Icon of the Martyr St. Adrian of Nicomedia (4th Century Saint) - Commemorated on August 26th.


"I have not lost my mind, but rather have I found it."

- St. Adrian of Nicomedia

(Adrian was the head of the praetorium guard back in the 4th Century. This was his response to accusations by Emperor Maximian that he had lost his mind for adding his name to the list of Christians to be cruelly tortured and executed by his fellow soldiers.)

Today happens to be my birthday, and I am once again thankful to God for the blessing of another year of life. When I read about Saints like Adrian, I not only admire their courage and steadfastness at standing strong in their faith and convictions, but I am filled with gratitude that by God's grace I am fortunate enough to live in a country where believers are not tortured and killed for what they believe. It's because of martyrs like St. Adrian that the values that form the foundation of the western nations are the way that they are. People should never have to suffer for their beliefs. No matter what they are.

God gave mankind ultimate freedom to individually choose our own personal beliefs and destiny. It is God's desire that all people would come to know Him in love, but He holds mankind's right of free will above His desire, such that He is willing to allow His heart to be broken so that love can be a choice.

One of the so called "classical questions" of those who doubt the existence of God is: "How can there be a loving God if He allows innocent people to suffer and die?" I have never really understood why this is such a dilemma.

I read a wonderful quote by Avraham Burg, a Jewish writer and former member of the Knesset, writing about the Holocaust:

"It wasn’t God who failed during Holocaust - My question is not where God was, but where were the people, my brothers and sisters?"

Persecution, prejudice and all forms of human oppression are the fruits of mankind's bad choices based on ignorance or distorted understanding. Jesus Christ, God Himself, hung on the cross as both a victim and solution of mankind's choice to be gods unto ourselves. Everytime we condemn or strike out at those who are different from us in ideology or appearance we are doing that which even God chooses not to do!!

The dilemma is that in order to be free we must be just as willing to allow our enemies to choose to hate us as we are to have our friends choose to love us.

The hard lesson that we can learn from the sufferings of martyrs like St. Adrian and from the deaths of millions at the hands of hatred, is that, when we can stand unafraid of death before our enemies, completely trusting in God, prepared even to pray for them as they kill us - we will have become TRULY free and will have become the humanity that God originally intended. God help me to have that kind of courage.