Moses the Ethiopian

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Moses the Ethiopian

Moses the Black (* probably 332 in Egypt ; † August 28 may, 407 in the monastery al-Baramus in Wadi Natrun in the Scetic desert is also in Egypt) Moses the Black , Moses the Strong , Moses the Abyssinian or Moses of Indians called , due to his prehistory also Abba Moses the robber , in Egyptian also Moses Murin , whereby Murin means "like an Ethiopian", based on his dark skin color. Moses, a Nubian , is counted among the desert fathers . After his conversion he became a monk , priest and hermit . He is revered as a martyr and saint , or considered a memorable witness of faith.

Life and legend

Slave and criminal

Initially, Moses was a slave . He served a high Egyptian civil servant who worshiped the sun. At the time, Moses' character was described as difficult and he was prone to violence. He robbed others several times, possibly even killing them. This led to the expulsion from his master's house. After that, he made a living from theft. Physically, he is said to have been impressively tall and strong. This enabled him to rise to captain a violent gang of thirty-five robbers who committed not only thefts but also murders. There is an account of a barking dog preventing him from robbing a shepherd. Moses then swore vengeance. His athletic ability is said to have been sufficient to swim across the Nile with a sword in his mouth and his clothes on his head at high tide to reach the dog's owner's hut. The shepherd was warned again and hid in the sand. Moses then stole four rams from the man, slaughtered them, tied them with a rope and swam back across the river with them. He went to a small village and ate the best parts of the rams. He sold the rest for wine and drank. After the robbery, he walked 50 miles to return to his gang. At that time he was prone to adultery, gluttony and drunkenness and was feared throughout the Nile Valley. Palladios , among others, reports on this criminal phase of Moses' life in his Historia Lausiaca .

conversion

Moses' conversion took place in the monastery of al-Baramus in Wadi El Natrun near Alexandria . What brought Moses there is not known. It is believed that after the robbery mentioned above, he sought refuge from the law enforcement officers at a shepherd in the monastery, originally intended to rob the monks or seek advice in a life crisis. A legend says that one day he prayed: “O sun! If you are God please let me know! And you, O God, whom I do not know, let me know you! ”Someone answered him:“ The monks in Wadi Natrun know the true God. Go to them and they will tell you. ”Thereupon Moses put on his sword and set off for the Sketical desert, where he was baptized in the monastery of al-Baramus . The monks initially doubted his honesty, but introduced him to Christianity.

Legend has it that Moses confessed his sins to Macarius the Great . An angel appeared to him with a tablet filled with Moses' sins. While Moses was confessing, the angel began to wipe out the tablet. The more Moses confessed, the more the angel wiped out until the tablet was finally completely blank.

After his catechumenate , Moses was baptized by Macarius the Great. Then Isidore von Skete accepted him into the novitiate . This encouraged him to overcome himself through abstinence and nocturnal prayer. It is said that Moses was often tempted to return to his old life, which he overcame through such exercises. He lived in a cell and fasted strictly. Moses is said to have carried asceticism so far that Isidore advised him: “Stop it! In asceticism, too, there is a measure of courage! "

His acts of repentance are said to have led Moses to see the devil, who had tempted him from his youth and wanted to continue to try, standing before him in person and looking at him. This is how he is said to have come to know Christ.

Temptations

The following legend can be found in the Paterikon :

Moses was tempted to leave his solitary cell and attempts were made in a dream to break celibacy . Isidore then led him to the roof of a house and showed him the demons ready for battle in the western desert. Then he also showed him the angels who were also ready for battle in the east, over the Nile. Isidore finally pointed out to Moses the greater number of angels. Isidor's words are based on 2 Kings 6,16  EU . Isidore also told Moses that in the struggle with his passions, he must completely break away from his previous sins.

In a similar tradition it is said that the dutiful Moses was once again disappointed in his own imperfection. Isidore then led him to the roof before sunrise, and there they watched the first rays of the sun sweep over the horizon. Isidore said to him: "The sun's rays only slowly drive away the night and usher in the new day, and just as slowly someone becomes completely contemplative."

