At that time, Fathers died in the Lavra of Saint Savvas by a martyric death, which was described as an eyewitness account by Saint Stephen the Melodist, who was a Hagiopolite and a Sabbaite (+ 807), at the urging of the abbot of the Lavra, Basil, who was absent at the time of the barbarian raid. It is true that the work does not mention a name, but in the biography of Saint Stephen the Wonderworker, its author Leontios, speaking of a certain pious man, a fellow student of Abba Theoktistos, says that he was numbered among the Fathers who were slain by the barbarians in the Great Lavra, “whose account was written by the all-virtuous Abba Stephen, the pride of our Lavra.”
This work bears the following title: “Narration, that is, the Martyrdom of the Holy Fathers who were slain by the barbarians, namely the Saracens, in the Great Lavra of our Holy Father Savvas.” Stephen composed many canons for those who were slain in the Lavra on March 20.
Stephen became an eyewitness of the events in the Lavra, “being one of the monks in this holy Lavra, though unworthy, and one of those who were present at the time of the destructive incursion and attack of the barbarians.” This plundering incursion and attack of the Saracens against the Lavra must be attributed to their inclination toward looting, since they believed that in the cells of the Fathers they would find countless buried treasures. In the year 788, when Elias was Patriarch and Basil was abbot, a great civil war broke out among the Saracens in Palestine. Dividing themselves into two factions, they caused many disturbances by unlawful means: how many robberies, bloodshed, and unjust murders they committed, how many villages they left in ruins by delivering them to the flames, after first plundering their inhabitants and driving them away or killing them — “I do not have the ability, nor is it appropriate to the present time and subject to recount them in order,” says Stephen. Everywhere these monstrous beings brought dreadful desolation. Numerous and populous cities were laid waste. Eleutheropolis (Beit Jibrin) they captured and rendered uninhabited; likewise Ascalon and Gaza and Sariphaia and other cities they took, destroyed, and turned into pastures. They set ambushes, stripped passersby, and wounded them — and these considered themselves fortunate because they had escaped death. Each one sought how to seize what did not belong to him and to amass wealth from others’ possessions and money. And if any of them happened to be angry with someone, or especially against Christians, he seized the opportunity and attempted by violence to kill him and seize his property.
And while this disorder prevailed, spreading everywhere like a flame, many of those dwelling in the countryside and small towns, abandoning their possessions and seeking their salvation, fled to the populous cities as to a refuge. The inhabitants of the cities, especially of the Holy City, leaving their occupations, dug trenches around the city and attempted to rebuild the walls and secure the gates, and day and night they set guards and watchmen, being seized with great fear of the mass and sudden raids of the attackers. For they were already threatening to attack Jerusalem as well, in order to plunder it. And indeed, they attempted to capture it.
But its defenders, though few in number, succeeded in repelling their attacks. The abbot of the Lavra permitted those who wished to depart and save themselves in the cities. But no one left that place of ascetic life, nor abandoned the Lavra. All, with prayers and supplications, day and night entreated God to do what was beneficial and pleasing for their souls. And they exhorted one another, saying:
“If Christ wills, whom we have espoused and for whose sake we dwell in this desert, each having left his homeland, to save us from lawless and barbarous hands, He can do so, for He can easily do all things. But if He ordains that we be delivered up and die at their hands, since He entirely knows that this is best, may He grant us something even higher. Let us therefore accept what God allows as most beneficial, and let us not turn back to worldly disturbances out of fear of sinful barbarians, thereby giving the impression of cowardice, a most shameful passion to possess. For our Master and Savior Jesus Christ commanded us not to fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul.
How beautiful it is to see people depart from the world, follow Christ, and journey into the desert; and how shameful, dreadful, and disgraceful, on the other hand, to see those who once separated themselves from the world and lived many years in the desert return again to the world out of human fear… We have no cities with walls and towers to protect us, but we have Christ as an indestructible wall… We have no chain-mail breastplate, helmet, or leather shield…, but we have the armor of the Spirit: the breastplate of love and hope, the shield of faith, and the helmet of salvation… We have no military formation to defend us, but “the angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear Him and delivers them.” For us, whether we live or die, Christ is our gain. Nor did we come to dwell in this desert because we loved our life. For whose sake did we choose to live in this uninhabited land? Is it not clear that it is for Christ? If therefore we are slain here, we shall be slain for Christ, for whom we wisely chose to dwell here. What then is more delightful and more blessed than to die for Christ, who died out of love for us?”
Taking courage from such words, they decided to remain in the Lavra, especially considering that if they left, the enemies would destroy it, burn the church, demolish the cells, and render that place forever uninhabited. The barbarians gathered in the regions around the old Lavra of Abba Chariton and, like locusts and a God-sent wrath, after destroying the surrounding villages and plundering that holy Lavra — leaving nothing to the Fathers there and inflicting upon them every kind of evil, subjecting many of them to various tortures — they remained there for several days. And they threatened in fury and gnashed their teeth like wild boars and roared like lions against the Great Lavra, because apart from it nothing remained unconquered in the surrounding regions, “like a grape left in a vineyard after the harvest.”
And enemies of the Lavra, who had long been its neighbors and had long thirsted to seize it and had been waiting for such an opportunity, incited and stirred up the crowd against it. The soldiers stationed for the defense of the city, seeing them and thinking that they would attack the city, met them in the areas near Bethlehem, and after a clash, killed many of them and drove them back into the desert. On another occasion, the crowds of barbarians agreed to attack the Lavra very early in the morning and plunder it.
But in a certain village they found many jars full of wine hidden under brushwood, and they drank from it with such greed and without measure that, unable to distinguish one from another, they clashed among themselves, and thus their plan was thwarted.
