Okay. So out of all the saints of the Orthodox Church, I might just have found the coolest one. No not because he was some great ascetic, which he was, no not because he was a great spiritual leader, which again he was, but because of his job title. Yes St. Zeno the Hermir was in fact, a mailman. St. Zeno offered his services to Emperor Valens when the position of Postman came open. Upon his acceptance into the position, St. Zeno was given one of the greatest responsibilities within the empire, carrying the messages and words of the Emperor himself. Over time Zeno would visit monasteries and churches throughout the empire and become close with many of the Church Fathers. Upon the death of the Emperor in the year 378 AD, St. Zeno decided that it was time to retire from the life of a postman and seclude himself from the world. That is where he found the fullness of God, in a cave near Antioch where he spent 40 years without human interaction. As we see in so many lives of the saints, they spend 40 years in the wilderness This 40 years is seen as a time of completion, a time of renewing and of repentance. That is exactly what St. Zeno did. He is known to have slept on a mattress made of grass, to have only eaten every two days, and to have aquired much humility and ascetism through his prayers. He once blinded an army that was invading the regions through his prayers and they missed his cell though many of the surrounding hermits perished. While we might not think of Postmen today as a very important job, we see that this humble postman, who gained the trust of the Emperor ultimately found true trust in the Emperor of all Creation.
May St. Zeno the Hermit pray for us that we might be found worthy of Jesus Christ.
Amen.
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