Saint Ignatius of Christ the Savior Monastery

Ignatius was a tenth-century monastic of Asia Minor who served as igoumen (abbot) of the Monastery of Christ the Savior, also known by its Greek name Batheos Ryakos, or "Deep River." He was a native of the second province of Cappadocia and lived during the reigns of the Byzantine emperors Nikephoros II Phokas (963–969) and John I Tzimiskes (969–976). He is commemorated on September 27.

From his youth Ignatius committed himself to the monastic life at Batheos Ryakos, a community situated in Triglia, near present-day Moudania in Asia Minor. There he was trained in strict asceticism under Saint Basil, the founder and first igoumen of the monastery, who is commemorated separately on July 1. Ignatius advanced through the ecclesiastical ranks of Reader, Subdeacon, Deacon, and Priest before the community chose him as its abbot.

As igoumen Ignatius oversaw both the material and spiritual growth of the community. The synaxarion relates that he embellished the monastery's churches and built an enclosure for the house, and that he maintained a resolute stance when secular political authorities sought to take control of the monastery's finances, thereby protecting its property. He died in the year 975 on a road near Amorium—more probably Armoutli—while returning from Constantinople. A year after his death his relics were uncovered at his monastery and, according to tradition, found to be incorrupt.