And while these things were happening for several months and the roads to the Holy City were closed, those within the Lavra were seized by fear, terror, anxiety, and sorrow. Food was brought, as now, from Jerusalem, and often it was seized by the enemies. Moreover, they remained in high places, and thus they were scorched by the heat during the day and frozen by the frost at night, awaiting the sudden assault and raid of the barbarians; and they placed guards on a high mountain to signal their presence. And many times crowds of barbarians appeared, and those within the Lavra learned of it, and with bells and semantra they called for those in the cells to gather. The Fathers were in great anguish and fear.
The enemies of the Lavra, having gathered others with them and becoming more than sixty, decided to attack it. Those within the Lavra learned of this attack. It was the 13th day of the month of March at sunrise. The Fathers ran and gathered at the usual hill. But as soon as they saw them coming from afar, great fear seized them, and they dispersed.
The barbarians, having divided into two groups, were consulting among themselves. And as they approached, some of the Fathers went out to meet them, hoping to restrain them with words such as these:
“Why have you come against us in such a manner, as if we were enemies and had committed the greatest injustices and the worst deeds, and as if we had greatly offended and harmed you? We, sirs, are peaceful toward all; neither you nor anyone else have we ever grieved or harmed. And we are so far removed from strife and battles that we have abandoned our possessions and the whole world and dwell in this desert, as you see, in order that, having withdrawn from every noise of life and disturbance and conflict and association, we may mourn our sins and please God.
And not only have we done you no harm at all, but we have not ceased to benefit you, as far as we are able; for we continually offer hospitality, food, and rest to any of you who happen to pass by here. Do not, therefore, repay us with evil instead of good, when you ought rather to commend us with all your strength for the benefits we have shown you; and even now we are ready to receive you with food from what we have in abundance and, as usual, to offer you rest.”
But they replied with insults and threats: “We have not come here for food, but for money. Therefore choose one of the two: either give us money, or die by our arrows.”
Those of the Lavra answered: “Believe, men, believe that we are humble and poor and utterly destitute, and we do not even have enough bread to satisfy ourselves; nor do we have possessions or luxury in garments and clothing; and if you speak again of gold, we have never even imagined such a thing, not even in our dreams. We live here in hardship and self-sufficiency, having only what is necessary, and even that in scarcity.”
But they, in anger, emptied their quivers against the Fathers and wounded about thirty — some seriously, others lightly — and began to break down the doors of the cells and seize whatever they found in them. The Fathers cared for the wounded, carrying them to a nearby cell, “whom the excellent physician and most pious Abba Thomas tended, who afterwards was ordained abbot of the Old Lavra (probably in 796), and at the beginning of the ninth century, when Leontios was writing the life of Stephen the Wonderworker, was Patriarch of Jerusalem. He tried to heal them, not hesitating even to resort to surgical operations.”
The barbarians were not satisfied with plundering the cells but attempted to set them on fire. The Fathers were deeply grieved, seeing their dwellings burning and the barbarians deciding to leave the church to the flames. Therefore they lifted their eyes to heaven and sought help from above and invoked the intercessions of Saint Savvas.
When the barbarians saw some people approaching and suspected that help was coming, they withdrew, taking their plunder with them. But even after they departed, great fear seized them all, for they feared their return; and until sunset they remained immovable. And the next day they gathered and performed processions and prayers, from morning until late evening; and they continued this throughout that entire week. And for consolation they all remained steadfast in the same resolve, praying that they might live or die all together.
And when the week had passed, on the evening of Saturday, at the time when they were performing the usual Sunday vigil in the church, two monks, “pious and steadfast in mind,” arrived running and drenched in sweat. These had been sent by the Fathers of the Old Lavra, observing the law of love and moved by the fire of brotherly compassion, to announce that those who had attacked the Lavra six days earlier — the impious and most vile — having gathered many others like themselves throughout the week, intended to attack the Lavra the following night in order to lay it waste, and that they were already approaching from sunset, and that they themselves had arrived in fear and anxiety lest they encounter them on the way.
And when the monks of the Lavra heard this grievous news, “it was as if each had received a sword in his heart, as if they were struck with bewilderment, as if dizziness from calamity had come upon them; their strength and order collapsed.” And in confusion and turmoil, they left a few to chant in the church, while most gathered at the usual height and spent the night there until morning, frozen by the cold of the night, while inwardly fear chilled their blood, and outwardly the cold pressed them together and brought them close to one another. And they did not cease to entreat the Most High, though they were not in the church, and they cast their eyes everywhere and strained their ears, lest they might hear or see the enemies appearing.
While they were in such a state, two men were seen approaching in haste, and when they came near, one was an elderly monk with completely white hair and beard, and the other a guard and guide. Exhausted from the journey and from grief, he could scarcely speak, and holding a small letter in his hand, he said that from it they would learn the reason for his coming. They opened the letter and read it under the light of the moon, and saw that it came from the Fathers of the Monastery of Saint Euthymios. And it had the following content:
“We want you to know, Fathers, that we have learned from trustworthy men that a gathering of evildoers from the north of the Holy City has assembled with evil intent and plans this very night to attack you and trouble and lay waste the Lavra; therefore secure yourselves and pray for yourselves.”
As soon as the Fathers took this letter into their hands, they understood that there were two bands — this one and that one announced by those of the Old Lavra — which, united, were about to undertake the assault. Being thus in this dire situation and hoping for no earthly help, they unceasingly entreated God. Stephen says:
“But alas, how can I endure without tears the memory of that dreadful and pitiable hour? How shall I be able to represent in words what our eyes saw? Even if I had ten tongues and as many mouths (for truly words are far inferior and inadequate to the realities), still they cannot even imagine what is perceived by hearing, as compared with what is seen by the eyes. For the experience and perception of both is more difficult; indeed, not even woodcutters in a dense forest cut it down so mercilessly as these savage, bestial, and inhuman barbarians, like in a slaughterhouse, were cutting down the bodies of the Fathers with their blows mercilessly and without pity, so that they did not merely terrify them or cause moderate pain, but already delivered them over to a bitter death.”
