Lessons from the Life of Abba Moses the Strong

This week, we cel­e­brate the feast of one of the great saints of Chris­tian­ity whose life and exam­ple are a light to all of us, the Strong Saint Abba Moses.

Biog­ra­phy

Let us first speak of the details of Abba Moses’ life. We know about Abba Moses pri­mar­ily from an early Chris­t­ian work known as the Lau­siac His­tory. This book was writ­ten by a pious Chris­t­ian named Pal­la­dius at the request of Lausus, a cham­ber­lain in the court of Emperor Theo­do­sius II. Pal­la­dius dwelt among the great ascetics and monks in the deserts of Egypt for sev­eral years, record­ing their lives and sayings.

In this work, we learn that Moses was a black man who was by nation­al­ity Ethiopian. He was a slave who left his earthly mas­ter and became a rob­ber, for­ni­ca­tor, and sav­age killer. Despite his sin­ful life, Moses wor­shipped idols and searched for the One True God. It is said that he spoke to the sun, say­ing, “If you are the True God, reveal your­self to me.”

One day, he heard a voice, say­ing, “If you want to know the true God, go to the wilder­ness of Shiheet.” He went, and there he found Abba Isidore the priest, who was a spir­i­tual father to all of the monks dwelling in Shi­heet. The two spoke about the true God and Abba Moses’ heart was opened towards repen­tance. He received the grace of the Mys­tery of Repen­tance and Con­fes­sion at the hands of Abba Macar­ius the Great who, dur­ing the Mys­tery, saw a black tablet that became whiter with each sin Abba Moses con­fessed. Abba Macar­ius proph­e­sied that Moses would be great among all the monks and that he would die as a martyr.

After sev­eral years of test­ing, Abba Macar­ius placed the eskeem on Abba Moses and made him a full monk.

Dur­ing his life of strug­gle in the desert, Abba Moses exhib­ited many virtues: he served oth­ers indis­crim­i­nately; he refused to judge any­one; he con­stantly strug­gled against the pas­sions and lusts of the flesh; he dis­played great humil­ity in sin­cerely con­sid­er­ing him­self to be less than every­one else; he prac­ticed the mys­tery of silence even in the face of insults; he con­stantly wor­shipped God and med­i­tated on the Holy Scriptures.

Abba Moses received not only the grace of the Mys­ter­ies of Repen­tance and Holy Bap­tism, but also the priest­hood as well. He became a father to hun­dreds of monks in their strug­gle as ascetics in the wilderness.

When he reached old age, the prophecy of Abba Macar­ius was ful­filled. Bar­bar­ians attacked the monastery and Abba Moses offered him­self to them with­out any resis­tance. He received the crown of mar­tyr­dom at approx­i­mately the age of 75.

Med­i­ta­tion

Let us now con­sider the amaz­ing story of the blessed Abba Moses in only four points.

A Mes­sage of Hope

The first point is that the story of Abba Moses the Strong is a mes­sage of hope to each and every one of us. Like the sto­ries of St. Mary of Egypt, St. Augus­tine, and many oth­ers, the story of Abba Moses teaches us that there is always hope for those who seek for­give­ness of their sins in their lives.

We see in the life of Abba Moses how repen­tance and the grace of God can con­vert a per­son from one extreme to the entirely oppo­site extreme. Abba Moses went from being the chief of an evil gang of thieves to the spir­i­tual father of a blessed group of monks; he went from being a mur­derer who took life to an ascetic who gave his life freely not only to God, but to any­one who needed him; he was trans­formed from an adul­terer to a vir­gin. These rad­i­cal changes give each and every one of us hope that we, too, can change our­selves and draw near God in our own lives.

The Power of Repentance

The sec­ond point is that the story of Abba Moses shows us the power of repen­tance. Repen­tance is not an emo­tional feel­ing of regret over our sins; it is a change of mind, a metanoia. A change of mind above all means a change of behav­ior. In the life of Saint Moses the Ethiopian, there is a clear change of behavior.

I would like to high­light two sto­ries in the life of Saint Moses the Ethiopian that demon­strate this change. Before his repen­tance and con­ver­sion, we read of his encounter with the shepherd:

He had as an enemy a cer­tain shep­herd, against whom he remem­bered cer­tain evil things, and he went to steal sheep from his flock. The shep­herd was told by a cer­tain man, “Moses has crossed the Nile by swim­ming, and he holds a sword in his hand, and his clothes are placed on his head, and he has crossed the river by swim­ming.” The shep­herd entirely cov­ered him­self with sand and hid from him. When Moses came and did not find the shep­herd, he chose out two fine rams from the sheep, slew them, tied them together with a rope, and swam across the river with them. Hav­ing come to a small vil­lage, he skinned the rams and ate the best por­tions of them. He sold the remain­der for wine and drank. After these things he went back to his companions.

The other story hap­pened after his con­ver­sion, and demon­strates the change which hap­pened in his life, in his atti­tude, and in his mind.

