One Sunday when this saintly man (St. John the Almsgiver)...

…was going down to his church there came to him one whose whole house had been despoiled by burglars; they had taken everything even down to his mattress. The sufferer was in great distress but, as those who had robbed his house could not be found in spite of a strict search, he was finally obliged by his extreme want, very shamefacedly, to apply to the Saint and told him about his misfortune. The Saint was very sorry for him—for he was one of the prominent foreign residents—and whispered to the man in charge of the gold to give him fifteen pounds of gold. When the latter went out to give the money to the man he took counsel with the cashier and with the treasurer and at the Devil’s prompting they grudged him so large a sum and gave him only five pounds.

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Another father, called Abba Helle...

…had persevered since childhood in the ascetic life. He often carried fire to his neighboring brethren in the fold of his tunic, and stimulated them to advance to the point of performing miracles, saying to them, “If you practice true ascesis, then you will show the supernatural signs of virtue.” 

Once on a Sunday he went to see some monks and said to them, “Why have you not celebrated the Divine Liturgy today?” When they replied that it was because the priest had not come from the other side of the river, he said to them, “I shall go and call him.” But they said it was impossible for anyone to cross the ford, partly because of the depth, but most of all because there was a huge beast at that spot, a crocodile which had devoured many people. The father did not hesitate. At once he jumped up and rushed into the ford. And immediately the beast took him onto its back and set him down on the other side. On finding the priest at his place, he entreated him not to neglect the community of brothers. The priest, seeing that he was dressed in a rag with many patches, asked him where he had found it, saying, “You have a most beautiful mantle for your soul, brother,” for he was amazed at his humility and poverty.

He followed Helle back to the river. As they failed to find a ferry, Helle let out a cry calling the crocodile to him. The animal obeyed him instantly and offered its back as a raft. Helle asked the priest to climb on with him. But the priest was terrified at the sight of the beast and backed away. While he and the brothers who lived on the other bank watched, seized with dread, he crossed the ford with the beast, came ashore, and hauling the beast out of the water, said to it, “It is better for you to die and make restitution for all the lives you have taken.” Whereupon the animal at once sank onto its belly and died. 

Historia Monachorum in Aegypto 12.1,6-9 

Abba Zosimos the Cilician said...

…When I was a young man, I left Mt. Sinai and went to Ammoniac to stay there in a cell. There I found an elder dressed in a short-sleeved shirt of palm-fibre. When the elder saw me, before greeting me, he said, “Why have you come here, Zosimos? Get away from here. You cannot stay in this place.” I thought he knew me. I made a prostration before him saying, “Of your charity, elder, whence do you know me?” He said to me, “Two days ago, a being appeared to me who said, ‘A monk is coming to you whose name is Zosimos. Do not allow him to stay here. It is my will to entrust him the church of the Egyptian Babylon (Old Cairo).’ He fell silent and left me, going about a stone’s throw from me. There he spent some two hours in prayer. Then he came back to me and kissed me on the forehead, saying, “Naturally, child, you are welcome, for God has brought you here to bury my body.” I asked him, “How many years have you been here, abba?” “I am completing my forty-fifth year,” he replied. It looked to me as though his face were of fire. He said to me, “Peace be with you, child; pray for me.” And with that, the servant of the Lord lay down and fell asleep. I dug a grave and buried him. Two days later I went on my way, glorifying God.

John Moschus, Leimonarion (The Spiritual Meadow) 123 

During the reign of the emperor Decius (249-251) ...

…when there was a persecution against the Christians, seven men were captured and brought before the emperor. These seven men were named Maximianus, Malchus, Martinianus, Constantinus, Dionysiu, Johannes, and Serapion. Althought though were tempted by various suggestions to yield, they never acquiesced. Because of his regard for them, the emperor granted time to think, so that they would not die immediately. But the seven men shut themselves up in a cave, and there they lived for many days. One of them would leave, purchase supplies, and bring back necessities.

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Now it happened one year...

…that the Nile did not rise enough to water all our fields, and a multitude of the poor came to Abba Aaron weeping and saying, “Our holy father, we and our children are going to die because the waters have not risen!” He said to them, “Believe in God and He will deliver you. As it is written, ‘The prayer of the poor man who is downhearted, he pours out entreaty before the Lord.’ Again it says, ‘The Lord has heard the desires of the poor.’” He quoted them numerous other passages from scripture and explained them to them, and he comforted them, and in this way they departed from him praising God. Now the holy man Aaron was not unconcerned about their distress, and he would go to the river each evening and immerse himself in the water up to his neck and he would pray to God, saying, “My good Christ, compassionate one, have compassion upon your image and likeness.” Indeed, he continued this practice until God had compassion for his tears and made the waters of the Nile flow over the face of the whole country. 

Paphnutius, Life of Abba Aaron, 131 (trans. Tim Vivian) 

I once related to him (St. Herman of Alaska)...

…how the Spaniards in California had taken fourteen of our Aleuts prisoner, and how the Jesuits (more likely Franciscans - CJH) had tortured one of them to try and force them all to take the Catholic faith. But the Aleuts would not submit, saying, “We are Christians, we have been baptized,” and they showed them the crosses they wore. But the Jesuits objected, saying, “No, you are heretics and schismatics; if you do not agree to take the Catholic faith, we will torture you.” And they left them shut up two to a cell until the evening to think it over.

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Helena, the emperor (Constantine's) mother...

–from whose name having made Drepanum, once a village, a city, the emperor called it Helenopolis– being divinely directed by dreams went to Jerusalem. Finding that which was once Jerusalem, desolate “as a Preserve for autumnal fruits,” according to the prophet, she sought carefully the sepulchre of Christ, from which he arose after his burial; and after much difficulty, by God’s help she discovered it. What the cause of the difficulty was I will explain in a few words.

Those who embraced the Christian faith, after the period of his passion, greatly venerated this tomb; but those who hated Christianity, having covered the spot with a mound of earth, erected on it a temple to Venus, and set up her image there, not caring for the memory of the place. This succeeded for a long time; and it became known to the emperor’s mother. Accordingly she having caused the statue to be thrown down, the earth to be removed, and the ground entirely cleared, found three crosses in the sepulchre: one of these was that blessed cross on which Christ had hung, the other two were those on which the two thieves that were crucified with him had died. With these was also found the tablet of Pilate, on which he had inscribed in various characters, that the Christ who was crucified was king of the Jews. Since, however, it was doubtful which was the cross they were in search of, the emperor’s mother was not a little distressed; but from this trouble the bishop of Jerusalem, Macarius, shortly relieved her. And he solved the doubt by faith, for he sought a sign from God and obtained it.

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