Feast of St. Shmouni and her seven sons & their teacher Eleazar – August 1

In the name of God the Father, Christ Jesus His Son and the Holy Spirit, One True God. Amen

Dear brothers are sisters in Christ Jesus

As the Indian Orthodox Church along with all Christian faithful of the sister Oriental Orthodox Churches, Catholic Church and Eastern Orthodox Church prepare for the Feast of the Assumption of the Theotokos on August 15, the Church has dedicated 15 days of fasting and prayer. But as the Church begins this journey of fasting, they dedicate the 1st of August to commemorate the memory of a blessed mother of the Old Testament, Saint Shmouni and her seven sons along with their teacher, Eleazar.

We learn about St Shmouni in the Old Testament in Maccabees. She lived about 170 years before Christ, around the time when the Jews were facing religious persecutions under the Seleucid empire. This woman and her sons were arrested by Antiochus IV Epiphanes, who forced them to prove their respect to him by consuming pig meat. When they refused, he tortured and killed the sons one by one in front of the unflinching and stout-hearted mother.

The martyric death of the Maccabee brothers inspired Judas Maccabeus, and he led a revolt against Antiochus Epiphanes. With God’s help, he gained the victory, and then purified the Temple at Jerusalem. He also threw down the altars which the pagans had set up in the streets. All these events are related in the Second Book of Maccabees (Ch. 8-10).

Various Fathers of the Church preached sermons on the seven Maccabees, including Saint Cyprian of Carthage, Saint Ambrose of Milan, Saint Gregory Nazianzus and Saint John Chrysostom.

We are taught about this blessed mother through our liturgical hymns and prayers. One of the hymns is the ‘Qolo’ of the Thursday Matins (Morning prayer). The whole hymn is attached for you to enjoy the richness of the teachings of the Church.

Let us look at the account of their faith from the Old Testament

2 Maccabees 7

“It happened also that seven brothers and their mother were arrested and were being compelled by the king, under torture with whips and thongs, to partake of unlawful swine’s flesh. One of them, acting as their spokesman, said, “What do you intend to ask and learn from us? For we are ready to die rather than transgress the laws of our ancestors.”

The king fell into a rage, and gave orders to have pans and caldrons heated. These were heated immediately, and he commanded that the tongue of their spokesman be cut out and that they scalp him and cut off his hands and feet, while the rest of the brothers and the mother looked on. When he was utterly helpless, the king ordered them to take him to the fire, still breathing, and to fry him in a pan. The smoke from the pan spread widely, but the brothers and their mother encouraged one another to die nobly, saying,

After the first brother had died in this way, they brought forward the second for their sport. They tore off the skin of his head with the hair, and asked him, “Will you eat rather than have your body punished limb by limb?” He replied in the language of his ancestors and said to them, “No.” Therefore he in turn underwent tortures as the first brother had done. And when he was at his last breath, he said,

After him, the third was the victim of their sport. When it was demanded, he quickly put out his tongue and courageously stretched forth his hands, and said nobly,

As a result the king himself and those with him were astonished at the young man’s spirit, for he regarded his sufferings as nothing.

After he too had died, they maltreated and tortured the fourth in the same way. When he was near death, he said,

Next they brought forward the fifth and maltreated him. But he looked at the king, and said,

After him they brought forward the sixth. And when he was about to die, he said,

The mother was especially admirable and worthy of honorable memory. Although she saw her seven sons perish within a single day, she bore it with good courage because of her hope in the Lord. She encouraged each of them in the language of their ancestors. Filled with a noble spirit, she reinforced her woman’s reasoning with a man’s courage, and said to them,

Antiochus felt that he was being treated with contempt, and he was suspicious of her reproachful tone. The youngest brother being still alive, Antiochus not only appealed to him in words, but promised with oaths that he would make him rich and enviable if he would turn from the ways of his ancestors, and that he would take him for his Friend and entrust him with public affairs. Since the young man would not listen to him at all, the king called the mother to him and urged her to advise the youth to save himself. After much urging on his part, she undertook to persuade her son. But, leaning close to him, she spoke in their native language as follows, deriding the cruel tyrant:

While she was still speaking, the young man said,

“What are you waiting for? I will not obey the king’s command, but I obey the command of the law that was given to our ancestors through Moses. But you, who have contrived all sorts of evil against the Hebrews, will certainly not escape the hands of God. For we are suffering because of our own sins. And if our living Lord is angry for a little while, to rebuke and discipline us, he will again be reconciled with his own servants. But you, unholy wretch, you most defiled of all mortals, do not be elated in vain and puffed up by uncertain hopes, when you raise your hand against the children of heaven. You have not yet escaped the judgment of the almighty, all-seeing God. For our brothers after enduring a brief suffering have drunk of ever-flowing life, under God’s covenant; but you, by the judgment of God, will receive just punishment for your arrogance. I, like my brothers, give up body and life for the laws of our ancestors, appealing to God to show mercy soon to our nation and by trials and plagues to make you confess that he alone is God, and through me and my brothers to bring to an end the wrath of the Almighty that has justly fallen on our whole nation.”

The king fell into a rage, and handled him worse than the others, being exasperated at his scorn. So he died in his integrity, putting his whole trust in the Lord.

Last of all, the mother died, after her sons.

Let this be enough, then, about the eating of sacrifices and the extreme tortures.”

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ

Let us take a few moments to learn some of the lessons that we learn from this excerpt and acknowledge the reason why we remember this blessed saint and her sons on this day.

