Church Fathers, Day Eighty-Five: Philoxenus says love the truth as the martyrs did

Love the truth as the martyrs did

Philoxenus, an ancient Syriac writer, tells us that the love of truth is a consum­ing passion for those who have tasted it, and no danger or torture can separate those who have found it from the love of Christ.

Jesus Our God commands us to declare our truth openly, and not to be ashamed, and not to blush, and not just to accept what we are told by people in authority, and not to seek to please those who are the adversaries of truth—for whoever wishes to please men cannot be a servant of Christ.

But as for anyone who has experienced the love of Christ, and tasted the sweetness of truth, nothing will ever be able to diminish the ardor of his pursuit in search of the truth he loves. For truth is agreeable and sweet above all things, and it inflames every soul that has tasted it rightly to seek after it.

Like the divine Apostles and the holy martyrs, everyone who has experienced this pleasure seeks it with an unspeakable ardor. Nothing was able to diminish the ardor of their love in the pursuit of truth: neither fire, nor beasts, nor swords, nor torture, nor exile from country to country, nor close confinement in dungeons, nor the insults of enemies, nor calumnies, nor injustices, nor the inconstancy of friends, nor the defection of acquaintances, nor separation from family, nor the opposition of the whole world, nor the onslaught of visible and invisible enemies, nor anything above or below, can separate from the love of Christ those who have tasted and perceived the truth.

–Philoxenus, Letter to the Monks

IN GOD’S PRESENCE, CONSIDER . . .

Do I have a love for truth strong enough to keep me from lying?

CLOSING PRAYER

Lord, your love is sweet to me; enlighten my soul with the knowledge of your truth.

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