Bessarion the Great

Venerable Bessarion the Great was a Desert Father of Egypt in the fourth and fifth centuries, known for his unusual struggle as a wanderer without a roof, for his gift of miracles and for his humility. He is honoured in the Orthodox and Oriental Churches on 6 June, and in the Catholic Church on 17 June.

Most of what is known about him is preserved in the Sayings of the Desert Fathers. He was born in Egypt and, tradition says, from his youth he kept unstained the spiritual garment received at Baptism. According to the Greek source, after his parents died he gave his goods to the poor and withdrew to Scetis, where he lived under the guidance of elders, among them Abba Doulas. He wished to see other holy places and travelled as far as Jerusalem. In the desert of the Jordan he visited Saint Gerasimus and came to know the monasteries of that region, learning the order of monastic life. Back in his homeland he was tonsured a monk and became a disciple of Saint Isidore of Pelusium.

His life was that of a wanderer. He did not shut himself in a cell but walked the desert from place to place, sleeping under the open sky, dressed in a single garment in summer and winter alike, bearing heat and cold. He ate only once a week and did not lie down to sleep, but remained standing or sitting. One story says that he stayed forty days and forty nights in prayer, without food or sleep. He tried to hide his struggle from the eyes of men.

Tradition ascribes to him the gift of miracles. For his thirsty disciples his prayer alone made water spring up in the barren land where they lived. His humility was so great that, visiting a skete and seeing a priest drive out a brother caught in sin, he ran to the two of them and cried out: “I too am a sinner.” His name has sometimes been put in place of Saint Paphnutius in the story of the conversion of Saint Thais.

He departed to the Lord at a great age, in the year 466 according to the Serbian tradition. He is remembered on 6 June.