Rabulas of Samosata

Our Venerable Father Rabulas of Samosata

Venerable · b. c. 450, at Samosata — d. c. 530

Rabulas (c. 450 – c. 530) was a Syrian ascetic of Samosata on the Euphrates who, after taking the monastic habit young and long labouring as a solitary in the deserts and mountains after the pattern of the Prophet Elijah and John the Forerunner, passed into Phoenicia and there became a renowned founder of monasteries. Aided by the emperors Zeno and Anastasius, he built a great house of prayer near Berytus (Beirut) and others besides, governing them in meekness and mercy and famed for the gift of intercession. Warned of his end by a heavenly voice — "Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden" — he reposed in peace at a great age about the year 530, and is commemorated on February 19.

Rabulas — a Syriac name (Rabbula) borne by several men of the eastern Church — was born about the middle of the fifth century in Samosata (Samsat), the old royal city of Commagene on the upper Euphrates, and received a good education. He took the monastic habit while still young, and gave himself first to the severest ascetic solitude, labouring in the deserts and on the mountains in imitation, the tradition says, of the Prophet Elijah and of John the Baptist — the two great forerunners of the eremitic life. Removing afterward into Phoenicia, on the Lebanese coast, he became widely known for the gifts of grace that shone in him, and drew disciples.

There he turned from the solitary to the founder's labour. With the support of the emperor Zeno (474–491) and the help of John, bishop of Berytus, he raised a monastery near Beirut; and afterward, under the emperor Anastasius (491–518), he journeyed to Constantinople and, again with imperial funds, built several further monasteries. Through all this activity he is remembered as remaining meek, merciful and full of compassion toward all men, and a great intercessor in prayer — the founder's works never displacing the inward life of the ascetic. Having governed his houses for many years and reached a great old age (the tradition gives him some eighty years), he was warned of his approaching death by a voice from heaven speaking the Lord's words, "Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest" (Matthew 11:28); and after a short illness he gave up his soul to God, about the year 530.

Feast and commemoration

February 19 (church date; New Calendar civil February 19; Old Calendar civil March 4), a synaxarion commemoration of the venerable Rabulas, kept in the Greek Menaion and the Slavic calendars. No proper service is appointed; the common of a venerable monk is used. His memory falls on the day led by the apostle Archippus and the martyr Philothei of Athens.

Hymns

Troparion — Tone 8 (from the common of a venerable one)

By a flood of tears thou didst make the barren desert bloom, and by thy deep sighing thou didst bring forth fruit a hundredfold in labours, and wast made a beacon shining upon the world by thy miracles, O Rabulas our father. Intercede with Christ God that our souls may be saved.

Original translation from the Greek

Iconography

No verified pre-modern image of the venerable Rabulas of Samosata has been identified under a secure attribution; the entry therefore stores no icon, and he is noted as wanting one. He would be depicted as an aged monk in the rasson and analavos, in the settled type of the ascetic founder — grey-bearded, holding a scroll or blessing, sometimes with a model of one of his monasteries.

Disputed questions

Two men of Samosata. The venerable Rabulas, sixth-century ascetic and monastery-founder, is distinct from the earlier seven Martyrs of Samosata (Romanus, James, Philotheus and companions, †c. 297, kept January 29); he shares only their city. He is also to be kept distinct from the famous Rabbula, bishop of Edessa (†435), a writer and church-legislator of the Syriac tradition who is not among the Orthodox saints of the calendar.