THE VENERABLE AUXENTIUS

February 14

From the Prologue

Auxentius was a very prominent aristocrat among the noblemen and courtiers at the court of Emperor Theodosius the Younger in Constantinople. Enflamed with love for Christ, Auxentius was tonsured a monk and remained for a short time in Constantinople. When men began to praise him, he fled from their praise and settled on a mountain called Skopa near Chalcedon, which later was referred to as Auxentius' Mountain. His desire to remain there permanently, hidden from men, was not realized for some shepherds discovered him and make his whereabouts known. They began to bring the sick to him for healing. He healed many. He restored sight to the blind; cleansed lepers anointing them with oil; he also raised the palsied and freed many who were demon possessed. All of this was reason for amazement, but his humbleness was cause for even greater amazement. Whenever he was implored to heal someone he defended himself with the words: "I, also, am a sinful man!" Compelled by many requests, he approached healing in the following manner: he either invited all present to pray to God together with him for the sick person; or he first strengthened the faith in the people and then he told them that God will give to them according to their faith; or he prayed over the head of the sick person: "The Lord Jesus Christ heals you!" He did this so that the act of working miracles would not be attributed to him but rather to God Almighty. He participated at the Fourth Ecumenical Council [Chalcedon, 451 A.D.] and strongly defended Orthodoxy against the Eutychian and Nestorian heresies. In the year 470 A.D., the Lord took his youthful soul in his old age and his aged body remained in the earth from which it was created.