Житие преподобного отца нашего Виталия монаха

At the time when the Patriarchal throne of Alexandria was occupied by His Holiness Patriarch John the Merciful, one monk named Vitaly came to Alexandria from the monastery of St. Siridas. This monk, being sixty years old, chose for himself such a kind of life, which for people who see only the external in a person seemed unclean and sinful, but for God, who looks at the internal and tests the hearts of men (Ps. 7:10), was pleasing and favorable: for that old man, wanting to secretly convert sinners and wicked people to repentance, in the opinion of people he himself was a sinner and wicked. He made himself a list of all the harlots who lived in Alexandria, and for each of them he especially earnestly prayed to God, so that He would turn them away from their sinful life. The elder hired himself out to work in the city from morning to evening and took twelve copper coins for his work. For one coin he bought himself a bean and ate it at sunset, for, having worked all day, he was fasting; then, having come to the whorehouse, he gave the rest of the money to some harlot and said to her: “I beg you, for this money, keep yourself clean all this night, without committing sin with anyone.” And having said so, he locked himself with her in her room. She slept on her bed, and the elder, standing in the corner, remained awake all night, quietly reading the psalms of David and praying to God for her until the morning. The next morning, leaving her, he swore an oath and asked her not to tell anyone about his act. He did this for a long time, laboring all day in fasting, and at night going to harlots and remaining awake in prayer. Every night he entered a different one, until, having gone around everyone, he started again from the first. The Lord God, seeing such a feat of His servant, helped him, for some of the harlots, ashamed of such virtues of Vitaly, themselves stood up to pray and together with him, kneeling, prayed. The saint urged such people to repent, threatening them with the Last Judgment of God and eternal torment in hell after death and encouraging them with God’s mercy and the hope of receiving eternal blessings in heaven. Then those, coming into the fear of God, humbled themselves and promised to improve their lives. And many of them left their former sinful lives and married legitimate husbands. And others, wanting to live in complete purity, entered nunneries and spent their lives there in fasting and tears. Others in the world lived without a husband in purity, feeding on the labor of their own hands. And not one of the harlots told anyone about the chaste life of Saint Vitaly, because as soon as one of them began to tell people that Vitaly came to them not for sin, but for the sake of their salvation, then Vitaly, hearing about this, was greatly saddened that his chaste life was being revealed, and prayed to God to punish that woman, so that all the others would come into fear and would not tell people about his exploits. Immediately, by Divine permission, that woman flew into a rage, seeing which other women fell into fear and did not dare to reveal anything to people about the holiness of Vitaly’s life. The people said to the enraged woman: “You see how God rewards you for the fact that you first said that this monk is not coming to you for fornication; - it is clearly revealed that he is a fornicator. And everyone was offended because of him and reproached him every day, saying: “Go, damned one,” the harlots are waiting for you, and they spat on him. The saint, enduring everything with meekness, rejoiced when he heard scolding and reproof from people, and was comforted in spirit that people considered him a great sinner. Sometimes he said to those who accused him: – Don’t I have a body, like all people? Did God create monks disembodied? Truly, monks are the same people. Some advised him: “Father,” they said, “take one of the harlots as your wife and take off your monastic robe, so that monasticism will not be blasphemed through you.” He, as if angry, answered them: - I don’t want to listen to you; What good is it for me to take a wife and take care of her, the children, the house and spend all my days in worries and labors? Why are you judging me? After all, it’s not you who will have to answer for me before God. Everyone take care of themselves and leave me alone. There is one Judge of all, God, who will reward everyone according to his deeds. Thus, the Monk Vitaly hid his virtue from people. Some of the clergy slandered him before the most holy Patriarch of Alexandria, John the Merciful, saying that one old man was seducing the entire city by entering the houses of harlots every night. But the holy patriarch did not believe the slanderers, since he had already been misled by the slanderers, when he beat one chaste and holy monk, who was also a eunuch 2713, who baptized an innocent Jewish woman, believing those who slandered him. Remembering that incident, the patriarch did not listen to those who denounced Vitaly and told them: – Stop judging, and especially don’t condemn monks. Don’t you know what happened at the first Ecumenical Council of 2714, when some of the bishops and clergy of blessed memory gave denunciations of sins written against each other to Emperor Constantine the Great. The emperor, having ordered to bring a lighted candle, burned their scriptures without even reading them, and at the same time said: “If I saw with my own eyes a bishop or a monk committing a sin, I would cover him with my clothes so that no one would see him sinning.” Thus, His Holiness the Patriarch shamed the informers. The servant of God Vitaly did not cease to care about the salvation of sinful souls, and