Gervasios Paraskevopoulos (), known as Saint Gervasios of Patras (1877 – 30 June 1964) was a Greek

priest A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deity, deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in parti ...

theologian Theology is the study of religious belief from a religious perspective, with a focus on the nature of divinity. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of ...

and monk. In 2023, he was proclaimed a saint of the

Orthodox Church Orthodox Church may refer to: * Eastern Orthodox Church, the second-largest Christian church in the world * Oriental Orthodox Churches, a branch of Eastern Christianity * Orthodox Presbyterian Church, a confessional Presbyterian denomination loc ...

Biography

Gervasios lived and worked in the city of

Patras Patras (; ; Katharevousa and ; ) is Greece's List of cities in Greece, third-largest city and the regional capital and largest city of Western Greece, in the northern Peloponnese, west of Athens. The city is built at the foot of Mount Panachaiko ...

for much of his life. He was born in 1877 in the village of Nymfasia (Kernitsa) in Arcadia. In 1891 at the age of 14, in a first contact with monasticism, he entered the Holy Monastery of the Dormition of the Virgin Mary of Kernitsa. In 1897 he joined as a monk in the Holy Monastery of the Dormition of the Holy Monastery of Gerokomeio of

. In 1899 he served his military service. In 1904 he was ordained deacon of the Holy Archdiocese of Patras. In 1905 he entered the higher ecclesiastical Rizarios School of

Athens Athens ( ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Greece, largest city of Greece. A significant coastal urban area in the Mediterranean, Athens is also the capital of the Attica (region), Attica region and is the southe ...

, with Nektarios of

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as director of the school, who foresaw the important future ecclesiastical role of Gervasios. In 1910, he was ordained a priest of the

Metropolis of Patras The Metropolis of Patras () is a metropolitan see of the Church of Greece in the city of Patras in Achaea, Greece. The see traces its origins to its patron saint, Saint Andrew, in the 1st century. Historically, it has been one of the two pre-em ...

. In 1912, he served as a military priest in the

Balkan Wars The Balkan Wars were two conflicts that took place in the Balkans, Balkan states in 1912 and 1913. In the First Balkan War, the four Balkan states of Kingdom of Greece (Glücksburg), Greece, Kingdom of Serbia, Serbia, Kingdom of Montenegro, M ...

. In 1914 declared Doctor of Theology at the Theological School of the

University of Athens The National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (NKUA; , ''Ethnikó kai Kapodistriakó Panepistímio Athinón''), usually referred to simply as the University of Athens (UoA), is a public university in Athens, Greece, with various campuses alo ...

. In 1915, he taught theology at

Syros Syros ( ), also known as Siros or Syra, is a Greece, Greek island in the Cyclades, in the Aegean Sea. It is south-east of Athens. The area of the island is and at the 2021 census it had 21,124 inhabitants. The largest towns are Ermoupoli, Ano S ...

High School. In 1916 elected Abbot of the Monastery of Girokomeio of Patras. In 1919, appointed as a parish priest at the Church of Agios Dimitrios in Patras. In 1923 founded the first Catechetical Schools in Greece. Ιn 1938, appointed

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of the Archdiocese of Athens. In 1946, he established a camp in the area of Profitis Ilias Monastery of Patras. In 1950 established a camp in the area of Sychaina of Patras and the Reconstructive School for Women of Patras. In 1963, a cross has founded in a pine tree that he had planted in 1929. Gervasios died on 30 June 1964, aged 87.

Legacy

Gervasios left a very positive memory to those who knew him according to their testimonies: "the sanctified spiritual father and Preacher of Patras, the fervent teacher of the divine Dogmas of the Church, the God-loving, Saint-loving and People-loving, the Priest of the poor and refugees, the nurturer of widows and orphans, the founder of the first Catechetical School in Greece, the student of Saint Nektarios, the grandfather of the people of Patras, Venerable Gervasios Paraskevopoulos, the renowned and sign-bearing Priest, the beloved of the people, the zealous and ardent worker of the Lord's Vineyard". Saint Gervasios of Patras tomb

Miracles attributed to Gervasios include the appearance in 1963 of a cross in a pine tree planted by him and schoolchildren with whom he was working in 1929. On 29 June 2014, the reburial of his relics took place by Metropolitan Chrysostomos of Patras. Gervasios was proposed as a saint by the

Church of Greece The Church of Greece (, ), part of the wider Greek Orthodox Church, is one of the autocephalous churches which make up the communion of Eastern Orthodox Christianity. Its canonical territory is confined to the borders of Greece prior to th ...

and Metropolitan Chrysostomos of Patras in August 2019. On 16 November 2023, the

Holy Synod In several of the autocephalous Eastern Orthodox Churches and Eastern Catholic Churches, the patriarch or head bishop is elected by a group of bishops called the Holy Synod. For instance, the Holy Synod is a ruling body of the Georgian Orthodox ...

of the

Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople The Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople (, ; ; , "Roman Orthodox Patriarchate, Ecumenical Patriarchate of Istanbul") is one of the fifteen to seventeen autocephalous churches that together compose the Eastern Orthodox Church. It is heade ...

, under the presidency of Patriarch Bartholomew I, officially proclaimed Gervasios's sainthood with the emphasis in the Patriarchal announcement that he has been engraved from the beginning as a saint in the consciousness of the People. On the same day, 16 November 2023, the first ecclesiastical service in honour and memory of Saint Gervasios took place in

. The feast of the memory of Saint Gervasius of Patras was set for 30 June. On 18 December 2023, at the Patriarchal Church of Saint George became the ceremony of the signing of the Patriarchal and Synodal Act of the inclusion of three new Saints in the Church's Calendar: Monk Gavrielia (Papagianni),Hieromonk Athanasios Hamakiotis, and Archimandrite Gervasios Paraskevopoulos. Every year, on 30 June, the anniversary of the death of Gervasios, events in his honor and memory are held in the city of Patras and in the camps of the Anaplastiki School in Sychaina where his tomb is located, on the initiative of the Holy Metropolis of Patras. The feast of the memory of Saint Gervasius of Patras was set for 30 June. On Saturday, 8 June 2024, the first Holy Church in honor of Agios Gervasios, of Patras, in the town of Chalandritsa in Achaia, was inaugurated by the Metropolitan of Patras Mr. Chrysostomos.

References

{{reflist Greek theologians 1877 births 1964 deaths Greek Eastern Orthodox priests Greek saints of the Eastern Orthodox Church People from Patras Saints of modern Greece