Saint Sabas
Abbé
(439-531)
Saint Sabas, né près de Césarée, en Cappadoce, de parents nobles et pieux, fut mis, à l'âge de cinq ans, sous la tutelle d'un oncle fort méchant; il s'enfuit et se réfugia dans un couvent. C'était la Providence qui avait conduit ses pas; il embrassa généreusement toutes les saintes rigueurs de la vie monastique. Dix ans plus tard, le désir de visiter les Lieux sanctifiés par la vie mortelle du Sauveur le conduisit à Jérusalem. Ayant fait son pèlerinage, il résolut de se fixer au milieu des célèbres anachorètes de la Palestine et vécut jusqu'à l'âge de trente ans sous la direction du saint solitaire Théoctiste. Mais il lui semblait que Dieu demandait de lui davantage, et, croyant n'avoir encore rien fait, il s'enfonça dans la solitude voisine pour y vivre avec Dieu seul.
Renfermé dans une petite grotte, il y passait cinq jours de la semaine sans prendre aucune nourriture, uniquement appliqué à la prière, au chant des psaumes et au travail manuel. Chaque samedi, il apportait au monastère qu'il avait habité tous les paniers qu'il avait tressés, passait le dimanche avec ses frères et revenait à son ermitage. Plus tard, il se retira sur les bords du Jourdain, où le démon le tourmenta par des spectres horribles, des hurlements affreux, des menaces, des coups, et surtout des apparitions séduisantes. Le Saint, armé de la prière, remporta autant de victoires qu'il eut à livrer de combats, jusqu'à décourager son redoutable ennemi.
Sabas, toujours poussé par le désir d'une solitude de plus en plus profonde, se retira sur des rochers abrupts; il y établit, pour monter et pour descendre, un gros câble à noeuds qui lui servait de rampe. Il lui fallait aller chercher de l'eau à deux lieues de là et la monter sur ses épaules. Sa nourriture consistait uniquement en racines sauvages; mais, en revanche Dieu nourrissait son âme de l'abondance de Ses consolations.
Sabas fut découvert par la vue de la corde qui pendait du rocher, et dès lors sa solitude se changea en affluence énorme de pèlerins qui venaient lui demander communication des biens célestes dont il était rempli. Beaucoup demeuraient ses disciples, et il groupa dans la vallée un grand nombre de petites cellules pour les recevoir. De grands Saints, attirés par la renommée de ses vertus, vinrent eux-mêmes le visiter. Il s'arrachait parfois à sa solitude, quand la gloire de Dieu le demandait, et plusieurs fois la cour de Constantinople fut édifiée de ses vertus.
Abbé L. Jaud, Vie des Saints pour tous les jours de l'année, Tours, Mame, 1950
Saint SABAS, Abbé en Palestine (+ 531)
Né en Cappadoce, il entra tout jeune dans un monastère de cette région. A 18 ans, le voilà parti pour Jérusalem. Il rêve de solitude et pour cela s'en va rejoindre saint Euthyme qui l'envoie faire un stage de vie communautaire à la laure de saint Théoctiste(*) près de la Mer Morte: "La vie solitaire n'est pas faite pour cette jeunesse." pense saint Euthyme. Dix ans durant, Sabas apprend à être moine. Puis il s'établit dans une grotte, seul devant Dieu durant la semaine, avec ses frères pour la liturgie du dimanche. Mais de nombreux moines le rejoignent car "la sainteté attire les disciples comme le miel attire les ours. " Il doit fonder la Grande Laure. A 55 ans, le Patriarche de Jérusalem le nomme archimandrite des ermites de Palestine. Les controverses théologiques divisent ses moines. Lui-même soutient le concile de Chalcédoine. Il se fait le promoteur d'un monachisme modéré, obtient de l'empereur l'abolition des impôts sur les artisans et fait indemniser les pauvres paysans. Ses reliques qui, lors des invasions arabes, avaient été conduites à Venise, ont été rendues par Paul VI aux moines melkites du couvent de Mar Saba (saint Sabas) en 1965.
(*) compagnon d'ascèse de Saint Euthyme le Grand (+467) dont on fait mémoire le 3 septembre au calendrier orthodoxe.
Près de Jérusalem, en 532, saint Sabas, abbé. Né en Cappadoce, il s’en vint au désert de Juda, où il instaura une nouvelle forme de vie érémitique en sept monastères appelés laures, qui regroupaient des solitaires sous l’autorité d’un supérieur ; il passa de longues années dans la grande laure, qui depuis a porté son nom, brillant par son exemple et l’éclat de sa sainteté et combattant avec vigueur pour la foi de Chalcédoine.
Martyrologe romain
Saint SABBAS
Fondateur du monastère de la Grande Laure à Jérusalem, mort en 532. Culte introduit au VIIème siècle à Rome par les moines d’ordre qu’il avait fondé, chassés par les musulmans : ils s’établirent sur l’Aventin et édifièrent un monastère (Cella Nova) dont l’église fut consacrée à St Sabbas. Sa fête fut ensuite introduite au calendrier au XIIème siècle.
La secrète et la postcommunion du Commun des Abbés,Os iusti, sont modifiées pour éviter l’allitération latine : « Sabbas, abbas », Sabbas, abbé.
