Our holy father Sabbas the Sanctified is glorified as an instructor of monks and converser with the angels. He started seven different monasteries during the course of his lifetime, becoming a monk himself at the age of eight. At the age of eighteen, he left the monastery he had entered when he left his parent’s house, and lived for five years in a cave he found at the direction of an angel. After he had become perfected, he found that others seeking a holy life were drawn to him, and so he gathered them into the monasteries he established. Even his mother came to him after his father had died, and she also become a monastic, living in asceticism until her death. He was attacked many times by those who were close acquaintances, by heretics, and by the demons. He responded to the attacks of his friends with goodness and patient forgiveness; to the heretics by an unshakeable confession of the Orthodox faith; and to the demons by the sign of the Cross and by calling upon God to help him. He was 94 years old when he departed this life to be with the Lord.
One time, some monks rebelled against him, and were then driven from their monastery by the order of the Patriarch, Elias. The went and built huts for themselves in a river bed, and lived there in a desperate way, without any of the things that are necess ary for life. When St. Sabbas learned of their situation, hearing that they were starving, he loaded mules with flour, and took them to the monks himself. When he found they had no church, he built them one. At first, the monks received the saint with hatred, but after he ministered to them, they returned his love with love, and repented of their former evil toward him.
Brothers and sisters, this is the Orthodox faith; this is the Orthodox way of life. When the demons attack us, we should respond with the sign of the Cross, and with prayer to God, asking for help, that we might not follow the urges of our passions. When heretics challenge us regarding our faith, we need to be prepared to answer them from the words of holy Scripture, from the Divine Liturgy and the other services of the Church, from the teachings of the Fathers, and from the lives of the saints. In this, our response should be gentle and calm, yet firm and unyielding – not the easiest thing to do. Similarly, when those close to us question us about our Orthodox way of life, we need to be patient with them, and do our best to show them our Lord Jesus Christ in what we say and do. The example we have in St. Sabbas is a good one for us to follow.
None of this is possible without humility and meekness; and this is what the fathers tell us is the meaning of our Lord’s call to us, as we heard today in the reading from the Gospel of St. Matthew. “Come unto me, all ye that labor, and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, that I am meek and lowly in heart; and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” The yoke of Christ is humility and meekness. When we humble ourselves before others, we are free, and are at rest, for nothing troubles us. Think about it. When our pride leads us to desire the praise and attention of others, and when we don’t want others to think less of us than we think of ourselves, we never rest; we must constantly be trying to protect and enhance our image. It is easier for us to be humbled than to be exalted.
It sounds like an easy thing, to humble yourself, and to think that all others are better, more worthy, than you. It’s not easy, of course – at least, not at the start; and not when we try to do it in our own strength alone. We cannot succeed without the grace of God, and for that, we must live the Orthodox life: of prayer, and fasting, of giving, and of struggling against our passions. And I cannot imagine how any of us could do what St. Sabbas did for those who had rebelled against him without humility, and without the grace of God – for he surely did what our Lord commanded when He said, “Love your enemies, do good to them that hate you, bless those who curse you, and pray for them that spitefully use you.” Not only did he feed them when they were starving; he built a church for them to use to worship God. He met their hatred with the forgiving love which God offers to us all, who are sinners. Who among us does the same? Who among us lives in this way? Yet we are called to this manner of life in this world, that we might obtain a blessed repose, and a life of rejoicing without end in the world to come.
Brothers and sisters, in the life of St. Sabbas the Sanctified, we see the Orthodox way of life, of humility, of purity, and of love. May God grant us His grace to follow his example, and pursue the same – to the glory of God, and the salvation of our souls.
Holy Father Sabbas, pray to God for us!
1 comment:
This describes my former spiritual father perfectly. He moved to the Midwest four years ago, and I still miss him.
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