The Peace of God which surpasses all understanding
Philippians 4:7
And the peace of God, which surpasseth all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.
Philippians 4:7
And the peace of God, which surpasseth all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.
Palestine Cry: Pope St. Leo the Great Sermon XCV. A Homily on the Beatitudes, St. Matt. v. 1-9
A Homily on the Beatitudes, St. Matt. v. 1-9
I. Introduction of the subject.
When our Lord Jesus Christ, beloved, was preaching the gospel of the
Kingdom, and was healing divers sicknesses through the whole of
Galilee, the fame of His mighty works had spread into all Syria: large
crowds too from all parts of Judaea were flocking to the heavenly
Physician [1219] . For as human ignorance is slow in believing what it
does not see, and in hoping for what it does not know, those who were
to be instructed in the divine lore [1220] , needed to be aroused by
bodily benefits and visible miracles: so that they might have no doubt
as to the wholesomeness of His teaching when they actually experienced
His benignant power. And therefore that the Lord might use outward
healings as an introduction to inward remedies, and after healing
bodies might work cures in the soul, He separated Himself from the
surrounding crowd, ascended into the retirement of a neighbouring
mountain, and called His apostles to Him there, that from the height of
that mystic seat He might instruct them in the loftier doctrines,
signifying from the very nature of the place and act that He it was who
had once honoured Moses by speaking to him: then indeed with a more
terrifying justice, but now with a holier mercifulness, that what had
been promised might be fulfilled when the Prophet Jeremiah says:
"behold the days come when I will complete a new covenant [1221] for
the house of Israel and for the house of Judah. After those days,
saith the Lord, I will put My laws in their minds [1222] , and in their
heart will I write them [1223] ." He therefore who had spoken to
Moses, spoke also to the apostles, and the swift hand of the Word wrote
and deposited the secrets of the new covenant [1224] in the disciples'
hearts: there were no thick clouds surrounding Him as of old, nor were
the people frightened off from approaching the mountain by frightful
sounds and lightning [1225] , but quietly and freely His discourse
reached the ears of those who stood by: that the harshness of the law
might give way before the gentleness of grace, and "the spirit of
adoption" might dispel the terrors of bondage [1226] .
II. The blessedness of humility discussed.
The nature then of Christ's teaching is attested by His own holy
statements: that they who wish to arrive at eternal blessedness may
understand the steps of ascent to that high happiness. "Blessed," He
saith, "are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven
[1227] ." It would perhaps be doubtful what poor He was speaking of,
if in saying "blessed are the poor" He had added nothing which would
explain the sort of poor: and then that poverty by itself would appear
sufficient to win the kingdom of heaven which many suffer from hard and
heavy necessity. But when He says "blessed are the poor in spirit," He
shows that the kingdom of heaven must be assigned to those who are
recommended by the humility of their spirits rather than by the
smallness of their means. Yet it cannot be doubted that this
possession of humility is more easily acquired by the poor than the
rich: for submissiveness is the companion of those that want, while
loftiness of mind dwells with riches [1228] . Notwithstanding, even in
many of the rich is found that spirit which uses its abundance not for
the increasing of its pride but on works of kindness, and counts that
for the greatest gain which it expends in the relief of others'
hardships. It is given to every kind and rank of men to share in this
virtue, because men may be equal in will, though unequal in fortune:
and it does not matter how different they are in earthly means, who are
found equal in spiritual possessions. Blessed, therefore, is poverty
which is not possessed with a love of temporal things, and does not
seek to be increased with the riches of the world, but is eager to
amass heavenly possessions.
III. Scriptural examples of humility.
Of this high-souled humility the Apostles first [1229] , after the
Lord, have given us example, who, leaving all that they had without
difference at the voice of the heavenly Master, were turned by a ready
change from the catching of fish to be fishers of men, and made many
like themselves through the imitation of their faith, when with those
first-begotten sons of the Church, "the heart of all was one, and the
spirit one, of those that believed [1230] :" for they, putting away
the whole of their things and possessions, enriched themselves with
eternal goods, through the most devoted poverty, and in accordance with
the Apostles' preaching rejoiced to have nothing of the world and
possess all things with Christ. Hence the blessed Apostle Peter, when
he was going up into the temple, and was asked for alms by the lame
man, said, "Silver and gold is not mine, but what I have that I give
thee: in the Name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, arise and walk [1231]
." What more sublime than this humility? what richer than this
poverty? He hath not stores of money [1232] , but he hath gifts of
nature. He whom his mother had brought forth lame from the womb, is
made whole by Peter with a word; and he who gave not Caesar's image in
a coin, restored Christ's image on the man. And by the riches of this
treasure not he only was aided whose power of walking was restored, but
5,000 men also, who then believed at the Apostle's exhortation on
account of the wonder of this cure. And that poor man who had not what
to give to the asker, bestowed so great a bounty of Divine Grace, that,
as he had set one man straight on his feet, so he healed these many
thousands of believers in their hearts, and made them "leap as an hart"
in Christ whom he had found limping in Jewish unbelief.
IV. The blessedness of mourning discussed.
After the assertion of this most happy humility, the Lord hath added,
saying, "Blessed are they which mourn, for they shall be comforted
[1233] ." This mourning, beloved, to which eternal comforting is
promised, is not the same as the affliction of this world: nor do
those laments which are poured out in the sorrowings of the whole human
race make any one blessed. The reason for holy groanings, the cause of
blessed tears, is very different. Religious grief mourns sin either
that of others' or one's own: nor does it mourn for that which is
wrought by God's justice, but it laments over that which is committed
by man's iniquity, where he that does wrong is more to be deplored than
he who suffers it, because the unjust man's wrongdoing plunges him into
punishment, but the just man's endurance leads him on to glory.
V. The blessedness of the meek.
Next the Lord says: "blessed are the meek, for they shall possess the
earth by inheritance [1234] ." To the meek and gentle, to the humble
and modest, and to those who are prepared to endure all injuries, the
earth is promised for their possession. And this is not to be reckoned
a small or cheap inheritance, as if it were distinct from our heavenly
dwelling, since it is no other than these who are understood to enter
the kingdom of heaven. The earth, then, which is promised to the meek,
and is to be given to the gentle in possession, is the flesh of the
saints, which in reward for their humility will be changed in a happy
resurrection, and clothed with the glory of immortality, in nothing now
to act contrary to the spirit, and to be in complete unity and
agreement with the will of the soul [1235] . For then the outer man
will be the peaceful and unblemished possession of the inner man: then
the mind, engrossed in beholding God, will be hampered by no obstacles
of human weakness nor will it any more have to be said "The body which
is corrupted, weigheth upon the soul, and its earthly house presseth
down the sense which thinketh many things [1236] :" for the earth will
not struggle against its tenant, and will not venture on any
insubordination against the rule of its governor. For the meek shall
possess it in perpetual peace, and nothing shall be taken from their
rights, "when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this
mortal shall have put on immortality [1237] :" that their danger may
turn into reward, and what was a burden become an honour [1238] .
VI. The blessedness of desiring righteousness.
After this the Lord goes on to say: "blessed are they who hunger and
thirst after righteousness, for they shall be satisfied [1239] ." It
is nothing bodily, nothing earthly, that this hunger, this thirst seeks
for: but it desires to be satiated with the good food of
righteousness, and wants to be admitted to all the deepest mysteries,
and be filled with the Lord Himself. Happy the mind that craves this
food and is eager for such drink: which it certainly would not seek
for if it had never tasted of its sweetness. But hearing the Prophet's
spirit saying to him: "taste and see that the Lord is sweet [1240] ;"
it has received some portion of sweetness from on high, and blazed out
into love of the purest pleasure, so that spurning all things temporal,
it is seized with the utmost eagerness for eating and drinking
righteousness, and grasps the truth of that first commandment which
says: "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God out of all thy heart, and out
of all thy mind, and out of all thy strength [1241] :" since to love
God is nothing else but to love righteousness [1242] . In fine, as in
that passage the care for one's neighbour is joined to the love of God,
so, too, here the virtue of mercy is linked to the desire for
righteousness, and it is said:
VII. The blessedness of the merciful.
"Blessed are the merciful, for God shall have mercy on them [1243] ."
