Cosmas of Mount Athos

Venerable Martyr Cosmas of Mount Athos, also called Cosmas the Protos, was a monk of Vatopedi Monastery, from the cells around Karyes, the capital of Mount Athos. He was chosen Protos of the Holy Mountain and suffered in the time of Emperor Michael VIII Palaiologos and the Latin-⁠minded Patriarch John Bekkos (1275-1282).

When Latin-⁠minded envoys came to Athos and gathered the monks at Karyes to bring them to union with Rome, the Protos and the monks refused with one voice and said they were ready to confess the true faith unto death. Cosmas was hanged, and the other monks, from the monasteries of Vatopedi, Iviron, Zographou and Xenophontos, were beheaded. According to tradition, the Protaton was burned and the cells plundered. The relics of Cosmas are kept in the church of the Protaton, with a part at Pantokrator Monastery, and are said to give off an ineffable fragrance. He is commemorated on 5 December (new style).