The Monk Ortesios (Orseses) Tabennisiotes
Commemorated on June 15
The Monk Ortesios
(Orseses) Tabennisiotes (+ 380) was the successor of the Monk Pakhomias the
Great (+ 348, Comm. 15 May). While still in his early years he attained to such
a degree of spiritual experience, that the Monk Pakhomias entrusted to him the
governance of the Khenobossa monastery. Once the Monk Pakhomias, conversing
with his students, said about the Monk Ortesios: "I tell you, that
Ortesios doth shine in the house of God, like a golden lamp". After the
end of the Monk Pakhomias, Saint Ortesios against his will was chosen as head
of the Tabennisiotan monks. To such a number did the brethren increase, that
the Monk Ortesios appointed as his helper the Monk Theodore, and then gave over
to him the complete rule of the monastery, while he himself withdrew to the
Khenobossa monastery. Upon the death of Saint Theodore in the year 365,
Sainted-bishop Athanasias the Great wrote to the Monk Ortesios and his
brethren: "Beloved brethren, weep not for Theodore: he is not dead but
asleep. No one should weep, but rather each should imitate him. It is not
proper to weep for one, that hath gone over to a place without worries.. and to
thee, dear and beloved Ortesios, I write: "since that he hath reposed,
take upon thyself this care, replace him for the brethren. While yet he lived,
ye were both as one". The Monk Ortesios fulfilled the will of Sainted
Athanasias.
Abba Ortesios
possessed a profound knowledge of holy Scripture and the gift of inspired
words. "The power of his words, – said a contemporary, – it seems, grew
in him to the solace of the brethren". "Ortesios, a man fully
familiar with Holy Scripture, wrote a book, seasoned with spiritual salt, or to
say, to explain almost all of the Old and New Testaments in short meditations
for the needs of monks. He left it to the fathers together with his bequest
before his death". The book was soon translated into the Greek language,
and Blessed Jerome translated it into Latin. In the book of the Monk Ortesios
there are two theses: a guide for the monastic life (translated into the
Russian language in 1859) and a guide concerning six purposeful meditations.
© 1996-2001 by translator Fr. S. Janos.