Moses the Black

Categories: hymns, feast-days, lives-of-saints

Date: 28 August 2007 09:46:57

Troparion:
You did abandon the Egypt of passions
and fervently ascended the mount of virtues,
and did take Christ's Cross on your shoulders.
You were glorified in your works
and were a model for monks,
O Moses summit of the Fathers.
With them pray unceasingly that we may obtain great mercy.

Kontakion:
You were enriched with divine illumination, O Moses,
and did dispel the darkness of passions.
You did quench the pride of the flesh by your vigils and prayers
and did go forth to the heavenly citadel.
O holy Father, pray to Christ our God to grant us His great mercy.

Today is the feast day of Moses the Black, also known as Moses the Ethiopian, one of the many Desert Fathers whose wisdom is still preserved for us in collections of their sayings. He is also an example of a life turned to Christ: he was a runaway slave and the leader of a band of bandits who roamed around the Nile area. When he attempted to plunder a monastery, he was converted by the abbot and stayed on at the monastery as a monk.

Holy Father Moses, pray to Christ our God to grant us His great mercy!