Venerable (Monastic) Byzantine

Saint Doulas the Passion-Bearer of Egypt

Also known as Doulas of Egypt

A monk who for twenty years bore the contempt, mockery, and false accusations of his brethren with unfailing meekness and obedience, and was vindicated by God.

Feast Day

June 15

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Commemorated as

Our Venerable Father Doulas the Passion-Bearer of Egypt

Life

Doulas the Passion-Bearer was a monk of an Egyptian monastery, remembered for the meekness and humility with which he met sustained ill-treatment from his own brethren. Over the course of some twenty years he endured their mockery, abuse, and contempt without retaliation, and tradition holds that through this patient suffering he attained a state of spiritual detachment. He is commemorated on June 15 and is honored not as a martyr put to death for the faith, but as a passion-bearer who bore unjust affliction with Christ-like endurance.

He is distinguished from the Martyr Doulas of Cilicia, who is commemorated on the same day.

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The False Accusation

According to the synaxarion, sacred vessels were stolen from the monastery, and suspicion fell on Doulas, in part because illness had kept him from a Vigil service. Slanderous witnesses persuaded the monastery's leadership of his guilt. Rather than mount a defense, Doulas is said to have replied only that he was a sinner and asked the fathers' forgiveness. The igumen stripped him of his monastic habit, and he was handed over to the civil authorities for judgment.

The account relates that he was scourged and, under the law prescribed for such crimes, sentenced to have his hands cut off. Doulas declined to make a false confession, declaring that he would not tell lies, and accepted the punishment rather than accuse himself untruthfully.

Vindication and Repose

By tradition, the true thief eventually confessed, and the brother responsible for the accusation repented and disclosed Doulas's innocence. After some twenty years of exile and humiliation, Doulas was restored to his monastery. The synaxarion relates that he harbored no resentment toward those who had wronged him, and instead expressed gratitude that their treatment had given him the occasion to atone through guiltless suffering.

Three days after his restoration, the account states, Doulas reposed while kneeling in prayer. When the brethren entered the church to prepare him for burial, his body was found to be gone, with only his garments and sandals remaining.

Notes

Distinct from Martyr Doulas of Cilicia (same day).

Sources: OCA Synaxarion (oca.org), Lives of the Saints