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“INNOCENT” SUFFERING
“I will receive the cup of salvation and call on the name of the Lord.”(Ps. 115:4)
This verse is relevant to both feasts celebrated this Wednesday: the Great Martyr Barbara (NC) and the Entry (or “Leading In” in Slavonic,Vvedenie) of the Theotokos into the Temple (OC). The verse is chanted on feasts of the Theotokos as the Communion Verse, because it connotes the “cup” of suffering, of which the Most Holy Virgin was to drink throughout her unique vocation. Note that the word “cup” in the Bible often means suffering, as in, “Father, if it is Your will, take this cup away from Me…” (Lk 22:42).
I’m thinking of the suffering that was to be endured by the three-year-old Mary, and of the young Barbara, who, together with Juliana (who was inspired by Barbara’s fearlessness and ended up being martyred with her) “received” the “cup of salvation.” In Barbara’s case, this included the heartbreak of her own father, Dioscorus, having her arrested and later beheading her with his own hands. Before their execution, both Barbara and Juliana were led naked through their city, amidst the derision and jeers of the crowds. I’m thinking also how the young Mary was led, not only into the Temple at age three, being separated from her parents, - but a decade or so later, when she was very-pregnant and both her parents had died, how she was led to Bethlehem, seated on a donkey. This reminds me of our Lord, seated on a donkey, entering Jerusalem, where He was to die His death-trampling death.
How can we process the “innocent suffering” described above? Let’s first re-think the word “innocent,” which means “harmless,” from the Latin in + nocere, meaning “not to hurt/harm.” And let’s establish that the self-offering of the Theotokos, of Barbara and Juliana, and of their Lord, was by no means “harmless.” Their overcoming of fear, when they were called to “receive the cup of salvation” and testify to Truth, was a liberating sign that dealt a heavy blow to merely-human fear, and to those who terrorized entire peoples through it.“Behold, this Child is destined for the fall and rising of many in Israel, and for a sign which will be spoken against…,” as Simeon said to Mary, when she brought Him into the Temple.
Today we celebrate the mystifying self-offering of the three-year-old Theotokos, and of Barbara and Juliana, in gratitude for their testimony. They testified to the Great Fact that there is more to life and to death than what self-preserving fears would dictate to us. Thank You, Lord, for the Holy Witnesses in our midst. By their prayers, Savior, save us!
