Saint Vitalius of Alexandria

In Alexandria, the period of the Patriarchate of John the Merciful (609-620), a story occurred that made the townspeople reconsider the habit of making hasty verdicts. The central figure was the elderly monk Vitaly from the monastery of Abba Serida, who arrived in the city at the age of sixty.

Vitaly compiled a complete list of Alexandrian prostitutes for prayerful remembrance and hired a day laborer. The daily earnings of 12 coppers were distributed simply: one bean for food after sunset, the rest is a payment for overnight accommodation in a brothel. He offered each woman a deal: money in exchange for a promise to abstain from clients until morning. While the hostess was asleep, the monk silently read out the Psalter and left the room at dawn. Everyone took an oath to remain silent.

Outwardly, the scheme looked unequivocally reprehensible. The monk was publicly humiliated, showering abuse, he asked only one thing — to refrain from condemning. The complaint of the clergy went to the patriarch, but John, remembering the act of Constantine the Great at the First Council of Nicea — he burned denunciations against the bishops without reading — rejected the slanders.

The fruits of the night vigils appeared soon. Women began to leave the craft: they went to monasteries, started families, mastered honest professions. Disclosure was hampered by fear: one of them, trying to rehabilitate the monk in public, immediately became a victim of rabies.

The denouement approached after the conflict on the street. A young visitor to the den struck a monk, accusing him of dishonoring the Christian name. Vitaly responded by predicting a symmetrical blow, to the noise of which the whole of Alexandria would gather. Soon the elder, who was locked in a cell, passed away to the other world during kneeling prayer. At the same time, the prediction came true: the young man fell into a fit, shouting that he was receiving a “blow from the monk Vitaly.” After recovering, he reached the saint’s cell, where a body with a charter in his hand was found behind a broken-in door. “Men of Alexandria, do not judge before the time until the Lord, the Righteous Judge, comes.”

Healing from the relics received the same rabid city dweller. Rescued women, released from the oath, revealed to the citizens the essence of what happened. Patriarch John personally led the funeral procession, and the Alexandrians, according to sources, established a rule for themselves never to condemn anyone.