Another murderous saint
September 6th, 2008 ~ Orthodox perspectiveFrom Daily Lives and the OCA site: A little bit about St. David of Hermopolis in Egypt, a saint commemorated today. Maybe the story’s not that unusual. I just never heard of a saint entering the monastic life by issuing death threats.
Like St. Moses the Ethiopian, David was at first the leader of a murderous group of bandits in the Hermoplois wilderness of Egypt. But as he grew older, he looked back on his life with fear at what he had done. David went to a monastery and asked the abbot if he might be accepted there to repent. The abbot refused him, saying that their ascetic life was extremely sever and beyond his ability.
David persisted and finally, he revealed to the abbot that he was the notorious robber David. He said that if they did not accept him, he would return to his former life, then come back and plunder the monastery and kill the monks.
The abbot reconsidered. [I’ll bet!]
Through his intense efforts as a monastic, David surpassed all the brethren, and after some time God sent Archangle Gabriel to tell David that he had been forgiven. Out of humility, David would not believe that God could forgive him so quickly. Because of his disbelief, Gabriel told him that he would be left speechless. Yet, David asked permission to at least be able to say his prayers and to participate in the services. He was granted this, but was speechless otherwise.
As time passed, David was granted the gift to work miracles with his prayers; he healed the sick and cast out demons. He died peacefully.
Contents available under a
September 7th, 2008 at 8:03 pm
from a bad beginning, even good things can come.