died 1434 or c. 1438; relics discovered 1483
A Russian monastic who, with the blessing of Saint Arsenius of Tver, founded a strict monastery near Tver whose discipline influenced later ascetics.
Sabbatius of Tver (Russian: Savvatiy Tverskoy) was a fifteenth-century Russian monastic who founded a strictly observant hermitage near the city of Tver. He is venerated by the Russian Orthodox Church as a venerable one (преподобный), and his feast is kept on March 2 (Julian; March 15 on the Gregorian calendar).
He began his monastic life at the Tver Orshin Monastery and undertook a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, from which he brought back a particle of the life-giving Cross of the Lord. Afterward he withdrew to a desolate place several kilometers from Orshin Monastery, nearer to Tver, where he built a small cell by hand. As other monks gathered around him and a church was raised, the community grew into Savvatieva Pustyn (the Savvaty Hermitage).
Established with the blessing of Saint Arsenius, Bishop of Tver, the monastery became renowned for its strict and holy rule, and its discipline drew later ascetics who came there to learn the monastic life.
By a flood of tears you made the desert fertile,
and your longing for God brought forth fruits in abundance.
By the radiance of miracles you illumined the whole universe!
O our holy father Sabbatius, pray to Christ our God to save our souls!
Text used with permission of the Orthodox Church in America (oca.org).
Sabbatius was described as tireless in his labors, exhausting himself through strict fasting and abstinence. As a sign of his ascetic discipline he wore heavy iron chains upon his body.
These chains were preserved after his death; in 1848 they were sent to the Holy Synod.
The hermitage Sabbatius founded near Tver was established with the blessing of Saint Arsenius, Bishop of Tver, and became known for the severity of its rule.
The discipline of Savvatieva Pustyn shaped later figures of Russian monasticism. By tradition, Saint Cornelius of Komel (Kornily Komelsky) and Saint Joseph of Volokolamsk (Iosif Volotsky) came to the hermitage to learn the monastic life — both well-attested saints of sixteenth-century Russia, which corroborates the hermitage's standing as a school of asceticism in its day.
The relics of Sabbatius were discovered in 1483 and entombed at the Savvatiev Monastery.
After the October Revolution, much of the monastery was destroyed: the Bolsheviks demolished the old temples and the venerable one's cell, and the site was later converted into a parish church.
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