Recognize, Christian, the worth of thy wisdom, and understand to what
rewards thou art called, and by what methods of discipline thou must
attain thereto. Mercy wishes thee to be merciful, righteousness to be
righteous, that the Creator may be seen in His creature, and the image
of God may be reflected in the mirror of the human heart expressed by
the lines of imitation. The faith of those who do good [1244] is free
from anxiety: thou shalt have all thy desires, and shalt obtain
without end what thou lovest. And since through thine alms-giving all
things are pure to thee, to that blessedness also thou shalt attain
which is promised in consequence where the Lord says:
VIII. The blessedness of a pure heart.
"Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God [1245] ." Great
is the happiness, beloved, of him for whom so great a reward is
prepared. What, then, is it to have the heart pure, but to strive
after those virtues which are mentioned above? And how great the
blessedness of seeing God, what mind can conceive, what tongue
declare? And yet this shall ensue when man's nature is transformed, so
that no longer "in a mirror," nor "in a riddle," but "face to face
[1246] " it sees the very Godhead "as He is [1247] ," which no man
could see [1248] ; and through the unspeakable joy of eternal
contemplation obtains that "which eye has not seen, nor ear heard,
neither has entered into the heart of man [1249] ." Rightly is this
blessedness promised to purity of heart. For the brightness of the
true light will not be able to be seen by the unclean sight: and that
which will be happiness to minds that are bright and clean, will be a
punishment to those that are stained. Therefore, let the mists of
earth's vanities be shunned, and your inward eyes purged from all the
filth of wickedness, that the sight may be free to feed on this great
manifestation of God. For to the attainment of this we understand what
follows to lead.
This blessedness, beloved, belongs not to any and every kind
of agreement and harmony, but to that of which the Apostle speaks:
"have peace towards God [1251] ;" and of which the Prophet David
speaks: "Much peace have they that love Thy law, and they have no
cause of offences [1252] ." This peace even the closest ties of
friendship and the exactest likeness of mind do not really gain, if
they do not agree with God's will. Similarity of bad desires, leagues
in crimes, associations of vice, cannot merit this peace. The love of
the world does not consort with the love of God, nor doth he enter the
alliance of the sons of God who will not separate himself from the
children of this generation. [1253] Whereas they who are in mind
always with God, "giving diligence to keep the unity of the Spirit in
the bond of peace [1254] ," never dissent from the eternal law,
uttering that prayer of faith, "Thy will be done as in heaven so on
earth [1255] ." These are "the peacemakers," these are thoroughly of
one mind, and fully harmonious, and are to be called sons "of God and
joint-heirs with Christ [1256] ," because this shall be the record of
the love of God and the love of our neighbour, that we shall suffer no
calamities, be in fear of no offence, but all the strife of trial
ended, rest in God's most perfect peace, through our Lord, Who, with
the Father and the Holy Spirit, liveth and reigneth for ever and ever.
Amen.
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[1219] Cf. S. Matt. iv. 23, 24.
[1220] Divina eruditone firmandos = tous didachthesomenous, a common
form of expression in Leo. Cf. Lett. XXVIII. the Tome, chap. 1, quod
voce omnium regenerandorum (= ton anagennethesomenon), depromitur.
[1221] Or testament (Lat. testamentum).
[1222] In sensu ipsorum.
[1223] Jer. xxxi. 31 and part of 33: the passage is quoted in full,
Heb. viii. 8-12.
[1224] Or testament (Lat. testamentum).
[1225] Cf. Heb. xii. 18 and foll.
[1226] S. Paul's language (Rom. viii. 15) is in his mind.
[1227] Matt. v. 3.
[1228] Et illis in tenuitate amica est mansuetudo et istis divitiis
familiaris elatio.
[1229] The mss. vary between primum and primi. The rendering above
given practically represents either. If primi, however, is read, it
may be questioned whether the true rendering is not "the first apostles
after the Lord," which would be interesting as suggesting that S. Leo
did not necessarily confine the title "apostle" to the Twelve.
[1230] Acts iv. 32.
[1231] Acts iii. 6.
[1232] Praesidia pecuniae.
[1233] S. Matt. v. 4.
[1234] S. Matt. v. 5. It will be observed that Leo's order for the 2nd
and 3rd beatitudes is that of the English version, not that of the
Vulgate.
[1235] In nullo iam spiritui futura contraria et cum voluntate animi
perfectae unitatis habitura consensum: compare S. Aug. de Fide et
symbolo, cap. 23, "est autem animae natura perfecta cum spiritui suo
subditur et cum sequitur sequentum Deum--non est desperandum etiam
corpus restitui naturae propriae--tempore opportuno in novissima tuba,
cum mortui resurgent incorrupti et nos immutabimur." The
interpretation of this beatitude in this way is fantastic, and very
strange to modern notions.
[1236] Wisdom ix. 15.
[1237] 1 Cor. xv. 53.
[1238] Quod fuit oneri, sit honori, the play on the words (which is
quite classical) may perhaps be represented by the difference between
onerous and honorary.
[1239] S. Matt. v. 6.
[1240] Ps. xxxiv. 8: suavis, A.V. and R.V. good, P.B.V. gracious, LXX.
chrestos.
[1241] Deut. vi. 5, quoted, it will be remembered, by our Lord, as "the
first and great commandment" in the law, S. Matt. xxii. 37; S. Mark
xii. 30; S. Luke x. 27.
[1242] The two words for "love" here are different, and speak for
themselves, diligere (agapan) Deum and amare (eran) iustitiam.
[1243] S. Matt. v. 7.
[1244] Operantium: operatio is the regular patristic term for the
doing of charitable actions; for this application of the beatitude and
its promised reward, compare Ps. xli. 1-3.
[1245] S. Matt. v. 8.
[1246] 1 Cor. xiii. 12.
[1247] 1 John iii. 2.
[1248] Exod. xxxiii. 20; John. i. 18; 1 Tim. vi. 16.
[1249] Is. lxiv. 4 ; 1 Cor. ii. 9.
[1250] S. Matt. v. 9.
[1251] Rom. v. 1, where "we have" or "let us have" is the exact phrase.
[1252] Ps. cxix. 165.
[1253] A carnali generatione.
[1254] Eph. iv. 3.
[1255] S. Matt. vi. 10.
[1256] Rom. viii. 17.
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Rev. Alban Butler (1711–73). Volume XII: December.
The Lives of the Saints. 1866.
December 5
St. Sabas, Abbot
From his life excellently written by Cyril, monk of Palestine, in 557, author of the life of St. John the Silent, of that of St. Euthymius, and of this of St. Sabas, which is correctly published by Bollandus, 20th of January, and in Greek by Cotelerius Monum. Gr. t. 3. pp. 220, 574. These acts in Metaphrastes are adulterated by certain counterfeit additions. See Assemani, t. 5, p. 410.
A.D. 532.
