8th century
Saint Philaret the Merciful
An 8th-century landowner from Amnia in Paphlagonia, renowned for his boundless almsgiving, whose granddaughter Maria married Emperor Constantine VI in 788.
Biography
Philaret was born in Amnia in Paphlagonia to pious parents. He married Theosebo and they had three children; he was a farmer who gave away his income generously to the poor.
When neighbors seized his lands and he fell into poverty, he went on giving to those in need, handing out even the honey from his beehives, until nothing was left, all without ever complaining.
In 788 his granddaughter Maria married Emperor Constantine VI, and he himself was honored with the rank of consul, wealth which he again distributed to the poor before he died around 792.