Ascetic Struggle
The hagiographic tradition dwells at length on Peter's spiritual warfare in the cave near Korisha. The synaxarion relates that he was beset by demonic assaults taking the form of serpents, black ravens, and distracting visions intended to break his resolve.
By tradition, after forty days of fasting and fervent prayer the Archangel Michael appeared, overcame the tormenting serpent, and encouraged him to continue; thereafter Peter is said to have been granted a vision of the Uncreated, or divine, Light and consoled in his solitude. He reportedly healed those who came to him, and his renown gave rise to a regional veneration sometimes described as the 'Cult of Petar of Koriša.'
Relics & Shrines
Peter's cave-cell became a place of pilgrimage, and his rock-cut hermitage is known as the Hermitage of St. Peter of Koriša. About seventy years after his repose, King Dušan of Serbia is said to have built a church over his relics.
By tradition the relics were later moved during the Ottoman period; accounts describe their transfer to the Black River monastery, associated with the cave church of Saint Michael, and to a church at Kalashin (Kolašin). Pilgrims have continued to visit these sites.
Sources & Veneration
Peter's life was recorded around 1310 by the monk Teodosije the Hilandarian (Teodosije of Hilandar), whose 'Life of Petar of Koriša' is noted for its vivid, realistic narrative manner. He is commemorated by the Serbian Orthodox Church on 5 June (Old Calendar).
He holds a distinctive place in Serbian hagiography as a saint who was neither a member of the ruling dynasty nor a hierarch of the Church, unusual among the early Serbian saints, and he is often described as the first hermit-saint of medieval Serbia.