ST. SABAS, one of the most renowned patriarchs of the monks of Palestine, was born at Mutalasca, in Cappadocia, not far from Cæsarea, the capital, in 439. The name of his father was John, and that of his mother, Sophia: both were pious, and of illustrious families. The father was an officer in the army, and being obliged to go to Alexandria in Egypt, took his wife with him, and recommended his son Sabas, with the care of his estate, to Hermias, the brother of his wife. This uncle’s wife used the child so harshly that, three years after, he went to an uncle called Gregory, brother to his father, hoping there to live in peace. Gregory having the care of the child, demanded also the administration of his estate, whence great law suits and animosities arose between the two uncles. Sabas, who was of a mild disposition, took great offence at these discords about so contemptible a thing as earthly riches, and, the grace of God working powerfully in his heart, he resolved to renounce for ever what was a source of so great evils among men. He retired to a monastery called Flavinia, three miles from Mutalasca, and the abbot received him with open arms, and took great care to see him instructed in the science of the saints, and in the rules of a monastic profession. His uncles, blinded by avarice and mutual animosity, were some years without opening their eyes; but at last, ashamed of their conduct towards a nephew, they agreed together to take him out of his monastery, restore to him his estate, and persuade him to marry. In vain they employed all means to gain their point. Sabas had tasted the bitterness of the world, and the sweetness of the yoke of Christ, and his heart was so united to God, that nothing could draw him from his good purpose. He applied himself with great fervour to the practice of all virtues, especially humility, mortification, and prayer, as the means to attain all others. One day, whilst he was at work in the garden, he saw a tree loaded with fair and beautiful apples, and gathered one with an intention to eat it. But reflecting that this was a temptation of the devil, he threw the apple on the ground, and trod upon it. Moreover, to punish himself, and more perfectly to overcome the enemy, he made a vow never to eat any apples as long as he lived. By this victory over himself, he made great progress in all other virtues, exercising himself by day in labour, accompanied with prayer, and by night in watching in devotions, always flying idleness as the root of all evils, sleeping only as much as was absolutely necessary to support nature, and never interrupting his labours but to lift up his hands to God. Though he was the youngest in the house he soon surpassed all the rest in fervour and virtue. So tender was his charity and compassion, that once when he was serving the baker, who had put his wet clothes into the oven to dry, and, forgetting them, had put in fire, seeing him much troubled for his clothes, he went into the oven and fetched them out through the flames without hurt. When Sabas had been ten years in this monastery, being eighteen years old, with the leave of his abbot, he went to Jerusalem to visit the holy places, and to edify himself by the examples of the eminent solitaries of that country. He passed the winter in the monastery of Passarion, governed at that time by the holy abbot Elpidius. All the brethren were charmed with his virtue, and desired earnestly that he would fix his abode among them: but his great love of silence and retirement made him prefer the manner of life practised by St. Euthymius. He cast himself at the feet of that holy abbot, conjuring him with many tears to receive him among his disciples. St. Euthymius judged him too young to continue in his laura with the anchorets; so extreme a solitude being only proper for the most perfect; for a laura consisted of a cluster of separate cells or hermitages in a desert. Euthymius, therefore, recommended him to the monastery below the hill, which was under the conduct of Theoctistus and a kind of noviceship to the laura, from which it lay about three miles distant, the laura itself being twelve miles from Jerusalem. 1
Sabas consecrated himself to God with new fervour, working all day, and watching in prayer a good part of the night. As he was very lusty and strong, he assisted all his brethren in their offices, and prepared himself the wood and water for the house with extraordinary care and cheerfulness. He served the sick with singular diligence and affection; and was always the first and the last at the divine office, and in every regular duty. A temptation put his virtue to the trial. He was sent by his abbot as companion to another monk on certain affairs to Alexandria. There his parents knew him and desired to engage him to accept his father’s post and estate in the world; but he gave them to understand that would be to apostatize from the service of God which he had chosen. They pressed him at least to accept a large sum of money for his necessaries; but he would only take three pieces of gold, and those he gave all to his abbot on his return. When he was thirty years of age he obtained leave of St. Euthymius to spend five days a-week in a remote cave, which time he passed without eating any thing, in prayer and manual labour. He left his monastery on Sunday evening, carrying with him palm-twigs, and came back on Saturday morning with fifty baskets which he had made, imposing upon himself a task of ten a-day. Thus he had lived five years, till St. Euthymius chose him and one Domitian for his companions in his great yearly retreat in the deserts of Rouban, in which Christ is said to have performed his forty days’ fast. They entered this solitude together on the 14th of January, and returned to their monastery on Palm-Sunday. In the first retreat Sabas fell down in the wilderness, almost dead with thirst. St. Euthymius, moved with compassion, addressed a prayer to Christ, that he would take pity on his young fervent soldier, and, striking his staff into the earth, a spring gushed forth; of which Sabas drinking a little, recovered his strength so as to be enabled to bear the fatigues of his retreat. 2
After the death of St. Euthymius a relaxation of discipline crept into that monastery: on which account Sabas, sensible that a religious house in such a condition is like a general shipwreck, in which every one must save himself as he can, retired into a desert toward the East, in which St. Gerasimus lived. The devil here endeavoured to affright him by appearing in divers shapes of serpents and beasts: but the servant of God, armed with prayer and faith, surmounted all his assaults. Four years the saint had spent in his wilderness in a total separation from all commerce with men, when, directed by an admonition of heaven, he chose his dwelling in a cave on the top of a high mountain, at the bottom of which ran the brook Cedron. The water of that torrent not being there drinkable, he fetched what he used from a spring, five miles off, through a very rough and steep way. He was obliged to hang a cord down the descent to hold himself by in mounting it. Wild herbs which grew on the rocks were his food, till some countrymen who found him by this cord, brought him on certain days a little bread, cheese, dates, and other little things which he might want. 3
After he had lived here five years, several resorted to them, desiring to serve God under his direction. He was at first unwilling to consent; but charity overcoming the resistance which his humility raised, he founded a new laura, which at first consisted of seventy persons, all desirous to devote themselves to praise and serve God without interruption. He marked to each the place to build their cell; and, having prayed to God that that they might find water, caused a pit to be dug at the foot of the mountain, where a spring was discovered which subsisted in succeeding ages. He built also a little chapel with an altar. The number of his disciples was shortly increased to one hundred and fifty; which obliged him to extend his laura on the other side of the torrent. He watched over all, and provided for their necessities with an incredible attention. He taught them to overcome their passions, to discover and defeat the artifices of the devil, and to pray with fruit and holy perseverance. To cut off all necessities and pretexts of ever leaving their solitude, by the help of certain charitable persons, he supplied them with all things in a manner suitable to persons dead to the world. He had no priest in his community, and he thought no religious man could aspire to that dignity without presumption. He grieved, however, to depend upon the opportunity of some strange priest for the celebration of the divine mysteries. Certain factious spirits in the community formed a schism against their holy abbot, and accused him to Sallust, then lately made bishop of Jerusalem. The prelate found their invectives groundless, except that the want of a priest was a real defect in the community. He therefore compelled Sabas to receive that sacred character at his hands. The abbot was then fifty-three years old. The reputation of his sanctity drew persons from very remote countries to his laura. Our saint assigned a particular chapel for the Armenian monks, where they performed the first part of the divine office, which consists of prayers and instructions in their own tongue: but met in the great church to finish it, and to make the oblation and receive the communion with the rest. After the death of the saint’s father, his mother came to him, and served God under his direction. With the money which she brought he built two hospitals, one for strangers, and another for the sick; also an hospital at Jericho, and a monastery on a neighbouring hill, called Castel; and another small one a mile distant, for the young, where they learned the psalter and religious exercises. When they were perfect in these, and ripe in years, he translated them to the house of Castel; and drew out of this nursery those that were most perfect into his laura. Sallust, patriarch of Jerusalem, established St. Sabas exarch or superior-general over all the monks of Palestine, who lived in several cells, and St. Theodosius over all who lived in community, or the Cenobites. St. Sabas, after the example of St. Euthymius, left his disciples every year after the octave of the Epiphany, and passed the whole Lent without being seen by any one, eating nothing all that time, except that he received the holy eucharist every Saturday and Sunday, which he always took with him for that purpose. If any of his disciples accompanied him, he caused them to carry with them some dried bread for their subsistence. In one of these retreats he found a holy hermit who had lived on wild herbs, without seeing any man thirty-eight years. He had with him very edifying discourses; but the next year he found him dead and buried him. The patriarch Sallust dying in 493, the rebellious monks above-mentioned went to his successor Elias, hoping that he would hear their complaints. Sabas was informed of their cabals, and, not to be an occasion of others’ malice, withdrew himself privately, saying, that we must resist the devils, but yield to men, for the sake of peace. 4
