On this July 1st, the Roman martyrology and the Byzantine synaxariums
(liturgical calendars) commemorate Abba Moses the Ethiopian. This black man,
vigorous and tall, was born in Ethiopia in 332. He was a violent nature. Author
of several crimes, he fled human justice and arrived in the desert of Egypt.
There, he experienced a radical conversion, he dedicated himself to monastic life,
and became a disciple of the Desert Fathers, among whom Macarius the Great. Conscious
of the mercy with which God had filled him, he became a model of humility, kindness
and charity. John Cassian did not hesitate to call him "the greatest among
all the saints."
This apophthegm(*) illustrates the
merciful wisdom of Abba Moses:
One
day, at Skete [region of the desert
of Egypt where monastic communities were established and where also lived hermits], a brother committed a fault.
They held a council to which Abba Moses was invited. But he refused to go. Then
the priest sent someone who said to him: "Come, because everybody is
waiting for you." So he got up and left. He took a leaky basket, filled it
with sand and carried it. The others, going out to meet him, said to him
"What is this, father?" The old man said, "My sins are spilling out behind me and I do not see them, and here I am today coming to judge the fault of
another." Hearing this, they said nothing to the brother, but
forgave him.
Fiodor
