Description
St. Peter was a Greek soldier captured in battle against the Arabs in a.d. 667. While he languished in prison, he remembered that he had not followed his earlier desire to become a monk, so he began to strictly fast. St. Nicholas and St. Symeon the God-Receiver appeared to him in prison in both dream and in daylight, freeing him from his bonds and prison, and helping him go to Rome. There he was tonsured as a monk at St. Peter’s tomb, fulfilling his desire. In a.d. 681, directed by the Theotokos in a dream, he settled on Athos to live as a hermit. He died in a.d. 734.
St. Onouphrios lived in the 4th century and was an early hermit in the Egyptian desert. He endured many years of ascetic struggle and overcame many intense demonic temptations. God later sent an angel to give him bread, and caused a date palm and a spring of water to appear next to his cell. He was given Holy Communion by an angel every Saturday. Found by the holy anchorite St. Paphnutios in a.d. 400, St. Onouphrios was naked of clothing, but with long hair and a beard which reached all the way to the ground. St. Paphnutios saw him die in prayer the next day.