A hermit of Cilicia who dwelt in a cave near Antioch in great austerity and was granted the gift of healing and of obtaining children for the childless through his prayers.
Feast Day
February 9
Also Nov 27
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Our Venerable Father Romanos of Cilicia, the Wonderworker
Come to them for
Healing
Children
Life
Romanos of Cilicia was a fifth-century ascetic remembered as a hermit who pursued an austere solitary life in the region of Antioch. According to his anchor tradition he was born in Cilicia and withdrew to a cave near Antioch, where he lived in great severity of discipline. He became known for the gift of healing and, above all, for obtaining children for the childless through his prayers.
The earliest portrait of his life comes from Theodoret of Cyrrhus, who recorded the Syrian ascetics of his era. Theodoret places Romanos among the solitaries who dwelt by the mountain near Antioch, describing a man of extreme simplicity who used neither fire nor lamplight and subsisted on bread, salt, and spring water. The Church commemorates him on February 9 and again on November 27.
Contributions & Legacy
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Ascetic Life
Romanos came from Cilicia in Asia Minor; the sources name his birthplace as Rhosus (Roson). Leaving his homeland, he settled near Antioch, where, in Theodoret's account, he pitched his dwelling at the foot of the mountain outside the city and lodged in a tiny house that was not his own. Later tradition remembers his abode simply as a cave.
His discipline was severe and sustained. The synaxarion relates that he wore heavy chains beneath a hair shirt and that for many years he kindled no fire in his cell, keeping a strict fast. Theodoret records that he used neither fire nor the light of a lamp, taking only bread and salt for food and spring-water for drink. For all this austerity, Theodoret praised him most for his simplicity of character, gentleness of manner, and humility of spirit.
Miracles and Intercession
Romanos was honored as a wonderworker. The accounts relate that he healed many who suffered from grave illnesses and that, through his prayers, numerous childless and barren women were granted children. Theodoret summarizes his charism by saying that from many he drove out serious diseases and to many sterile women he gave the gift of children.
The tradition also preserves his humility regarding these gifts. He is remembered as warning, with the words of the Apostle Paul, against spiritual pride, holding that it is no great thing to work miracles but rather to do works of righteousness and to keep God's commandments. On account of this he is venerated as an intercessor for those seeking deliverance from childlessness and barrenness.
His companions & kin
Fifth-century bishop and historian whose Religious History (and Ecclesiastical History) preserves the earliest account of Romanos among the ascetics near Antioch.
