This saint lived during the period of the great Justinian in (527-565), and was from Cappadocia, from the village by the name Mutalaski and was the son of pious parents, John and Sophia. Immediately therefore, at the beginning of his life, he run to the community of monks and entered a monastery by the name Flavianes. There he became so αbstemious and glorious from an early age, that once seeing an apple in the garden and while he wished to eat it, he took it in his hands and said: "It was very beautiful, both to see it and to eat it, this fruit that killed me". Then he dropped the apple and trampled it with his feet. From then on he placed a rule and a decision on himself never again in his life to eat apples. Once the saint entered an operating oven and came out without being touched by the fire, both himself and his clothes. In his 16th year the saint went to the Great Euthymius who then sent him to the cenobic monastery of Saint Theoktistu, because he had yet to grow a beard.
There he lived the godly Savvas and was benefitting from all the brothers, because he imitated the virtuous and God pleasing way of life of each one. For this the Great Euthymius used to call him "Child elder".
As the years went by, Euthymius would take him with him when he withdrew in silence during the period of the Great Tesseracost (40 days after Pascha). As he was growing, so also was his virtue. The Lord thus gave him the grace to do miracles, and he performed many wondrous things, for in dry areas with his prayer, water will spring out of the ground. He also became a teacher and Abbot of many monks and twice he was sent as ambassador to Constantinople, to the then kings, namely to Anastasius who reigned during (491-518) and to Justinian, after being prompted for this by the Patriarch of Jerusalem at various times to attend to important matters. Reaching therefore very old age, he departed to the Lord at 94 years of age.
What we wrote up to here, suffices to show his great grace and frankness of the saint towards the Lord. However, let us say a few things on his path to Byzantium. During the reign of king Anastasius (491-518), there was a heated argument between the Clergy, and some who belonged to the Monophysite heresy of Dioscorus and Severus as well as the king who raised to the hierarchal thrones those who anathematized the Synod of Chalcedon and exiled the Orthodox as he unjustly exiled the blessed Elijah, the Archbishop of Palestine, who begged the great Savvas and some other virtuous Fathers to go to the king and beg him to peacefully stop the scandals. Even the Patriarch wrote a letter which said: "Longliving king, I send you ambassadors and mediators to your country, the inhabitants of the desert and especially the Great Savvas, the Head of the ascetics. Have respect therefore for their effort and their godly sweat and cease your war on the Churches. Do not allow the evil to continue, friend of Christ, if you wish to please the Lord who granted you the kingdom and the crown".
When therefore the saints arrived at the Capital, the Most Good God who glorifies those that glorify Him, let the king have a vision about the Saint, for which he honoured him greatly. When the Fathers entered the palace, the guard let everybody in except Savvas, seeing him poorly dressed with worn out clothes, kept him standing outside. He was then 73. The king having read the letter, asked who was Savvas and when he learned he was kept outside, he sent the guards to find him. When the saint entered the palace, the king saw a bright angel with a brilliant uniform walking ahead of the saint and clearing the way so that he could proceed unobstructed. These visions the king saw not because he was virtuous - for as heretic he was not worthy to see such wonders - but to learn that Savvas was a holy man, so he immediately got up from his throne and honoured him greatly. When all the saints sat down, the king asked them what each one wished from him, and they having neglected the common matter of the Church, asked for worldly gifts and presents. The king satisfied all their requests but wondered about Savvas who hadn't said anything: "You, honourable Father, why have you toiled so much to come to us and yet you do not ask for anything?" He then answered : "I, almighty king, I came first to venerate your piety, before I die, and then to beg you not to have any displeasure against the Holy City of Jerusalem and its Archbishop and to pacify the Churches. When you do these things you'll become dear to God and He will forgive your sins, granting you also victories against the enemies.
The king marveled at the frank speech of Savvas and for not asking temporary and inconsequential things but only the pacification of the Church and having sent away the others, he gave him one thousand florins to spent on his monasteries and he gave him authority to enter unobstructed the palace whenever he wished. The patriarch Elijah however, the king accused and was very angry with him but the blessed Savvas with great knowledge and frankness managed to cool his anger and convinced him to reconsider his unjust decision to exile him (the patriarch) for life and thus permitted him to remain on his throne for the love of Savvas. As the Saint successfully completed his mission, he did not depart immediately from Constantinople because it was winter but remained at a suburb outside the City called Rufino. Many went there from the City to visit him and many of them became his pure disciples and especially the grand daughter of king Valentine Juliani and wife of Pompius, son of the king, called Anastasia who later became a monastic at mount of Olives and struggled greatly and accomplished amazing feats for the glory of God.