Dom Guéranger, l’Année Liturgique
L’Église Romaine se borne aujourd’hui à l’Office de la Férié ; mais elle y joint la Commémoration de saint Sabbas, Abbé de la fameuse Laure de Palestine, qui subsiste encore aujourd’hui sous son nom. Ce Saint, qui mourut en 533, est le seul personnage de l’Ordre monastique dont l’Église fasse mention en ses Offices dans tout le cours de l’Avent ; on pourrait même dire que parmi les simples Confesseurs, saint Sabbas est le seul dont on lise le nom au Calendrier liturgique en cette partie de l’année, puisque le glorieux titre d’Apôtre des Indes semble mettre saint François Xavier dans une classe à part. Nous devons voir en ceci l’intention de la divine Providence qui, pour produire une plus salutaire impression sur le peuple chrétien, s’est appliquée à choisir, d’une manière caractéristique, les Saints qui devaient être proposés à notre imitation dans ces jours de préparation à la venue du Sauveur. Nous y trouvons des Apôtres, des Pontifes, des Docteurs, des Vierges, glorieux cortège du Christ Dieu, Roi et Époux ; la simple Confession n’y est représentée que par un seul homme , par l’Anachorète et Cénobite Sabbas, personnage qui, du moins, par sa profession monastique, se rattache à Élie et aux autres solitaires de l’ancienne Alliance, dont la chaîne mystique vient aboutir à Jean le Précurseur. Honorons donc ce grand Abbé, pour lequel l’Église grecque professe une vénération filiale, et sous l’invocation duquel Rome a place une de ses Églises ; et appuyons-nous de son suffrage auprès de Dieu.
Glorieux Sabbas, nomme de désirs, qui, dans l’attente de Celui qui a dit à ses serviteurs de veiller jusqu’à sa venue, vous êtes retiré au désert, de peur que les bruits du monde ne vinssent vous distraire de vos espérances, ayez pitié de nous qui, au milieu du siècle et livrés à toutes ses préoccupations, avons cependant reçu, comme vous, l’avertissement de nous tenir prêts pour l’arrivée de Celui que vous aimiez comme Sauveur, et que vous craigniez comme Juge. Priez, afin que soyons dignes d’aller au-devant de lui, quand il va paraître. Souvenez-vous aussi de l’État monastique, dont vous êtes l’un des principaux ornements ; relevez ses ruines au milieu de nous suscitez des hommes de prière et de foi comme aux anciens jours ; que votre esprit se repose sur eux, et qu’ainsi l’Église, veuve d’une partie de sa gloire, la recouvre par votre intercession.
Bhx Cardinal Schuster, Liber Sacramentorum
Saint Sabbas, abbé.
Station au monastère de Cella Nova.
Le culte de ce célèbre fondateur de la laure palestinienne qui porte encore son nom (+ 532) fut introduit à Rome au VIIe siècle, par quelques-uns de ses moines qui vinrent se réfugier dans la Ville éternelle après que les Arabes se furent rendus maîtres de Jérusalem. Sous le nom de Cella Nova ces moines érigèrent donc un monastère sur le petit Aventin, là où, autrefois, Silvie, mère de saint Grégoire le Grand, avait consolé par les exercices de l’ascèse les dernières années de son veuvage. C’est ainsi que le culte de saint Sabbas pénétra dans la liturgie romaine, jusqu’à devenir très célèbre au moyen âge.
En effet, quand, au Xe siècle, l’abbaye de Saint-Sabbas fut au nombre des plus puissantes et des plus fameuses de la Ville, le nom de son Saint Titulaire fut inscrit jusque dans les brèves laudes ou litanies qu’on avait l’habitude de réciter dans les occasions les plus solennelles, c’est-à-dire quand le Souverain Pontife célébrait le divin Sacrifice et était couronné du regnum.
Il y a quelques années, des fouilles pratiquées dans la basilique aventine de Saint-Sabbas ont mis au jour l’abside de l’église primitive, plusieurs peintures d’inspiration biblique, bon nombre de tombeaux rappelant les premiers habitants grecs du sanctuaire, ceux précisément chez qui trouva au VIIe siècle une gracieuse hospitalité l’évêque saint Grégoire d’Agrigente comme nous le narre son contemporain Léonce.
En Occident, la dévotion envers saint Sabbas demeura à peu près localisée à Rome ; les latins n’ont jamais attribué beaucoup d’importance à cette grande figure du monachisme, à qui pourtant les Orientaux donnent les titres de « plein de l’Esprit de Dieu, le sanctifié, l’habitant de la Cité sainte, l’étoile du désert, le patriarche des moines ». Sa vie, riche en mérites et en œuvres insignes pour la paix de l’Église, alors déchirée par les hérésies, fut écrite par Cyrille de Scythopolis.
La messe de saint Sabbas est commune à tous les saints abbés, Os iusti.
Saint Sabbas se distingua par un grand amour de l’orthodoxie et un grand zèle pour faire accepter par toutes les églises les définitions dogmatiques du concile de Chalcédoine.
La première condition pour faire de sérieux progrès dans la voie de la sainteté, c’est de professer une parfaite orthodoxie, et le moyen le plus sûr pour éviter les écueils qu’on rencontre facilement sur le chemin du paradis, c’est ce que saint Ignace définissait dans ses exercices : Sentire cum Ecclesia, c’est-à-dire être pénétré du même esprit qui anime l’Église catholique.
Dom Pius Parsch, le Guide dans l’année liturgique
Ce n’est pas une fête proprement dite, on fait simplement mémoire du saint à la messe de l’Avent.
