January: Day 28: Teaching 2:*
Venerable James the Faster
(The Benefit of Bodily Fasting)
By Archpriest Grigory Dyachenko
Venerable James the Faster
(The Benefit of Bodily Fasting)
By Archpriest Grigory Dyachenko
Venerable James, an ascetic of the sixth century, lived for fifteen years in a single cave in Phoenicia. For his God-pleasing life he received from God the gift of working miracles, so that not only believers but also pagans came to him seeking healing from illnesses, and through this many pagans of that region were converted to Christianity.
One of the Venerable one’s miracles is especially noteworthy. Once a severe drought came upon all Phoenicia, and famine began to threaten the inhabitants. Together with their bishop, the people fervently prayed to God to grant rain. Then, in a vision, the bishop was commanded to go to the cave where Venerable James was struggling in ascetic labor and to ask him to pray for rain. The bishop, gathering the clergy and accompanied by the people, went with supplicatory chanting to James, asking his intercession before God. At first James, considering himself unworthy of God’s mercy, refused them; but after persistent entreaties he began to pray, and during the prayer rain fell.
