VITALY
(VII century), St. Alexandria (commemorated April 22, Greek memorial January 11), monk of the monastery of St. Abba Serida (comm. August 13) in Gaza. Came to Alexandria at the age of 60 during the Patriarchate of St. John V the Merciful (commemorated November 12). V. carried out an unusual spiritual feat. When hired to work in the city, he took 12 copper coins for his work, with one of which he bought meager food in the evening, spending the entire day in fasting. V. spent the rest of his money in a brothel: having compiled a list of all the harlots of Alexandria, he went around each one in turn,
St. Vitaly of Alexandria. Icon. Beginning XIX century (CAC MDA) Rev. Vitaly of Alexandria. Icon. Beginning XIX century (TsAK MDA) giving her the money on the condition that the woman abstain from sin that night. V. himself spent the night in prayer for the harlot, taking an oath from her not to disclose his act. Once a certain woman tried to talk about the elder’s feat, but by God’s permission she was possessed. Mn. the fallen women, heeding the elder’s admonitions, repented and abandoned their shameful occupation. However, the townspeople, confident that V. indulged in sin every night, accused him of disgracing the monastic order. The saint, trying at all costs to hide his godly deeds, answered that monks also have carnal weaknesses. Once, having met V. on the threshold of a brothel, a certain young man hit him on the cheek, accusing him of an imaginary sin. V. predicted to him that the young man would receive such a blow in return that the whole city would hear his cry. Soon a demon appeared to the young man and hit him on the cheek so hard that a huge number of people came running to scream. Having come to his senses, the young man led people to the ascetic’s cell, where they found V. kneeling, who died during prayer. Then the harlots who were in the crowd told about his feat, and the townspeople repented of their condemnation, marveling at the elder’s extraordinary humility. Healings occurred from V.'s relics. The Patriarch, who at one time did not believe the denunciation of the saint, took part in his burial. The young man, who received a blow from a demon, became a monk, and many others. Witnesses of V.'s life made it a rule never to judge one's neighbor.
The legend about V. is part of the Life of St. John V the Merciful, Patriarch of Alexandria, written in the 7th century. Leonty, bishop Neapolitan (Naples is the medieval name of the modern city of Limassol, Cyprus) (BHG, N 886).
The memory of the saint was indicated in certain Byzantine eras. verse synaxarions (for example, Paris. gr. 1582, XIV century), and then was included in the printed Menaion (Venice, 1595). The Russian Orthodox Church celebrates his memory on April 22, since under this date a short narrative about V., extracted from the life of John the Merciful, was included in the section of words and teachings of ancient Russian. Prologue, and the VMC contains “The Sermon of the Venerable Mnisa Vitaly, how he left his cell, went to Alexandria and saved a harlot” (Joseph, Archimandrite. Contents of the VMC. Stb. 91, 99 (2nd page)).
Source: ActaSS. Ian. T. 2. P. 702-703; Leontius Neapolitanus. Leben des hl. Johannes des Barmherzigen, Erzbischofs von Alexandrien / Hrsg. H. Gelzer. Freiburg i. Br., 1893. S. 69-75; SynCP. Col. 385-386; JSV. Apr. pp. 352-357.
Lit.: Sergius (Spassky). Monthsword. T. 3. P. 152; ΘΗΕ. Τ. 3. Σ. 914; Σωφρόνιος (Εὐστρατιάδης). ῾Αγιολόγιον. Σ. 82; Sauget J.-F. Vitale, monaco di Gaza // BiblSS. Vol. 12. Col. 1220.
O. N. Afinogenova
I love to visit from time to time, Where the secret of our life is hidden, Where, perhaps, I myself will hide, Following the drunken cup of death.
Here I spend my minutes, languishing in incurable despondency. And here I find joy, When the soul grieves to death.
Here the noise of everyday life ceases - And instead of proud thoughts, a series of harsh thoughts comes - Unflattering, fair judges.
