Venerable Patapiius

Life

Patapiius was born and raised in faith and fear of God in the city of Thebes in Egypt, of pious parents. Early he perceived and despised the vanity of this world and withdrew to the Egyptian desert, where he gave himself to the struggle of cleansing his heart from all worldly desires and thoughts for the sake of God's love. But when his virtue became renowned among people, people began to come to him and to seek from him consolation for their sorrows. Fearing human glory, which darkens the human mind and separates from God, Patapiius fled from that desert to Constantinople. For this wondrous saint thought that perhaps he could more easily hide from people among people in the city than in the desert. Near the church of Blachernae in Constantinople he built himself a hut, and there, secluded and unknown, he continued his interrupted ascetic struggle. But light cannot be hidden. A certain boy, blind from birth, led by God's Providence, came to Saint Patapiius and asked him for prayer to God, that he might see and behold God's creation, and thereby glorify God all the more. Patapiius took pity on the sufferer, prayed to God, and the boy received sight. This miracle revealed the God-pleaser to the entire capital, and people flocked to him for healing, comfort or instruction. One distinguished man Patapiius healed from dropsy by making the sign of the cross over him and anointing him with oil. One young man he freed from an unclean spirit which tormented him fiercely, freed him by making the sign of the cross with his hand in the air. And the evil spirit departed from God's creature like smoke, with a great cry. A certain woman who had a wound on her breast, filled with worms, he made the sign of the cross over and made whole. And many other miracles Saint Patapiius manifested, all by prayer, by the name of Christ, and by the sign of the cross. In deep old age he reposed and passed into the Kingdom of Heaven, in the seventh century.

From the Hymn of Praise

Patapiius, like a seafarer,Who in the storm fixes his gazeWhere he will see the light of harborFrom this vain world,