Saint Prohor of PčinjaThe fifteenth of January is the Orthodox feast-day of Saint Prohor of Pčinja, another of the great saints of the mediæval South Slavs. A ‘desert’ monastic of the Balkan Peninsula in the eleventh century, Saint Prohor was a disciple of Saint Ivan of Rila and a contemporary and friend of Saint Gavriil of Lesnovo, whose memory we also celebrate today. Many elements of Saint Prohor’s hagiography are shared by certain of the Celtic hermits of Britain and Ireland, which is not surprising given the common heritage of desert spirituality that they share.
Saint Prohor [Bg., Srb. Прохор] was born in the Ovče Pole in what is now North Macedonia around the year 1000. Not much of his early life is known except that he became a follower of Saint Ivan of Rila. Seeking solitude for himself, he found a deserted spot for himself near where the town of Vranje now is, in the Pčinja River Valley. Here Prohor spent his life in solitary struggle against the passions, praying, fasting and keeping lonely vigil in the wilderness. He was tempted by many devils in his struggle. He subsisted upon wild cabbage and root vegetables, which he harvested for his food once a week. He went without seeing another human soul for thirty-two years.
What follows in his hagiography will be familiar to the students of Celtic spirituality, and in particular those who have read the lives of Saint Illtud of Wales, Saint Pedrog of Padstow, Saint Melangell of Pennant, Saint Neot of Cornwall or Saint Wihtburg of Dereham. It so happened that a doe which was being hunted fled into Saint Prohor’s cell and hid behind him for protection from the hunter’s hounds. Soon enough the hunter, who happened to be the future Rōmanos IV Diogenēs, came upon the hermit’s cell. The hermit was standing outside the door of his cave, barring the hunter from entering it. Prohor made the Sign of the Cross and gently commanded the hunter not to kill the doe. However, young Rōmanos, seeing the unnatural way in which the timid doe was not frightened of this holy man, fled from Prohor as though from an unearthly apparition.
However, Prohor came out from his cell and began calling Rōmanos by name. It may well be that the young Eastern Roman nobleman’s curiosity overpowered his fear, because he responded to Saint Prohor, and went back to meet him. Saint Prohor engaged the young Greek hunter in conversation, and when it came time for Rōmanos to take his leave of the saint, he asked for his blessing. Saint Prohor blessed him, and foretold that in time he would take the laurels. In return, Saint Prohor asked that the young nobleman not forget him. After this encounter, Saint Prohor retreated further into the wilderness.
Years passed, and Rōmanos IV Diogenēs took the throne in Constantinople. He did not forget his promise to Saint Prohor, who returned to him in a vision. Rōmanos went back to the spot along the Pčinja where he had met Prohor, but the holy man was nowhere to be found. The saint, who had long since reposed in a remote cave deep in the wilderness, appeared once more to Rōmanos and told him where and how his relics might be found. Following the vision’s instructions exactly, Rōmanos and his entourage came to the holy man’s cave, and found his body inside… completely incorrupt, lying down peacefully as though he were merely sleeping.
Emperor Rōmanos had a reliquary wrought out of fine gold for the saint, and placed his precious remains inside. The emperor then tried to move the reliquary, but it was so heavy that even an entire team of horses could not get it to budge. In this way the saint made manifest his will not to be removed from the place of his repose. And so Emperor Rōmanos established the Pčinja Monastery in the same place where Saint Prohor’s cave was. Today Pčinja is the second-largest Serbian monastery which is still active, after the Hilandar Monastery on Athos. Holy and venerable hermit Prohor, wondrous athlete for Christ and friend to all creation, pray unto Christ our God to have mercy upon us sinners!
Apolytikion for Saint Prohor of Pčinja, Tone 8:
By a flood of tears you made the desert fertile,
And your longing for God brought forth fruits in abundance.
By the radiance of miracles you illumined the whole universe!
O our holy father Prohor, pray to Christ our God to save our souls!
Prohor of Pčinja Monastery, Serbia
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