Another legend reports that four robbers broke into Moses' cell at night to steal from him without knowing who he was. A brawl is said to have broken out, at the end of which Moses managed to tie all the intruders together. It says there that Moses was shocked by his violent approach and brought the intruders like a bundle of straw on his shoulders to the monastery elders in the church to ask what to do with them. Moses then fasted seven days. The monks are said to have decided to release the robbers. It is said that the robbers recognized their former leader in Moses and, in view of his change of character, decided to also enter the monastery. Most of his former gang members are said to have become monks after this incident.

A situation is also reported in which Moses was insulted and insulted. He didn't answer that. When asked if he was as calm on the inside as he was on the outside, he replied with a simple "No." In another situation, a monk asked his spiritual father, referring to Moses' external calm, what the value of external calm without internal calm have. The simple answer to this was that outward calm, while imperfect, would protect others from harm and serve God's grace to others.

Legend has it that Moses was entrusted with drawing water from a well for the monks at night. He performed this service particularly for the elders, as they lived far away from the well and would have found it difficult to transport the water themselves. A sudden pain, perhaps from inflammation, caused him to fall on the edge of the well and lie motionless. The legend interprets this as a blow that the devil dealt him. Moses was only found the next morning and was bedridden for a year. This moved him to continue practicing asceticism and to stay in the monastery for good. Isidore had blessed him and found that his passions had now left him. (Compare Lk 4,13  LUT ) Moses then received the Eucharist and returned to his cell. From now on, according to the legend, he had power over the demons.

Hermitage and priesthood

Moses lived in the monastery and at least temporarily as a hermit in the desert. He proved to be a gifted spiritual guide over the next few years. For example, an incident has been narrated in which the abbot instructed the monks to fast. Some brothers came to Moses, who prepared a meal for them. Neighboring monks told the abbot that Moses broke the fast. When they then met with Moses to correct him, they changed their minds and said, "You have disobeyed a human commandment, but it was that you may have obeyed the divine commandment to hospitality." This narration is sometimes considered one considered one of the oldest references to Lent .

Once, when one of the brothers made a mistake, Moses was invited to discuss an appropriate punishment. Moses declined to participate. When he was called to the meeting one more time, he took a leaky jug of water and carried it on his shoulder. In other variants of the tradition it was a holey basket or sack filled with sand. When he got to the place of the meeting, the monks came out and asked him why he was carrying the jug, basket or sack. He replied, “My sins come out of me behind me and I don't see them; but today I come to judge someone else's mistakes. ”Hearing this, the assembled brothers forgave the erring monk and focused on their own mistakes.

Moses became a celebrity, even the governor wanted to visit him. Moses is said to have fled from this because he did not want any visitors. Servants of the governor, who was waiting in the monastery, met a monk on the way, whom they asked about Moses. The monk replied: “Do not go on trying to meet this false and worthless monk!” When the monks later asked the servants to describe this brother, they recognized him as Moses.

After many years, Moses was ordained a deacon by the patriarch . According to tradition, the patriarch had the elders expelled him from the sanctuary because of the color of his skin to test his humility. Immediately after this incident he was called back to the altar by the patriarch and ordained a presbyter , that is, a priest, which was very unusual among the Sceti monks of his time.

In the western desert, 75 disciples gathered around Moses, which, according to tradition, corresponds to the number of robbers he had previously led. Just like Makarios, he had contact with Zacharias, whom he led as a student on the one hand, but on the other hand also viewed with awe, as well as with Arsenios, who also reported on him, Silvanos and possibly also with Poimen , who reverently mentioned him.

martyrdom

When Moses was 75, according to tradition, he went with some elders to Macarius the Great, who said: “I see one of you to whom the martyr's crown will belong.” Moses is said to have replied: “It may be me, for it is written : 'All who take up the sword will perish by the sword'. "( Mt 26,52  EU )

