Romanus the Hermit

Venerable Romanus was a Syrian hermit of the fourth and fifth centuries who struggled near Antioch. The Church commemorates him on 27 November (10 December by the new calendar). We know his life from the History of the Lovers of God by Theodoret of Cyrrhus, chapter eleven. The Greek churches call him Romanus of Cilicia, the Wonderworker.

He was born and raised in a city of Cilicia, which the Serbian source calls Ros. From there he went to Antioch and lived all his life outside the city walls, in a strange and very cramped dwelling. Until old age he never used fire or lamps. He ate only bread and salt and drank only spring water. He took Theodosius as his example.

He did not cut his hair, which reached his feet, and later grew longer still, so that he tied it around his hips. Like Theodosius, he wore the same clothing, a hair shirt, and chains, and under the shirt he carried heavy chains. Theodoret says that he was gentle in character and simple and humble in mind. Those who came to him received spiritual guidance.

Theodoret also speaks of his gift of working miracles: he often healed very severe illnesses and cured many women of barrenness. A Ukrainian source adds that he had the gift of foresight and that for many years he lived shut in, without lighting a fire. He reached great old age and reposed in peace, in the fifth century.