Philotheus of Athos

Holy Venerable Philotheus of Athos was born in Elatia. His parents, fearing the Turks, moved to Macedonia, to Chrysopolis, where his father soon died. The child Philotheus, with his brother, was seized by the Turks and thrown into prison, but was led out by a miracle by the Mother of God herself. She appeared to the children in the form of their mother and led them to the monastery of the Mother of God in the city of Neapolis in Asia Minor. There the brothers were tonsured as monks and had, by the abbot's decision, the obedience of ecclesiarchs.

The mother of Philotheus, Eudocia, by the secret guidance of Providence, had withdrawn to a convent in the same city, knowing nothing for years about her children. On the occasion of the church's feast, being with several nuns in the monastery of monks in which the saint laboured, Eudocia recognized her children. To her question how they had come there, the children answered that she knew better, for had she not brought them out of prison and led them here. So Eudocia was assured of the gracious protection of the Mother of God, in whose prayers she alone had found consolation. At the joyful meeting the whole brotherhood gathered and, learning of the miracle, glorified the Lord.

After his mother's repose, Venerable Philotheus left for the Holy Mountain, where he first joined the brotherhood of the Monastery of Dionysiou, and then withdrew into complete stillness. Devoted to prayer, he attained great spiritual perfection and received the gift of foresight. At the age of eighty-⁠four he departed in peace to the Lord, commanding his disciples not to bury his body but to cast it out with contempt in the forest, to be eaten by beasts and birds. The disciples carried out the elder's will, but the Lord glorified the saint's relics with a wonderful radiance, after which they were brought back into the monastery.

The venerable one is commemorated on 4 July and in the Synaxis of the Athonite Fathers, a movable day.