THE CELEBRATION OF "ST. VALENTINE"
The so-called "Saint" Valentine (so-called protector of those in love) that we will discuss here is a "saint" of a very dubious origin, both historically and ecclesiologically, mobilised in the commercialisation of human emotions, which too are being sacrificed to the Moloch of consuming and profit. Valentine may be thought of as another (male!) version of the ancient Greek goddess Aphrodite with roots in medieval times. He is not related to any of the Orthodox Saints that have born this name (c.f. here). Lets make things clear by stating that the REAL Saint Valentine of the Orthodox Church is celebrated on July 6th and NOT on February 14th.
There is of course another opinion for the origins of this so called "saint", an opinion we often hear in Europe; namely, that behind the name of the "sweet" saint called Valentine, hidden is the image of the world-war actor Rodolfo Valentino (who died in 1926 from too many abuses), who too, like Aphrodite, was worshipped like another god of love, and became the ideal of those in love.
This foreign-to-Christianity "saint" soon became a popular "saint" for the celebration of those in love on the 14th of February, and has even become accepted by a large number of Greeks too!
For this reason, substitutes for this "saint" were sought honestly, so that the feeling of Love be attributed to a real hagiological protector, so that we do not stick to a vain mimicking of western christianity, a mimicking which we have unfortunately copied for centuries now.
Thus, St. Jacynthus was suggested first as a substitute, who was a martyr in the second century AD, and became a martyr at the age of 20 and was distinguished for his purity. According to the supporters of this choice, we can thus publicise a christian prototype of purity for the young people of Greece (and Orthodox people in general), and thus for "saint Valentine" to be avoided, who is anything BUT a protector of christian purity!
Actually, in the Orthodox Tradition amongst those praised by the holy fathers for their purity is the "all-good Joseph, a prototype of purity and virginity" (c.f.. vigil of Great Monday), who, barely a teenager, "abandoning the shirt, avoided sin" (c.f. Gen. 39) and who in his person expresses perfectly that which the word "purity" encloses, from a christian perspective, and for this reason he was raised into an all-orthodox and all-christian prodigy of christian ethos.
Others yet, centering the subject on love between spouses and the family ideal, suggested the pair of spouses and martyrs Aquila and Priscilla, who were working together with Apostle Paul, and whose memory is celebrated on the 13th of February, one day before the celebration of "saint Valentine". This was suggested by archbishop Christodoulos.
But what are the reasons behind our seeking substitutes for this "saint"? The reasons are the will for orthodoxisation and hellenisation (in the case of Greece) of this foreign celebration, that is affecting a large number of baptised christians, without however this celebration having a living and conscious relation with our Tradition.
Similar actions are well-known in our ecclesiastical history. For example, the celebration of Christmas was separated from Epiphany and assigned to the date 25/12 because on that day the idolatric god Mithra was being celebrated as the unbeatable Sun; and his place was taken by the Sun of Justice, Jesus Christ, so that those christians coming from an ethnic (pagan) environment would not be carried away.
Something similar is what is happening here, in the case of "saint Valentine", so that christians keeping only a loose bond with Church life, are not carried away.
This method of substitution, however, cannot be generalised, because lately we have had hundreds of celebrations of a worldly nature which are being established by "New Age" and tend to marginalise christian celebrations and their dynamic in our society.
After all, even if substitutes are found - that is not difficult - their contents however can have no notional identification with the external assertions. Christianity does not honour sexual relationships, even in their most idealised state, not because it is unloveable, but because its love is not enclosed within the flesh.
Therefore, if the substitutes of the "saint" do not offer the true meaning of christian love and do not enter one in the way of life "in Christ", Church becomes "worldly" and the world is not "enchristened", even if the names change.
For this reason, Circular 2659/14-10-1999 of the Continuous Holy Synod of Greece established the second Sunday of January as a day to remember and honour Basil the Great's family, to publicise the institution of family in the way it had been blessed in the persons of this large family, where almost all of its members are accepted saints of the Church. Basil the Great's parents, Basil and Emmeloea (Emmily) , "constitute an eternal example of family union, harmony and unity", which is offered to the christians of every era.
The Church, therefore, does not offer superficial substitutes, but hagiological prototypes, which save the identity of the Orthodox christian intact.
Thus, on the 13th of February 2000, Greece celebrated for the first time with success the memory of Aquila and Priscilla, who were voted as the couple chosen to represent Christian Love substituting the "Valentine" celebration, according to the wishes of the Holy Spirit who decreed upon the Continuous Local Synod of Greece.
Let us hope and pray that this substitution expands in Christianity the world over, bringing a small but nevertheless powerful victory against the pagan way of living which has consumed our lives at the dawn of the new millennium, together with the numerous heresies that, mostly unknowingly, join it against Orthodoxy
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An Orthodox Icon of the REAL St. Valentine which is commemorated on July 6th!