ST MOSES THE STRONG, DESERT FATHER - 28 AUGUST

 

ALL SAINTS CELEBRATED IN AUGUST

Saints celebrated on the 28th of August

Prayer to the Angels and the Saints

Heavenly Father, in praising Your Angels and Saints we praise Your glory, for by honouring them we honour You, their Creator. Their splendour shows us Your greatness, which infinitely surpasses that of all creation.

In Your loving providence, You saw fit to send Your Angels to watch over us. Grant that we may always be under their protection and one day enjoy their company in heaven.

Heavenly Father, You are glorified in Your Saints, for their glory is the crowning of Your gifts. You provide an example for us by their lives on earth, You give us their friendship by our communion with them, You grant us strength and protection through their prayer for the Church, and You spur us on to victory over evil and the prize of eternal glory by this great company of witnesses.

Grant that we who aspire to take part in their joy may be filled with the Spirit that blessed their lives, so that, after sharing their faith on earth, we may also experience their peace in heaven. Amen.

SAINT MOSES THE STRONG, DESERT FATHER 

Saint Moses, who lived in the 4th century, was born of sub-saharan African parentage in Abyssinia, and hence is styled the "Ethiopian Hermit." Born in slavery, he had developed such vicious inclinations that his master drove him from his household. He then became a highway robber, and, at the head of a band of brigands, was the terror of the country round the frontiers of Egypt.

AT THE MONASTERY OF THE SOLITARIES AT SCETE

But a miraculous conversion ensued. Touched by Divine Grace, Moses became a model of penitence, and after some time gained admittance to the monastery of the Solitaries at Scete in Lower Egypt.

HIS AUSTERE LIFE AND HEAVENLY FAVOURS

There, his austere life and the heavenly favours he received placed him in the first rank among the Fathers of the Desert. Theophilus, Patriarch of Alexandria, raised him to the priesthood. He died at the close of the fourth century, when in his seventy-fifth year, surrounded by his many disciples. 

(From The Book of Saints, 1921, by the Monks of Ramsgate)