Venerable Nikita the Stylite

Life

As a young man he lived an unbridled and vicious life. Having once entered a church by chance, he heard the words of the Prophet Isaiah: "Wash yourselves, (from sin) and ye shall be clean" (Isa. 1:16). These words sank deep into his heart and wrought a complete transformation in his life. Nikita left his house, his wife, and his property, and went to a monastery near Pereyaslavl, where until his death he struggled with difficult ascetical labors. He bound himself with chains and shut himself in a pillar, for which reason he was called the Stylite. God granted him great grace, so that he healed people of various afflictions. Thus he healed of paralysis the Prince Michael of Chernigov. Certain evildoers saw the chains on him and, from their gleaming, thought they were of silver. For this they killed him one night, and removed and carried off the chains. This occurred on May 16, 1186. After his death he appeared to a certain elder Simeon and commanded him to place the recovered chains in the tomb beside his body.