Sabas 1

Prosopography of the Byzantine Empire
SexM
FloruitE/M IX
ReligionChristian
LocationsHagios Porphyrios (Monastery of, Bithynia);
Hagios Porphyrios (Monastery of, Bithynia (residence);
Hagios Porphyrios (Monastery of, Bithynia) (workplace);
Atroa (Monastery of) (residence);
Atroa (Monastery of);
Constantinople
OccupationMonk
Textual SourcesVita Ioannicii, by Sabas the monk (BHG 935), AASSNovember II 1, pp. 332-383 (hagiography);
Vita Petri Atroensis, by Sabas the monk (BHG 2364), ed. V. Laurent, La Vie merveilleuse de Saint Pierre d'Atroa, Subsidia Hagiographica 29 (Brussels, 1956) (hagiography);
Vita Retractata Petri Atroensis, by Sabas the monk (BHG 2365), ed. V. Laurent, La Vita retractata et les miracles posthumes de Saint Pierre d'Atroa, Subsidia Hagiographica 31 (Brussels, 1958) (hagiography)

Sabas 1 was a monk, author of the Life of St Peter of Atroa (Petros 34): Vita Petr. Atr., title (Σάβα μοναχοῦ εἰς τὸν βίον τοῦ ὁσίου Πατρὸς ἡμῶν καὶ θαυματουργοῦ Πέτρου τοῦ ἐν τῇ Ἀτρώᾳ). He was instructed to compose the Life by the superior of his monastery, Iakobos 4; he had become a monk under Petros 34 (τούτῳ τῷ φωστῆρι τῶν φωστήρων κατηξιώθην στοιχειωθῆναι πρὸς τὴν τοῦ μονήρους βίου εἰσαγωγὴν ὁ πανελάχιστος ἔγωγε), and his sources were partly his own recollections and partly reports from eyewitnesses and persons involved: Vita Petr. Atr., prol. He gives his own personal accounts at Vita Petr. Atr. 21, 48, 55, 58, 71, 72. He was probably a native of Constantinople: Vita Petr. Atr. 48, p. 165 (πρὸς τὰ ἴδια εἰς τὴν Πόλιν). His literary skills imply that he had received a good education; see Laurent, La Vie merveilleuse, p. 10. On his life, cf. further Laurent, op. cit., pp. 9-13. The Life of Peter of Atroa was perhaps written c. 845/850, at the monastery of Hagios Porphyrios; see Laurent, op. cit., pp. 13-15, p. 40 with n. 6, p. 65, n. 3.

Sabas 1 subsequently wrote a revised and expanded version of the Life, adding reports on a number of posthumous miracles worked by the saint, the Vita Petri Atroensis Retractata. In this he tells how he himself was miraculously cured at the tomb of the saint during a commemoration of him: Vita Petr. Atr. Retractata 98 (p. 149). The date of his revision was perhaps c. 860/865; see Laurent, Vita Retractata, pp. 29-30, 48-49.

He also wrote a Life of St Ioannikios (Ioannikios 2): Sabas, Vita Ioannicii, cf. p. 332 (title) συγγραφεὶς παρὰ Σάβα μοναχοῦ. The work was written soon after the death of Ioannikios 2 (November 846); Sabas, Vita Ioannicii 54 (miracles that happened shortly after the death of Ioannikios 2). He was told by Ioannikios 2 of the vision he had at the precise moment of the death of Peter of Atroa: Sabas, Vita Ioannicii 44 (narrated briefly here and at more length in the Life of Peter). On the Lives of Makarios of Pelekete and St Loukas the Stylite, see Laurent, La Vie merveilleuse, pp. 16-18.

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