In front of me is a wretched temple filled with dead bones. They testify to us that we ourselves will be the same.
A few years ago, how those earthly guests lived, And then they went to their city, Leaving us only these bones.
They were also unable to control themselves at other times. And between them, as people, there were quarrels over litter.
Now satisfied with fate, They lie without interfering with each other, They do not argue with each other: Is the shelf their own or someone else’s?
We are also guests on earth, and the road lies there for us. We go there in some darkness, Not seeing the eternity of the threshold.
And we love holiness, and we sin, Chasing for happiness, we suffer, We rush somewhere every day, And we forget what is important.
We are afraid of death and judgment, We wish to live here longer, Trying to avoid labor, And to accumulate more of everything.
We cannot bear a word or an almost affectionate look, And the cross of sorrowful trials is more painful for us than hell.
We almost always blame others, Even though we anger God ourselves, We never blame ourselves And we don’t dare to do the smallest things.
For their personal whim, they are ready to sweat, not sleep for five nights in a row, and plunge into all dangers.
To bend one's soul at every hour, shamelessly trampling one's conscience. And everything that only pleases us, diligently raking in for itself.
We always stand up for honor, We value our work and knowledge. And inattention to them sometimes brings torment to our souls.
Such is a passionate man - the boastful god of earthly paradise! He fusses all his life, knowing no peace day and night.
And he treasures everything madly, As long as he has health. When the disease strikes him, then he becomes completely different.
The terrible hour of death will strike - The sinful soul will be confused. And everything that is dear to us - We must say goodbye to everything forever.
The tenderness of friends is powerless, the values of estates are insignificant - They cannot prolong this life even for a few moments.
In vain they rush for help, And the doctor refines his art: It becomes more and more difficult for the patient to breathe - And he, of course, dies.
The chest grows cold and the gaze dims, All feelings slavishly fall silent. And we, as if some kind of rubbish, are hastily buried in the ground.
Then you need to know a little about what happens to us here later: These bones speak... Our conscience trusts them.
One moment - and life is a dream! Why so much worry? Why all this fuss and a lot of bitter pleasures?
We forget the lesson that death repeats to us, That life is given for a short time, And childhood does not happen twice.
O death, who is not afraid of you? Who is the only one who desires you?! Blessed is the one who waits for you like a dream, Who remembers that the soul is immortal.
And there is no one more unfortunate than the one who is afraid to remember you: All life is torment for him, And this, however, he will lose.
And there is peace for the righteous and joy forever with the saints: For sinners there is hell with pitch darkness, And their fate is with evil demons.
Now, perhaps, he changes different clothes every day; If he dies, they will put him in only one, and that one does not happen by chance.
And the one who has the gift of a sage, but does not know God, will die no more than a fool, only losing his life in vain.
This time is not far off, And this road to eternity, Remember, wise one, that lesson: Know yourself - you will know God.
Find out where you come from and who you are, Why you came, where you are going, That you are great and you are nothing, That you are immortal and you will die.
The Act of John the Merciful
And although the monk hid his feat, this does not justify those who condemned him or openly reviled him. But there was still a man in the city who did not condemn the saint. It was the Alexandrian Patriarch John the Merciful. When rumors about the behavior of Saint Vitaly reached him, John the Merciful refused to believe them and cited the example of Emperor Constantine the Great, who at the First Ecumenical Council, without reading, burned written denunciations against some bishops and priests, saying that it was not his business to judge clergy. The emperor also added that if he had seen with his own eyes a priest or monk with a harlot, he would have covered him with his own cloak so that no one would look.
Condemnation is a sin
The Monk Vitaly prayed all night for these women, but strictly forbade them to talk about themselves. With each of them he took an oath that she would not tell the truth about him. The monk simply followed the words of the Savior that the left hand should not know what the right hand was doing. The Lord commanded to do good deeds in secret, so as not to become vain through them. St. Vitaly fulfilled this commandment to the end; he not only remained a secret, but also suffered unrighteous reproaches from sinful people. Saint Vitaly (whose icon is in any Orthodox church) helps everyone who turns to him with a request to protect a loved one from vice or prays for themselves, a sinner.
