Thomas of Bithynia, known in the Greek tradition by the surname Dephourkinos, was a Byzantine monastic of the ninth century venerated as an ascetic and spiritual guide. The synaxarion places his origins in Bithynia, in northwestern Asia Minor; the Greek account locates his birth at the foot of Mount Kyminas to parents of middling means. Drawn to the monastic life from his youth, he is said to have studied ecclesiastical writings and to have visited a number of monastic centers before himself entering a monastery.
Already an experienced monk, he was chosen to lead a newly founded community on the River Sagaris (the Sangarios), established by a Byzantine official whom the sources name Galoliktos (Galolektos). He later withdrew from the monastery into the wilderness, where he lived for many years in solitude. He is commemorated on December 10.
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Monastic life and ascetic struggle
According to the synaxarion, Thomas embraced monasticism early and became sufficiently seasoned that the brethren of the new foundation on the River Sagaris chose him as their head when a Byzantine official named Galoliktos established the monastery there. The Greek tradition relates that he governed the community in an orderly way and served as an example to his fellow monks.
From this position he afterward withdrew into the wilderness to pursue a more solitary discipline. The accounts describe a prolonged period of ascetic struggle in which he is said to have overcome many temptations; the Greek synaxarion adds that demonic attacks took the form of mosquitoes, flies, wasps, and snakes, from which he was delivered through prayer. The tradition holds that he was granted the gifts of healing and of prophecy, or clairvoyance, in the course of this long labor.
The encounter with Emperor Leo the Wise
The best-known episode in the saint's life concerns the emperor Leo VI the Wise (reigned 886-911), who by tradition came to the monastery seeking the monk's counsel. Not finding Thomas present, the emperor sent a messenger with a written question. The synaxarion relates that as the messenger reached the elder's hut, Thomas came out and handed him a sealed reply that already resolved the emperor's inquiry. This reference to Leo the Wise is also noted as the principal evidence for dating the saint to the late ninth and early tenth centuries; his life survives in a fifteenth-century manuscript synaxarion.
Repose
The sources agree that Thomas reposed in peace, in advanced old age, after many years of ascetic labor. He is commemorated in the Orthodox calendar on December 10.
