A friend posted a brief life of Great Martyr Evgeny on her blog and I thought I'd share it. I wasn't aware of this saint, and his is a particularly inspiring story. He was only 19! And he was martyred so recently--in 1996!
Makes our faith seem "relevant," doesn't it?
But more importantly, it makes me think even more about how am I raising my children. Will they at 19 have the faith to withstand torture and death for Christ? Of course, no mother wants to think about this possibility for her children, but the other possibility--failing to raise children who would make this choice--is no more heartening.
Great Martyr Evgeny, pray to God for us.
Patty, when my oldest three children were mere babies, our spiritual father said,
ReplyDelete"You're raising martyrs."
I got chills (bad ones) but I had the same thought you did. Can I raise them to make the good decision?
I think our priest says something similar when we have baptisms (adult or baby) at our church. I think it's usually something along the lines of "the reason there was a three-year catechumenate in the early church was that once you were baptized, you had to be ready to be martyred." What a thought. And what a responsibility.
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