He went into the desert of Scythopolis, near the river Gadara, where he went into a great cave to pray. It happened to be the den of a huge lion. At midnight the beast came in, and finding this guest, dared not to touch him, but taking him gently by his garments, plucked him as if it had been to draw him out. The saint was no ways affrighted or troubled, but began leisurely and with much devotion to recite aloud the midnight psalms. The lion went out, and when the holy man had finished matins, came in again, and pulled him by the skirts of his clothes as he had done before. The saint spoke to the beast and said, the place was big enough to hold them both. The lion at those words departed, and returned thither no more. Certain thieves found St. Sabas in his cave, and were so moved by his example and discourses, that they all embraced a penitential life. Many persons here, again, put themselves under his conduct; but, finding himself distracted by their direction, and by a number of visitants who resorted thither, he abandoned his cell to them; and this place grew into a monastery. He enjoyed the sweetness of perfect solitude some time, when, moved with tender charity and compassion, he went to visit his former rebellious monks, who continued hardened in their iniquity, and were joined by twenty others. The saint was pierced with grief to see them thus give death to their own souls, and draw others into the same perdition. It seemed to him that he felt his own limbs torn from his body whilst he saw his monks separated from him. In order to soften their hatred and malice, he gave them every token of the greatest sweetness, tenderness, and goodness; but they were not yet to be gained. He left them a second time, to ask their conversion with greater fervour of the Father of mercies. He retired near Nicopolis, living some time under the boughs of a shady tree, the fruit of which furnished him with food till the master of the field built him a cell and afforded him his scanty diet. Elias, the patriarch, ordered Sabas to appoint a superior for the disciples whom he had gathered at Nicopolis, and to return to his great laura, to which he sent his orders to receive him. The factious monks, in a rage, threw down a building which he had raised, and, after many disorders, left that place, and settled in certain old ruinous cells near the brook Theon. The great laura was freed from their scandals, and Sabas soon renewed in it the spirit of fervour and charity. His zeal and compassion for the seditious apostates made him still weep for them. He even procured and sent them seventy pieces of gold to build them a church and furnish them with necessaries. This excess of goodness made them enter into themselves, confess their crime, and submit themselves to their abbot. St. Sabas nominated a superior to govern them; and, under his direction, this became a new and very regular monastery. The saint founded several others after the same model. 5
The eastern churches were then in great confusion. The Emperor Anastasius supported the Eutychian heresy, and banished many Catholic bishops. The patriarch Elias sent to him as deputies St. Sabas, with other famous abbots, to endeavour to stop the fury of this persecution. Sabas was seventy years old when he undertook this journey to Constantinople. As he was dressed like some poor beggar, the officers at the gate of the imperial palace admitted the rest, but stopped him. Sabas made no reply, but withdrew into a corner to employ his time in prayer. When the emperor had read the letter of the patriarch, in which great commendations were bestowed on Sabas, he asked where he was? The saint was sought, and at length found in a corner reciting the psalms. Anastasius gave the abbots liberty to ask what they wanted or desired for themselves; the rest presented their petitions, but Sabas had no request to make in his own name. Being pressed by the emperor to ask some favour, he only begged that his majesty would restore peace to the church, and not disturb the clergy. The emperor gave him a thousand pieces of gold to employ in charities. Sabas staid all the winter in Constantinople, and often visited the emperor to gain his point. The prince had caused a heretical council at Sidon to condemn the general council of Chalcedon, and required the bishops to subscribe his decree, banishing many who refused to do it. However, he spared Elias, patriarch of Jerusalem, at the repeated entreaties of Sabas, and dismissed the holy abbot with honour, giving him a thousand pieces of gold more to be distributed among the poor in his country. The saint returned to his solitude, and the emperor dying, according to what our holy abbot had foretold, Justin, his successor, favoured the true faith. St. Sabas, laying hold of that opportunity, went to Cæsarea, Scythopolis, and other places, preaching the Catholic faith, and bringing back many monks and seculars into its fold. A drought which had continued five years, produced a famine in Palestine. The prayers of the saint obtained supplies for his seven monasteries in their extreme necessity, and at last rain, to the universal joy of the whole country. 6
In the ninety-first year of his age, at the request of Peter, patriarch of Jerusalem, he undertook a second journey to Constantinople, in favour of the Christians of Palestine, who had been calumniated at court. Justinian, who had then occupied the imperial throne, received him with great honour, granted him all his requests, and offered to settle annual revenues for the maintenance of all his monasteries. The holy abbot thanked his majesty, but said they stood not in need of such revenues, as long as the monks should serve God. However, he begged a remission of all taxes in favour of the people of Palestine for a certain term, in consideration of what they had suffered by the plunders of the Samaritans: that his majesty would build an hospital at Jerusalem for the pilgrims, and a fortress for the protection of the hermits and monks against the inroads of barbarians: that he would bestow some ornaments on the church of our Lady which was lately built, and would afford his protection to the Catholics. All which things were granted. It happened one day that the emperor being busy in council in despatching certain affairs of the saint, who was himself present, when it was the hour of tierce, the abbot went out to recite his prayers. His companion, called Jeremy, said it was not well done to leave the emperor on such an occasion. “My son,” replied Sabas, “the emperor does his duty, and we must do ours;” so exact was he in all the rules of his state. St. Sabas returned into Palestine with the imperial orders, which he delivered to the magistrates of Jerusalem, Scythopolis, and Cæsarea, and saw everywhere put in execution. Soon after his return to his laura he fell sick: the patriarch persuaded him to suffer himself to be conveyed to a neighbouring church, where he served him with his own hands. The pains of the saint were very sharp, but God supported him under them in perfect sentiments of patience and resignation. Finding his last hour approach, he begged the patriarch that he might be carried back to his laura. He appointed Melitas of Berytus his successor, gave him excellent instructions, and then lay four days in silence, without seeing any one, that he might entertain himself with God alone. On the 5th of December, in the evening, having received the holy communion, he departed to our Lord, in 532 (not 531, as Jos. Assemani demonstrates against Baronius, &c.), being ninety-four years old. He is commemorated on this day both in the Greek and Latin Calendars. 7
St. Sabas met with persecutors among the monks, to whom his virtue seemed too scrupulous a severity; and these men were long insensible to his mild remonstrances, and holy instructions, animated by the example of his admirable sanctity. How easily do men blind themselves in their passions, and excuse to themselves, nay canonize, their more subtle vices! And how difficult is it for such sinners to be reclaimed! It is much easier to convert a notorious sinner, than one who is falsely just. The one feels his miseries, the other crowns himself with his own hands, and, like the proud Pharisee, makes his own panegyric or apology. This dreadful blindness is a frequent case: men every day study by a false conscience to palliate crimes, and allow themselves many unjustifiable liberties under false pretences. As St. Austin complains, what our passions strongly incline us to, we often call holy. Not to perish by such illusions, we must banish out of our hearts all self-conceit, learn perfectly to die to ourselves, especially in regard to our darling or ruling passions, and never take our passions for our counsellors or guides, as we shall be sure to do if we rely too much on ourselves. We must often suspect and narrowly examine our own hearts, which are frequently the greatest cheats with which we can have to deal. We are often imposed upon by other men: but a thousand times oftener by ourselves. 8
THE resurrection of the dead is one of the most consoling truths of Christianity. To die forever would be the most terrible of all destinies. The plant and the animal, unendowed with reason, die, never to live again; but they have not, at least, any apprehension as to what death is. To die is to them one of the thousand accidents bound up with life; to the plant it is as nothing, and for the animal without reason a merely transitory pang, death itself being but the affair of a moment. For man, on the contrary, death has terrors which precede it, anguish accompanying it, and apprehensions consequent upon it. The most strongly attempered spirit shudders on reflecting that it must incur death; the most selfish man has attachments which he with difficulty severs; the most determined unbeliever experiences doubts as to the shadowy Tomorrow of death. Man would then be the most pitiable among all beings were Religion not at hand to say to him, "The grave is a place of momentary rest; you will come forth thence one day. The God that gave being to your limbs will restore them; the Resurrection of Jesus Christ gives thereof an assured pledge."
This confidence in the future resurrection is a subject of the greatest joy to the children of God, the groundwork of their faith, the mainspring of their hope, and the most lasting comfort amid the evils of this life. For if Christ had not risen, says the apostle St. Paul, in vain would we believe in Him. He would be convicted of having been an impostor, and His apostles of being mad; His death would not have availed us anything, and we should still be dwelling in the bonds of sin. Those dying in Jesus Christ would perish, and, our hope in Him not extending beyond the present life, we should be the most unfortunate of men, inasmuch as, after having had, as our portion in this life, sufferings and afflictions, we should not be able to console ourselves with the expectation of future good. But Jesus Christ having come forth living from the tomb, His doctrine is confirmed by His Resurrection; it establishes the certitude of His mission in His character as Son of God, the efficacy of the sacrifice He offered on the cross, the divinity of His priesthood, the rewards of the other life, and the glorified resurrection of the flesh.
Reflection.— We shall one day rise again; but let us range by the side of such a consoling expectation that terrible warning of the prophet Daniel, "Many of those that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some unto life everlasting, and others unto reproach eternal."