In 407 the Maziken invaded Egypt and planned to attack the Paromeos Monastery where Moses lived. It was a Berber tribe from the Libyan desert. The monks wanted to defend themselves, but Moses forbade them. He blessed them and advised them to leave him to avoid a violent death instead of taking up arms. They asked him to come with them, but he refused, saying that he had waited a long time for this day. Almost all the monks then left, only Moses and seven others stayed behind voluntarily and greeted the intruders with open arms. The Maziks killed Moses and the others who remained behind on the 24th Paoni of the Egyptian calendar , only a monk could hide under a rope. One version of the legend says that he saw an angel holding a crown for him. He then emerged from his hiding place and was also martyred.

A different account of the death of Moses can be found in the Paradise or Garden of the Holy Fathers , where Poimen is quoted. Moses asked Abba Zacharias, who saw his death coming, "Father, is it good that we should be silent?" Zacharias answered him: "Yes, my son, be silent." When Moses died, Isidore was sitting with him. Moses looked up to heaven and said: "Rejoice and be happy, O my son Zacharias, when the gates of heaven have been opened."

Adoration

The relics of St. Moses are in the Marienkirche of the Coptic Paromeos monastery. The 18 apophthegmata (sayings) of Abba (father) Moses come from his time as head of a group of monks . St. Moses is especially popular with the African American population.

Moses was highly praised by his contemporaries. In his 5th century church history, written 70 years after Moses 'death, Hermias Sozomen summarized Moses' legend as follows:

“Such a sudden conversion from vice to virtue has never been attested, however rapid advances in monastic philosophy. So God made him the object of show for the demons, and he was ordained presbyter over the monks of the skete. After living a life in this way, he died at the age of seventy-five, leaving behind numerous important students. "

- Sozomen, in his Church History Book VI, Chapter XXIX

Moses is one of the patron saints of Africa and the African American, he also has the patronage of an Orthodox brotherhood in Michigan and a Priory of the Premonstratensians in Raymond , Mississippi, and is the patron saint of prison chaplains.

Although Mauritius has been portrayed as a member of the dark-skinned African ethnic group since 1250, i.e. only since the Middle Ages, this was of North African, probably Egyptian descent, so it should have looked more like the comparatively light-skinned Copts of our day. If so, Moses, not Mauritius, could be the first dark-skinned Saint known by name.

Memorial days

Attributes

Moses (left) in typical representation

Christian iconography depicts Moses with a black habit and a cross in his right hand. His other attributes include a sandbag or basket.

Primary sources

literature

in the first book of the second volume the sections 18, 21, 31, 35, 37, 40, 55, 62, 227, 368, 441, 477, 542, 543, 562, 619 and 624,
and in the second book of the second volume the sections 45, 119-123, 240, 606, 617, 657, 669.

Web links

These websites use the following sources, among others:

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b The history of the priory of St. Moses the Black ( Memento from August 29, 2011 in the Internet Archive )
  2. ^ Website of the Brotherhood of St. Moses the Black ( Memento from October 14, 2009 in the Internet Archive )
  3. ↑ a b Website of the Orthodox Peace Alliance
  4. ^ The Paradise or garden of the Holy Fathers, Vol II, Chatto & Windus, 1907
  5. ↑ B. Ward :. The Sayings of the Desert Fathers: The Alphabetical Collection (revised ed.), Liturgical Press, Collegeville, MN., 1984
  6. ↑ Hermias Sozomen: The Ecclesiastical History of Sozomen . Evolution Publishing, Merchantville, New Jersey 2018, ISBN 978-1-935228-15-8 .
  7. ↑ Mauritius on the website of the Mohren-Apotheke zu Coburg  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.apotheken.de
personal data
SURNAME Moses the Ethiopian
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Moses the Black; Moses the Strong; Moses the Abyssinian; Moses the Indian; Abba Moses the Robber; Moses Murin
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Hermits, priests and martyrs
DATE OF BIRTH unsure: 332
PLACE OF BIRTH Egypt
DATE OF DEATH August 28, 407
Place of death Al-Baramus Monastery