Saint Plato of Constantinople

Saint Platon had three brothers; he depicted the vanities of the world to them so well that he determined them to dedicate themselves entirely to the service of God and to live in perfect continence. He freed his slaves and sold all his property, which was considerable. Two causes had, moreover, contributed to increasing the patrimony that his family had left him: his skill in what we would call business today, a skill acquired at the school of his uncle, and the perfect sobriety of his life. A portion of this wealth was distributed to the poor. He used the other to provide for his sisters: they lived with piety in the state of marriage, and became mothers of several children, who distinguished themselves by the practice of all Christian virtues.

The Saint, whom nothing could hold back in the world any longer, left his friends and his homeland at the age of twenty-four. He took with him only a faithful servant, and even him he sent away once he was in Bithynia, after having given him all his clothes. He donned a black cloak and reached the Monastery of the Symbolon, built on Mount Olympus. Having been admitted into the number of the brothers, he made it his duty to follow in the footsteps of those who distinguished themselves most by the practice of humility, obedience, mortification, and the other virtues that characterize true monks. The abbot Théociste Abbot of the Monastery of the Symbols and spiritual master of Plato. , named Theoctistus, put him through the most delicate trials so that he might learn to die entirely to himself. He often reproved him for faults he had not committed and imposed penances upon him as if he had been guilty. Platon, instead of seeking to justify himself, submitted humbly to his superior and suffered with joy a treatment that provided him the opportunity to exercise acts of patience and humility. He was delighted when, during the hours destined for work, he was assigned the lowest tasks of his monastery; he applied himself to them without regretting his ordinary occupation, which consisted of copying books: for no one wrote more rapidly and better than he. Moreover, he did not limit himself to the role of a simple copyist: he also made learned and judicious collections of the most beautiful passages from the holy Fathers, of which he multiplied the copies so much that the monasteries of the East were supplied for a long time.

Abbot Theoctistus having died in 770, Platon, who was then thirty-six years old, was elected to succeed him in the government of the Monastery of the Symbolon. He opposed his election in vain; he found himself forced to accept the burden with which he was charged. The position of superior made him even more humble and more penitent. He never drank anything but water, and even then he was sometimes two days without drinking. Bread, beans, and some herbs without oil were his only food. He ate only at the hour of None, even on Sundays. His work provided him not only with enough to provide for his needs, but also with enough to assist many poor people.

While Saint Platon maintained the peace of God and the union of charity among his brothers, Emperor Const antine Copronymus wa Constantin Copronyme Byzantine iconoclast emperor and the saint's principal persecutor. s carrying out an atrocious persecution against the defenders of the holy images and especially against the monks. Thus, it was no small surprise when, twelve years after having abandoned the world, he was seen reappearing in Constantinople, where essential business had called him (775): God had undoubtedly reserved him to console the faithful after the storm. The crowd, always fickle, pressed in his footsteps: everyone wanted to embrace him. He took advantage of this disposition of spirits to preach the kingdom of God. By his examples and his discourses, he revived the spirit of piety and fervor in all walks of life. He banished vices, among others swearing and blasphemy; he led the poor to make holy use of their state, and the rich to relieve the unfortunate through abundant alms. Paul, Patriarch of Constantinople, wished to make him Bishop of Nicomedia; but he could never obtain his consent, the Saint even refusing to receive holy orders. His business being finished, he left Constantinople and took the road back to his monastery.

In 782, he was obliged to leave his solitude to come and govern the monastery of Saccudion, located near Constantinople. This monastery had been founded by the children of one of his sisters, named Theoctiste, all of whom had renounced the world. Platon established the rule of Saint Basil there and exercised the functions of superior for twelve years; he then resigned his position in favo r of Saint The saint Théodore Nephew of Plato, abbot of Stoudios, and celebrated theologian. odore, his nephew.

It was around this time that Emperor Co nstantine Constantin Byzantine emperor whose divorce caused a conflict with Plato. repudiated Mary, his legitimate wife, to marry Theodote, a relative of Platon. The Patriarc h Saint Taras saint Taraise Patriarch of Constantinople who opposed the imperial divorce. ios sought to oppose this scandalous marriage by employing both exhortations and threats. Platon and Theodore, his nephew, disapproved even more loudly of the prince's conduct. Joseph, the steward of the Church, and several other persons, both from the clergy and the monastic state, tried to soften our Saint and make him approve of the emperor's divorce; but their solicitations were useless: Platon did not yield any of his firmness. Constantine, to whom he had dared to speak of the enormity of his crime, punished him for his generous liberty by ordering that he be locked in a narrow prison. The Saint was not discouraged; he suffered with joy the prison and several other mistreatments, until the death of the emperor, which occurred in 797.

The incursions of the Saracens, who came up to the very gates of the capital, forced the monks of Saccudion to leave their solitude. They withdrew to the Studion monastery, which w monastère de Stude Famous monastery in Constantinople where Plato ended his days. as in the middle of Constantinople, but which had been almost entirely destroyed by the persecution of Constantine Copronymus. Platon shut himself up in a small cell there, and lived as a simple monk, under the guidance of Theodore, his nephew. Prayer and manual labor were his only occupations. He had attached a heavy iron chain to his feet, which he took care to hide under his robe when people came to see him.

