The basic reference for the biography of Saint Benedict (in Arabic, Mubarak), whom the Church celebrates on the fourteenth of March, was drawn up by the eloquent writer and theologian Saint Gregory the Great (Pope of Rome from the year 590 to 604), based on four narratives that he gleaned from the disciples of Saint Benedict, who They headed a diorah that he had created. It was mentioned in the book known as “The Dialogues”. Saint Gregory is known in the Orthodox Church as Saint Gregory “Theologos,” meaning “the Dialogue,” and the Church celebrates him on the twelfth of March. In his book “Dialogues”, which is predominantly narrative in nature and many proverbs with literary significance, Saint Gregory devotes the second part of his dialogues to Saint Benedict.

Benedict was born in the province of Nursi, near Rome, around the year 480. His father's name is Eutropius. In his youth, he took refuge in an isolated cave located near a monastery in Subiaco, the mountainous region near Rome, to live there as a solitary confinement, devoted to prayer and worship. Within a few years, others followed him to pray with him, and then to participate in his lifestyle. After he advanced in the life of an ascetic, and became able to be a spiritual guide, he established twelve small monasteries there, which he supervised and managed. He also established a monastery that is still famous to this day, the Monastery of Monte Cassino, where he died in about the year 547.

When he reached an age that allowed him to obtain education, his parents sent him to Rome. As it seemed that the young man had been brought up in piety, he was disturbed by the absurdity of some of the young men he met and was forced to talk to. It was only a short period of time until he decided to retire from the world because he did not want to be vulnerable to his temptations. He left the city secretly and headed toward the wilderness. His nanny, Kirla, followed him thirty miles from Roumieh, but he knew how to distract her and continued his journey until he came to the wilderness of the Subla Mountains, forty miles from the city. That place was a harsh, barren rock range overlooking a river in the valley and a lake. There Benedict met a monk named Romanos from a nearby monastery. This man dressed him in monastic garb, provided him with useful instructions, and led him to a narrow cave deep in the mountains, almost inaccessible to people. Since Romanos kept Benedict's order a secret, he began bringing him, from time to time, some food that he dangled from a rope on which he hung a bell. The age of our saint, at that time, was nearly fifteen. Saint Gregory Theologian said that he was a boy.

Benedict, in accordance with the instructions Romanus provided him with, spent three years, after which it was said that God was pleased to reveal His affairs to others so that they might have light and guidance. During the year 497 AD, while one of the priests in those areas was preparing food for himself, on the glorious Easter Sunday, he heard a voice saying to him: “You are preparing a banquet for yourself, and my servant Benedict is in your room, exhausted by hunger.” Immediately the priest went out looking for the hermit and did not find him except with difficulty. Shortly after that, the saint met some shepherds near the cave. Their first reaction was astonishment. They thought it was a strange animal because it was wearing animal skin. When they knew that he was a man of God, they were taken by him to the point that some of them leaned toward his broken life. Since then, his fame spread, and people began to visit him and provide him with some of what he needed, and he, in turn, provided them with his advice and guidance.

On the other hand, the struggle between Benedict and the demons was fierce. The burden of the experiences on him was, at times, harsh and violent. From this, Satan brought back to the saint’s memory the image of a woman he had previously met in Rome. The memory began to bother him until he began to think about leaving the wilderness. Nothing allowed him to endure the experience. She clung to his soul and refused to leave him. Finally, after his patience became exhausted, he threw himself, naked, between the thorns and began to roll over them until he was completely injured and blood flowed from him. As a result, in the midst of pain and wounds, by the grace of God, the spirit of adultery was extinguished in him and he disappeared and did not return.

Benedict's goodness spread, and ascetics began to make their way to him. The monks of Vicovara, following the death of their abbot, sent to ask him if he would be willing to be their shepherd, which he agreed to, but reluctantly. He had a feeling that he was out of place in their midst. Indeed, some people dared to poison him with wine, and when he was crucified on the cup, it broke. So he preached to them and returned, from where he came, to Sublakum, where monastic students began to come to him. He built monastery after monastery until the total number of monasteries he established at that time reached twelve, and an abbot and twelve monks settled in each of them.