Jour de mort : 5 décembre 532. Tombeau : à Venise. A Rome, une antique église lui est dédiée sur l’Aventin, elle appartient au Collège Germanique. Image : On le représente en Abbé, avec une pomme à la main. Ayant été un jour tenté de manger une pomme, en dehors des repas de règle, il fit vœu de ne plus manger de pommes. Sa vie : Le martyrologe dit : « A Mutala en Cappadoce, saint Sabbas abbé ; en Palestine, il fut, par la sainteté de sa vie, d’une grande édification, il combattit sans relâche pour la foi orthodoxe contre les adversaires du concile de Chalcédoine. »
A Jérusalem il bâtit un célèbre « Laura » (c’est ainsi que les orientaux appellent les monastères) et ce monastère porta son nom. Quand, plus tard, les Arabes s’emparèrent de la ville, les moines s’enfuirent à Rome et y construisirent un monastère. C’est ainsi que le culte de Saint-Sabbas se répandit à Rome. Dans l’Église d’Orient le saint est très honoré. On le désigne par ces titres : « Le porteur de Dieu, le saint, l’habitant de la ville sainte, l’étoile du désert, le patriarche des moines. » Sa vie a été écrite par saint Cyrille de Scythopolis.
Pratique : Durant l’Avent, spécialement, nous devons nous imposer de petites mortifications, c’en sera une de ne rien manger entre les repas. En nous dominant ainsi, nous fortifions notre volonté et nous nous préparons à surmonter les grandes tentations. Quand on célèbre la messe de Saint-Sabbas, on prend la messe du commun des Abbés Os iusti.
Saint Sabas le Consacré (439-533) abbé en Palestine
Sabas, aujourd'hui citoyen de la métropole céleste, eut pour patrie, en Cappadoce, le village de Moutalaska, dépendant de la métropole de Césars. Il eut des parents chrétiens et fort bien nés, nommés Jean et Sophie;
Quelque temps ayant passé..., il entra au monastère de Flavianai, à vingt stades du village de Moutalaska ; on lui enseigna dans tout le détail la discipline monastique, et il apprit par cœur le Psautier.
Alors qu'il passait sa dixième année dans ce cénobe (de Palestine)..., l'abbé Longin lui permit de vivre en solitaire les cinq jours de la semaine dans la grotte susmentionnée. Une fois reçue la permission tant désirée, notre père Sabas resta cinq ais (469-474) mener ce genre de vie. Le soir du dimanche, il sortait du monastère, emportant pour son ouvrage de la semaine des feuilles de palmiers ; il passait les cinq jours sans prendre absolument aucune nourriture, et, le samedi, de bon malin, il arrivait au cénobe apportant son travail manuel des cinq jours, cinquante couffins achevés.
Il vécut seul en ce ravin durant cinq ans Il y menait la vie d'Ermite, conversant avec Dieu... Et ainsi, en la quarante-cinquième année de son âge (483), il se voit confier par Dieu la direction d'autres âmes., Il commença donc à accueillir tous ceux qui venaient à lui. Beaucoup des anachorètes dispersés ça et là.., se joignaient à lui...
À chacun de ceux qui venaient à lui, il procurait un lieu commode avec une petite cellule et une grotte. Ainsi, par la grâce de Dieu, sa communauté s'éleva au nombre de soixante-dix moines, tous inspirés de Dieu. Tout d'abord, sur la colline qui est l'extrémité septentrionale du ravin, il bâtit une tour, voulant se saisir du lieu, qui ait encore inoccupé.
Puis il établit les premiers fondements de la Laure.
À mi-hauteur du ravin, il édifia un petit oratoire où il bâtit un autel consacré... Il n'avait pas accepté lui-même de recevoir les ordres, car il était extrêmement doux et vraiment humble, imitant en cela Christ le vrai Dieu,
Ayant fait venir le bienheureux Sabas, [le patriarche Salluste] l'ordonna prêtre… Prenant avec lui le bienheureux Sabas et les autres moines, il descendit à la laure en compagnie du stavrophylaque Kyrikos. Il fit la dédicace de l'église créée par Dieu, et, dans l'abside créée par Dieu, bâtit un autel consacré après avoir déposé sous celui-ci beaucoup de reliques de saints et victorieux martyrs.
Cela se fit le 12 décembre de la quatorzième indiction, en la cinquante-troisième année de la vie du bienheureux Sabas ; en cette môme année, l'empereur Zénon étant mort, Anastase reçut en succession le trône impérial.
Extraits de la "Vie de Sabas" par Cyrille de Stavropolis
SAINT SABAS
Patriarchal Abbot in Palestine
(439-531)
Saint Sabas, one of the most renowned patriarchs of the monks of Palestine, was born in the year 439, near Caesarea. At the age of fifteen, in the absence of his parents, he suffered under the conduct of an uncle, and weary of the world’s problems decided to forsake the world and enter a monastery not far from his family home. After he had spent ten years in religious life, his two uncles and his parents attempted to persuade him to leave the monastery to which he had migrated in Palestine. He replied: “Do you want me to be a deserter, leaving God after placing myself in His service? If those who abandon the militia of earthly kings are severely punished, what chastisement would I not deserve if I abandoned that of the King of heaven?”
