Saint Savvas came from the village of Mutalaski in Cappadocia and was the son of pious parents, John and Sophia. From a very early age he became acquainted with the divine councils and decided to dedicate himself to the monastic life. He had so much faith that he once entered a fiery furnace from which he came out unscathed with the help of God.
When he was eighteen years old he left the Flavian monastery and went to Jerusalem. From there he headed to the Eastern desert to meet Euthymius the Great. Euthymius sent him to a convent run by the holy Theoktistos. Agios Savvas during his stay in the convent shone because of his character and his virtues. In fact, he was so serious and moral – despite his young age – that he was adopted as a child elder by Euthymius the Great.
As Saint Savvas grew up, he fed his spirit more and more, which is why he was honored with the gift of miracles. This charisma he enlisted in the service of the poor and the sick and thus he accomplished important works.
For the sanctity of his life and for his great fame, he was sent twice by the Patriarch of Jerusalem as ambassador to Constantinople, to King Anastasios and then to Justinian. At the age of ninety-four, in 534 AD, he ascended to the Lord in peace. In 584 AD, the Relic of Saint Savvas was recovered uncorrupted when his tomb was opened to bury Abbot Kassianos. It was initially preserved in his Monastery and then transferred to Constantinople, during the period of the Arab raids. In 1965 it was definitively returned to the Great Lavra.
