Zosimus of Syracuse

Holy Hierarch Zosimus of Syracuse was a monk and abbot, then bishop of Syracuse in Sicily, and he fell asleep in the year 662. He is commemorated on 30 March by the old calendar (in the Greek calendar, on 21 January).

He was born in answer to the fervent prayers of his parents, who had long been childless. His parents had an estate near the monastery of Saint Lucy, and the boy was soon loved by the monks there for his devotion to divine things. At the age of seven his parents sent him to the monastery to be taught. Grown to manhood, he received monastic tonsure, taught others in turn and, after the abbot's death, became his successor, judged by the bishop of Syracuse to be the most worthy. According to the OCA, he governed the monastery for forty years. He was consecrated bishop of Syracuse by Pope Theodore (641-649), after, says the Greek synaxarion, the voice of the people brought him to the episcopal see.

He was distinguished by charity and lack of avarice and shepherded his flock by word and example. Toward the end of his life he fell gravely ill and bore his suffering with magnanimity and humility. He died in 662, after thirteen years as shepherd. Many of the sick were later healed merely by touching his tomb.