When he was thirty years old, desiring greater solitude, he began to live an angelic life so far above nature that he seemed no longer to have a body. The young sage, as he was called by Saint Euthymius, Abbot of a nearby monastery, dwelt in a cavern on a mountain near Jerusalem, where he prayed, sang Psalms and wove baskets of palm branches. He was forty-five years old when he began to direct those who came to live as hermits, as he did, and he gave each of them a place to build a cell; soon this was the largest monastery of Palestine. He left the region when certain agitators complained of him, for he considered himself incapable of maintaining good discipline. The Patriarch of Jerusalem, Sallustus, did not easily credit the complaints, and instead ordained Sabas a priest, that he might say Mass for his disciples — for they had been displeased by his lack of desire for that honor. He was at that time fifty-three years old. The Patriarch presented him to them as their father, whom they should obey and honor, and made him Superior of all the Palestine monasteries. But several monks remained obstinate, and Saint Sabas again went elsewhere, to a cavern near Scythopolis.
As the years passed, he was in charge of seven monasteries; but his influence was not limited to Palestine. The heresies afflicting religion were being sustained by the emperor of Constantinople, who had exiled the Catholic Patriarch of that city, Elias. Saint Sabas converted the one who had replaced Elias, and wrote to the emperor that he should cease to persecute the Church of Jerusalem, and to impose taxes on the cities of Palestine which they were unable to pay. In effect, the people were reduced to extreme misery. The emperor died soon afterwards, and the pious Justin replaced him. Justin restored the true faith by an edict and recalled the exiles, re-establishing the exiled prelates in their sees.
When Saint Sabas was ninety-one years old, he made the long journey to Constantinople to ask Justinian, successor to Justin, not to act with severity against the province of Palestine, where a revolt had occurred by the non-submission of a group of Samaritans. The emperor honored him highly and wished to endow his monasteries with wealth, but the holy Patriarch asked him to use the riches he was offering to build a hospice for pilgrims in Jerusalem, to decorate the unfinished Church of the Blessed Virgin, to build a fortress where the monks could take refuge when barbarians invaded the land, and finally, to re-establish preaching of the true Faith, by edicts proscribing the various errors being propagated. The holy Abbot lived to be ninety-two years old, and died in 531, in the arms of the monks of his first monastery.
Source: Les Petits Bollandistes. Vies des Saints, by Msgr. Paul Guérin (Bloud et Barral: Paris, 1882), Vol. 14.
Also
known as
- Sabbas
the Sanctified
- Sabbas
the Great
- Sabas….
- Sava….
Memorial
Profile
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 ten 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 patriach took Sabbas’s
side, and the two 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 travelled to Constantinople where he successfully pled
for clemency from Justinian for Samarians who were in revolt.
Born
Died
Canonized
Representation
- man holding the rule of his monastery in his hand
- man seated at the edge of
a cliff
- man praying in a cave with a lion nearby
St. Sabbas
(Also spelled Sabas).
Hermit, born at
Mutalaska near Caesarea in Cappadocia, 439; died in his laura 5 December, 532. He entered aBasilian monastery at the age of eight, came to Jerusalem in 456, lived five years in a cavern
as a disciple of St. Euthymius, and, after spending
some time in various monasteries, founded (483) the Laura Mar Sabe (restored in 1840) in the gorges of
the Cedron, southeast of Jerusalem. Because some of his monks opposed his rule and demanded a priest as their abbot, Patriarch Salustius of Jerusalem ordained him in 491 and appointedarchimandrite of all the monasteries in Palestine in 494. The opposition continued and he withdrew to the
newlaura which he had built near
Thekoa. A strenuous opponent of the Monophysites and the Origenists he tried to influence the emperors against them by calling personally on Emperor Anastasius at Constantinople in 511 and on Justinian in 531. His authorship of
"Typicon S. Sabæ" (Venice, 1545), a regulation for Divine worshipthroughout the year as well as
his authorship of a monastic rule bearing the same title (Kurtz in
"Byzant, Zeitschrift", III, Leipzig, 1894, 167-70), is doubtful. After him was named
the Basilica of St.
Sabas with its former monastery on the Aventine at Rome. His feast is on 5 December. Other saints of this name are:
- St. Sabbas, a Goth, martyred 12 April, 372, by being drowned in the Musæus, a tributary of the
Danube;
- St. Sabbas, also a Goth, martyred with about seventy others at Rome, under Aurelian;
- St. Julianus Sabbas,
a hermit near Edessa, d. about 380;
- St. Sabbas the Younger, a Basilian abbot, 6 February, 990 or 991, at the monastery of St.
Caesarius inRome;
- St. Sabbas, Archbishop of Serbia,
d. at Trnawa, 14 January, 1237.
Sources
A Life in Greek by Cyril of Scythopolis was edited by Cotelier in
Eccl. Graecae Monum., III (Paris, 1686) 220-376, and by Ponjalovskij together with an Old-Slavonian version (St. Petersburg, 1890); another old Life in Greek was edited by Koiklydes (Jerusalem, 1905).
Ott, Michael. "St. Sabbas." The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 13. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1912. 5 Dec. 2015<http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/13286b.htm>.
Copyright © 2020
by Kevin Knight. Dedicated to the
Immaculate Heart of Mary.
Константинополь. 985 г. Миниатюра Минология Василия II. Ватиканская
библиотека. Рим.
St. Sabas
Born in Cappadocia (modern-day Turkey),
St. Sabas is one of the most highly regarded patriarchs among the monks of
Palestine and is considered one of the founders of Eastern monasticism.
