E07176: Antonios of Choziba writes in Greek a short collection of Miracles of *Mary (mother of Christ, S00033) at the Monastery of Choziba, including a reference to the healing miracles that occur at the tomb of the first five holy monks of the monastery, *Promos, Elias, Gannaios, Aian, and Zenon (monks of Choziba, S02757). The tomb also produced a miraculous flow of healing oil. Written at the monastery of Choziba (Palestine), between 614 and 628.

Antonios of Choziba, Miracles of the Mother of God at the Monastery of Choziba (CPG 7986, BHG 1071)

Summary:

1. A noble woman (patrikia) from Constantinople comes to the Holy Land, hoping to be healed of an incurable ailment. Mary appears and instructs her to go to Choziba, although no women are admitted to the monastery. She explains to the monks, and they allow her to stay in the diakonikon. She is healed, and converts to Orthodoxy, for she had been heterodox. This was the only visit of a woman to the monastery.

2. The uncle of a Roman (i.e. western) monk called Vitalios falls from a height, while drunk, but is miraculously saved from injury.

3. Rescue of a monk from a similar accident.

4. Mary assists a monk to kill a snake which had repeatedly tried to bite him.

5-6. The monastic settlement of Choziba was founded by five Syrian monks, *Promos, Elias, Gannaios, Ainan, and Zenon, who lived there in succession. They built a small oratory of *Stephen (the First Martzr, S00030), and the funerary chapel which houses their tombs. The rest of the monastery was built by *Ioannes (monk of Choziba, S02030), who later became bishop of Caesarea in Palestine. Healing oil used to flow miraculously from the tomb of the five holy monks, covering its surface, but the miracle stopped when a verger accidentally spilled the oil from the saints’ crucible (chone). Yet the saints still perform miraculous cures.

7. Epilogue.

Text: Houze 1888.
Summary: Efthymios Rizos.