Saint Neophytos of Cyprus Whom We Commemorate on January 24

 

 St. Neophytos" was born in the year 1134, of pious parents named Athanasius and Eudoxia. He was born in Lefcara, Cyprus, and lived at the time of the great dynasty of the Comnenoi. When the Saracens took Jerusalem (for reasons known only to God), Cyprus also was subjected to numerous incursions by the Crusaders who were attempting to liberate the holy places.* They had converged from all parts of Europe being motivated by the divine zeal of the Christian kings of that continent. St. Neophytos was eighteen years old at the time.

 His parents wished him to marry. But when they made the customary preparations for the marriage, the youth learned of this, and secretly departed from his father's house. He came upon the holy monastery which took the name of John Chrysostom, also known as Koutsovendis - the mountain on which it was built, and hid in it, rejecting both his parents and the betrothal, and all secular pleasures (albeit he never reflected upon them anyway, but cared only for the love of God). Indeed, from childhood, he yearned for tranquility and desired the eremitical life as is evident from the annals of his monastery and from those who strove there through the ages, to whom his godly way of life was a living standard and example.

 The young Neophytos persisted devoutly in the monastery. After his departure, his parents grieved continually, not knowing where he was. They combed the entire island to find him. Finally, they came upon the monastery where the zealous one was hiding and found him there. Notwithstanding, he would not agree to go back. They refused to leave and persisted with tears and sobs for days on end, until Neophytos was compelled. Therefore, they took him back with them as it was impossible for him to do otherwise. Thereupon, he was pressured by his parents to enter into marriage and yielded to their demands as he remembered the Gospel saying. This reversed the sorrow of his parents. friends and relatives to joy and gladness. At the end of the wedding, the relatives returned to their homes. Neophytos remained alone with his bride in the bridal chamber. Suddenly, he took off his wedding ring and after a short prayer, went out of his house into the night and fled once again to the Monastery of Koutsovendis.

 On his arrival, he contacted the abbot and begged him to put the holy schema of the Monks on him without delay. Wherefore, they tonsured the righteous one, and clothed him with the schema of the monks. Then they sent him off to the elder of a certain skete called Stoupes, where he tended vineyards. In this occupation, he remained for five years. During this interval, he never ceased to pray and meditate day and night. Furthermore, he was previously illiterate, yet there he learned to read expertly and could recite the Psalms of David by heart.

 Neophytos struggled thus in the monastery, but in his heart kindled the desire to sail to the Levant and worship in the Holy Land, at the sacred and revered sites made holy by the presence of our Lord. Therefore, he embarked on a ship sailing towards Jerusalem; and eventually succeeded and reached his destination and worshipped at all the sites. He then proceeded northward to the mountains of Mandela, Tabor and Jordan. During his six year stay, he toured every cave and hermitage in order to find one where he could be in obedience and practice rigorously. However, his wish was never fulfilled and by divine motivation, he gave up this idea and returned to the previous Monastery of Koutsovendis. While there he could not find serenity.

 Whereupon, he looked elsewhere again and headed for Mt. Latros in Asia Minor, so that perhaps God might direct his path. When the young Neophytos reached the bulwarks at the harbor of Paphos, the guards thought he was a fugitive. They seized him and cast him bound in prison for a considerable period of time until he was at the point of despair. Pious people learned of this and took pity on him, intervening with the island's authorities to release him from prison. As a consequence, Neophytos realized that whatever intentions he had of relocating, they were not promising, and he failed as a result. So he put the plan aside, knowing that it was not God's will to flee from the squalid condition of his country. [I, the author of the present life, believe that Cyprus was destitute of good men who led devout lives, because then it was being ruled by Western overlords.]

