SAINT HONORATUS OF ARLES

Our great contemporary, the holy bishop Saint John of Shanghai (1806–1966), was particularly zealous in reviving the veneration of the ancient Western saints who lived before the formal schism of the Churches in 1054. Under his spiritual guidance, for the first time in history, a complete Orthodox service was composed for St. Augustine of Hippo (354–430), whom theology calls the Father of Western Christianity. John literally found and saved many ancient great saints from oblivion. The Life of Saint Honoratus of Arles helps us learn about many of them.

1 On January 29, the Church commemorates Saint Honoratus of Arles (350–430). On this day, which was then January 16, the saint departed to God, thus outliving his teacher and interlocutor, Saint Augustine, by only five months. In 400–410, the saint founded the famous Lerins Monastery on the islands near Cannes, for which he is also called Honoratus of Lerins. 2 The pearl of the Gallic Church, founder and abbot of the Abbey of Lérins, Honoratus was one of those monk-bishops who, during the Golden Age of patristic writing, preached Christianity in the south of France through their words and, above all, their deeds. According to ancient tradition, Mary Magdalene once preached in these parts. The Côte d’Azur was the homeland of many saints. Honoratus was a contemporary of John Chrysostom, Jerome, and Theodoret of Cyrus. His biography has come down to us in a laudatory sermon delivered by his successor, Hilary (401–449). Thanks to him, the Church has preserved genuine information about the saint. Hilary was Honorius’ nephew, but he deliberately omitted to mention his place of birth. This is because the Church is a pilgrim church, and Christians have no homeland on earth. The monk and bishop Hilaire of Arles (403–449) should be distinguished from his namesake, Hilaire of Poitiers (300–367), in Church Slavonic transcription, Hilarion of Pictavia – the Great Father of the Church and one of the heroes of Nicene Orthodoxy in the struggle against Arianism. 3 Honoratus received an education in rhetoric and philosophy typical of the Church Fathers of that time, and there were Roman consuls in his family. Baptized at a very early age, he led an ascetic life on his parents’ estate. He also led his brother Venantius to an active faith in Christ. Together with another ascetic of that time, named Caprasius, (+430), all of them traveled to the East, visiting Palestine and Egypt. There they studied spirituality from local ascetics. On the way back, in Greece, his brother died. Upon returning to Southern Gaul, Honoratus and Caprasius lived as hermits in the local mountains. After some time, Honoratus founded a monastery on one of the then uninhabited Lerin Islands. After being ordained a presbyter, Honoratus served the growing brotherhood, for whom he wrote the “Lerin Charter.” 4 The Life of Saint Honoratus recounts two miracles he performed during his lifetime: snakes disappeared from the island at his prayers, and a healing spring gushed forth at his intercession. Founded by the first holy bishop, Trophimus, who carried out his missionary work in the middle of the third century, the diocese of Arles was, in essence, a local church, rivaled in prestige only by Lyon. After the tragic death of the local bishop, named Patroclus, in 426, Honoratus, like Saint Augustine forty years earlier in Roman Africa, was elected bishop of Arles against his will. Upon arriving at his place of ministry, the saint discovered that a huge amount of wealth had been collected in the diocesan treasury. Honorius ordered that all of it be distributed to the needy. He did not spare himself and died only few years later, apparently like another great Father of the Church from an earlier era, St. Basil of Caesarea, having exhausted himself in many labors. 5 The monastery of St. Honoratus, founded on the modern French Riviera, continued to exist. This great ascetic school produced Saints Eucherius of Lyon (380-449), Vincent of Lerins (+435), Patrick, the Enlightener of Ireland (400-491) Caesarius of Arles (470–542), and Augustine of Canterbury (546–604), the Apostle of England. The monastery of Honoratus is located on the island of the same name, directly opposite Cannes. Hardly anyone visiting this beautiful festival city today knows that from the sea and the sky, like a strange, benevolent apocalyptic animal, the great ancient abbey looks down on them with blessing.