Saint
Marina the Ascetic
Saturday,
November 18, 2006
Saint Marina The Ascetic
15 Misra / 21 August
On the 15th
day of the Coptic month of Misra (21 August), the
Church celebrates the departure of ‘Saint Marina the Ascetic’.
Marina was the daughter of a very pious rich Christian man and she was
originally named Mariam; her mother passed away when
she was very young and she was brought up by her father who wished to departed
and live in a monastery after he had found her a husband.
When the
young girl knew of her father’s plan she asked why he intended to save his own
soul and not hers, but her father did not know what to do with her as she was a
girl. Mariam suggested to her father that she would
wear mens clothes. When her father saw that she was
serious, he distributed his wealth upon the poor, changed his daughter’s name
to Marian and went to live in a monastery, sharing a cell with her.
After ten
years of prayer, fasting and worship her father died, leaving her alone. Marian
increased in her level of asceticism and continued to conceal the fact that she
was a woman. All around her assumed that the delicacy of her voice and
appearance was due to her long periods of prayer and strict ascetic life.
One day,
the abbot of the monastery sent her with three other monks to attend some
business for the monastery. As the journey was long, they were forced to spend
the night in a hotel. At the same time, on of the
king’s soldiers was staying in the hotel and was fond of the hotel-owner’s
daughter. He sinned with the girl and told her to
tell her father that it was Marina the monk who was the cause. After a few
months it was discovered that the girl was pregnant and, as agreed, she told
her father that Marina was to blame.
On
hearing the story, the man went furious to the abbot of the monastery. The
abbot calmed the man down and told him that he would see to the matter.
The abbot
called Marina and reprimanded her severely. When she heard the allegations she
wept and asked for forgiveness, not denying anything. The fact that there was
no attempt to deny the fault made the abbot so furious that he told her to
leave the monastery; she left at once and remained outside the gate of the
monastery for quite a long time.
When the
hotel-owner’s daughter gave birth, he took the child and gave it to Marina. She
took the child amongst the shepherds so that she could give him milk to drink
and remain caring for him outside the monastery for three years until the monks
pleaded with the abbot to allow her to return. The abbot finally agreed to her
return but imposed heavy penalties upon her. Marina performed hard labour in
cooking, cleaning and carrying water to a level over the penalties imposed on
her.
The child
grew and became a monk. When Saint Marina reached the age forty, she became ill
for three days, after which she passed away. The abbot ordered that her clothes
be changed and that she be transferred to the church for the funeral prayers.
While doing this, the monks discovered that she was a woman and were very
distressed. The monks informed the abbot and he came and wept bitterly for what
he had done.
The abbot
then called the hotel-owner and informed him that Marina was actually a woman;
he went to where she lay and wept for the pain and suffering which he had
unjustly brought upon her.
After the
funeral prayers, her brothers the monks all received her blessings and one
amongst them who only had one eye, after he touched the saint,
he received in the other eye. God also permitted that a devil
possess the hotel-owners daughter and her friend the soldier and bring
them to the tomb so they could confess before all.
Saint Marian’s holy body became the source of many
great blessings.