During that period there was a great famine and disease in the areas around Jerusalem and with the passing days this terrible evil continued to grow and spread to many areas of the Byzantium. Due to this condition many houses were deserted and remained uninhabited. So that the services of the kingdom and the king himself may not suffer, and the country's treasury not become depleted, the king passed a law that required the surviving neighbours to pay the taxes owed by those who had died. When Savvas heard of this illegitimate and ruthless law, he went again to the king and explained that this law was illogical and proved to him that it would completely destroy the poor and would not be beneficial to the kingdom but to the contrary it would cause great damage and destruction. For it was indescribable injustice for those who survived the two calamities of famine and deadly epidemic to be made by the Country to further suffer, by having to pay such an unjust tax. And while they pressed the people by force they may end up revolting, which would further damage the Country. Thus speaking Savvas begged the king wholeheartedly and with many supplications to repeal such illegitimate decision.
As the king respected the Saint, he intended to satisfy his wish. But the devil again opposed, because a great lord and chief adviser to the king called Marino, opposed him, the thrice cursed, by saying: "King the majority of the people in Palestine are Nestorians and therefore you should not grant them such grace". The Saint then told him angrily: "Stop inflaming the old war to the king and repent for the words you spoke, for in a few days your remembrance will be lost with clamour, and all your glory will disappear". Marino however remained firm in his evilness, without considering at all the soul benefitting admonition of the Saint. The Saint having received a further gift of one thousand drachmas, left for Palestine. The unjust law remained in effect until the death of Anastasios and the succession of Justinian 1st (527-565) who completely repealed it. And as of the wretched Marino, few days after the Saint's prophesy, there was a riot in the City and they grabbed his fortune and burnt his house and he was almost beheaded had he not then repented and cried for his sins remembering the words of the Saint. This many narrate at Byzantium and especially the son of the king Pompius and his wife Anastasia, wondering at the visionary grace of the Saint.
Afterwards those that followed the views of Severus departed and were trying to inflame by any means the anger of the king against the Holy Patriarchs of Antioch, Flavianus and of Palestine, Elijah. In the place of Flavianus the king installed as Patriarch of Antioch the same heretic Severus (513-518) who sent to Jerusalem his own synodic letters with some clerics and many soldiers, saying that if the blessed Elijah would not accept his and Dioscorus dogmas, they will remove him from the throne. When Savvas learnt of these, he gathered all the monks and sent away all the men of the king having achieved nothing, as if they were prisoners. And in their presence all the pious anathematized the faithful followers of Severus, and king Anastasius, who wishing to revenge such a terrible embarrassment and rebuke, sent a chief with royal authority, having first ordained him Duke of all Palestine, to expel Elijah from his throne by force if he would not accept the impious dogmas of Dioscorus and Severus.
The duke, having left, immediately imprisoned the Archbishop who then asked him if he could come out of jail at a certain day during which there would be a happy celebration which will be attended by all the Christians, so that he may pronounce the declaration of the king. When the Patriarch came out he gathered all the worldly, while the godly Savvas the monks. It so happened that the nephew of the king Hypatius was also present who was jailed and then came having freed himself with ransom. As everyone had gathered at a certain large church, the Archbishop shouted the following so that everybody would hear him: "Whoever believes in the dogmas of Eutychus and Nestorius, of Severus and of Soterius, anathema. And whoever does not uphold the dogmas of the four Holy and Ecumenical Synods, let him be anathematized". Then the duke became angry because he understood that he was deceived, but because he feared the large crowd, he departed quietly from Caesaria. The nephew of the king vowed to remain in Orthodoxy and in communion with the Saints till his last breath and donated a lot of money to Savvas, to appear to him pious and faithful Orthodox. The holy one thanked him and begged him to intercede with the king asking for his mercy that he not become angry because they did not follow his declarations.
The Holy one wrote with the concurrence of all the Monastics the following letter to the king: "Our Lord Jesus Christ, the eternal king and God of all, granted you the scepters of the kingdom to govern with godly piety and peace the churches and especially the Mother of the Churches, where the great mystery of faith started and from which it passed on to the ends of the earth and which we, who live in this holy place, guarded to this day, unadulterated as we have received it from the Holy Apostles and we wish to guard it till the end with the Grace of God, without ever digressing at all, from the truthfulness of the word, nor damage it with desecrated innovations of those who every time oppose us".