After an unhappy childhood in which he was abused
and ran away several times, St. Sabas finally sought refuge in a monastery.
While family members tried to persuade him to return home, the young boy felt
drawn to monastic life. Although the youngest monk in the house, he excelled in
virtue.
At age 18 he traveled to Jerusalem, seeking to
learn more about living in solitude. Soon he asked to be accepted as a disciple
of a well-known local solitary, though initially he was regarded as too young
to live completely as a hermit. Initially, St. Sabas lived in a monastery,
where he worked during the day and spent much of the night in prayer. At the
age of 30 he was given permission to spend five days each week in a nearby
remote cave, engaging in prayer and manual labor in the form of weaving
baskets. Following the death of his mentor, St. Euthymius, St. Sabas moved
farther into the desert near Jericho. There he lived for several years in a
cave near the brook Cedron. A rope was his means of access. Wild herbs among
the rocks were his food. Occasionally men brought him other food and items,
while he had to go a distance for his water.
Some of these men came to him desiring to join him
in his solitude. At first he refused. But not long after relenting, his
followers swelled to more than 150, all of them living in individual huts
grouped around a church, called a laura.
The bishop persuaded a reluctant St. Sabas, then in
his early 50s, to prepare for the priesthood so that he could better serve his
monastic community in leadership. While functioning as abbot among a large
community of monks, he felt ever called to live the life of a hermit.
Throughout each year —consistently in Lent—he left his monks for long periods
of time, often to their distress. A group of 60 men left the monastery,
settling at a nearby ruined facility. When St. Sabas learned of the
difficulties they were facing, he generously gave them supplies and assisted in
the repair of their church.
Over the years St. Sabas traveled throughout
Palestine, preaching the true faith and successfully bringing back many to the
Church. At the age of 91, in response to a plea from the Patriarch of
Jerusalem, St. Sabas undertook a journey to Constantinople in conjunction with
the Samaritan revolt and its violent repression. He fell ill and, soon after
his return, died at the monastery at Mar Saba. Today the monastery is still inhabited
by monks of the Eastern Orthodox Church, and St. St. Sabas is regarded as one
of the most noteworthy figures of early monasticism.
SOURCE :
http://www.ucatholic.com/saints/saint-sabas/
Icons "Sabbas the Sanctified",
"Repentance of Peter". Vladimir, end of XII - begin of XIII c.
Article
Saint Sabas was born in
Cappadocia, in the district of Caesarea. When hardly five years of age, he was
given into the care of his uncle, Hermes, as his parents were obliged to be
absent from home for several years. After some years, Sabas, disgusted with the
world, in which he saw nothing but selfishness and avarice, went into a
monastery, where he served the Lord during ten years with great zeal. At the
expiration of this time, he went, with the permission of his superior, to
Jerusalem to visit the holy places and the cloisters of the hermits of
Palestine. The most renowned of these, at that period, was that of which Saint
Euthymius was superior. Sabas, desiring to reach the highest degree of
spiritual perfection, begged to be received into it, and his wish was
fulfilled. His conduct while there was so exemplary, that it served as a mirror
to all the other religious. He was the first and most fervent at prayers; the
most industrious at work; the quickest in obedience; the most severe in
chastising his body, and the most edifying in all his actions. His superior
sent him, after some time, to Alexandria, where his parents resided; but when
he perceived that they desired to retain him, he’ escaped secretly and returned
into the monastery. He left it again, however, soon after, and retired into a
solitary cave, where he lived five years in still greater austerity than
before. By the inspiration of the Almighty who had chosen him as an instructor
for many others, he then selected another solitude, where he dwelt with several
others who desired to live under his guidance. God sent him, through
kind-hearted people, so much money, that he was enabled to build a large
monastery, which, in a short time, was occupied by 150 monks. Scarcely was this
monastery finished, when he found it necessary to build another, which was, in
the course of time, followed by five more, so rapidly did the number of his
disciples increase. The miracles he wrought by divine aid, and the holy life he
led, spread his fame over all Christendom. Hence, when the Emperor Anastasius
most barbarously persecuted the Catholics in the East, the patriarch of
Jerusalem requested our holy abbot to go, with some pious hermits, to
Constantinople and endeavor to prevent the emperor from further cruelties.
Sabas, although already 70 years old, cheerfully undertook this fatiguing
journey. When he arrived at Constantinople, he entered the imperial hall, and
Anastasius saw a bright Angel walking before the Saint. Awe-struck at this, he
hastily rose from his throne, and going to meet Sabas, received him with every
mark of courtesy, listened to him most respectfully, and granted him all he
asked.
