Born in the village of Tavati near Gaza, Palestine, of pagan parents. In Alexandria, he acquired worldly learning, but also came to know the Lord Jesus Christ and was baptized. He visited Saint Anthony in the desert and became his disciple. Then he returned to his homeland, where, at Mayum, he continued his asceticism. Soon a multitude of ascetics gathered around him and he became for Palestine what Saint Anthony was for Egypt. Fleeing from human glory, saying through tears: “Woe is me, I have received my reward on earth,” he fled from place to place. He lived in Egypt, Sicily, Dalmatia and Cyprus, where he gave up his soul to the Lord in 372, when he was 80 years old. His miraculous relics were brought to Palestine by a disciple of Hesychius.

Saint Hilarion, Bishop of Meglena. Venerable Philotheus. Venerable Vissarion.