Venerable Martyr
Venerable Martyr Patrikiy, Venerable Martyr of the Lavra of St. Sabbas
† 796
Also known as: Патрикий и дружина его (20 преподобномучеников Саввинских)
Venerable Martyr Patrikiy of the Lavra of St. Sabbas — one of twenty monks of the Lavra of St. Sabbas the Sanctified, suffocated by smoke from a fire set at a cave entrance during a Saracen Arab raid in 796; counted among the "Twenty Venerable Martyrs of the Lavra of St. Sabbas," distinct from the earlier group of "44 Venerable Martyrs" of 614.
IMPORTANT CLARIFICATION: the previously empty date has been filled in (March 20/April 2) and the caption fragment replaced with a full biography. Patrikiy is confirmed not to be an isolated figure but one of the "Twenty Venerable Martyrs of the Lavra of St. Sabbas," killed in 796 (some sources: 797) — not to be confused with the earlier group of "44 Venerable Martyrs of the Lavra of St. Sabbas," killed by Persians in 614 (feast May 16).
Venerable Martyr Patrikiy labored as a monk at the Lavra of St. Sabbas the Sanctified near Jerusalem. In 796, a band of raiding Saracens attacked the Lavra. Several monks, Patrikiy among them, took refuge in caves; the survivors were herded into the Lavra's church and then sealed inside the cave of St. Sabbas, where the attackers lit a fire fed with dung at the entrance so the acrid smoke would suffocate them.
Patrikiy died alongside Ss. John, Sergius, Cosmas, Protodeacon Anastasius, Theoktistos, and others — twenty monks in total. His feast, together with his companions, is kept March 20/April 2.