A story for every day...
King Codrus.
Codrus, king of Athens, can in some respects be compared to Jesus Christ. During his reign, the Dorians invaded Attica, and the oracle of Apollo promised victory to the Athenians if king Codrus was killed by the enemies. Not to be spared by the enemy who knew the oracle, the king dressed as a slave and threw himself in the melee where he was killed. When the Dorians recognized the corpse they fled.
It is the same with Jesus Christ. The prophets had predicted that the death of “the king of glory” would save the human race. So he took on human nature and came into the world. The world did not recognize Him and put Him to death. After His death His divinity was revealed, and the prince of darkness, recognizing his defeat and his error, had to flee in shame.
The death of Arius.
No sooner had the emperor Constantine put an end to the persecutions in the Roman Empire (313) than the devil raised a dangerous heresy. This was the doctrine of Arius, a priest of Alexandria, who taught that Jesus Christ was only a creature of God. Soon Arius had many supporters, even among the clergy. In order to extinguish this heresy, a council was convened in Nicaea in 325. 318 bishops took part in the council and the emperor Constantine attended in person. The divinity of Jesus Christ was proven by passages of the Holy Scriptures and the Council decreed that the Son is consubstantial with the Father. Arius, who did not want to recant his error, was exiled by the emperor Constantine. Later the Arians were able to win over the emperor so that he allowed the heresiarch to return: but it was there that God’s punishment awaited Arius. While he was being led in triumph to the cathedral of Constantinople, he suddenly turned pale and went away for a few moments. When he did not return, several of his followers went to see what he was doing. They found him dead, swimming in his blood, with his entrails out of his body. Everyone recognized the avenging arm of God, except for a few Arians who claimed that he had succumbed to a spell.
Let us often repeat the beautiful words, “Lord Jesus, I firmly believe that You are truly the Son of God.”
