Saint Publius the Ascetic of Syria

Commemorated on January 25.

Saint Publius of Syria was born in the city of Zeugma on the Euphrates and was a senator. Renouncing the world, he gave away his possessions, became a monk, and lived an ascetical life in a cave on a mountain in the Syrian wilderness.

Saint Publius founded two monasteries: one for Greeks, and another for Syrians. He died in the year 380. Of his disciples, Saints Theoteknos, Theodotus, Gregory, and Aphthonius were particularly known for the sanctity of their life.

Saint Publius guided the monastery for over forty years and was eventually made an archimandrite. Though elevated in rank, he changed neither his garb nor his manner of life, but remained a strict ascetic.