Chaste People, By Preserving Chastity Themselves, Take Care That Others Preserve It As Well
February 7
(A Saying from the Lemonarion about a black-robed nun who fled into the desert for the sake of a young man.)
By Archpriest Victor Guryev
February 7
(A Saying from the Lemonarion about a black-robed nun who fled into the desert for the sake of a young man.)
By Archpriest Victor Guryev
To turn a sinner away from sin and to bring him back from the error of his way is a great work, as the Holy Apostle James also teaches. “Brethren,” he says, “if any of you err from the way of truth, and one convert him; let him know, that he who converts the sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death, and shall cover a multitude of sins” (James 5:19–20). Thus the Apostle teaches, but does he teach rightly?
One of the desert elders, named John, related the following: There was in Jerusalem a certain maiden, tall in stature, chaste, and of holy life, named Mastridia. The devil, envying her piety, implanted in a certain young man the thought of seducing her into sin. Mastridia learned of this and, in order to turn the young man away from sin and to preserve her virginity, acted thus: she gathered bread-grains into a basket and departed into the desert. By this she drove away from the young man the evil thought that inclined him toward sin and brought peace to his heart.
Many years passed. By a special providence of God, a certain pious monk once encountered her in the Jordanian desert and said to her, “Mother, what are you doing in this desert?” Mastridia, wishing to conceal her way of life from the monk, replied, “I have lost my way, father, and I beg you to show me the road.” But the monk, filled with the Holy Spirit, answered, “No, you have not lost your way nor are you seeking a road; rather, you have conquered the devil. Tell me truthfully, then, why you came here.”
Mastridia replied, “Forgive me, father. A certain young man conceived a sinful thought concerning me, and I, wishing to save him from destruction and having compassion on him, came here in order to drive sin away from him completely, in which the Lord also helped me.”
“And how many years,” asked the elder, “have you lived here?”
“Seventeen,” she replied.
“And on what have you lived?”
“Here,” she said, “I live on the grains in this basket, and it suffices me. And I will tell you this also, father: during all the time of my stay here I have seen no human face other than yours, and the Lord has covered me with His grace.”
Having heard this, the monk glorified God for having deemed him worthy to see so great a virgin in her manner of life.
Thus, the Holy Apostle rightly says that he who turns a sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death and cover a multitude of sins. Yes, truly rightly, for what could be greater, for example, than the podvig (ascetic feat) of Mastridia? To save a young man from sin and to preserve her own virginity, in the bloom of youth a young maiden withdraws into the desert, lives there for seventeen years among wild beasts, feeds only on grains, and sees no human face!
Oh, truly blessed are those who know how to crucify their flesh with its passions and desires! And those who know how to lay down their lives for their brethren! And how, brethren, we ought to thank God, who has left us such great examples for imitation. How blessed we are to have such examples before our eyes!
Let us follow them and learn from the saints how to save not only ourselves but others as well; how to preserve virginity and chastity; how to crucify our flesh with its passions and desires; and how to drive away from ourselves and from others that inner, corrupting serpent that seeks to devour us. Amen.
Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos.