Venerable Gerasimus of Athos (†1579) — October 20 / November 2 (Julian Calendar)

On this day, October 20 according to the Julian Calendar (November 2 civil calendar), the Georgian Orthodox Church commemorates Venerable Gerasimus of Athos.

Venerable Gerasimus of Athos was born in the village of Trikala in the Peloponnese. Upon reaching adulthood he went to the island of Zakynthos to labor in asceticism. On the Holy Mountain he became a disciple of the Athonite ascetics; later, with the monks’ blessing, he journeyed to Jerusalem to venerate the Lord’s Tomb, visited the holy places of Mount Sinai, Antioch, Damascus, Alexandria and Egypt, and returned again to Jerusalem. There Patriarch Germanus II of Jerusalem (1534–1579) ordained the saint first a deacon and then a priest.

Despite his priestly rank, the venerable Gerasimus lived as a hermit. At last the saint received the Patriarch’s blessing for the labor of silence and withdrew to Zakynthos. There the blessed one spent five years entirely alone, his only food being plants. Afterward, by divine inspiration, Gerasimus moved to the island of Cephalonia, where at Omala he founded a convent beside a church he had restored. The venerable father labored there for thirty years. For his holy life he was granted the gift of healing the sick and casting out evil spirits. The Lord’s chosen one was informed of his repose several days in advance; he blessed the nuns and peacefully fell asleep on August 15, 1579, at the age of seventy-one. Two years later his relics were exhumed incorrupt. They gave off a sweet fragrance and healed the sick.