Venerable Gerasimus of the Jordan

Saint Gerasimus of the Jordan was born in Lycia, Asia Minor, into a devout family and embraced monastic life from his youth. Initially drawn to Monophysite teaching, he was converted to Orthodoxy by St. Euthymius the Great around the Fourth Ecumenical Council (451). About 450 he came to Palestine and settled near the Jordan River close to Jericho, where around 455 he founded a lavra combining two forms of monastic life: experienced monks in individual cells, novices living communally under his guidance. He practiced extreme asceticism, eating only on Sundays, and during Great Lent received nothing but Holy Communion until Pascha. He is best known for the legend of the lion he healed and tamed, named Jordan, which lived beside him and reportedly died of grief on his grave after his death — a story behind countless icons of the saint. He reposed around the year 475.