Житие преподобного отца нашего Сампсона странноприимца

The great Sampson, whose fame spread everywhere, was born in the glorious city of Ancient Rome; His parents were rich and noble people and were descended from royal blood. Having perfectly studied all worldly wisdom, Sampson also learned the art of medicine, but not out of need and not out of self-interest, since he was completely satisfied with his own wealth, but partly in order not to be idle, partly with the goal of serving, with the help of God, the poor through the knowledge of medical wisdom. Sampson healed many suffering from incurable diseases with the power of his art. At the same time, his medical skill was furthered by the grace of God, which granted healing, which was sent down to him for his virtuous life and for his faith in God. In addition to external worldly wisdom, Sampson also possessed an understanding of the Divine Scriptures, practiced a lot in reading sacred books and, aroused by faith and hope, strengthened in the love of Christ. When Saint Sampson’s parents died and he became the owner of vast estates, the saint not only did not stop performing his works of mercy, freely healing the poor, but even began to exchange his temporary and perishable wealth for non-perishable and eternal, following the gospel word (Matt. 6:20); at the same time, generously distributing alms to the poor, according to the commandment of God, he exhausted his wealth with both hands, trying to satisfy all the needs of the poor and poor, wanting to acquire incorruptible treasures for himself through the saturation of their corruptible womb. He did this all the days of his life, because mercy was characteristic of him from birth, and through his upbringing it became even more strengthened in his heart. Wanting to spend his life more modestly and simply, Sampson set many of his slaves free, leaving himself one for the necessary services. And in fact, why did he need so many slaves if he himself became a true and sincere servant of the Lord? So, he renounced all his wealth, with which he was bound as a kind of bond, and was content with only clothes and one rope to girdle his loins. Wanting to enrich his soul with spiritual wealth, he despised the world and everything in the world, and, imitating Christ, became a wanderer: leaving his relatives and acquaintances, he left ancient Rome and settled in one desert, like the once prophet Elijah. But God, for the benefit of many, brought His faithful servant to the new Rome, that is, to Constantinople; here, having found a certain church for himself, Saint Sampson settled in it, resting the rest of wanderers and the poor and serving them in every possible way. At the same time, Saint Sampson not only healed them with the help of his medical art, but also tried to please them with food and bed. He did all this with such zeal that the virtue of mercy seemed to everyone to be natural to him. Just as it is natural for the sun to shed rays of light, and it is natural for fire to scorch everything that touches it, so Sampson’s zeal and love for the poor, the sick and strangers seemed to be inherent in him by nature. And God, who does not leave without His blessing acts of mercy towards others done for His sake, and who accepts alms to neighbors as a sacrifice to Himself, imparted special power to the cares and labors of Saint Sampson for the benefit of the sick: all those suffering from incurable diseases, whom he accepted into his home, received miraculous healing. But the saint, given to him by God, hid the gift of miracles under the guise of medical art, since he was distinguished by humility and did not want to receive glory and veneration from people. But a lamp cannot hide under a bushel, just as a city standing at the top of a mountain cannot hide; So Saint Sampson, shining with the light of good deeds and entering the mountain of perfect pleasing to God, became known to everyone. The Patriarch of Constantinople also heard about him and, calling him to himself, ordained him a presbyter, although the saint did not want this. The fame of the saint’s virtues and his extraordinary healing art reached the royal chambers. It happened under such circumstances. Emperor Justinian 4183 fell into severe illness and suffered cruelly from a severe incurable disease. Doctors were called, but after examining the king, they, as usual, began to argue with each other, and for a long time they only gave the king vain hope with their speeches, but in reality they could not heal the king’s illness or even alleviate his suffering. They called in skilled doctors from all regions of the Greco-Roman Empire, but not one could heal the king from that cruel illness. The king was angry with them and ordered them all to be driven out of his sight, and he himself turned to the Source of all healing and the Creator of all creation, the Lord God: to Him alone he entrusted his life and from Him alone with tears he began to seek help for himself. And God did not despise the king’s diligent and tearful prayer. Having fallen asleep for a short time, he saw in a vision many doctors standing before him, dressed in light clothes. Then a certain radiant young man, approaching him, began to show him each of the doctors, saying who was of what rank and how old he was; among them he showed the king one, humble in face and with gray hair, dressed in priestly robes; Pointing at him, the luminous young man said to the king: “This, and no other, will heal you, king, from your mortal illness.” Having risen from sleep, the