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[[Venerable]] '''Sabbas the Sanctified''' was born in the fifth century at Cappadocia of pious Christian parents, John and Sophia. His father was a military commander. Journeying to Alexandria on military matters, his wife went with him, but they left their five-year-old son in the care of an uncle. When the boy reached eight years of age, he entered the monastery of St. Flavian located nearby. The gifted child quickly learned to read and became an expert on the [[Bible|Holy Scripture]]s. In vain did his parents urge St. Sabbas to return to the world and enter into marriage.
When he was seventeen years old he received [[tonsure|monastic ]] [[ tonsure]], and attained such perfection in [[fast]]ing and [[prayer]] that he was given the gift of wonderworking. After spending ten years at the [[monastery]] of St. Flavian, he went to Jerusalem, and from there to the monastery of [[Euthymius|St. Euthymius the Great]] ([[January 20]]). But St. Euthymius sent St. Sabbas to Abba Theoctistus, the head of a nearby monastery with a strict cenobitic rule. St. Sabbas lived in obedience at this monastery until the age of thirty.
After the death of the Elder Theoctistus, his successor blessed St. Sabbas to seclude himself in a cave. On Saturdays, however, he left his hermitage and came to the monastery, where he participated in divine services and ate with the brethren. After a certain time St. Sabbas received permission not to leave his hermitage at all, and he struggled in the cave for five years.