The barbarians attacked with fury. Some they struck on the back with swords, others they crushed their heads with large and heavy stones, others their legs; others they struck in the face with wood and stones, and there was not one who was not covered in blood. And after “hammering the holy ones as in a forge” for some time, they drove them all together from every side, with stones and savage cries, from above through the torrent into the Church. Some of the Fathers tried to hide in caves and in clefts of rocks, as they could not endure these tortures; but only a few succeeded in remaining hidden.
The “Guestmaster” (that is, the one entrusted with receiving those who would stay in the Lavra), whose name was John, “pious and gentle in character and young in age,” after being recognized, was attacked with countless blows and stonings and scourged, left nearly half-dead, and then dragged by the feet through rough and rocky ground, from above, from the summit of the mountain, down to the church, tearing all the skin of his back and the rear of his body, and they left him lifeless in the courtyard of the church. He, after being tortured again with smoke, died. The barbarians, placing guards at high points, brought back by force to the Lavra those who attempted to escape.
A certain Sergios the Damascene, seeing the Fathers being crowded into the church, and knowing, as a disciple of the abbot, the place where sacred vestments and church valuables were hidden, feared that he might be tortured and forced to reveal it, and decided to flee. The guards posted there noticed him as he departed and went some distance from the Lavra; they descended, seized him, and piercing him with swords, forced him to return. And when he refused, one of the barbarians struck him three times with a knife in the neck, and after pushing him into the torrent, they threw large stones upon him, thus crushing his entire body. His relic, after the barbarians departed, was taken by the Fathers and placed in sacred repositories together with the others who were slain that day.
The barbarians sent some to the east of the torrent, from where the western parts are clearly visible, to watch those fleeing or hiding in caves or under rocks and to signal this by voice and gesture. Thus no one was able to escape this deadly net, as all were sought out and betrayed everywhere.
Some of the brethren fled into a very narrow cave, hoping to escape the fury of their pursuers. But one of the guards to the east saw them entering it and pointed them out with his finger and loud shouting. Then one of them came with a sword and, from the entrance of the cave, commanded them with cries and threats to come out. But they, five in number, seeing that they had been discovered and would be delivered to bitter torments, were seized with fear and trembling. Then one of them, named Patrikios, filled with divine zeal, love, and brotherly affection, said to the others:
“Take courage, my beloved and like-minded brethren; today I accept the danger for us and death. For the sake of your salvation, I willingly deliver myself into the hands of the merciless barbarians; you remain here in silence and without a sound, and you will remain unnoticed in the cave.”
Then he rushed boldly out of the cave and told the barbarian that he was ready to follow him. But the latter insisted that the others also come out. The brave soldier of Christ, Patrikios, claimed that he was alone in the cave, and thus he saved them.
These murderous and vengeful men gathered the Fathers — some in the church, others in the abbot’s quarters — and after seizing those who seemed to be distinguished and foremost among the monks, they said:
“Redeem yourselves and your church for four thousand coins, otherwise we immediately order you to be beheaded and set fire to your temple.”
The Fathers pleaded, saying:
“Have mercy on us, for God’s sake, and do not shed our blood today; and the amount of gold you speak of — we neither have it nor have we ever had it. And if you wish, examine the garments we wear, and we will lead you to our cells and show you all our possessions, hiding nothing from you, and we will willingly give them to you; we only beg you to let us live, even if naked.”
But they grew more savage, and after taking them out of the abbot’s quarters, they called upon the Ethiopians with them to bring swords and flay the Fathers. They brandished their naked swords threateningly, roaring, and they placed the Steward against the wall, stretching out his hands in the form of a cross, intending to shoot him with arrows. And they threatened that they would kill them all if they did not bring what was demanded and reveal the hidden gold and silver vessels and treasures of the church.
The Fathers struggled to convince them that they had neither gold nor treasure. Then they said:
“Show us those among you who are distinguished and in authority, the treasurers and administrators and guardians of the Lavra and of the Church’s possessions, or we will immediately take your lives.”
And the Fathers answered:
“We have already told you that we have nothing of what you seek; and if you are looking for our abbot, know that he is not here; all the rest of us are equal and of the same rank.” Indeed, the abbot was absent on business of the Lavra.
After terrifying them for many hours and seeing that they achieved nothing and that they were ready to be slain, they drove them down into the church. The barbarians demanded that the physician Abba Thomas be presented to them, who was serving as abbot of the Old Lavra when Stephen was writing, thinking they would find money on him. And since they did not know him by face, they demanded that he be pointed out. But the Fathers, “truly noble and God-fearing and brother-loving,” although he was among them, did not reveal him — neither by indication, nor by word, nor by gesture.
The barbarians became even more enraged at this, and although they felt admiration and amazement at the love, brotherhood, and steadfastness of the Fathers, they struck them with rods and pierced them with knives and arrows, to force them to indicate the one they sought. And since they achieved nothing, they gathered them all into the depth of the cave and lit a fire at its entrance.
This cave is the Theoktistos Church, which Stephen describes as follows:
“This Theoktistos Church is a spacious cave, which by providence was found in such a position as to resemble a church, and for this reason it received this name, since it has an apse to the east. And on the northern side there is a descent in the form of a hollow, which the former Fathers carved and made into a diakonikon, and further inside from the diakonikon a skeuophylakion, that is, a treasury; and further still from this, a deep fissure like a narrow and dark passage, which winds upward to the abbot’s quarters, through which our blessed father Savvas once descended into the church, and it remains just as it was when he lived. Later abbots blocked this passage from above, and this fissure remained without exit and filled with the deepest darkness, so that even without smoke it is tormenting to be enclosed there.”