His example shows that one should not condemn anyone. Only God sees a person’s heart, and He is his judge, and other people judge according to their own measure of sinfulness. The sin of one person before another is nothing compared to the sin that a person commits before the Lord.
Lives of the Saints
Since ancient times, the exploits of saints, martyrs, and saints have been recorded and sacredly preserved by devotees of piety. Gradually, many legends accumulated, which are usually called “Lives of the Saints.” In this article we will look at the life of one amazing saint named Vitaly.
This venerable Vitaly (saint) lived in the second half of the sixth century. His feat was the only one of its kind; as far as is known, neither before nor after him anyone dared to repeat such actions, they were so unusual. But his example of spiritual holiness can teach a lot to any person, especially for monks.
The feat of the monk
Usually people see in others the sins that they themselves commit, and they are pleased that they are not the only ones who are so sinful. The inhabitants of Alexandria themselves were far from holiness, and many of them probably used the services of priestesses of love, but they could not forgive this vice to the monk, who had previously reproached their conscience with his pure life. This case is very indicative for modern people who gladly blame the church and its ministers if they notice imperfection or vice in something.
As the residents of the city later learned, the monk Vitaly, a man of holy life, locked himself with harlots, and allowed these unfortunate women to forget about their dirty work at least for one night, to get some sleep, or to pray to the Lord with him. He did not condemn or rebuke anyone with whom he spent time, but only pitied them. And many prostitutes took the righteous path. Some of them repented, got married, gave birth to children and became faithful wives, others went to a monastery and practiced purity until their death.
The meaning of the name Vitaly
The name Vitaly, like many others, came to us from ancient Rome, as a derivative of Vitalis, which means “vital” in Latin. This male name is found in the calendar of commemoration of saints in both the Catholic and Orthodox churches.
In medieval Rus' it appeared along with the arrival and spread of Christianity. Different peoples have different forms of the name, but they are all similar and recognizable, since the basis remains the same. In Slavic languages, there is also a feminine form of the name - Vitalina.
Saint Vitaly the Roman
The holy martyr Vitaly the Roman lived in the 2nd century AD. He had six brothers. Their mother, the wealthy Roman matron Felizata, was a Christian. She also raised her children in the Christian faith, taking them with her to secret meetings and prayers of the community from childhood. For spreading the faith, Felitsata was captured and tried to force her to renounce Christ.
But she was firm, and then her sons were tortured. And they were strong in faith, despite the cruel torture. Unable to achieve their goal, the executioners killed their sons, and then Felitsata herself. The family of the holy martyrs rests in the same place where they met their death - in Rome. Their relics were transferred to the Church of St. Susanna. Memory of St. Vitaly the Roman is celebrated in Orthodoxy on February 7th.
Saint Vitaly of Kerkyra
Oh St. Vitaly Kerkirsky knows little. In 63 AD. The apostles Jason and Sosipater, companions and close disciples of the Apostle Paul, set out from Palestine to the west to bring the good news to people. On the island of Kerkyra in the Ionian Sea off the coast of Greece, the apostles built a church named after the first martyr Stephen.
Many local residents heeded the sermons about Christ and were baptized. When news of this reached the ruler of the island, he became enraged and ordered the preachers to be seized and imprisoned. But even there they converted even robbers and thieves to the true faith. Having learned this, the ruler ordered the converts to be brutally executed and the holy apostles to be beaten with whips.
The ruler's daughter, seeing such anger from her father and the martyrdom of Christians, herself accepted the Christian faith. Because of this, the ruler simply went mad and ordered the death of his daughter, and then the execution of all Christians on the island. So, among others baptized by the apostles, St. received the crown of martyrdom. Vitaly. He and three other martyrs were burned alive in a fire. The saint's memorial day is celebrated on May 11.
