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St. Theodore the Sanctified (Feast Day - May 16) with St. Pachomius the Great (Feast Day - May 15)When St. Theodore the Sanctified was in Panopolis with St. Pachomius, his spiritual father, a philosopher came to him and offered to debate with him about the Faith. The philosopher then posed these three questions to Theodore: "Who was not born, but died?" "Who was born and did not die?" "Who died and did not decay?" To these questions, St. Theodore replied: "Adam was not born and died. Enoch was born and did not die. Lot's wife died and did not decay." And the saint added this advice to the philosopher: "Heed our sound advice; depart from these useless questions and scholastic syllogisms; draw near to Christ Whom we are serving and you will receive forgiveness of sins." The philosopher became mute from such a pointed answer and being ashamed, he departed. From this, the enormous difference is clearly seen between a pagan philosopher and a Christian saint. The one [the philosopher] loses himself in abstractions, in cleverly twisted words, in logical provocations and in thoughtful sport while the other [the saint] directed his whole mind on the Living God and on the salvation of his soul. The one is abstract and dead, while the other is practical and alive.
- St. Nikolai Velimirovich, Prologue, May 16
A saying about Abba Theodore is retold by Evagrius in his treatise On Prayer, which I though your readers might be interested in:
ReplyDelete"108. You have surely read the lives of the Tabennesiot monks, where it is said that, as Abba Theodore was saying a word to the brethren, two vipers came toward his feet. Being untroubled by this, he made for the vipers a kind of vaulted chamber and took them in until he had finished saying his word; then he revealed them to the brethren, explaining what had happened." (Augustine Casiday's translation)
Who is the third saint?
ReplyDeleteI can't make it out, but possibly a disciple of St. Pachomius, since he is in between the two of them.
ReplyDeleteThe one on the left is labeled St Gerasimos, the one in the middle is St Theodore (with what should be"ο αγιασμενος" to the right) and the Saint on the right is labeled Saint Pachomius. It looks like the αγιασμενου is just a mistake for αγιασμενος.
ReplyDeleteAh, thank you. I was reading it the wrong way. I think the first must be St Gerasimos of Jordan.
ReplyDelete