St Shmouni and her Seven Sons - Jewish Martyrs - 1 August

"The mother was the most amazing one of them all, and she deserves a special place in our memory. Although she saw her seven sons die in a single day, she endured it with great courage because she trusted in the Lord.  She combined womanly emotion with manly courage and spoke words of encouragement to each of her sons in their native language.

 

I do not know how your life began in my womb, she would say,

I was not the one who gave you life and breath and put together each part of your body.  It was God who did it, God who created the universe, the human race, and all that exists. He is merciful and he will give you back life and breath again, because you love his laws more than you love yourself.

 

Antiochus was sure that the mother was making fun of him, so he did his best to convince her youngest son to abandon the traditions of his ancestors. He promised not only to make the boy rich and famous, but to place him in a position of authority and to give him the title Friend of the King. But the boy paid no attention to him, so Antiochus tried to persuade the boy's mother to talk him into saving his life, and after much persuasion she agreed to do so. Leaning over her son, she fooled the cruel tyrant by saying in her native language,

 

My son, have pity on me. Remember that I carried you in my womb for nine months and nursed you for three years. I have taken care of you and looked after all your needs up to the present day. So I urge you, my child, to look at the sky and the earth. Consider everything you see there, and realize that God made it all from nothing, just as he made the human race. Don't be afraid of this butcher. Give up your life willingly and prove yourself worthy of your brothers, so that by God's mercy I may receive you back with them at the resurrection.

 

Before she could finish speaking, the boy said,

 

King Antiochus, what are you waiting for? I refuse to obey your orders. I only obey the commands in the Law which Moses gave to our ancestors. You have thought up all kinds of cruel things to do to our people, but you won't escape the punishment that God has in store for you. It is true that our living Lord is angry with us and is making us suffer because of our sins, in order to correct and discipline us. But this will last only a short while, for we are still his servants, and he will forgive us. But you are the cruelest and most disgusting thing that ever lived. So don't fool yourself with illusions of greatness while you punish God's people. There is no way for you to escape punishment at the hands of the almighty and all-seeing God. My brothers suffered briefly because of our faithfulness to God's covenant, but now they have entered eternal life.[But you will fall under God's judgment and be punished as you deserve for your arrogance. I now give up my body and my life for the laws of our ancestors, just as my brothers did. But I also beg God to show mercy to his people quickly and to torture you until you are forced to acknowledge that he alone is God. May my brothers and I be the last to suffer the anger of Almighty God, which he has justly brought upon our entire nation.

 

These words of ridicule made Antiochus so furious that he had the boy tortured even more cruelly than his brothers. And so the boy died, with absolute trust in the Lord, never unfaithful for a minute.

 

Last of all, the mother was put to death. (2 Maccabees 20 - 41)

 

We learn about St Shmouni in the Old Testament. She lived about 170 years before Christ. The king Antiocus wanted her and her sons to abandon their Jewish religion.

 

Although her name is not mentioned in Maccabees and she is referred to as the "Jewish women" , tradition gives the mother the name of Shmouni.

 

St Shmouni endured tremendous suffering for her faith.  She was a God fearing women and a faithful mother. She encouraged her seven sons to uphold their faith in the faith of death.

 

Like St Shmouni, may we learn to trust in the Lord in our times of trial and suffering and to offer our suffering up to him. May we also encourage our children to stand up for the faith so that they may gain eternal life.

 

Amen