Venerable Saba the Sanctified
December 5th
He was a renowned patriarch and a brilliant teacher of monks. Because his own soul was humble to the core, he understood exactly what a monk needed to learn, in order to perfect his spiritual life and become a totally devoted worshipper of Almighty God. A gifted mentor, he would use his hard-earned knowledge to shape the spiritual rules and meditative guidelines that have helped lead Holy Orthodox monastics through their daily worship for the past fifteen centuries.
Above all, the Venerable Saba the Sanctified (426-532 A.D.) taught his youthful charges the importance of living a simple, frugal, unostentatious life that was focused exclusively on service to the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
One particular incident in the life of this enormously influential monk and patriarchal diplomat shows us just how dedicated he was to encouraging ascetic, self-denying aspirations in all who chose the monastic way of being in the world. This unusual incident began innocently enough . . . on a warm summer evening at one of the seven “lavras” (or monasteries) that St. Saba would found during his long lifetime. On this balmy evening, a youthful monk named James had been assigned to prepare the evening meal for the monastery’s guests.
After cooking and serving a dish that contained beans, the good monk discovered that the pot still contained a sizable amount of “leftovers.” Without thinking about what he was doing, the busy chef simply dumped the extra beans out the window of the kitchen and into a nearby ditch.
What the bean-tosser didn’t realize, however, was that St. Saba happened to be meditating at that moment in the tower that flanked the monastery guesthouse – and that he had observed the dumping of the pot. Making sure he wasn’t seen, the spiritual father of the monks went outside and quickly gathered up all of the discarded beans.TAKEN FROMA few days after this incident, St. Saba invited the same Father James to supper. The meal proceeded uneventfully, and as the two men finished their repast, the monastery-founder gazed calmly at his guest and then smiled.
“Forgive me, Father James,” he apologized in words like these, “if my cooking did not please you.”
Father James shook his head. “On the contrary, Holy Father, I was very pleased. I confess that I haven’t tasted such delicious and well-cooked food for many years!”
Now it was St. Saba who smiled. “So, you liked it? Good. Do you know which beans those were?”
“Those delicious beans you just served? Which ones were they?”
“The same ones you threw into the ditch a few days ago!”
It was a comical moment, of course . . . but it also underscored the personal philosophy and code of conduct that made St. Saba one of the most revered patriarchs and trainers of monastics in the history of the Holy Orthodox Church. Indeed, recalling the incident of the “tossed beans,” it is easy to understand how this famed Church Father wound up compiling the first book of rules and prayers – the Order of Services (now known as the Jerusalem Typicon) – to be used in regulating life in Orthodox monasteries.
During more than 80 years of life as a monk, this great holy man would learn the solitary discipline of his calling so well that he would eventually be appointed the leader (or “archimandrate”) of all the desert-dwelling monks of Palestine by the Patriarch of Jerusalem.
Near the end of his hallowed 94 years on earth, this Venerable Church Father would also perform an invaluable service by traveling to Constantinople on two critically important diplomatic missions (to the Byzantine Emperors Anastasius and St. Justinian the Great) that would help preserve the tenets of the Orthodox faith against encroaching heresy.
Born in the tiny village of Mutalaska, in the Roman province known as Cappadocia (a province in Asia Minor, today part of Turkey), St. Saba was the scion of an accomplished, well-to-do family. But all too soon, the wealth that his extended kin could command would plunge the youthful striver into a vicious family feud that sickened him – and left him hungering for a life of solitude as a religious contemplative who would never again allow himself to become ensnared by “the things of this world.”
At the tender age of only eight, the Cappadocian lad received his first bitter taste of the cruelty that so often rules this fallen world. When his father John, a military officer, was posted to service in Egypt, he took his wife Sophia along . . . but left the boy in the care of a favorite uncle. But his new family soon fell into a terrible quarrel over money with another of John’s brothers – and his life finally became so unbearable that the youngster left home and entered the nearby Monastery of St. Flavian.
Weary of the outside world and its ugly conflicts, the child thrived in the isolated world of contemplatives. By the age of 18, eager to experience life in the great monasteries of Palestine, he journeyed to the cloister at Passarion (Jerusalem), led by St. Euthymius the Great and his lifelong friend and monastic colleague, the renowned Theoktistos. Within a few months, the keenly perceptive St. Euthymius was predicting that the young newcomer would some day become a well-known teacher of monks – and that he would also establish a great lavra himself.
St. Euthymius was truly clairvoyant. But the road to such prominence would be long and hard for the passionately determined youth from Cappadocia. After the death of his mentor, St. Saba would withdraw from his monastery and make his way to an isolated cave, where he would spend the next five years as an isolated hermit. During this time, he perfected his spiritual life so well that he began to draw acolytes who beseeched him to train them in the same monastic discipline, for the greater glory of Almighty God. Before long, his students became so numerous that he felt compelled to build a church for them, along with a series of monastic cells in which they could put his spiritual principles into practice.
When the monk’s father died, his mother returned to him for guidance – and it wasn’t long before his passionate preaching had convinced her to begin a new life as a nun. Provided with a cell of her own, she lived a disciplined and upright life as an ascetic contemplative until the day of her death. Meanwhile, St. Saba was continuing to seek perfection in his own inner life. As many commentators have pointed out over the centuries, he battled furiously against ruthless demons that sought to destroy his faith and undo all of his good works. On Mt. Castellium, in one celebrated instance, he fought a great battle with the forces of darkness – but then finally prevailed and capped his victory by establishing yet another monastery atop this windy crag!
During the next few decades, St. Saba would found no fewer than seven of these cloistered settings for monks. Along with his fellow contemplative and neighbor, Theodosius the Great, he would become one of the leading monastic thinkers in the Holy Church, while creating a legacy of prayer and ritual observance that still stands today as a foundation stone for Orthodox worship everywhere.
He died in the Palestinian lavra he had founded decades before, which was now named after him. After choosing his successor and remaining in a silent dialogue with the Almighty for four days, he expired on December 5, 532 A.D., at the age of 94.
What can we learn from the astonishing life of this legendary monk, surely one of the most pious and self-effacing worshippers in the history of the Holy Orthodox Church? Perhaps his greatest lesson was a lesson about humility – the kind of deep, authentic humility that inspired St. Saba to make sure the beans were not discarded wastefully after an evening meal at the monastery! The life of this great saint teaches us that when we are truly humble, Almighty God will lift us to heights of accomplishment that we cannot even imagine.
While most of us are not called to become hermits, Sabas' example of prayer, obedience to his superiors and single-minded concern for the things of God are an encouragement to all of us. Again and again, he showed us how to pursue a deeper relationship with God – in whatever way of life we have chosen
Apolytikion in the Eighth Tone
With the streams of thy tears, thou didst cultivate the barrenness of the desert; and by thy sighings from the depths, thou didst bear fruit a hundredfold in labours; and thou becamest a luminary, shining with miracles upon the world, O Sabbas our righteous Father. Intercede with Christ God that our souls be saved.
Kontakion in the Eighth Tone
O blessed Sabbas, thou wast offered from thine infancy through thy great virtue as a pure and spotless sacrifice unto God, Who ere thy birth, verily foreknew thee; wherefore thou wast an adornment of the righteous Saints, an all-praised founder of cities in the wilderness. Hence, I cry to thee: Rejoice, O Father of great renown.
