In Memoriam: Let Us Honor the Champions of Christ

Let us then pray for our fallen dead. It is right and just.

We may ask these model soldiers, these champions of Christ, to inspire the soldiers of our day to bind themselves more tightly to Christ, to don the "whole armor of God," to girt themselves with truth, to buckle the breastplate of righteousness, to shod their feet with the Gospel of peace, and to take the shield of faith, the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit which is the word of God.  (Eph. 6:10-18) 

CORPUS CHRISTI, TX (Catholic Online) - Memorial Day is a day set apart to thank those men and women of our military who have given their lives in the service of this country.  We recall a splendid truth in both natural and supernatural realms: "Greater love has no man than this: that a man lay down his life for his friends." (John 15:13)  To give one's life in defense of others is a superlative example of the "Law of the Gift." 

Let us then be thankful for our fallen dead.  It is right and just.

To be sure, Memorial Day is a time to spend with our families, neighbors, and friends.  But we should also not neglect to pray for those who have fallen.  We may follow the good example of one righteous Jewish general, Judas "the Hammer" Maccabaeus, who offered expiatory sacrifice for his fallen troops.  "In doing this, he acted in a very excellent and noble way," the Scriptures tell us, "inasmuch as he had the resurrection of the dead in view; for if he were not expecting the fallen to rise again, it would have been useless and foolish to pray for them in death."  (2 Macc. 12:38-46) 

Let us then pray for our fallen dead.  It is right and just.

Judas Maccabaeus was a precursor of those saints of God who are known as the athletae Christi, the champions of Christ.  In iconography, these military saints are typically shown in full military regalia, with the implements of war, often mounted on horseback. 

Who are these athletae Christi, these champions of Christ?  In this short article, it is impossible to name them all, much less tell all their stories and their edifying witness, but we may name some and say a few words about them.

We may start with those champions of Christ that are found within the sheaves of the New Testament: St. Cornelius and St. Longinus. 

St. Cornelius was a Roman centurion portrayed in the Book of Acts as a God-fearing Gentile.  Seeking instruction, he received a vision directing him to send some of his men to Joppa where they would find Simon Peter, who was then staying at the household of Simon the tanner.  Before Cornelius's men arrived, St. Peter himself received the three-fold visions that instructed him that the Gentiles were to be embraced by the Church. 

Later, when Cornelius himself came to Peter, he fell before Peter, and Peter gently admonished him: "Stand up.  I myself am a man."  Instructed by Peter, Cornelius and his entire household accepted the faith, were baptized, and were saved.  (Acts 10, 11).  St. Cornelius, our first military saint, our first athleta Christi, has the honor of being the first Christian among the Gentiles.  Later, he abandoned his military duties and is reputed to have become the first bishop of Caesarea.

St. Longinus, another New Testament soldier, is the traditional name given to the Roman soldier who pierced Christ's side with his lance.  He is also identified with the soldier of the Gospels who testified, "Truly, this man was the son of God."  (Matt. 27:54; Mark 15:39)  His participation in the crucifixion led to his conversion, and his acceptance of the Son of God as his Lord and Savior.   His faith in Christ eventually led to his martyrdom.

Beyond the pages of the Scriptures we enter into the area of hagiography, where fact and fiction are often intertwined, and it is difficult to sort out the factual from the fabulous.  But the annals of the Church is full of these champions of Christ.

We might start with St. Procopius of Scythopolis, who is mentioned in the ecclesiastical history of Eusebius of Caesarea who writes of this megalomartyr's martyrdom during the persecution of Diocletian.  There is a tradition unmentioned by Eusebius that places St. Procopius among the champions of Christ. 

St. Procopius (whose birth name was Neanias) was born in 303 A.D. of a Christian father and pagan mother; however, his father died shortly after his birth and so he was raised pagan.  He joined the Roman army during Diocletian's reign.  Neanias was ordered by his superiors to go to Alexandria to exterminate the Christians in that town.  But while en route, Neanias was awakened from sleep by what seemed like an earthquake.  In a manner redolent of St. Paul's experience in Damascus, Jesus appeared to Neanias, spoke to him, and showed him the image of his cross. 
The event entirely transformed him. 

Instead of going to Alexandria to slaughter Christians, he went to Jerusalem to protect it against the Bedouin Agarians who were attacking that city.  When his conversion to Christ was discovered, he was brought before governor of Caesarea, before whom he abandoned his army belt and sword, and avowed thenceforward to be a soldier only of Christ.  He was tortured and imprisoned.  Christ himself appeared to him in prison to baptize him (wherein he received his baptismal name Procopius).  Eventually, St. Procopius was beheaded for his faith in the Lord.