I. Introduction of the subject.
When our Lord Jesus Christ, beloved, was preaching the gospel of the
Kingdom, and was healing divers sicknesses through the whole of
Galilee, the fame of His mighty works had spread into all Syria: large
crowds too from all parts of Judaea were flocking to the heavenly
Physician [1219] . For as human ignorance is slow in believing what it
does not see, and in hoping for what it does not know, those who were
to be instructed in the divine lore [1220] , needed to be aroused by
bodily benefits and visible miracles: so that they might have no doubt
as to the wholesomeness of His teaching when they actually experienced
His benignant power. And therefore that the Lord might use outward
healings as an introduction to inward remedies, and after healing
bodies might work cures in the soul, He separated Himself from the
surrounding crowd, ascended into the retirement of a neighbouring
mountain, and called His apostles to Him there, that from the height of
that mystic seat He might instruct them in the loftier doctrines,
signifying from the very nature of the place and act that He it was who
had once honoured Moses by speaking to him: then indeed with a more
terrifying justice, but now with a holier mercifulness, that what had
been promised might be fulfilled when the Prophet Jeremiah says:
"behold the days come when I will complete a new covenant [1221] for
the house of Israel and for the house of Judah. After those days,
saith the Lord, I will put My laws in their minds [1222] , and in their
heart will I write them [1223] ." He therefore who had spoken to
Moses, spoke also to the apostles, and the swift hand of the Word wrote
and deposited the secrets of the new covenant [1224] in the disciples'
hearts: there were no thick clouds surrounding Him as of old, nor were
the people frightened off from approaching the mountain by frightful
sounds and lightning [1225] , but quietly and freely His discourse
reached the ears of those who stood by: that the harshness of the law
might give way before the gentleness of grace, and "the spirit of
adoption" might dispel the terrors of bondage [1226] .
II. The blessedness of humility discussed.
The nature then of Christ's teaching is attested by His own holy
statements: that they who wish to arrive at eternal blessedness may
understand the steps of ascent to that high happiness. "Blessed," He
saith, "are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven
[1227] ." It would perhaps be doubtful what poor He was speaking of,
if in saying "blessed are the poor" He had added nothing which would
explain the sort of poor: and then that poverty by itself would appear
sufficient to win the kingdom of heaven which many suffer from hard and
heavy necessity. But when He says "blessed are the poor in spirit," He
shows that the kingdom of heaven must be assigned to those who are
recommended by the humility of their spirits rather than by the
smallness of their means. Yet it cannot be doubted that this
possession of humility is more easily acquired by the poor than the
rich: for submissiveness is the companion of those that want, while
loftiness of mind dwells with riches [1228] . Notwithstanding, even in
many of the rich is found that spirit which uses its abundance not for
the increasing of its pride but on works of kindness, and counts that
for the greatest gain which it expends in the relief of others'
hardships. It is given to every kind and rank of men to share in this
virtue, because men may be equal in will, though unequal in fortune:
and it does not matter how different they are in earthly means, who are
found equal in spiritual possessions. Blessed, therefore, is poverty
which is not possessed with a love of temporal things, and does not
seek to be increased with the riches of the world, but is eager to
amass heavenly possessions.
III. Scriptural examples of humility.
Of this high-souled humility the Apostles first [1229] , after the
Lord, have given us example, who, leaving all that they had without
difference at the voice of the heavenly Master, were turned by a ready
change from the catching of fish to be fishers of men, and made many
like themselves through the imitation of their faith, when with those
first-begotten sons of the Church, "the heart of all was one, and the
spirit one, of those that believed [1230] :" for they, putting away
the whole of their things and possessions, enriched themselves with
eternal goods, through the most devoted poverty, and in accordance with
the Apostles' preaching rejoiced to have nothing of the world and
possess all things with Christ. Hence the blessed Apostle Peter, when
he was going up into the temple, and was asked for alms by the lame
man, said, "Silver and gold is not mine, but what I have that I give
thee: in the Name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, arise and walk [1231]
." What more sublime than this humility? what richer than this
poverty? He hath not stores of money [1232] , but he hath gifts of
nature. He whom his mother had brought forth lame from the womb, is
made whole by Peter with a word; and he who gave not Caesar's image in
a coin, restored Christ's image on the man. And by the riches of this
treasure not he only was aided whose power of walking was restored, but
5,000 men also, who then believed at the Apostle's exhortation on
account of the wonder of this cure. And that poor man who had not what
to give to the asker, bestowed so great a bounty of Divine Grace, that,
as he had set one man straight on his feet, so he healed these many
thousands of believers in their hearts, and made them "leap as an hart"
in Christ whom he had found limping in Jewish unbelief.
IV. The blessedness of mourning discussed.
After the assertion of this most happy humility, the Lord hath added,
saying, "Blessed are they which mourn, for they shall be comforted
[1233] ." This mourning, beloved, to which eternal comforting is
promised, is not the same as the affliction of this world: nor do
those laments which are poured out in the sorrowings of the whole human
race make any one blessed. The reason for holy groanings, the cause of
blessed tears, is very different. Religious grief mourns sin either
that of others' or one's own: nor does it mourn for that which is
wrought by God's justice, but it laments over that which is committed
by man's iniquity, where he that does wrong is more to be deplored than
he who suffers it, because the unjust man's wrongdoing plunges him into
punishment, but the just man's endurance leads him on to glory.
V. The blessedness of the meek.
Next the Lord says: "blessed are the meek, for they shall possess the
earth by inheritance [1234] ." To the meek and gentle, to the humble
and modest, and to those who are prepared to endure all injuries, the
earth is promised for their possession. And this is not to be reckoned
a small or cheap inheritance, as if it were distinct from our heavenly
dwelling, since it is no other than these who are understood to enter
the kingdom of heaven. The earth, then, which is promised to the meek,
and is to be given to the gentle in possession, is the flesh of the
saints, which in reward for their humility will be changed in a happy
resurrection, and clothed with the glory of immortality, in nothing now
to act contrary to the spirit, and to be in complete unity and
agreement with the will of the soul [1235] . For then the outer man
will be the peaceful and unblemished possession of the inner man: then
the mind, engrossed in beholding God, will be hampered by no obstacles
of human weakness nor will it any more have to be said "The body which
is corrupted, weigheth upon the soul, and its earthly house presseth
down the sense which thinketh many things [1236] :" for the earth will
not struggle against its tenant, and will not venture on any
insubordination against the rule of its governor. For the meek shall
possess it in perpetual peace, and nothing shall be taken from their
rights, "when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this
mortal shall have put on immortality [1237] :" that their danger may
turn into reward, and what was a burden become an honour [1238] .
VI. The blessedness of desiring righteousness.
After this the Lord goes on to say: "blessed are they who hunger and
thirst after righteousness, for they shall be satisfied [1239] ." It
is nothing bodily, nothing earthly, that this hunger, this thirst seeks
for: but it desires to be satiated with the good food of
righteousness, and wants to be admitted to all the deepest mysteries,
and be filled with the Lord Himself. Happy the mind that craves this
food and is eager for such drink: which it certainly would not seek
for if it had never tasted of its sweetness. But hearing the Prophet's
spirit saying to him: "taste and see that the Lord is sweet [1240] ;"
it has received some portion of sweetness from on high, and blazed out
into love of the purest pleasure, so that spurning all things temporal,
it is seized with the utmost eagerness for eating and drinking
righteousness, and grasps the truth of that first commandment which
says: "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God out of all thy heart, and out
of all thy mind, and out of all thy strength [1241] :" since to love
God is nothing else but to love righteousness [1242] . In fine, as in
that passage the care for one's neighbour is joined to the love of God,
so, too, here the virtue of mercy is linked to the desire for
righteousness, and it is said:
VII. The blessedness of the merciful.
"Blessed are the merciful, for God shall have mercy on them [1243] ."
Recognize, Christian, the worth of thy wisdom, and understand to what
rewards thou art called, and by what methods of discipline thou must
attain thereto. Mercy wishes thee to be merciful, righteousness to be
righteous, that the Creator may be seen in His creature, and the image
of God may be reflected in the mirror of the human heart expressed by
the lines of imitation. The faith of those who do good [1244] is free
from anxiety: thou shalt have all thy desires, and shalt obtain
without end what thou lovest. And since through thine alms-giving all
things are pure to thee, to that blessedness also thou shalt attain
which is promised in consequence where the Lord says:
VIII. The blessedness of a pure heart.
"Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God [1245] ." Great
is the happiness, beloved, of him for whom so great a reward is
prepared. What, then, is it to have the heart pure, but to strive
after those virtues which are mentioned above? And how great the
blessedness of seeing God, what mind can conceive, what tongue
declare? And yet this shall ensue when man's nature is transformed, so
that no longer "in a mirror," nor "in a riddle," but "face to face
[1246] " it sees the very Godhead "as He is [1247] ," which no man
could see [1248] ; and through the unspeakable joy of eternal
contemplation obtains that "which eye has not seen, nor ear heard,
neither has entered into the heart of man [1249] ." Rightly is this
blessedness promised to purity of heart. For the brightness of the
true light will not be able to be seen by the unclean sight: and that
which will be happiness to minds that are bright and clean, will be a
punishment to those that are stained. Therefore, let the mists of
earth's vanities be shunned, and your inward eyes purged from all the
filth of wickedness, that the sight may be free to feed on this great
manifestation of God. For to the attainment of this we understand what
follows to lead.
