St Epiphanius, Bishop of Cyprus
On the 17th day of the Coptic month of Bashons we celebrate the life of St Epiphanius, Bishop of Cyprus..
Epiphanius was born to Jewish parents. His father had died when he was young, and he was raised straight and true by his mother and sister.
His father had left behind an untrained donkey, whom his mother had asked the young Epiphanius to sell. Along the journey, Epiphanius met a Christian man named Philotheus who offered to buy the donkey. But the donkey kicked Epiphanius in his thigh, and he fell down on the ground unconscious. Philotheus made the sign of the cross over the place of injury and Epiphanius was cured of his pain instantly. Then Philotheus condemned the donkey. God straightaway struck the donkey, it fell down and died. Epiphanius inquired about the secret of the donkey's death and Philotheus told him that it was the power of the cross. He educated Epiphanius about the crucified Christ, Son of God, at the hands of the Jews in Jerusalem. That in God’s supreme love for us, offered Himself up freely for the Salvation of the world. This remained in the mind of Epiphanius.
When one of the rich Jewish men died and had no one to inherit his wealth, he left all his inheritance to Epiphanius. He used this inheritance to spend on the teachers of religion and Law. Once, when he was walking in the road, he saw a poor man asking for charity from one of the monks, and as the monk did not have any money to give, he took off his garment and gave it to him. As the poor man took this garment, Epiphanius saw a white dress coming down from heaven upon the monk instead of the garment that he given away. He was astonished and went to the monk and asked him: "Who are you and what is your faith?" The monk told him that he was Christian. He asked the monk to guide him to the facts of the Christian faith. The monk brought him to the bishop who taught him the law of the Christian faith and baptized him.
Epiphanius desired to become a monk, and the bishop sent him to the monastery of St. Lucianus. He became a disciple to St. Hilarion, and the grace of God was with him. He excelled in the church subjects, monastic virtues, and its cannons.
St. Hilarion prophesied that Epiphanius would become a bishop and commanded him to go to Cyprus, and not to refuse the office of bishop if it was offered to him. When the bishop of Cyprus departed, it happened that Epiphanius entered the city to buy certain necessities, and he had two monks with him. A saintly bishop was inspired to go to the marketplace to choose the monk that had two clusters of grapes, whose name was Epiphanius, to ordain him a bishop for Cyprus. When the bishop went to the market, he found him with the other two monks, with two clusters of grapes in his hand. He asked him about his name and he knew that he was the chosen one by God. He took him to the church and ordained him deacon, priest, then bishop. He revealed to the people his vision about him and the prophecy of St. Hilarion was fulfilled.
Bishop Epiphanius followed a right course of conduct in his diocese, which was well pleasing to God. He wrote many books and discourses and he always preached about mercy. It happened that John, bishop of Jerusalem, was not merciful. So Bishop Epiphanius borrowed from him some of his gold and silver table vessels, and sold them, giving the money to the poor and needy. When Bishop John asked him to return them, he struck him in his eyes and he became blind. John asked the Saint to pray to heal him, and he prayed, and God opened one of John's eyes.
In the year 402 A.D., Empress Eudoxia called upon Bishop Epiphanius to help her to drive out St. John Chrysostom from Constantinople. However, he tried to reconcile them together, but failed. She threatened him that she would open the temples of idols and close the churches if he did not work on his removal. But since he could not reconcile the differences between her and...