4th century
Saint Patapios of Thebes
An ascetic from Thebes in Egypt who lived as a monk in the desert and later at Blachernae in Constantinople, known for healing the sick; his relics are kept in the monastery that bears his name near Loutraki in Corinthia.
Biography
Patapios was born in Thebes in Egypt, into a wealthy Christian family. He gave his inheritance to the poor and withdrew as a young man to the desert, where many came to hear his teaching.
He later moved to Constantinople, seeking anonymity, and settled at Blachernae, where he founded a monastery known as the Monastery of the Egyptians. According to tradition, the purity of his life brought him the gift of working miracles, and he became known for healing the sick, especially of dropsy.
After his monastery was destroyed in 536, his relics were moved to another monastery in Constantinople and, after the fall of the city in 1453, were hidden in a cave on Mount Gerania near present-day Loutraki, where they were rediscovered in 1904 and are kept to this day at the monastery that bears his name.