MYRON OF CRETE

On August 21 (8), on the third day of the Transfiguration of the Lord, the Church celebrates the memory of St. Myron of Crete. The name Myron is pronounced with emphasis on the first syllable, for it is derived from fragrant myrrh.

Very little information has been preserved about Myron’s life. However, the little that has been preserved in the memory of the Church about this ancient saint shows us his image as a good shepherd, a true pastor, contemporary and spiritual brother of other great saints of that time: Spyridon of Cyprus (+348), James of Nisibis (+350) and St. Nicholas (+343). These saints survived the era of the Great Persecution of Diocletian (284-305), and then, together with the Church, entered an era of peaceful Christianity, not persecuted by the pagan authorities. At the same time, the time of dogmatic confrontations came, when the teaching of Arianism caused tangible harm to orthodox Christianity. So Saint Myron witnessed the legalization of Christianity under the Emperor Constantine (+337), was a contemporary of the Council of Nicaea (325) and witnessed the first major dogmatic confrontations and disputes.

Myron was born during the reign of Emperor Decius (249–251), a fervent persecutor of Christians, in Crete, in the vicinity of the city of Knossos. In ancient times it was the center of the Minoan civilization, associated with the name of King Minos, the famous Labyrinth and the Minotaur. Subsequently, it became the center of pagan worship of the cult of Cretan Zeus.

Myron was appointed shepherd of the Church, in the rank of bishop, in a very mature age. He was chosen by the people. Myron was a man of simple biblical righteousness, he had a family and tended sheep and raised his own bread with his own hands.

One day, when a dozen villains were stealing wheat from his field, the saint approached them. Remaining unrecognized, he helped them carry this burden, thus losing the harvest. “Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth” (Matt. 5:5). Such a paradoxical act of the saint became a literal fulfillment of Christ’s words. Life says that the thieves subsequently learned about the one they had robbed, and, by the gift of grace, changed their lives. The example of the saint teaches that nothing is lost when everything is lost for the sake of Christ.

Following the example of the biblical prophets, he crossed the river during the flood, and then, with his shepherd’s rod, returned the river to its normal flow. The compilers of the life paid special attention to the very fact of miracles. It is important for us to understand that power over nature has never been an end in itself either for God or for the saints. Apparently, Myron was then heading to the dying man, drawn by his pastoral calling and grace, he simply longed to strive to help. The flood, which was devastating for local inhabitants, was stopped.

The saint lived a very long life and passed away to the Lord around 350 at the age of about a hundred years. Thus, he also found the era of persecution, that completely unique time, the era of the Church persecuted by the pagans, which left us irrevocably and which, except for learned historians, hardly anyone really remembers in our days. Then it seemed to the powers that be, kings and pagans, that the Church was experiencing its last time. But it turned out that the era was the threshold of the birth into a new world that was then thirsty for Christianity.

“At that moment Peter said to Jesus: Lord! It’s good for us to be here, if you want, we’ll make three tabernacles here: one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah,” Peter exclaimed on the Holy Mountain (Matthew 17:4). Saint Myron was one of the ancient genuine bishops, the actual Successors of the Apostles, “in the spirit and power of the Prophets” (cf. Luke 1:17).

Thanks to their testimony Christianity, in which, as in the words of Peter, “it was good for the world to be there,” was able to become the true Transfiguration of People in Jesus Christ.