Saint Savvas the Sanctified
Date of celebration: 05/12
Saint Savvas came from the village of Mutalaski in Cappadocia and was the son of pious parents, John and Sophia.
From a very early age he became acquainted with the divine councils and decided to dedicate himself to the monastic life. He had so much faith that he once entered a fiery furnace from which he came out unscathed with the help of God.
When he was eighteen years old he left the Flavian monastery and went to Jerusalem. From there he headed for the Eastern desert to meet Euthymius the Great (see January 20). Euthymius sent him to a convent run by the holy Theoktistos (see September 3).
Agios Savvas during his stay in the convent shone because of his character and his virtues. In fact, he was so serious and moral – despite his young age – that he was adopted as a child elder by Euthymius the Great.
As Saint Savvas grew up, he fed his spirit more and more, which is why he was honored with the gift of miracles. This charisma he enlisted in the service of the poor and the sick and thus he accomplished important works.
For the sanctity of his life and for his great fame, he was sent twice by the Patriarch of Jerusalem as ambassador to Constantinople, to King Anastasios and then to Justinian.
At the age of ninety-four, in 534 AD, he ascended to the Lord in peace.
In 584 AD, the Relic of Saint Savvas was recovered uncorrupted when his tomb was opened to bury Abbot Kassianos. It was initially preserved in his Monastery and then transferred to Constantinople, during the period of the Arab raids.
There are two traditions about the time of his arrival in Venice. According to the first, the Relic was transferred to Constantinople, from where in 1026 AD. it was stolen by the Venetian nobleman Petros Centranico (later Doge, 1026 – 1031 AD), during the days of Doge Tribunio Menio (982 – 1026 AD), transported to Venice and deposited in the Church of Saint Anthony.
According to the second tradition, the Relic was never transferred to Constantinople, but was kept in Agios Ioannis of Acre, from where it was transferred by the Genoese to their rival city of Venice. in 1257 AD the Venetians succeeded in transporting the Relic to Venice.
The presence of the Relic of Agios Savvas in Venice is confirmed by the relative confession of the Sabbatian Monk Sophronios to the Metropolitan of Russia Agios Makarios, in 1547 AD.
In 1965 AD, following the actions of Patriarch Benedict, the Roman Catholic Church returned the Relic to the Patriarchate of Jerusalem and it has been kept in his Monastery ever since.