The life of St Eustratius the Wonderworker
At twenty he left his family's home without telling them and entered the Abgar monastery on Mount Olympus in Asia Minor, taking up a severe discipline there of bread, water, and long nights of prayer that in time led his community to choose him as their abbot. When the emperor Leo the Armenian renewed the persecution of those who venerated icons, Eustratius spent years in hiding among the hills and wild country to avoid capture, and was for a time imprisoned regardless before Leo's death finally brought the persecution to an end and let him return to gather his scattered community once more. He kept, throughout his long life, a habit of continual short prayer on his lips, and was remembered by those who knew him for miracles worked through his intercession, healing the sick, putting out fires, and, in at least one account, raising the dead. In his final instructions to his monks he urged them to set no store by earthly comforts and to keep their minds fixed instead on the life to come. He died in peace at the age of ninety-five, commemorated on January 9.
