St. Shalito

St. Shalito

Mor Shalito, an Aramaic name meaning “the One with Authority”, was born into a pagan family in Egypt in the 4th century. In that time, the Emperor Constantine I the Great (306-337) called on the gentiles to turn away from idols and to start worshipping the one living God. Shalito was 15 years old when he renounced the idols, left his father’s house and was baptized. He had been taught well in philosophical sciences. After his baptism, he began to study the Holy Scriptures day and night and pray the Psalms. A Confessor Before Arian Rulers in Alexandria At the age of twenty years he entered a monastery in Alexandria where he was instructed under the guidance of Pope Athanasius the Great (* 295; Pope: 328-373). When Shalito was 25 years old, Pope Athanasius was exiled by the Arians. St. Shalito encouraged and strengthened the faithful not to deviate from the true faith. A certain judge in Alexandria called Lularianus gave the order to bring Shalito before him. He questioned him about his faith. Shalito confessed his faith in the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, one true God; Christ, the Son of God, is not a creature of God, but consubstantial with Him, born of the Virgin Mary Mother of God. Because Shalito confessed this faith and did not deny, the judge had him imprisoned to prevent him from convincing others of this faith. In prison, he was tortured and tormented, yet he remained true to the faith, although Lularianus promised him high ranks and honor on the Patriarchal See of Alexandria. At night, Shalito was strengthened by Christ, raised and comforted. Then he began to teach the fellow prisoners about the true faith and to warn them of the heresy of Arius who taught that Christ was a creature of God. When the judge received the report that Shalito preaches in prison, he exiled him from Alexandria. Throughout Egypt, the Saint made many disciples and converted many pagans to the true faith. In the Monastery of St. Pachomius and Hermit One day he came to a village of pagans outside of Alexandria, who mocked him when they realized that he was a Christian. Suddenly, one of them became afflicted by leprosy, so that all were filled with fear and asked Shalito to heal him. He anointed the body of the afflicted one with consecrated oil, and he was immediately healed. The villagers came to the true faith and were baptized, 532 in number. He instructed them in the history of salvation, whereupon they collected their gold in great love and built three churches from it. The Saint went around in that area, preached and baptized innumerable people. He was simple and humble and a steadfast ascetic in fasting and prayer. In this asceticism he spent five years in the monastery of St. Pachomius. One day, he cast out a demon from a possessed to whom the brothers did not dare to approach and therefore asked Shalito for help. After this miracle they greatly honored him. He, however, so as not to fall into pride, left the monastery and withdrew to a mountain where he lived for ten years in a crevice, without being seen by anybody. His food consisted of wild roots and shoots of dates. In that deserted place he had to go through many fights against the Evil One. Satan could not bring the Saint to fall with his illusions, because Shalito ashamed him by the sign of the cross. The hermit was often attacked and beaten by demons. But Christ never abandoned him, strengthening him through revelations and visions, by which he was encouraged. One day he was concerned that the Arian heresy could spread in the world. Then he saw in the spirit a fire eating and destroying hay, thorns, and weed. He was given to understand that the thorns were the Arian and all the other heresies, and the fire is the true faith of the holy apostolic Church. Among the Discipleship of St. Augin in Mesopotamia Then he went to a monastery where many monks lived. After receiving a revelation that the great Saint Augin (+363) would come soon, he chose from among the brothers seventy and said that he would go with them under the direction of Augin to the East to Mesopotamia in order to stop deceptive heresies and to spread the Gospel of Christ. They all stood up with him and went forth to meet St. Augin. Also St. Augin himself explained to the 71 that he was about to move to the East to spread the Good News of the Lord over there. They all knelt, prayed and marched up to Nisibis, which lay on the border of the Roman and the Persian Empire. They settled down in the Izlo Mountains (now Bagok in the south-east Turkey) where they built cells for themselves. After three years, the bubonic plague spread in Nisibis which St. Shalito caused to cease by his prayer. One of the most prestigious in Nisibis saw in a dream that it was Shalito who had caused it to cease by his prayer. They brought all their sick and afflicted to him, and he healed them of their various diseases, 1,023 people. Together With St. Jacob Bishop of Nisibis At that time the great Saint Mor Jacob was consecrated Bishop of Nisibis (+338). This Saint visited Augin and his disciples on the Izlo Mountains. Bishop Jacob revealed his project to St. Augin to have a church built in Nisibis, and he was strengthened and encouraged therein. Both took also Shalito and prayed at the place where the church should stand. Then an angel came from heaven to them who measured the church from one side, Bishop Jacob from another, Augin measured the third side, and Shalito the fourth. The holy bishop had this church built, and the Lord brought it to completion. Raising a Dead St. Jacob had another church built in the mountains of Qardu (Ararat-Mountains) where the ark of Noah had come to rest. For the consecration of that church he took Mor Augin, Mor Shalito and many other disciples to accompany him. On their way they came to a thick forest where Shalito went to do his prayer. A young man ran towards him, wailing and crying, because his brother had been eaten by a giant monster. Mor Shalito began to pray, caused the monster to spit out the child, cursed the monster, so that it died immediately. He anointed the child with holy oil, and brought his dead body back to life. His brother ran into his village and made this great miracle known to all the villagers, so that all ran to the Saint, and asked him and his companions for their blessing. Those pagan villagers asked also to be baptized. Jacob of Nisibis baptized them all, and they participated in the Holy Communion. Many of those accompanied St. Jacob to the consecration of the Church. And the boy which Mor Shalito had raised from the dead, accompanied him and became his disciple. Augin called him “Ahee-Moreh”, meaning “His Lord has Revived Him”. The Ministry of the Hermit and Missionary by the Tigris Since Shalito was being praised and honored among the disciples of Mor Augin more and more, he moved away one night to escape from vain glory. When he asked God in his prayer for a new place, the Holy Spirit said to him to move to Beth-Zabdai (now in the south-east Turkey), where he would remain until the end of his earthly life. When he reached at the Tigris-River, he made the sign of the cross on the river and crossed it on the water. He found a narrow cave on a mountain and dwelt there, where he suffered much from the cold, for it was snowing heavily there. Even the first two months he stayed without food. When Satan saw that Mor Shalito never tired of doing good, he entered an idol statue that was being worshiped in the neighboring village, and spoke through the idol to the villagers that if they don’t beat up and drive away the man who lives on the mountain, a disciple of the Nazarene, he would destroy their village. So they all started on their way in anger and beat St. Shalito half-dead. After they walked away, the grace of God came down upon him and he recovered. That night the angel of the Lord struck the whole village with the bubonic plague. One of them saw in a dream that the reason of the disease was that they had committed an offense against the servant of God who had to pray for them that the plague may cease. That man revealed his dream to all the villagers, and full of repentance t