Память преподобной матери нашей Елисаветы чудотворицы

The Venerable Elizabeth, even from her mother’s womb, was chosen to serve God, for before her mother was born, it was announced from God that she would have a daughter who would be the chosen vessel of the Holy Spirit. From a young age, given over to the service of God and ignorant of the immortal Bridegroom Christ, Saint Elizabeth in the angelic rank served God, among other virgin nuns, 2743, exhausting her body with fasting and labor, and she pleased God so much that she received from Him the gift of healing people’s ailments, not only physical, but also mental. With her prayer she healed every bodily illness, and with her speeches and God-inspired instructions she healed human souls, instructing them to repentance and all virtues. Only a stiff hair shirt served as clothing for her, and although her body was frozen from the cold, her spirit always burned with the flame of Divine love. Having been appointed abbess over the sisters, the saint showed even greater feats, caring for the salvation of their souls. Her abstinence was excessive, for she spent many years without eating bread and eating only fruits and vegetables; she never tasted oil or wine in her entire life. Very often she fasted for forty days, like the great Moses, not eating anything during this time 2744. For three years, imitating the humility of the Gospel tax collector (see: Luke 18:13), she did not raise her bodily eyes to heaven, but with her spiritual eyes she always looked to the God who lives in heaven and, contemplating Him in her thoughts sitting on a high and adorned throne, surrounded by Seraphim, she did not turn her thoughts to earthly objects. When, as usual, she prayed alone at night, she was illuminated by heavenly light from above. In addition, Saint Elizabeth performed many miracles: she once killed a fierce serpent with prayer; another time she healed a woman who had been bleeding for a long time, also cast out unclean spirits from people, and performed many other miracles. Miracles were performed by her not only during her life, but also after her blessed death. At her tomb many different healings were given to the sick; for example, many blind people received their sight at her tomb. May Christ God, wondrous in His saints, be glorified through her! Saint Elizabeth was a nun of the Constantinople monastery, built in honor of the unmercenary saints Cosmas and Damian by Emperor Justin I (who reigned from 518 to 527). In this monastery she later became abbess (abbess). It is impossible to indicate the exact time of her life and activity due to the lack of information about this in historical monuments. But based on the fact that in honor of her in the second half of the 9th century. The canon was written by St. Joseph the hymn writer (who died in 883) and they conclude that St. Elizabeth lived between the 6th and 9th centuries. Moses fasted for forty days and nights at the time when he ascended Mount Sinai, where God gave him the commandments of the decalogue (Ex. 24:12–18). You might be interested in: