Saint Isidora, Fool-for-Christ, struggled in the Tabenna
monastery in Egypt during the sixth century. Taking upon herself the
feat of folly, she acted like one insane, and did not eat food with the
other sisters of the monastery. Many of them regarded her with contempt,
but Isidora bore all this with great patience and meekness, blessing
God for everything.
She worked in the kitchen and fulfilled the
dirtiest, most difficult tasks at the monastery, cleaning the monastery
of every impurity. Isidora covered her head with a plain rag, and
instead of cooked food she drank the dirty wash water from the pots and
dishes. She never became angry, never insulted anyone with a word, never
grumbled against God or the sisters, and was given to silence.
Once,
a desert monk, St Pitirim, had a vision. An angel of God appeared to
him and said, “Go to the Tabenna monastery. There you will see a sister
wearing a rag on her head. She serves them all with love, and endures
their contempt without complaint. Her heart and her thoughts rest always
with God. You, on the other hand, sit in solitude, but your thoughts
flit about all over the world.”
The Elder set out for the Tabenna
monastery, but he did not see the one indicated to him in the vision
among the sisters. Then they led Isidora to him, considering her a
demoniac. Isidora fell down at the knees of the Elder, asking his
blessing. St Pitirim bowed down to the ground to her and said, “Bless me
first, venerable Mother!”
To the astonished questions of the
sisters the Elder replied, “Before God, Isidora is higher than all of
us!” Then the sisters began to repent, confessing their mistreatment of
Isidora, and they asked her forgiveness. The saint, however, distressed
over her fame, secretly hid herself away from the monastery, and her
ultimate fate remained unknown. It is believed that she died around the
year 365.
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