At that time the city
was ravaged by a most terrible famine and by many contagious diseases, but
notwithstanding this, the inhabitants were miserably oppressed by fresh
imposts. Sabas, pitying them, represented to the emperor the general distress,
and exhorted him to abolish the new taxes. The emperor granted his request
immediately, but Marinus, the chief treasurer, resisted, and advised the king
not to alter the laws. The Saint menaced Marinus with divine punishment, in
case he refused to retract his wicked advice. Marinus did not heed the menace,
and soon experienced the wrath of God; for, the oppressed people revolted, made
an attack upon his house and set fire to it. He would doubtless have lost his
life, had he not saved himself by flight. This occurrence brought the emperor
to relinquish his purpose; and Saint Sabas was so beloved by the inhabitants of
the city, that they paid him all honor as to their greatest benefactor. To
escape from this, the holy man hastened to leave the city, and reached his
solitude in safety, where he continued in the exercise of good works, until the
89th year of his life, when* at the request of the Patriarch of Jerusalem, he
made a second journey to Constantinople. His mission was to ask the assistance
of the emperor against the Samaritans who had invaded Palestine and persecuted
the Christians. The emperor Justinian, who had heard much of the holiness of
Saint Sabas, requested the patriarch of the city to bring the Abbot to the
palace. When the Saint entered, the emperor saw a bright crown on his head, and
rising to receive him, embraced him most warmly, and not only promised him the
required aid, but immediately issued the necessary orders to the imperial
officers in Palestine. During the audience, the clock struck three, the hour at
which the Saint was wont to recite a portion of his daily prayers. He,
therefore, went out to pray, and when told that it was not becoming to leave at
the very moment when the em- peror was occupied in granting a petition, the
Saint replied: u The Emperor does his duty, and I do mine.” After the Saint’s
requests had all been granted, he returned to Jerusalem, and thence to his
beloved solitude, where, with increasing years, he increased in holiness. In
531, he ended his holy life by a happy death* in the 92d year of his age. The
many miracles which were performed at his intercession, were evidence of the
happy life he had commenced in heaven.
Practical Considerations
The entire life of Saint
Sabas was a continual exercise of good works. The same may be said of a great
many other Saints. To understand this, and to follow Saint Sabas, it is
necessary to know that there are two kinds of good works: the first are those
which are commanded by God or by the Church; the second, those which are not
expressly commanded, but recommended as very agreeable to the Lord. The latter
are called volun tary good works. The Saints have always endeavored not only to
per- form those good deeds which are expressly commanded, but also such as are
not commanded. All good Christians should do likewise. They should serve the
Lord, not like slaves, but like children. A slave does nothing but what is
commanded him, and that only for fear of punishment. An affectionate son does
not only that which his father commands, but also what he knows is agreeable to
his father, although it has not been expressly commanded; because he loves his
father. For he that loves, does everything that he knows is agreeable to the
beloved. In this man- ner our divine Lord acted towards His heavenly Father, as
He Himself says: “For I do always the things that please him.” (John 8) Thus
also did the Saints act, because they endeavored to be true children of God.
Hence we find so much in their lives of voluntary fasts and abstinences, of
long prayers at night, of frequent visits to the churches, of reading devout
books, of practising divers penances, of avoiding entertainments in themselves
not sinful, of leaving all temporal goods, of their flight to convents and into
deserts, and of continual mortification in eating, drinking, sleeping, talking,
seeing, hearing, and bearing heat and cold. If you wish to be a true child of
God, follow Christ and His Saints. Before all things, practise those good works
which are commanded, and then also those which are not commanded, but which are
agreeable to your God. You daily have opportunities to do this; make use of
them. Make today the resolution which the holy king David made, who practised
many good works which were voluntary. Thus, for instance, during the day, he
prayed seven times; he rose in the middle of the night to praise the Lord; wept
bitterly over his sins every day; fasted most austerely; wore a rough
hair-shirt and abstained from refreshing himself with a draught of water, which
had been offered him when very thirsty. “I will voluntarily sacrifice to thee.”
(Psalm 77) This was his resolution, which he faithfully kept. “I will sacrifice
to thee of my own accord, and praise thy name.” Let
this also be your resolution.
MLA Citation
- Father Francis Xavier
Weninger, DD, SJ. “Saint Sabas, Abbot and Confessor”. Lives of the Saints, 1876. CatholicSaints.Info. 2 June 2018. Web. 5 December
2020. <https://catholicsaints.info/weningers-lives-of-the-saints-saint-sabas-abbot-and-confessor/>
SOURCE : https://catholicsaints.info/weningers-lives-of-the-saints-saint-sabas-abbot-and-confessor/
Свети Антоний и Свети Сава от църквата „Свети Димитър“
в Тушин, Егейска Македония, Гърция.
Article
Saint Sabas, one of the
most renowned patriarchs of the monks of Palestine, was born in the year 439,
near Csesarea. In order to settle a dispute which had arisen between some of
his relations, in regard to the administration of his estate, while still
young, he forsook the world and entered a monastery, wherein he became a model
of fervor. When Sabas had been ten years in this monastery, being eighteen
years old, he went to Jerusalem to visit the holy places, and attached himself
to a monastery then under control of Saint Euthymius, but on the death of the
holy abbot our Saint sought the wilderness, where he chose his dwelling in a
cave on the top of a high mountain, at the bottom of which ran the brook
Cedron. After he had lived here five years, several came to him, desiring to
serve God under his direction. He was at first unwilling to consent, but
finally founded a new monastery of persons all desirous to devote themselves to
praise and serve God without interruption. His great sanctity becoming known,
he was ordained priest, at the age of fifty-three, by the patriarch of
Jerusalem and made Superior-General of all the anchorites of Palestine. He
lived to be ninety-four, and died on the 5th of December, 532.
MLA Citation
- John Dawson Gilmary Shea.
