George of Gomati

Venerable George of Gomati lived in the early 19th century at Gomati in Chalkidiki, under Ottoman rule. He had a wife and children and worked as a miller. His love for people was known throughout the region: he ground wheat for the poor without charge and gave flour to those who could not pay. The ruins of his mill can still be seen.

During the uprisings in Chalkidiki, Turkish soldiers seized his family and plundered the mill. Having lost his kin and goods, George left the world and withdrew to a cave on the mountain, where he lived in unceasing prayer and strict fasting, eating the herbs of the mountain. It is supposed that he lived as a hermit without receiving the monastic habit. At night he came down quietly into the village and left wood and greens at the doors of pregnant women, the sick and the poor, tended the gardens and vineyards of those in need, and watched the animals of the needy.

When shepherds searched for him they found him dead in the cave, worn away by asceticism and fragrant. As the people and the priest carried his body to the village cemetery, it became so heavy that they could not move it, and the priest said he must be buried there. A small stone chapel was built over the grave, and later a new church. The saint is venerated as a wonderworker, especially for healing earaches in small children. A portion of his relics is kept in the church of the Mother of God at Gomati. He is commemorated on the Saturday between 1 and 7 May, a movable day.