Житие преподобного отца нашего Герасима, жившего на Иордане

The Great Faster Reverend Gerasim was born in Lycia 1714. From his youth, he raised himself in the fear of God and, having accepted monastic orders, retired into the desert deep into the Egyptian country of Thebaid. After spending some time there in deeds of piety, he again returned to his homeland in Lycia. Then he came to Palestine, at the end of the reign of Theodosius the Younger 1715, and settled in the Jordan Desert, where, like a bright star, he shone with his virtuous life. There, near the Jordan River, he built a monastery. During his stay in Palestine, during the reign of Marcian and Pulcheria, there was a fourth Ecumenical Council of the Holy Fathers in Chalcedon against the wicked Dioscorus, Patriarch of Alexandria, and Archimandrite Eutyches, who taught that in Christ there is only one nature - Divine; the holy fathers condemned them. Afterwards, some heretics appeared who blasphemed the council and claimed that it rejected the dogmas of the true faith and restored the teachings of Nestorius of 1716. Such was one monk Theodosius, infected by the wickedness of Eutyches. Having arrived in Jerusalem, he confused all of Palestine, deceiving not only ordinary people, but even many saints and Queen Eudokia, the widow of King Theodosius the Younger, who lived in Jerusalem at that time. With the help of the latter and many Palestinian monks he seduced, he drove the blessed Juvenal, Patriarch of Jerusalem, from the throne and took it himself. Those who remained faithful to orthodoxy suffered a lot from the false patriarch Theodosius and went into the very depths of the desert. The first to retire was St. Euthymius the Great; other holy fathers followed him. At this time, by God’s permission, the Monk Gerasim was also seduced, but soon repented, as Cyril of Jerusalem writes in his 1717 Life. There was then, he says, in the Jordan desert a hermit who had recently come from Lycia, named Gerasim. He went through all the rules of monastic life and valiantly fought against the unclean spirit; but, defeating and driving away invisible demons, he was seduced by visible demons - heretics and fell into the heresy of Eutyches. At this time, the glory of Euthymius's virtuous life spread everywhere. The Monk Gerasim went to him in the desert called Ruva, and settled there for a long time. Satisfied with the sweetness of the saint’s teachings and admonitions, he rejected the false teaching of the heretics, turned to the right faith and bitterly repented of his error. This is what Kirill says. Finally, His Holiness Juvenal again occupied the patriarchal throne: the pious Tsar Marcian sent to seize the false Patriarch Theodosius in order to bring him to trial for his deeds. But Theodosius, having learned about this, fled to Mount Sinai and disappeared to an unknown location. Thus, the right faith again shone in Jerusalem and throughout Palestine, and many, seduced into heresy, again turned to piety. Likewise, Queen Evdokia, having realized her error, reunited with the Orthodox Church. The monastery of the Monk Gerasim was 35 stadia from the holy city of Jerusalem, and one stadia from the Jordan River. Here he received new entrants, and to those who had passed the test he gave hermit cells in the desert. In total, he had no less than 70 desert dwellers, for whom the Monk Gerasim established the following charter. Each person spent five days a week in his solitary cell in silence, doing some kind of work, eating a little dry bread brought from the monastery, water and roots. During these five days, it was not allowed to eat anything boiled and it was not even allowed to light a fire, so that there would be no thought of cooking food. On Saturday and Sunday everyone came to the monastery, gathered in church for the Divine Liturgy and partook of the Most Pure and Life-Giving Mysteries of Christ, then at a meal they ate boiled food and a little wine for the glory of God and presented to the abbot the work completed over the course of five days. On Sunday afternoon, everyone again retired to his solitary cell in the desert, taking with him some bread, roots, a vessel with water and date branches for weaving baskets. Their lack of wealth and poverty was such that none of them had anything except some old clothes, matting for sleeping and a small vessel of water. The abbot even forbade them to close the door when leaving the cell, so that anyone could enter and freely take what they wanted from these wretched things. And so they lived according to the apostolic rule “one heart and one soul,” and