Having cast them into this cave, they lit a fire at its entrance. And because the reeds were damp, a thick smoke formed, which swirled within that narrow space, and finding no outlet above, tormented and suffocated the Fathers, causing dreadful distress. After leaving them for a considerable time to suffocate, they then cried out:
“Come out, monks, come out!”
And as they came out, they were forced to pass through the flames; but everything seemed preferable to them than that suffocation and choking. Many had their feet and the hair of their heads, beards, eyebrows, and eyelashes burned. And after coming out, they fell to the ground and greedily inhaled the fresh air.
Then again the executioners examined them, thinking that through tortures they would easily confess everything, and they said:
“Show us the leaders and the chiefs, and the hidden places of the church, or we will kill you in a worse way.”
But they, steadfast and enduring in sufferings and terrible dangers, kept their minds more upon prayers than upon them, and one said, “Lord, receive my soul in peace,” another, “Lord, into Your hands I commit my spirit,” another, “Lord, remember me when You come in Your Kingdom,” and another offered some other supplication to God.
And to the barbarians they said, as before:
“If you want our garments and the things in our cells, you may take everything in abundance and without hindrance; but if you wish to kill us, do it quickly, for you will hear nothing else from us.”
Seeing, therefore, that they achieved nothing, and being astonished at their mutual love, affection, endurance, and brotherhood, they again thrust the Fathers into the cave with blows and shoves, though they begged to be killed outside rather than to endure again the suffocating smoke. They lit a stronger fire, and the smoke rose thicker; and after leaving them for a long time and thinking that many had died, they commanded them to come out.
And as they passed again, as before, through the flames, when they came out into the fresh air half-dead, they breathed with all the strength of their lungs, and almost all were near death. But those who were deep within the cave, unable to endure the intensity of the smoke, died; and they were eighteen in number. And those who barely survived the fire and smoke, while still fainting, were tortured, beaten, and trampled.
Seeing that they achieved nothing of what they hoped, they scattered through the cells, and after breaking the doors with large stones, they took everything they found — in the abbot’s quarters and in the church — as plunder, loaded it onto the camels of the Lavra, and departed.
After many hours, the Fathers who felt somewhat better rose and began to care for the severely wounded. At sunset, when the smoke had subsided, they lit candles and entered the cave. Those inside were lying face down with their nostrils in the earth, while others had their faces covered with their garments to lessen the force of the smoke; and all lay dead, face downward. Bringing them out with tears and lamentations, they placed them in the courtyard of the church together with Abba Sergios, who had been beheaded; thus the victims of the barbarian raid of the Hagarenes numbered nineteen. And with great mourning and lamentation they performed the customary service, burying them all together in one place, in their same bloodstained garments.
After the second exit of the Fathers from that cave of torments, while the blessed martyrs remained dead within it, a certain brother saw one of the dead, named Kosmas, standing alone before the sanctuary, with his head anointed with oil and his face joyful and radiant, and he marveled, considering first the brightness and joy of his countenance, and second how he had been left there alone undisturbed, not realizing that he was one of the dead.
And when the barbarians had departed, a certain elder hesychast, who had spent many years in the deserts, named Sergios, mourning and lamenting all these sorrowful events, lit a lamp and entered the Theoktistos Church. Wishing to go deeper and see who and how many had died, he also saw Abba Kosmas coming out of the cave with such brightness. And after they made a bow to one another, as is customary, Kosmas entered the sanctuary saying, “Pray for me.” Sergios entered quickly and examined and felt the faces of the dead, among whom he saw Abba Kosmas lying dead and without breath; terrified, he went out quickly, wishing to overtake him. But though he searched everywhere, he could not find him. He understood, therefore, that what he had seen was a divine vision, revealing the holy perfection, immortality, and blessedness that awaited them.
Most of the Fathers were wounded — some in the hands, others in the legs or in some other part of the body — and most had their heads crushed.
In this circumstance the medical skill of Abba Thomas was demonstrated: cleaning the wounds and exposing the skull, he used a drill, chisel, and hammer to remove the broken and fragmented bones, so that even the membrane enclosing the brain became visible, and blood and pus often flowed. A certain elder, “sound in character,” who had been severely wounded in the arm by a sword, when Thomas wished to amputate the arm from the shoulder with a saw, since there was no hope of healing, seeing the pains suffered by the Fathers during treatment, did not dare to undergo the amputation. When the arm later rotted and became worm-eaten, after a few days he died and was added to the number of the holy martyrs, bringing the number of victims to twenty.
“But though justice is not immediately fulfilled, yet it is fulfilled sooner or later.” “Justice, which sees all,” overtook them. God punished the barbarians who attacked the Lavra and subjected its monks to dreadful and unheard-of martyrdom, for when a plague broke out, they died from disease, famine, and miserable death, so massively and one after another that there were not enough people to bury the dead, and they covered them hastily with a little earth or threw them into caves or crevices, so that dogs dug them up and devoured them. And all marveled at this sudden destruction and attributed it to divine punishment, since they knew the words of the Prophet: “How they are brought to desolation! Suddenly they are destroyed, they perish because of their iniquity, like a dream when one awakes.”
Stephen the Melodist also commemorates Christopher, the soldier of Nikephoros and martyr of Christ who bears His name, who a few years earlier had passed from unbelief to the pious faith, “from a Persian and barren wild olive he was grafted and became a fruitful olive.” And after he was baptized and received the monastic habit and was enrolled in the sacred flock of Christ, he was slain by the sword, having been slandered by a godless man to the chief counselor of the Saracens, on the 14th of April, three days before the Crucifixion of the Lord.
