VERY RARE PAINTING “DYING DAY OF ST. ALEXIUS” , HAND-PAINTED, TIMBER FRAME , 180 X 130 CM / 71” X 51” , BELGIUM, SIGNED : ARTHUR VAN GRAMBEREN ANNO 1906.
St. Alexios the Man of God (Feast Day - March 17)
St Alexios was born at Rome into the family of the pious and poverty-loving Euphemianus and Aglais. The couple was childless for a long time and constantly prayed the Lord to grant them a child. And the Lord consoled the couple with the birth of their son Alexios.
At six years of age the child began to read and successfully studied the mundane sciences, but it was with particular diligence that he read Holy Scripture. When he was a young man, he began to imitate his parents: he fasted strictly, distributed alms and beneath his fine clothing he secretly wore a hair shirt. Early on there burned within him the desire to leave the world and serve God. His parents, however, had arranged for Alexios to marry a beautiful and virtuous bride.
On his wedding night, Alexios gave her his ring and his belt (which were very valuable) and said, "Keep these things, Beloved, and may the Lord be with us until His grace provides us with something better." Secretly leaving his home, he boarded a ship sailing for Mesopotamia.
Arriving in the city of Edessa, where the Icon of the Lord "Not-made-by-Hands" (August 16) was preserved, Alexios sold everything that he had, distributed the money to the poor and began to live near the church of the Most Holy Theotokos under a portico. The saint used a portion of the alms he received to buy bread and water, and he distributed the rest to the aged and infirm. Each Sunday he received the Holy Mysteries.
The parents sought the missing Alexios everywhere, but without success. The servants sent by Euphemianus also arrived in Edessa, but they did not recognize the beggar sitting at the portico as their master. His body was withered by fasting, his comeliness vanished, his stature diminished. The saint recognized them and gave thanks to the Lord that he received alms from his own servants.
The inconsolable mother of St Alexios confined herself in her room, incessantly praying for her son. His wife also grieved with her in-laws.