Christ fearlessly before the pagans, even to the shedding of blood and martyrdom, which followed in the reign of Aurelianus [270-275 A.D.]
Amen [From St. Methodius are preserved written works relating to: 1) the defense of the holy faith against paganism, 2) the exposition of dogmas of faith, especially against the errors of Origen, 3) to moral teaching and 4) to the explanation of holy Scripture.]
Thy blood, wise, cries secretly from the earth like Abel to God, wise to the holy priest Methodius, plainly preached God's incarnation: thus thou hast ashamed thyself of the original calumny, and hast made thyself the heavenly throne.
The sacred mysteries of the Holy Trinity, and I am a preacher of the divine commandments, and the orthodox affirmation was you, Methodius, the malignant exposed your senses, for the sake of orthodoxy your blood to the holy martyr appear: and Christ with the angels before, pray to save us.
The trumpet, voice one.
Thraparo, voice 1: The blood of thy wise man cryeth secretly from the earth unto God, as Abel, the wise saint, as Mephodias, the clear preacher of God's humanity: even more hath he despised the beauty of the original, and ascended into the abyss of heaven.
The condac, voiced four.
Kondac, verse 4: The priest of the Holy Trinity, and the master of the divine preacher's commandments, and the orthodox assertion was that he, Mephodias, blasphemed, revealed to him the meanings, the truth for the sake of your holy martyr's blood, and Christ with the angels stood before, praying for us. ______________________________________ 1 In Asia Minor. 2 Origen a famous teacher of the Alexandrian church, a miracle of his age by the mind and depth of his learning. Many of the remarkable Church fathers treated the theological works and merits of Origen with deep respect; but he was later, still in his life, condemned as a heretic at two local Alexandrian abbotcheries and the Alexandrian Synod in 543 CE.
While not expressing his unorthodox views as irrefutable truths, Origen, however, wrongly thought about many of the truths of the Christian Church's doctrine, why some considered its firmness in the main Christian dogmas to be questionable. By developing the unorthodox doctrine of the preexistence of souls, he wrongly thought of Christ, believing that God created a certain number of equal dignity spiritual beings capable of understanding Godhead and being created to please Him; one of these created spirits with such a burning love for God, who became inseparably connected with the Divine Word or His creature medium; this, in Origen's view, is the human soul through which God could incarnate himself directly in the divine mind, as if incarnate on earth.
In his heretical view of the incarnation of God the Word and the creation of the world and man, Origen understood Christ's death in an unorthodox sense, imagining it as something that is spiritually repeated in the spiritual world and has an effect on the release of angels and attributing too much to the action of ordinary forces that our nature has bestowed on us.
His works on studying the Holy Scriptures, interpreting, and most importantly, restoring and purifying the original text are particularly remarkable; there are also notable works by Origen, directed at defending Christianity against its enemies and heretics. In the Declaration of Faith, Origen was awarded a courageous confessor of Christ, dying as an elder in Tyre in 254 BC. 3 270-275 BC. But it is more likely that the death of Saint Methodius followed after 310 BC.