no one called anything his own, but everything was common. They say that some of the hermits asked St. Gerasim for permission to light a candle sometimes at night for reading or to light a fire in order to heat water if necessary. But Saint Gerasim said to them: – If you want to have fire in the desert, then come to live in the monastery with the new arrivals: while I am alive, I will never allow the desert dwellers to have fire! Residents of the city of Jericho, having heard about such strict asceticism under the leadership of Saint Gerasim, made it a rule to come to the monastery of the monk every Saturday and Sunday and bring an abundance of food, wine and everything needed for the monastery. The Monk Gerasim observed the fasts so strictly that on the Holy and Great Pentecost he ate absolutely nothing until Bright Day and strengthened his bodily and mental strength only by communion of the Divine Mysteries. Blessed Kyriakos also labored under this pious mentor, as it is written about in his life: “Having received Kyriakos who came to him in a friendly manner and foresaw Divine glory in him, the Monk Euthymius himself clothed him in the schema and sent him to the Jordan to Saint Gerasimos. Saint Gerasim, seeing the youth of Kyriakos, ordered him to live in a monastery and carry out obedience. Ready to do any work, Kiriak spent the whole day among the monastic works, and stood in prayer all night, sometimes only indulging in sleep for a short time. He imposed a fast on himself and only two days later he ate bread and water. Seeing such abstinence from Cyriacus, despite his young years, the Monk Gerasim was amazed and fell in love with him. Saint Gerasim had the custom of going to the most remote part of the desert on Lent, called Ruva, where Saint Euthymius once lived; loving blessed Kyriakos for his great abstinence, he took him with him, and there every week Kyriakos received the Holy Mysteries from the hands of Saint Gerasim, remained in silence until Palm Sunday and returned to the monastery, having received great spiritual benefit. After some time, our venerable father Euthymios reposed, and the venerable Gerasim learned about his death while in his cell: he saw how the Angels of God joyfully carried the soul of the venerable Euthymios into heaven. Taking Cyriacus with him, he went to the monastery of Euthymius and found him already dead. Having buried his honorable body, he returned with his beloved disciple Kyriakos to his cell. Even the dumb beast served the great saint of God Gerasim as a reasonable person, as the blessed fathers Evirat and Sophronius Sophist write in the Limonar of 1718: “We came to the monastery of Father Gerasim, located at a distance of one mile from the Jordan, and the monks who lived there told us about Father Gerasim. One day he was walking through the Jordan desert and met a lion, who showed him his leg, swollen and filled with pus from a pierced thorn. The lion looked meekly at the elder and, unable to express his request in words, begged for healing with his humble appearance. The old man, seeing the lion in such trouble, sat down, took the beast's leg and pulled out the thorn from it. When the pus flowed out, he cleaned the wound well and tied it with a handkerchief. From then on, the healed lion did not leave the elder, but followed him as a disciple, so that Saint Gerasim marveled at the intelligence and meekness of the beast. The elder nourished him, giving him bread or other food. The monks had a donkey on which they brought water from the Holy Jordan for the brethren. The elder instructed the lion to accompany the donkey and protect it as it grazed on the banks of the Jordan. It happened one day that a lion walked a considerable distance away from a grazing donkey and fell asleep in the sun. At that time, a man from Arabia was walking past with camels and, seeing that the donkey was grazing alone, he took it and took it with him. Having woken up, the lion began to look for the donkey and, not finding it, with a dejected and sad look, went to the monastery to Father Gerasim. The elder thought that the lion had eaten the donkey and asked: The lion stood silently, with his eyes downcast, like a man. The elder then said: - You ate him! But blessed be the Lord, you will not leave here, but will do for the monastery everything that the donkey did. By order of the elder, from then on they began to load a barrel of four furs on the lion, as before on a donkey, and send it to the Jordan to fetch water for the monastery. One day a warrior came to the elder to pray and, seeing a lion carrying water, took