Tuesday in the Week of the Fourth Sunday of Advent
Chaeremon of Nilopolis and his Companions, Bishop and Martyrs
250
Today the Greater Church commemorates Chaeremon of Nilopolis and his companions, Christians driven into the wilderness of Egypt during the persecution under the Emperor Decius.
Chaeremon was already very old when the persecution came. He served as bishop of Nilopolis, a city in Egypt. As Christians fled from their towns and villages, he and his wife took refuge in the mountains east of the Nile.
They never returned.
Other Christians went to look for them. They searched diligently, but found neither the bishop and his wife nor their bodies.
Many who fled into the desert and mountains died from hunger, thirst, cold, sickness, violence, or wild beasts. Raiders seized others and carried them into slavery. Christians ransomed some of the captives at great cost. Others remained in bondage.
Chaeremon and his wife disappeared among these scattered Christians. Their brethren could not bring them home or lay them in a grave. Yet the Church kept the aged bishop’s name and remembered with him those whose suffering had passed beyond the sight of their neighbors.
Christ knows those whom his people cannot find. As we remember these martyrs, may he keep us faithful through fear and loss, and stir us to seek the displaced, remember the missing, and help those held captive.
Let us pray
Merciful God, whose Son has promised never to forsake his people: Remember before you your servants Chaeremon and his companions, and all who suffer for the name of Christ. Sustain the persecuted, bring the captives into freedom, and give us grace to remain faithful in your love; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.