St. Moses the Black icon

St. Moses the Black icon
© Cecilia Lawrence
July 8th 2017
4.5 x 6 inches
Ink, watercolor, gold leaf

“Bear disgrace and affliction in the Name of Jesus with humility and a troubled heart;
and show Him your weakness, and He will become your strength.”
- St. Moses the Black

I made this icon of St. Moses the Black as part of an art trade with NikosBoukouvalas, who has been very patient and long-suffering while he waited an exceptionally long time for me to finish my part of the art trade. I'm so sorry about how long this has taken me to finish! Anyway, as requested, here he is! I've depicted St. Moses in the simple garb of an Egyptian monk holding an abbot's tau cross-shaped staff in one hand and holding a basket full of spilling sand in the other. The basket is a reference to a story about him in which he likened the sand coming out of the basket to his own sins and offenses as an admonishment to a group of monks to not sit in judgement over others while losing sight of their own sinfulness.



:+: A BRIEF BIOGRAPHY OF THE SAINT :+:

Saint Moses the Black (c. 330 – 407 A.D.) also known as Moses the Ethiopian or Moses the Robber, was a slave as a young man in the house of an important Egyptian government official. However, he soon became notorious for his thefts, his wanton immorality, and eventually was forcibly driven out of his master's house after he had committed murder. Moses fled into the desert and, due to his great height, imposing strength, and ferocity, Moses drew to himself a number of fellow lawless men dedicated to robbery and brigandage. Moses became their leader and led them in a life of pillage for a time. At one point, while committing a robbery, a shepherd's dog alerted the neighborhood to the brigands' presence and interfered in one of their thefts. As a result, the band of thieves were forced to flee. In vengeance for this, Moses planned to murder the shepherd and discovered that his sheep were pastured on the other side of the Nile. He looked for a place to ford the river and exact his vengeance, however, the Nile was in flood at the time. Undeterred, Moses swam across the swollen river with his sword in his mouth. The shepherd saw him a distance away and, perceiving who it was, fled from the area and hid by burying himself in the sand. Moses was furious when he couldn't find the man, but then decided to take his revenge by seizing the shepherd's four best rams and killing them. He roped the dead animals together and dragged them behind him as he swam back across the river. He came to a village and flayed the sheep, ate them, sold the skins for wine, and then walked back to join his band.

Moses and his band of brigands became so notorious for their viciousness and the terror that they sowed that Moses soon found himself being hunted by the authorities. He fled out into the desert and went into hiding with a group of monks who lived out in the Wadi El Natrun. While there, he became very attracted to their peaceful lives, their spiritual asceticism and their whole-hearted devotion to God. His conscience troubled him and he soon came to repent of all the evils he had done in his life and desired to become a Christian and embrace the ascetic life of the monks he had met at the Scetes monastery. He was introduced to a priest named Isidore, who later became his spiritual father in the ascetic life, and Isidore in turn introduced Moses to a priest named Macarius. It was to St. Macarius that Moses confessed all of the sins of his life, and then was baptized. 

Moses had a very difficult time adjusting to monastery life. He was constantly tempted by violent and lustful thoughts, and also struggled to keep to his cell. Moses was fortunate in having Isidore as his spiritual director, for Isidore was very experienced in spiritual warfare and gave him good advice and guidance. Once, when Moses was troubled by evil thoughts, the devil's temptations and discouragement, Isidore took him to the top of his cell and pointed to the horizon. He said, "See, only slowly do the rays of the sun drive away the night and usher in a new day, and thus, only slowly does one become a perfect contemplative. Do not be grieved. These are the beginnings, and therefore they have attacked you the more vehemently, seeking out your old habit. For just as a dog in a butcher's shop owing to his habits cannot tear himself away, but if the shop is closed and no one gives him anything, he no longer comes near it. So also with you; if you endure, the demon gets discouraged and has to leave you." Encouraged by this, Moses became more and more zealous in his spiritual practices and fasted rigorously. Once, when he was weakened after a seven day fast in his cell, four robbers came upon him to kill him, but Moses overpowered all of them, tied them up, and dragged them to the chapel where the other monks were gathered. After throwing the four terrified men on the floor before the startled monks, Moses asked, “Since I can no longer do any harm to any man, what do you command me to do with these who came to slay me?” Moses told the attackers who he was and how he had formerly been the leader of a gang of thieves, and hearing this, the thieves saw the sincerity of his repentance in turning from his evil life, and they too, inspired by his example, decided to become monks at the Scetes monastery.