king rejoiced greatly and thanked God, who had given him good hope of recovery. Then, remembering the image of the husband he had seen in a dream, he ordered to call all the doctors to him again. When they appeared before him, he looked at them for a long time, looking for the husband he had seen in his dream among them, and, not finding one, he again fell into sadness and began to grieve. Then, without ceasing to hope for God’s help, he again ordered to look for the kind of doctor he saw in a dream vision. At the same time, having described the facial features of the husband he had seen, the king promised to generously reward the one who would help him find this husband. Many looked for the doctor described by the king and did not find it. Finally, one of the royal servants, who was known to the king himself and was in friendship with Saint Sampson, remembered the saint that he, being a doctor of the infirm, in his facial features was completely similar to the healer described by the king. He told the king about this, and the king ordered the saint to be brought to him with honor. When the saint entered the king, the king, seeing him, immediately knew that he had actually seen this man in a dream vision. Filled with joy, he quickly rose from his seat and, approaching the saint, embraced him and kissed not only the elder’s lips, but also his head and hands, saying at the same time: “You are truly, father, the one whom the Lord God showed me in a dream, promising through you to give me health.” Having said this, he took him to his sleeping chamber and, sitting down next to him, enjoyed looking at him; At the same time, he put the saint’s hands to his eyes and kissed them with tears, hoping to receive healing from them. Blessed Sampson, seeing such great humility of the king, was saddened and meekly said to him: “Don’t do this, king, don’t humiliate yourself with immeasurable humility, so as not to lead me into the sin of pride: then the guilt of my condemnation by the Righteous Judge will fall on you.” In what way am I superior to people, being poor and sinful, needing the Lord’s merciful condescension for the healing of my sins? Only your great faith, turned to the Lord, and your warm hope in His mercy, will incline Christ the King of Heaven to mercy and He will heal you: for He can do whatever He wants. Having said this, Sampson touched the sore spot on the king’s body with his hand, pretending that he was applying medicine, and thereby wanting to hide the gift of miraculous healing given to him by God. And as soon as he touched the sore spot with his hand, the king suddenly felt relief from the illness, and then soon a complete healing came to him. Having received perfect health, the king was greatly rejoiced not only at his recovery, but also at the fact that he was honored to see such a great godly husband. Then, wanting to adequately thank the saint, he offered him a lot of gold and silver. But the saint said to the king: - I, king, had a lot of gold, silver and estates, but for the sake of Christ I left all this in order to receive eternal heavenly blessings. But if you want to show me your favor, then for the sake of God and your salvation, do this: build a house next to my hut, where I can comfort the weak and strangers, whom I am accustomed to serving. By this you will seek eternal reward from God for yourself, and you will console my old age. Hearing such words from the saint, the king regarded this request as a gift to himself rather than a petition, and ordered the creation of a hospice and a hospital, as the monk wanted. When the building was completed, the king assigned various estates to it for the needs of wanderers calmed there and sick people being treated. After this, for many years, Saint Sampson devoted himself to his work of serving strangers and healing the sick. In the midst of such activities he reached a ripe old age: his body weakened, he became a little ill and approached death. When his soul was separated from his body, he remained bright-faced and did not grieve at all due to death, as other souls usually grieve, filled with carnal and worldly sorrows, possessed by many sins, and therefore afraid of death. The saint knew who was calling him, from what labors and to what calm haven and what joys awaited his blessed soul there, for every worker is worthy of his reward (Luke 10:7). So, the godly soul of Saint Sampson departed to the heavenly mountainous countries 4184; his body was buried with honor in the church of the holy martyr Mokias, from whose tribe this great saint of God descended by carnal birth, being the spiritual heir of the virtues of the holy martyr. Being a great saint of God, the saint became famous for the miracles he performed not only during his life, but also after his death. We will recall some of his posthumous miracles here. Once there was a fire in Constantinople that started from the Church of St. Sophia 4185. The fire was so strong that none of the people could do anything to extinguish it. The flames spread quickly and most of the luxurious chambers and buildings that adorned the city were already burning. The fire also reached the hospice of the Monk Sampson. But surrounding her on all sides, the flames did not touch her at all, and she stood in the midst of the fire, like an unburnt bush. At the same time, many saw the Monk Sampson, who quickly walked around the fence of the hospice and angrily pushed the flames of the fire away from it - and the fire, as if frightened in the face of the saint and obeying