Their common characteristic is the holy families in which they were raised and especially their mothers who were reconciled to God. Some women painfully claim that they have no time for missionary work, that is, to teach the Gospel to their neighbours, to their friends – let alone to accomplish this at the “ends” of the earth – because of their heavy family responsibilities. They naturally praise Emelia, Nona and Anthusa, thanks to whom and their relationship with God the three hierarchs are honoured and eulogised throughout the world as Greats, as Theologians and as Chrysostom. You mothers become saints and be sure that you will raise up missionaries and give saints to the Church.
A further common characteristic of the Holy Fathers is the use of their gifts – from their youth – for glory, not earthly and superficial, but for the glory of God. They all had the ability and potential to emerge as great teachers and orators of that time, but they chose to become confessors and witnesses of the Truth of Jesus Christ. Today we all desire a socially high position for ourselves or our descendants, regardless of our hypocrisy, our immorality or, in any case, our life that is incompatible with the principles of the Gospel, as long as we achieve one thing and one thing only: to reach the top…
Also noteworthy is their common resistance against injustice – an undoubtedly missionary trait – which made them saints of our Church.
- Basil did not tolerate the existence of social inequality, poverty and suffering of the icons of God and performed great social work by creating the Basilica.
- For his part, Gregory prevented the Spiritualist heresy from replacing the truth, because heresy is a lie, injustice against truth, and he fought with courage, courage and a spirit of self-sacrifice.
- John, following the same militant spirit, opposed the ambition and depravity of power, preserved the moral order of the empire and defended its weaker members, so that he surrendered his spirit as a martyr after the persecutions on his way to exile.
Thus, today’s missionaries, with the Three Hierarchs as their bright models, resist and oppose in every way, with a spirit of sacrifice and self-sacrifice, the social injustice that the developed countries have committed and continue to commit against the countries of the “Third World”. They fight for the Truth of the Nazarene against atheism, idolatry and the hundreds of sects that have overrun these countries. Finally, they toil for the redress of local inequality and injustice, as some die of hunger and others live like Croatians. Each missionary is consumed and sacrificed to fight injustice as another little Gregory, Basil and John.
