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The Departure of St . Epiphanius, Bishop of Cyprus

The Departure of St . Epiphanius, Bishop of Cyprus

On this day, of the year 402 A .D ., the great father St . Epiphanius, Bishop of Cyprus, departed . Hewas born to Jewish parents, his father died, and left him with a sister and their mother broughtthem up well .His father left him an untrained donkey and his mother asked him to sell it . He met a Christianman called Philotheus who wanted to buy the donkey, but the donkey kicked Epiphanius in histhigh, and he fell down on the ground unconscious . Philotheus made the sign of the cross over theplace of injury and Epiphanius was cured of his pain instantly . Then Philotheus cried out over thatdonkey asking God that the donkey would die God answered his prayer, and the donkey fell downand died . Epiphanius inquired about the secret of the donkey's death and Philotheus told him thatit was the cross . He guided him to the crucified Christ, the Son of God, Whom the Jews crucifiedin Jerusalem by His own will for the Salvation of the world . This remained in the mind ofEpiphanius .When one of the rich Jewish men died and had no one to inherit him, he left all his inheritance toEpiphanius . He used this inheritance to spend on the teachers of religion and Law . Once, when hewas walking in the road, he saw a poor man asking for charity from one of the monks, and as the349monk did not have any money to give, he took off his garment and gave it to him . As the poorman took this garment, St . Epiphanius saw a white dress coming down from heaven upon themonk instead off the garment that he gave away . He was astonished and went to the monk andasked him: "Who are you and what is your faith?" The monk told him that he was Christian . Heasked the monk to guide him to the facts of the Christian faith . The monk brought him to thebishop who taught him the law of the Christian faith and baptized him .Epiphanius desired to become a monk, and the bishop sent him to the monastery of St . Lucianus .He became a disciple to St . Hilarion, and the grace of God was with him . He excelled in thechurch subjects, monastic virtues, and its cannons .St . Hilarion prophesied that he would become a bishop and commanded him to go to Cyprus, andnot to refuse the office of bishop if it was offered to him . When the bishop of Cyprus departed, ithappened that Epiphanius entered the city to buy certain necessities, and he had two monks withhim . A saintly bishop was inspired to go to the market place to choose the monk that had twoclusters of grapes, whose name was Epiphanius, to ordain him a bishop for Cyprus . When thebishop went to the market, he found him with the other two monks, with two clusters of grapes inhis hand . He asked him about his name and he knew that he was the chosen one by God . He tookhim to the church and ordained him deacon, priest, then bishop . He revealed to the people hisvision about him and the prophecy of St . Helarion was fulfilled .St . Epiphanius followed a right course of conduct in his diocese, which was well pleasing to God .He wrote many books and discourses and he always preached about mercy . It happened thatJohn, bishop of Jerusalem, was not merciful, so St . Epiphanius borrowed from him some of hisgold and silver table vessels, and sold them and gave its price to the poor and the needy . WhenAbba John asked him to return them, he struck him in his eyes and he became blind . John askedthe Saint to pray to heal him, and he prayed, and God opened one of John's eyes .In the year 402 A .D ., Empress Eudoxia called Epiphanius to help her to drive out St . JohnChrysostom (Of the Golden Mouth) from Constantinople . However, he tried to reconcile themtogether, but he failed . She threatened him that she would open the temples of idols and close thechurches if he did not work on his removal . But since he could not reconcile the differencesbetween her and St . John, he returned to Cyprus and departed in the same year . (His body wasrelocated on the 28th . of Bashans) .May his prayers be with us and glory be to God forever . Amen .