his command, retreated from the hospice to another place. Then suddenly thunder roared and a cloud appeared in the sky; Immediately after that, heavy rain poured down, which, through the prayers of the saint, extinguished the entire fire. After his death, the saint also gave healing to all kinds of diseases, just as he gave them during his life. It happened somehow that one, a noble man, Theodorit, with the rank of spafarius 4186, while quickly going down the steps of the stairs of his house for some need, stumbled and damaged the joint of his leg. His leg suddenly hurt, and he went to bed. For three days, due to intense suffering, he could neither eat food nor drink, nor fall asleep, nor say anything - and he was as if dumb. But maintaining a sound mind despite his suffering, he mentally diligently prayed to God and His saint, Saint Sampson, calling on him for help. After three days, at nightfall, Spafari Theodorit saw Saint Sampson standing at his feet; touching his injured leg, the saint said: “Get up, because you won’t be sick anymore.” And having said this, the saint became invisible. Theodoret immediately felt completely healthy and joyfully began to thank God loudly and say: – Truly a great saint of God, Saint Sampson! Then, feeling his leg and seeing that it had become completely healthy, he stood up and began to walk. And when morning came, he went to the saint’s tomb and, having performed a grateful veneration before him, told everyone who was there about the healing given to him. Another nobleman in Constantinople, named Leo, riding on a horse, rubbed his leg against a stone wall: an ulcer opened, and he fell seriously ill, and the illness became stronger every day. The family advised the patient to call a doctor to do bloodletting. And so, when the fourth day was approaching, on which the doctor was supposed to come to the sick man, there was a vision at night of the previously mentioned Theodoret, who had previously received healing from his illness. He saw three men entering the house of a sick nobleman; in one of them he recognized Saint Sampson, whom he saw during his illness, and regarding the other two he thought that they were the unmercenary doctors Cosmas and Damian. Theodoret asked them: They looked at him with love and answered: Theodoret said to them: “Do you know, my lords, that he is suffering from a serious illness, and on this coming day doctors will come to him to treat his injured leg. Then the saints said to Theodoret: - Let it not be so - we will come to his heel again and heal him. Rising from sleep, Theodoret immediately went to the sick man and told him about his vision. Leo believed his words and did not accept the doctors, but, placing all his trust in God, he began to wait for the heel, constantly remaining in prayer. And, indeed, when the heel came, his sore leg suddenly received healing and became healthy, like the other, without any need for any healing. Feeling healthy, Leo immediately went to the tomb of the Monk Sampson and gave him, along with those who appeared with him, thanks. Glorifying his saint Sampson through many miracles, God glorified him through the flow of healing myrrh from the saint’s tomb, and those suffering from all sorts of ailments, anointed with this myrrh, received health. The aforementioned nobleman Leo also experienced the healing effects of this world. It happened to him, after healing from his illness, that his whole body fell ill again, and he lay on his sick bed, as if relaxed, and all the members of his body were motionless. But when he was anointed all over his body with the myrrh flowing from the saint’s tomb, he immediately received healing. Another time he fell ill with his eyes, but after anointing them with the ointment from the tomb of Saint Sampson, he regained health. Repaying the saint with thanksgiving for the repeated healings done to him by the monk, the nobleman Leo took upon himself the care of his host, who at that time was somewhat impoverished, and gave her enough for various needs from his estates. It would not be inappropriate to mention here that the head of the hostel at that time was a certain Enesius, a lazy man and negligent in his service, who observed all the needs of the sick and wanderers carelessly. One night, the Monk Sampson appeared to him not in a dream, but as if in reality, and began to beat him with a rod, telling him with anger: “Why are you careless about your service and do not care about the needs of strangers and the sick?” Enesius became so ill from the beating that his voice was lost and he became mute: his body turned blue from the wounds inflicted by the saint’s rod. When the next morning many began to come to him, Enesius could not say anything to them, but only pointed to his body, blue from beating, then, taking a charter and a cane, he wrote in it how he was punished by the saint for his laziness and negligence. Having learned about what had happened, the nobleman Leo came to visit the sick man. Seeing that his body was completely blue from the beating, he began to pray to the Monk Sampson with tears. “Holy servant of God,” he prayed, “you know my faith and zeal for you, now fulfill my prayer: here in front of you is Enesius, whom you punished and who, having written on the charter what happened to him, told himself both his sin and your admonition to him. Heal him from his illness so that your miracle will gain greater fame to glorify the name of God.” When the nobleman Leo prayed in this way, Enesius’s tongue loosened and his lips opened, and