St Fantinus :: 30 August
Fantinus was born to a pious Calabrian family in about 927. Since as a boy he showed great devotion to the Holy Scriptures, at the age of eight he was presented to St Elias the Cave-Dweller. Here he was educated and, showing wisdom far beyond his years, he was tonsured monk at the age of thirteen. His first obedience was as cook and as such he acquired the grace of compunction. From the beginning he ate only vegetables and bread once every two or three days at most. He progressed greatly in the virtues and acquired the grace of the Holy Spirit in his heart.
After twenty years in the monastery, he became a hermit in the region of Mt Mercurion in the north of Calabria, where there were a great many monasteries and hermitages. He lived very strictly. Almost naked, he ate only roots and was tormented by demons who tried to make him return to the world or else frighten him in the form of wild animals. He triumphed over them through the sign of the cross and his long prayers. After eighteen years, he was discovered here by his aged parents, whom he persuaded to enter the monastic life together with his two brothers, Luke and Cosmas.
Soon many other men and women entered into the monastic life under the direction of the holy father. But, unable to concentrate on his own salvation, he abandoned this direction to others and retired to a secret place. Here he was arrested by the local inhabitants as a spy and placed in a cell. Fantinus loved this solitude. However, his captors realised their mistake and freed him. Fantinus began to live again as a hesychast, but was constantly interrupted by visitors. Without abandoning his asceticism, he returned to the monastery. He ate raw vegetables, slept on the floor and lived almost naked. His manual work was calligraphy and he gained the gift of unceasing prayer. Having also gained the gift of dispassion, he was able to cast out demons, heal the sick and, like a new Adam, control wild animals, supplying the needs of the monastery through miracles.
Once he entered into such prayer that he remained immobile from dawn till evening. When asked by his disciples what he had seen he said only that it was 'inexpressible'. After this he left the monastery with neither food nor drink and lived naked for twenty days in the mountains. Giving the impression that he was mad, he then correctly predicted the Muslim invasion, which had been allowed by God because of the decadence and immorality of the Orthodox. He was close to St Nil, who later reproached the monks for considering mad one who had had a vision of heaven and hell, having been taken like the Apostle Paul into the third heaven.
Some time after this, an angel appeared to him and told him to go to Greece in order to preach the word of God there and bring souls to salvation. Here he worked many miracles, his reputation going before him, and he healed many and prophesied. For eight years he lived in Salonica, preserving the city from the Bulgarians through his holy prayers and spreading the mercy of God. He reposed in the year 1000 at the age of 73.
