On January 21, the holy Orthodox Church celebrates the memory of our Father among the saints, Zosimus of Sicily. Now, Zosimus was born to a family that was indeed devout and pious and fairly well-to-do. In fact, they owned a piece of property near the monastery of St. Lucy in Syracuse. This is St. Lucy the Virgin who is commemorated by the Church on December 13.

As Zosimus grew older, he was very good in his studies, and again seemed to be quite devout in emulation of his parents. Well, the parents decided that they were going to dedicate their son to God, and therefore at an early age, probably around six years old, Zosimus was taken to the monastery of St. Lucy near their property and was given under the care of the abbot, Faustus. Now, the abbot really enjoyed having Zosimus there and was encouraged by his development and by his piety. Zosimus continued to flourish in the Lord, becoming someone who was quiet adept at his studies and learning at a very, very advanced rate.

But as we might expect to happen from one so young, around the age of seven Zosimus began thinking a lot about his parents. So finally he decided to leave the monastery for a while to go visit them. Well, when he got there he was a little bit distraught over the reaction of the parents who said, “Now, son, you were dedicated to this place, and it’s back to this place that you must go.” So they took their son back to the monastery of St. Lucy. Zosimus had been given the obedience, even at such a young age, of guarding the relics of St. Lucy and showing them to visitors who would come to the monastery.

One evening, quite surprisingly, St. Lucy emerged from her reliquary and began berating Zosimus because he had left the monastery and left her unprotected. In fact, it seemed as if she was about to give him a good spanking when another woman appeared, decked out in royal purple, who was obviously the most-blessed Theotokos, who shielded Zosimus from the spanking St. Lucy was going to give him. Well, St. Lucy backed off from this effort, and the Mother of God disappeared. Then St. Lucy again told him, “Look you should be very diligent in guarding these relics in this monastery. This is a sacred duty.” So from that point on, Zosimus never left the monastery again.

His duties went on and increased, and all of the beloved brothers in that monastery felt very highly of him, including the Abbot Faustus. Now, at one time a woman entered the monastery who was obviously of noble lineage, and she was concerned because she said that she had been beaten by her husband, when in fact she had been doing some things that she should not have done that were quite amoral and was going about the town trying to convince others to come to her side. She came into the monastery and then one evening St. Lucy appeared to St. Zosimus and said, “Get that foul-smelling thing out of the monastery!” Well, Zosimus wasn’t quite sure what she was talking about, but then when he went to the woman who was staying there, he found that she had indeed expired.

Time continued on, and the abbot, Faustus, reposed in the Lord. The brotherhood was seeking another abbot for the monastery, so the left Zosimus in care of everything and went to see the bishop, because they could not come to any sort of determination as to who should take over the monastery. The bishop said, “Isn’t there one that’s not here that’s a part of your brotherhood?” And they said, “We’re all here except the one that we left to guard the monastery.” And this very wise bishop, receiving instruction from God, said, “This is the man who shall take the place of the abbot. You shall welcome him as your new spiritual father and abbot.”

Zosimus did assume this role, and for the next 40 years, after eventually becoming a priest, which he was not when he was made abbot—after this 40-year period was up, then he was offered the episcopacy. In his humility, he decided not to accept it, and so another man was consecrated instead, and this man was ambitious and vain and didn’t work out at all, until finally the authorities in the Church demanded that Zosimus accept consecration. He ruled with wisdom and charity. Everyone loved him. He would always see the best in people and would try to help people as best he could, including healing them and offering them food—you name it, Zosimus was there to accommodate their every need, whatever it must be.

He did this for 13 years, and then finally reposed peacefully in the Lord in the year 660 at the age of 90. Zosimus had a very blessed life, one that was not without trials, but which, when he realized that he was at fault, he accepted correction and went on in great grace of the Lord and in growth spiritually for the rest of his life. By his prayers, may we all attain to the same sort of humility and accept whatever the Lord has to send us with gratitude in order that we may most ably serve him.