Abraham the Recluse

Abraham the Recluse (Abraham Kidunaia) was a Syrian priest and hermit of the fourth century, honoured in the Churches of the East and the West. His Life was written by his friend, Saint Ephrem the Syrian. He is commemorated on 29 October (new style).

He was born in a wealthy family near Edessa, in the third century. After an excellent education his parents urged him to marry, and he obeyed, but just before the wedding told his bride of his wish to give himself to God, and she accepted. He withdrew to a cell near the city, whose door he walled up, leaving only a small window for food. After ten years his parents died and left him an inheritance, which he distributed to the poor. The bishop of Edessa, hearing of his fame, ordained him priest and sent him to Beth-⁠Kidunaia, where he destroyed pagan idols and altars. The inhabitants drove him away, but he returned and urged them again, until his persistence bore fruit. He worked among them for three years, then returned to his cell near Edessa, where he spent fifty years in prayer. A popular story says that his orphan niece Mary, raised beside him, was seduced by a false monk and ended in a house of vice. Abraham wept for two years, and when he learned where she was, he went boldly and brought her back. He died at the age of seventy.