The Monk Damian

Commemorated on February 23

The Monk Damian practised silence on Athos, in the skete Esthigmena monastery, on a mountain in Samaria, and in one of the caves wherein asceticism had been pursued by the Father of Russian Monasticism – the Monk Antonii of Pechersk (Comm. 10 July). Blessed Damian enjoyed the especial friendship of Saint Kozma of Zografsk (Comm. 22 September). Having been a true obedient and having kept firmly the injunctions of the fathers, the monk was glorified upon his death by a miraculous fragrance, which issued from his grave during the course of 40 days.