Some of the news of this period were preserved in memory and circulated generation after generation. In the monastery of Saint Jerome, one of the monks was neglecting the heartfelt prayer that was apparently being recited in the church, the liturgical service, so he would leave and go to work. The monks of the monastery tried in vain to dissuade their brother from this shameful act, but he did not care. They relayed his news to Saint Benedict, who once entered the church at the end of the service and saw a little black boy leading the monk out with his sleeve. He prayed for him. Then on the third day, he saw him about to leave as usual, so he hit him with a stick, so Satan fled and the monk returned to himself. In another monastery, the Monastery of Saint John, the need for water was urgent and the monks could not find a way to satisfy their need, so the saint prayed and the water came out of the ground. In the monastery of Saint Clement, on the bank of the lake, while a Gothic monk was cutting thorns, the iron of his sickle fell into the lake. The monks prayed, and through the intercession of their father, they brought the stick of the sickle and placed it in the water. It attracted the iron, so they praised God and gave thanks.

Benedict's reputation reached the ears of many famous people in Rome and elsewhere, so they began flocking to him to ask him for advice and prayers and to seek the blessing of the Lord God at his hands. It was reported that some of these people used to leave their children with him so that they could be raised in a virtuous life from an early age. Among these were the two sheikhs, Eutychios and Tertullus, who were famous Persians. These two left behind their two sons, Maurus and Placidus, in the year 522, and both of them became prominent students of the saint.

When Satan saw the success the saint was having, he set upon him one of the envious weak souls, Florentius, who was a priest nearby. This spread malicious news about the saint with the intention of distorting his reputation and harming him and his blessed work. It seems that he was powerful and a lot of evil, until the saint was forced to leave his headquarters in Sublakum to reach the summit of Cassino. However, on his way there, he received news from Florentius that he had died after the portico fell on him. The saint was saddened by what happened, while his student Moros expressed his relief at being saved from the priest’s persecution of his teacher and monks. Benedict had no choice but to inflict a severe punishment on the student.

Cassino, which is in Naples, was a small town built on a high plateau. Above it was an ancient temple of Apollo surrounded by tall trees. There some pagans still came and offered sacrifices. When the saint took note of this, he worked with the word and verses to guide many to faith in Jesus, then he attacked the idol and smashed it to pieces, overturned the altar, destroyed the temple, cut down the trees, and built two churches in the place. From that time, the Cassino Plateau Monastery began to be established starting in the year 529 AD. On that day, Benedict was forty-eight. In addition, our saint founded a monastery for nuns near the place and another for monks in Terracina. He also sent his student Saint Placides to found a monastery on the island of Sicily.

In the West, it is believed that Saint John Cassian (+435), whom the Church celebrates on the twenty-ninth of February, was the first to write about monastic life. However, the true father of monasticism in the West is Saint Benedict, as he wrote down a set of laws for communal monastic life that is considered one of the most important documents in the history of Western monasticism. All of these laws are characterized by a balance between order and legitimate spontaneity. What is striking is that he was not presenting an ideal as much as he was presenting a practical program, accessible to those of virtue, emphasizing purity of heart, humility, and concern for what belongs to God, and carefully laying down the rules of daily prayers and obligations.

Saint Benedict was ignorant of worldly sciences, but he was filled with divine knowledge. Saint Gregory theologian says about him that he was “ignorant with knowledge and wise despite his illiteracy.” They said he became a deacon and perhaps a priest, but it is not certain. The picture that Saint Gregory theologian painted of him shows that he was preaching in some places in the neighborhood and that he had great love, extending his hand to those in need with everything he was given. He also had divine radiance and experience in leading and healing souls, which allowed him to establish a monastic law that Saint Gregory Theologian preferred over all the laws he knew. This law became so widespread that it included monks throughout the West. Its foundations were silence, solitude, prayer, humility, and obedience.

