December: Day 3: Teaching 2: Venerable Sava Storozhevsky

December: Day 3: Teaching 2:
Venerable Sava Storozhevsky
 
(Lessons From His Life:
a. Slander is a Grave Sin, and
b. The Intercession of the Saints Has Great Power)

By Archpriest Grigory Dyachenko

I. Venerable Sava of Zvenigorod, whose memory is celebrated today, was a disciple and tonsured monk of Venerable Sergius of Radonezh. At the request of the Zvenigorod prince Yuri Dmitrievich, Sava built a monastery near Zvenigorod, on Mount Storozhevskaya, which he managed for thirty years and in which he died in 1406.

Many years later, an elder appeared to the abbot of the monastery, Dionysius, in a dream and said: "Paint my image" and, to Dionysius's question: "Who are you?" he answered: "I am Sava, the head of this place." Dionysius, being a skilled painter, asked the elders living in the monastery about Venerable Sava and painted his image from memory. One day, the brethren of the monastery slandered Dionysius before the Grand Prince Ivan, and the prince called the abbot to himself. When he fell asleep in sorrow, Sava appeared to him and said: "Go and speak fearlessly: the Lord will help you." That same night, the Saint appeared to those who grumbled at Dionysius and said: "You grumble, but your abbot prays with tears. Let us see what will prevail: your grumbling or the prayers of your father. But know that in obstinate hearts there rests neither humility nor the grace of God.” Then Dionysius acquitted himself and returned to the monastery with honor.

During the reign of Alexei Mikhailovich, the body of Venerable Sava, which had lain in the ground for 245 years, was found to be incorrupt and in 1652 was transferred to the cathedral church. They say that once, when Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich was hunting near the monastery, a bear jumped out of the forest and rushed towards him. The Tsar expected to die, but suddenly an elder appeared in monastic robes, and the bear ran away. The Tsar asked the elder who he was. He answered: "I am Sava, a monk of the Storozhevsky Monastery." Arriving at the monastery, the Tsar began to seek him, but there was no such monk. The Tsar, seeing the image of Venerable Sava, recognized in him the elder who had appeared to him in the forest, and, having served a prayer service to Venerable Sava in the monastery, always had a special reverence for him.

II. The life of Venerable Sava presents us with two lessons:

a) The first is that slander is a great sin, which must be avoided in every possible way, since in the hearts of the obstinate, who slander their neighbor, there rests, according to the words of Venerable Sava, neither humility nor the grace of God.

1) The word of God teaches: “Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice” (Eph. 4:31).

The faithful must beware of slander, because it upsets life and causes misfortune to a person: "Whoever loves life and wants to see good days, let him keep his tongue from evil and his lips from speaking deceit" (1 Peter 3:10).

Christians must abstain from all slander, because it distances one from God: "O Lord, who may abide in Your tabernacle? Who may dwell upon Your holy mountain? Whosoever slanders not with his tongue, nor does evil to his neighbor, nor takes up a reproach against his neighbor" (Ps. 16:1, 3).

2) The Holy Fathers strongly condemn slander and those who indulge in this vice.

Venerable Anthony the Great writes about slander: "The tongue of a dragon is less harmful than the tongue of one who loves to slander: for such a person produces discord and quarrels between people living peacefully, sows evil among neighbors and destroys very many useful societies ... Whoever receives such a person, he draws him into many sins; whoever communicates with him, communicates with a murderer. A murderer and a slanderer produce the same actions: as a murderer kills the body with a sword, so a slanderer kills the soul with words. The tongue of a slanderer is like a snake's sting; it is even safer to live with a snake and a scorpion than with a slanderer. Many sins are much more forgivable than slander. The slanderer and the one who listens to him, together with him receive the same condemnation. It is safer to approach the fire and be burned by it, than to approach a slanderer and speak with him. Therefore, my beloved children, flee from the slanderer, flee from him, whoever he may be, whether the father or brother of any of you. It is better to live with a lion or a lioness than with a slanderer. Do not be ashamed to flee from him, otherwise he will infect you with poison" (On Humility).

“Never show respect to anyone who speaks evil of your neighbor,” advises Venerable John Climacus. “In this way you will provide double benefit, healing yourself and your neighbor with one patch.”

Venerable Tikhon of Zadonsk thus consoles those who suffer from human slander:

First, without God nothing happens to us, therefore the evil tongue will attack us by God's permission. So be patient with what God sends. God hears slander and knows your conscience.

Second, be comforted by this, that you suffer falsely. A clear conscience is a great consolation. It is better to be comforted by one's conscience, even though the whole world reproaches, than to be reproached by one's conscience, even though the whole world praises. I choose this for myself: let everyone blaspheme me, if only my conscience praises me.

Third, you have many companions in this misfortune, the saints of God have suffered much slander, and now many are found who also suffer. Many have walked this path and smoothed it over for us: let us follow them, so that together with them we may glorify Jesus Christ, who redeemed us.