Another champion of Christ is St. Theodore Stratelates also know as St. Theodore of Heraclea.  St. Theodore was a Roman general (stratelates) in the city of Heraclea Pontica during the reign of emperor Licinius (307-24 A.D.)  When word came to emperor Licinius that Theodore was Christian, the emperor sent men to demand from Theodore an oath of fealty which would have required participation in idolatrous rites.  Theodore refused to worship the idols of silver and gold, and instead destroyed them and had the parts distributed to the poor, which brought forth the full ire and cruelty of the emperor.  Licinius had Theodore brutally tortured, crucified, and horribly disfigured.

St. Menas the Soldier, known as a martyr and wonder-worker, was born in Egypt.  He is a saint very popular among the Copts.  A Christian, Menas served the Roman army under the tribune Firmilian.  However, when he learned of the anti-Christian edicts of Emperors Diocletian and Maximianus, he left his position and lived a life of great ascetic virtue in the area of Cotyaeus in Phrygia.  On one occasion, he ranted against the pagan public festivals for which he was summoned to appear before the prefect Pyrrhus.  He was scourged, tortured, and ultimately beheaded.  Though sometimes shown in his military dress, St. Menas is most often shown as an ascetic, as a friend of Christ.

Another champion of Christ is St. Andrew Stratelates, or St. Andrew the General.  This Saint Andrew was a commander in the Roman army during the reign of the emperor Maximianus.  Antiochus, the pagan Roman governor of Syria, appointed St. Andrew to command the Roman forces sent out to engage with an invading Persian army.  Unbeknownst to Antiochus, Andrew, "like a rose among thorns or incense among foul smells," was a Christian. 

During his command, St. Andrew witnessed to his troops, converting a great number.  After routing the Persians and returning to Antioch, he was denounced by pagans in the army.  He withstood trial and torture, and was eventually released by order of the Emperor only to be ambushed and brutally killed together with 2,593 of his Christian followers in a river valley in Cilicia, earning him the rare title of "megalomartyr," great martyr, and a heavenly reputation for driving out demons.

St. Callistratus, another military saint, is often referred to as the bonus miles, or "good soldier." He was to be sure a Roman soldier, the sole Christian "of the band which was called Chalcedon" during the reign of emperor Diocletian.  Callistratus's family had been Christian for generations; indeed, his great-grandfather Neoscorus had been in Jerusalem during the time of Pontius Pilate, and, what is more,  had witnessed Christ's passion, death, burial, and resurrection. 

St. Callistratus was denounced by some of his fellow soldiers when he refused to offer incense and sacrifice to the image of Zeus.  When he refused to sacrifice to the idol on the command of his captain Presentinus, Callistratus was beaten with clubs, cut with potsherds, force-fed with water, and finally tied up in a sack and thrown into the sea.  He miraculously survived, and was put in prison with forty-nine of his fellows who had converted through his witness.  Ultimately, he was beheaded, suffering death for Jesus.

There are many others of these athletae Christi, these champions of Christ: St. Marcellus the Centurion (also known as St. Marcellus of Tangier), St. Demetrius of Thessalonica, St. Sebastian, St. George, St. Valeriano, St. Gereon, Sts. Sergius and Bacchus, St. Mercurius, St. Nestor . . . the list goes on and on.  Typically, these saints are shown in Roman military garb: the lorica--the torso armor of the Roman soldier--, the pteruges or protective leather skirt, and sometimes helmeted and holding spear and shield. 

To each of these athleta Christi, each such Champion of Christ, we may sing:

Athleta Christi nobilis
Idola damnat gentium,
Deique amore saucius
Vitae pericla despicit.

Noble champion of the Lord!
Armed against idolatry!
In thy fervent zeal for God
Death had naught of fear for thee.

We may ask these model soldier-saints to inspire the soldiers of our day to bind themselves more tightly to Christ, to don the "whole armor of God," to girt themselves with truth, to buckle the breastplate of righteousness, to shod their feet with the Gospel of peace, and to take the shield of faith, the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit which is the word of God.  (Eph. 6:10-18) 

We may also ask these champions to pray for the repose of the souls of those of our soldiers who have died, especially those who have died in battle.

Let us then pray this Memorial Day to our heavenly champions of Christ, that they might intercede on behalf of those soldiers of ours who have given their life for our land.  It is right and just.

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Andrew M. Greenwell is an attorney licensed to practice law in Texas, practicing in Corpus Christi, Texas.  He is married with three children.  He maintains a blog entirely devoted to the natural law called Lex Christianorum.  You can contact Andrew at agreenwell@harris-greenwell.com.

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