As a zealous young monk, Saint Nicetas fell victim to the wiles of the Devil who inflamed him with vainglorious thoughts of becoming a recluse without the blessing of his abbot. Having shut himself up in a cave, one day he heard a voice, and, thinking he has been vouchsafed a divine vision, called out for the Lord to reveal himself. The Devil then appeared to him as angel of light and ordered him to stop praying saying that he (the “angel”) would pray in his stead. Furthermore, he commanded that he should read only from the Old Testament. The deceived and disobedient Nicetas prostrated himself before the vision and promised to obey. Some time later, the Devil began appearing regularly to provide his thrall with knowledge of things happening in the world that he could not otherwise have known. Thinking they were prophecies, he began proclaiming them to those visiting the monastery. As a result the monk’s fame increased and the Enemy of mankind was able to cast his net ever wider. When the elders of the monastery noticed that Nicetas never spoke to his visitors from the New Testament, they investigated the matter further in prayer and realized that he had fallen prey to the evil one. Breaking down the door to his cave, they routed the Devil by their prayer and called forth Nicetas like Lazarus from the tomb. Upon emerging, God granted him the consolation of a child-like mind, wiping away all trace of his fall, and leaving him only with an impression of the necessity of obedience. From that firm foundation, the abbot and elders built him into the very example of monastic humility and repentance using as their tools the common life of the brotherhood. He advanced so far in the path of holiness that he was eventually made the Bishop of Novgorod where he was the source of many blessings for his flock both before and after his death.
Category: Monastic
Indicates monastic saints.
Seraphim of Sarov
The great star in the firmament of Holy Orthodoxy, Saint Seraphim, shone forth within 100 years of the great persecution at the hands of the godless atheists in 20th Century Russia. An initiate into the fellowship of the Theotokos and the Apostles and blessed with divine visions of their holy band, the Saint was a perfect example of monastic obedience and striving. This led him to pass through all states of the ascetic life as a cenobite, a hesychast, a stylite, and a recluse. From such, he became an instructor to all the world of the acquisition of and life in the Holy Spirit, helping to lead thousands around him to salvation. Foreseeing that he would become an unconquerable foe, the devil ferociously attacked the Saint with vainglorious thoughts, unexplainable sounds meant to distract and disrupt, frightening visions and apparitions in order to defeat him before he became too strong. But the man of God triumphed by prayer – particularly the prayer of the Publican which also inspired the Jesus Prayer – and by making the sign of the cross. Enraged by his failure, the Devil inspired three robbers to beat him so severely that he was near to death. Rejoicing that he had been found worthy to suffer in a manner similar to Christ, Saint Seraphim did not resist. Suffering for more than four months from his wounds, he was miraculously healed by the Mother of God. His glorification in 1903 was perhaps that last manifestation of the Christian unity of Russia before the revolution, and the translation of his relics in 1991 after the collapse of the Soviet Union demonstrated the triumph of the perseverance of faith through the darkest of times. He was then, and remains now, a source of consolation for the Russian land and the wider Church.
Abraham of Smolensk
After giving away all of the possessions he inherited from his wealthy parents, Saint Abraham became a monk and gave himself over the strictest of ascesis. Along with his body, his passions also withered as a result of night-long vigils and constant pleas for the Lord to have mercy on the world. His disciple, Saint Ephrem, described his appearance as that of a living relic. After being made a priest, his knowledge of the Holy Scriptures and His insightful sermons brought him fame and renown with the faithful. Stoking the jealousy of his enemies, the demons inspired them to accuse him of heresy to the Bishop. The Bishop was deceived for a time, but the inherent disorder of the sinful decision infected the land and resulted in a drought and an epidemic. Made aware of his error, the Bishop repented and restored Saint Abraham. As a result, God delivered them via a miraculous heavy rain. Thus, the machinations of the Evil One came to nothing.
Arsenius the New of Paros
A member of the Kollyvades party, Saint Arsenius faced both persecution from those monk who opposed the practice of frequent communion as well as from the Turks whose revolution was sweeping across the region. As a result, he and his elder, Daniel of Zagora were often on the move. When they were able to settle in a monastery, he took on ascetic efforts comparable to that of his namesake, Saint Arsenius the Great, eating just enough to live, sleeping only a few hours at night, and spending the rest of his time wrapped in prayer. When Daniel died, Saint Arsenius also displayed his ongoing obedience out of love by remaining in the monastery and teaching the brethren – as much by deed as by word. Never a stranger to opposition even amongst his own brethren, the Saint perfected the evangelic virtue of love for enemies, and because of that as well as the voluntary suffering of asceticism that he took upon himself, God gave him the ability to protect the whole of island of Paros from the attacks of demons by his prayer.
Theodoretus of Kola, the Enlightener of the Lapps
Numbered for a time among the supporters of Saint Nilus of Sora, Saint Theodoretus was always in search of a more perfect hesychia. This search drove him to a region in the far north near the River Kola which was inhabited by the Lapps people. Though he was summoned for a time to Novogorod by the Archbishop Macarius, he never abandoned a desire to illumine the region with the light of the Gospel. So, after spending two years in Novogorod where he was ordained priest and received the grace to heal diseases and to cast out demons, he returned to the north where he established church and monastery dedicated to the Holy Trinity. Having learned their language, he preached to the native population in their own tongue, and the grace of the Holy Spirit shinning in him imbued his message with power. As a result, the Lapps came to him for baptism, even as many as 2,000 people in one day.
