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Commemorated on June 15
The Monk Doulos
the Passion-Bearer ( the time of his life is unknown), was a monk at one of
the Egyptian monasteries. He distinguished himself by his meekness, humility
and obedience. During the course of 20 years the monk endured the mockery,
abuse and contempt of several of the monastic brethren. At first it was
difficult for him to bear the deed of forbearance and humbly endure the insult,
but continually humbling himself in soul and praying to God, he reached such a
degree of passivity, that with all his heart he pitied his detractors and
prayed for them.
At the end of his
life the monk underwent temptation: a certain monk from among the brethren
pilfered church vessels and hid them. When the hegumen and elders of the
monastery started to sort out the details of the theft, they suspected Saint
Doulos enough to assert that he had done the thievery, since on the day of the
misdeed he had not appeared at the vigil service, although before this he had
always come to church. Concerning this occurrence, on that day Saint Doulos was
ill and not able to come to services. They led Saint Doulos to the elders, to
whom he said that he was not guilty of the theft. But his enemies began to
slander him, saying that they were witnesses. Convinced that they did not
believe his words, the Monk Doulos did not argue but said: "Forgive me,
holy fathers, I am a sinner". The hegumen gave orders to strip off the
monastic garb and to dress him in worldly clothes. Sobbing bitterly, Saint
Doulos prayed: "Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, because of Thy Holy Name I
clothed myself in monastic form, but now, through my sins, it is stripped from
me".
They put chains on
the Monk Doulos, and the steward was nasty in demanding where were the church
vessels hidden, but the innocent passion-bearer only repeated: "Forgive
me, I have sinned". They then turned him over for trial to the civil
authorities and subjected him to torture, but the saint repeated: "I have
neither silver, nor the lost vessels". The city eparch asked the monks
what to do with him, having delivered him over to the secular court. They
answered: "Do with him as the laws prescribe". The saint was sentenced
to have both his hands cut off. Before the execution of the sentence the
governor asked the monk: "Tell us where the vessels are and thou shalt be
free of execution". The saint answered: "Governor, thou wantest that
I tell about myself something that I did not do? I do not want to tell lies
about myself, since every lie is from the devil". They took the saint to
the place of execution. Then finally, the perpetrator of the theft experienced
remorse and went to the hegumen, asking that the execution be stopped.
They took the monk
back to the monastery. The monks began to ask forgiveness of the saint, and not
only did he not bear them malice, but also he was grateful, that they had given
him the opportunity by guiltless suffering to efface transgressions done by
him. The saint asked the Lord to pardon his accusers. After three days they
found the monk having expired to God while kneeling at prayer. The burial was
delayed until the arrival of the hegumen and brethren of a nearby monastery.
The body of the saint was locked up under key in the cathedral. When all had
gathered and gone into the church, the body of the guiltless passion-bearer was
not in the cathedral, and there remained only his clothes and sandals.
Those, who had
accused the Monk Doulos of sin, were shewn unworthy to give his body over to
burial.
© 1996-2001 by translator Fr. S. Janos.
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