“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” (Mt 5:3)
Euphrosynos was a very ordinary boy. He was not good at his lessons, and the other children picked on him for it. One day, helping in the fields of a monastery, he hummed the hymns of the Church – and the monks cheerfully sang along. So began a life that no one had seen coming.
As the monastery’s cook, Euphrosynos chopped the vegetables, tended the fire and cleaned everything up again. He could not go to the services, for he spent the whole morning in the kitchen and his clothes smelled of lentils or of fish. But he did not mind. In the quiet kitchen he could talk with God all day long, and that was what he loved most of all.
While the monks argued among themselves about what the Kingdom of God really is, the cook had long been living in it. Only when one of the priests had a remarkable dream – and the next morning found a branch of apples beside his bed – did everyone begin to understand.
This story tells of Saint Euphrosynos: a very ordinary boy who finds his way to the Kingdom of God by humbly serving his brothers as a cook in a monastery. It is a story about gratitude and about the quiet joy of a simple cook whose greatest delight is to talk with God all day long. A saint’s life, lovingly retold for children and beautifully illustrated.
Also available in Dutch: Eufrosynus en het koninkrijk van God.
