March 17/4 Commemorating St. Gerasimus of Jordan

Saint Gerasimus was a native of Lycia (Asia Minor). Already in his youth, he decided to leave the worldly life and devote himself to the service of God. Having accepted monasticism, he went to Egypt, to the Thebaid desert. Then, after many years, the saint came to Palestine and settled in the Jordaniandesert. Here the Monk Gerasimus built a monastery, the charter of which was distinguished by great severity. The abbot himself showed the brethren a wonderful example of perfect asceticism and abstinence. During Great Lent, the monk did not partake of anything until the very bright day of the Resurrection of Christ, when he partook of the Divine Mysteries. During the death of St. Euthymius the Great († 473), it was revealed to the Monk Gerasimus how the soul of the deceased was carried up by angels to heaven.

The holy ascetic met a wounded lion in the desert and cured him. In gratitude, the lion began to serve the elder as a pet until his death, after which he himself died on the grave and was buried near the tomb of the saint. The Monk Gerasimus peacefully reposed in the Lord in 451.