SAINTS OF FEBRUARY 29

The names of the saints on February 29 are as follows: 1. John Cassian the Roman; 2. John, Bishop of Damascus, called Barsanuphius; 3. Theokteristus of Peleketa; 4. Cassian of Kiev-Pechersk.

Saint John Cassian (360–435) was an ascetic, theologian, and spiritual teacher. After spending a decade in monastic Egypt, he became a disciple of John Chrysostom (344-407) and acted as his messenger and intercessor with the Roman bishop. Chrysostom’s tragical death forced him to seek refuge in Gaul. In Marseille, he founded a women’s and a men’s monastery, and in collaboration with the bishops of Gaul, he contributed to the introduction of the Eastern monastic tradition. In the last stage of his extremely eventful life, John polemicized with Nestorius and Nestorianism, as well as with St. Augustine’s teaching on grace. Modern theology counted Cassian among the so-called “semi-Pelagians,” that is, those who denied the primacy of grace in salvation. Recent research has shown that this is an anachronism. The ancient Church knew no semi-Pelagianism. The term was first used by Martin Luther (1483–1546). To legitimize his break with the Roman Church, the reformer attempted to accuse the latter of heresy and invented the term “semi-Pelagianism” for this purpose.

St. John of Damascus should be distinguished from the great Church Father John Damascene (675–753). Very little is known about him. A Syrian ascetic, he was elected bishop but left the diocese after a short time for ascetic reasons. John went to Egypt, where he settled in one of the monasteries of Nitria, calling himself Barsanuphius. However, one of the famous ascetics of that time recognized him. Then he immediately disappeared in an unknown direction.

Saint Theokteristus (+ after 770) was a monk and, possibly, the second abbot of the famous Pelekete Monastery on Mount Olympus in Bithynia, after Hilarion the New (+754) and before Macarius the Confessor (+830/840). It was one of the four Holy Mountains of Byzantine monasticism, of which only Athos has survived to this day. During the persecution of the Byzantine iconoclast emperor Constantine Copronymus (741–775), the monastery was destroyed by the Byzantine army. The monks were taken away and placed under guard, and many were killed. The executioners cut off his nose, poured tar on him, and burned his beard. This happened in 764. Theokteristus refused to condemn icon veneration. Since his home monastery had been destroyed, he hid in the monasteries of Olympus and passed away after 770. And perhaps most importantly, the saint is the author of the famous supplicatory canon to the Blessed Virgin Mary, “Dressed by many temptations.” History knew another Theokteristus. He was a monk and a spiritual poet. Succumbing to false mystical visions, he converted to Judaism. In one of his spiritual letters, Elder Ambrose of Optina (1812-1891) discusses this example and mistakenly identifies Saint Theokteristus, the author of the canon, with this unfortunate monk. In liturgical books, the name of the holy confessor is transcribed differently, as Theosteriktos. This Greek name translates as “confirmed” or “powered by God.”

The fourth and last saint commemorated on February 29 is Saint Cassian of Kiev-Pechersk. The author of the second most important collection of saints’ lives in the Russian Church, theologian and patrologist, Archbishop Filaret Gumilevsky of Chernigov (1805–1866) assigns the commemoration of Cassian the Hermit to February 29, which is quite logical. In accordance with the tradition established in Orthodox hagiography, if the day of a saint’s heavenly birth and relics are not known, the day of remembrance of the saint is tied to the day of celebration of his heavenly patron. Saint Cassian lived in the 12th century and ended his life in such deep seclusion that even his cell literally became his tomb, walled up by cave walls, as evidenced by a special plaque in the caves of Saint Theodosius in the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra, known as the Far Caves. This means that his relics are, in principle, impossible to find. Nothing is known about the circumstances of his life and deeds. Only the memory of the saint and his veneration among God’s people have survived. “You can scream loudly and endlessly, but in this huge hellish city, nobody needs us” ominously said the main character in Lars von Trier’s film “The House That Jack Built”. To the Church, as a community of believers wandering through history, the holy ascetic Cassian gives an example of complete, total, and all-encompassing seclusion. Such asceticism, not only physical and bodily, but also the avoidance of any information about oneself and one’s neighbors, is extremely relevant in our recent times, when everyone is known to everyone, but no one’s fame is needed by anyone.