We celebrate our venerable and God-bearing Father Sabbas the Sanctified on December 5th. So right before the Feast of St. Nicholas!
Father Sabbas the Sanctified
St. Sabbas is also known as Sabas, and is pronounced [Sava]. He was the son of an army officer, and was left in the care of his aunt and uncle at age five. The aunt mistreated him, so he went on his own to his other uncle. The uncles proceeded to fight over Sabbas’ inheritance, and so around age eight, Sabbas ran away to a monastery in Mutlaska.
Eventually, Sabbas traveled to Jerusalem. He joined a monastery there and recieved the spiritual direction of St. Euthymius the Great. It was there that he began to learn how to live as a hermit, and began to do so after the death of St. Euthymius.
Hermit Life
Sabbas desired solitude, but attracted multitudes to himself by his holiness (as is so often the case). He founded small monasteries around him, for those that flocked to his care. And his wishes were superseded again. For his disciples asked for a priest, though Sabbas was against the idea of being an ordained monk. However, the Patriarch of Jerusalem ordained Father Sabbas. Yet even after all that Sabbas gave up for his monks, some were unhappy with him. Because Sabbas went off on his own for the duration of Great Lent. But Father Sabbas was untroubled by their protests, and peacefully sent the unhappy monks, with food and provision, to go to revive another monastery.
We know Father Sabbas as a strong opponent of heresy. Twice he visited Emperors to rebuke their beliefs and behaviour. The first he went to dissude of Eutuchianism, a heresy against Christ’s two natures. That is, a form of the heresy of monophysitism. The Emperor, however, did not stop his persecution of orthodox bishops.
The next Emperor, also visited by Father Sabbas, was softened by the visit. This time Sabbas fought the heresies of Origenism. He rebuked those teaching the preexistence of souls, and universal salvation.
Soon after turning the second emperor away from unorthodoxy, Father Sabbas died in 532.
Prayers for Sabbas
Troparion: (tone 8) You cultivated the barren desert with the streams of your tears, and with deep sighs your toils bore fruit a hundredfold. O venerable Father Sabbas, you became a beacon shinning throughout the world by your wonders. Pray to Christ our God that our souls may be saved.
Kontakion: (tone 8) O blessed Sabbas, in your virtue you offered yourself to God from childhood as an unblemished sacrifice, becoming a gardener in the garden of godliness. Therefore you became the adornment of monastics, O praiseworthy citizen of the desert. And so we cry out to you, Rejoice most wealthy Sabbas!
Prokimenon: (tone 7) Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His venerable ones. Verse: What shall I render unto the Lord for all that He has rendered unto me?
Ways to Celebrate
Attend a Divine Liturgy and pray the prayers of the day in your icon corner.
Spend some time in silence today. Appreciate the stillness as did Father Sabbas the Sanctified.
Are you familiar with the old heresies? Even though they were defeated in the past, the same lies about Christ continue to pop up again throughout history, and even today. Spend some time learning about what the heresies are, and why they are wrong.
Traditions of Sabbas
One tradition about this priest-monk revolves around his family. Upon the death of his father, [John], his mother Sophia came to him in the desert. Sabbas, by the guidance of God, made his mother a nun. He provided her a place to live as a hermitess, and she lived out the rest of her days following the aesthetic lifestyle.
Another tradition holds that Father Sabbas struggled to establish the seven monasteries he founded during his life. This was due to his battles with demons, who attempted to thwart his works. It is recorded that he ultimately conquered these demons through faith in the name of God, and by the sign of the cross.
Finally, it was Father Sabbas who compiled the Jerusalem Typikon, an order of service for monastic settings.
The Byzantine Life
Thank you for checking out this week’s article. If you haven’t already, you can read our article about St. Nicholas or about the Nativity Fast which we are in, or our list of Nativity Fast Music.
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