Comments on: Hagiographical Bestiary: Two Stories from the Russian Orthodox

By: Prayer Bracelet – The Saint and the Bear « Prayerbracelet's Blog

Prayer Bracelet – The Saint and the Bear « Prayerbracelet's Blog — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 15:01:44 +0000

[...] To which St. Seraphim replied, “But, Abbot, the poor bear does not know that it is Lent.” Brought to you by Prayer Bracelet Source: Theophiliacs [...]

By: Prayer Bracelet – The Prayer Rope and the Wolf « Prayerbracelet's Blog

Tue, 07 Sep 2010 15:01:28 +0000

[...] Brought to you by Prayer Bracelet Source: Theophiliacs [...]

By: Prayer Bracelet

Prayer Bracelet — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 14:49:01 +0000

Hi nice story about the wolf and the prayer rope,

I know about the story of Saint Anthony the Great and his encounter with wild animals,

The one where the devil tried to torment him with phantoms of Bears, Wolfs, Snakes, Scorpions and lions. When it seemed the Saint would be attacked by the animals he just Laughed, and said “If any of you have any authority over me, only one would have been sufficient to fight me.” After saying this the phantoms dissapeared .

By: jstambaugh

jstambaugh — Sat, 24 Jul 2010 17:45:39 +0000

Matt, what great stories, I especially like the one about the Egyptian monk whose lion-friends dug his grave, thanks!

Tony, thanks, it is something I’m interested in I guess, though I’m not sure how I got interested in it. As lame as this sounds (and as much as Shawn is going to give me a really hard time about this), it may be because of my dog. He’s no Lassie or anything, actually he’s a demon sometimes, but he gets me thinking about animals and their relation to God’s plan of reconciliation.

Peter, I guess if I can go on about St. Bob Dylan, you can have your St. Michael, but we’re probably both heretics.

By: peter J. Walker

peter J. Walker — Sat, 24 Jul 2010 06:34:11 +0000

I love stories about Michael Jackson and his monkey, Bubbles. Man, did he love that monkey.

What? … I meant St. Michael Jackson.

By: adhunt

adhunt — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 20:22:29 +0000

I love stories about St. Seraphim. I myself don’t know any particular animal stories off the top of my head but I have definitely heard some.

You know James, you really ought to do some research into various hagiographical bestiary seeing as how it seems to be a topic about which you are quite interested. You’d be quite good on it I’ll bet.

By: Matt Gunter

Matt Gunter — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 15:31:03 +0000

The early monks who went into the desert in Egypt hoped to begin living into the promise of creation in total harmony as Isaiah envisioned in his prophecies where the lion and the lamb will lie down and the little child will play safely at the den of the snake.

Apparently, some of the monastics took that seriously, or at least the stories about them take it seriously. There are stories of monks in the desert of Egypt who slept with lions.

There is a particular story of the death of such a monk. Another monk came across his body in the desert.
Lacking the tools, he was unable to bury this saintly man. As he was wondering what he was going to do, two
lions came up, knelt before the body of the dead saint, roared out their lamentation, and then went aside and
began digging. They dug the hole for the monk’s grave.

Those early monks believed that Christ was the first fruits of the new creation, was the first fruits of that peace and harmony that is God’s desire. They wanted to begin living into it now.