St. Sabbas the Sanctified

Sabbas left Cappadocia as a young monk and came to the Holy Land, where he learned from St. Euthymius. In 483 he founded a lavra in the cliffs of the Kidron gorge, the community now called Mar Saba. His rule of services, the Typikon of Jerusalem, became the basis of how the whole Orthodox Church worships. He defended the Council of Chalcedon, and in his nineties he travelled to Constantinople to plead with the emperor for the people of Palestine. His relics were returned to his monastery from Venice in 1965.

• Feast: December 5 (New Calendar)
• Lived: 439–532
• Place: Mar Saba, Judean Desert
• Relics today: Mar Saba