This second destruction took place on Wednesday of Holy Week, March 20, the day on which the Church commemorates them.
Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos.
This work bears the following title: “Narration, that is, the Martyrdom of the Holy Fathers who were slain by the barbarians, namely the Saracens, in the Great Lavra of our Holy Father Savvas.” Stephen composed many canons for those who were slain in the Lavra on March 20.
Stephen became an eyewitness of the events in the Lavra, “being one of the monks in this holy Lavra, though unworthy, and one of those who were present at the time of the destructive incursion and attack of the barbarians.” This plundering incursion and attack of the Saracens against the Lavra must be attributed to their inclination toward looting, since they believed that in the cells of the Fathers they would find countless buried treasures. In the year 788, when Elias was Patriarch and Basil was abbot, a great civil war broke out among the Saracens in Palestine. Dividing themselves into two factions, they caused many disturbances by unlawful means: how many robberies, bloodshed, and unjust murders they committed, how many villages they left in ruins by delivering them to the flames, after first plundering their inhabitants and driving them away or killing them — “I do not have the ability, nor is it appropriate to the present time and subject to recount them in order,” says Stephen. Everywhere these monstrous beings brought dreadful desolation. Numerous and populous cities were laid waste. Eleutheropolis (Beit Jibrin) they captured and rendered uninhabited; likewise Ascalon and Gaza and Sariphaia and other cities they took, destroyed, and turned into pastures. They set ambushes, stripped passersby, and wounded them — and these considered themselves fortunate because they had escaped death. Each one sought how to seize what did not belong to him and to amass wealth from others’ possessions and money. And if any of them happened to be angry with someone, or especially against Christians, he seized the opportunity and attempted by violence to kill him and seize his property.
And while this disorder prevailed, spreading everywhere like a flame, many of those dwelling in the countryside and small towns, abandoning their possessions and seeking their salvation, fled to the populous cities as to a refuge. The inhabitants of the cities, especially of the Holy City, leaving their occupations, dug trenches around the city and attempted to rebuild the walls and secure the gates, and day and night they set guards and watchmen, being seized with great fear of the mass and sudden raids of the attackers. For they were already threatening to attack Jerusalem as well, in order to plunder it. And indeed, they attempted to capture it.
But its defenders, though few in number, succeeded in repelling their attacks. The abbot of the Lavra permitted those who wished to depart and save themselves in the cities. But no one left that place of ascetic life, nor abandoned the Lavra. All, with prayers and supplications, day and night entreated God to do what was beneficial and pleasing for their souls. And they exhorted one another, saying:
“If Christ wills, whom we have espoused and for whose sake we dwell in this desert, each having left his homeland, to save us from lawless and barbarous hands, He can do so, for He can easily do all things. But if He ordains that we be delivered up and die at their hands, since He entirely knows that this is best, may He grant us something even higher. Let us therefore accept what God allows as most beneficial, and let us not turn back to worldly disturbances out of fear of sinful barbarians, thereby giving the impression of cowardice, a most shameful passion to possess. For our Master and Savior Jesus Christ commanded us not to fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul.
How beautiful it is to see people depart from the world, follow Christ, and journey into the desert; and how shameful, dreadful, and disgraceful, on the other hand, to see those who once separated themselves from the world and lived many years in the desert return again to the world out of human fear… We have no cities with walls and towers to protect us, but we have Christ as an indestructible wall… We have no chain-mail breastplate, helmet, or leather shield…, but we have the armor of the Spirit: the breastplate of love and hope, the shield of faith, and the helmet of salvation… We have no military formation to defend us, but “the angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear Him and delivers them.” For us, whether we live or die, Christ is our gain. Nor did we come to dwell in this desert because we loved our life. For whose sake did we choose to live in this uninhabited land? Is it not clear that it is for Christ? If therefore we are slain here, we shall be slain for Christ, for whom we wisely chose to dwell here. What then is more delightful and more blessed than to die for Christ, who died out of love for us?”
Taking courage from such words, they decided to remain in the Lavra, especially considering that if they left, the enemies would destroy it, burn the church, demolish the cells, and render that place forever uninhabited. The barbarians gathered in the regions around the old Lavra of Abba Chariton and, like locusts and a God-sent wrath, after destroying the surrounding villages and plundering that holy Lavra — leaving nothing to the Fathers there and inflicting upon them every kind of evil, subjecting many of them to various tortures — they remained there for several days. And they threatened in fury and gnashed their teeth like wild boars and roared like lions against the Great Lavra, because apart from it nothing remained unconquered in the surrounding regions, “like a grape left in a vineyard after the harvest.”
And enemies of the Lavra, who had long been its neighbors and had long thirsted to seize it and had been waiting for such an opportunity, incited and stirred up the crowd against it. The soldiers stationed for the defense of the city, seeing them and thinking that they would attack the city, met them in the areas near Bethlehem, and after a clash, killed many of them and drove them back into the desert. On another occasion, the crowds of barbarians agreed to attack the Lavra very early in the morning and plunder it.
But in a certain village they found many jars full of wine hidden under brushwood, and they drank from it with such greed and without measure that, unable to distinguish one from another, they clashed among themselves, and thus their plan was thwarted.
And while these things were happening for several months and the roads to the Holy City were closed, those within the Lavra were seized by fear, terror, anxiety, and sorrow. Food was brought, as now, from Jerusalem, and often it was seized by the enemies. Moreover, they remained in high places, and thus they were scorched by the heat during the day and frozen by the frost at night, awaiting the sudden assault and raid of the barbarians; and they placed guards on a high mountain to signal their presence. And many times crowds of barbarians appeared, and those within the Lavra learned of it, and with bells and semantra they called for those in the cells to gather. The Fathers were in great anguish and fear.
