Saint Abba Galion
The Lives of the Anchorite Fathers
Saint Abba Galion
Abba Isaac, the head of the Monastery of El-Qalamoun, said:
There was in this monastery a saint named Galion. He was born in one of the villages of Upper Egypt. Many miracles appeared through his holiness, to the extent that he healed the sick from their diseases. He never ceased to pray day and night, and his food was only once a week. He was the reader of the monastery, with a great voice, knowledgeable and skilled in reading the holy books. He was perfect in every virtue.
He lived in this monastery, having entered it when he was a young man, and became an old man without ever leaving the monastery’s gate. He did not mix with any of the brothers except during the hours of prayer.
The Devil’s Snare:
When the devil saw that he had escaped his nets, he set a snare for him. He came to him one night as he was leaving his cell to go to the church, where the monks were gathered at midnight. The devil said to him, “Brother Galion, we were twelve men wandering in this desert. Today one of us has died, and we cannot let our number be incomplete. You will complete our number, for you are an ascetic, a worshipper, a lover of the brethren, renouncing the world, uninterested in its possessions, food, or pleasures. You are worthy to be one of us.” Then he vanished from him.
A thought entered Galion’s heart, and he believed that God had sent him this angel. That night he was fervent in prayer. When the prayer was finished, he returned to his cell, took his staff to lean on through the night, and left the monastery without anyone noticing. He found eleven men dressed as monks — they were demons — who rejoiced at his coming and greeted him with joy. They walked ahead of him, and he followed them until midday. Then they came to a high mountain overlooking the land of the oases, barren and empty of food, water, or people. They sat down laughing, mocking one another, and said, “Tonight we have caught a good prey.”
Galion said: “I thought to myself that these men were not saints but demons. I made the sign of the holy cross on my face, and when I turned around, I saw no one.”
From the Monastery of Saint Shenouda:
He remained on the mountain, not knowing where to go or how to escape from the trap he had fallen into. Then he opened his mouth and read Psalm 17:
‘I love You, O Lord, my strength. The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer.’
He repeated this verse three times, and his heart was strengthened, and his fear left him. Looking around, he saw no one.
Then he began to read Psalm 6:
‘O Lord, do not rebuke me in Your anger, nor chasten me in Your wrath. Have mercy on me, O Lord, for I am weak; heal me, for my bones are troubled, and my soul is greatly distressed.’
As he turned behind him, he heard a voice. He looked and saw three men clothed in white garments reading Psalm 97:
‘Sing to the Lord a new song, for He has done marvelous things…’
Their voices sounded like the voices of angels, and he knew the melody they were chanting, so he joined them. Yet he was cautious, lest the devil had again sent his hosts to destroy him. But he said, “The devil cannot read the Psalms of David the Prophet.”
As they came near, they continued to chant sweet melodies. He answered them in the same tones, and together they spent the entire night reciting the Psalms of David until morning. Whenever they read a psalm, he read the same with them. They did not ask him about himself, nor did he ask them about theirs.
When morning came, they sat together, and they asked one another. He learned that they were monks from the Monastery of Saint Shenouda, wandering in the wilderness. They said to him: “We do not wish to know what happened to you, for we already knew by the Spirit the snares of the enemy and his deceitful plan against you. So give thanks to God, and let us all thank Him, for He does not forsake the humble, nor overlook them, but visits them in times of tribulation.”
Galion said: “I stayed with them for a full year. At the foot of that mountain, we found a spring of fresh water with fish that looked like birds. We caught them without tools, dried them in the sun for a few days, and ate them. Their taste was like pure bread.”
His Return to the Monastery:
We continued in this way until one night, one of the three said to me: “Galion, your father Isaac has asked God to let him see you before his departure. So arise quickly and go to him.” I said, “I do not know the way.” Then he and his brethren took my hand and said, “Follow us.” I followed them, and before morning, I found myself standing at the gate of my monastery where I was raised. They bid me farewell and went to the Monastery of Saint Shenouda.
As for me, I entered the monastery and found my father Isaac the monk standing, waiting for me. When he saw me, he rejoiced greatly and said: “Galion, where have you been, my son?” I told him everything that had happened to me from beginning to end.
His Departure:
I, Isaac, testify also to what I saw concerning this son Galion. When he was absent in the wilderness, I prayed to God to reveal his condition to me, for I did not know what had happened to him. Then I saw in a vision someone saying to me: “Today you shall see him in the flesh, and on the seventh day he shall depart from the world of vanity to the house of truth and eternity. Be vigilant and take care of the time when this father shall go to his prepared dwelling.”
I knew then the day I had seen in my vision. There was no reader like him in the monastery, nor anyone who knew the melodies and psalms as he did, so I wept for him. He also knew the day of his departure, though I did not know he did.
I came to him and said: “Take to yourself the boy Moses, the reader, and deliver to him the order of the church, its hymns, and all its instruments.” He embraced Moses and said to him: “My son, receive from me the spirit that is in me, for on the seventh day I shall depart.” Moses received from him the spirit, and he increased in reading and chanting like the overflowing of the Nile in its flood.
When the time of his departure came, the fathers and brethren gathered, wrapped him in linen, and buried him, praying over him according to the custom of the monks. May the Lord grant us to be united with him as He united him with His saints, and strengthen us as He strengthened him. To Him be glory forever. Amen.
From a manuscript in the Monastery of the Syrians, No. 283 “Miamar.”
— Article by His Grace Bishop Shenouda, Bishop of Education, El-Keraza Magazine, First Year, Issue Five, June 1965.
For better translation support, please contact the center