The key phrase in monastic life, according to Saint Benedict, is “Pray and work.” The monk must adhere to the prescribed program for daily life, which focuses on reciting prayers and reading psalms, starting at two in the morning. As for work, which was limited to agriculture, it is obligatory because it requires effort and constitutes a means of self-control, obedience, and earning a living. Saint Benedict reminds that monastic work is work devoid of interest, because it is based on asceticism in the soul. The goal of monastic work is holiness, not profit or making money. Hence, Benedict emphasizes that the monks only seek self-sufficiency in their work in order to fortify themselves and settle down, so as not to be a burden on the believers.

In the eyes of his students, Benedict was a perfect role model for monasticism. The Lord God provided him with many talents, including miracle work and insight. He strengthened the monks and expelled demons from them with the sign of the cross. Once, when those who were building one of his monasteries were unable to lift a rock from its place due to its weight, he prayed a short prayer and the rock became surprisingly light. Once he raised one of his monks from the dead after a wall fell on him on the Cassino Plateau. He also foretold with many tears that the Cassino Monastery would be desecrated and demolished. This actually happened at the hands of the Labardians, forty years later, around the year 580 AD. Benedict also mentioned that he was barely able, in prayer, to obtain pardon for people in those areas.

On the other hand, it was forbidden, according to Benedict’s Law, for a monk to eat outside his monastery unless he was at a distance that would not allow him to return to his monastery on the same day he went out to relieve himself. This rule, as Gregory Thealogos stated, was fully observed. Nothing, in the opinion of our saint, was more dangerous for a monk, in dealing with the affairs of the world, than eating and drinking in worldly circles. Benedict knew in spirit the mistakes of the monks and their thoughts and warned them to be strong. Once a monk came to him with two bottles of wine, so he hid one and took the second to the saint, saying that it was a gift from so-and-so, so Benedict pointed out to him that he should not drink from the other. When the monk returned to his cell and opened the bottle, he found a snake in it. Another time, one of the monks was on duty and was serving the saint while he was eating. Then a thought came to the monk’s mind and he said: Your position is higher than that of Benedict, so how can you serve him? The man, it seems, was from the elite. Immediately, the saint looked at him and ordered him to draw the sign of the cross on himself and leave him.

When Balisarius, the military leader, was summoned to Constantinople, Totila, the king of Gaut, invaded and plundered Italy. When he heard about Benedict's holiness and the miracles that were being performed by him, he wanted to test it, so he announced that he was going to visit the saint. But instead of going to him personally, someone close to him dressed him and made him claim that he was the king. When the alleged man came to the situation, the man of God quickly said to him: Take off these clothes, my son, because they are not yours!

Finally, Totila came to him and threw himself at his feet, and did not get up until the saint insisted on him. It was reported that Benedict boldly rebuked the king for the atrocities he was committing, saying: You are doing great evil and you will do more. You will occupy Rome, cross the sea, and rule for nine years. In the tenth year, you will die and appear before God to give an account for what you have done. All of this that Benedict told him happened exactly as he predicted. Totila was overcome with trembling and asked for the saint’s prayer. It has been reported that the king has become, since then, more humane than before. When he took Naples, he treated the prisoners with leniency. As for Rome, the Bishop of Canossa predicted before the saint that Totila would be left as a pile of stones and that it would no longer be inhabited. The saint answered him: No, but rather it would be struck by storms and earthquakes and it would be like trees withered due to the corruption of its roots. This prophecy spoken by the saint is what happened. Saint Gregory the Logos testified to this.

