A Saint Remembered by Name
Tarasius belongs to the large company of saints whose veneration the Church has carefully preserved in its calendar even though the details of their earthly lives have not survived. He appears on March 9 alongside other commemorations of the day, named as 'Righteous Tarasius the Wonderworker, of Lycaonia.' The epithet 'Wonderworker' indicates that he was remembered in his region for miraculous intercession, though no specific accounts of his wonders are recorded in the available sources.
The liturgical texts appointed for his feast use the conventional formulas of a righteous saint rather than facts particular to his biography, and so cannot be read as a record of the specific events of his life. His memory is kept chiefly through his name, his honorable rank, and his connection to Lycaonia in Asia Minor.