St. Chariton the Confessor suffered in Iconium during one of the persecutions of Christians under the emperors Galerius (305-311), Maximian (305-313) or Licinius (311-324). In his confessional feat, he was strengthened by the gracious example of the Holy First Martyr Thekla (September 24), a native of his hometown, whose memory he especially deeply revered. Saint Khariton courageously denounced the pagan gods and firmly confessed faith in the One True God, Christ the Savior. The holy confessor suffered severe torments, but by God's providence he remained alive. When the persecution subsided, the saint was released from prison and devoted his whole life to the service of the Lord. 
On his way to Jerusalem to worship the holy places, he fell into the hands of robbers. They tied him up and threw him into a cave, intending to kill him, while they hurried to the fishery. While waiting for death, the saint prayed fervently, thanked God and asked Him to do with him according to His will. At that time, a snake crawled into the cave and began to drink wine from a vessel standing there, poisoning it with its deadly poison. Returning to the cave, the robbers got drunk on poisoned wine and all died. 
The Monk Khariton, having given thanks to God, began to struggle at the place of his miraculous salvation. He distributed the gold looted by the robbers to the poor and to monasteries, and built a church in the robber's cave, around which a monastery was eventually formed – the famous Paran Lavra in Palestine. The Monk Khariton himself drew up a strict charter for his monastery. Striving for solitude, the monk went further into the desert, but even there he did not reject those who needed his spiritual guidance, and founded two more monasteries – Jericho and Suki, called the "Old Lavra." 
At the end of his life, the Monk Khariton asceticized in a cave on a mountain near the Suki monastery, but did not abandon the leadership of the brethren of all three monasteries founded by him. According to legend, the Monk Khariton took monastic vows. The Monk Khariton the Confessor died in old age and was buried, according to his will, in the Faransk monastery, in the church built on the site of the robber cave.