Stylianos of Paphlagonia
Our Venerable Father Stylianos of Paphlagonia
Venerable
Commemorated 26 November — Repose; falls within the Nativity Fast
Stylianos of Paphlagonia was a hermit of Asia Minor, honoured across the Orthodox world — and most warmly in the Greek tradition — as the patron and protector of children. Having given away the fortune he inherited from his parents, he became a monk and then withdrew to a cave in the wilderness, where his holiness drew the sick and the troubled to him for healing. The Lord granted him a special grace toward the young: mothers brought their ailing children to him and he cured them, and after his death the pious continued to invoke him for sick children and for the gift of offspring. He is commemorated on November 26.
Stylianos was born in Paphlagonia, in northern Asia Minor, at an uncertain period — the tradition places him somewhere between the fourth and the sixth centuries and no firm dates are transmitted. When his parents died he inherited a great fortune, but he kept none of it, giving it away to the poor according to their need. Leaving the world, he entered a monastery and devoted himself to God; but, being more zealous and devout than his brethren, he provoked their envy and was forced to depart. He withdrew to live alone in a cave in the wilderness, passing his days in prayer and fasting.
The goodness and piety of the hermit could not remain hidden, and the people of Paphlagonia sought him out for his teaching and for healing; many were cured of bodily and mental illness by his prayers. Above all he was known for his love of children. The evangelical words, "unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven" (Matthew 18:3), had sunk deep into his soul, and the Lord granted him the grace of protecting the little ones. Mothers carried their sick children to his cave from the towns and villages round about; falling on their knees before him, they gave glory to God and begged his help, and the saint would take the child in his arms and with tears entreat the Lord, who granted the healing. By his prayers, too, barren women became the joyful mothers of children.
At the hour of his death, it is related, the face of Stylianos suddenly grew radiant, and an angel appeared to receive his soul. He reposed in a deep old age. His veneration spread far beyond his native region and remains especially strong in the Churches of the Greek tradition, where he continues to be invoked for the healing of children and against barrenness, exactly as he was in his earthly life.
Feast and commemoration
November 26 (church date; Old Calendar civil December 9), within the Nativity Fast. His memory is kept most fervently in the Greek Churches, where he is a household patron of children, and he is listed on this day by the Orthodox Church in America, together with his fellow Paphlagonian Alypius the Stylite and Nikon Metanoeite. Because no dates of his life are handed down, he is not assigned to a century.
Hymns
Troparion — Tone 3
A living pillar of self-restraint and an unshaken pillar of the Church didst thou become, O blessed Stylianos; for having from thy youth entrusted thyself to the Lord, thou wast shown to be a dwelling-place of the Spirit. O venerable father, entreat Christ God to grant us great mercy.
Original translation from the Greek
Kontakion — Tone 4
From thy mother's womb wast thou sanctified, like the divine Samuel, O God-bearer, and in the ascetic life thou didst glorify Christ God; wherefore thou becamest a well-spring of healings and a holy guardian of children and of infants, for Christ, whom thou didst glorify from thy tender years, hath gloriously glorified thee, O Stylianos.
Original translation from the Greek
Iconography
Stylianos is depicted almost always in the same way: as a monastic hermit with a long pointed beard, holding a swaddled infant in his arms — the image that expresses his role as protector of children — and sometimes with several children gathered at his side. Many Greek panel icons bear the inscription "ΠΑΙΔΩΝ ΦΥΛΑΞ ΠΕΦΥΚΑ," "I am by nature the guardian of children." The stored image is an icon of 1898 by the Bulgarian iconographer Nikola Obrazopisov, titled "Saint Stylian, Guardian of Children," showing the saint holding a swaddled child.