(A.D. 797.)
[Commemorated by the Greeks. Authority:--The Acts by S. Stephen of S.
Sabas, an eye-witness of what he relates. The account in the Greek
Menology is full of inaccuracies, which proves that the compiler of it
had not seen the Acts, but wrote his account from tradition.]
The laura of S. Sabas between Jerusalem and Bethlehem stood in a
situation exposed to hostile attack. In the invasion of Palestine by
Chosroes, the monastery did not escape, but yielded up sixty martyrs
to God. In 797, twenty more perished in an incursion of the Arabs.
The account of this latter catastrophe, written by Stephen, a monk of
that monastery, at the time, and one of those who escaped, is full of
interest. It is far too long to be inserted here. We have only space
for a brief outline of the events. The Arabs had been devastating the
whole country for some time past, and news of the ruin of the laura of
S. Charito had reached the monks of the laura of S. Sabas. A laura is a
collection of separate cells, of caves, or huts, the monks assembling
only in the church; whereas a monastery consists of one or more large
buildings, in which the monks live in community. On hearing of the
pillage of the laura of S. Charito, the brethren assembled in the
church to pray God to deliver them from a like infliction, or should
He deem expedient to send it upon them, to strengthen them to meet it
manfully. As they were in prayer, a brother who was on the look-out,
came running to tell that he saw a party of some sixty Arabs, armed
with lances and bows, galloping over a sand hill in the direction
of the laura. It was the 13th of March, and the second hour of the
morning. Then there went forth a deputation of the monks to meet the
marauders, and to beseech them to spare the defenceless brethren. But
they were greeted with shouts of derision, and were driven before the
arrows and stones of the robbers back into the church, some of their
number mortally wounded, and in all, thirty were wounded. The physician
Thomas extracted the arrows and bound up their wounds, as they were
brought in. But he had little space for attending to them, before the
Arabs came into the laura, and gathering thorns into bundles, piled
them about the cells and set fire to them. They were preparing to do
the same to the church, when an alarm was given that succour to the
monks was at hand, and in an instant the Arabs had vanished over the
sand hills.
Throughout the following week the monks were kept in incessant alarm
and expectation of a renewed attack. Messengers came to them from the
old Laura, to warn them that a band of ruffians had attacked it and
was on its way to the Laura of S. Sabas. The news reached them on
Saturday night late, as they were keeping the vigil of the Lord's day
in the Church. Their terror and anxiety was greatly increased somewhat
later, when an old white-haired monk arrived from the monastery of
S. Euthymius, bearing a letter from the abbot, to tell them that a
second party of Arabs was on its way to attack them. A bright full
moon was in the sky, shining in at the church windows, and by its
light the frightened monks deciphered the epistle. Some fled over the
desert, vainly seeking hiding places; some retired to their cells, some
remained praying in the Church. Here occurs a great gap in the history,
a whole sheet of the MS. is lost, and we next hear of the Arabs driving
the flying monks before them with bow, and spear, and club, towards
the church, scouring the desert around and catching the runaways,
penetrating into the cells, and dragging them forth.
John, the guest-master, was found among some rocks, the barbarians
pelted him with stones, then ham-strung him, and dragged him down
the rocks by his feet to the church, till, mangled and bleeding, he
fainted. Sergius, the sacristan, had concealed the sacred vessels,
and had sought refuge in flight, but was caught, and because he
refused to surrender the holy vessels, was hacked to pieces by the
barbarians. A number of the monks had secreted themselves in a cave.
The Arabs ran into it, thrusting their swords and spears into every
corner, and one of the monks, a young man, named Patricius, resolved
to sacrifice himself to save the others. He, therefore, cried out
that he would surrender, and, coming forth, delivered himself up. The
robbers, supposing he was the only one there concealed, left the others
unmolested. He was one of those who were afterwards suffocated.
Now there was a winding cave under the guest-house, which was used for
various purposes. Into this a number of monks were driven, and they
were threatened with death unless they would ransom their lives by
surrendering the Eucharistic vessels and vestments. This they refused
to do. Then the Arabs bade them point out which were the heads of the
community. They replied, with truth, that the abbot was now absent,
he having gone away on some business a few weeks before. Then they
insisted on the physician being indicated to them, for they had an idea
that he was possessed of money. Again the monks refused to declare
which of them was physician. Then the Arabs thrust them all into the
cave, and choking up the entrance with thorns and grass, set fire to
it. And when there had been a blaze and smoke for some little while,
they shouted to the monks within to come forth; so the unfortunate men
came through the blaze and over the red coals, and fell panting for
breath on the ground. Their hair, beards, eyelashes, and their garments
were burnt, and their faces were discoloured with smoke. The Arabs
again bade them deliver up their superiors, and as they again refused,
they drove them back through the flames into the cave, and heaped on
more fuel, and kept up the blaze, till all within had been suffocated.
Then they dispersed themselves over the Laura, and entered every cell,
and took from them all that they wanted, and laded the camels belonging
to the monks with the spoil that they had found, and departed.
And after many hours, the brethren who had escaped came forth from
their places of concealment, and sought water and food to satisfy
their appetites; and they scattered the embers of the great fire, and
as the smoke rolled forth from the cavern, and a pure air entered,
they lighted tapers and went in, at the setting of the sun, and found
all the fathers therein dead, with their faces to the ground, and in
various attitudes, some as though creeping into a corner in quest of
air. And they made great lamentation over them, and drew them forth and
washed them, and buried them with reverence.