The enemies of the Lavra, having gathered others with them and becoming more than sixty, decided to attack it. Those within the Lavra learned of this attack. It was the 13th day of the month of March at sunrise. The Fathers ran and gathered at the usual hill. But as soon as they saw them coming from afar, great fear seized them, and they dispersed.
The barbarians, having divided into two groups, were consulting among themselves. And as they approached, some of the Fathers went out to meet them, hoping to restrain them with words such as these:
“Why have you come against us in such a manner, as if we were enemies and had committed the greatest injustices and the worst deeds, and as if we had greatly offended and harmed you? We, sirs, are peaceful toward all; neither you nor anyone else have we ever grieved or harmed. And we are so far removed from strife and battles that we have abandoned our possessions and the whole world and dwell in this desert, as you see, in order that, having withdrawn from every noise of life and disturbance and conflict and association, we may mourn our sins and please God.
And not only have we done you no harm at all, but we have not ceased to benefit you, as far as we are able; for we continually offer hospitality, food, and rest to any of you who happen to pass by here. Do not, therefore, repay us with evil instead of good, when you ought rather to commend us with all your strength for the benefits we have shown you; and even now we are ready to receive you with food from what we have in abundance and, as usual, to offer you rest.”
But they replied with insults and threats: “We have not come here for food, but for money. Therefore choose one of the two: either give us money, or die by our arrows.”
Those of the Lavra answered: “Believe, men, believe that we are humble and poor and utterly destitute, and we do not even have enough bread to satisfy ourselves; nor do we have possessions or luxury in garments and clothing; and if you speak again of gold, we have never even imagined such a thing, not even in our dreams. We live here in hardship and self-sufficiency, having only what is necessary, and even that in scarcity.”
But they, in anger, emptied their quivers against the Fathers and wounded about thirty — some seriously, others lightly — and began to break down the doors of the cells and seize whatever they found in them. The Fathers cared for the wounded, carrying them to a nearby cell, “whom the excellent physician and most pious Abba Thomas tended, who afterwards was ordained abbot of the Old Lavra (probably in 796), and at the beginning of the ninth century, when Leontios was writing the life of Stephen the Wonderworker, was Patriarch of Jerusalem. He tried to heal them, not hesitating even to resort to surgical operations.”
The barbarians were not satisfied with plundering the cells but attempted to set them on fire. The Fathers were deeply grieved, seeing their dwellings burning and the barbarians deciding to leave the church to the flames. Therefore they lifted their eyes to heaven and sought help from above and invoked the intercessions of Saint Savvas.
When the barbarians saw some people approaching and suspected that help was coming, they withdrew, taking their plunder with them. But even after they departed, great fear seized them all, for they feared their return; and until sunset they remained immovable. And the next day they gathered and performed processions and prayers, from morning until late evening; and they continued this throughout that entire week. And for consolation they all remained steadfast in the same resolve, praying that they might live or die all together.
And when the week had passed, on the evening of Saturday, at the time when they were performing the usual Sunday vigil in the church, two monks, “pious and steadfast in mind,” arrived running and drenched in sweat. These had been sent by the Fathers of the Old Lavra, observing the law of love and moved by the fire of brotherly compassion, to announce that those who had attacked the Lavra six days earlier — the impious and most vile — having gathered many others like themselves throughout the week, intended to attack the Lavra the following night in order to lay it waste, and that they were already approaching from sunset, and that they themselves had arrived in fear and anxiety lest they encounter them on the way.
And when the monks of the Lavra heard this grievous news, “it was as if each had received a sword in his heart, as if they were struck with bewilderment, as if dizziness from calamity had come upon them; their strength and order collapsed.” And in confusion and turmoil, they left a few to chant in the church, while most gathered at the usual height and spent the night there until morning, frozen by the cold of the night, while inwardly fear chilled their blood, and outwardly the cold pressed them together and brought them close to one another. And they did not cease to entreat the Most High, though they were not in the church, and they cast their eyes everywhere and strained their ears, lest they might hear or see the enemies appearing.
While they were in such a state, two men were seen approaching in haste, and when they came near, one was an elderly monk with completely white hair and beard, and the other a guard and guide. Exhausted from the journey and from grief, he could scarcely speak, and holding a small letter in his hand, he said that from it they would learn the reason for his coming. They opened the letter and read it under the light of the moon, and saw that it came from the Fathers of the Monastery of Saint Euthymios. And it had the following content:
“We want you to know, Fathers, that we have learned from trustworthy men that a gathering of evildoers from the north of the Holy City has assembled with evil intent and plans this very night to attack you and trouble and lay waste the Lavra; therefore secure yourselves and pray for yourselves.”
As soon as the Fathers took this letter into their hands, they understood that there were two bands — this one and that one announced by those of the Old Lavra — which, united, were about to undertake the assault. Being thus in this dire situation and hoping for no earthly help, they unceasingly entreated God. Stephen says:
“But alas, how can I endure without tears the memory of that dreadful and pitiable hour? How shall I be able to represent in words what our eyes saw? Even if I had ten tongues and as many mouths (for truly words are far inferior and inadequate to the realities), still they cannot even imagine what is perceived by hearing, as compared with what is seen by the eyes. For the experience and perception of both is more difficult; indeed, not even woodcutters in a dense forest cut it down so mercilessly as these savage, bestial, and inhuman barbarians, like in a slaughterhouse, were cutting down the bodies of the Fathers with their blows mercilessly and without pity, so that they did not merely terrify them or cause moderate pain, but already delivered them over to a bitter death.”
