Cloud of Witnesses
Reviewed entry
Venerable (Monastic)11th century

Saint Christodoulos the Wonderworker of Patmos

11th century – 1093

Also known as Christodoulos · Christodulus of Patmos

A Byzantine monk and ascetic born near Nicaea who, after years in monasteries of the Holy Land, Bithynia, and Asia Minor, founded the Monastery of Saint John the Theologian on Patmos in 1088.

March 16New Calendar
Feast Day
March 29Old Calendar
Suggest a correctionContribute
Icon galleryBrowse icons and imagery elsewhere
Commemorated as

Our Venerable Father Christodoulos, the Wonderworker of Patmos

Come to them for
Healing

Life

Christodoulos was an eleventh-century Byzantine monk and ascetic, born near Nicaea in Bithynia, who is best remembered as the founder of the Monastery of Saint John the Theologian on the island of Patmos. Born to the parents Theodore and Anna and originally named John, he took the monastic name Christodoulos, meaning 'slave of Christ' in Greek.

After years of ascetic life in the Holy Land, Bithynia, and Asia Minor, he obtained the island of Patmos from the emperor Alexios I Komnenos and there established the monastery that still stands. He reposed on the island of Euboea in 1093, and the Orthodox Church commemorates him on March 16.

Kontakion & Troparion2 hymnsReadHide
KontakionTone 4

(Podoben: “You appeared today...”) Since we possess your relics as a holy place of healing for all our diseases and afflictions,
we are delivered from them, and we cry aloud to you,
“Rejoice, O renowned Christódoulos.”

Text used with permission of the Orthodox Church in America (oca.org).

TroparionTone 4

(Podoben: “O citizen of the desert...”) O brethren, let us honor the godly-minded Christódoulos with hymns,
the offspring of Nicaea, the boast of Patmos, and the glory of monks.
Let us venerate his relics,
and so receive healing of soul and body, crying out:
“Glory to Him Who strengthened you.
Glory to Him Who crowned you.
Glory to Him Who, through you, works healings for all.”

Text used with permission of the Orthodox Church in America (oca.org).

Timeline6 momentsReadHide
  1. 11th centuryBirth near NicaeaHe was born John, in the region of Nicaea in Bithynia (Asia Minor), the son of Theodore and Anna. He assumed the monastic habit in his youth and was renamed Christodoulos.
  2. before c. 1050Pilgrimage and monastic beginningsHe undertook a pilgrimage from Asia Minor to the Holy Land, where he entered the Mar Saba Monastery and began his monastic life, also living ascetically in the Palestinian desert.
  3. mid-11th centuryMonasteries of Asia MinorReturning to Asia Minor, he pursued monastic life on Mount Olympus in Bithynia, at the monastery of Paul the Younger on Mount Latrus, and on the island of Kos, later serving as abbot of a monastery before fleeing Saracen attacks.
  4. 1088Grant of PatmosAt his request, the emperor Alexios I Komnenos (reigned 1081–1118) authorised the undertaking and granted permission, with monetary aid, to establish a monastery on Patmos.
  5. 1091Founding of the monastery and the HypotyposisConstruction of the Monastery of Saint John the Theologian began, on a site where a chapel to St John already stood, built over the ruins of an earlier basilica. That same year he completed his monastic rule, the Hypotyposis, drawing on the principles he had observed at the Mar Saba Monastery.
  6. 1093Repose on EuboeaIncursions by Turkish forces, together with internal disputes among the monks, compelled Christodoulos to leave Patmos. He withdrew with his disciples to the island of Euboea, where he died on March 16, 1093.

Contributions & Legacy

2 contributionsReadHide

The Monastery of Saint John the Theologian

The monastery Christodoulos founded on Patmos was dedicated to Saint John the Theologian (the Evangelist), on the island traditionally associated with the writing of the Book of Revelation. It was built on a site where a chapel to St John already stood, over the ruins of an earlier basilica, and the buildings stand to this day.

He governed the community according to his own monastic rule, the Hypotyposis, completed in 1091 and shaped by the disciplines he had absorbed at the Mar Saba Monastery in the Holy Land.

Relics & Shrines

After his death on Euboea, his disciples took his incorrupt relics and returned them to his own monastery on Patmos. There they are enshrined in a chapel in the narthex; originally placed in a marble sarcophagus, the relics now rest in a gold- and silver-plated wooden chest atop the sepulchre for veneration.

By tradition the relics remain incorrupt and are reported to emit a sweet fragrance. Christodoulos is also commemorated on October 21, the feast of the transfer of his holy relics.

Works & Further ReadingReadHide

Notable Works

  • Hypotyposis (monastic rule) — The monastic rule he completed in 1091 for the community on Patmos, drawing on the principles of the Mar Saba Monastery.
Companions1 figureShowHide
The Evangelist to whom Christodoulos dedicated his monastery on Patmos, the island associated with the Book of Revelation.
Apostle & Evangelist Johnthe Theologian
Related Saints1 saintShowHide

Saints connected to his life, mission, and place in Orthodox tradition.

A Georgian philosopher of the same century with whom he is not to be confused.
Venerable Christodoulosthe Philosopher

Browse similar saints by calling and place.

More Physicians30More Healers130More Wonderworkers205More Asia Minor361More Byzantine Saints1282More Monastics1353
Sources: OCA Synaxarion (oca.org), Lives of the Saints; en.wikipedia.org