Thomas Defurkin

Holy Venerable Thomas Defurkin (Thomas of Bithynia) lived in the ninth century. He was a native of Bithynia, from the foothills of Mount Kyminas. He was raised in a Christian way, keeping his faith and purity from his youth. Moved by a holy desire, he visited many monasteries and gathered much good from the great examples of piety there. Later he too became a monk and, with other monks, zealously taught the Gospel in towns and villages during the fasts. The bishop there valued his great virtues so highly that, when a great official of Constantinople built a monastery near the river Sangarios, he appointed him abbot. Thomas governed the monastery in good order and was a model of monastic life for his brethren. In particular he increased the monastery's revenues, in order to help those who came to it.

The Lord glorified him with the gift of healing and prophecy. Once the Emperor Leo the Wise (886-911) came to the monastery to ask his advice; not finding him, he sent a messenger with a letter. As the messenger reached the elder's hut, the saint came out with a sealed answer, resolving the emperor's question without having opened the letter. Later Thomas withdrew to a quiet place, where death found him in deep old age, in continual spiritual flowering. It is not known when he fell asleep.