Venerable
Venerable Onesimus of Magnesia
III–IV вв. (?)
Also known as: Онисим чудотворец, Онисим Магнисийский, Онисим чудотворец, иже в Магнезии, Прп. Онисим Магнезийский, чудотворец
An ascetic and wonderworker of Asia Minor who, according to his Life, lived in a monastery near Ephesus and became famous for healings in Magnesia; the Russian calendar honours him as a venerable confessor.
Venerable Onesimus the Wonderworker of Magnesia is venerated as an ascetic of the 3rd–4th centuries. His Life survives in one incomplete Greek manuscript of the 11th century and in an Old Bulgarian translation; scholars date its final form to the 9th century.
According to the Life, his pagan parents vowed to become Christians if granted a child and were baptised when he was born. At eight he secretly left home for a large monastery near Ephesus, and his grieving parents went blind. Fifteen years later, at the time of persecution, he returned home unrecognised and left them a note revealing who he was.
The Life then tells of his miracles in Magnesia (modern Manisa, Turkey) and the Hermus valley: casting out demons, healing the sick, stopping a flood and a plague of locusts. He restored his parents' sight, was ordained priest against his will by Bishop Papias, fed the hungry during a famine and died in the bishop's arms. He is commemorated on 14/27 July.