About him they tell the story that [four] thieves once came to him and went into his cell, because they did not know who he was. He tied them all together with cords and lifted them up on his shoul­ders like a bag of chopped straw. He brought them to the brethren in the church, and said to the brethren, “Since I have not the power to do evil to any man, what do you com­mand me to do to those who rose up against me to slay me?” Now at that time Moses had been fast­ing for seven days, and he had eaten noth­ing. After he had done this he informed the thieves, say­ing, “I indeed am Moses who was for­merly the cap­tain of a band of thieves.” Hav­ing heard this, they praised and glo­ri­fied God. When they saw the sin­cer­ity of his repen­tance they also removed them­selves from their evil deeds, and said within them­selves, “Let us also draw near to repen­tance, so that we may become wor­thy of the for­give­ness of sins, even as he also is worthy.”

Repen­tance is a Life­long Strug­gle for Holiness

Third, we learn from the story of Abba Moses that repen­tance is not a momen­tary change; it is a strug­gle for holi­ness that lasts through­out one’s whole life. In the life of Saint Moses the Black we dis­cover a clear metanoia in his life. This change was a begin­ning; it was not an end. After his repen­tance, he had to strug­gle against temp­ta­tion against the Devil. In his life, we read:

While fast­ing often, and dur­ing the time of prayer and silent con­tem­pla­tion, that devil of error, who brings back to the remem­brance of the mind the wicked­ness of for­mer habits, would come to him, and tempt him to such a degree that, even as he him­self has told us, he wanted exceed­ingly lit­tle to make Moses fall from his covenant.

He used to go to his father of con­fes­sion, Saint Isidore, to tell him about his strug­gle. His father of con­fes­sion told him,

Do not be dis­tressed, for these are the begin­ning of the birth pangs, and they come upon you seek­ing what they are accus­tomed to receive. When a dog comes con­tin­u­ally to the cook, if a man gives him noth­ing he will not go there again. Thus also it is with you: for if you will con­tinue in fast­ing, in prayer, and in silent con­tem­pla­tion, the Devil will imme­di­ately fall into despair and will flee from you.

We often hear com­plaints from peo­ple that they fell again after they repented. They think that repen­tance is a momen­tary change, after which the Devil will not return to attack and tempt them. But the story of Saint Moses the Ethiopian tells us that repen­tance is a begin­ning of strug­gle. We should not give up; we should not be dis­tressed. Rather, we have to con­tinue. The Devil will come, time and again. But if we reject his tricks and his devices, he will not return, as in the exam­ple of the dog men­tioned by Saint Isidore.

The Vic­to­ri­ous Life is the Gift of Divine Grace

We learn from the story of Saint Moses the Ethiopian that repen­tance and the life of holi­ness is not only our work as human beings, but also a gift of Divine Grace. His strug­gle was very ascetic. He fasted; he jour­neyed to help the other monks; and he per­formed numer­ous ascetic works. But his father of con­fes­sion, Saint Isidore, said to him:

Rest your­self, O Moses. Do not trou­ble your­self against the dev­ils, and do not seek to make attacks on them. There is mod­er­a­tion in every­thing, even in the works of ascetic life.

And he assured him saying,

In the Name of Jesus Christ, from this time for­ward the dev­ils shall cease from you. Draw near, then, and par­tic­i­pate in the Holy Mys­ter­ies, and you shall be free from all impu­rity both of the flesh and of the spirit. You must not boast within your­self, and say, ‘I have over­come the dev­ils,’ for it was for your ben­e­fit that they have waxed strong against you.” So Moses returned again to his cell. After two months, Abba Isidore came to him and asked him con­cern­ing him­self. Moses said to him, “I never see now any­thing which is hate­ful to me.” Now he was also held to be wor­thy of the gift of Divine Grace.

So, in our repen­tance, we have to strug­gle. But we have to know that the vic­to­ri­ous life is not our action; it is a gift from above. When God sees our sin­cere desire to strug­gle for a life of holi­ness, He will grant us, as Divine Grace granted Saint Moses the Ethiopian, rest from the con­tin­u­ous attacks of the Devil.

The Impor­tance of the Father of Confession

The life of Saint Moses the Ethiopian shows us the impor­tance of the father of con­fes­sion. Through his life, he was sup­ported by a great father of con­fes­sion, Saint Isidore. He received Moses when he came to the wilder­ness of Shi­heet. He helped Moses to know the Chris­t­ian faith. He led Moses in his repen­tance, and guided him in his first con­fes­sion. He helped him through his strug­gle. He guided him how to be strong against the temp­ta­tion of the Devil, not to boast within him­self, and how to depend on Divine Grace. He guided him, on the one hand, in the ascetic life with mod­er­a­tion, and on the other, in the spir­i­tual life, par­tic­i­pat­ing in the Holy Mys­ter­ies, pray­ing, and ask­ing God to help him.

So, in our strug­gle and repen­tance, we need guid­ance. There­fore, our church arranged for every believer to be guided by his father of con­fes­sion and to be a true dis­ci­ple of his father of confession.

Con­clu­sion

Again, the story of Saint Moses the Ethiopian gives to each one of us joy and hope, shows us the power of repen­tance, teaches us that repen­tance is a strug­gle of our life, and warns us not to depend on our­selves, but to depend on Divine Grace to grant us the gift of vic­to­ri­ous life under the direc­tion of our father of confession.

 

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