Venerable Orsisius of Tabennisi (+380)

The Venerable Orsisius of Tabennisi (+380) was a disciple of Pachomius the Great (+348; commemorated 15 May). While still young he had gathered such great spiritual experience that his teacher entrusted him with the headship of the coenobium of Chenoboskion. Once Pachomius said of the Venerable Orsisius to the monks that he shone like a golden lampstand in the house of the Lord. After the death of Pachomius the Great, Saint Orsisius was appointed, against his own will, superior of the brethren of Tabennisi. As the number of the monks of the monastery gradually grew, the venerable father appointed Theodore as his assistant, then handed over the governance of the monastery entirely to him, and himself returned to the coenobium of Chenoboskion. In 368, after the death of the Venerable Theodore, the hierarch Athanasius the Great wrote to the Venerable Orsisius and the brotherhood: “Weep not, beloved brethren, for Theodore: he is not dead, but sleepeth. Let no one shed tears; let everyone imitate him. It is not fitting to weep for him who has made his dwelling there where there is neither sickness nor sorrow. And to thee, beloved and most dear Orsisius, I write: since he has fallen asleep, take upon thyself the care of the monastery and take his place for the brethren. For while Theodore was alive, you were of one soul and one body.” The Venerable Orsisius fulfilled the hierarch Athanasius’s request.

The holy father was deeply versed in Holy Scripture and had a wonderful gift of eloquence. “His word,” wrote a contemporary of the blessed ascetic, “seemed to gain strength little by little for the consolation of the brethren.” Before his death Abba Orsisius left as a testament a book in which almost the whole Old and New Testament was explained for the needs of monks, with brief notes attached.