Summary of “The Life of Abraham of Smolensk”
Abrahamic faithful and pious parents are twelve daughters, they pray to God to give them a son, which is accomplished according to God’s providence. When on the eighth day after the birth of the child is taken to the church to give him a name, the elder sees with the eyes of the heart that this child will devote himself to God. In adolescence, Avraamy jealously studies and loves listening to church singing, and in his youth his favorite reading is the lives of saints and inspired books. When his parents die, leaving him a great inheritance, he gives out all the wealth to the poor, widows and orphans, to give up earthly blessings and betray himself to God alone. He leaves the city in a place called Selishche, and is tonsured into monks in the monastery of the Holy Mother of God. From books he most of all likes to read the teachings of Ephraim the Syrian and John Chrysostom and spends his days and nights in incessant wakefulness,
Hegumen, seeing his humility and zeal, tests
Abraham returns to the city and lives in the monastery of the Holy Cross. But there also flock to the people who crave Abraham to hear, for he could interpret the Scripture in such a way that even the most ignorant and ignorant understand everything they said. The enemy of the human race, shamed by the power of faith Abraham and his humility, is to him night and day in various frightening images, tortures and beats him. Entering the hearts of the unconscious, the devil inspires them with hatred for Abraham, and many
Abraham seizes and leads to the court, but God softens the heart of the rulers, and they find no guilt in it. However, the accusers of Abraham continue to insult him, and the bishop, in order to remove him from the city and stop the feud, sends him to that monastery in which Abraham took monastic vows, but forbids the Divine Liturgy to serve. Nobody is allowed to enter Abraham and even attach guards. Then the blessed Lazarus, who was then still a priest, comes to Bishop Ignatius and tells him that the city will be struck by a great misfortune, if he and all who pursued Abraham will not repent. Blessed Ignatius hears Lazarus’s advice and forbids abusing and insulting Abraham.
The predicted by the blessed Lazarus comes true: the earth dries up, and the gardens, the fields and not a drop of rain fall from the sky. Blessed Ignatius with God-fearing abbots and clergy, as well as all the inhabitants of the city, pray to God that he pardons his people and sends rain to the earth.
But the drought continues. Then one priest, to whom God put the thought of Abraham in his heart, comes to Bishop Ignatius and asks him, was it because of the persecutions of Abraham that God punished them with drought? The bishop calls Abrahamy to himself and, finding out that all the charges brought against him, are false, lifts the ban on the performance of the Divine Liturgy from him and asks that Abraham pray to God for salvation from drought. At the prayer of Abraham, God immediately sends rain to the earth. Blessed Ignatius appoints Avraamy as abbot of the newly founded monastery of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and people again come to him for advice and instruction, and many ask him to join the monastery as monks. However, Abraham, knowing the hardships and temptations of monastic life, does not take everyone and long experiences someone who wants to become a novice.
So for fifty years – until his death – Abraham is in a feat, from his youth thinking of only one thing: how to please our Lord Jesus Christ.
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