Gerasimos the Byzantine

Saint Gerasimos the Byzantine was a teacher and hieromonk on Patmos, and he fell asleep in Crete in the year 1770.

Life

He was born in Constantinople, in the quarter called Hypsomatheia, of pious parents. He spent time in his homeland among learned men, then came to Patmos, where he was a disciple of Makarios the Kalogeras, the great teacher of the nation, at the renowned Patmias School. After Makarios's holy repose, Gerasimos took over the direction of the school. He withdrew from worldly cares, became a monk at the monastery of Saint John the Theologian on Patmos, and was ordained a priest. He lived piously, was an excellent teacher of the young, and enlightened all.

His end and relics

Ill with kidney stones, he left for Smyrna to be healed. When this did not help, he went to Crete, where he fell asleep in the Lord in the year 1770. He was buried at the monastery of the Holy Trinity, called of the Tzangarolon, near Chania.

When the monks of Patmos learned of his repose, they came to Crete by ship and asked for his precious relics. The fathers of the Holy Trinity monastery refused to give them. A vigil was held, and during the Cherubic Hymn the venerable's right hand came away of itself. The monks took it and carried it to Patmos, where it is kept to this day and pours out the gifts of grace on those who approach with faith.

The rest of the relics, kept beneath the Holy Table of the katholikon of the Tzangarolon monastery beside those of the venerable Acacius, were burned in 1821 by the Agarenes who attacked and set fire to the monastery. He is commemorated on 7 April, according to the calendar of the Church of Greece (new style).