Lives of the Saints
1. VENERABLE PIMEN THE GREAT
An Egyptian by birth and a great ascetic of Egypt. As a boy he visited renowned spiritual fathers and gathered from them experiential knowledge as a bee gathers honey from flowers. Once Pimen entreated the elder Paul to take him to Saint Paisius. Seeing him, Paisius said to Paul: "This child will save many; the hand of God is with him." In time Pimen was tonsured a monk and drew two of his brothers into monasticism as well. Once their mother came to see her sons, but Pimen would not let her in, and through the door he asked her: "Do you desire more to see us here or there in eternity?" The mother departed with joy, saying: "Since I shall surely see you there, I do not wish to see you here." In the monastery of these three brothers, which was governed by the eldest brother, Abba Anubius, the rule was as follows: at night they spent four hours in handiwork, four hours in sleep and four hours in psalmody. By day, from morning to noon, they alternated between work and prayer; from noon to vespers they read, and in the afternoon they prepared their supper — the only meal in twenty-four hours — usually of some greens. Concerning their life Pimen himself said: "We ate what was set before us; no one ever said: give me something else; or: I will not eat that. In this manner we spent our entire life in silence and peace." He practiced asceticism in the fifth century and reposed peacefully at a very advanced age.
2. VENERABLE PIMEN OF PALESTINE
He practiced asceticism in Rouva, a desert of Palestine, in the time of Emperor Maurice (582-602). In his youth he was a shepherd. Once his dogs attacked a man and tore him apart, and he out of mischief did not defend the man. Because of this it was revealed to him that he too would at the end perish from wild beasts. And so it came to pass. He was set upon by wild beasts and surrendered his soul to the Lord.
3. SAINT HOSIUS, BISHOP OF CORDOBA
For more than sixty years he governed the Church in Spain as Bishop of Cordoba. He participated prominently at the First Ecumenical Council in Nicaea and presided over the local Council of Sardica in the year 347. He was so zealous for Orthodoxy that even before his death he once more pronounced anathema upon the heresy of Arius.
4. HIEROMARTYR KUKSHA AND VENERABLE PIMEN THE FASTER
Both were monks of the Kiev Caves Monastery. Kuksha successfully preached the Gospel to the Vyatichi and baptized them. One day pagans attacked and slew him together with his disciple. At that very hour Pimen the Faster was standing at a service in the Caves Monastery, and perceiving in spirit the death of his disciple and companion Kuksha, he cried out: "Our brother Kuksha has today been slain for the Gospel." And having said this, he himself also died, in the year 1113.
“We ate what was set before us; no one ever said: give me something else; or: I will not eat that. In this manner we spent our entire life in silence and peace.”
Hymn of Praise
Venerable Pimen, a depth of wisdom,
And a great torch of the light of Christ,
Since the vain world behind him he cast,
He reproached no one, blamed no one.
Once before Pimen the brethren quarreled,
But Pimen kept silence. Some rebuked him:
"How can you hear the quarrel and be indifferent?"
Pimen replied: "I have long been dead."
"How can I be saved?" someone asked him,
"That my mind not wander after the devil's snares?"
"On boiling water flies do not land,
And from a fervent soul demons flee."
Another said: "What is more certain:
Speaking to the brethren or silence?"
"By both the one and the other the Lord is glorified;
For the glory of God — choose one for yourself."
"How can one defend oneself from malice?"
"Malice cannot be conquered by malice.
Strive to do good to the malicious one,
That will set even his heart ablaze.
One's own house is not built by tearing down another's;
There a third one profits, and the devil is that third.
Two wicked passions poison our souls,
We have no freedom while they choke us:
Bodily pleasure and worldly vanity —
Free from them is only the holy soul."
“On boiling water flies do not land, and from a fervent soul demons flee.”
Reflection
Like one who crawls up a steep mountain, scratching with both feet and hands to take one step forward, not thinking of looking back — such were the great Orthodox ascetics in their arduous ascent toward the Kingdom of God. Truly, their labor and their dispassion are a marvel. Saint Pimen did not wish to see his mother when she came to visit. A certain prince wished to see Pimen, but he refused. Then the prince devised a cunning plan to compel the elder to meet with him: namely, he arrested the son of Pimen's sister and told Pimen's sister that he would release her son if Pimen himself came to him for a conversation. The sister went to the desert and, knocking on the door, begged her brother to come out and save her son. But Pimen did not come out. Then his sister began to curse and revile him. But Pimen did not come out. Hearing of this, the prince said that a letter should be written to Pimen, saying that if he, Pimen, should at least in writing — since he would not do so orally — petition the prince to release his nephew, the prince would do it. Pimen replied: "Command, mighty prince, that the young man's guilt be thoroughly examined, and if his guilt is such that he deserves death, let him die, so that by punishment in time he may escape torments in eternity; but if his guilt does not warrant the death penalty, then punish him according to the law and release him." Reading this just and impartial judgment, the prince was greatly amazed, released the young man, and doubled his respect for Pimen.
“Command, mighty prince, that the young man's guilt be thoroughly examined, and if his guilt is such that he deserves death, let him die, so that by punishment in time he may escape torments in eternity.”
Contemplation
Contemplate Saul's complete falling away from the one God (I Samuel 28-31), namely:
1. How Saul, frightened by the Philistines, turned to a pagan sorceress to divine for him;
2. How the sorceress by her sorcery summoned a spirit who called himself Samuel, and who prophesied destruction to Saul;
3. How Saul perished with his sons at the hands of the Philistines.
Homily
on the day of Christ as Isaiah prophesied it
Our God, brethren, is the God of truth. Even the sun has dark spots, but upon our God there is neither a spot nor an untruth. Every word spoken by God through the prophets has come true. When the Word of God became incarnate in Jesus Christ our Lord, then all the prophecies that pertained to Him, which until then had been dark riddles for the Jews, became clear as the sun. And the Word was made flesh, it is said in the Gospel concerning the pre-eternal Word of God, the eternal Wisdom of God, the Son of God; but in that incarnate Word of God, every prophetic word also was shown forth bodily. Before the Lord Christ came bodily to visit mankind, the scribes and readers of Holy Scripture could have thought of many prophetic words, long and long unfulfilled, that these were words only from the prophets as men and not from God. But God did not allow His prophets to be held in low esteem, and therefore He said that people would know in that day that I am He that doth speak. God wished, therefore, to give weight to every prophetic word, and wished to teach people patience — to wait patiently for that day, that wondrous day, when the appearance of the Lord on earth in the flesh would clearly cry into every ear: Behold, it is I! He who has come to know the Lord Jesus as God in the flesh has at the same time come to know in Him the One who spoke through the prophets. Behold, it is I — so Christ speaks even today. I am He who speaks through all of creation. I am He who spoke through the prophets. I am He who spoke words of eternal salvation through fleshly lips. I am He who spoke through the apostles, saints and teachers. I am He who speaks and who shall speak until the end of time through My Holy Church. I am He who speaks and of whom it is spoken. O Lord, to Thee be glory and praise forever. Amen.
“I am He who speaks through all of creation. I am He who spoke through the prophets. I am He who spoke words of eternal salvation through fleshly lips.”