Venerable (Monastic) 5th century

Aninas the Wonderworker

5th–6th century; traditionally lived to the age of 110

Also known as Aninas of the Euphrates

A native of Chalcedon who entered the monastic life at the age of fifteen and withdrew to a life of extreme solitude in the desert near the Euphrates River, renowned for his ascetic feats and the gift of wonderworking.

Feast Day

March 13

Also Mar 18

Draft

Draft — pending review. Not yet verified for publication.

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Commemorated as

Our Venerable Father Aninas the Wonderworker, Presbyter of the Euphrates

Life

Aninas, also recorded as Aninus or Ananias, was a monastic ascetic and presbyter remembered for his extreme solitary life in the desert near the River Euphrates and for the many wonders attributed to him. He was born at Chalcedon, in Asia Minor, into a Christian family.

After the death of his parents, he withdrew at the age of fifteen into the monastic life and received tonsure. Seeking complete solitude, he traveled into the desert near the Euphrates, where the river divides Syria from Persia, and settled with an elder named Maium (also spelled Mayum or Maiumas), continuing alone after his teacher's death.

Sources describe him as small in stature but spiritually powerful. The tradition credits him with healing the sick, clairvoyant insight into distant events, and a remarkable mastery over wild animals, and relates that he lived to the age of 110, spending some ninety-five years in his hermitage. He is commemorated on March 16 in the Greek tradition and on March 13 and March 18 in the Slavic and OCA usage.

Timeline 5 moments Read Hide

Childhood, at Chalcedon Birth and orphaning Aninas was born at Chalcedon in Asia Minor into a Christian family. His parents died while he was still young.
Age fifteen Entry into monastic life At the age of fifteen he withdrew into the monastic life and received tonsure, then sought complete solitude in the desert near the River Euphrates.
Early ascetic years Life with the Elder Maium He settled with an elder named Maium and shared his strict ascetic discipline. According to the synaxarion, Maium recognized his disciple's advanced spiritual state and asked Aninas to guide him in turn, which Aninas refused out of humility. After Maium's death Aninas continued alone.
Years of solitude Ministry of healing and wonders Having mastered the passions, Aninas was granted gifts of healing and clairvoyance, gathered a monastic brotherhood, and became widely known. Bishop Patrick (Patricius) of Neocaesarea repeatedly visited him and ordained him presbyter despite his reluctance.
End of his life Repose at the age of 110 By tradition he had a vision of Moses, Aaron, and Or summoning him to the Lord, designated a virtuous successor, and reposed peacefully at the age of 110, having spent about ninety-five years in his hermitage.

Contributions & Legacy

2 contributions Read Hide

Ascetic Life

Aninas pursued an unusually severe discipline. The accounts relate that during the forty days of Great Lent he ate nothing, and that he ordinarily took food only once every several days, withdrawing for extended retreats of twenty to thirty days into the inner desert. The sources present these austerities as feats of self-denial sustained by what they call spiritual nourishment.

A recurring detail is his daily carrying of drinking water from the Euphrates, described as a distance of several miles, both for himself and for his community. When Bishop Patrick of Neocaesarea, learning of this labor, twice provided him with donkeys to ease the burden, Aninas gave the animals away to the poor and continued to carry the water himself; one account adds that he eventually accepted the bishop's provision of a barrel with servants.

Miracles & Traditions

Historically Documented: The surviving record of Aninas is drawn from synaxaria and the lives of the saints rather than from independent documentary evidence; the concrete details of his life and wonders come to us only through these hagiographical accounts.

Traditional Accounts: The tradition attributes numerous wonders to him. He is said to have filled an empty well or pit with water through prayer when a visiting crowd had exhausted the supply, and on another occasion to have produced water in a vessel by his own hands during a shortage. The synaxarion relates that an angel once filled his water pitchers, so that he returned earlier than usual.

He is also remembered for taming wild beasts: a lion (in some accounts two lions) is said to have become his companion and servant after he removed a thorn from its foot. By tradition he used the lion to carry a letter to a distant stylite named Pionius, who had been beaten by robbers and intended to come down from his pillar to seek legal redress; Aninas, perceiving this by clairvoyance, counseled him to forgive his attackers and remain at his asceticism. Another account tells of a barbarian who attempted to harm a sick woman and whose weapon was found rooted in the ground, after which he was converted, baptized, and became a monk in Aninas's community.

Notes

OCA commemorates him on both Mar 13 and Mar 18.

Sources: OCA Synaxarion (oca.org), Lives of the Saints