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On this day we commemorate the departure of the holy
father Keriakos. He grew up in the City of Corinth in Greece,
the son of Orthodox Christian parents, who taught him the doctrine
of the Church. They brought him to his cousin Abba Peter, Bishop
of Corinth, who ordained him a deacon. Keriakos read continually
and studied the Holy Scriptures until he surpassed many. Abba
Peter commanded him to read to the people in the church and to
him in his cell, and he was happy to do so.
When he was eighteen years old his parents asked him if he wished to marry, but he refused. He asked them for permission to visit one of the monasteries in order to be blessed by the saints
therein. He visited the monastery from time to time and he longed for the monastic apparel. He went to Jerusalem, met its bishop, Abba Cyril and discussed with him his desire to be a monk. Abba Cyril encouraged him and prophesied that he would become a great father, would do good work, and many souls would be enlightened by his teachings. He blessed him and sent him to the Great father Otimus, the father of the monks of Palestine.
Father Otimus accepted him with joy, put the garb of the monk on him and delivered him to one of the elders of the monastery to teach him the ways of worship and warn him of the trickery of Satan. Abba Keriakos lived an ascetic life abounding in righteousness, humility and piety. God bestowed upon him the gift of healing so that he could heal all the sick people who came to the monastery with all kinds of infirmities. Word of his virtues and his holiness spread everywhere.
Abba Keriakos accompanied Abba Cyril, Bishop of Jerusalem, to the Ecumenical Council of Constantinople where 150 bishops gathered to condemn the heresy of Macedonius, the enemy of the Holy Spirit. Abba Keriakos opposed and vanquished him by evidences and proofs from the Bible.
He departed at a ripe old age and the Lord
made manifest many signs through his body after his departure.
His body still rests in one of the monasteries in the City of
Jerusalem, without any change or decay, to the extent that anyone
who sees him today would think that he died only a short while
ago, though several hundreds of years had passed since his death.
He lived at the time of Theodosius the Great in the later part
the fourth century.
On this day also
we commemorate the departure of St. Athanasius and his sister
Irene after they suffered many tortures at the hands of Maximianus.
When Maximianus failed to turn them away from their faith in Christ he ordered that they be thrown into an empty pit, and that it be closed, wherein they departed.