Bound by These Chains: Thoughts on the Links from St. Paul's Chains

On Thursday of this week, His Beatitude Christodoulos, the Archbishop of Athens and All Greece, was presented with two links from the chain that is traditionally thought to have been the chain that bound St. Paul.  This post is made up of a few Scriptures, and a meditation from the late Lutheran Pastor Richard Wurmbrand whose organization The Voice of the Martyrs works with persecuted Christians, mentioning the bond of Christians today with the chains of past martyrs, as if bound with them, and quoting St. Thomas Aquinas.

Remember those who are in prison, as though in prison with them; and those who are ill-treated, since you also are in the body. (Heb. 13:3)

May the Lord grant mercy to the household of Onesiph'orus, for he often refreshed me; he was not ashamed of my chains, but when he arrived in Rome he searched for me eagerly and found me--may the Lord grant him to find mercy from the Lord on that Day--and you well know all the service he rendered at Ephesus. (II Tim. 1:16-18)

Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted.  In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. . . . Therefore lift your drooping hands and strengthen your weak knees, and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be put out of joint but rather be healed.  Strive for peace with all men, and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord.  (Heb. 12:1-4, 12-14)

By Richard Wurmbrand:

"We also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses." 
(Hebrews 12:1)

A Christian prisoner in Cuba was asked to sign a statement containing accusations against brethren, which would have led to their arrest.  He said, "The chain keeps me from signing this."

The Red officer replied, "But you are not in chains."

"I am," said the Christian; "I am bound by the chains of witnesses who throughout the centuries gave their lives for Christ.  I am a link in this chain.  I will not break it."

Thomas Aquinas, after having called martyrdom the greatest proof of perfect love, adds: "Words pronounced by the martyrs before authorities are not human words, the simple expression of a human conviction, but words pronounced by the Holy Spirit through the confessors of Jesus."

Learn from the martyrs.  You too are a link in this chain.  Remain faithful!

Nijole Sadunaite, a young Christian lady, said before the court in  Lituania when she was sentenced for her faith: "This is the happiest day of my life.  I am tried for the cause of truth and love toward men. . . I have enviable fate, a glorious destiny.  My condemnation will be my triumph.  I regret only to have done so little for men. . . . Let us love each other and we will be happy.  Only the one who loves not is unhappy. . . .  We must condemn evil, but we must love the man, even the one in error.  This you can learn only at the school of Jesus Christ."

This is the teaching which the Holy Spirit gives you through a sufferer for Christ.  Apply it in your own life.

- Richard Wurmbrand, Reaching Toward the Heights, Living Sacrifice Books, Bartlesville, Oklahoma, 6th ed. 1992, daily devotion for April 25 (ellipses in Wurmbrand's original).