Icon of Saint Christodulus – S426

Description

Saint Christodulus was born in Nicea in Asia Minor.  As soon as he reached manhood, he left his disapproving parents to become a monk in a monastery on Mount Olympus.  When his abbot died, Saint Christodulus had a vision of SS Peter and Paul, and then set out for Rome, and then to Jerusalem.  He fled Jerusalem because of barbarian attacks, and then lived on the periphery of the Byzantine, or East Roman, Empire.  Seeing many monks falling into heresy, he came to Constantinople to report to the Patriarch Nicholas II what he had seen with sorrow in these remote areas.

The Patriarch made him an archimandrite and blessed him to be in charge of the monasteries of Latmos in Asia Minor.  After a time, Saint Christodulus was blessed to travel again and came at last to the Island of Patmos, to the ruins of the holy places where Saint John the Theologian had written the Book of Revelation.  Saint Christodulus quickly petitioned for the funds to rebuild these sacred places, and worked hard to restore their former beauty.  Settling there for the rest of his life, Saint Christodulus lived at the Monastery of Saint John, where his relics remain to this day.