Holy Ascetics

By: St John Saba



Those O Lord whom You have shone upon with the light of Your love,
were not able to endure living in this world.
They casted away all physical desires
and reject all things for the sake of the Beloved.
They eradicated all materialistic pleasures,
and sought the path of the Beloved with tears.

They cried when they discovered
that they were on the right pathway,
unworthy of the Beauty of the Beloved,
and so they chose hardships and exhaustion
in order to soften the Heart of the Beloved on them.

They left the father, the mother, the brother and the friend
and sought after the One whose Love is immeasurable.
They apprehended that He held in His heart tremendous love to them,
and that in His love they found consolation
beyond any conceivable consolation.

The moment they realised Christ’s desire to love them,
they could not stay in this world for another moment,
but rather they gave up their bodies till death joyfully.
They chose to endure the pathway of sorrow willingly.
They crucified their members along with their desires willingly.
They delighted in the taste of bitterness.

O Beloved, You are the Divine Love.
You took away all that they owned, even their own souls;
but they did not consider that they were living,
but Christ is living in them.

They were filled with His love, when they heard Him say
‘Blessed are those who mourn’
and consequently they did not cease mourning.
O Divine Love, You raised the soul and made it rest in the light of its Creator,
and purified it until it bore resemblance of its Master.

Demons were frightened at the sight of the soul
enlightened by His Love, and it cowered away
when it saw the Image of the Authority of God.