Gerasimus of Euboea

Holy Venerable Gerasimus of Euboea was a hesychast monk of the fourteenth century, the first disciple of Saint Gregory of Sinai. He is known to us from the Life of Gregory of Sinai, written by Patriarch Callistus I of Constantinople.

He was born in Chalcis, on the island of Euboea, into a noble family. The biographer says he belonged to the house of Phatos, though scholars wonder whether this was the line of King Boniface of Montferrat or of one of the Euboean barons. Leaving wealth and renown behind, Gerasimus went to Mount Sinai, where Gregory of Sinai became his guide.

With Gregory he later travelled to Greece and struggled on the Holy Mountain. Patriarch Callistus writes of his virtues and ascetic labours, in which he followed Saint Gerasimus of the Jordan. He gathered a monastic community and set up several hesychasteria, where the monks devoted themselves to stillness and to the prayer of the mind. Among his disciples was the future Patriarch of Constantinople, Isidore I (1347-1350).

He is commemorated on 4 July (new style, a movable day), in the Synaxis of the Venerable Fathers of Athos.