June: Day 12: Venerable Onouphrios the Great

 

June: Day 12:
Venerable Onouphrios the Great
 
(On the Existence of Guardian Angels)

By Archpriest Grigory Dyachenko

I. Venerable Onouphrios, whose memory is celebrated today, was one of the great ascetics and models of strict monastic desert life. At first he labored in one of the Thebaid monasteries (in the 4th century). Then, for 60 years, he labored in complete solitude and silence in the desert. Only one day before his death did a man see him: it was Venerable Paphnutios, brought here by inspiration from God to hear the story of the extraordinary life of the angelic ascetic and to bury his toiling body.

The Venerable Paphnutios, who had undertaken a journey with the purpose of seeing the life of ascetics in the inner remote desert, and who had already been struck by the meeting with many of them living a truly supernatural life, finally met the Venerable Onouphrios. He was an old man with such long hair on his head and beard that they covered him to his feet, replacing clothing. The hermit received the stranger affably and entered into conversation with him, and told him the following about himself: 

“When the desire for the desert life arose in me,” he said, telling about his former life in the monastery, “then at night, taking a little bread, I went into the depths of the desert; suddenly I saw before me an extraordinary ray of light, as if showing me the way, and I heard a voice saying to me: 'Do not be afraid, I am an angel who has guarded you from your very birth, and by the will of God I am leading you into the desert. Be perfect and humble in heart before the Lord and serve Him with joy, and I will not depart from you.'”

Onouphrios also told how difficult it was for him at the beginning of his desert life, how he suffered from cold and heat, from thirst and hunger, until he found a date tree and a source of water near his cave.

In his solitude Onouphrios spent his time in prayer and studying the Holy Scriptures, and he lived joyfully and peacefully among such activities. More than once his soul was illuminated by wondrous manifestations of the glory of God; the glory of the saints who pleased God was revealed to him; he had access to the vision of angels.

Having told Paphnutios his life story and having spent the night with him in conversation and prayer, Onouphrios peacefully gave up his soul to God. With reverence Paphnutios committed his remains to the earth and after a long journey returned to his monastery, where he told the brethren about the wondrous ascetics he had met in the distant desert.

II. It is comforting, brethren, to know that the guardian angel always protects the Christian from all his enemies, visible and invisible, and guides him to salvation, as was shown to Venerable Onouphrios the Great, to whom an angel appeared in the form of a shining ray of light and said to him: “Do not be afraid, I am the angel who has followed you from birth, and I have been appointed by God to protect you, and I have been commanded to lead you into the desert.” Faith in the existence of guardian angels is clearly and powerfully preached by the word of God, the God-wise Fathers and Teachers of the Church, and numerous incidents from the lives of the saints.

a) The word of God teaches through the mouth of the Holy Prophet-King David: “The angel of the Lord will encamp around those who fear him.” Our Lord Jesus Christ Himself says of His followers: “Do not despise one of these little ones, for their angels always behold the face of My Father in heaven” (Matt. 18:10).

b) The Holy Fathers of the Church also preach this truth. Saint Basil the Great says: “The angel of the Lord will encamp around those who fear Him; the angel will not depart from all who believe in the Lord, unless they themselves drive him away with evil deeds. For just as smoke drives away bees and stench drives away doves; so the guardian of our life is driven away by the much-lamented and stinking sin.” 

Saint John Chrysostom, in his explanation of the Epistle to the Colossians, in the third homily, says: “Formerly the angels were according to the number of the nations, but now according to the number of the faithful. Where does this come from? Listen to what Christ says: 'Do not despise one of these little ones, for their angels always behold the face of My Father in heaven' (Matt. 18:10). Know then that each of the faithful has an angel, and each of the ancient righteous had an angel.” And speaking about the struggle with the tempter of our Lord Jesus Christ, in explaining the words of the Evangelist (Matt. 4:11): “And behold, angels came and ministered unto him,” he notes: “As long as the battle continued, Christ did not allow the angels to appear, lest they should drive away the one whom they were to catch, but when he had exposed him in everything and forced him to flee, then the angels appeared. Know from this that after the victory over the devil the angels will receive you with applause, and will protect you in all cases.”

