Saint Amette Christos
June 3, 2022
Dear Children of God, Greetings to you and gratitude to Almighty God!
Children, how are you? We hope you are well and good!
Today we are going to tell you the story about Saint Amette Christos. So be with us!
Saint Amette Christos was a holy mother born in Jerusalem. Her parents were Christians and raised her properly and teach her hiring a tutor. Her tutor was a monk and did not spend the night in the city. He used to teach her and return to his cell on the same day. So Amette Christos learned well the Old and New Testaments.
One day, while she waited as always upon her instructor to learn, he did not come. So Amette Christos went to the monk’s cell to visit him and also to learn. But when she reached the cell and knocked at the door, no one answered or opened it. But from the inside she heard a bitter cry and a voice which said, “O my Lord! Forgive me!” It was the monk.
Saint Amette Christos suddenly got of an idea. She thought, “If he, living in purity, beseeches for his soul like this, is not much more expected of me?!” and returned to her home. Then, she changed her cloth and without saying farewell to her parents went hurriedly to Golgotha carrying a basket of peas (the small spherical seed) and water in a small vessel. She bow down and wept upon the [empty] tomb of Our Lord Jesus Christ. She prayed saying, “O Lord! Let my soul find peace, preserve me from the wicked enemy and bless this basket of peas and water so it sustains me for my entire life.”
Soon after, she crossed the Deserts of Kadesh and Sinai (in Jerusalem) on foot and reached Egypt. As she has chosen the life of a hermit (Monks) entered a desert where there was no vegetation and the sun scorched like fire. There, she stayed for 38 years without being seen by anyone; eating from the peas she had to sustain her flesh and drinking a bit from the water. When the scorching sun of the day and the cold air of the night slashed her cloth to pieces, God made her hair to grow and covered her whole body.
At the time of her departure (death), Abba Daniel who wrote the Chronicles of the Saints arrived at where she lived. When he saw her, he followed her but she entered into a gap of a rock and hid. Abba Daniel begged her saying, “Please my father come out and bless me!” He did not know that she was a woman. But she replied, “As I am naked, I will not come out.” He then removed his cover and gave her. Then she came out and talked to him. By the will of God, he knew all her account. Then he looked back at her cell and saw a basket filled with peas. It was full even after being consumed for 38 years! To see what would happen, he ate plenty from the peas and drank from the water but both did not reduce in amount. In astonishment he said, “My mother! Take my cloth.” But the Saint responded, “Bring me a new one.”
On the day, he brought it for her, as she was hidden; he was not able to find her. But one day (meaning on Ginbot 28/June 5) elder monks came and told him what they encountered. They said, “We saw a person in the desert and when we followed her and entered her cell, we found a basket of peas and water in a vessel. When we ate it, it immediately got washed-out.” Abba Daniel started to cry without letting them finish. Because [he knew] if the peas were finished, it meant that Saint Amette Christos had passed away. But the elders continued, “And when we came out we found her body which was covered in hair, departed after kneeling towards the east. After we received blessing from her body, we buried her.”
Later on, Abba Daniel wrote her story and it is passed on to us. So the Church commemorates the day of her departure.
Farewell Dear children! We believe you have understood the story and don’t forget to go Holy Church especially on Saturday and Sunday!
Till we meet for our next lesson, have a good week!