The Monk Moses Murin

The monastic ministry, so glorified by the names of many saints who abandoned the temptations of the corruptible world for the sake of acquiring eternal life, goes back to ancient times. It originated in the early centuries of Christianity, and the first monastic communities appeared among the sultry sands of Egypt. One of those who in the IV century praised the Lord with the exploits of high asceticism was the Monk Moses Murin.

Black Robber

History has not preserved the exact date of the future birth of the saint, but it is known that he appeared in the world in Ethiopia in about 330 and, like all his fellow countrymen, had black skin. He was baptized and was called Moses. The nickname of Murin, with whom the monk entered the history of the church, is derived from the word "Moor", that is, a black inhabitant of North Africa.

As the Holy Scripture relates, his way to the crown of holiness was long and thorny. Even in his childhood, deprived of Christian upbringing, he mired in vices and gradually descended to the point that in adulthood, while in the service of a worthy gentleman, he committed murder. With difficulty avoiding the necessary punishment, he joined the bandit band, as with these people he was aroused by anger and cruelty.

Caravan storm

Very soon Moses Murin took the leading position among the brigands and became their ataman. The reason for this was the natural hardness of character and determination in achieving the goal, which separated it from the general mass. Under the leadership of Moses, the gang committed many daring robberies, and the traces of its bloody crimes marked the majority of trading cities in the Nile Delta.

The rumor about his "exploits" spread all over the country, and the merchants, gathering on the road, prayed to God that He would take away their caravan routes from the ruthless robbers and their black ataman. Sometimes it helped, but more often they disappeared forever in the sultry haze of the deserts, and only the hot wind brought the bloody bodies abandoned by the road with sand.

Spiritual insight

For a long time the Lord allowed this lawlessness to be committed, but one day He opened Moses' eyes to his spiritual eyes, and he saw with horror all the darkness in which he was defeated by his criminal life. In the blink of an eye, the streams of blood spilled before him appeared, and the rumor filled with moans and curses of innocent victims. The great sinner fell into the abyss of despair, and only by the grace of God found the strength for a later life, determined to dedicate her remnant to repentance and the redemption of her sins.

As already mentioned, Moses Murin possessed an extraordinary strength of spirit and inflexibility, but in the former life these good qualities served low purposes and were turned to evil. Now, overshadowed by the grace of God, the sinner yesterday applied them to revive his defiled and desecrated soul.

The Beginning of the Penitential Path

Having forever broken with the sinful and total vices of life, the future holy Moses Murin shut himself away from the world in one of the remote monasteries, indulging in his post and prayers interrupted only by tears of sincere and heartfelt remorse. Flouting his former pride, he exercised in humility, fulfilling the obediences imposed on him by the abbot, and striving in all to be a useful brotherhood.

So over time, a dashing robber went into oblivion and appeared in the lands of the Egyptian monks of God Moses Murin. Life, composed after his death, tells of how beneficial was the example of such a spiritual rebirth for most of the former thieves. Having likened their leader, they also broke with the past, having entered the path of repentance, and betrayed themselves to the service of God.

In the power of demonic temptations

But before you reward your chosen ones with crowns of glory, the Lord often lets the evil one tempt them, even more tempering the strong and weeding out the weak in spirit. Such trials were destined to endure also to Moses. The enemy of the human race has sent to him one of the most insidious of his servants - the prodigal demon. This wicked man began to embarrass the pure and undefiled thoughts of the monk with sinful dreams and to kindle his flesh with infernal fire of lust.

Even those rare hours of sleep that fell out of the monk, he overshadowed, imbued him with images instead of godly visions full of abomination and voluptuousness. The holy saints and faces of angels, once filling his night dreams, gave way to lascivious and unbridled virgins, calling the monk with his shameless gestures. To top it off, his sinful flesh completely refused to listen to the voice of reason and clearly indulged the crafty demon.

Instructions of a wise old man

And the pure soul of the monk would be lost, cast into the mortal abyss of sin, but the Lord instructed him to go for advice to the distant hermitage, where in the feat of strictest asceticism one of the great pillars of the early Christian church, presbyter Isidor, struggled. After listening to everything that Moses Murin told him, embarrassed, the wise old man reassured him, explaining that all the new monks who had recently joined the monastic path passed through such suffering.

Demons overcome them, sated their god-forgiving visions, hoping thereby to incline to sin. But they are powerless before those who oppose them by prayer and fasting. Therefore, without falling into despondency, you should return to the cell and continue serving God, as far as possible, by replacing carnal spiritual food.

Return visit to presbyter Isidore

The servant of God Moses, exactly fulfilling the order of the old man, again shut himself up in the cell, limiting himself only to the hardened crust of bread that he had eaten once a day after sunset. In the fasting days he did not at all eat food. However, the enemy redoubled his efforts. Ultimately, having subdued the flesh of the sufferer, even in the daytime he sent into his consciousness sinful obsessions.

