Phosterius

Venerable Phosterius was a Byzantine hermit of Anatolia, living in the seventh century according to some sources and in the sixth according to another, honoured in the Orthodox Church and in the Greek Catholic Church. He is commemorated on 5 January by the old calendar (18 January by the new). The English source notes the opinion of Holweck, that his story may be fictitious.

According to tradition, he withdrew to a high, deserted mountain, probably in the wilderness of present-⁠day Turkey. One source calls him "of Sinai". There he spent his time in unceasing prayer to God, wearing down his body with fasting, vigils and a life without comforts. By the grace given him by God he healed illnesses and wounds of every kind among those who came to him with faith.

According to his life, food was brought to him from heaven by an angel. The Serbian source says that the angel brought bread every day and left it in a secluded place, but Phosterius could not see him. When people came to the saint, he found loaves there for them too. Later he founded a monastery in which a great number of brethren gathered. After that he no longer received loaves from heaven, but gave them food from the labour of his own hands. He accepted no gifts himself, and taught his brethren to keep diligently to prayer, to profitable reading and to handiwork, and he himself was a constant example to them in this.

In his lifetime certain heresies arose in the Church. To put an end to this scandal, a council of many fathers was held, to which Phosterius was also invited. The blessed one did not shrink from this new labour and, coming to the council, he confessed the right faith bravely and persuasively, so that many of the heretics returned to the communion of the Church. The English and Serbian sources say that the heresy was the struggle against icons, but this heresy began in the eighth century, so it does not fit the seventh century of the source. The Serbian source adds that, after the council, many of them became monks.

He reposed on the evening of 5 January, on the eve of Theophany. It is said that after death too he worked many miracles.