This blessedness, beloved, belongs not to any and every kind
of agreement and harmony, but to that of which the Apostle speaks:
"have peace towards God [1251] ;" and of which the Prophet David
speaks: "Much peace have they that love Thy law, and they have no
cause of offences [1252] ." This peace even the closest ties of
friendship and the exactest likeness of mind do not really gain, if
they do not agree with God's will. Similarity of bad desires, leagues
in crimes, associations of vice, cannot merit this peace. The love of
the world does not consort with the love of God, nor doth he enter the
alliance of the sons of God who will not separate himself from the
children of this generation. [1253] Whereas they who are in mind
always with God, "giving diligence to keep the unity of the Spirit in
the bond of peace [1254] ," never dissent from the eternal law,
uttering that prayer of faith, "Thy will be done as in heaven so on
earth [1255] ." These are "the peacemakers," these are thoroughly of
one mind, and fully harmonious, and are to be called sons "of God and
joint-heirs with Christ [1256] ," because this shall be the record of
the love of God and the love of our neighbour, that we shall suffer no
calamities, be in fear of no offence, but all the strife of trial
ended, rest in God's most perfect peace, through our Lord, Who, with
the Father and the Holy Spirit, liveth and reigneth for ever and ever.
Amen.
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[1219] Cf. S. Matt. iv. 23, 24.
[1220] Divina eruditone firmandos = tous didachthesomenous, a common
form of expression in Leo. Cf. Lett. XXVIII. the Tome, chap. 1, quod
voce omnium regenerandorum (= ton anagennethesomenon), depromitur.
[1221] Or testament (Lat. testamentum).
[1222] In sensu ipsorum.
[1223] Jer. xxxi. 31 and part of 33: the passage is quoted in full,
Heb. viii. 8-12.
[1224] Or testament (Lat. testamentum).
[1225] Cf. Heb. xii. 18 and foll.
[1226] S. Paul's language (Rom. viii. 15) is in his mind.
[1227] Matt. v. 3.
[1228] Et illis in tenuitate amica est mansuetudo et istis divitiis
familiaris elatio.
[1229] The mss. vary between primum and primi. The rendering above
given practically represents either. If primi, however, is read, it
may be questioned whether the true rendering is not "the first apostles
after the Lord," which would be interesting as suggesting that S. Leo
did not necessarily confine the title "apostle" to the Twelve.
[1230] Acts iv. 32.
[1231] Acts iii. 6.
[1232] Praesidia pecuniae.
[1233] S. Matt. v. 4.
[1234] S. Matt. v. 5. It will be observed that Leo's order for the 2nd
and 3rd beatitudes is that of the English version, not that of the
Vulgate.
[1235] In nullo iam spiritui futura contraria et cum voluntate animi
perfectae unitatis habitura consensum: compare S. Aug. de Fide et
symbolo, cap. 23, "est autem animae natura perfecta cum spiritui suo
subditur et cum sequitur sequentum Deum--non est desperandum etiam
corpus restitui naturae propriae--tempore opportuno in novissima tuba,
cum mortui resurgent incorrupti et nos immutabimur." The
interpretation of this beatitude in this way is fantastic, and very
strange to modern notions.
[1236] Wisdom ix. 15.
[1237] 1 Cor. xv. 53.
[1238] Quod fuit oneri, sit honori, the play on the words (which is
quite classical) may perhaps be represented by the difference between
onerous and honorary.
[1239] S. Matt. v. 6.
[1240] Ps. xxxiv. 8: suavis, A.V. and R.V. good, P.B.V. gracious, LXX.
chrestos.
[1241] Deut. vi. 5, quoted, it will be remembered, by our Lord, as "the
first and great commandment" in the law, S. Matt. xxii. 37; S. Mark
xii. 30; S. Luke x. 27.
[1242] The two words for "love" here are different, and speak for
themselves, diligere (agapan) Deum and amare (eran) iustitiam.
[1243] S. Matt. v. 7.
[1244] Operantium: operatio is the regular patristic term for the
doing of charitable actions; for this application of the beatitude and
its promised reward, compare Ps. xli. 1-3.
[1245] S. Matt. v. 8.
[1246] 1 Cor. xiii. 12.
[1247] 1 John iii. 2.
[1248] Exod. xxxiii. 20; John. i. 18; 1 Tim. vi. 16.
[1249] Is. lxiv. 4 ; 1 Cor. ii. 9.
[1250] S. Matt. v. 9.
[1251] Rom. v. 1, where "we have" or "let us have" is the exact phrase.
[1252] Ps. cxix. 165.
[1253] A carnali generatione.
[1254] Eph. iv. 3.
[1255] S. Matt. vi. 10.
[1256] Rom. viii. 17.
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Mar Saba Monastery near Bethlehem
The Lives of the Saints. 1866.
December 5
St. Sabas, Abbot
From his life excellently written by Cyril, monk of Palestine, in 557, author of the life of St. John the Silent, of that of St. Euthymius, and of this of St. Sabas, which is correctly published by Bollandus, 20th of January, and in Greek by Cotelerius Monum. Gr. t. 3. pp. 220, 574. These acts in Metaphrastes are adulterated by certain counterfeit additions. See Assemani, t. 5, p. 410.
A.D. 532.
ST. SABAS, one of the most renowned patriarchs of the monks of Palestine, was born at Mutalasca, in Cappadocia, not far from Cæsarea, the capital, in 439. The name of his father was John, and that of his mother, Sophia: both were pious, and of illustrious families. The father was an officer in the army, and being obliged to go to Alexandria in Egypt, took his wife with him, and recommended his son Sabas, with the care of his estate, to Hermias, the brother of his wife. This uncle’s wife used the child so harshly that, three years after, he went to an uncle called Gregory, brother to his father, hoping there to live in peace. Gregory having the care of the child, demanded also the administration of his estate, whence great law suits and animosities arose between the two uncles. Sabas, who was of a mild disposition, took great offence at these discords about so contemptible a thing as earthly riches, and, the grace of God working powerfully in his heart, he resolved to renounce for ever what was a source of so great evils among men. He retired to a monastery called Flavinia, three miles from Mutalasca, and the abbot received him with open arms, and took great care to see him instructed in the science of the saints, and in the rules of a monastic profession. His uncles, blinded by avarice and mutual animosity, were some years without opening their eyes; but at last, ashamed of their conduct towards a nephew, they agreed together to take him out of his monastery, restore to him his estate, and persuade him to marry. In vain they employed all means to gain their point. Sabas had tasted the bitterness of the world, and the sweetness of the yoke of Christ, and his heart was so united to God, that nothing could draw him from his good purpose. He applied himself with great fervour to the practice of all virtues, especially humility, mortification, and prayer, as the means to attain all others. One day, whilst he was at work in the garden, he saw a tree loaded with fair and beautiful apples, and gathered one with an intention to eat it. But reflecting that this was a temptation of the devil, he threw the apple on the ground, and trod upon it. Moreover, to punish himself, and more perfectly to overcome the enemy, he made a vow never to eat any apples as long as he lived. By this victory over himself, he made great progress in all other virtues, exercising himself by day in labour, accompanied with prayer, and by night in watching in devotions, always flying idleness as the root of all evils, sleeping only as much as was absolutely necessary to support nature, and never interrupting his labours but to lift up his hands to God. Though he was the youngest in the house he soon surpassed all the rest in fervour and virtue. So tender was his charity and compassion, that once when he was serving the baker, who had put his wet clothes into the oven to dry, and, forgetting them, had put in fire, seeing him much troubled for his clothes, he went into the oven and fetched them out through the flames without hurt. When Sabas had been ten years in this monastery, being eighteen years old, with the leave of his abbot, he went to Jerusalem to visit the holy places, and to edify himself by the examples of the eminent solitaries of that country. He passed the winter in the monastery of Passarion, governed at that time by the holy abbot Elpidius. All the brethren were charmed with his virtue, and desired earnestly that he would fix his abode among them: but his great love of silence and retirement made him prefer the manner of life practised by St. Euthymius. He cast himself at the feet of that holy abbot, conjuring him with many tears to receive him among his disciples. St. Euthymius judged him too young to continue in his laura with the anchorets; so extreme a solitude being only proper for the most perfect; for a laura consisted of a cluster of separate cells or hermitages in a desert. Euthymius, therefore, recommended him to the monastery below the hill, which was under the conduct of Theoctistus and a kind of noviceship to the laura, from which it lay about three miles distant, the laura itself being twelve miles from Jerusalem. 1
