From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
   November 12th - St. Nilus   
   (Neilos)   
      
   Nilus the elder, of Sinai (died c. 430), was one of the many disciples and   
   fervent defenders of St. John Chrysostom. We know him first as a layman,   
   married, with two sons. At this time he was an officer at the Court of   
   Constantinople, and is said to have been one of the Prætorian Prefects, who,   
   according to Diocletian and Constantine's arrangement, were the chief   
   functionaries and heads of all other governors for the four main divisions   
   of the empire. Their authority, however, had already begun to decline by the   
   end of the fourth century.   
      
   While St. John Chrysostom was patriarch, before his first exile (398-403),   
   he directed Nilus in the study of Scripture and in works of piety   
   (Nikephoros Kallistos, "hist. Eccl.", XIV, 53, 54). About the year 390   
   (Tillemont, "Mémoires", XIV, 190-91) or perhaps 404 (Leo Allatius, "De   
   Nilis", 11-14), Nilus left his wife and one son and took the other,   
   Theodulos, with him to Mount Sinai to be a monk. They lived here till about   
   the year 410 (Tillemont, ib., p. 405) when the Saracens, invading the   
   monastery, took Theodulos prisoner. The Saracens intended to sacrifice him   
   to their gods, but eventually sold him as a slave, so that he came into the   
   possession of the Bishop of Eleusa in Palestine. The Bishop received   
   Theodulos among his clergy and made him door-keeper of the church. Meanwhile   
   Nilus, having left his monastery to find his son, at last met him at Eleusa.   
   The bishop then ordained them both priests and allowed them to return to   
   Sinai. The mother and the other son had also embraced the religious life in   
   Egypt. St. Nilus was certainly alive till the year 430. It is uncertain how   
   soon after that he died. Some writers believe him to have lived till 451   
   (Leo Allatius, op. cit., 8-14). The Byzantine Menology for his feast (12   
   November) supposes this. On the other hand, none of his works mentions the   
   Council of Ephesus (431) and he seems to know only the beginning of the   
   Nestorian troubles; so we have no evidence of his life later than about 430.   
      
   From his monastery at Sinai Nilus was a wellknown person throughout the   
   Eastern Church; by his writings and correspondence he played an important   
   part in the history of his time. He was known as a theologian, Biblical   
   scholar and ascetic writer, so people of all kinds, from the emperor down,   
   wrote to consult him. His numerous works, including a multitude of letters,   
   consist of denunciations of heresy, paganism, abuses of discipline and   
   crimes, of rules and principles of asceticism, especially maxims about the   
   religious life. He warns and threatens people in high places, abbots and   
   bishops, governors and princes, even the emperor himself, without fear. He   
   kept up a correspondence with Gaina, a leader of the Goths, endeavouring to   
   convert him from Arianism (Book I of his letters, nos. 70, 79, 114, 115,   
   116, 205, 206, 286); he denounced vigorously the persecution of St. John   
   Chrysostom both to the Emperor Arcadius (ib., II, 265; III, 279) and to his   
   courtiers (I, 309; III, 199).   
      
   Nilus must be counted as one of the leading ascetic writers of the fifth   
   century. His feast is kept on 12 November in the Byzantine Calendar; he is   
   commemorated also in the Roman martyrology on the same date. The Armenians   
   remember him, with other Egyptian fathers, on the Thursday after the third   
   Sunday of their Advent (Nilles, "Kalendarium Manuale", Innsbruck, 1897, II,   
   624).   
      
   The writings of St. Nilus of Sinai were first edited by Possinus (Paris,   
   1639); in 1673 Suarez published a supplement at Rome; his letters were   
   collected by Possinus (Paris, 1657), a larger collection was made by Leo   
   Allatius (Rome, 1668). All these editions are used in P. G., LXXIX. The   
   works are divided by Fessler-Jungmann into four classes:   
      
       * (1) Works about virtues and vices in general: - "Peristeria" (P. G.,   
   LXXIX, 811-968), a treatise in three parts addressed to a monk Agathios; "On   
   Prayer" (peri proseuches, ib., 1165-1200); "Of the eight spirits of   
   wickedness" (peri ton th'pneumaton tes ponerias, ib., 1145-64); "Of the vice   
   opposed to virtues" (peri tes antizygous ton areton kakias, ib., 1140-44);   
   "Of various bad thoughts" (peri diapsoron poneron logismon, ib., 1200-1234);   
   "On the word of the Gospel of Luke", xxii, 36 (ib., 1263-1280).   
       * (2) "Works about the monastic life": - Concerning the slaughter of   
   monks on Mount Sinai, in seven parts, telling the story of the author's life   
   at Sinai, the invasion of the Saracens, captivity of his son, etc. (ib.,   
   590-694); Concerning Albianos, a Nitrian monk whose life is held up as an   
   example (ib., 695-712); "Of Asceticism" (Logos asketikos, about the monastic   
   ideal, ib., 719-810); "Of voluntary poverty" (peri aktemosynes, ib.,   
   968-1060); "Of the superiority of monks" (ib., 1061-1094); "To Eulogios the   
   monk" (ib., 1093-1140).   
       * (3) "Admonitions" (Gnomai) or "Chapters" (kephalaia), about 200   
   precepts drawn up in short maxims (ib., 1239-62). These are probably made by   
   his disciples from his discourses.   
       * (4) "Letters": - Possinus published 355, Allatius 1061 letters,   
   divided into four books (P. G., LXXIX, 81-585). Many are not complete,   
   several overlap, or are not really letters but excerpts from Nilus' works;   
   some are spurious. Fessler-Jungmann divides them into classes, as dogmatic,   
   exegetical, moral, and ascetic. Certain works wrongly attributed to Nilus   
   are named in Fessler-Jungmann, pp. 125-6.   
      
   Sources   
   NIKEPHOROS KALLISTOS, Hist. Eccl., XIV, xliv; LEO ALLATIUS, Diatriba de   
   Nilis et eorum scriptis in his edition of the letters (Rome, 1668);   
   TILLEMONT, Mémoires pour servir à l'histoire ecclésiastique, XIV (Paris,   
   1693-1713), 189-218; FABRICIUS-HARLES, Bibliotheca groca, X (Hamburg,   
   1790-1809), 3-17; CEILLIER, Histoire générale des auteurs sacrés, XIII   
   (Paris, 1729-1763), iii; FESSLER-JUNGMANN, Institutiones Patrologio, II   
   (Innsbruck, 1896), ii, 108-128.   
      
      
   Saint Quote:   
   God loves our neighbors so much that He gave His life for them; and He is   
   glad even to have us leave Him to do them good.  How grateful to Him, then,   
   may we believe the services we render them!  Ah, if we understood well how   
   important is this virtue of the love of our neighbor, we should give   
   ourselves entirely to the pursuit of it.   
   -St. Teresa   
      
   Bible Quote   
   8 Blessed is the rich man that is found without blemish: and that hath not   
   gone after gold, nor put his trust in money nor in treasures.   
   (Ecclesiasticus 31:8)   
      
      
   <><><><>   
   THIRTY-ONE DAYS OF PRAYER FOR THE HOLY SOULS   
   FROM THE PURGATORIAN MANUAL   
    (Imprimatur 1946)   
      
   Second Day   
      
   COMMEMORATION OF "ALL SOULS"   
      
        The commemoration of "All Souls" was instituted by the Church as a day   
      
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   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)