On March 11, the Orthodox Church celebrates the astonishing story of our venerable Father George of Mount Sinai. George lived during the time of Emperor Justinian I in the mid-sixth century and was a very devout and ascetically minded monk.

One day he suddenly conceived a strong desire to visit the Church of the Holy Resurrection at the holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem in order to receive holy Communion. Almost instantaneously George found himself in that very place, a journey of some 12 days at that time, that was traversed in just a [matter] of seconds. So he did receive holy Communion, and the patriarch at that time, who was named Peter, saw that he was there, and told one of his monks, Menas, to ask him if he would come and sup with him. Well, George paid his respects there at the church, and just as suddenly he found himself back in Mt. Sinai. Patriarch Peter was wondering where George was, and in fact was becoming a little irritated with his obstinacy at not showing up for supper. So he tried to locate him, but was unable to do so. Eventually, he contacted the bishop who was in charge of Mt. Sinai and inquired about George and expressed a desire that George be sent to him in order that they could dine together.

While all of the brotherhood at Mt. Sinai was simply astonished at this, because they all swore up and down, with complete humility, that in fact George had never left Mt. Sinai, that he had been there the whole time. So Patriarch Peter sent three emissaries to Mt. Sinai to inquire what had happened. George in turn sent a letter back to Patriarch Peter that said, “Your Beatitude, I’m sorry, but I was never in Jerusalem, and I was never at the Church of the Holy Resurrection. But if I had been, certainly I would have meant no insult to you. But in truth, for you to know, in six months’ time, both of us shall be standing before the Lord, and we will certainly be able to sup together then with him.”

Now this may perplex us. It’s certainly a difficult thing for us to believe sometimes, but in fact there have been stories of other saints who have appeared in different places while they yet remained in the same place. Yet for George, he insisted that he had never been there, yet we know that he did express a desire to be at the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, and that in fact he did go there to receive holy Communion.

Sometimes the mysteries of the saints are great indeed, and sometimes these things happen in order to instruct us of the wonders that God works in his saints. In this case, was it perhaps for Patriarch Peter that he might be alerted to the fact that he had only six months to live and needed to prepare himself? Because George insisted that they would both be there before the Lord. What other types of instruction might we get from this? Because the brothers at the monastery were insistent that George had never left them. Yet no less a personage than the famous St. Sophronios of Jerusalem, who recorded this Life and who also was commemorated on this day, thought the story grand enough and that was in possession of as much veracity as was needed for him to write it down, and he did.

So may the venerable George intercede for all of us in heaven, and may the Lord grant us to understand the miracles and wonders that are capable of those who agree with the Lord in prayer, asceticism, fasting, and attain high spiritual degrees so that perhaps one day we, too, might be capable of such things.