On Thursday, 11 July 2024, at the celebrating Church of Saint Euphemia the Great Martyr, in the suburb of Bankstown, Sydney, Archbishop Makarios of Australia celebrated the Divine Liturgy, on the day when our Church commemorates the miracle of Saint Euphemia during the Fourth Ecumenical Council of Chalcedon.
Before a crowd of devout believers, who flocked reverently to venerate the holy Icon of the Patroness of their Parish and the fragment of Her holy Relic, which is treasured in the Church of Bankstown, His Eminence vividly described what happened during the year 451 AD, the miracle of Saint Euphemia, when the Fathers who participated in the Fourth Ecumenical Council placed, in the reliquary with Her relics, two documents with the positions and teachings of the Orthodox and the Monophysites. When the sealed reliquary was opened, the Orthodox document was on the Saint’s chest and in her embrace, while the heretical document was found at her feet.
At the end of the description of this wonderful event, through which the Fathers were guided in making the right decisions, the Archbishop underlined with emphasis: “Saint Euphemia did not just perform a miracle, but through it she upheld the truth”. Pointing out that the duty of every Christian, in order to meaningfully honour the Saints of our Church, is to follow their example, His Eminence urged the faithful to uphold and defend the truth in every aspect of their everyday life.
“The devil tries at every hour and every moment to slander the truth. That is why he is called a devil (διάβολος). He does not want us to know the truth,” he noted. “The whole struggle of our Church, in all ages,” he countered, “is to present, uphold, and teach the truth.” “Here, then, is the lesson we can take from this miracle,” he continued, “here, is what we can put into our lives. Let us not follow the voice of the devil, who tries to trick us, who tries to tell us that the ugly things are beautiful, that evil is good and that night is day. If we uphold for the truth, then we are truly following what Saint Euphemia did and truly honouring her memory. Because we first of all honour the memory of the Saint when we follow her example. So love truth, with all that it entails. Many times the truth is not an easy task, neither to follow it, nor to support it. But we must follow the truth. This is the great preaching of the Church. Because “the truth will set you free”.
Finally, His Eminence Archbishop Makarios of Australia, by examining the theological work of the Fourth Ecumenical Synod of Chalcedon, also focused on its 28th canon, which has been characterised as the founding Volume of the Ecumenical Patriarchate. Through this holy canon, the jurisdiction of the Constantinople Church was established in territories that did not belong to the other Orthodox Churches, and from this derives Her jurisdiction in the fifth continent. “We praise God that we belong to our Ecumenical Patriarchate and have the canonicity and sanctifying grace of the great Fathers, who elected the Ecumenical Throne”, the Archbishop of Australia, noted, among other things.
