Rhodo the Martyr

CONCERNING ST. RHODO THE MARTYR.

Rhodo, Martyr (Saint)

St. Rhodo is commemorated in the manuscript Martyrologies of Dungal and of St. Jerome, whose words we have already cited when treating of the African Martyrs. He is also recorded by the Carthusians of Cologne in the Additions to Usuard. The similar name Sodo appears on January 25. Another Rhodo, a Martyr of Tomis, was recorded on January 3. That this man too is a Martyr we do not in the least doubt.

CONCERNING TWO MARTYRS IN PHRYGIA.

Two Martyrs in Phrygia (Saints)

The Greeks venerate these two anonymous Martyrs on this day. Maximus of Cythera: "On the same day, two holy Martyrs in Phrygia were beaten with clubs and perished." The Menaea have the same and add this couplet:

"Two athletes wounded by clubs Found the healing of their wounds swiftly through their crowns."

Our own Matthew Rader considers these to be from the number of those who, in the Roman Martyrology and others, are commemorated on February 7 as having obtained the crown of martyrdom in Phrygia under the Emperor Diocletian, together with St. Adauctus. But these were slain by clubs, while those were burned alive.

LIFE OF ST. SIMEON THE ELDER, ABBOT OF MOUNT AMANUS IN SYRIA,

from Theodoret's Philotheos, Chapter 6.

Toward the end of the fourth century.

Simeon the Elder, Abbot in Syria (Saint)

From Theodoret.

SECTION I. The Anchoritic Life. Miracles.

[1] If anyone were deliberately to pass over Simeon the Elder and consign the memory of his way of life to oblivion, he could justly be accused of injustice and envy, St. Simeon the Elder as one who neither wishes to praise what is worthy of praise nor sets before those who wish to be helped the things most to be desired. For my part, not fearing accusation but desiring to honor him with praises, I shall narrate his manner of life.

[2] He dwells alone in a cave. For he embraced the solitary life for the longest time continuously, and, living in a certain small cave, he enjoyed no human companionship, for he had resolved to live alone; but he conversed constantly with the God of all things, and prepared edible herbs as his food. In this occupation his labor was consumed.

[3] He commands wild beasts. He had been endowed from above with such abundant grace that he commanded even the most powerful and fierce beasts. And this became manifest not only to the pious but even to unbelieving Jews. For when, on account of some business of theirs, they were journeying abroad to a certain fortress situated beyond the region inhabited by people of our Empire, a violent rainstorm arose and a tempest broke out. They strayed from the road, since they could not see what lay ahead, and wandered through the wilderness, finding neither village, nor cave, nor any fellow traveler. And when, in the middle of the continent, they were tossed about by the waves no less than those who sail amid the surges of the sea, they caught sight of the cave of the divine Simeon, as if it were some harbor, and beheld a dirty and squalid man wearing upon his shoulders a certain small garment woven from goatskin. He, as soon as he saw them, greeted them (for he was affable), and asked them the reason for their coming. After they had related what had happened and asked him to show them the road leading to the fortress, he said: "Stay; I shall immediately give you guides who will show you the road you desire." And they obeyed and remained quiet. While they were sitting, two lions came, he assigns lions as guides to those who had lost their way not glaring fiercely and savagely, but fawning as though upon some master and signifying their servitude. Nodding to them, he commanded them to lead his guests and bring them back to the road from which they had strayed. Let no one suppose this narrative to be a fable, since it has the common enemies of the truth bearing witness to its truth; for they themselves, having received the benefit, perpetually sang of it. And the great James related this to me, saying that he had been present when they narrated this miracle to the blessed Maro. Whoever, therefore, does not believe Jews when they bear testimony to the miracles of Christians -- how shall he not justly be called more faithless than Jews? For they, even though they are hostile toward us, are nevertheless conquered and yield to the rays of truth; but these others, though they are regarded as well-disposed and companions in faith, do not believe even their enemies when they testify to the power of grace.

[4] He withdraws to Mount Amanus. When that divine man had become distinguished through such miracles and had attracted many from the neighboring barbarians (for those who boast of Ishmael as the founder of their race inhabit that wilderness), being a lover of quiet, he found it necessary to leave the cave. And having traveled a long distance, he arrived at the mountain called Amanus; he brings the faith to its inhabitants and the place which had formerly been filled with the madness of the worship of many gods, he cultivated with many miracles of every kind, and planted the piety and true religion which is now practiced upon it. But to narrate everything would be exceedingly laborious, and perhaps I could not accomplish it. Having therefore made mention of one, and having added a sort of pattern and imprint of an Apostolic and Prophetic miracle, I shall leave it to the readers hereafter to reflect upon what power of grace he had received.

[5] It was summer and harvest time, and sheaves were being carried to the threshing floors. A certain man, To a certain man imploring his help who was not content with his own just labors but coveted the goods of others, had carried off some sheaves from his neighbor, and by these means was attempting to increase his own heap. But immediately divine judgment was passed upon his theft: lightning fell and the threshing floor was burned. The wretched man then approached the man of God, who had pitched his tent not far from the village, he prescribes that the stolen goods be restored and recounted the calamity that had befallen him, but tried to conceal the theft. But when he was ordered to speak the truth, he confessed the theft (for the catastrophe compelled him to accuse even himself). The divine man then commanded that, by correcting the wrong, he should bring about his liberation from the punishment. And he extinguishes the fire by his prayers. "For if you return those sheaves," he said, "that fire sent from heaven will be extinguished." One could therefore see him running and offering the stolen ears of grain to the man who had been wronged, and the blaze extinguished without water, by the prayer and intercession of the divine elder.