Saint Nilus, a disciple of Saint Chrysostom, says: “Know that the holy angels inspire us to prayer, and stand with us in it, rejoicing and praying together for us” (“Philokalia” in the Russian translation, vol. 2, p. 233).

c) The preservation and service of the holy angels to the salvation of man is confirmed, in addition, by numerous examples from the lives of the saints. Here are several such examples:

Saint Anthony the Great, being in the desert, once fell into despondency and prayed to the Lord to show him how to be saved. And then he sees someone like himself, who was sitting and working, then got up from work and prayed; then sat down again and twisted a rope; then again got up to pray. It was an angel of the Lord, who said to Anthony: "And you do this, and you will be saved." Hearing this, Anthony was very happy and encouraged. He began to do this and was saved.

Saint John Climacus testifies about himself: “When I thirsted for greater success, then in this case an angel who appeared to me enlightened me” ("The Ladder", Step 27).

Saint Theodore, Bishop of Edessa, asked a clairvoyant stylite how he recognized and distinguished between the righteous and the sinners. The stylite answered: "If a righteous man who fears God passes by my pillar, then I see the grace of God, and bright angels walk with him on both sides, and demons come from afar, not daring to approach him; but if a sinful man comes, then I see around him a horde of triumphant demons, and the guardian angel follows him at a distance, lamenting and grieving over the destruction of the sinner. But when the demons want to finally destroy this man, then an angel appears with a fiery weapon and drives them away."

In the life of the Holy Martyr Sebastian (December 18) it is said that when one chief was destroying idols, an angel appeared to him in the form of a young man and said: "The Lord Jesus Christ, in Whom you have believed, sends you perfect health through me." He jumped up and wanted to throw himself at the angel's feet and kiss him, but he said: "Do not dare to touch me, for you have not yet been washed from the stench of the idols by holy baptism." From this we see that the holy angels serve the salvation of only baptized people.

The "Paterikon" mentions that one hermit, suffering from severe pain in the stomach, was healed by an angel. Having come to the sick man and having learned the cause of his suffering, the guardian angel cut the painful place with his finger, as if with a knife, cleaned out the pus that had accumulated there, then smoothed the wound with his hand, and by this action healed the hermit and restored his physical health.

The most striking example of the care of the holy angels for the people entrusted to their care is presented in the story of the young Tobias, which constitutes the main content of the sacred Book of Tobit.

From the few examples given here, we see that the holy angels watch over people not only in their waking state, but also during sleep, and care not only for the spiritual salvation, but also for the physical health of people.

In the parable of our Lord Jesus Christ about the rich man and Lazarus it is said: "And the beggar died, and the angels carried him into Abraham's bosom" (Luke 16:22). These words of the Lord give us reason to believe that the service of our guardian angels extends to the last minutes of our life and beyond the limits of this life. That guardian angels are present at the separation of the soul from the body, about this there are many stories in the history of the death of pious and sinful people. Saint Cyril of Alexandria in a word on the departure of the soul says: "The soul is supported by the holy angels in its journey through the air and, rising, encounters toll houses that guard the ascent, hold back and stop the ascending souls. The angel tries to protect it from evil spirits and, finally, leads it to the Lord God before His terrible throne."

III. Knowing that guardian angels are constantly with us and that they are the closest and constant witnesses of our life, we must be careful not to offend them not only in actions, but also in words and thoughts, and thereby not to remove them from ourselves. In the event of a fall into sin, let us hasten to attract our heavenly guardians and helpers to ourselves with a quick and sincere repentance, in order to please not only them, but also all the other angels in heaven, who rejoice over “one sinner who repents” (Luke 15:10). 

 

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