Memorial Day of St. Erasmus of Pechersk

Every year on March 9 (in non-leap years) and October 11, Orthodox Christians celebrate the day of remembrance of St Erasmus of Pechersk, a monk of the Kiev Pechersk Lavra The saint was born at the end of the 11th century into a very rich family At the age of majority, Erasmus was tonsured a monk He believed that it was unworthy for a monk to own earthly treasures and directed all his wealth to decorate churches and icons By his order, gold and silver frames for icons were made, and the necessary utensils for churches were purchased After all the property was distributed in the church, the monk became poor, and evil spirits began to tempt him Once rich, who did not need anything, Erasmus lived in complete poverty, with meager food, seasoned with ash instead of salt, in simple monastic robes The parishioners and monks turned away from the poor monk; worldly pride tormented him It began to seem to Erasmus that this situation was caused by improper spending of money: he directed the wealth to decorate churches, but it should have been directed to the poor and wretched The sin of regret about wasted wealth began to torment the soul The awareness of the false truth plunged the saint into despondency, and then pushed him to a dissolute life, laziness, and carelessness about his soul He lost interest in prayer and stopped caring about salvation, but God was merciful to the monk A terrible illness overcame Erasmus For a week he was bedridden, suffered from terrible pain, lay with his eyes closed, and could not speak According to eyewitnesses, the monk’s condition was so grave that he could barely feel his breath During his illness, Theodosius and Anthony of Pechersk appeared to the monk They told the patient that they were praying for his soul, for the forgiveness of sins Erasmus saw the Holy Mother of God with Jesus Christ in her arms, surrounded by the holy fathers The Mother of God turned to her sincere disciple with words of gratitude for decorating churches and holy icons, assured him of the correctness of his generous actions, promised to free the saint from illness for repentance and acceptance of the schema, and instilled hope for salvation The appearance of the Mother of God greatly impressed Erasmus On the eighth day, he rose from his sick bed, amazing the brethren of the Lavra with his miraculous healing, and without hesitation, confessed his sins to everyone and asked to be tonsured into the schema Three days later, the Lord took his faithful servant to the Heavenly Kingdom The monk ended his earthly journey around 1160 on February 24, according to the old style, presumably at the age of 45-50 years