dzheremi
Coptic Orthodox non-Egyptian
- Aug 27, 2014
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So...here is something interesting from the Coptic Orthodox synaxarium concerning HH St. Clement, Pope of Rome. I don't know if this story is known outside of the Coptic Orthodox tradition, so I figured I should share it, since we all love HH St. Clement, I'm sure.
We read, in part (i.e., this is not the full entry, just the part I wanted to share):
I know that the part about the water receding and revealing his location and there being made a shrine there is known to others (you can read something very similar on wikipedia), but the story of the boy being miraculously kept alive by the holy saint is not something I've seen anywhere else. It is a nice, if strange, little detail, I assume unique to Egypt. (There's lots of stuff like that in the synaxarium, since these are of course first and foremost hagiographies.)
We read, in part (i.e., this is not the full entry, just the part I wanted to share):
Emperor Trajan heard of him and ordered him to be seized and brought to him. The Emperor commanded him to worship the idols and deny the Lord Christ, but St. Clement refused. Because the Emperor feared torturing him before the people of the city and before his family, he exiled him to a city and wrote a message to its Governor, telling him to torture St. Clement, then to kill him. The Governor tied his neck to an anchor and cast him into the sea. In this way, the Saint delivered up his pure spirit and received the crown of martyrdom, in the year 100 A.D.
One year after his departure, the sea water receded off his body, which appeared in the bottom of the sea as though he was alive. Many went in and were blessed and they decided to take the body away from its place. They brought a marble coffin and laid him in it and when they wanted to take his body out of the sea, they were unable to move it. They knew that he did not wish to be moved from his place, so they left him and departed.
On the day of his feast each year, the sea would flow back and the visitors would enter and be blessed by him. Many frequently travelled to see this wonder.
Among the many miracles written about him: One year the visitors went in to visit and to be blessed by him and when they left, they forgot a little child who was behind the coffin of the Saint. This was according to the Lord Christ's Will, in order to reveal the honor of His beloved ones and the grace they had received from Him. When the child's parents remembered their son, they went back to the sea, but they found the water was back and that it had covered the casket. They realized that their son must be dead and devoured by the beasts of the sea. They wept over him and commemorated him as was the custom. The next year, when the sea waters receded, the people entered, as was their custom, and were amazed to find the child alive. They asked him how he existed and what he had eaten. He replied, "The Saint fed me, gave me drink, and protected me from the beasts of the sea." They praised the Lord Christ Who is glorified in all His saints.
+++One year after his departure, the sea water receded off his body, which appeared in the bottom of the sea as though he was alive. Many went in and were blessed and they decided to take the body away from its place. They brought a marble coffin and laid him in it and when they wanted to take his body out of the sea, they were unable to move it. They knew that he did not wish to be moved from his place, so they left him and departed.
On the day of his feast each year, the sea would flow back and the visitors would enter and be blessed by him. Many frequently travelled to see this wonder.
Among the many miracles written about him: One year the visitors went in to visit and to be blessed by him and when they left, they forgot a little child who was behind the coffin of the Saint. This was according to the Lord Christ's Will, in order to reveal the honor of His beloved ones and the grace they had received from Him. When the child's parents remembered their son, they went back to the sea, but they found the water was back and that it had covered the casket. They realized that their son must be dead and devoured by the beasts of the sea. They wept over him and commemorated him as was the custom. The next year, when the sea waters receded, the people entered, as was their custom, and were amazed to find the child alive. They asked him how he existed and what he had eaten. He replied, "The Saint fed me, gave me drink, and protected me from the beasts of the sea." They praised the Lord Christ Who is glorified in all His saints.
I know that the part about the water receding and revealing his location and there being made a shrine there is known to others (you can read something very similar on wikipedia), but the story of the boy being miraculously kept alive by the holy saint is not something I've seen anywhere else. It is a nice, if strange, little detail, I assume unique to Egypt. (There's lots of stuff like that in the synaxarium, since these are of course first and foremost hagiographies.)
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