St. Neophyte's Day
Description:
From a very young age, Neophyte decided that he would serve God and began to prepare himself for the adoption of monasticism. Neophyte’s parents saw him as a continuation of the family and wanted to marry him, but the young man was adamant in his decision and, in the end, left home. He went to the mountain monastery of St. John Chrysostom, where he had already passed obediences, and took tonsure.
He cultivated vineyards, loved to spend time in solitude, reading prayers and theological works. He was so successful that he learned the Psalm by heart. The neophyte began to ask the experienced elders to release him to prepare a place for complete solitude, but was refused. The elders dissuaded the young monk from this act, guided by the considerations that he would not be able to cope with all the temptations and temptations that overtook him.
A neophyte decides to visit the Holy Places in Jerusalem and try to find peace there in one of the deserts. Not finding one, he returned to his homeland and tried to sail by ship to a monastery settlement in Asia Minor, but this failed. The fate of Neofitu gave the opportunity to find solitude in Cyprus.
One day Neophyte found a cave not made by hand, built it and settled in it. He built a church in the name of the Holy Cross, and then built a small monastery “Enclistra”, which means “Shield Place”. He did not allow any of the monks to come to his settlement, but at the insistence of Bishop Basil Quimanos of Paphos, four years later he agreed to accept one disciple, and then many others.
Having given the inhabitants the charter he compiled for the monastery, Neophyte landscaping the cave above the former one and goes into the shutter, going out to the students only on Sundays.
The Cypriots have a legend that Neophyte punched a small hole in the roof of the first church he built (now located below the new cave) and listened to beautiful monastery singing. This was the only "entertainment" of the hermit.
He passed away to the Lord at an honorable age, he was over 80. No one knows the exact date of his death. Cypriots sacredly honor Neophyte, coming to his cave and asking him for help in various everyday situations. On January 24, a solemn procession is made to the cave. It is noteworthy that this day for the remembrance of Neophyte was established by the saint himself, even during his lifetime, when he miraculously survived the construction of a new cave called “New Zion”.
The service in the small cave temple is performed once a year. The Cypriots also glorify Neophyte on September 28, the day his holy relics were miraculously found.
It is also remarkable that Metropolitan Chrysostomos of Paphos, now the Primate of the Cyprus Orthodox Church, Chrysostomos II, was obedient in the monastery of St. Neophytus.