Venerable Gregory of Sinai (XIV)

The Venerable Gregory of Sinai was born around 1268 into a well-to-do family in the seaside village of Klazomenai (according to other sources, Koukoulos) near the city of Smyrna (Asia Minor). In 1290 the Hagarenes took him captive and sent him to Laodicea. When he was freed, the venerable father went to the island of Cyprus, where he became a monk; then he moved to Mount Sinai to labour, and was clothed in the great schema. The blessed one carried out the obedience of cook and baker, but at the same time he was also a skilled calligrapher, read a great deal, and knew Holy Scripture and the works of the fathers thoroughly. His strict ascetic life, with its fasting, all-night vigils, psalmody and prayer, astonished some and filled others with envy. The Venerable Gregory left the monastery and set out to venerate the holy places of Jerusalem. For some time he lived on the island of Crete. Then he visited all the monasteries of Athos and shared in the centuries-old spiritual experience of monastic labour.

The holy father left us many works profitable for the soul. He is also known as the author of beautiful hymns. The God-pleasing holy father reposed in 1310 (according to some sources, in 1346) in the mountains of Macedonia, in a monastery he himself had founded.