THE LIFE OF Moschos, THE MERCHANT OF TYRE
At the community of the Cave of Saint Sabas, we visited Abba Eustathios, the higoumen. He told us about a merchant from Tyre called Moschos. This is what he recounted while we were in Tyre:
"When I was engaged in commerce, late one evening I went to bathe. On the way, I came across a woman standing in the shadows. I approached and greeted her; she agreed to follow me. I was so diabolically delighted that I did not bathe but went straight to dinner. I did my best to persuade her, but she would not consent to taste a morsel.
Finally, we got up to go to bed, and as I began to embrace her, she let out a tremendous cry and broke into tears, saying, 'What a woeful wretch I am!' I was trembling as I asked her what was the matter. She wept even more and said, 'My husband is a merchant, and he has been shipwrecked. He lost both his own property and that of others. Now he is in prison because of the losses he caused. I am at my wits’ end about what to do and how to get bread for him. I decided, in great shame, to sell my body in order to get bread. They have taken everything from us.'
I asked her, 'How much is owing?' She replied, 'Five pounds of gold' (360 pieces or 1638 grams of gold). I took out the gold and gave it to her, saying, 'For fear of the judgment of God, I have not touched you. Go, redeem your husband with this gold, and pray for me.'
Some time later, certain slanders against me reached the ears of the emperor, claiming that I had squandered my merchandise. The emperor sent for me, seized all my estate, dragged me to Constantinople in my shirt, and delivered me into prison. I lay there for some time in the old shirt. Every day, I heard that the emperor intended to put me to death. I despaired of my life; it was in tears and lamentation that I went to sleep.
I seemed to see that woman whose husband had been imprisoned. She said to me, 'What is the trouble, Master Moschos? Why are you imprisoned here?' I told her that I had been falsely accused and that I thought the emperor intended to execute me. She asked, 'Do you want me to speak to the emperor about you and have you set free?' I asked her, 'Does the emperor know you?'—and she replied that he did. I awoke, confused about what this could mean.
A second and a third time, she appeared to me and said, 'Have no fear; tomorrow you will go free.' At dawn, they took me to the palace on the emperor's orders. When I went in and he saw me in my disreputable garment, he said, 'I am moved to compassion for you. Go, and act correctly in the future.'
I saw that woman standing at the emperor’s right hand. She said to me, 'Take heart and do not be afraid.' The emperor ordered my property to be restored to me, provided me with many goods, re-appointed me to my former position with great honor, and made me his representative.
That very night, the same woman appeared to me and said, 'Do you know who I am? It was upon me that you took pity when, for the sake of God, you respected my body. Behold, I have delivered you from danger. So you see how kindly God deals with men. That is how you dealt with me, and I have extended my mercy towards you.'"