Sergius of Sinai

Holy Venerable Martyr Sergius of Sinai is among the venerable fathers killed at Sinai and Raifa by Saracens and by the nomadic Blemmyes. The sources say nothing in particular of him, since they mention him only in the list of the slain, so we tell here the fate of his community.

The venerable fathers struggled in the monasteries and caves of Mount Sinai, where God gave the ten commandments through Moses, and in the desert of Raifa on the shore of the Red Sea. The first slaughter took place around the year 312; it was described by Ammonius, an Egyptian monk who witnessed the death of forty fathers of Sinai, and at the same time the Arabs killed thirty-⁠nine fathers at Raifa. The second slaughter took place a hundred years later and was described by a witness who escaped by a miracle, Saint Nilus the Faster, commemorated on 12 November.

The ascetics of Sinai and Raifa led an especially severe life: all the week they stayed silent in their cells, on Saturday they gathered for the vigil, and on Sunday they received the Holy Mysteries; they ate only dates and water. Many became renowned for the gift of working miracles, among them the elders Moses and Joseph. In the service they are named: Isaiah, Sabbas, Moses, his disciple Moses, Jeremiah, Paul, Adam, Sergius, Domnus, Proclus, Hypatius, Isaac, Macarius, Mark, Benjamin, Eusebius and Elijah.

The saint is commemorated on 27 January and on 5 May (a movable date) in the Synaxis of the Venerable Fathers of Sinai, in the new style.