Undeterred Faith in Face of Persecution

One of the most noticeable and underlying factor in this event is the undeterred faith of seven young men, few of them understandably even in their early teenage years. In the face of persecution through various torments and pains, all the seven young men stood strong in their faith and the law taught by Moses and the teachers. In this current day and age when we find a dearth of good examples of God fearing and God loving people, these young men stand as solid examples of faith and love for the Almighty God.

In this age when we all tend to be bend down by the whims and fancies of this world and its varied and sinful lusts, these young men stand as an example to fight against the world and its rulers. They were only commanded to partake of the flesh of the swine, a food that was unholy for the Jews, by the political ruler of that time. But they were willing to give up their life than go against the teachings of the law and their fathers. Not only were they not afraid but they also spoke to the king with authority and warned him of the punishments that he will receive from God Almighty.

Promise of Eternal Life

Another noticeable feature in the statements said by the brothers is the promise of an eternal life to which they were looking forward to. In the face of death, the most motivating factor was not the end of their sufferings but the joy of an eternal life in the presence of Yahweh. We need to understand that this statement of faith was declared about 150 years before the coming of Christ and His resurrection and declaring to us the promise of an eternal life.

These young men had the foreknowledge of a life in eternity even before Christ. This fact puzzled the Jews long after the birth of Jesus, even. It puzzled the devil himself. Refer to 2 Peter 1:21.

The young men considered the trials as a way of chastening and correction of their people so that God will reunite with them and lift His anger from them. They yearned to be in communion with God, Whom their fathers had angered which led to the fall of their people to the kingdoms of Assyria and Babylon.

We who live in the era after the resurrection of Christ, most times question the resurrection in itself. We who believe in the promise of an eternal life most times question on the purpose of the pains and sufferings of this world. We who believe in the life after death, hold on to the sinful desires of the flesh forgetting that we are accountable for our deeds during the day of judgement. We who believe that we are called to even to judge the angels in the eternal life are afraid of holding onto the faith that’s taught by our Doctors, Fathers and Teachers of the Holy Church. We who are blessed to partake of the living Body and Blood of Christ, do not deem it necessary to commune with the Living God, Who sacrificed His life for our sakes.

Role of a Mother

Although her name is not mentioned in Maccabees and she is referred to as the “Jewish woman”, Syriac tradition gives the mother the name of Shmouni. She is a major figure in Syriac writings (see Witakowski, W, Mart(y) Shmuni, the Mother of the Maccabean Martyrs, in Syriac Tradition).

It is probably no co-incidence that her feast is celebrated on this first day of August when we begin preparing ourselves through fasting, prayer and abstinence for the feast of  Mary’s Assumption which we celebrate on 15 August. Shmouni and her sons are ‘types’ for Mary and Christ in the Old Testament.

When we look at the mother of the seven sons who were martyred, we see a lady so courageous and full of faith that even though she keeps on losing her sons one by one to the evil tyrant Antiochus, she keeps on exhorting her living sons to not forsake the faith taught by their fathers. Just as the blessed Theotokos, Mother Mary endured the unjust suffering of her son, Jesus Christ, blessed Mother Shmouni also endured the suffering borne by her sons for the cause of the faith taught to them.

It is also surprising to hear the words of a mother who says that it was not her who gave birth to her sons. But it was God Who gave life and breath to her sons in her womb. She gives glory and praise to God for blessing her to be a mother and at no point was she capable of giving life to another person. The only responsibility she bears is the responsibility of caring and providing guidance to her children.

In an age where the sexes are trying to find equality in all walks of life and the Church is questioned on the role of a woman in the Church, we find a very good example of a pious and faithful mother in the life of Morth Shmouni. Even though she is a witness to the tortures borne by her sons, she remains faithful until the end with respect to the promise of an eternal life. She believes that the God Who breathed life into her sons in her womb will be able to breathe life again into them. She not only exhorts her younger sons with this promise but also holds the promise close to her heart as well. Such was her faith that she too followed her sons into eternal life soon after.

In the Indian Orthodox Church, there is a church dedicated in the name of Morth Shmouni – Morth Shmouni Orthodox Valiyapalli, Peringanad, Adoor of Pathanamthitta district, Kerala. In the Syrian Orthodox Church, there is a church dedicated to St. Shmouni in Qaraqosh near Mosul which is 1500 years old. Many miracles have been reported from this church.

As we begin this season of fasting and prayer, let us beseech St. Shmouni and her sons to intercede to the King of this World, Christ Jesus, to strengthen our faith in face of trials and sufferings of this world. Let us also seek guidance and wisdom from St. Shmouni to guide and raise our children to eternal life in the same manner of faith and dedication that she nurtured her sons.

Blessed mother, may your prayers be a stronghold unto us.

Your brother in Christ Jesus

Jobin George

Sources:

• St Shmouni and her Seven Sons – Martyrs – 1 August | Living Maronite
• Martyred Mother with seven sons (2MACC): Apocrypha | Jewish Women’s Archive (jwa.org)
• Peringanad MarthaShmooni Orthodox Valiyapalli – First MarthaShmooni Church in Malankara
• Morth Shmuni, Her Seven Sons, And Eliazer – Urho, The Way (urhotheway.com)
• Woman with seven sons – Wikipedia
• 7 Holy Maccabee Martyrs – Orthodox Church in America (oca.org)