Born in Trebizond. He lost his parents at an early age, but a duke took him in and educated him in Constantinople. When he finished school, he went to the Malean Desert, near Mount Athos, as a student of the then famous Mihail Malein. Then he moved to the Holy Mountain, for a more rigorous feat. But soon monks and novices began to gather around him, so he began to build a monastery, the famous Lavra. He suffered tremendous trials from both demons and humans. He had the honor to see the Holy Mother of God, who brought water out of the rock and promised him that she would be the Ikonomisa (Abbess) of the monastery forever. He died in 980 when the wall of the newly built chancel of a church fell on him and 6 other monks. After his death, he contacted his comrades.

Venerable Martyr Cyprian the New. Venerable Lampad. Saint Sergius of Radonezh.