he told in detail about everything that happened to him and from that time on he completely corrected himself. After this, some reverent men, having consulted among themselves, turned to the patriarch and asked him to consecrate the hostel and the church. And so, indeed, it was done. To calm the wanderers and receive the sick, another house and a hospital were built at the newly built church. After some time, the builder of the 4187 hospice was Evstratiy, who also did not care about the sick and strangers and was also stingy. Once for many days he did not give oil to the sick, and for this he was punished by God, having pain in his eyes. One of his friends, named Leo, not the one we talked about above, but another, who had the same name and served in the hospice, said to him: - Release the right amount of oil for the sick and strangers, and you will be healthy with your eyes; If you don’t believe my words, then I will give a receipt as proof of what I said. Having said this, he wrote to Eustratius the following: “I, Leo, trusting in the holy wonderworker Sampson and strengthened by undoubted faith in him, present myself as your surety to certify that if you give enough oil for the poor and wanderers, your eyes will be healed of illness; for Saint Sampson will ask you for health. Having accepted such a receipt and made a promise to release the required amount of oil for the sick and wanderers, Eustratius received healing of his eyes on the same day. But since he was stingy by nature, he again did not give the oil. And then one night the Reverend Sampson appeared to him and said to him with anger: - Why are you testing me by neglecting my admonitions? Frightened by this vision, at the onset of morning Eustratius called his friend Leo and gave him a lot of oil, asking him to pray for him to Saint Sampson and ask the holy saint of God for forgiveness of his sins. One of the royal advisers, named Barda, a noble man, fell ill with a carbuncle, from which large and incurable ulcers formed on his chest. For a long time he endured severe suffering from his illness. Meanwhile, the day of remembrance of the holy martyr Mokius arrived: the doctors who were with the sick man and all his household went to the church of the holy martyr for an all-night vigil; the sick man lay on his bed, greatly saddened by the fact that he could not go to church for the holiday and venerate the miraculous tomb of the Monk Sampson, which was located in that church of the holy martyr. At this time, a certain magnificent old man appeared to him and said to him: - How can I get up? All the members of my body were weakened by a serious illness. “I tell you, get up and go to the church of the holy martyr Mokios, for whom a celebration is now celebrated: there you pray at the tomb of St. Sampson. Having said this, the elder became invisible. The sick man, suddenly feeling strength in his limbs, began to get up little by little from his bed. At the same time, he noticed that the pain from the ulcers had stopped. When he untied the medical bandages and plasters from the wounds, he saw that the ulcers were completely healed. Filled with joy, the nobleman dressed in festive clothes and went to church. Seeing him unexpectedly healed, everyone in the church was surprised and glorified God. At that time it was customary that if anyone fell into any illness, he ordered himself to be taken to the hospital of St. Sampson and there, according to his faith, he received health. Thus, when one presbyter’s slave fell ill with dropsy, the presbyter sent him to St. Sampson’s hospital. Having stayed here for several days and not receiving relief from his illness, the slave returned to his master's house. The presbyter, seeing him, was very angry with him for his unbelief and again sent him to the hospital, ordered him to ask for the peace that flowed from the saint’s tomb and to be anointed with it. The slave went and spent the night in St. Sampson's hospital and returned from there healthy. The slave told the following about how he recovered: “That night I saw Saint Sampson appear to me in a dream; touching my womb with his hand, he told me: “Get out of here, you are already healthy.” I immediately woke up and felt healthy.” The wife of a church minister, Irina, suffered from the same disease. In a dream vision, she saw Saint Sampson coming to her along with the holy unmercenaries Cosmas and Damian, and touching her. After that she received health. These and many other miracles were performed and healings were given through the prayers of the Monk Sampson, by which God, wondrous in His saints, was glorified, to whom honor and glory, worship and thanksgiving are sent from us, now and ever and unto the ages of ages. In your patience you have gained the reward of your reverend father, in your prayers you are unceasingly patient, loving the poor, and satisfied with this: but pray to Christ the God of Sampson, the merciful and blessed one, that our souls may be saved. As an all-round physician, and a favorable prayer book, flowing to your Divine race, O Reverend Sampson the God-Wise, united in love, rejoicing in psalms and songs, we glorify Christ, giving you such grace as healing. Greco-Roman Emperor Justinian reigned from 527 to 565. Cathedral Church in Constantinople. Under Emperor Justinian it was rebuilt. In terms of its most beautiful architecture and luxury of decoration, it ranks among the best buildings in the world. Spafari – squire; court rank. The builder is the commanding monk. You might be interested in: