St. Moses the Black
Troparion For Saint Moses
You made the wilderness your dwelling, O our Father Moses, the Bearer of God;
you became an angel in the flesh and a wonderworker.
Through fasts, vigils, and prayers, you obtained from God special graces
to heal the sick and sanctify the souls of those who come to you with trust.
Glory to the one who gave you strength!
Glory to the one who crowned you!
Glory to the one who, through your intercession,
grants healing to all!
An Orthodox production company is making a movie about this greatly revered saint who is also one of my and Gabriel's favorites. Gabriel loved for me to read him St Moses' story when he was little. Probably because, before he became a monk, St Moses was a fighting man and after he became a monk, St Moses never lost his strength.
One of the things about St Moses that has been an inspiration to me is that he never felt he had "arrived". He knew that in spite of his past--he was a gang-leader, a robber, an adulterer, a murderer--God had forgiven him. Because of this he understood he had been given much and was eager always to give much in return. He was even martyred because of his desire to live in peace with all men.
Like my own St Elizabeth, St Moses also had a firm grasp on forgiveness and the need we all have not only to receive forgiveness but to give it. There is a story that one of the monks in St Moses' monastery had been caught in a particular sin, and the abbot asked St. Moses to come to the church and render judgment. He came reluctantly, carrying on his back a leaking bag of sand – which had a hole in it, and dribbled a path of sand behind him all the way to the church. When he arrived, the brothers asked him why he was carrying such a thing. He simply said, "This sand is my sins which are trailing out behind me – which I don’t see – and yet you ask me to judge the sins of my brother before me?" At that reply, the brothers forgave the offender and returned to focusing on their own salvation rather than the sins of their brother.
I hope that this movie will be a good one, as accurate as possible, well performed and produced.
St Moses pray for us!
Lord have mercy on me a sinner!
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