Venerable (Monastic)4th century

Venerable Mausimas the Syrian

4th century

A simple-hearted Syrian ascetic near Cyrrhus whose vessels of oil and grain never ran dry as he fed the poor.

Feast Day

January 23

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Commemorated as

Our Venerable Father Mausimas the Syrian, Hermit of Cyrrhus

Life

Mausimas the Syrian was a fourth-century ascetic who lived near the city of Cyrrhus (Kyrrhos) in northern Syria, a settlement whose ruins survive at the site of Nabi Huri. Remembered for voluntary poverty and an unstinting hospitality toward the poor and toward strangers, he belongs to the tradition of rural Syrian solitaries whose lives were gathered by Theodoret, Bishop of Cyrrhus.

He is best known for the account of two vessels kept in his dwelling, one holding grain and the other oil, from which he is said to have supplied all who came to him in need and which were reported never to run empty. The early tradition reads this as an echo of the biblical miracle of the widow of Zarephath, whose meal and oil did not fail while she sheltered the prophet Elijah. The Orthodox Church commemorates him on January 23.

Timeline3 momentsReadHide

4th centuryAscetic life near CyrrhusMausimas lived as a hermit in the countryside near Cyrrhus in Syria, embracing voluntary poverty and devoting himself to the service of his neighbors.
4th centuryThe two vesselsHe kept two containers in his dwelling, one of grain (or bread) and one of oil, from which he supplied the poor and travelers; tradition holds that they remained continually full.
Mid-5th centuryRecorded by TheodoretHis life was set down by Theodoret, Bishop of Cyrrhus, in the Religious History (also called the History of the Monks of Syria), where he forms one of the thirty ascetic lives.

Contributions & Legacy

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Life and asceticism

According to the tradition preserved by Theodoret of Cyrrhus, Mausimas was of ordinary, rustic origins and was Syrian-speaking. Although he lacked formal education, he was remembered for the strictness and simplicity of his manner of life. His asceticism was unpretentious rather than dramatic: he is said to have worn the same tunic and goat's-hair cloak for a very long time, sewing fresh rags over the tears as they appeared rather than replacing the garments.

He made his dwelling a place of open hospitality, throwing open its doors to all who came and giving particular attention to the care of strangers and the poor. The Orthodox synaxarion summarizes his vocation as the voluntary embrace of poverty for the sake of serving his neighbor.

The miracle of the grain and oil

The detail for which Mausimas is chiefly remembered is the report of two vessels in his hut, one filled with grain or bread and the other with oil. From these he is said to have provided for everyone who came to him in need, and they were said never to be exhausted.

The tradition explicitly links this to the Old Testament account of the widow of Zarephath, whose jar of meal and cruse of oil did not fail through a time of famine while she sustained the prophet Elijah. The same blessing, in the telling, was understood to rest upon the vessels of Mausimas.

Sources and commemoration

The principal early source for Mausimas is the Religious History of Theodoret, Bishop of Cyrrhus (c. 393-466), a collection of about thirty lives of ascetics living in the region of Antioch from the early fourth to the mid-fifth century. Mausimas is the subject of its fourteenth chapter, and Theodoret's own see of Cyrrhus was close to where the hermit lived.

He is commemorated in the Orthodox Church on January 23. His name appears in transliterated forms including Maesymas and, in Arabic-language tradition, Mawsim.

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