“Saint Sabas, Abbot”. Pictorial Lives of the
Saints, 1922. CatholicSaints.Info. 14 December 2018. Web. 5
December 2020. <https://catholicsaints.info/pictorial-lives-of-the-saints-saint-sabas-abbot/>
SOURCE : https://catholicsaints.info/pictorial-lives-of-the-saints-saint-sabas-abbot/
5 December
The Roman Church
confines herself to-day to the Office of the Feria; but to that she joins a
Commemoration of Saint Sabas, Abbot of the celebrated Laura of Palestine, which
still exists under his name. This Saint, who died in 533, is the only one of the Monastic Order of whom the
Church makes any mention in her Liturgy during the whole period of Advent; we
might even say that he is the only simple Confessor whose name occurs in the
Calendar of this part of the year; for, as regards Saint Francis Xavier, the
glorious title of Apostle of the Indies puts him in a distinct class of Saints.
Here again we should recognise Divine Providence, which has selected, for these
days of preparation for Christmas, those Saints whose characteristic virtues
would make them our fittest models in this work of preparation. We have the
feasts of Apostles, Pontiffs, Doctors, Virgins: Jesus, the Man-God, the King
and Spouse of men, is preceded by this magnificent procession of the noblest of
his servants: simple Confession has but a single representative, the Anchoret
and Cenobite Sabas, who, by his profession of the monastic life is of that
family of holy solitaries, which began with the Prophet Elias under the Old
Testament, and continued up to the time of Saint John the Precursor, who was
one of its members, and will continue on during the New Covenant until the last
Coming of Jesus. Let us, then, honour this holy Abbot, towards whom the Greek
Church professes a filial veneration, and under whose invocation Rome has
consecrated one of her Churches. Let us beg his prayers by this Collect of the
holy Liturgy:
Collect
May the intercession, we
beseech you, O Lord, of the blessed Abbot Sabas, recommend us to you; that what
we cannot hope for through our own merits we may obtain by his prayers. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.
O Sabas, you man of
desires! in your expectation of that Lord, who has bid his servants watch until
he come, you withdrew into the desert, fearing lest the turmoil of the world
might distract your mind from its God. Have pity on us who are living in the
world, and are so occupied in the affairs of that world, and yet who have
received the commandment which you did so take to heart, of keeping ourselves
in readiness for the Coming of our Saviour, and our Judge. Pray for us, that
when he comes, we may be worthy to go out to meet him. Remember also the
Monastic State, of which you are one of the brightest ornaments; raise it up again
from its ruins; let its children be men of prayer and faith, as of old; let
your spirit be among them, and the Church thus regain, by your intercession,
all the glory which is reflected on her from the sublime perfection of this
holy State.
– from the book The Liturgical Year: Advent, by the Very
Reverend Dom Prosper Gueranger, Abbot of Solesmes, translated from the French
by the Revered Dom Laurence Shepherd, Monk of the English-Benedictine
Congregation, 2nd edition; published in Dublin Ireland by James Duffy, 15
Wellington-Quay, 1870
SOURCE : https://catholicsaints.info/the-liturgical-year-saint-sabas-abbot/
Roma, chiesa di San Saba.
This Day, the Fifth Day of December
At Mutala, in
Cappadocia, Saint Sabas, abbot, who was renowned in Palestine for admirable examples of
sanctity. He labored courageously in defending the Catholic faith against those who attacked the holy Council of
Chalcedon.
At Thebesta, in Africa, during the time of Diocletian and Maximian, Saint Chrispina, a woman of the highest nobility, who refused to
sacrifice to idols, and was beheaded by order of the proconsul
Anolinus. Her praises are often celebrated by Saint Augustine.
At Thagura, in Africa, the holy martyrs Julius, Potamia, Crispinus,
Felix, Gratus, and seven others.
At Nicaea, near the
river Var, Saint Bassus, bishop. In the persecution of Decius and Valerian, he was tortured by the governor Perennius for the faith of Christ, burned with hot plates of metal,
beaten with rods and whips garnished with pieces of iron, and thrown into the
fire. Having come out of it unhurt, he was transfixed with two spikes, and thus
terminated an illustrious martyrdom.
At Pavia, Saint Dalmatius, bishop and martyr, who suffered in the persecution of Maximian.
At Pelino, in
Abruzzo, Saint Pelinus, bishop of Brindisi. Under Julian the Apostate, because by his prayers he caused a temple of Mars to
fall to the ground, he was most severely scourged by the idolatrous priests,
and being pierced with eighty-five wounds, merited the crown of martyrdom.
Also, Saint Anastasius, martyr, who, thirsting for martyrdom, voluntarily offered himself to
the persecutors.
At Treves, Saint Nicetius, bishop, a man of great sanctity.
At Polybotum, in
Asia, Saint John, bishop, surnamed Wonder-worker.
And elsewhere in divers
places, many other holy martyrs, confessors, and holy virgins.
V: All ye Holy Martyrs, pray for us
R: Thanks be to God
– Roman Martyrology, 1914,
revised edition with the imprimatur of Cardinal James
Gibbons
SOURCE : https://catholicsaints.info/roman-martyrology-december-5th/
Фреска церкви Рождества Христова в Великом Новгороде. XIV век.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Rev. Alban
Butler (1711–73). Volume XII: December. The Lives of the Saints. 1866.
SOURCE : http://www.bartleby.com/210/12/051.html
Relics of St. Sabbas the Sanctified in the
Catholicon (main church) of the Eastern Orthodox Mar Saba monastery
in Palestine (now West Bank).
