Germanos Maroulis

Venerable Germanos Maroulis was a monk of Thessalonica, who lived on the Holy Mountain, venerated as a saint among the venerable for his defence of Orthodoxy and his struggle against the union of Lyons. He was born in 1252 and died in 1336, at the age of eighty-⁠four.

He was born in Thessalonica, in the Byzantine Empire, into a well-⁠off Christian family, with the lay name George Maroulis. His father was a high financial official and at the same time a judge in the city, appointed by the emperor John Vatatzes. His family came from Asia Minor. From childhood he had an inclination to asceticism and, at eighteen, in 1270, he went to the Holy Mountain, where he was under the spiritual direction of the Docheiariou monk John. At his father's wish, John sent Germanos to the monastery of Saint John the Forerunner in Thessalonica, where John fought against the union imposed by the union of Lyons. In 1275 John was killed as a martyr at Thessalonica by supporters of the union.

After John's death Germanos was for five years under the direction of the elder Job. At first they were both at Karyes, then they moved to a cave of the Great Lavra. In 1280 Job became abbot of the Great Lavra and Germanos passed to the elder Myron, whom Patriarch Athanasius I of Constantinople called a model of a monk. Then he was under the guidance of the Thessalian Malachias, who in 1305 became metropolitan of Thessalonica, and afterward a disciple of Athanasius Metaxopoulos, who before 1308/1309 became abbot of the Lavra, and lastly of Theodoritus. Germanos' long study under eminent spiritual fathers gave him a rich spiritual experience and knowledge and enabled him in turn to train a series of Athonite monks. He also became known for healings considered miraculous, which Philotheus I Kokkinos tells of. Later he moved to Karakallou, where he died in 1336, at the age of eighty-⁠four.