Saint Platon was very zealous for ecclesiastical discipline. Nic ephorus, Nicéphore Patriarch of Constantinople whose election was initially contested by Plato. a man of great virtue but a layman, had been elected Patriarch of Constantinople in 806. The Saint highly disapproved of his election, because the canons declared the ordination of neophytes to be irregular. His firmness brought upon him a new persecution the following year.

Emperor Nicephorus had just restored to all his rights Joseph, steward of the patriarchal church, who had been deposed by Saint Tarasius for having celebrated the scandalous marriage of Constantine with Theodote. Saint Platon condemned this reinstatement as contrary to the vigor of ecclesiastical discipline. The irritated Emperor placed him in the hands of a troop of wicked monks and insolent soldiers, who made him suffer greatly for an entire year; he then ordered him to appear before a council composed of bishops sold to the court, who treated him in an unworthy manner and finally condemned him based on horrible calumnies. By virtue of the iniquitous sentence rendered by the council, the Emperor exiled the Saint and had him ignominiously dragged from stage to stage in the islands of the Bosphorus for the space of four years. Platon, despite the poor state of his health, suffered the fatigues of his exile with admirable patience. The Emperor was touched with compassion and even resolved to recall him from his exile; but he could not execute his resolution, having been surprised and killed by the Bulgarians in 811.

Michael I, Michel Ier Byzantine emperor who recalled Plato from exile. his successor, who loved justice and peace, gave orders for the Saint's recall. Having returned from his exile, Platon went back to his cell to lead the life of a recluse. But at the age of seventy-nine, he was forced to change his regimen, because he no longer had the strength to satisfy, without the help of others, any of the needs of the body. He was sometimes lying on a bed, sometimes sitting, reciting psalms, praying mentally, speaking to the brothers to instruct, exhort, and console them, no longer able to bend his knees or read by himself; what afflicted him most was not being able to attend the offices or work with his hands. He gave thanks to God for the relief given to his infirmity; but he was saddened to relax the austerity of his life. He fell ill during Lent of the year 813. Feeling his end approaching, he had his tomb dug and wished to be lowered into it: there he was visited by several persons of distinction, among others by the Patriarch Saint Nicephorus, who commended himself to his prayers. He had reconciled with the latter regarding the clarifications he had given him in relation to the reinstatement of the steward Joseph. The sick Saint forgave all those who had persecuted him and prayed for them. As Abbot Theodore asked him if he did not wish to dispose of anything, he shook his habit with his hand and said to him in a very low voice: "I have nothing left, I have given you everything." Having an oppressed chest, he was still moving his lips and singing a canticle of the resurrection when he expired on the Saturday before Palm Sunday, March 19, 813.

It is believed that Holy Week and Easter week caused the solemnity of his funeral to be postponed until the fourth of April, the day on which the Church celebrates his memory. The Patriarch performed this ceremony with great illumination and a quantity of incense; and it was apparently on this occasion that Saint Theodore the Studite delivered the funeral oration for Saint Platon, his uncle and spiritual father, which is the only life we have of this Saint. One could barely place his body in the sepulcher, so great was the crowd of people who pressed around and could not bring themselves to lose sight of him.

Taken from his life, written by Saint Theodore the Studite, his nephew. See the commentary and notes of Father Papateuck, vol. IV, April., p. 301; Fleury, vol. XIV, etc.

-- SAINT THEONA SAINT THÉONE A 4th-century anchorite, a scholar who retired to the desert. S, MAN OF LETTERS AND ANCHORITE (4th century).

The category of men for whom humility is most difficult is that of scholars and men of letters: yet, although very much a man of letters and well-versed in the sciences of Egypt, Greece, and Rome, Saint Theonas had the humility to hide all these talents, to go and bury them in the desert. For thirty years, he kept the strictest silence.

The sick flocked to the cell of the Prophet, for that is what he was called throughout the region of Oxyrhynchus. He woul d appear at Oxyrrhynque City in Egypt near which Saint Theonas lived. the window of his cell, extend his blessing hand, heal the crowd, and withdraw without saying a word. Such was his occupation during the day. At night, he would cross the threshold of his inviolable dwelling: it was to distribute to the good Lord's creatures, to the animals of the desert, the clear water of his fountain: this is why his cell was always surrounded by robust buffaloes, light-footed goats, and leaping onagers that formed a sort of guard of honor around this friend of God, who was also a friend of nature.

Once, in the course of these thirty years, he departed from his rigorous silence: it was to snatch from the hands of an angry crowd two thieves who had come with the intention of killing him, hoping to find large sums of money in his possession, and who, by a special permission of God, had remained until morning, as if petrified before the holy man's cell, unable to leave. Theonas opened his mouth to order that they be let go: grace inspired in them repentance for a life of crimes and depredations; they converted and even became monks.

Saint Theonas died towards the end of the 4th century.

Abridgment of the Lives of the Fathers.