George Arselaites

Holy Venerable George Arselaites of Sinai was the brother of Venerable John Climacus (commemorated on 30 March) and laboured in the desert of Arsela. He was very well known in the desert for the many great miracles that were told of him.

When a barbarian raid took place on the road to Palestine, oil became very rare on the holy mountain. The abbot went down to Arselau and called the man of God, George, to come up the holy mountain. Not daring to contradict him, he went with him. Entering the oil store, the abbot asked him to pray over each of the empty vessels. The blessed Abba George said to the abbot: Father, let us pray over only one vessel, because if we bless all the vessels there will be here a whole pond of oil. Then he prayed over one vessel and at once the oil gushed from it as from a spring, and the elder told the attendants to take it and carry it to the other vessels. All were filled, as once the widow's jar at the prayer of the prophet Elisha. The abbot wished to dedicate the jar to the name of Abba George, but the elder told him that if he did so the oil would spill. Then they dedicated it to the Most Holy Mother of God, our Protectress, and the vessel remained and is kept to this day in the highest lamp, hanging unextinguished in the name of the Most Holy Theotokos.

Eight hungry Saracens once visited the righteous George, and he had nothing to give them, because he lived on wild fruits, which even camels could not eat because of their bitterness. Seeing that they were very hungry, he said to one of them: Take your bow and go to that mountain, where you will find a herd of wild goats. Shoot whichever you want, but do not try to shoot another. The Saracen went as the elder told him, shot and killed one, then tried to shoot another, but his bow broke at once. Returning, bringing the meat, he told his companions what had happened to him. This thrice-⁠blessed man once saw that his disciple had been bitten by a poisonous snake and was dying. Making the sign of the cross over him, he rose, seized the snake with his hands like a grasshopper and strangled it. And he asked the disciple to tell no one until his death.

When the time of the death of the great father drew near, or rather of his passing from death to eternal life, being ill, resting in his cave on a reed mat, he sent a Saracen to Aila to call a friend whom he loved, saying: Come, that I may see you before I depart to the Lord. The road was about two hundred miles. After twelve days the elder, lying on the mat, said to his disciple: Hurry and light the lamp, behold, the brothers have arrived. And as soon as the brother had prepared the censer, the Saracen and the beloved friend of the elder, come from Aila, entered the cave. The elder, lifting up a prayer, greeting him and receiving the Holy Mysteries, lay down and departed to the Lord. The venerable one is commemorated on 5 May, in the Synaxis of the Venerable Fathers of Sinai, a movable day.