Sabas (monk)

The relics of St. Sabas in the abbey church of the Mar Saba (= St. Sabas) monastery in what is now the West Bank .

Sabas (also Sabbas , * 439 in Mutalaska near Caesarea in Cappadocia , † December 5, 532 in Mar Saba ) was a monk and hermit. At the age of eight he went to his native Flavianae monastery. At eighteen he became a monk in Jerusalem , where he became a disciple of the ascetic Euthymius the Great .

Life

Sabas was born in Mutalaska in 439.

Since 469 he lived as a hermit. In 473 he went to Gerasimos on the Jordan. After that he lived in the desert of Ruba and Kutila. Since 478 he lived in a cave in the Kidron Valley (Arabic: Wadi en Nar , river of fire), around which an anchor settlement was formed.

In 483 he founded the oldest monastery in Palestine, which is known today as Mar Saba ("St. Sabas"). Later he founded the Kastellion monastery , which is located a little further northeast.

As a zealous opponent of the Monophysites and the followers of Origen , Sabas tried to win over the Roman emperors to fight them. To this end, he approached Emperor Anastasius personally in 511 and later in 531 to Emperor Justinian I.

The Patriarch of Jerusalem Salustus ordained him priestly in 491 and appointed him archimandrite ( archabbot ) of all monasteries in Palestine in 494 .

Afterlife

Sabas' life became known through the vita written by his pupil Kyrillos of Scythopolis .

Worship and commemoration

His feast day is December 5th . The Basilica of San Saba in Rome is dedicated to him.

Sabas' relics were stolen by the Crusaders in the 12th century and brought to Italy , where they remained until 1965 when Pope of Rome Paul VI. returned it to the Mar Saba Monastery as a token of goodwill towards the Orthodox Church.

literature

Joseph Patrich: Sabas, Leader of Palestinian Monasticism. A Comparative Study in Eastern Monasticism, Fourth to Seventh Centuries (= Dumbarton Oaks Studies. Vol. 32). Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, Washington DC 1995, ISBN 0-88402-221-8 .
Nicolaus Heutger : Sabas. In: Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon (BBKL). Volume 8, Bautz, Herzberg 1994, ISBN 3-88309-053-0 , Sp. 1135-1136. ( Article / beginning of article in Internet archive )

Footnotes

↑ Alexandra Hasse-Ungeheuer: Monasticism in the religious policy of Emperor Justinian I. The angels of heaven and God's representatives on earth . De Gruyter, Berlin 2016, ISBN 978-3-11-040943-7 , p. 239.
↑ Alexandra Hasse-Ungeheuer: Monasticism in the religious policy of Emperor Justinian I. The angels of heaven and God's representatives on earth . De Gruyter, Boston 2016, p. 235.

Web links

Typicon of the Mar Saba Monastery in English, PDF by Dumbarton Oaks

personal data
SURNAME	Sabas
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	Monk and hermit; Monastery founder
DATE OF BIRTH	439
PLACE OF BIRTH	Mutalaska near Caesarea , Cappadocia
DATE OF DEATH	December 5, 532
Place of death	Mar Saba

[1] Alexandra Hasse-Ungeheuer: Monasticism in the religious policy of Emperor Justinian I. The angels of heaven and God's representatives on earth . De Gruyter, Berlin 2016, ISBN 978-3-11-040943-7 , p. 239.

[2] Alexandra Hasse-Ungeheuer: Monasticism in the religious policy of Emperor Justinian I. The angels of heaven and God's representatives on earth . De Gruyter, Boston 2016, p. 235.