Fourth, examine your conscience, have you wounded anyone with your tongue? If this was the case, then slander is punished by slander, and therefore endure with good will, gratefully remembering that sin is punished here, so that "there" the sinner will be pardoned. "But when we are judged, we are chastened by the Lord, that we may not be condemned with the world," says the Apostle (1 Cor. 11:32). "Chastise us, O Lord, here, that you may have mercy there."

Fifth, learn from this not to believe the slander of others. Just as you hear slander about yourself in vain, so those about whom bad rumors are spread often do not know about themselves what they are being slandered for.

b) The second lesson that we find in the life of the Venerable Sava is that the saints are very powerful in their intercession before God for their neighbors. Just as the Venerable Sava saved Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich from mortal danger, who undoubtedly turned to him for prayerful help, so other saints save us from various troubles and misfortunes by the power of their prayers before God. There are many examples of such intercession by saints in the Old and New Testaments and in modern times.

How many times did the powerful intercessory prayer of the prophet of God, Moses, save the frivolous Israelites from God's righteous punishment for their unbelief, murmuring against God and Moses. "Moses and Aaron among His priests, and Samuel among those who called on His name: they called on the Lord, and He listened to them," says the Prophet of God, David (Psalm 98:6).

"Now therefore take seven bullocks and seven rams, and go to my servant Job, and he will offer a sacrifice for you: and my servant Job will pray for you, for I will receive his face only; for if it had not been for his sake, I would surely have destroyed you," the Lord said to Job's friends, who insulted the long-suffering righteous man with their offensive speeches. "And they did as the Lord commanded them, and He forgave their sins for Job's sake" (Job 42:8, 9)

“Elijah the man was like us,” says the Apostle James, “and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain: and it did not rain on the earth for three years and six months. And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth brought forth her fruit” (James 5:17, 18).

Should we mention “from New Testament times” the healing by Jesus Christ of the centurion’s servant, through the prayerful intercession of the latter, the healing of the daughter of the Canaanite woman, through the persistent plea of the deeply religious mother, the resurrection of “Tabitha” , through the prayer of the Apostle Peter, the deliverance from death of the apostle Peter himself, through the prayer of the Jerusalem brethren, etc.? From childhood we have been accustomed to honor the holy saints of God, to call upon them in prayer and to use their prayerful intercession for us before God. From childhood we have been accustomed to believe that “the prayer of a righteous man availeth much,” according to the word of the Apostle James. Not to assure you of this, but rather for consolation, we will give you a story from the life of the great ascetic of Mount Sinai, Venerable John Climacus (so named for his glorious work - the Ladder of Paradise, in which he showed the way to ascend to the Lord through the degrees of virtue). And this great Saint of God, like many righteous men, demonstrated great power of intercessory prayer for his neighbors while still on earth.

A certain brother Moses lived in obedience with the Saint. One day, the great elder ordered this disciple of his to carry earth from a place indicated to him to a vineyard located near the cell of the Saint for its fertilization. Moses worked diligently and finally by midday he was very tired, since it was a hot time (August). Having decided to rest somewhere in the shade, he went under a huge rock and there lay down and fell asleep. At the same time, from his vigilant labors, the venerable Abba John also fell into a light sleep. And so, in a half-sleep, the elder sees a certain saintly man who, as if reproachfully, says to him: “So you, father, sleep without sorrow, but your Moses is in trouble.” John immediately woke up and began to pray fervently for his disciple. So, in the evening, after finishing work, Moses also comes to the cell. “Has anything special happened to you today?” the elder asked his disciple. The disciple told him that on that day the Lord saved him from death. “When I lay down to rest under the rock,” Moses said, “and fell asleep for a while, suddenly I heard your voice, father; it was as if you called me to you, and I immediately ran out from under the stone. And at that very moment the stone collapsed and fell right on the place where I was lying. It is evident from your prayers, father, that the Lord saved me from visible death.” The elder himself, out of humility, did not say then that he had a vision about Moses and prayed for his salvation.

So, brethren, “the Lord will hear the prayers of the righteous,” says the wise Solomon (Prov. 15:29). “The eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous, and His ears are open to their prayer” (Psalm 34:16). “The Lord is near those who call upon Him in truth. He will do the will of those who fear Him, and He will hear their prayer,” says the Prophet David (Psalm 144:18, 19). How happy we, Orthodox Christians, are after this, that we have, in addition to our earthly intercessors and intercessors before God, also heavenly intercessors – our elder brethren in the Lord – a whole host of holy saints of God. Yes, thanks be to the merciful Lord, we are not alone, we are not powerless in our weaknesses: there is someone to intercede for us before the Lord God in our needs and sorrows.

III. Christ, our true God, through the prayers of His Most Pure Mother, the holy glorious and all-praiseworthy Apostles, Venerable Savva of Storozhevsky and all the saints, have mercy on us and save us, for You are good and love mankind. Amen.

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