Here Be Dragons!

Cartographers from ancient days would often include the warning "here be dragons" in their maps. These warnings represented parts of the sea that were yet to be conquered; the parts of the sea that remained mysterious. If you were a ship's captain in the ancient days, this warning served to keep you from venturing too far into the deep unknown. You never knew what you might find. You might come across dragons.

The early Church Fathers understood this warning well. In the introductory lecture of his catechesis, St. Cyril of Jerusalem writes,

Great is the prize set before you in Baptism: ransom for captives, remission of sins, death of sin, a new, spiritual birth, a shining garment, a holy seal inviolable, a heaven-bound chariot, delights of Paradise, a passport to the Kingdom, a grace of adoption of sons.

But, in this great living water lies the serpent, the Devil. He slithers throughout the world poisoning the children of Adam. Warning: Here Be Dragons! Cyril goes on to write,

But a dragon lies in ambush for the traveler; take care he does not bite you and infect his poison of unbelief. Seeing this numerous company winning salvation, he selects and stalks his prey. In your journey to the Father of souls, you way lies past the dragon. How shall you pass him? You must have "your feet stoutly shod with the gospel of peace," so that, even if he does bite you, he may not hurt you.

In Luke 8 Jesus shares a parable with his audience, the parable of the sower and the soils. This is a cautionary tale, a warning given to Israelites who are in covenant with God. The seed represents the gospel going out to the world, and the soils represent the different types of people who hear the gospel. For some, the gospel never penetrates their hearts—the Dragon immediately snatches the seed away. To others, the gospel begins to take root but is eventually choked out by the cares and pleasures of this world. Poisoned by the Dragon, they fall away in unbelief. But, there is another kind of soil. Jesus says of the final group, "But the ones that fell on the good ground are those who, having heard the word with a noble and good heart, hold fast and bear fruit with endurance" (Luke 8:15).

The need for endurance in the Christian life is crucial. Yet, endurance cannot come from our own fallen desire, but must come from God himself: “He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion on the day of Christ Jesus" (Phil. 1:6). This ‘good work’ that Paul speaks of is the fruit that Jesus mentions in his parable, the fruit that grows from a life of faith. The devil hates this and wants to poison us with his toxin of unbelief.

In his first catechesis lecture, St. Cyril explains how the themes of baptism, faith, and endurance work out in the life of the Christian:

You are grafted upon the stock of the spiritual olive, like a slip transplanted from the wild olive into the good olive tree, from sin to righteousness, from corruption to purity. You are made partaker of the holy vine. If you abide in the vine, you will grow as a fruitful branch; if you will not abide, you will be consumed by fire. Let us then bear fruit worthily. May we be spared the fate of the barren fig tree; may Jesus not come even now and curse us for our barrenness....It rests with God to bestow the grace, but with you to accept and cherish it. Do not despise the grace because it is freely given, but rather cherish it with reverence once you have received it.

Let us live a life of enduring faith, a faith that produces good fruit. Let us take Cyril's warning to baptized believers seriously: "Here Be Dragons!"