It appears that Benedict died after his sister Scholastica in the year following his meeting with Totila. He informed his disciples of the day of his demise in advance and had them open his grave six days before his death. When they did, he developed a fever. On the sixth day, they carried him to the church, where he contributed the sacraments. After providing his monks with his instructions, he leaned on one of them, raised his hands, and surrendered his soul. Today was a Sabbath and the date was the twenty-first of March, most likely in the year 543 AD. He was sixty-three years old. Most of his remains are still located in the Cassino Monastery. Some of his bones were transferred to the Monastery of Foré in France. Those who intercede for him ask for his protection from the harmful effects of insects and their poisons. When he lay down, one of the monks present saw a vision, and Saint Maurus also saw it. He was in France at that time, and he saw a wide road covered with luxurious carpets and on its sides countless lit candles. And a venerable old man said: This is the path that Benedict, the Beloved of God, took, and it led him to heaven.

As for authority, Benedict was more strict on those who exercised it than on those who obeyed them. He reminded the president “that he is not free to use his authority,” and that he does not have “any authority,” so he was forced to consult his brothers, including the boys. The monks have the right to submit objections, that is, to engage in dialogue, along with the right of the president to make the final decision. Saint Benedict says in the third chapter of his rules: “Whenever an important issue that arises in the monastery must be discussed, the superior invites the entire community and presents the issue to them. Then he collects the opinions of the brothers and carefully considers them alone, and then acts according to what he deems most appropriate.” The reason he says that all monks are invited to participate in consultations is, in his opinion, “that God often inspires the youngest with the best suggestions.” He then concludes by saying: “But it is appropriate for students to obey the teacher, but it is good for him to command, in everything, with insight and justice.”

Saint Benedict also recommends special attention to all kinds of vulnerable people (the sick, children, and the elderly), and to guests and passers-by, of whom “the monastery is never without.” When he speaks in his laws about the amounts of food and drink, or about work, or when he imposes acts of expiation and punishments, he demonstrates moderation that aims to refine the soul more than to destroy the will. From here, we can say that he does this out of the evangelical spirit, and inspired by love that enables him to maintain an efficient balance between isolation and community life, prayer and work... Saint Benedict considers that the head of the monastery must show “at times the severity of the teacher and at times the tenderness of the father,” as he sees it. The gift of discernment is the basic gift that one must possess. He calls on him to adapt in guiding souls to what is required by different dispositions, and he adds, saying: “Some of them need guidance through kindness, some through rebuke, and some through persuasion.”

It is said about him that at the end of his life he ate with his sister, Saint Scholastica (the church celebrates her on the tenth of February), who felt that this meeting would be his last, so she asked him to continue the conversation during the evening, but he refused, citing the laws. But she prayed and asked God to send down a storm that forced Benedict to stay with her. The meaning of this story is that Scholastica “exceeded her brother in ability because she surpassed him in love.” Keeping the laws can never replace the exercise of spiritual freedom rooted in love for God.

Among his teachings is that there are twelve levels of humility, the highest of which are:

1. Devoted heart, fear of God, and behavior in His presence.
2. Abandoning self-will.
3. Obedience.
4. Patience with the fees and wounds.
5. Revealing our thoughts and perceptions to the Father Superior.
6. Contentment and joy with humiliation, despicable work, poor clothing, considering ourselves unworthy of dignity, and looking at ourselves as unemployed slaves.
7. Considering ourselves as inferior to others, less valuable than others, and even the greatest of sinners.
8. Avoid exclusivity in speech and action.
9. To love silence and use it.
10. To avoid decadent pleasures and laughter.
11. We must refrain from speaking loudly and be modest.
12. To walk in humility in every action and to keep our eyes on the earth like the tax collector and the repentant Manasseh.

Saint Benedict added that divine love is the reward that comes from sincere humility. He made the heart broken and the abandonment of one's will before obedience.

The church celebrates him on March 14.

Troparia in the eighth tune
For the fruitless wilderness, with the streams of your tears, you were gracious, and with the sighs that came from the depths, you bore fruit with your labors a hundredfold, and you became a star for the inhabited world, shining with wonders, O our righteous father Benedict, so intercede with Christ God to save our souls.