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Icon of St. John Theristus
("the Harvester"), of Sicily and Calabria
Feast: Feb. 23
Note: I am not certain whether
this saint meets the usual standards for an Orthodox veneration, but
the icon of him does appear to be a genuine Greek icon, and he is
listed amongst the Saints on the Orthodox Europe website of Fr. Andrew
Phillips, Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia, on the page entitled
"Latin Saints of the Orthodox Patriarchate of Rome." There the year of
his repose is given as 1169, a date far posterior to the Schism of
1054, and this is puzzling to me unless perhaps it is accepted because
the saint was part of an Orthodox Italo-Greek community in Calabria. On
the other hand, the icon was posted on an icons site with the notation
that the year of repose of this saint was 1050, which would be anterior
to the Schism. I welcome comments from our viewers who may know more
about the circumstances of this saint's life, about which I can find
very little. Here is what Orthodox Europe says of him:
"Of Calabrian parentage, he
was born in Sicily, where his mother had been taken as a slave by the
Saracens. He managed to escape to Calabria while still a child and
there became a monk. Theristos, meaning harvester, refers to a
miraculous harvest reaped by the saint."
Icon with Greek inscription,
of unknown provenance.
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