"In this pure Faith, king, your kingdom was brought up from your youth. So, we wonder how in these days of your pious kingdom so much disturbance and confusion happened to the Mother of the Churches and your servants drag in the middle of the market and in front of the Jews and idolaters the hierarchs and monastics, these holy men with such disregard as if they were criminals and law-breakers and force them to infect their pure Faith. We therefore beg your power to order that they do not disturb us in matters of faith, for it is out of place and illogical for someone to say that this many Jerusalemites ascetics and that many virtuous people were not brought up correctly in faith and now in our old age you wish to explain to us piety. It is thus clear that this recently appearing correction, as you call it on the traditional and correct faith, is not correction, but a perversion and adulteration. And certainly whoever accepts such correction goes to eternal damnation. Therefore we do not at all wish to accept any innovation of the faith and will remain firm on everything that was passed on to us by our God bearing Fathers, the 380 who gathered originally at Nicea and the others of the remaining Three Holy and Ecumenical Synods and we are not only ready to suffer every sorrow and hardship but also a thousand deaths instead of departing from Orthodoxy even for a short while. And the peace of God that protects every mind, may also guard His Church and terminate this disturbance that was created against her with a gesture and command of your power, to the glory of God and the boast of the glorious and God pleasing kingdom.
Another Excerpt.
Divine providence guided the Saint and went with two other brothers, Stephen and Euthalius to visit the blessed Patriarch Elijah, who was in exile due to his Orthodox Faith, because as we said earlier he refused to confess the dogmas of Severus. When the Patriarch saw the Saint, he became happy and thanked him that he toiled so hard, an eighty year old man making such a long trip to find him in this terrible exile and held him for a few days to comfort each other. It was customary for them to meet every day at 9 and eat together. One day though the Patriarch did not come out of his cell, so the godly Savvas with his company did not eat. Finally, at midnight the Patriarch came out very sad and told them: "I do not have time to eat, so do not wait for me". They asked him the reason and why he was so sad. He said sighing sadly : "Learn blessed Savva that this hour the King Anastasius died and I must follow him in ten days from to day, to stand at the terrible Step of the Despot Christ and both stand in judgment together". And this night when the Patriarch had a vision, the Saint could also see lightning hitting the king and trying to evade them, he separated in a disgraceful way from his soul. Actually a few days later, it was heard that the king was dead. After these events the repose of the blessed Elijah followed as he foretold.
After the death of Anastasius they elected Justinian the 1st for king (518-527) who immediately sent decrees to the whole world for the return to their thrones of the Orthodox hierarchs and for the recording in the sacred books of the 4th Ecumenical Synod that convened in Chalcedon the restoration of peace in the Church. The thrice blessed Savvas was then an old man exceeding eighty years of age, sick and weak from asceticism, yet youngest in his will of soul and he did not hesitate at all, but with Orthodox zeal he run to Caesaria and to Scythopoli, declaring everywhere the pious commandments of the king and recording the, until then, four Holy Ecumenical Synods into the books of the Church and admonishing and guiding all to Orthodoxy with the honey of his sweetest teachings.
Another Excerpt
Because the Patriarch had earlier sent a letter to the king, which announced the presence of the godly Savvas, our God protected king, was pleased and sent his royal ships to meet him. Afterwards the entourage of the Patriarch Epiphanius and Pope Eusebius and bishop Hypatius of Ephesus, came out to welcome him. They received him and brought him to the king, while God revealed to his servant, the king, the following grace as He did earlier with Anastasius. Truly when he was entering the palace together with the above mentioned hierarchs and entered into the enclosure, God opened the eyes of the king who saw a divine grace as a crown of light which thundered and cast sunny rays over his godly head. The king was blessed by him and accepted from his hand the invitation from Palestine and convinced him to come in and bless also augusta Theodora.
Truly the elder entered and augusta Theodora, having received him with joy and bowing to him she begged him with these words- "bless me for my sake father that God may grant me the fruit of the belly".
The elder then said:-"God, the despot of all, will protect your royal rule". She then said again: "Bless father for God to give me a Child". And again he answered her by saying:- "The God of Glory will uphold your royal rule with piety and victory".
The queen then felt sad that he did not grant her request. When he came out, the fathers who accompanied him remarked: "why did you sadden augusta Theodora by not blessing her according to her request?"
The elder then answered:- "Believe me fathers that no fruit will come out of her belly, that she may not breastfeed the dogmas of Severus and disturb the Church worse than by Anastasius.
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