Orthodox Parables and Stories: Monk Kuksha

The Monk Kuksha came from an old Cossack family. He was born in 1875 in a large family in Kherson region and baptized with the name Kosma. His mother fervently prayed that one of her children would become a monk.


At the age of 20, Kosma leaves for Holy Mount Athos and goes to a monastery with the blessing of the Kiev elder Jonah.


However, in the pre-revolutionary time, the ascetic had to return to his homeland. Ahead was not an easy life full of trials...but wherever he was - on Mt. Athos, in the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra, in Pochaev, in the Assumption Monastery in Odessa, and even in exile - everywhere he was an image of the real warrior of Christ.


In 1938, the priest was arrested and sentenced to eight years of exile. Labor in exile was very hard, especially in winter.


There was such a case on Pascha:


The father was so weak and hungry, he was practically swayed by the wind. And the sun is shining, the birds are singing, the snow has already begun to melt. He walked along the barbed wire very hungy, and behind the wire, the cooks carry dishes of pies on their heads for the guards, and crows fly over them.


Kuksha prayed: "Raven, raven, you nourished the prophet Elijah in the desert, bring me a piece of cake as well."


Suddenly he hears over his head: "Kar-rr! and a pie fell at his feet! It was a raven that stole if from the cook.


Kuksha raised the cake and thanked God with tears.


The monk died at the age of 90, foreseeing his death in advance.


*Days of rememberance of the monk - Sept. 29 and Dec. 24