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ST. JULIAN, ANCHORET
THIS saint was carried away captive from some
Western country when he was very young, and sold for a slave in
Syria. For some years he much aggravated the weight of his chains by
his impatience under them; till having the happiness to receive the
light of faith he found them exceedingly lightened by the comfort
which religion afforded him. A right use of his afflictions from that
moment contributed much to the sanctification of his soul. Not long
after, he recovered his liberty by the death of his master, and
immediately in the fervor of his devotion dedicated himself to the
service of God in an austere monastery in Mesopotamia. He frequently
resorted to the great St. Ephrem for advice and instructions in the
exercises of virtue; and that holy man went often to see him, that he
might edify himself by his saintly conversation. This learned doctor
of the Syriac church tells us, that he could not forbear always
admiring the sublime sentiments and spiritual lights with which God
favored a man who appeared in the eyes of the world ignorant and a
barbarian. Julian was of a robust body, inured to labor, but he
weakened and emaciated it by great austerities. He worked with his
hands, making sails for ships; and wept almost continually at the
consideration of his past sins, and of the divine judgments. St.
Ephrem tells us that he often admired to find that in the copies of
the holy Bible after Julian had used them some days, several words
were effaced, and others rendered scarcely legible, though the
manuscripts were entire and fair before; and that the holy man
candidly confessed to him when he one day asked him the reason, that
the tears which he shed in reading often blotted out letters and
words. Our saint always looked upon himself as a criminal, trembling,
and expecting every moment the coming of his judge to call him to an
account. It is easy to imagine how remote such a disposition of mind
was from being capable of entertaining the very thought of
amusements. His extreme humility appeared in his words, dress, and
all his actions. He had much to suffer from certain tepid and
slothful monks, but regarded himself as happy to meet with so
favorable opportunities of redeeming his sins, and of exercising acts
of penance, patience, meekness, and charity. Prayer was almost the
uninterrupted employment of his heart. He made in his little cell a
kind of a sepulchre, where he lived retired for greater solitude
whenever his presence was not required at duties of the community. He
assisted at the divine office without ever moving his body, keeping
his whole attention fixed on God, as if he had been standing before
the tribunal of his sovereign judge. Saint Ephrem assures us that God
honored him with the gift of miracles. Sozomen writes1 that his life
was so austere, that he seemed almost to live without a body. Thus he
spent twenty-five years in his monastery, purifying his soul by
patience, obedience, and the labors of penance. He passed to a
glorious immortality about the year 370. See his life written by his
friend St. Ephrem, Op. t. 3, p. 254, ed. Vatic.
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