November: Day 26: Teaching 1: Venerable Alypios the Stylite

November: Day 26: Teaching 1:
Venerable Alypios the Stylite
 
(Lessons From His Life:
a. There Is No Rational Basis For Fearing So-called “Unclean Places”, and
b. The Cemetery Is A Very Instructive Teacher For Christians)

By Archpriest Grigory Dyachenko

I. Venerable Alypios, whose memory is celebrated today, spent his holy solitary life in one of the ancient pagan cemeteries. This place was frightening for everyone; no one lived in the neighborhood of this cemetery. Alypios knew that everyone avoided this place and therefore settled in it. He chose for himself as a dwelling one coffin, above which rose a stone pillar with an idol. But the Saint threw down the idol, and in its place he erected a cross and was not afraid of any horrors. After some time he built a church there.

II. The life of Venerable Alypios offers us two soul-saving truths.

a) The first is that every place is sanctified by a God-pleasing life and therefore one should not be afraid of the so-called "unclean places", against which a Christian has an all-powerful weapon - the cross of Christ. Our common people believe in the so-called unclean places, with which they associate various fears and horrors.

Sometimes even a newly built house ends up in an unkind place and they try to move it to another. Whoever firmly believes in God, trusts in Him and, when fear attacks, does not forget to cross himself, God will protect him in every place and arrange his life well. Here are several examples of the power of the sign of the cross, which not only dispels imaginary fears and instills peace and tranquility in the soul of a Christian, but is also capable of driving away the devil, the culprit of all evil.

Julian the Apostate once decided "in one of the terrible caves inaccessible to the people, to consult with the underground demons about the future." But suddenly "the brave man was overcome by horror; with every step he became more afraid... Struck by the unexpectedness, being inexperienced in such matters, he ran to the cross, this ancient aid, and signed himself with it against the horrors. The sign worked: the demons were defeated, the fears dissipated. But the apostate tried to go further: and again the same horrors. He crosses himself once more - and the demons calmed down" (St. Gregory the Theologian, "Discourse One Against Julian").

Venerable Anthony the Great repeatedly drove away evil spirits with the sign of the cross and always said to them: "If such power has been given to you by the Lord, then here I am: swallow me up. But if not, then why do you labor in vain? After all, you will not be able to withstand the power of the sign of the cross!"

“The devil once gave Saint Symeon the Stylite a fiery chariot with fiery horses, as if to take him to heaven; but as soon as this saint of God protected himself with the sign of the cross, both the horses and the chariot disappeared.

b) Another lesson that we learn from the life of Venerable Alypios is that the cemetery is a very edifying teacher. There is no doubt that Venerable Alypios chose the cemetery as the place of his exploits precisely for this reason, so that it would constantly remind him of the vanity and brevity of man’s earthly life, of death, decay and the terrible judgment of God. Remember your last thoughts, and you will never sin – this is what the cemetery reminded Venerable Alypios.

Let us also cast a glance at the Christian cemetery, so that through reflection on it we too may derive spiritual benefit.

In the cemeteries are buried people of all kinds. Christians of all ages, all conditions and sexes are buried here: young men and maidens, infants and old men, men and women, rich and poor, noble and ignoble, good and evil.

What is left now of all these dead? If we open the graves, we will immediately turn away our gaze, because we will see decaying or already decayed corpses, disappeared or terribly disfigured faces, bodies eaten or devoured by worms, naked or crumbling bones, some shreds of rotting clothing and the remains of coffins. In the graves we will no longer find the beauty that formerly occupied and attracted so many. In the graves there is no wealth, to which many of the buried were sincerely attached. In general, in the graves there is nothing that some people, living on earth, occupy themselves with so much: no earthly honors, no earthly glory, no favorite change of clothes, no pleasant gatherings, food, drink, amusements and entertainments. The buried had to leave and did leave everything earthly. Now only their soul remains with them, and with their soul their deeds, for which they must receive, and in part already receive, a righteous reward from the Lord God.

Soon each of us will go to one cemetery or another, like our predecessors. Soon we too will be struck by a fatal illness, and we will be carried out of our home in a coffin, given a funeral service, and buried in a grave. Soon our bodies will be eaten by worms, and our souls will be judged at the general Last Judgment, and together with the resurrected bodies will go either to eternal blessedness or to eternal torment. Many of those lying in this cemetery died very early, despite the fact that they were, apparently, strong and healthy, died at such an age when they did not at all think they would die. So some of us will die much sooner than we think - we will die, despite the fact that now, apparently, we are very strong and healthy. For some of us, the last year has already come, for others, perhaps the last month, or even the last week, or the last day. And in fifty, sixty or seventy years not one of us will remain alive, and all here or somewhere else will lie in the ground.

This is truly so! But if this is truly so, then should not each of us strive in every way to acquire eternal salvation, eternal blessings? Since we will have to leave everything earthly, then why should we so strongly strive for earthly things, whatever they may be? Since our body will be eaten by worms, then how can some of us be proud of our beauty? And why do they so carefully fatten their bodies? If, after the resurrection of the body, we must all stand at the common terrible judgment, and, depending on whether we live in accordance with the teaching of Christ or inappropriately, go either to eternal blessedness or to eternal torment. Then how is it that some of us not only do not strive to live according to the teaching of Christ, but do not even think about it? The flesh and the world, of course, are very attractive; but what they subsequently reward those devoted to themselves is inexpressibly terrible. How can they, all peace-lovers and carnal, be so extremely cruel to themselves!

III. Beloved brethren in Christ! Let us, as much as possible, pay attention to the cemetery and learn the holy life, so that later we may receive an eternally blessed life in heaven.

Source: A Complete Annual Cycle of Short Teachings, Composed for Each Day of the Year. Translated by John Sanidopoulos.