Arsenia: Name Day and Patron Saint

St Arsenius the Great was born in Rome around the year 354 to a devout Christian family. He was highly educated in rhetoric and philosophy, knew both Latin and Greek, and served as a deacon in a Roman church. His learning was so admired that the emperor Theodosius chose him to teach his sons, the future emperors Arcadius and Honorius, and Arsenius went to the court of Constantinople only reluctantly. Surrounded by honour, he longed for quiet with God. After praying, he heard a voice say, “Arsenius, flee from men, and you shall be saved.” He left the palace in secret, sailed to Alexandria and went into the desert of Scetis, where Abba John the Dwarf tested his humility and received him among the monks. There he wove baskets, prayed without ceasing and kept a silence so deep that he came to church only on Sundays and feasts. He was given the gift of tears. When asked why he avoided the brethren, he answered that the angels have one will, while men have many, so he could not be with God and with people at once. He taught that purity of soul from pride, envy and anger matters as much as bodily fasting, and he once said that he had often regretted his words but never his silence. After fifty-five years of monastic struggle at Scetis, Troe and Canopus, he reposed about the year 449, close to a hundred years old. The Church keeps his memory on 8 May (21 May on the Old Calendar).

What the faithful pray for

• the love of silence and inner stillness
• guarding the tongue from idle and harmful words
• the gift of tears and true repentance
• freedom from pride, envy and anger
• right faith, hope and love
• a peaceful Christian end