 After he was released from prison, the holy one was in deep sorrow and doubt as he wondered which direction he should turn to find January a place of solitude. As he pondered on this, he made the sign of the Cross and took a random direction in the name of the Lord. Finally, he reached the precipice, which he later named Encleistra, and climbed to the top. At that time, according to his own account, it was June 24, 1159 and the celebration of St. John, the Baptist. On the walls of that precipice, he found a cave and began clearing and leveling it with his own hands and tools. The location was extremely rugged and inaccessible and it took him the better part of a year to make the cave suitable for habitation.

 One may assume the hardship and distress that Neophytos must have witnessed in that remote isolation; including exposure to the elements, hunger, privation and all manner of physical stress. One must also consider his prayers, prostrations, vigils and all-night standings for the love of Christ, as well as every austerity and restraint to which he submitted himself. Hence, owing to this, his fame spread everywhere and many surrounded him for his prayer and blessing. Some even came there with the purpose of becoming his students and to participate in his rigorous labors. At first, he did not accept them. Not because he avoided human association and was indifferent to the salvation of others, but because he knew too well that one is more serene than two and much more tranquil.

 Those who loved the righteous one came by every day and distracted him, thus affording him no rest whatsoever. Therefore, he consented to accept a few disciples, about fifteen to eighteen. Thereafter, he instructed them in the acts of virtue. Due to this, the fame of his labors increased, albeit the holy one avoided the esteem of men. Nevertheless, the all-merciful God does not only bestow the glory of heaven on His servants, but also the present glory. This is how it came about: in a divine vision, He instructed Basil, the bishop of the city of Paphos, to ordain Neophytos to the ranks of the clergy, as he was most worthy and also, to build a monastery. Therefore, the bishop provided all the requirements necessary; with letters of authorization, doing everything precisely as ordered, ordaining Neophytos to the priesthood in 1170. The saint was then forty-six years old.

 Upon receiving ordination, he put on extra efforts, prayers, abstinence and vigils which he always performed. Near the cave, he built a monastery of uncommon beauty, naming it Encleistra; and in his cave he inured himself to ascesis for twenty-four years. Encleistra was finally completed in 1183.

 The church and the other buildings presently standing have been eroded with the passage of time and seem to have been constructed after the repose of the saint. The funds for construction were provided by the emperors and various donors, as a Patriarchal document which survives to this day informs us.

 St. Neophytos ordered those who were with him to call themselves Encleistoi (the recluses or the enclosed ones), not only in word, but also in deed, having his life as an example. He established the brotherhood, often instructing them (as they were beginners) in all those things necessary for their salvation, and guiding them to the realization and fulfillment of virtue.

 St. Neophytos observed that the growing numbers of faithful and those who desired to listen to his teaching were depriving him of his beloved solitude. By the year 1199, he had completed forty years in the Encleistra. He decided to build a new refuge above the Cave of the Holy Cross. While he was preparing to excavate a small opening in the rock which stood above the foreboding ravine, a great boulder was dislodged by demonic activity. As it fell, it dragged Neophytos to the edge of the precipice. Yet, divine grace intervened and rescued him, to the chagrin of the demon, for the boulder did not crush him, but it caught his garment and hand, thereby preventing him from going over the edge. In this place also the holy one converted the cave into a house of prayer and doxology to God. Therein, he was used to living in total silence, avoiding all noise and struggling in ascetic pursuits. Only on Sundays did our saint climb down to the Encleistra by a ladder that was brought to him. He continued to counsel his students, leading them to devotion and ascending again to the upper chamber of the cavern.

 The holy one led this type of disciplined life for fifty years. He had been trained for five years in the study of the Scriptures and achieved the highest degree of merit. However, he did not limit himself to the austere life, but also wrote many essays for the edification of his students and for every Christian who wished to save his soul. The total number of his works appears in the twelfth chapter of his Typikas Diataxeis. There are sixteen in all: A Panegyric: Interpretations on the Psalms, the ki Song of Songs, the Hexaemeron, and other homilies and letters; and the Typikas Diataxeis. These texts are not the work of human wisdom, but are filled with divine grace of the Holy Spirit, as is evident upon recitation. Some of them survive in his monastery to this day, while others have been lost through the ravages of time.

