Pausicacus of Synada was a Christian saint, monk, ascetic, and bishop of Synada. The saint's name, in Greek Παυσίκακος, derives from the words παῦσις (''pavsis'') ("to stop, to cease") and κακία (''kakia'') ("evil, misfortune"); it means "to stop evil".

Biography

The motherland of Saint Pausicacus of Synada was a city called

Apamea Apamea or Apameia ( grc, Απάμεια) is the name of several Hellenistic cities in western Asia, after Apama, the Sogdian wife of Seleucus I Nicator, several of which are also former bishoprics and Catholic titular see. Places called Apamea in ...

, which was situated in the southwest

Syria Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...

. Pausicacus was born in a noble and pious family. When he was a child, he began to live as an

ascetic Asceticism (; from the el, ἄσκησις, áskesis, exercise', 'training) is a lifestyle characterized by abstinence from sensual pleasures, often for the purpose of pursuing spiritual goals. Ascetics may withdraw from the world for their p ...

– he spent almost all his time praying. At the age of twenty-five, he became a monk. Living on only a little water and bread, Pausicacus was given a gift of healing, and he began to cure bodily and mental illnesses. As time went on, there are rumors that he could

exorcise Exorcism () is the religious or spiritual practice of evicting demons, jinns, or other malevolent spiritual entities from a person, or an area, that is believed to be possessed. Depending on the spiritual beliefs of the exorcist, this may be ...

demons from people, restore vision to the blind and perform a lot of other marvels. At last, these rumors reached the

Patriarch of Constantinople The ecumenical patriarch ( el, Οἰκουμενικός Πατριάρχης, translit=Oikoumenikós Patriárchēs) is the archbishop of Constantinople (Istanbul), New Rome and '' primus inter pares'' (first among equals) among the heads of th ...

, Cyriacus (592 – 606). The Patriarch called the monk to Constantinople and ordained him a bishop, appointing him bishop of Synada, which was north of

Phrygia In classical antiquity, Phrygia ( ; grc, Φρυγία, ''Phrygía'' ) was a kingdom in the west central part of Anatolia, in what is now Asian Turkey, centered on the Sangarios River. After its conquest, it became a region of the great empires ...

. As soon as Saint Pausicacus became a bishop, he began to banish heretics and freethinkers and people who persisted in immorality from his congregation. When he became famous in Phrygia by his care of his congregation, he traveled to Constantinople, where he healed the Emperor Maurice of his illness. For this, the Emperor gave Pausicacus’s province a reward. When Pausicacus was returning from Constantinople to Synada, he obtained water source by pray, which one gave to quench the thirst of Saint and his companions. Saint Pausicacus died in 606. His burial place is unknown. His name day is celebrated on 26 May.

Biography

References

Further reading