Venerable Hypatius of Rufinianae

Venerable Hypatius, Abbot of Rufinianae, was born c. 366 in Phrygia, Asia Minor, into a lawyer's family and received a good education. At 18, after a quarrel with his father, he left home for Thrace, where he worked as a shepherd, then became a church reader; he was tonsured under the elder Jonas, a former soldier. Around 400 he settled with two companions, Timothy and Moschion, in the abandoned monastery of Rufinianae near Chalcedon, once built by the prefect Rufinus and deserted since his death in 395. He restored the monastery, around which many monks gathered. He became renowned for healing, fed about 500 people daily during a famine, zealously opposed the Nestorian heresy even before its condemnation at the Third Ecumenical Council (431), fought remnants of paganism, and prevented an attempt to revive the Olympic games at the Chalcedon theater. At 40 he was chosen abbot and led the community for 40 years, respected by Emperor Theodosius II. He died in Constantinople c. 446. His Life was written by his disciple Callinicus. His feast falls on March 31/April 13, the same day as Hieromartyr Hypatius of Gangra.