Polychronium (reverend)

Polychrome ( other Greek: Πολυχρόνιος ; IV century - after 444 years) - Christian ascetic, Syrian hermit, reverend.

Information about the life of Polychrony is reported by Theodorite of Cyrus in the 24th chapter of his book “ The History of God-Lovers, ” who personally knew him. Polychrony was a monk in the vicinity of the city of Cyrus , where he lived a harsh ascetic life. Polychrony is a student of Zevin . Polychronius, like his teacher, was an eager prayer book, spending the whole night in prayer. Having lived to an old age, he weakened and at the request of Theodorite took in his cell two assistant monks of the cell -mates Moses and Damian. However, after living with Polychrony for a little time, they wanted to leave it, because they could not bear the all-night prayer standing of Polychrony. Elder Polychronius condescendingly treated the human weaknesses of his cell men and said that he did not force them to spend all night praying with him, but asked them to go to bed more often. Defeating the main sin - pride, Polychronius always tried to hide his labors. Out of fear of harming his soul, which could fall into vanity, Polychronius did not wear a veil. However, he ordered that the heavy root of the oak be brought, and at night, when no one saw, he laid it on his shoulders and thus prayed; sometimes he did it during the day, if it was at that time. When someone came to him and knocked on the door, Polychronius hid the root in a certain place. One man, accidentally saw this, and told Theodorite about this feat. Theodorite wanted to know how heavy this root was; choosing a convenient time, Theodoret could hardly pick it up with both hands. Polychronius saw this and ordered Bishop Theodorite to put the root in place. Theodorite's requests to Polychrony to take away the root of the oak from his cell were unsuccessful. Theodorite describes the case of miracles committed by Polychronius: during a drought, thanks to the crayfish laid by Polychronium on an empty vessel, the latter was filled with oil. Theodorite describes an amazing incident showing the humility of Polychrony; Theodorite came with the ruler of the Kirsk region to the elder, Polychronius knelt down, hugged the ruler’s legs and said: “I want to ask you one request.” The ruler became unpleasant, he thought that the old man would ask for one of the people, but respecting the ascetic, the ruler promised to fulfill the request. To his surprise, instead of asking for someone, the elder asked the ruler himself to pray earnestly for him to the God of the ruler himself. Despite the fact that many brought Polychronium gold and gave it to him, Polychronius did not take anything from anyone, because he loved poverty. At the time of writing the book by Theodorite of Cyrus, “The History of God-Lovers,” in 444, Polychronius was still alive.