Reverend Sampson the Pilgrim is an example of true Christian charity, lively and effective love for people, reaching the point of complete self–denial.
Saint Sampson was born in Rome into a wealthy and noble family. He received a good education, especially thoroughly studied the art of medicine and used it to treat the poor and the poor for free. Realizing that works of charity can only be accomplished with the Christian education of the soul, Reverend Sampson diligently studied the Holy Scriptures and prayed a lot.
After the death of his parents, Saint Sampson distributed all the estates left to him by inheritance, fulfilling in practice the advice about perfection given by the Savior to the rich young man (Matthew 19:21). The monk chose an ascetic lifestyle, set all his slaves free, and, wishing to acquire a spiritual treasure for himself, set out into the desert with the intention of leading a strict ascetic life. By God's Providence, Saint Sampson arrived in Constantinople. Here he settled in a small house and began receiving pilgrims, the sick, and the poor, and served them with zeal. The monk treated people with love, performed works of mercy, and this became a deep need for him. The Lord glorified His saint. It so happened that the Byzantine Emperor Justinian I (527-565) became seriously ill. Having received no relief from the help of the most skilful court doctors, the emperor began to pray fervently to God. Soon, Justinian saw in a dream a man about whom he was told that he could heal the emperor. The emperor's servants searched all over Constantinople in search of this doctor, and finally the Monk Sampson was found and brought to the palace. With one touch of his hand to the sore spot, the saint healed Justinian. The grateful emperor began to offer him a lot of gold and silver. But the monk refused the gifts, and in return asked the emperor to build a hospice and a hospital. The Emperor willingly complied with this request and even assigned estates to these institutions for their maintenance. Reverend Sampson continued his ministry until a very old age. His death (c. 530) was painless and peaceful, and the saint's body was buried in the church of the Holy Martyr Moki (+c. 295).
The Lord glorified His saint after His death with the gift of miracles. One day, when there was a big fire in Constantinople, the flames reached the hospice of Saint Sampson. However, the building remained intact, because through the prayers of the monk, heavy rain suddenly began to fall. A certain courtier named Theodoret, having stumbled, received a serious leg injury, so that he not only could not walk, but even lost sleep and appetite from severe suffering. The patient began to pray fervently to St. Sampson, and three days later he received miraculous healing: the monk himself appeared to him, touched his injured leg, and said to Theodoret, "Get up, for you will no longer be ill."
Even after his death, the monk did not leave his hospice. When the head of the hospice, a certain Enesius, began to allow negligence in the performance of his duties, the Monk Sampson himself appeared to him and began to reproach him menacingly for his negligence. The admonition worked, and soon Enesius reformed.