WE HAVE A NEW SAINT - ST AMPHILOCHIOS THE ELDER OF PATMOS

At its regular Meeting of Wednesday, 29th August 2018, the Holy Synod of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople, decided the Consecration to Sainthood of the Elder, Father Ampilochios, founder of the Holy Monastery of ‘The Annunciation of our Lady’ on the sacred island of Patmos in Greece.

Born Athanasios Makris in 1889 to parents Emmanuel and Irene in Patmos, the Elder of blessed memory,  at the age of 17 entered the Holy Monastery of St John the Evangelist in 1906. The same year he was tonsured a monk of the Small Schema, receiving the name Amphilochios.

In 1911, Fr Amphilochios fulfilled a lifelong dream of visiting the Holy Mountain of Athos in northern Greece. He served there under the very strict Abbott of the Hermitage of Apollós, Fr Makarios Antoniadis who tonsured him a monk of the Great Schema in 1913.

The same year, with the permission of his Spiritual Father he set out to visit Jerusalem and the Holy Lands.

On his way, he met the then Metropolitan Nektarios of Pentapolis, later Saint Nektarios of Aegina, with whom he had a lifelong friendship which continues now in Heaven.

Having been ordained to the priesthood, Fr Amphilochios was elected unanimously by the Brotherhood of St John the Evangelist, Abbott of the Holy Monastery of St John of the Revelation.

In this position, his love and gentleness reached out to the people of God who revered him with the utmost respect. Though he was gentle, he stood up to the Italian invaders of the Dodecanese Islands of Greece and refused to allow these holy islands to fall under the jurisdiction of the Pope of Rome.

For his outspoken resistance against the Italian invaders he was exiled and settled in Northern Greece.

After World War Two and the Independence of the Dodecanese Islands, Fr Amphilochios returned and established the Women’s Monastery of St Minas on the island of Aegina, whilst in 1954 he re-established the Holy Monastery of the ‘Annunciation of our Lady’ at Ikaria.

After a brief illness, Fr Amphilochios slept in the Lord on April 16th 1970 on the holy island of Patmos. His funeral, rather than being a mournful event, turned out to be a joyous and pascal Service.

Father Amphilochios the Elder of Patmos is the newest Saint of the Orthodox Church. May we always have his blessing.

ST AMPHILOCHIOS OF PATMOS, INTERCEDE TO CHRIST FOR OUR SALVATION. AMEN.