And again I went for advice to the elder Moses Murin. The life of the saint describes in detail this second meeting. Presbyter Isidore, after listening to the monk, led him to the roof of his cell and, turning his face to the west, pointed to a multitude of devils who had stumbled into the crowd and were preparing to fight the sons of God. Then, turning to the east, he showed a countless angelic army, ready to confront them in the struggle for human souls.

By this he showed Moses the sign that the host sent by God is incomparably more numerous and stronger than the descendants of hell and will undoubtedly come to the aid in his daily battle. Practical advice of the elders boiled down to the fact that, since the enemy sends his monstrous visions to the monk mainly during sleep, it is necessary to deprive him of this opportunity by dedicating night hours to tireless vigil and prayer.

Night Vigils and Prayers

Returning from the elder, St.. Moses Murin did exactly what he ordered him. Now, having tasted his meager food with the onset of darkness, he did not go to bed, but rose to prayer, incessantly bowing, overshadowing himself with the sign of the cross. In like manner, he spent all night without stopping. This brought him unspeakable torment, since the natural nature lived by its own laws and required a dream, though not prolonged, but nightly.

So six years passed. In time, Moses was accustomed and, being strengthened by the grace of God, stood idly in prayer before the first rays of the sun. However, the demon managed to adapt to his new way of life. Inflamed with insomnia, the consciousness of the ascetic, he filled with even more persistence vile dreams and voluptuous images.

A new weapon in the fight against the evil one

Not daring once again to violate the peace of the Elder Isidore, St. Moses Murin appealed for help to the abbot of the monastery, in which he struggled all this time. After hearing it, the wise shepherd remembered his youth and his own struggle with the flesh. He recommended the sufferer every time an unclean spirit comes to him, to torment his nature with unbearable work, whether in broad daylight or under the cover of night.

From this time on Moses Murin began to bypass the cells of the brethren nightly and, collecting, the water vessels being exposed near the doors, to go with them to the source, which was at a considerable distance. It was hard work. All night long Moses, bent under the weight of his burden, dragged the water, while doing a prayer.

Victory over the devil's machinations

This enemy of the human race could not bear. Shamed, he forever retreated from the righteous. Leaving in utter helplessness, the demon struck a blow at his back with a tree that fell on his arm. Having failed to get the monk's soul, he put out anger on his flesh, which, moreover, always betrayed sin treacherously.

The life of St. Moses Murin preserved for us a description and his last encounter with the elder Isidore. It happened shortly after the holy monk finally got rid of the demons' obsessions. Tempted in battle with the spirits of darkness, Father Isidore told him that this attack was carried out by God only so that Moses, on the path of monastic ministry, would not be proud of quick successes and did not think himself to be a righteous man, but trusted only in the Almighty's help.

The death of the holy righteous man

Much after this kind and charitable deeds accomplished the Monk Moses Murin. More than once he showed the brethren an example of humility and meekness, combining it with the wisdom gained in reading the Holy Scripture. But the days of his earthly life were steadily coming to an end.

Once, already being the abbot of the monastery, he gathered around him the brethren and told him that the gang of bandits was foreseen to attack them in the near future. By experience, knowing how merciless these people are, he ordered the monks to collect everything necessary for the journey and leave the monastery.

However, when everything was ready and the brothers were already at the gate, he refused to follow them, referring to the fact that the words of Jesus Christ should be fulfilled on it: "All who take the sword will perish by the sword." He spent his youth with a sword in his hands, and it's time to pay for it. Shortly, the bandits who broke into the monastery, he was killed.

All-Christian veneration of Saint Moses Murin

So at the age of seventy-five years the Reverend Moses Murin completed his earthly life, the icon of which shows us the image of a gray-haired old man holding a scroll - a symbol of wisdom.

Despite the fact that he is considered the saint of the Ethiopian church, his veneration spread throughout the Christian world, and memory is celebrated on August 28th according to the Julian calendar. In our churches, the prayer to the Monk Moses Murin rises on September 10 in accordance with the Gregorian chronology. On the eve of this day, the akathist composed in his honor is read.

Prayer to Moses Murin from drunkenness

Believers know that the Lord gives His servants a special grace to help in what they themselves have succeeded in the days of mortal life. From all that was the plot of our story, it can be seen that for many years the main efforts of St. Moses were aimed at curbing the passions with which the enemy of the human race tried to entangle him, and in this he gained fame.

Therefore, in the struggle against passions, he can help all who turn to him in their prayers. And it's not about which of them we are talking about. It so happened that in Russia, for the temptation of people, the wicked chose drunkenness. This does not mean that the rest of our sins are alien to us, but this one is somehow rooted.

Not finding enough strength to fight the disease, many of those who are exposed to it, but want to get rid of it, resort to the help of Heavenly Protectors. It is in this case that prayer to Moses Murin from drunkenness is unusually effective. It is important only that she be pronounced with the hope of God's mercy, and the sincere desire to be cured.

This is also true of other prayers that we offer. They are heard only if the worshiper rejects from himself the slightest shadow of doubt in the possibility of fulfilling the petition. The Lord said: "According to your faith will be you," therefore it is the power of faith that makes our appeals to the holy gracious, and prayer to Moses Murin is no exception.