Photius of Thessaly

Saint Photius of Thessaly was a monk of Thessalonica, venerated among the venerable fathers. The author of his life says that he came from Thessaly, a word of wide geographic meaning in that age, and from a wealthy and prominent family whose names are not given. Already in his youth he gave himself to a life of solitude, and on reaching Thessalonica he settled in a small monastery of Saints Cosmas and Damian, within the walls near the Acropolis. There he met the great ascetic priest Blasios.

Blasios was summoned to Constantinople by the emperor Romanus II (959-963) and went accompanied by Photius. He became the emperor's spiritual father and baptized his son Basil II in 958 or 959. Back in Thessalonica, Photius, a lover of the hermit's life, built himself a stone hut at the foot of Mount Hortiatis. In spring and summer he climbed to the summit, where he raised a church dedicated to the Archangel Michael beside a spring that, according to the life, had flowed miraculously and whose water was held to heal.

When Basil II marched against the Bulgarians in 986 and reached Thessalonica, he looked for Blasios and, learning that he had died, asked for his disciple to be found. Photius was found outside the city, and the emperor kept him close during his campaigns. After the full conquest of Bulgaria in 1017-1018, Photius returned to Thessalonica, welcomed gladly by its people. The emperor sent him a chrysobull with gifts, which the saint used for almsgiving and for building churches and monasteries near the Acropolis and elsewhere in the city. In his testament he carefully arranged for the monasteries to keep running after his death.

The life does not say when he reposed, but it was after 1017. His life, by an unknown author, is preserved in a manuscript of the 12th century. The saint also appears in the life of Phantinus the Younger, who died at Thessalonica in 974 and was visited in his last days by Photius and the monk Symeon the Philosopher. A hymn by Demetrios Veaskos, from the 13th century, mentions the date 9 July and a Photius who founded the Akapniou monastery; modern scholars identify him with Photius of Thessaly. The date comes from the medieval hymn, so it is in the old style.