St. Sabbas the Sanctified

A Cappadocian who went to Palestine at eighteen, became a disciple of St Euthymius, and in 483 founded in the gorge of the Kidron the Great Lavra that still carries his name and has been inhabited almost without a break for fifteen centuries. At its height it held some hundred and fifty monks in cells cut into the cliff. He defended Chalcedon against emperors who favoured its opponents and travelled to Constantinople at ninety on behalf of the people of Palestine. The rule of prayer kept at his Lavra became the Typikon of Jerusalem, which is the order of services the whole Orthodox Church follows. He died in 532. Feast: December 5.