San Saba Archimandrita Abate
Mutalasca, Cesarea di Cappadocia, 439
- Mar Saba, Palestina, 5 dicembre 532
Nasce
nel 439 a Cesarea di Cappadocia. La sua famiglia, cristiana, lo indirizza verso
gli studi presso il vicino monastero di Flavianae. Ne esce con un'istruzione e
con il desiderio di farsi monaco. Attorno ai 18 anni arriva pellegrino in
Terrasanta. Sul cammino sosta sempre in comunità monastiche di diverso tipo: di
vita comune, anacoretiche, nelle loro grotte o capanne. È così che trova una
guida nel monaco Eutimio detto «il grande», col quale condividerà la vita
eremitica in Giordania. Dopo la morte del maestro si ritira verso Gerusalemme,
nella valle del Cedron. Qui, col tempo, si forma intorno a lui un'aggregazione
monastica frequente in Palestina: la laura. Una comunità destinata a crescere
fino ad ospitare 150 monaci e far da guida ad altri «villaggi» monastici di
questo tipo. Nel 492, Saba viene ordinato sacerdote, e il patriarca Elia di
Gerusalemme lo nomina archimandrita, capo di tutti gli anacoreti di Palestina.
Muore, ultranovantenne, nel 532. (Avvenire)
Emblema: Bastone
pastorale
Martirologio
Romano: Vicino a Gerusalemme, san Saba, abate, che, nato in Cappadocia,
raggiunse il deserto di Giuda in Palestina, dove istituì una nuova forma di
vita eremitica in sette monasteri, che ebbero il nome di laure, nelle quali gli
eremiti si riunivano sotto la guida di un unico superiore; passò lunghi anni
nella Grande Laura, in seguito insignita del suo nome, rifulgendo come modello
di santità e lottando strenuamente in difesa della fede calcedonese.
Nasce suddito dell’Impero
romano d’Oriente, in una famiglia di cristiani, che da ragazzo lo mettono agli
studi nel monastero di Flavianae, presso Cesarea di Cappadocia (attuale Kayseri
in Turchia). Ne esce con un’istruzione e con il desiderio di farsi monaco. Si
scontra con i suoi, che invece vorrebbero avviarlo alla carriera militare. E la
spunta allontanandosi. Sui 18 anni arriva pellegrinoin Terrasanta, facendo
sempre tappa e soggiorno tra i monaci: quelli di vita comune, e anche gli anacoreti,
nelle loro grotte o capanne.Trova una guida decisiva nel monaco Eutimio detto
“il grande”: ha convertito molti arabi nomadi, è stato consigliere spirituale
dell’imperatrice Eudossia (la moglie di Teodosio II) nella prima metà del
secolo.
Con Eutimio, Saba condivide la vita eremitica nei luoghi meno accoglienti: il
deserto della Giordania, la regione del Mar Morto. Assiste poi fino all’ultimo
questo suo maestro (morto intorno al473) e si ritira più tardi verso
Gerusalemme, andando a stabilirsi in una grotta nel vallone del Cedron. Qui,
col tempo, si forma intorno a lui un’aggregazione monastica frequente in
Palestina: lalaura o lavra (“cammino stretto”, in greco), che è un misto di
solitudine e di comunità, dove i monaci vivono isolati percinque giorni della
settimana, e si riuniscono poi il sabato e la domenica per la celebrazione
eucaristica in comune. Vivonosotto la guida di un superiore, e dal gennaio fino
alla Domenicadelle palme sperimentano la solitudine totale in unaregione
desertica.
Insieme a lui, nel vallone, i monaci raggiungono il numerodi 150, ma nuovi
“villaggi” nascono in altre partidella Palestina, imitando il suo, che prende
il nome diGrande Laura. Nel 492, Saba viene ordinato sacerdote,e il patriarca
Elia di Gerusalemme lo nomina poi archimandrita, cioè capo di tutti gli
anacoreti di Palestina.
Ma non è un capo dolce, Saba. Non fa sconti sulla disciplina e non tutti lo
amano: tant’è che per qualche tempo lui si dovrà allontanare. E andrà a fondare
un’altra laura a Gadara, presso il lago di Tiberiade. Poi il patriarca lo
richiama, perché i monaci si sono moltiplicati: c’è bisogno della sua energia,
per la disciplina e per la difesa della dottrina sulle due nature del Cristo,
proclamatanel 451 dal concilio di Calcedonia, e contrastata dalla teologia
“monofisita”, che nel Signore ammetteva una sola natura.Scontro teologico, con
la politica di mezzo: c’è frattura a Costantinopoli tra l’imperatore Anastasio
e il patriarca;e Saba accorre nella capitale, nel vano tentativo di
riconciliarli.
Poi vi ritornerà altre volte. E l’ultima, nel 530 è per lui una fatica enorme:
ha quasi novant’anni. Ma affronta il viaggioper difendere i palestinesi da una
dura tassazione punitiva. La gente lo venera già da vivo come un santo.
E ancora da vivo gli si attribuisce un intervento miracoloso contro i danni di
una durissima siccità. Canonizzato da subito, dunque. E sempre ricordato anche
dal grande monastero che porta ilsuo nome: Mar Saba. È stato per lungo tempo
centro di ascesi e di studio; ed esiste tuttora, dopo avere attraversato tempi
di fioritura e di decadenza, di saccheggi e di devastazioni.
Autore: Domenico
Agasso
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