Venerable
Venerable Christodulus of Patmos, Wonderworker
1021 — †16 марта 1093
Venerable Christodulus of Patmos, Wonderworker (1021–1093) — a renowned ascetic and physician, founder and first hegumen of the Monastery of St. John the Theologian on the island of Patmos; he established the monastery on the site of the cave where, according to tradition, the Apostle John received his revelation and wrote the Apocalypse. He died on the island of Euboea, to which he was forced to flee from sea pirates.
Venerable Christodulus was born in 1021 in Nicaea. He became a renowned ascetic and talented physician throughout the Byzantine Empire. Traveling to holy places, he arrived on the island of Patmos in 1088 and was so struck by the ascetic spirit of the place that he decided to found a monastery there. In 1089 he asked Emperor Alexios I Komnenos to grant him the island of Patmos for his monastery in exchange for lands on the island of Kos and the coast of Caria. He established the monastery on a hill near the cave in which, according to tradition, the Holy Apostle and Evangelist John the Theologian received Divine revelation and wrote the Apocalypse in 68–69 AD. In his final years, due to raids by sea pirates, he was forced to flee Patmos with his disciples to the island of Euboea, where he died on March 16, 1093. The monastery of St. John the Theologian that he founded remains active to this day and is included on the UNESCO World Heritage list. His memory is kept on March 16/29.