Sabas consecrated himself to God with new fervour, working all day, and watching in prayer a good part of the night. As he was very lusty and strong, he assisted all his brethren in their offices, and prepared himself the wood and water for the house with extraordinary care and cheerfulness. He served the sick with singular diligence and affection; and was always the first and the last at the divine office, and in every regular duty. A temptation put his virtue to the trial. He was sent by his abbot as companion to another monk on certain affairs to Alexandria. There his parents knew him and desired to engage him to accept his father’s post and estate in the world; but he gave them to understand that would be to apostatize from the service of God which he had chosen. They pressed him at least to accept a large sum of money for his necessaries; but he would only take three pieces of gold, and those he gave all to his abbot on his return. When he was thirty years of age he obtained leave of St. Euthymius to spend five days a-week in a remote cave, which time he passed without eating any thing, in prayer and manual labour. He left his monastery on Sunday evening, carrying with him palm-twigs, and came back on Saturday morning with fifty baskets which he had made, imposing upon himself a task of ten a-day. Thus he had lived five years, till St. Euthymius chose him and one Domitian for his companions in his great yearly retreat in the deserts of Rouban, in which Christ is said to have performed his forty days’ fast. They entered this solitude together on the 14th of January, and returned to their monastery on Palm-Sunday. In the first retreat Sabas fell down in the wilderness, almost dead with thirst. St. Euthymius, moved with compassion, addressed a prayer to Christ, that he would take pity on his young fervent soldier, and, striking his staff into the earth, a spring gushed forth; of which Sabas drinking a little, recovered his strength so as to be enabled to bear the fatigues of his retreat. 2
After the death of St. Euthymius a relaxation of discipline crept into that monastery: on which account Sabas, sensible that a religious house in such a condition is like a general shipwreck, in which every one must save himself as he can, retired into a desert toward the East, in which St. Gerasimus lived. The devil here endeavoured to affright him by appearing in divers shapes of serpents and beasts: but the servant of God, armed with prayer and faith, surmounted all his assaults. Four years the saint had spent in his wilderness in a total separation from all commerce with men, when, directed by an admonition of heaven, he chose his dwelling in a cave on the top of a high mountain, at the bottom of which ran the brook Cedron. The water of that torrent not being there drinkable, he fetched what he used from a spring, five miles off, through a very rough and steep way. He was obliged to hang a cord down the descent to hold himself by in mounting it. Wild herbs which grew on the rocks were his food, till some countrymen who found him by this cord, brought him on certain days a little bread, cheese, dates, and other little things which he might want. 3
After he had lived here five years, several resorted to them, desiring to serve God under his direction. He was at first unwilling to consent; but charity overcoming the resistance which his humility raised, he founded a new laura, which at first consisted of seventy persons, all desirous to devote themselves to praise and serve God without interruption. He marked to each the place to build their cell; and, having prayed to God that that they might find water, caused a pit to be dug at the foot of the mountain, where a spring was discovered which subsisted in succeeding ages. He built also a little chapel with an altar. The number of his disciples was shortly increased to one hundred and fifty; which obliged him to extend his laura on the other side of the torrent. He watched over all, and provided for their necessities with an incredible attention. He taught them to overcome their passions, to discover and defeat the artifices of the devil, and to pray with fruit and holy perseverance. To cut off all necessities and pretexts of ever leaving their solitude, by the help of certain charitable persons, he supplied them with all things in a manner suitable to persons dead to the world. He had no priest in his community, and he thought no religious man could aspire to that dignity without presumption. He grieved, however, to depend upon the opportunity of some strange priest for the celebration of the divine mysteries. Certain factious spirits in the community formed a schism against their holy abbot, and accused him to Sallust, then lately made bishop of Jerusalem. The prelate found their invectives groundless, except that the want of a priest was a real defect in the community. He therefore compelled Sabas to receive that sacred character at his hands. The abbot was then fifty-three years old. The reputation of his sanctity drew persons from very remote countries to his laura. Our saint assigned a particular chapel for the Armenian monks, where they performed the first part of the divine office, which consists of prayers and instructions in their own tongue: but met in the great church to finish it, and to make the oblation and receive the communion with the rest. After the death of the saint’s father, his mother came to him, and served God under his direction. With the money which she brought he built two hospitals, one for strangers, and another for the sick; also an hospital at Jericho, and a monastery on a neighbouring hill, called Castel; and another small one a mile distant, for the young, where they learned the psalter and religious exercises. When they were perfect in these, and ripe in years, he translated them to the house of Castel; and drew out of this nursery those that were most perfect into his laura. Sallust, patriarch of Jerusalem, established St. Sabas exarch or superior-general over all the monks of Palestine, who lived in several cells, and St. Theodosius over all who lived in community, or the Cenobites. St. Sabas, after the example of St. Euthymius, left his disciples every year after the octave of the Epiphany, and passed the whole Lent without being seen by any one, eating nothing all that time, except that he received the holy eucharist every Saturday and Sunday, which he always took with him for that purpose. If any of his disciples accompanied him, he caused them to carry with them some dried bread for their subsistence. In one of these retreats he found a holy hermit who had lived on wild herbs, without seeing any man thirty-eight years. He had with him very edifying discourses; but the next year he found him dead and buried him. The patriarch Sallust dying in 493, the rebellious monks above-mentioned went to his successor Elias, hoping that he would hear their complaints. Sabas was informed of their cabals, and, not to be an occasion of others’ malice, withdrew himself privately, saying, that we must resist the devils, but yield to men, for the sake of peace. 4
He went into the desert of Scythopolis, near the river Gadara, where he went into a great cave to pray. It happened to be the den of a huge lion. At midnight the beast came in, and finding this guest, dared not to touch him, but taking him gently by his garments, plucked him as if it had been to draw him out. The saint was no ways affrighted or troubled, but began leisurely and with much devotion to recite aloud the midnight psalms. The lion went out, and when the holy man had finished matins, came in again, and pulled him by the skirts of his clothes as he had done before. The saint spoke to the beast and said, the place was big enough to hold them both. The lion at those words departed, and returned thither no more. Certain thieves found St. Sabas in his cave, and were so moved by his example and discourses, that they all embraced a penitential life. Many persons here, again, put themselves under his conduct; but, finding himself distracted by their direction, and by a number of visitants who resorted thither, he abandoned his cell to them; and this place grew into a monastery. He enjoyed the sweetness of perfect solitude some time, when, moved with tender charity and compassion, he went to visit his former rebellious monks, who continued hardened in their iniquity, and were joined by twenty others. The saint was pierced with grief to see them thus give death to their own souls, and draw others into the same perdition. It seemed to him that he felt his own limbs torn from his body whilst he saw his monks separated from him. In order to soften their hatred and malice, he gave them every token of the greatest sweetness, tenderness, and goodness; but they were not yet to be gained. He left them a second time, to ask their conversion with greater fervour of the Father of mercies. He retired near Nicopolis, living some time under the boughs of a shady tree, the fruit of which furnished him with food till the master of the field built him a cell and afforded him his scanty diet. Elias, the patriarch, ordered Sabas to appoint a superior for the disciples whom he had gathered at Nicopolis, and to return to his great laura, to which he sent his orders to receive him. The factious monks, in a rage, threw down a building which he had raised, and, after many disorders, left that place, and settled in certain old ruinous cells near the brook Theon. The great laura was freed from their scandals, and Sabas soon renewed in it the spirit of fervour and charity. His zeal and compassion for the seditious apostates made him still weep for them. He even procured and sent them seventy pieces of gold to build them a church and furnish them with necessaries. This excess of goodness made them enter into themselves, confess their crime, and submit themselves to their abbot. St. Sabas nominated a superior to govern them; and, under his direction, this became a new and very regular monastery. The saint founded several others after the same model. 5
