Авва Геласий

1. The brethren told about Abba Gelasius: He had a parchment-bound book in which the entire New and Old Testament was written, worth eighteen gold coins. The book was placed in the church so that all the brethren, whoever of them wished, could read it. A certain strange brother came to visit the elder, and when he saw the book, he was seduced by it, stole it, and left. The elder, although he learned about what had happened, did not follow him to stop him and take what was stolen from him. The brother came to the city and was looking for someone to sell the book to; Having found a buyer, he set a price for her of sixteen gold coins. The buyer, wanting to make sure the book was correct, told him: “First give it to me; I’ll show it to someone who knows, and then I’ll give you the money.” My brother gave me the book. The buyer, taking it, took it to Abba Gelasius so that he could examine whether the book was good and worth the price set for it. At the same time, he also spoke about the amount of money required by the seller. The elder answered: “Buy it: the book is good and worth the money asked for it.” The buyer, returning to the seller, conveyed these words to him differently than as the elder said. “Here,” said the buyer, “I showed the book to Abba Gelasius, and he told me that the book is expensive and not worth the price you set.” Hearing this, the brother asked: “Did the elder tell you anything else?” “Nothing,” answered the buyer. Then his brother told him: “I don’t want to sell this book anymore.” Touched by his heart, he went to the elder and asked him to take the book back, repenting of his action and asking for forgiveness; but the elder did not want to accept the books. Then the brother said to him: “If you do not accept the book, then I will not find peace of conscience throughout my life.” To this the elder replied: “If you cannot calm down otherwise than when I take the book, then I take it.” The brother, blessed by the patience of the elder, remained with him until his death 236. 2. They told about Abba Gelasius that in his youth he lived in the desert, maintaining non-covetousness. Such residence was carried out in these places and at this time by many others. Among them was a certain old man of extraordinary simplicity, especially non-covetous: he lived in his solitary cell until his death - in his old age he had disciples. He observed such non-covetousness until the end of his life that he did not have two tunics, and together with his disciples he did not worry about the future. When Abba Gelasius, by Divine inspiration, built a cenobitic monastery, they donated large fields to him, and he got draft cattle and oxen for the needs of the hostel. Having initially assisted Saint Pachomius in establishing a cenobitic monastery, he also assisted Abba Gelasius in establishing a monastery. The above-mentioned elder, seeing him in these activities and sincerely loving him, said to him: “I am afraid, Abba Gelasius, that your mind will not cleave to the fields and other property of the hostel.” Abba Gelasius answered: “Your mind will sooner become attached to the ropes that you work than Gelasius’s mind to acquisitions.”237 This is the property of mental activity acquired by the soul, overshadowed by Divine grace. It does not cease to act within its vessel during all external activities and keep the mind in spiritual freedom. On the contrary, a mind that has not received this freedom cannot help but be carried away by passion for the most petty objects. Those who have not received spiritual freedom must observe strict non-acquisitiveness in order to protect themselves from addictions. 3. One day a fish was brought for the brethren. The cook, having baked it, gave it to the cellarer. The cellarer, in response to the need he met, left the cellar room, leaving the fish in the cellar room on the floor in a vessel and entrusting it to the young boy who served Abba Gelasius to guard it until his return. The boy was overcome by lust and began to eat fish greedily. The cellarer returned, seeing that the boy was eating fish, became angry with him and carelessly pushed him. It so happened that the blow fell on a place close to the heart: the boy began to breathe difficultly and died. The cellarer, overwhelmed with fear, put the boy on his bed and covered him, and he himself went to Abba Gelasius, fell at his feet and announced what had happened. The elder commanded him, without telling anyone about the grief, in the evening, when everyone had calmed down, to bring the deceased to the deaconium, and laying him before the altar, he left. When this was done, the elder came to the diaconium and stood up for prayer. At one time, the brethren gathered for the night service: an elder came out to them, followed by a youth. No one knew about this until the death of the elder; the elder and the cellarer knew. 4. During the Ecumenical Council of Chalcedon, a certain Theodosius, who was the first in Palestine to begin to defend the schism of Dioscorus, having preceded other bishops who were already returning to their churches (and he was in Constantinople, having been expelled from his fatherland for constant participation in disturbances), came to Abba Gelasius in his monastery and began to denounce to him the Council of Chalcedon, which allegedly approved the teaching Nestorievo, thinking by this to draw the saint into the community with his deception and schism. But he, by the appearance of Theodosius and enlightened by the Divine gift of reasoning, understood the crafty intention of the heretic, and not only was not drawn into his apostasy, which almost everyone did, but also sent him away from himself, as befits, with dishonor. Theodosius rushed to the Holy City and, hiding behind the mask of zeal for God, attracted all the monasticism to his side, including the queen, who was there at that time; with the help of these accomplices, he arbitrarily and violently ascended the patriarchal throne, delighting him with murders and other illegal and unjust actions, which many still remember today. Having received power and achieved his goal, he ordained many bishops to those thrones to which the bishops returning from the Council had not yet arrived. He also calls Abba Gelasius and brings him to the church: caressing and threatening at the same time, he commands that Juvenal be anathematized. Gelasius, not at all afraid, said: “I don’t know any other bishop of Jerusalem except Juvenal.” Theodosius, fearing that others would imitate the elder’s pious zeal, ordered that he be expelled from the church as quickly as possible. The followers of Theodosius took the Abba, surrounded him with firewood and threatened that they would burn him; but seeing that he was not afraid of this and did not show them obedience, and they themselves, fearing a popular uprising - because the blessed one was known and glorious, and more so through the action of Divine providence, they released the saint without causing him any harm, and he, of his own free will and conscience, became a martyr, offering himself as a burnt offering to God 238. You might be interested in: