Sava the Sanctified. Guriy Archbishop of Kazan.
December 5/18
The Venerable Sava the Sanctified was born in the 5th century in Cappadocia, in a pious Christian family to John and Sophia. His father was a military commander. Departing on service to Alexandria, he took his wife with him and left his five-year-old son in the care of his uncle. When the boy was eight, he entered the nearby monastery of Saint Flavian. The gifted child quickly learned to read and studied the Holy Scriptures well. His parents unsuccessfully urged Saint Sava to return to secular life and marry.
At the age of 17, he took monastic vows and excelled in fasting and prayer, earning the gift of performing miracles. After spending ten years in the Flavian monastery, the Venerable went to Jerusalem and then to the monastery of the Venerable Euthymius the Great. However, Venerable Euthymius (commemorated on January 20) sent Saint Sava to Abba Theoctistus, the head of a nearby monastery with a strict communal rule. The Venerable Sava remained a novice there until the age of 30.
After the death of the elder Theoctistus, his successor blessed the Venerable Sava to seclude himself in a cave: only on Saturdays did the saint leave his seclusion to attend the monastery, participate in the Divine Service, and take food. After some time, the Venerable was allowed not to leave his seclusion at all, and Saint Sava labored in the cave for 5 years.
Venerable Euthymius closely followed the life of the young monk and, seeing his spiritual growth, began taking him to the Ruva wilderness (near the Dead Sea). They would set out on January 14th and stay there until Palm Sunday. Venerable Euthymius called Saint Sava a "youthful elder" and carefully nurtured him in the highest monastic virtues.
When Venerable Euthymius passed away (+ 473), Saint Sava left the Lavra and settled in a cave near the monastery of Venerable Gerasimus of Jordan (+ 475; commemorated on March 4th). A few years later, disciples began to gather around Venerable Sava - all those who desired monastic life. Thus, the Great Lavra was formed. By divine indication (through a pillar of fire), the monks established a church in the cave.
Venerable Sava founded several more monasteries. Many miracles were manifested through the prayers of Venerable Sava: a spring flowed within the Lavra, abundant rain fell during a drought, and there were healings of the sick and demon-possessed. Venerable Sava wrote the first typikon of church services, the so-called "Jerusalem Typikon," adopted by all Palestinian monasteries. Saint Sava peacefully passed away in 532.
St. Guriy was born into a family of modest nobility; he was raised in piety and the fear of God. Serving in his youth in a prince's house, he was loved by his master for his intelligence and honesty. This aroused the envy of dishonest servants who slandered Gregory (his secular name) with a serious crime. Believing the slander, the prince ordered the young man to be thrown into a deep pit, where he spent about two years in hunger, cold, and dampness. While imprisoned, Gregory devoted himself mostly to prayer, accepting everything that happened with patience and faith. A kind person got him paper and ink, and he began writing primers for teaching children literacy. A friend sold these, and Gregory donated the proceeds to charity. One night, the door covering the pit opened by itself. Gregory understood that the Lord Himself was now sending him freedom. He emerged from the pit unnoticed and left the prince's court. Arriving at the Joseph-Volokolamsk Monastery, he took monastic vows there under the name Guriy. After many years of spiritual perfection, he was elevated to abbot. In 1555, with the establishment of the Kazan Diocese, St. Gurias was appointed Archbishop of Kazan. With a spirit of meekness and love, he brought Muslims and pagans to the Orthodox faith. He established schools at the monasteries of his diocese for teaching the newly baptized the law of God. In 1561, he became seriously ill. For liturgy in the cathedral, he was carried on a stretcher. He passed away in 1563. Thirty-two years after his demise, during the reconstruction of the church, his grave was found full of fragrant healing myrrh.