The eastern churches were then in great confusion. The Emperor Anastasius supported the Eutychian heresy, and banished many Catholic bishops. The patriarch Elias sent to him as deputies St. Sabas, with other famous abbots, to endeavour to stop the fury of this persecution. Sabas was seventy years old when he undertook this journey to Constantinople. As he was dressed like some poor beggar, the officers at the gate of the imperial palace admitted the rest, but stopped him. Sabas made no reply, but withdrew into a corner to employ his time in prayer. When the emperor had read the letter of the patriarch, in which great commendations were bestowed on Sabas, he asked where he was? The saint was sought, and at length found in a corner reciting the psalms. Anastasius gave the abbots liberty to ask what they wanted or desired for themselves; the rest presented their petitions, but Sabas had no request to make in his own name. Being pressed by the emperor to ask some favour, he only begged that his majesty would restore peace to the church, and not disturb the clergy. The emperor gave him a thousand pieces of gold to employ in charities. Sabas staid all the winter in Constantinople, and often visited the emperor to gain his point. The prince had caused a heretical council at Sidon to condemn the general council of Chalcedon, and required the bishops to subscribe his decree, banishing many who refused to do it. However, he spared Elias, patriarch of Jerusalem, at the repeated entreaties of Sabas, and dismissed the holy abbot with honour, giving him a thousand pieces of gold more to be distributed among the poor in his country. The saint returned to his solitude, and the emperor dying, according to what our holy abbot had foretold, Justin, his successor, favoured the true faith. St. Sabas, laying hold of that opportunity, went to Cæsarea, Scythopolis, and other places, preaching the Catholic faith, and bringing back many monks and seculars into its fold. A drought which had continued five years, produced a famine in Palestine. The prayers of the saint obtained supplies for his seven monasteries in their extreme necessity, and at last rain, to the universal joy of the whole country. 6
In the ninety-first year of his age, at the request of Peter, patriarch of Jerusalem, he undertook a second journey to Constantinople, in favour of the Christians of Palestine, who had been calumniated at court. Justinian, who had then occupied the imperial throne, received him with great honour, granted him all his requests, and offered to settle annual revenues for the maintenance of all his monasteries. The holy abbot thanked his majesty, but said they stood not in need of such revenues, as long as the monks should serve God. However, he begged a remission of all taxes in favour of the people of Palestine for a certain term, in consideration of what they had suffered by the plunders of the Samaritans: that his majesty would build an hospital at Jerusalem for the pilgrims, and a fortress for the protection of the hermits and monks against the inroads of barbarians: that he would bestow some ornaments on the church of our Lady which was lately built, and would afford his protection to the Catholics. All which things were granted. It happened one day that the emperor being busy in council in despatching certain affairs of the saint, who was himself present, when it was the hour of tierce, the abbot went out to recite his prayers. His companion, called Jeremy, said it was not well done to leave the emperor on such an occasion. “My son,” replied Sabas, “the emperor does his duty, and we must do ours;” so exact was he in all the rules of his state. St. Sabas returned into Palestine with the imperial orders, which he delivered to the magistrates of Jerusalem, Scythopolis, and Cæsarea, and saw everywhere put in execution. Soon after his return to his laura he fell sick: the patriarch persuaded him to suffer himself to be conveyed to a neighbouring church, where he served him with his own hands. The pains of the saint were very sharp, but God supported him under them in perfect sentiments of patience and resignation. Finding his last hour approach, he begged the patriarch that he might be carried back to his laura. He appointed Melitas of Berytus his successor, gave him excellent instructions, and then lay four days in silence, without seeing any one, that he might entertain himself with God alone. On the 5th of December, in the evening, having received the holy communion, he departed to our Lord, in 532 (not 531, as Jos. Assemani demonstrates against Baronius, &c.), being ninety-four years old. He is commemorated on this day both in the Greek and Latin Calendars. 7
St. Sabas met with persecutors among the monks, to whom his virtue seemed too scrupulous a severity; and these men were long insensible to his mild remonstrances, and holy instructions, animated by the example of his admirable sanctity. How easily do men blind themselves in their passions, and excuse to themselves, nay canonize, their more subtle vices! And how difficult is it for such sinners to be reclaimed! It is much easier to convert a notorious sinner, than one who is falsely just. The one feels his miseries, the other crowns himself with his own hands, and, like the proud Pharisee, makes his own panegyric or apology. This dreadful blindness is a frequent case: men every day study by a false conscience to palliate crimes, and allow themselves many unjustifiable liberties under false pretences. As St. Austin complains, what our passions strongly incline us to, we often call holy. Not to perish by such illusions, we must banish out of our hearts all self-conceit, learn perfectly to die to ourselves, especially in regard to our darling or ruling passions, and never take our passions for our counsellors or guides, as we shall be sure to do if we rely too much on ourselves. We must often suspect and narrowly examine our own hearts, which are frequently the greatest cheats with which we can have to deal. We are often imposed upon by other men: but a thousand times oftener by ourselves. 8
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Christ is Risen! Yes! He is risen!
and
JESUS CHRIST IS THE ONLY WAY AND TRUTH AND LIFE - NO ONE COMES TO THE FATHER EXCEPT BY HIM.
From the: CATHOLIC DICTIONARY The Catholic Press, Inc. CHICAGO, ILLINOIS Imprimatur + Samuel Cardinal Stritch Archbishop of Chicago - Chicago, August 5, 1950
Resurrection of Christ. The greatest of all Christ's miracles and the proof of His divine mission. For although He worked many other wonders, yet without His Resurrection, as Saint Paul states (1 Cor. 15:17), our faith would be vain and we would still be in our sins. The reason for this is that resurrection from the dead was the sign which Christ Himself promised as the proof of His divine mission (Matt. 12:38 - 41; John 2:19), and had He failed to return to life on the third day He would have been convicted of being an imposter. His enemies, the priests and Pharisees, understood full well the importance of this sign, and therefore took precautions to seal the tomb and post guards (Matt. 27:62 - 66). Since these arrangements excluded the possibility of fraud, they thereby increased for posterity the certainty of the miracle. The Resurrection was not an apparent return or a mere hallucination of the Apostles, but resumption by Christ of His human body. It is a historical fact attested by witnesses who could neither deceive, wish to deceive, nor be deceived. Those whom the Bible mentions as having seen the Risen Christ include: Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome; the Apostles; Cleophas and another disciple at Emmaus; Saint Paul; more than 500 disciples. Of the fact of Christ's Resurrection, therefore, there can be no doubt (Matt. 28; Mark 16; Luke 24; John 20). The Apostles bore witness to it constantly; in fact, it formed the basis of their entire preaching (e.g., Acts 2:24-32; 2 Cor. 5:15; 2 Tim. 2:8). Not only is it the foundation of our faith; it is also the pledge and example of our own resurrection. Easter Sunday is the Feast of the Resurrection. Resurrection of the Body. The doctrine that the souls of all men, both good and bad, will be reunited to their bodies at the second coming of Christ. Just as the body shares in the good acts or in the sins of the soul in this life, so it will share in its reward or in its punishment in eternity. Each soul will be reunited, by the power of God, to identically the same body which it inhabited in this life. The risen body, will be without any defect of human nature and will be invested with the special qualities of the glorified body. This doctrine is the 11th article of the Creed, and one of the principal doctrines of our Faith. This consoling truth was known to the orthodox Jews of the Old Testament (2 Mach. 7:9-11) and was more clearly and emphatically taught by Our Lord on various occasions (Matt. 22:23-32; John 5: 28-29). Indeed, by Himself rising from the dead, Christ gave us a pattern and a pledge of our own resurrection (1 Cor. 15:20-23; 1 Thess. 4:13); for at His command on the last day our bodies will be restored to us in a condition like to His own glorified body: subject to our souls, and immune from decay, suffering, and death (1 Cor. 15:42-44).
The Catholic Creed: The Resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ
The Resurrection of Christ, the Son of God
This confidence in the future resurrection is a subject of the greatest joy to the children of God, the groundwork of their faith, the mainspring of their hope, and the most lasting comfort amid the evils of this life. For if Christ had not risen, says the apostle St. Paul, in vain would we believe in Him. He would be convicted of having been an impostor, and His apostles of being mad; His death would not have availed us anything, and we should still be dwelling in the bonds of sin. Those dying in Jesus Christ would perish, and, our hope in Him not extending beyond the present life, we should be the most unfortunate of men, inasmuch as, after having had, as our portion in this life, sufferings and afflictions, we should not be able to console ourselves with the expectation of future good. But Jesus Christ having come forth living from the tomb, His doctrine is confirmed by His Resurrection; it establishes the certitude of His mission in His character as Son of God, the efficacy of the sacrifice He offered on the cross, the divinity of His priesthood, the rewards of the other life, and the glorified resurrection of the flesh.
Reflection.— We shall one day rise again; but let us range by the side of such a consoling expectation that terrible warning of the prophet Daniel, "Many of those that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some unto life everlasting, and others unto reproach eternal."
above from - Butler's lives of the saints. Moveable feasts.
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