🔸 November 1 - Saint David of Evia 🔸 St David was born in the late 15th century and was the son of a priest. At age 3, he beheld a vision of John the Forerunner who led him to a nearby church dedicated in his honor. There, the child remained barefoot for 6 days before the Saint’s icon. At 15, David left home and was ordained a monk by his spiritual father Hieromonk Akakios, later Bishop of Arta. David showed perfect obedience; once, after being reprimanded for accepting shoes from a Christian without a blessing, he walked barefoot back to Arta to return them. He became Abbot of the Monastery of the Mother of God in Varnakova where he founded a secret school to teach Orthodoxy during Ottoman rule. Due to the monks’ disobedience, he reluctantly left the monastery. The Lord led him to Mt Steiris where he continued his ascetic struggles. Accused of sheltering a runaway slave, David was arrested and tortured by the Turks. The Saint patiently endured his trials, and Christians paid a bribe for his release. When a sailor refused to take him across to the island of Evia, the Saint placed his robe on the sea, made the Sign of the Cross, and miraculously sailed across. Seeing this, the sailor begged for forgiveness, and David blessed him from afar. In Evia he built a small church to the Transfiguration of the Savior. His holiness drew many monks, so he journeyed to Russia seeking funds for a new monastery. With the help of the Greek community in Russia, he gathered a large sum of money. Sealing the tunds inside a hollowed log, he cast into the river. When he returned to Evia, he saw that the log had been found by fishermen in Rovies, but their axes broke when they stuck it. David revealed to them that it held the monastery funds, and would open only by God’s will. Builders ignored St David’s instruction to construct the monastery atop the mountain, and instead built it near the Transfiguration church because there was no water up high. The Saint went up the mountain and prayed to the Mother of God, and miraculously a spring gushed forth. Thus, the Monastery of St David was founded in 1540. He guided the monks here until his repose in 1589.