Hierarch, Bishop Donatus of Euroea, Bishop

Hierarch Donatus lived during the reign of the right-believing Emperor Theodosius the Great (379-395) and was bishop of the city of Euroea in the ancient region of Epirus (northwestern Greece). He became renowned for many miracles. Not far from the city, at a place called Soria, there was a harmful water source inhabited by a monstrous serpent. Learning of this, Hierarch Donatus, together with the clergy, came to the source and through prayer drove out the serpent, which immediately gave up its spirit; he then blessed the source and himself drank from it without any harm. On another occasion, during a severe drought, Hierarch Donatus dug a water source in a parched region and through prayer called down the long-awaited rain. After the hierarch's death, his relics were transported from Euroea to the island of Corfu at the end of the 6th century by Greek refugees led by Bishop John of Epirus, fleeing the invasion of the Avars and Slavs; the relics later rested for a time on the island of Cephalonia, and in 1125, at the conclusion of a Palestinian crusade, were transported by crusaders to Venice. His memory is kept on April 30/May 13.