The barbarians attacked with fury. Some they struck on the back with swords, others they crushed their heads with large and heavy stones, others their legs; others they struck in the face with wood and stones, and there was not one who was not covered in blood. And after “hammering the holy ones as in a forge” for some time, they drove them all together from every side, with stones and savage cries, from above through the torrent into the Church. Some of the Fathers tried to hide in caves and in clefts of rocks, as they could not endure these tortures; but only a few succeeded in remaining hidden.
The “Guestmaster” (that is, the one entrusted with receiving those who would stay in the Lavra), whose name was John, “pious and gentle in character and young in age,” after being recognized, was attacked with countless blows and stonings and scourged, left nearly half-dead, and then dragged by the feet through rough and rocky ground, from above, from the summit of the mountain, down to the church, tearing all the skin of his back and the rear of his body, and they left him lifeless in the courtyard of the church. He, after being tortured again with smoke, died. The barbarians, placing guards at high points, brought back by force to the Lavra those who attempted to escape.
A certain Sergios the Damascene, seeing the Fathers being crowded into the church, and knowing, as a disciple of the abbot, the place where sacred vestments and church valuables were hidden, feared that he might be tortured and forced to reveal it, and decided to flee. The guards posted there noticed him as he departed and went some distance from the Lavra; they descended, seized him, and piercing him with swords, forced him to return. And when he refused, one of the barbarians struck him three times with a knife in the neck, and after pushing him into the torrent, they threw large stones upon him, thus crushing his entire body. His relic, after the barbarians departed, was taken by the Fathers and placed in sacred repositories together with the others who were slain that day.
The barbarians sent some to the east of the torrent, from where the western parts are clearly visible, to watch those fleeing or hiding in caves or under rocks and to signal this by voice and gesture. Thus no one was able to escape this deadly net, as all were sought out and betrayed everywhere.
Some of the brethren fled into a very narrow cave, hoping to escape the fury of their pursuers. But one of the guards to the east saw them entering it and pointed them out with his finger and loud shouting. Then one of them came with a sword and, from the entrance of the cave, commanded them with cries and threats to come out. But they, five in number, seeing that they had been discovered and would be delivered to bitter torments, were seized with fear and trembling. Then one of them, named Patrikios, filled with divine zeal, love, and brotherly affection, said to the others:
“Take courage, my beloved and like-minded brethren; today I accept the danger for us and death. For the sake of your salvation, I willingly deliver myself into the hands of the merciless barbarians; you remain here in silence and without a sound, and you will remain unnoticed in the cave.”
Then he rushed boldly out of the cave and told the barbarian that he was ready to follow him. But the latter insisted that the others also come out. The brave soldier of Christ, Patrikios, claimed that he was alone in the cave, and thus he saved them.
These murderous and vengeful men gathered the Fathers — some in the church, others in the abbot’s quarters — and after seizing those who seemed to be distinguished and foremost among the monks, they said:
“Redeem yourselves and your church for four thousand coins, otherwise we immediately order you to be beheaded and set fire to your temple.”
The Fathers pleaded, saying:
“Have mercy on us, for God’s sake, and do not shed our blood today; and the amount of gold you speak of — we neither have it nor have we ever had it. And if you wish, examine the garments we wear, and we will lead you to our cells and show you all our possessions, hiding nothing from you, and we will willingly give them to you; we only beg you to let us live, even if naked.”
But they grew more savage, and after taking them out of the abbot’s quarters, they called upon the Ethiopians with them to bring swords and flay the Fathers. They brandished their naked swords threateningly, roaring, and they placed the Steward against the wall, stretching out his hands in the form of a cross, intending to shoot him with arrows. And they threatened that they would kill them all if they did not bring what was demanded and reveal the hidden gold and silver vessels and treasures of the church.
The Fathers struggled to convince them that they had neither gold nor treasure. Then they said:
“Show us those among you who are distinguished and in authority, the treasurers and administrators and guardians of the Lavra and of the Church’s possessions, or we will immediately take your lives.”
And the Fathers answered:
“We have already told you that we have nothing of what you seek; and if you are looking for our abbot, know that he is not here; all the rest of us are equal and of the same rank.” Indeed, the abbot was absent on business of the Lavra.
After terrifying them for many hours and seeing that they achieved nothing and that they were ready to be slain, they drove them down into the church. The barbarians demanded that the physician Abba Thomas be presented to them, who was serving as abbot of the Old Lavra when Stephen was writing, thinking they would find money on him. And since they did not know him by face, they demanded that he be pointed out. But the Fathers, “truly noble and God-fearing and brother-loving,” although he was among them, did not reveal him — neither by indication, nor by word, nor by gesture.
The barbarians became even more enraged at this, and although they felt admiration and amazement at the love, brotherhood, and steadfastness of the Fathers, they struck them with rods and pierced them with knives and arrows, to force them to indicate the one they sought. And since they achieved nothing, they gathered them all into the depth of the cave and lit a fire at its entrance.
This cave is the Theoktistos Church, which Stephen describes as follows:
“This Theoktistos Church is a spacious cave, which by providence was found in such a position as to resemble a church, and for this reason it received this name, since it has an apse to the east. And on the northern side there is a descent in the form of a hollow, which the former Fathers carved and made into a diakonikon, and further inside from the diakonikon a skeuophylakion, that is, a treasury; and further still from this, a deep fissure like a narrow and dark passage, which winds upward to the abbot’s quarters, through which our blessed father Savvas once descended into the church, and it remains just as it was when he lived. Later abbots blocked this passage from above, and this fissure remained without exit and filled with the deepest darkness, so that even without smoke it is tormenting to be enclosed there.”
