DEC 5 - St Sabbas (439 – 532) - Saint Sabbas the Sanctified; considered 1 of the founders of Eastern monasticism; founder of several monasteries, most notably the one known as Mar Saba (wild country between Jerusalem and the Dead Sea); opponent of the Monophysites and the Origenists; composed the 1st monastic rule of church services, the so-called Jerusalem Typikon, for guidance of all the Byzantine monasteries. Spiritual student of Saint Euthymius the Great at age 20. Anchorite from age 30, living in a cave, devoting himself to prayer and manual labor. He wove 10 willow baskets each day. On Saturday he would take them to the local monastery, led by Saint Euthymius and trade them for a week’s food and a week’s worth of willow wands for more baskets. Took over leadership of the monks upon the death of Saint Euthymius. Co-superior with Saint Theodosius over 1,000 monks and hermits in the region. Sabbas was a simple man with little education, but with a firm belief in the spiritual benefits of simple living. The combination of his lack of education and his severe austerities caused some of his charges to rebel. Sabbas tired of the squabbling and he missed his time in prayer, so he fled to TransJordania. There he found a cave inhabited by a lion; the lion moved on, finding a new home and giving the cave to the holy man. A distorted version of this tale reached the rebellious monks; they seized on it, reported to the patriarch that Sabbas had been killed by a lion and requested a new leader be appointed. As this message was being formally presented to the patriarch, Sabbas walked into the room. This led to a confrontation during which the complaints of the monks were aired. However, the patriarch took Sabbas’s side and the 2 restored order and discipline to the lives of the anchorites. Sabbas led a peaceful uprising of 10,000 monks who demanded the end of the persecutions of Palestinian bishops of Anastatius I. At age 90, Sabbas traveled to Constantinople where he successfully pled for clemency from Justinian for Samarians who were in revolt.
Posted on: Sat, 06 Dec 2014 03:31:56 +0000