July: Day 26: Teaching 2: Venerable Moses the Hungarian

July: Day 26: Teaching 2:
Venerable Moses the Hungarian
 
(Means to Avoid Sins Against the Seventh Commandment of the Law of God)

By Archpriest Grigory Dyachenko

I. The Holy Venerable Moses, whose memory is celebrated today, came from Hungary, which is why he is called Hungarian, and was the brother of Saints George and Ephraim and served with them under the Holy Prince Boris, brother of the Holy Prince Gleb. When villains killed his master, he hid from the murderers. In 1018, the Polish king Boleslav captured Kiev and took many boyars captive, including Moses. In captivity, the Saint languished in prison for 6 years. But here he completely surrendered himself to the Lord and vowed to remain celibate forever. It happened that a young, beautiful widow of a Polish nobleman saw Moses in prison and, struck by his beauty, since Moses was very handsome, decided to seduce him, promising freedom and wealth. Moses however answered: "Adam, Samson, Solomon and Herod suffered from women; and will I be free if I enslave myself to a woman? I do not need riches, nor honors, nor any of the blessings of this world. Above all this for me are purity and chastity." But this did not stop the wicked wife. She ransomed the captive, took him into her house, dressed him in rich clothes and began new temptations. But Moses, like Joseph, threw off his rich clothes, turned his face away from the seductress and prayed to God to strengthen him in the feat. Then the Polish woman ordered Moses to be locked up in a stuffy dungeon and starved to death, thinking thereby to force him to sin. Many persuaded Moses to marry the Polish woman; but he answered: "I made a vow before God to lead a chaste life until the grave and to be a monk. You know what is said in the Gospel: 'Everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or lands for My name’s sake will receive a hundredfold and inherit eternal life' (Matthew 19:29)." Seeing that imprisonment had no effect on Moses, the Polish woman released him and showed him all her vast estates; but she could not entice the righteous man with this either. Then she began to threaten him with terrible torments, saying: “I will not let you out of my hands alive.” “God is my protection, I fear nothing,” Moses answered, and he himself took monastic vows. When the Polish woman learned of this, she ordered him to be cruelly beaten and finally disfigured him so that he almost bled to death and suffered greatly for the rest of his life. God punished the immoral woman: a rebellion occurred in Poland, and she was killed. Moses received his freedom, went to the Cave of Saint Anthony, and here after 10 years of fasting and prayer he died. Here his relics rest, to which those suffering from carnal passions successfully resort for help.

II. Venerable Moses is a great teacher of chastity. He teaches us to fight with all our might against the temptations to fall into the sin of carnal impurity.

a) In order to overcome our carnal desires, we must try in every way to avoid everything that easily leads to these sinful desires of the flesh. Thus: 

1) We must immediately remove ourselves from those evil conversations where the talk turns to fornication; 

2) We must never start indecent entertainment gatherings; 

3) We must in every way avoid acquaintance with dissolute people; 

4) We must never especially get drunk with wine, “which leads to fornication,” as the Apostle says; 

5) We must not read or listen to seductive books, which often describe wicked love that inflames our carnal passions; 

6) We must try by all means to avoid foul language. 

In a word: we must try to remove ourselves from the slightest instances that can captivate your feelings to the delight of lustful passion. "If your right eye causes you to sin, pluck it out and cast it from you; for it is more profitable for you that one of your members perish, than for your whole body to be cast into hell" (Matt. 5:29), i.e. "no matter how dear the tempting object is to you, even if it is as dear as an eye, then even then renounce it; it is better to be without one pleasure than to perish yourself. If someone has a friend, but this friend is given to vice, one must renounce this friend and part with him forever, even if it is painful for the heart."

So let us beware of everything that can lead to the burning of our flesh!

b) Let us immediately hasten to repel the thought that has arisen about this with fervent prayer to the Lord Jesus, crucified for us, resorting with prayer to the saints of God. Especially powerful is the prayer for preservation from the temptations of the flesh, which wars against our spirit, addressed to Saint John the Baptist, the Holy Martyr Thomais, Saint Moses the Hungarian who is celebrated today, and other Holy Virgins who have conquered the temptations of the flesh.

The question of the prayerful appeal of Christians to famous saints in special cases is resolved with the usual theological wisdom by the ever-memorable Saint Philaret, Metropolitan of Moscow. He says: 

"Whoever with faith and love for God and His law, with the hope of God's gracious help, firmly stood against temptation, and actually accepted gracious help to repel it; whoever zealously and constantly practiced some pious feat or virtue, and actually accepted gracious help to accomplish the feat and virtue; whoever courageously decided to suffer and die rather than betray the truth and justice, and actually accepted gracious help to victoriously pass the arena of innocent suffering: he can also help others who are tempted and struggling; or in general because, attracted by his faith and exploit, the power of Christ will dwell in him ( 2 Cor. 12:9 ), and act not only in him, but also through him; and especially because, from the experience of his own temptation and exploit, he understands and sympathizes with others in a similar temptation and exploit all the more deeply, and the more zealously seeks their help, and, from the experience of the gracious help he has found for himself, with greater boldness of faith and with greater success he intercedes before God for others who require such help, finding, moreover, in the joy of beneficence a reward for his exploit. Such a conciliatory direction of the beneficent power of the saints can be discerned by experience in their lives.

A certain man asked Saint Daniel of Skete for help, being severely tempted by a temptation that had risen up against his chastity. The elder sent him to the grave of the martyr Thomais to pray through her intercession. And when the command was fulfilled, the temptation disappeared. Why did help have to come through this martyr? Because in life she had gone through a severe temptation against her chastity and died a martyr's death for preserving her chastity" ("Words and Speeches of Philaret, Metropolitan of Moscow." T. V. Moscow. 1885, pp. 286-287).

c) Let us recall how the saints of God struggled with the lust of the flesh, how did they conquer it? Thus, John the Long-Suffering, tormented by this lust, at first, upon entering the monastery, remained for two or three days without food, and sometimes for a whole week did not eat anything, exhausted himself with thirst, deprived himself of sleep at night and spent three years in such suffering. But finding no peace for himself, he, on the advice of Saint Anthony, locked himself in his cramped cave, and for another 30 years struggled with tormenting passion and thoughts, increased his vigil and fasting, put on heavy iron chains, exhausted himself with cold and hunger. When this also proved insufficient, he dug a deep hole, climbed into it, covered himself with dust up to the shoulders, so that only his head and hands remained free, and in this state spent Great Lent. Finally, the Lord heard the long-suffering man and, through the prayers of another great virgin, the now glorified Moses the Hungarian, whose relics rested in the same cave, granted John victory over the terrible enemy and peace of mind (July 18 and the Paterikon of the Kiev Caves).

III. Ascetics of piety, who care not only about external bodily purity, but also about the purity of thoughts, about the chastity of the heart, let them remember that in Moses the Hungarian they have their champion and helper, and through prayer let them bring the Saint of God closer to themselves.

May the image of Moses the Hungarian enlighten those who are advocates of marriage of convenience and who sacrifice the moral well-being of their children and relatives for the sake of money and connections.

Let the chastity of Moses the Hungarian shame those who consider carnal sins as nothing in the name of the false idea of satisfying the demands of nature, and therefore do not even think of moving away from carnal lusts that war against the soul, but with insolence and stubbornness commit lawlessness. Let the example of the teacher Moses be a model of imitation for all Christians!

 

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