Abba Moses turned his life around – but before he could really live, he had to learn how to die.
This past Sunday was the feast of Abba Moses of Scetis.
He’s one of the more famous saints in the Orthodox Church, but, I imagine, one of those saints whose life isn’t well known.
He’s also one of the desert “abbas,” which means father. Sometimes he’s known as Moses the Black, Moses the Robber, or Moses the Ethiopian.
He’s a 4th-century saint whose story is very similar to that of St. Mary of Egypt. Like her, he lived a despicable life, but encountered Christ and turned it all around.
He started life as a slave, but he was so horrible that his owner threw him out into the streets!
Can you imagine? Someone so horrible they can’t even cut it as a salve?
He soon worked his way up to becoming the leader of a gang of bandits who roamed the Nile Valley spreading terror and violence.
His conversion to Christianity happened while being pursued by the authorities for his crimes. He decided to hide with a group of monks in Scetis – modern day Egypt.
While there, the gospel changed his life and he became a monk and then a priest of the Orthodox Church.
But how, exactly, did he turn his life around?
HE LIVED WHAT HE PREACHED
He did it by living what he preached.
“A monk must die to his neighbor and never judge him at all, in any way whatever.”
These are profound words.
In the Sayings of the Desert Fathers, there’s even a story that goes along with it.
A brother asked the old man [Abba Moses], “Here is a man who beats his servant because of a fault he has committed; what will the servant say?” The old man said, “If the servant is good, he should say, ‘Forgive me, I have sinned’.” The brother said to him, “Nothing else?” The old man said, “No, for from the moment he takes upon himself the responsibility for the affair and says, ‘I have sinned,’ immediately the Lord will have mercy on him. The aim in all these things is not to judge one’s neighbor.”
The servant was in the wrong. The story says he committed a fault.
However, our 21st-century American sensibility tells us that we ought to be outraged by the beating, not the sin that prompted the beating.
Surely the master is breaking some sort of law by beating his servant! What could the servant have done that was so wrong as to deserve a beating?
However, that’s not the point-of-view that Abba Moses takes. Instead, he turns his attention to the servant. He answers the question: what can the servant do?
The answer: ask for forgiveness and admit his sinfulness.
ALL ARE CALLED TO LIVE OUT THEIR FAITH
You see, the Christian faith isn’t just about having a mental belief system about God and salvation. It’s about a living faith that transforms us.
If Abba Moses had said that the servant should stand up for himself and point out the unjust beating, then the servant would have been committing a sin. The servant would have judged the master.
In other words, the servant is responsible for his own faults, not the faults of his master.
Returning to our story, we see that Abba Moses explains this:
The brother said, “What does that mean?” The old man [Abba Moses] said, “…To die to one’s neighbor is this: To bear your own faults and not to pay attention to anyone else wondering whether they are good or bad.”
Since the gospel is offered freely, it has to be accepted freely, and we can’t force someone else to change.
We have the tool of persuasion, not judgment.
JUDGE NOT IN ORDER TO NOT BE JUDGED
This is repeated several times over in scripture:
“Judge not, that you be not judged.” (Matthew 7:1 RSV)
“Judge not, and you will not be judged; condemn not, and you will not be condemned; forgive, and you will be forgiven;” (Luke 6:37 RSV)
“Do not grumble, brethren, against one another, that you may not be judged; behold, the Judge is standing at the doors.” (James 5:9 RSV)
What Abba Moses does is explain that not judging your neighbor is dying to your neighbor. You become “blind” to your neighbor’s faults.
He expounds on that in this way:
“Do no harm to anyone, do not think anything bad in your heart towards anyone, do not scorn the man who does evil, do not put confidence in him who does wrong to his neighbor, do not rejoice with him who injures his neighbor. This is what dying to one’s neighbor means. Do not rail against anyone, bur rather say, ‘God knows each one.’ Do not agree with him who slanders, do not rejoice at his slander and do not hate him who slanders his neighbor. This is what it means not to judge. Do not have hostile feelings towards anyone and do not let dislike dominate your heart; do not hate him who hates his neighbor. This is what peace is.”
This sounds like a long, negative list of “thou shalt not dos.”
But, I believe it can be summed up in this way: our salvation is our own.
FIRST WORK ON YOUR OWN SALVATION
It doesn’t matter what your neighbor is doing. They are responsible for their salvation, not you.
If you do, however, get involved in your neighbor’s salvation by trying to correct them, then you may be putting your own salvation in jeopardy.
After all, judging is God’s work, not ours.
But what about that servant, who had to endure a beating from his master? Would it have been better for the servant to work towards “social justice”?
Well, as Abba Moses pointed out, the servant had things that he needed to work on, before worrying about his neighbor’s sins. In biblical language, the servant was a sinner and he first needed to repent.
Abba Moses himself, after living a life of repentance and learning not to judge his neighbor, died a martyr’s death.
He sacrificed himself for the kingdom of God just as the servant subjected himself to a beating for his own salvation.
But if this sounds too hard to live by, Abba Moses does leave us with this one final thought of encouragement:
“Affliction lasts but a short time, while peace [in heaven] is for ever, by the grace of God the Word. Amen.”
P.S. LEARN TO DIE WITH THE ANCIENT CHURCH!
I now invite you to enter deeper into the mystery of Christ with the Orthodox Church!
St. Elias Services
Saturdays, 5 pm (at St. John’s Parish House, 1458 Locust St, Dubuque, IA)
Sundays, 9:30 am (at Hillcrest Chapel, 2001 Asbury Rd, Dubuque, IA)
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Bibliography
“Moses” in The Sayings of the Desert Fathers: The Alphabetical Collection, translated by Benedicta Ward, SLG (Kalamazoo, MI: Cistercian Publicans, Inc., 1975), pp. 138-143.