no one knew about his virtuous life until his death. One day, when the Monk Vitaly was leaving the house of harlots at dawn, he was met by a young fornicator who was going to the harlots to sin with them. Seeing Vitaly, the young man hit him hard on the cheek and said: - Damned and wicked one, until you repent and give up your unclean life, so that the name of Christ is not desecrated by you even more? “Believe me, man, that you will receive a humble blow for me and such a blow on the cheek that all of Alexandria will come running to your cry.” After a little time, the Monk Vitaly shut himself up in his small and cramped cell, which he built near the gate called “Sunny”, and there he departed to the Lord in peace. Nobody in the city knew about this. At that time, a fornicator appeared before the mentioned young man, who hit the venerable elder on the cheek; the demon, in the form of a terrible Ethiopian, hit him hard on the cheek and said: - Take the blow that Monk Vitaly sent you. Immediately the young man went into a frenzy and, falling to the ground, rolled around on it in a frenzy, so that foam came out of his mouth; at the same time, he tore his clothes and screamed so loudly that the inhabitants of all Alexandria came running to his terrible cry. He suffered from a demon for a long time. After several hours, having come to his senses a little, the young man hurried to Vitaly’s cell, calling out: “Have mercy on me, servant of God, that I have sinned against you by greatly offending you with a blow to the cheek.” Now, according to your prediction, I have received worthy retribution. So shouting, he quickly fled, followed by the people. When he approached the elder’s cell, the demon, throwing the young man to the ground, disappeared. The young man, having completely come to his senses, began to tell the people how he hit the old man on the cheek and how the old man predicted to him that he would receive retribution for this. Then they knocked on the door of the elder’s cell, but received no answer. When they broke the door, they saw him kneeling in the middle of the cell, as if praying; the holy soul of the elder departed to the Lord. In his hand he held a charter on which was written: - Men of Alexandria! Do not judge prematurely until the Lord, the Righteous Judge, comes. At this time, a demon-possessed woman came there, who had previously wanted to tell people about the holy life of Vitaly, as mentioned above. She came, notified of the death of the saint by an Angel who appeared to her, and, touching the holy remains of the saint, she immediately received healing from demonic possession. In the same way, many blind and lame people began to receive healing when they touched the body of the saint. Hearing about the repose of the saint, all those women whom he had turned to repentance for their sins with his exhortations flocked to his tomb with lighted candles and lamps, crying and mourning for their father and teacher. At the same time, they spoke out loud to the whole people about the virtue of the old man, who did not touch any of them even with his own hand, and came to them not to sin, but to save them. The people, hearing their story, became angry with them and said: - Why did you hide from us the holiness of the life of this honest old man, for we, being in ignorance, sinned against him a lot, condemning and reproaching him? The women responded to the reproaches of the people like this: “We were afraid, because this old man with great oaths forbade us to tell anyone about his life, and as soon as one of our friends began to tell his secret to people, she became furious. Therefore, each of us, fearing such punishment, remained silent. And all the people marveled at such a servant of God, who so humbly hid the holiness of his life from people. While all the people thought that he was a great sinner, he was a friend of God and a pure vessel of the Holy Spirit. People reproached each other, ashamed of their foolishness, that they condemned such a saint of God and caused insults and insults to an innocent and pure-hearted person. When detailed news of everything that had happened reached His Holiness Patriarch John the Merciful, he and all his clergy came to the elder’s cell and, seeing the above-mentioned letter, in which the elder exhorted him not to condemn him, and also seeing the miracles taking place, he said to those clergy who reported to him against the monk: “You see, if I believed your words and insulted the innocent holy elder, then I too would receive blows in the face, just as the young man who slandered the holy man received them.” But I, humble, thank God for the fact that I did not listen to your denunciations and thereby avoided sin and vengeance. All those who slandered and condemned the monk were greatly ashamed. After this, the Most Holy Patriarch, taking the honorable remains of the Monk Vitaly, carried them through the entire city and in the presence of all the women who repented of their sins, crying and weeping, honorably gave them over to burial, glorifying God, who has many His faithful servants unknown to people. The same man who received blows from the demon renounced the world and became a monk. And many of the inhabitants of Alexandria, taught by Vitaly’s virtuous life, made it a rule for themselves to never condemn anyone. Let us also imitate them in this, aided by the prayers of our venerable father Vitaly and the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom glory is given forever. Amen. The First Ecumenical Council was convened in 325 in Nicaea over the false teaching of the presbyter Arius, who wickedly recognized the Son of God as the creation of God the Father. You might be interested in: