ST ABRAHAM OF SMOLENSK

ST ABRAHAM OF SMOLENSK - 21 AUGUST

Saints celebrated on the 21st 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.

ST ABRAHAM OF SMOLENSK

Saint Abraham was born in Smolensk in Russia. He came from a wealthy family and was highly intelligent. He was orphaned at an early age, and then he gave up his inheritance to become a monk in the Bogoroditskaya monastery.

There he devoted himself to icon painting, Bible studies and preaching. He lived ascetically. He had great support among lay people, and he had great concern for the problems of the sick and poor.

But among the clergy and in his own community, enmity and jealousy arose against him, and later he moved to the monastery of the Holy Cross in Smolensk. But he was not well received there either, and eventually serious accusations were brought against him, both moral and theological. He was accused of heresy, immorality and pride. Bishop Ignatius of Smolensk took disciplinary measures against Abraham, stripped him of his priestly powers and ordered him back to the Bogoroditskaya monastery, and for five years he was in disgrace. But then the city was threatened by a terrible drought, and the citizens of Smolensk demanded that Abraham be rehabilitated.

This led to the bishop re-examining his case, and it ended with his name being cleared. Bishop Ignatius apologised to him and made him abbot of the small monastery of the Mother of God in Smolensk. Here Abraham spent the rest of his days in peace. He died in his monastery in Smolensk in 1221.

Abraham of Smolensk was a prominent figure in pre-Mongol Russia, and a biography of him written by his disciple Ephrem has been preserved. He was canonised by the Russian Orthodox Church around 1549. His memorial day is August 21.

(Information from:

https://www.katolsk.no/biografier/historisk/asmolens )

[He is venerated as a saint in both the Eastern Orthodox Church and the Roman Catholic Church. Pope Paul III canonised him in 1549.]

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