<p>St. Sabas was born in Cappadocia, which is Turkey today.&nbsp; He was the son of a military commander.&nbsp; He was left in the care of his uncle when he was five, while his parents took care of military matters.&nbsp; He remained there for three years, and then entered the nearby monastery of Bishop Flavian of Antioch.&nbsp; The gifted child quickly learned to read and became an expert on the Holy Scriptures.&nbsp; His parents returned and tried to urge Sabas to enter into marriage and leave the monastery, with no results. &nbsp;&nbsp;</p> <p>He received monastic tonsure at the age of seventeen.&nbsp; He spent ten years at the monastery of Bishop Flavian, and then went to Jerusalem.&nbsp; He then went to the monastery of St. Euthymius the Great, but he was sent to Abba Theoctistus, the head of a nearby monastery with a strict cenobitic rule.&nbsp; Sabas lived here in obedience until the age of thirty. &nbsp;</p> <p>Sabas was given permission to seclude himself in a cave and live as a hermit.&nbsp; He would return to the monastery on Saturdays, to participate in fellowship with his brethren, and for Divine praise.&nbsp; Eventually he was permitted to remain in the life as a hermit for five years.&nbsp; Euthymius literally directed the life of the young monk, and seeing his spiritual maturity, he began to take him with him, to the wilderness.&nbsp; They set out each January 14, and remained in the wilderness until Palm Sunday.&nbsp; Eventually Euthymius died, and Sabas withdrew into the life of a hermit, and started to build a following of monks that joined him. &nbsp;</p> <p>St. Sabas founded several monasteries.&nbsp; It is claimed that many miracles took place through the prayers of St. Sabas, at the lavra, a spring of water welled up, during a time of drought they received abundant rain.&nbsp; Also, there were healings of sick and the possessed.&nbsp; He was ordained in 491, and appointed archimandrite of all the monasteries in Palaestina Prima.&nbsp; He composed the first monastic rule of church services, for guidance of all the Byzantine monasteries.&nbsp; He died in the year 532.&nbsp; His relics were taken by the Crusaders in the 12^th century and remained in Italy until Pope Paul VI returned them to the monastery in 1965 as a gesture of good will towards the Orthodox. &nbsp;</p> <p><span style="font-size: medium;"><strong>Practical Take Away</strong></span></p> <p>St. Sabas was born in 439, in what is now, modern day Turkey.&nbsp; He was a spirtitual man that lived as a hermit for many years, and then went on to found monateries.&nbsp; His most notable monastery is known as &ldquo;Mar Saba&rdquo;.&nbsp; He did a lot to promote the faith in the Orthodox Church in the Middle East. &nbsp;</p>