Sabbas, in Church parlance Saint Sabbas, was a Cappadocian Greek monk, priest and saint, who was born in Cappadocia and lived mainly in Palaestina Prima. He was the founder of several convents, most notably the one known as Mar Saba. The saint's name is derived from Imperial Aramaic, meaning "old man".
He was born in Moutalaske near Caesarea of Cappadocia as the son of John, a military commander, and Sophia.
His parents left Sabbas in the care of an uncle as they were travelling to Alexandria on military duty. At eight years of age, he entered the nearby monastery of Bishop Flavian of Antioch. The gifted child quickly learned to read and became an expert on the Holy Scriptures. Sabbas resisted his parents' pressure to return home and get married. When he was 17 years old, Sabbas received monastic tonsure and subsequently spent ten years at the monastery of Bishop Flavian.
In 456, Sabbas went to Jerusalem and entered a monastery under St. Theoctistus. At the age of thirty, he became a hermit under the guidance of St. Euthymius, and after Euthymius' death, spent four years alone in the desert near Jericho.
Despite his desire for solitude, he attracted disciples, organized them into a laura in 483. Though he was opposed to the idea of monks being ordained priests, Sabbas was obliged to accept ordination by Patriarch Sallust of Jerusalem in 491. He built several hospitals and another monastery near Jericho.
In 511, he was sent to Emperor Anastasius I, a supporter of Eutychianism, as part of a delegation of abbots to plead with him to mitigate persecution of orthodox bishops and the religious. Sabbas supported Elias of Jerusalem when the emperor exiled him. He was a vigorous opponent of Origenism and monophysitism. In 531, when he was ninety-one, he went to Constantinople, this time to plead with Emperor Justinian to suppress a Samaritan revolt and protect the people of Jerusalem from further harassment by the Samritans.
Sabbas fell ill soon after his return to his laura from this trip and died on December 5 at Laura Mar Saba.
He is one of the most notable figures of early monasticism and is considered as one of the founders of Eastern monasticism. The laura he founded in the desolate, wild country between Jerusalem and the Dead Sea, named Mar Saba after him, was often called the Great Laura for its pre-eminence and produced many great saints. It is still inhabited by monks of the Eastern Orthodox Church and is one of the three or four oldest monasteries in the world.
Sabbas's relics were taken by Crusaders in the 12th century as a result of the War of Saint Sabas and remained in Italy, in the Church of Saint Anthony in Venice, until Pope Paul VI returned them to the monastery in 1965.
Other Saints of the Day
1. Saint Basilissa
2. Saint Crispina
3. Saint Firminus
4. Saint Gerbold
5. Saint Julius
- catholic.org