Saint Alexios the Man of God in the Hymnography of the Orthodox Church

 By Fr. George Dorbarakis

It is not by chance that, while all the saints are saints precisely because they were people of God, the only one who remained in history with this specific appellation is Saint Alexios, the Man of God. The remark of the Holy Hymnographer Joseph is clear: “You alone on earth were called the Man of God” (verse of the Synaxarion). The explanation he gives is convincing: First, because “we have known you to be a man of God not only from your calling but also from your deeds” (sticheron of Vespers). The life of Saint Alexios, according to the Hymnographer, was a continual confirmation of his obedience to the will of God, an embracing of immeasurable poverty, of the narrow and sorrowful way to which the Lord called every believer. For this reason he was filled with virtues, while he was given by God the gift of wonderworking. “You passed along a most narrow way, because from your youth you followed a blameless and holy life” (Ode 1).

March: Day 17: Teaching 2: Venerable Alexios the Man of God

March: Day 17: Teaching 2:
Venerable Alexios the Man of God
 
(Lessons From His Life: 
a. Contempt for Earthly Goods, and 
b. Love For Reading the Gospel)

By Archpriest Grigory Dyachenko

I. You, without doubt, listeners, know how the Venerable Alexios the Man of God lived and was saved. Being the son of rich and noble parents, in the flower of his youth he renounced all worldly joys and pleasures, even the most innocent and sinless; he voluntarily made himself poor, drank, ate, clothed himself as a beggar, lived and associated with beggars, and thus lived for more than 30 years, enduring from all people every kind of insult and offense, mockery and derision, and finding consolation only in the reading of the Holy Gospel.

II. To few people is granted by God the grace of such a life as his; and such people as he, one may say, appear only once in centuries, for our instruction. What can we learn from Alexios the Man of God?

March: Day 17: Teaching 1: Venerable Alexios the Man of God

March: Day 17: Teaching 1:
Venerable Alexios the Man of God
 
(In What Ways Should We Imitate Alexios the Man of God?)

By Archpriest Grigory Dyachenko

I. Venerable Alexios the Man of God, whose memory is celebrated today, lived in Rome and was the son of noble and pious parents, Euphemianos and Aglaida. Zealously helping the poor, enjoying all the blessings of the world, his parents often grieved over the fact that they had no children, no son who would be a support for them in old age. Finally, the Lord heard their prayer and granted them a son, whom they named Alexios. Brought up in strict piety, Alexios from his youth subjected himself to deprivations, observed strict fasting, wore a hair shirt on his body and constantly desired to devote himself to monasticism. When his parents married him to a noble maiden, on the very day of the wedding, being alone with her, he gave her a gold ring and a precious belt and said: "Keep this, and may God be between you and I." Then, retiring to his room, he took off his wedding clothes and, taking some money, disappeared from his parents' house in simple rags. After long wanderings, he arrived in Persia and there, in the city of Edessa, settled at the Church of the Most Holy Theotokos. He lived like a beggar, ate from what was given to him and every Sunday received the Holy Mysteries.