Память преподобного отца нашего Ипатия, в Руфинах 2292

This saint was born in Phrygia in 2293. Being eighteen years old, he was once beaten by his father and, fleeing from him, came to Thrace 2294. Having entered one of the former monasteries, he indulged in the exploits of monastic life and soon became known for his virtues. He never drank wine and, having once entered into a struggle with carnal passion, he spent fifty days in fasting, without touching food or drink at all. When the abbot of the monastery found out about this, during the supper in the presence of the brethren, he himself, with his own hand, gave Hypatius a vessel of wine and bread with it, after which he immediately freed himself from the passion that tormented him and thanked the Lord and his mentor. Having gone some time later, on the advice of his spiritual father, to Constantinople to help one person who had been tempted by the flesh, he also helped his father, who came here. Having then sent his father to his fatherland, Hypatius and two monks went to Chalcedon and settled in the monastery of Rufinus, which at that time had a strange and ugly appearance: it was completely deserted and inspired fear in everyone. This Rufinus, being a layman 2295, once built a beautiful monastery and settled Egyptian monks in it, who labored in it, glorifying God. But when Rufinus died, the monks who lived in his monastery each went to their own country, and after that the monastery became uninhabited. It was overgrown with thorny plants, which twisted into impenetrable bushes and made it ugly, and then unclean spirits entered and settled in it, which is why it became a house that inspired fear in everyone, so that no one wanted to pass by it. Having found the monastery in this form, the Monk Hypatius expelled demons from it and, having cleared it of the bushes that had disfigured it, restored it to its former splendid appearance, after which he settled in it together with the two monks who came with him. He himself began to make hair shirts 2296, and the monks who were with him, one began sowing, and the other - setting up a garden. A few years after this, Hypatius went to Thrace and settled in the monastery where he had labored before, but the monks of the monastery of Rufinus soon came to this monastery and asked him to be their abbot. The monk agreed, and from that time on he began to perform great feats. Many of the monks, imitating him, achieved high perfection in a godly life. For his exploits, the Divine Hypatius was honored to receive the gift of miracles from God and performed many miraculous healings. Thus, he healed the possessed, the blind, the withered, those suffering from water sickness, and bleeding women. He made a considerable number of barren wives capable of childbearing, and returned milk to other wives who had dry breasts and were unable to feed. Many times through prayer he replenished water, bread and other food, multiplying them at the right time, and drove away all sorts of illnesses from people and livestock. The monk's food consisted of boiled grain, vegetables and a small amount of bread, and even this meager food he took only late in the evening, and to maintain his senile strength he drank a little wine. The monk lived eighty years, so that the hair on his head and beard became white as snow, and in such a deep old age, both in appearance and in his deeds, he remained as respectable as before. He spent forty years in the rank of priest of the monks, exalted the priesthood and, having first sent eighty of his disciples to the Lord, soon after them he himself died peacefully, glorifying the Lord 2297. Rufina monastery on the outskirts of Chalcedon, located in the Roman province of Asia Minor, on the banks of the Bosphorus. Phrygia is a Roman province in Asia Minor. Thrace is a region on the Balkan Peninsula, now Rumelia. It is believed that Rufinus was one of the nobles at the court of Constantine the Great. Hair shirt is a garment made from the coarse hair of some animal, the usual attire of eastern monks, who wore it directly on the body. The Monk Hypatius died around 446. You might be interested in: