![]() All the monks who remained were killed when the bandits arrived.įor his radical conversion and for sticking with the teachings of the gospel even in favor of the rules of his superiors, Moses became a very influential saint. He forced most of the community to retreat, while he and several of the other monks stayed back, unarmed, to welcome the criminals. The other hermits in the community wanted to defend their colony, but Moses forbade them to inflict violence on the thieves. When Moses was 75, his community was attacked by a band of robbers, much like the one Moses had run in his youth. Much of Moses' life in the spiritual community was filled with similar challenges, where Moses favored the Christian values of forgiveness and hospitality over the rigid code of the monks.Įventually, Moses was ordained a priest, and later set out again into the desert to lead a new community of hermits. Hearing this, the other monks were ashamed at their eagerness to indict their brother, and they all forgave his infraction. ![]() "My sins run out behind me and I do not see them, but today I am coming to judge the errors of another." To this, Moses replied his most famous quote (a line which is often included on icons of the saint): When the others saw this, they asked why he carried a leaking back of sand. As he walked, a line of sand slowly poured out behind him. When some of the other monks came looking for him, demanding he join the community in the meeting, he reluctantly rose, filled a sack with sand, then cut a hole in the corner and began walking to the meeting. The robbers, who by that point were sure they were about to be executed, were so overcome by his forgiveness that they repented, converted, and joined the community.Īnother time, one of the other monks broke a rule of the community, and all the monks were invited to a hearing to decide his fate. Now that he was Christian, Moses didn't think they should be hurt. He dragged them into the chapel, where some other monks were praying, and asked the monks what should be done with the thieves. Moses, with his superior strength and experience, subdued them. One day, as a monk, Moses was in his cell when a group of robbers broke in and attacked him. Moses soon converted, giving up the violence and thievery of his old lifestyle and became a monk. These monks had nothing and still gave to others, and yet they were content. Moses had spent his whole life taking from others so that he might have more, and yet he was unfulfilled. while he his, Moses was taken by the generosity, kindness, and satisfaction of the monks. One day, as Moses was trying to hide from the local guards, he took shelter with a colony of monks. Moses gradually rose to the top of the gang, until eventually he was in charge of seventy thieves who sparked terror all around the Nile Valley. ![]() As a bandit, Moses regularly assaulted travelers, stole their belongings, and may well have committed additional murders and other wicked acts. ![]() Moses quickly turned his violent energy and large body to crime, joining a band of robbers. Moses' master found Moses too dishonest and violent, and after Moses was accused of murder, he was thrown out and exiled. In his youth, he became a slave or servant of an Egyptian governmental official, where his notoriety began. Little is known about Moses' early life, but he is believed to have been born in Ethiopia. Iconograpy: Walking stick parable scroll leaking sack of sand
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