The Monk Thomas Dethurkinos

Commemorated on December 10

The Monk Thomas Dethurkinos was born in Bithynia. From his youthful years he was fond of monastic life and entered one of the surrounding monasteries. Later in life, when the Byzantine official Galoliktos had founded at the River Sagarisa a monastery, the Monk Thomas was already an experienced monk, and the brethren chose him as head of the new monastery. From there the Monk Thomas withdrew into the wilderness, where for a long time he asceticised in solitude. The monk underwent many a snare of the devil in the wilderness. The Lord glorified him with the gift of healing and perspicacity. One time, the emperor Leo the Wise (886-911) came to the monastery to Saint Thomas for advice. Not finding the monk at the monastery, the emperor sent off his messenger with a letter for him. And just as the messenger arrived at the hut of the elder, the saint carried out to him a sealed answer, resolving the quandary of the emperor. The account about the repose of the monk is not preserved.