pity on him. To buy a new donkey and free the lion from work, he gave the monks three gold coins. A donkey for monastic service was purchased, and the lion was released from work. After some time, a merchant from Arabia, who stole the donkey, went to Jerusalem with camels to sell wheat; There was a donkey with him. Near the Jordan, a lion accidentally met with a caravan; Recognizing the donkey, he growled and rushed towards him. The merchant and his companions ran away in horror, and the lion, grabbing the bridle with his teeth, as he had done before, led the donkey with three camels tied one after the other, laden with wheat. Roaring his joy at having found the lost donkey, the lion led him to the elder. The reverend elder smiled quietly and said to the brethren: “It was in vain that we scolded the lion, thinking that he had eaten our donkey.” The lion was given the name Jordan. After this, he often came to the elder, took food from him and did not leave the monastery for more than five years. When the venerable father Gerasim departed to the Lord in 1720 and was buried by the brethren, according to God’s dispensation, the lion did not end up in the monastery, but came after some time and began to look for his elder. Father Savvaty and one of the disciples of Father Gerasim, seeing the lion, said to him: - Jordan! Our elder left us orphans: he went to the Lord! They began to give him food, but the lion did not accept the food, but looked around in all directions, looking for the Reverend Father Gerasim, and roared mournfully. Father Savvaty and other elders stroked his back and repeated: “The old man went to the Lord and left us!” But with these words they could not keep the lion from screaming and mournfully growling, and the more they tried to console him with words, the sadder he roared, with his voice, face, and eyes, expressing grief that he did not see the old man. Then Father Savvaty said: – If you don’t believe us, then come with us; we will show you the place where the elder rests. And they went with him to the tomb where the Monk Gerasim was buried. The tomb was located near the church itself. Standing over the tomb, Father Savvaty said to the lion: “This is where our elder is buried.” And, kneeling down, he began to cry. Hearing this and seeing that Savvaty was crying, the lion hit his head on the ground and roared terribly. Roarling loudly, he died over the elder’s tomb. The lion could not express anything in words, but nevertheless, by the will of God, he glorified the elder both during his life and after death, showing us how obedient the animals were to Adam before his fall and expulsion from Paradise.” This is what John and Sophronius say. From this story it is clear how the Monk Gerasim was pleasing to God, working for His glory from youth to old age. He departed to the Lord in eternal life, where with the saints he glorifies the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit forever. Amen. Inflamed by the zeal of the Heavenly, you preferred the cruelty of the Jordan desert above all the sweet things of the world; Because of this, the beast obeys you even to the point of death, father, having passed away obediently and compassionately at your tomb, I will glorify you in this way to God, praying to the Unman, and remember us, Father Gerasim. Lycia is a region located in the southern part of Asia Minor. Theodosius II, called “the youngest” in his life, was the grandson of Theodosius the Great. Born in 400, in 408 he inherited the Eastern Roman Empire after his father Arcadius. Brought up in strict piety, Theodosius tried to eradicate the last traces of paganism in the Empire. Died in 450 Nestorius, Bishop of Constantinople, taught that Jesus Christ is not the true God, but only a simple man, the son of Joseph and Mary, awarded the special grace of God for the holiness of his life. According to the teachings of Nestorius, Jesus Christ saves us not through His redemptive merits, but through the example of a good life. The teachings of Nestorius were condemned at the Third Ecumenical Council, which took place in 431. Bishop of Jerusalem from 315 to 386, i.e. before the activity of St. Gerasim. In the life, apparently, the author is indicated incorrectly; Maybe we should read Cyril of Alexandria (archbishop in 412–444), who wrote a lot against heretics. “Limonar” (“Spiritual Meadow”) - a work by the Greek monk John Moschos; written at the beginning of the 7th century and contains brief tales about the lives and exploits of the saints. Fur is a leather bag that served as a measure of liquids. You might be interested in: