Damaskinos of St Basil's

Damaskinos of St Basil's, with the secular name Sergios Gounoulakis, was born in 1903 in the village of Kaminaki on the Lasithi plateau in Crete. It is said that at his baptism a large cross formed in the font. From childhood he loved learning and desired monasticism; after military service he went as a novice to Penteli Monastery in Attica.

In 1925 he came to the Holy Mountain and in 1926 he was tonsured a monk, in the cell of the Entrance of the Theotokos in Saint Basil's Skete, by the strict Elder Matthew. He never again returned to the world. He often walked barefoot. He practised wood carving and loved study: he read the works of the holy fathers at length, kept a large correspondence and supported many Christians with his counsel. His gracious word touched the hearts of those who came thirsty to his waterless, desolate cell. He was very merciful and helped his fellow ascetics. He greatly venerated the venerable Joseph Gerontogiannis of the Monastery of Saint John the Forerunner at Kapsas and Parthenios and Eumenios of Koudouma in southern Crete.

On 21 November 1986, on the feast of their hermitage, he called his disciple Augustine, entrusted the eldership to him, asked for a priest for a general confession and for Holy Unction, and asked forgiveness of all. He reposed in the Lord on 12 January 1987. Bishop Chrysostom of Rodostolon called him an "ethereal Elder"; he has also been called one of the last venerable Kollyvades. He is venerated by the faithful, without synodal canonization.