 Our saint struggled in this way for a long time, thus becoming a vessel of the Holy Spirit. He foresaw his translation to the Lord, which he did not hide from his students; rather, he summoned them and in his parting words advised them on the monastic life and how to live after his repose. He enjoined them to safeguard all those things that he taught by word and in writing. He also ordered that after the funeral service, they bury him in the inner part of the cave which he had excavated, and enshroud him in the burial garments that he had sewn with his own hands. Then he bade them to live in peace and harmony and in a God- pleasing manner. Also to obey the abbot they would select for the monastery with brotherly love and not to violate any of the ordinances he had written in his Typikas Diataxeis. After he uttered these things, he prayed for them and gave up his blessed soul into the hands of God.

 Upon the repose of our saint there was great lamentation and mourning by all those who knew his extraordinary life, this included his spiritual children. It is impossible for us to explain fully. They performed everything as they had been directed, interring his holy relics with the customary benedictions and prayers into the readied tomb. Moreover, for many days they conducted all-night vigils in his honor. By his intercessions and entreaties may we all be saved in our Lord Jesus Christ, to Whom is due all glory, praise and honor unto all ages. Amen.

 Cyprus Endnotes:

 *This biography was taken from John Hatziyannou's publication entitled, "Interpretation to the Psalms, Part II, Hieromonk Neophytos, and Recluse" (Athens, 1935); included in the book are two services and the biography of the Saint. This text was revised and changed to the vernacular Greek. The aforementioned services are chanted in Cyprus: one is used on the 24th of January, celebrating his memory; and the other is used on the 28th of September, in commemoration of his relics.

 *"From the close of 1096 onwards, the great feudal lords of Europe and their followers gradually assembled, and Constantinople received the flower of West European chivalry, including: Godfrey of Buillon; the Duke of Lorraine,; Count Raymond of Toulouse; Hugh of Vermandois (the brother of the French king, Robert of Normandy, the brother of the English king, and the son of William the Conqueror); Robert, the son of Count Robert of Flanders; and not least, the Norman prince, Bohemund, the son of Robert Guiscard. Although the undertaking upset his plans and was a positive menace to the Byzantine Empire, the Emperor tried to make it serve his own interests, and those of his state as he could, by demanding that the Crusaders should take an oath of allegiance to him and pledge themselves to restore to him all captured towns which had formerly belonged to the Byzantine Empire. For his part, the Emperor promised to supply the Crusaders with victuals and materials of war, and held out the prosp ect of taking the Cross himself and joining the crusading army as its leader with all his forces. With the exception of Raymond of Toulouse all the Crusaders finally accepted the Emperor's demands - even Godfrey of Buillon gave in after lengthy negotiations. On this basis, agreements were made early in 1097 with individual leaders including Bohemund, who not only gave his full consent at once, but tried to win over Raymond of Toulouse, and agreed to the Emperors terms, and offered his own services for the post of the Imperial Domesticus of the East." George Ostrogorsky, History of the Byzantine State. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 1957, p. 322. (Translated from the Russian by Joan Hussey).

 In the 12th century, St. Neophytos was one of the first writers in the Orthodox Church who exposed the heresies of the Western Church. Prior to the 14th century (which saw the official condemnation of the innovations of the Latins), there were no other Orthodox theologians who spoke out against these erroneous teachings except St. Photios (9th c), Patriarch Michael Cyrullarios (11th c.), Leo of Ochris (11th c.), Patriarch Gregory II (13th c.) and Emperor Theodore Laskaris (13th c.).

 Translated from Greek by Leo Papadopulos The Great Synaxaristes. Athens, 1978. Matthew Lagges, publisher. Vol. I, 6th ed., pp. 629-35. Rewritten, 2004. All rights reserved. Judy Dantzler, typist.