Hermit Naucratius of Neocaesarea/Niksar (d. AD 357)

Naucratius was the second son of Basil the Elder and Emmelia. In 352, at the age of twenty-one, he went to live as a monastic hermit on the banks of the Iris River (Yeşilırmak River) in the remote mountains of Pontus, near his family’s property near Neocaesarea. Although living in solitude, Naucratius cared for his mother and the poor, especially old men.

While living in the wild forests of Pontus, Naucratius was tragically killed during a hunting expedition when he was hunting for food to give to the poor. Although the exact date is unknown, Naucratius probably died around 357, a year of so before Basil the Great started his monastic community in Pontus.