Having cast them into this cave, they lit a fire at its entrance. And because the reeds were damp, a thick smoke formed, which swirled within that narrow space, and finding no outlet above, tormented and suffocated the Fathers, causing dreadful distress. After leaving them for a considerable time to suffocate, they then cried out:
“Come out, monks, come out!”
And as they came out, they were forced to pass through the flames; but everything seemed preferable to them than that suffocation and choking. Many had their feet and the hair of their heads, beards, eyebrows, and eyelashes burned. And after coming out, they fell to the ground and greedily inhaled the fresh air.
Then again the executioners examined them, thinking that through tortures they would easily confess everything, and they said:
“Show us the leaders and the chiefs, and the hidden places of the church, or we will kill you in a worse way.”
But they, steadfast and enduring in sufferings and terrible dangers, kept their minds more upon prayers than upon them, and one said, “Lord, receive my soul in peace,” another, “Lord, into Your hands I commit my spirit,” another, “Lord, remember me when You come in Your Kingdom,” and another offered some other supplication to God.
And to the barbarians they said, as before:
“If you want our garments and the things in our cells, you may take everything in abundance and without hindrance; but if you wish to kill us, do it quickly, for you will hear nothing else from us.”
Seeing, therefore, that they achieved nothing, and being astonished at their mutual love, affection, endurance, and brotherhood, they again thrust the Fathers into the cave with blows and shoves, though they begged to be killed outside rather than to endure again the suffocating smoke. They lit a stronger fire, and the smoke rose thicker; and after leaving them for a long time and thinking that many had died, they commanded them to come out.
And as they passed again, as before, through the flames, when they came out into the fresh air half-dead, they breathed with all the strength of their lungs, and almost all were near death. But those who were deep within the cave, unable to endure the intensity of the smoke, died; and they were eighteen in number. And those who barely survived the fire and smoke, while still fainting, were tortured, beaten, and trampled.
Seeing that they achieved nothing of what they hoped, they scattered through the cells, and after breaking the doors with large stones, they took everything they found — in the abbot’s quarters and in the church — as plunder, loaded it onto the camels of the Lavra, and departed.
After many hours, the Fathers who felt somewhat better rose and began to care for the severely wounded. At sunset, when the smoke had subsided, they lit candles and entered the cave. Those inside were lying face down with their nostrils in the earth, while others had their faces covered with their garments to lessen the force of the smoke; and all lay dead, face downward. Bringing them out with tears and lamentations, they placed them in the courtyard of the church together with Abba Sergios, who had been beheaded; thus the victims of the barbarian raid of the Hagarenes numbered nineteen. And with great mourning and lamentation they performed the customary service, burying them all together in one place, in their same bloodstained garments.
After the second exit of the Fathers from that cave of torments, while the blessed martyrs remained dead within it, a certain brother saw one of the dead, named Kosmas, standing alone before the sanctuary, with his head anointed with oil and his face joyful and radiant, and he marveled, considering first the brightness and joy of his countenance, and second how he had been left there alone undisturbed, not realizing that he was one of the dead.
And when the barbarians had departed, a certain elder hesychast, who had spent many years in the deserts, named Sergios, mourning and lamenting all these sorrowful events, lit a lamp and entered the Theoktistos Church. Wishing to go deeper and see who and how many had died, he also saw Abba Kosmas coming out of the cave with such brightness. And after they made a bow to one another, as is customary, Kosmas entered the sanctuary saying, “Pray for me.” Sergios entered quickly and examined and felt the faces of the dead, among whom he saw Abba Kosmas lying dead and without breath; terrified, he went out quickly, wishing to overtake him. But though he searched everywhere, he could not find him. He understood, therefore, that what he had seen was a divine vision, revealing the holy perfection, immortality, and blessedness that awaited them.
Most of the Fathers were wounded — some in the hands, others in the legs or in some other part of the body — and most had their heads crushed.
In this circumstance the medical skill of Abba Thomas was demonstrated: cleaning the wounds and exposing the skull, he used a drill, chisel, and hammer to remove the broken and fragmented bones, so that even the membrane enclosing the brain became visible, and blood and pus often flowed. A certain elder, “sound in character,” who had been severely wounded in the arm by a sword, when Thomas wished to amputate the arm from the shoulder with a saw, since there was no hope of healing, seeing the pains suffered by the Fathers during treatment, did not dare to undergo the amputation. When the arm later rotted and became worm-eaten, after a few days he died and was added to the number of the holy martyrs, bringing the number of victims to twenty.
“But though justice is not immediately fulfilled, yet it is fulfilled sooner or later.” “Justice, which sees all,” overtook them. God punished the barbarians who attacked the Lavra and subjected its monks to dreadful and unheard-of martyrdom, for when a plague broke out, they died from disease, famine, and miserable death, so massively and one after another that there were not enough people to bury the dead, and they covered them hastily with a little earth or threw them into caves or crevices, so that dogs dug them up and devoured them. And all marveled at this sudden destruction and attributed it to divine punishment, since they knew the words of the Prophet: “How they are brought to desolation! Suddenly they are destroyed, they perish because of their iniquity, like a dream when one awakes.”
Stephen the Melodist also commemorates Christopher, the soldier of Nikephoros and martyr of Christ who bears His name, who a few years earlier had passed from unbelief to the pious faith, “from a Persian and barren wild olive he was grafted and became a fruitful olive.” And after he was baptized and received the monastic habit and was enrolled in the sacred flock of Christ, he was slain by the sword, having been slandered by a godless man to the chief counselor of the Saracens, on the 14th of April, three days before the Crucifixion of the Lord.
This second destruction took place on Wednesday of Holy Week, March 20, the day on which the Church commemorates them.
Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos.