The memory of the reverend father of our Zosima

Zosima was a Phoenician by birth and was born in the coastal Phoenician village of Sindh, twenty stadia from the city of Tyre. Practicing monastic feats, Zosima, by abstinence, fasting and other virtues that shone in him, obtained such great grace from God that he not only remained free from all embarrassment in his conscience, but also despised the distant future with his spiritual eyes as present.

The name of its first founder is unknown. The city of Jericho flourished in the 6th, 7th and 8th centuries, when it was famous for the strictness of the life of its followers. John was patriarch in the 6th century. His memory is celebrated by the Church on October 3.] , taken to the episcopal chair for a virtuous life against the wish of the monastery of Hozevitskaya, located not far from Jerusalem, on the road leading to Jericho [The city of Jericho was located on the west bank of the Jordan River, in a very fertile valley, among gardens full of palm trees, which is why it was called "the city of palms".

And it came to pass at that very moment, when Antioch was broken down by the earthquake, that the old man suddenly sighed, and wept bitterly, and wept much, and shed many tears; and he took an altar, and filled it with incense and burning coals, and sent forth all that were therein, and lay down on the ground in the form of a cross, and prayed to God with repentance.

And Archelaus and the rest, being astonished and afraid, wrote down the hour in which the saint spoke, and soon afterward they perceived clearly that what the elder had said was true, for Antiochus fell at the same hour when the elder, in tears, stretched himself in prayer and foretold the fall.

And it came to pass that Archelaus came to the monastery of Archelaus, which was in Sindh, which was five hundred furlongs from Caesarea, and his wife cut out her eye with her spine, and was grievously afflicted; and when John the bishop heard of it, he went to her to see the sore, and saw that her eyelids had fallen out, and that her eye was gone out of its place; and he commanded one of the physicians that was there to take a sponge, and to put it in her eye, and to bind it with a cloth.

And when he heard of it, he wept bitterly, and rent his hair; and when he asked him why he wept, he went into his cell, where he prayed as usual; and he came out to him with a cheerful countenance, and said, Go home gladly, for Joseph hath by the grace of God healed her; and her eyes are now perfectly sound; and her sickness hath done her no harm, for she is miraculously healed.

These two miracles were wrought by the two righteous men within one hour. St. John, the bishop, healed the woman's broken eye, and St. Zosimus, with his spiritual eyes, saw the healing from afar and told Archelaus. One day St. Zosimus went to Caesarea, and took a donkey with him, on which he laid his goods. On the way he was met by a lion; and the beast ran with him into the wilderness. St. Zosimus followed the footsteps of the beast. When the lion had eaten the donkey, and was satisfied, the old man came to him, and said, smiling, "Behold, it is very difficult for me to go there, for I am very weary because of my old age; I have not the strength to bear the weight of this burden on your shoulders.

Then the lion, as if forgetting his natural fury, began to caress the saint, and became meek as a lamb, and with his own tenderness showed signs of obedience. St. Zosima, laying upon him the burden that the donkey bore, led him to the gate of Caesarea; then, having relieved the burden here, he again released the beast into the desert. Here, on the one hand, the almighty power of the Lord was revealed, subduing the wild beasts in obedience to His slaves, and on the other hand - it was obviously revealed that a virtuous man, who fulfills the commandments of the Lord and wholeheartedly serves his God the Creator, obeys and serves all the rest, even the unreasonable creatures.

I 'm going to have to get back to you .