Silvester, Job and Agathon of Tazlau

Silvester, Job and Agathon were three hermits, disciples of Saint Cyriacus of Tazlău, who struggled more than thirty years at the place called Măgura Tazlăului, in the seventeenth century. They are named in the Romanian Paterikon and venerated by the faithful, without synodal canonization; the sources available to us give no day of commemoration.

They first struggled in the monastery, humbling themselves before all and learning the fear of God and the gift of prayer. Then, their hearts wounded with the love of Christ, they withdrew into the wilderness, deep in the mountain, to Măgura Tazlăului, where many hermits had lived since the fourteenth century and where traces of cells can still be seen. There they made cells of stone and wood and stayed more than thirty years, enduring, as the Paterikon writes, cold, hunger and the assaults of evil spirits through thoughts and visions. They bore all with courage, in hope of eternal life, armed with unceasing prayer.

When they grew weak in the spiritual struggle, they called on the help of Saint Cyriacus with a prayer: Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, through the prayers of our venerable father Cyriacus, have mercy on us. The Paterikon says the joy of the Holy Spirit visited them at once.

Like the other hermits of the Tazlău mountains, they came down at night to Matins at the monastery, with torches in hand, then climbed back to their cells. In old age they received the gift of casting out unclean spirits, and many came to touch at least their garments. Having become bearers of Christ, they passed to eternal life and were counted among the venerable fathers.