[6] This filled not only the inhabitants with terror, but also compelled the entire city -- I mean Antioch (for this estate was under its jurisdiction) -- to rush thither, he heals various people of various diseases one asking to be freed from the madness of demonic possession, another that his fever be stilled, and yet another that he obtain a remedy for some ailment tormenting him. He abundantly supplied the streams of grace to those who dwelt there.

SECTION II. Pilgrimage to Mount Sinai: Monasteries Erected.

[7] But again, being a lover of quiet, he wished to reach Mount Sinai. When many excellent men who pursued the same way of life learned of this, they hastened together, From afar he sees hands outstretched from the earth desiring to be companions of his pilgrimage. When they had completed a journey of many days and had come into the wilderness of Sodom, they saw from afar a man's hands stretched out from the depths toward the sky. At first they supposed it was a deception of a demon; but when they had prayed with greater fervor of spirit and had seen the same thing, they proceeded to that place and saw a small pit, such as foxes are accustomed to make when they contrive lairs to burrow into. But they saw no one appearing there. He addresses an old monk hiding in a cave. For the one who had his hands stretched out, having sensed the sound of footsteps, had hidden himself within the cave. After waiting a long time, the elder earnestly begged him to show himself, if he was of human nature and not some impostor demon transforming himself into these shapes. "For we too," he said, "pursuing the life of monastic discipline and loving quiet, wander through this wilderness, desiring to worship the God of all things on Mount Sinai, where, having appeared to Moses his servant, he gave the tablets of the law -- not that we suppose God to be circumscribed by place; for we hear him saying: 'I fill heaven and earth, says the Lord,' and that he contains the circuit of the earth and those who dwell in it as locusts. Jer. 23:24; Isa. 40:22. But because those who love ardently not only desire those whom they love but also find pleasing and delightful the places where they were present and where they dwelt."

[8] He learns his way of life. When the elder said these and similar things, the man who was hiding in the cave showed himself. He was indeed wild in appearance, with unkempt hair, wrinkled face, and all the members of his body dried out and utterly bloodless; he was dressed in certain filthy cloths made from woven palm shoots. Having greeted them and given the word of peace, he asked who they were, whence they came, and where they were going. The elder both answered his questions and in turn asked whence he had come and why he had chosen this life. "The same desire," he said, "had seized me too, of going where you are now headed. And I had taken as a companion of this life a certain intimate friend of mine, who was of the same mind and opinion and had the same goal and purpose as I. We had bound each other by oath never to separate our companionship, not even by death. It happened, therefore, that he met the end of his life here during the pilgrimage. And I, bound by my oath, dug a grave as best I could and committed his body to burial. And on account of this monument, having dug for myself another grave beside it, I await here the end of my life, and offer to the Lord the customary service. I eat dates, which a certain Brother has been ordered by the one who has charge of me to bring to me."

[9] While these things were being said, a lion appeared in the distance. When those who were with the elder fell down in anguish and fear of spirit, he receives dates from him, brought by a lion the one who lay in the cave, perceiving this, rose and nodded to the lion to pass to the other side. It immediately obeyed and came, bringing a cluster of dates. Then it departed again when it was given leave, and lying down at a distance from the men, fell asleep. When he had divided the dates among them all and shared in their prayers and psalmody, and after the end of the morning office had greeted them, he dismissed them, astonished at the strangeness of the spectacle. If anyone does not have faith in what has been said, let him remember the remarkable life of Elijah and the ministry of the ravens, which in the morning brought bread and in the evening meat to him continually; for it is easy for the Creator of all things to find every way to provide for his own. Thus he preserved Jonah in the belly of the whale for the space of three days and nights, and caused the lions in the den to be awed before Daniel, and caused the inanimate fire to act as though endowed with reason, illuminating those who were within and burning those who were outside. But I do a superfluous thing in adducing arguments to prove the power of God.

[10] After he reached the mountain he desired, they say that the admirable elder, On Mount Sinai he does not rise from prayer until a heavenly voice is heard in the very place where Moses was deemed worthy to see God (he saw, however, only as much as human nature could see), fixed his knees and did not rise until he heard a divine voice which signified to him the Lord's benevolence. But since for an entire week he had been continuously bowed down and had taken not the slightest morsel of food, the voice that came to him commanded him to take what had been set before him and to eat with a prompt and cheerful spirit. When he stretched out his hand and found three apples, he receives food divinely and ate them as the one who gave them had commanded, his full strength was restored to him, and with a cheerful spirit, as was fitting, he greeted those who were with him. Joyful and glad, therefore, he returned, having both heard the divine voice and once again eaten food given by God.

[11] He builds two monasteries. Having returned, he erected two training-grounds of the ascetic life: one on the summit of the mountain of which we have spoken above, and the other below, at the very edge of the mountainside. Having gathered athletes of virtue in both, he was the trainer and instructor of the one group and the other, teaching them the assaults of the adversary, promising the benevolence of the Judge of the contest, commanding them to be of good and not of degenerate and faint-hearted spirit, and directing them to employ moderation toward their own people but magnanimity of soul toward the enemy. Teaching these things, he dies living in this manner, performing these miracles, and emitting a splendor of every kind, he reached the end of this laborious life and departed to the life that is free from old age and distress, leaving behind a glory that cannot be extinguished and a memory that endures forever.

[12] His blessing, while he was still alive, my blessed -- nay, thrice-blessed -- mother obtained, and she often recounted many things about him to me. Theodoret's mother receives his blessing. I now pray that I may obtain the intercession which he is able to give; and I know that I shall obtain it, for he will assuredly grant the petition, imitating the Lord's benignity. He himself seeks his intercession.