Elias the New of Sicily
A new Joseph the All-comely, Saint Elias was initiated into the Divine Council through dreams and visions. As such, he was able to accurately foretell future events, including his being taken as a slave to North Africa. There he was bought by a wealthy Christian merchant whose household was blessed due to the presence of the Saint. The Devil attempted to bring about his downfall by stoking lustful thoughts in his Master’s wife who continually tried to seduce him by her charms. When he firmly resisted all her advances, she was enraged and, like Potiphar’s wife, accused him of defiling her to her husband. Subjected to ill treatment, he endured patiently until the day the woman was caught in adultery. The truth of her character having been revealed, he was set free from slavery as a recompense. In another vision he was granted the grace of healing, and he traveled throughout Africa, Palestine, and the Mediterranean revealing the judgment of God and delivering people from illness. The Lord also granted him the grace to cast out demons, and he freed four men under torment by our invisible foes when he was forced to take refuge in Patras while on a journey to Rome. When asked how best to conquer our enemy, his advice was the same whether he was speaking to the lowest peasant or an Imperial General – sanctify the soul and deliverance will follow. By his answer he reinforced the reality that, except for a particular purpose of God, our physical condition often reflects our spiritual condition.
Nilus of Erikoussa
A member of the royal family of Emperor Theodore I Lascaris, Saint Theodore rejected the political and religious pressure of the Latin interlopers ushered into power by the Crusaders by becoming a monk and retreating into the wilderness. After being formed in the monastic life at the Monastery of the Sleepless Ones (Akoimetoi), he took on the extreme ascesis of the wandering pilgrim, traveling most especially to the Holy Places in Palestine, Mt. Sinai, and throughout Greece. When, along the way, he settled for a time in a particular location, it was always in an inhospitable place infested with demons. There he would wage unceasing battle against the natural conditions, his flesh, and the demons which he drove away by his prayer and patient endurance. He was especially known for restoring the 7th Century Monastery of the Giromerion where he found a miraculous icon of the Theotokos Hodigitria (She who shows the way – pointing to the Christ Child) which had been preserved from the time of the Iconoclast Heresy. As the keeper of this icon of the Champion Leader and her Son, Saint Nilus was all the more terrible to the enemies of mankind who could not bear to remain in his presence.
Radegunda, Queen of the Franks
A Thuringian princess, Saint Radegunda was given in marriage to the Frankish King, Clotharius, the son of Clovis. The King was a man of loose living, but, nevertheless, The Saint was devoted to him as if to Christ Himself, and thereby she was never parted from the true King of Heaven. Her way of life as Queen was so pious that her husband was chided by his nobles who said that he was married to a nun and not a queen. While initially offended, he eventually came to admire her holy bearing and realized that she was a source of blessings for him and his kingdom. After Clotharius had her brother executed for allegedly seditious behavior, Saint Radegunda was allowed to retire to a monastery where she was tonsured a nun and lived out the rest of her days devoted to asceticism. Because of her voluntary martyrdom she was granted the grace to heal the sick and cast out demons which she frequently did through small gifts such as candles or leaves that she had blessed by her prayers and offered as alms.
Tikhon of Zadonsk, the Wonderworker and the Bishop of Voronezh
A professor of Rhetoric at a seminary in Novgorod, Saint Tikhon was vouchsafed a vision of the uncreated light which ignited in him a desire for the monastic life and heychia. The Lord, however, had need of him in the vineyard of his Church, and so, not long after becoming a monk, he was consecrated as the Bishop of Voronezh. He gave himself so completely to this work that, having completely exhausted himself with his pastoral efforts, he was forced to retire to a monastery after only five years. There he lived like an angel in the flesh – a model of perfect obedience and humility despite his exalted rank. Often he was so caught up in the contemplation of God that he had to be physically jostled to pry away his attention. Once he was tempted to take up again his ministry as Bishop for the good of the Church, but the Theotokos instructed him to remain in the monastery through an appearance to a venerable old monk. If ever he was assailed by dark thoughts suggested by the Evil One, he drove them away by repeating verses from Psalm 118 (LXX). At the end of his life, he withdrew to the complete reclusion of his cell where he prayed without ceasing for the salvation of the whole world.
Dorotheus of Gaza
A disciple of the great monastic elders of Gaza, Saints Barsanuphius and John, Saint Dorotheus longed for a life of strict ascesis, but his weak bodily constitution wouldn’t allow it. Lest he fall into despair and thereby make himself a target of the Devil, the Great Old Man (Barsanuphius) consoled him and instructed him to make every effort to deny the will of the flesh through an inner ascesis of the heart. So, beginning at cutting of his will in small things, he was able to progressively cut off his will in larger things. Eventually this led him to a heavenly detachment and impassibility through which God was able to act to crush the invisible enemy. This also cultivated within him other virtues, chief among them that of humility, compassion, and resilience which he used to guide his own disciples, especially Saint Dositheus. On one occasion, the noonday demon ferociously assailed him with an overwhelming sadness and acedia. The Saint cried out to the Lord for help, and he was granted a vision of an angel in the form of a Bishop who struck Dorotheus on the breast three times repeating the Psalm verse, “With patience I waited patiently for the Lord, and He was attentive unto me, and he hearkened unto my supplication” (Psalm 39 LXX). As soon as this had happened, the angel disappeared, the demon fled, and the Saint’s heart was flooded with the Uncreated Light, joy, and peace. From that time forward he was never subjected again to sadness, acedia, or fear. The Saint’s most famous teaching on unity with both God and neighbor is known today as the Circle of Saint Dorotheos of Gaza wherein he describes a person as a point on the circumference of a circle. The person moves inward towards God represented as the point at the center of the circle. As the person draws nearer to God, they also draw near to others making the same journey as their paths converge. Thus he taught that, while our salvation is a gift from God, it also lies in our neighbor. Such a blessed unity cannot be overcome by the Enemy of Mankind.