Agapius of Colciu

Venerable Agapius of Colciu was an Athonite monk of the second half of the eighteenth century, the most notable of the ascetics of Colciu Skete near Vatopedi Monastery, canonized as a saint and commemorated on 1 March. He is venerated by the Romanian Orthodox Church.

He is spoken of in the Synaxarion of the Service of the Athonite Saints, written by Saint Nicodemus the Hagiorite, and in Athonite oral tradition. He lived beside his elder in the cell of the Holy Trinity. After a raid by Turkish pirates he was taken as a slave and held captive for twelve years. During all that time he served his Muslim masters, who had bought him, so faithfully that they showed him more indulgence than all their other slaves.

Freed miraculously by the Mother of God, he returned secretly to his elder on the Holy Mountain, but the elder rebuked him severely for the way he had left his masters and sent him back. As a true son of obedience, Agapius returned to slavery without objection. When he arrived and told his master everything, the Turk and his family were amazed at his virtue and asked to learn more about the God of the Christians. Later Agapius, his master and the master's two sons came to the Holy Mountain, where the three Muslims received Baptism, became monks and ended their lives piously at the skete.