As fervent as he was in his devotions, Moses continued to be horribly tempted to return to his sexual sins, and these thoughts tormented him even more in his sleep. He was so tortured by these dreams that he almost gave up the ascetic life. He went to Isidore and cried, "What am I to do, seeing that the dreams of my soul darken my reason, by reason of my sinful habits?" Isidore comforted him and replied, "Because you have not withdrawn your mind from imagining these things, that is why you endure this. Give yourself to watching and pray with fasting and you will quickly be delivered from them." Moses did as Isidore advised, and began sleeping less, mortifying himself more, and keeping all-night vigils. For six years he did this, but still he felt cruelly tempted. So he decided that instead he would spend his nights serving his brother monks by filling their water pitchers at night while they slept. One day, a man came to draw water from the well and saw Moses lying there, unconscious. The man ran and told Isidore, who came and carried Moses back to the monastery and tended to him. Moses was so feeble that it took him a year to recover. Isidore counselled Moses to perform his penances with moderation, but Moses said, "I will never cease until the appearance of the demons ceases." Then Isidore said, "In the name of Jesus Christ your dreams have ceased. Come to Communion then with confidence, for, that you should not boast of having overcome passion, this is why you have been oppressed, for your good." Moses, somewhat restored back to health, went back to his cell. Isidore came and visited him two months later and asked him if he was still troubled by temptations. Moses said that he no longer suffered anything. Ever after, Moses never feared the Devil.

Moses was later ordained as a priest by Theophilus, the Archbishop of Alexandria, and he became a great spiritual guide for the monks living at Scetes. He was famed for his humility, meekness, and wisdom. His holiness of life became so renowned that he was visited by many people who sought his advice and prayers. Palladius of Galatia (later Bishop of Helenopolis), was one of these pilgrims, and he came and lived with the monks in the Scetis monastery for about nine years, and later wrote of them and their lives in his Lausiac History. Moses was so often visited by people that he asked for Macarius' advice and was told to go to live at Petra, a place far-removed and hard to reach. Moses later founded his own monastery and had a number of disciples who followed him. Once, when the elder monks at Scetes were holding a council in order to reprimand an erring monk, Moses was invited to attend, but he refused. When pressed to come, he stood up, took a basket with a hole in it and filled it with sand. As he approached the council, the monks asked him what he was doing with a leaky basket, and he said, "The sand you see running from the bag represents my sins which are always following me, and yet, today I am coming to judge the errors of my brother." The elders, rebuked, left the council and went back to their own cells, and no one dared to judge the monk.

Around 370, a number of the Desert Fathers (including St. Moses) went to visit St. Macarius, and when they arrived, St. Macarius said, "My brothers, I see one of you worthy of the crown of martyrdom and he is going to shed his blood in the wilderness." Moses replied that it would probably be him, to fulfill the words of Jesus that all who lived by the sword would die by the sword. This prophecy came true in 407, when a group of Berber raiders came and destroyed the monastery and killed the monks. Moses had foreseen this, and told the other monks to flee but insisted on staying himself. Seven other monks refused to leave his side, and so when the Berbers came upon them they were murdered. One brother who had fled during the attack and hid himself, later said that he had seen crowns descending on the martyred monks. Moses died at the age of seventy-five and was buried at Paromeos Monastery at Scetes in Egypt, and his relics reside there to this day.

"Love of God is not something that we can be taught. We did not learn from someone else how to rejoice in light or want to live, or to love our parents or guardians. It is the same, perhaps even more so, with our love for God: it does not come by another’s teaching. As soon as the living creature (that is, man) comes to be, a power of reason is implanted in us like a seed, containing within it the ability and the need to love. When the school of God’s law admits this power of reason, it cultivates it diligently, skillfully nurtures it, and with God’s help brings it to perfection.

For this reason, as by God’s gift, I find you with the zeal necessary to attain this end, and you on your part help me with your prayers. I will try to fan into flame the spark of divine love that is hidden within you, as far as I am able through the power of the Holy Spirit.

First, let me say that we have already received from God the ability to fulfill all his commands. We have then no reason to resent them, as if something beyond our capacity were being asked of us. We have no reason either to be angry, as if we had to pay back more than we had received. When we use this ability in a right and fitting way, we lead a life of virtue and holiness. But if we misuse it, we fall into sin.

This is the definition of sin: the misuse of powers given us by God for doing good, a use contrary to God’s commandments. On the other hand, the virtue that God asks of us is the use of the same powers based on a good conscience in accordance with God’s command.

Since this is so, we can say the same about love. Since we received a command to love God, we possess from the first moment of our existence and innate power and ability to love. The proof of this is not to be sought outside ourselves, but each one can learn this from himself and in himself. It is natural for us to want things that are good and pleasing to the eye, even though at first different things seem beautiful and good to different people. In the same way, we love what is related to us or near to us, though we have not been taught to do so, and we spontaneously feel well disposed to our benefactors.

What, I ask, is more wonderful than the beauty of God? What thought is more pleasing and satisfying than God’s majesty? What desire is as urgent and overpowering as the desire implanted by God in a soul that is completely purified of sin and cries out in its love: I am wounded by love? The radiance of the divine beauty is altogether beyond the power of words to describe."
- from The Detailed Rules for Monks by St.  Basil the Great

The Feast of St. Moses the Black is celebrated on August 28th.

St. Moses the Black is a patron saint of Africa and non-violence.

All-powerful God,
help us who celebrate the memory of Saint Moses
to imitate his way of life.
May the example of your saints
be our challenge to live holier lives.
Grant this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, forever and ever. Amen.