Gideon of Karakallou

Holy Venerable Martyr Gideon of Karakallou, the Athonite, was born in the village of Kapurna in the diocese of Demetrias, and at baptism received the name Nikon. He died a martyr on 30 December 1818, at Tyrnavos. His parents, Avgirinos and Kiratsa, were pious Christians and had, besides Nikon, three sons and four daughters. They were so poor that, unable to support the large family, they gave them to be raised by their cousin, who traded in Velestino, where they too had moved. Quick and clever, Nikon pleased a rich Turk named Ali, who kidnapped him and made him serve his wives in the women's quarters, and later, with caresses, persuaded him to turn to Islam.

Fall and return

After two months divine grace touched the heart of the unhappy boy, and only then did he understand that, in the ignorance of childhood, he had denied Christ, the Source of life. The repentance that seized him changed his way of life: from cheerful and obliging he became sad and did his work unwillingly, weeping in secret, and he resolved to flee from the house he hated. Choosing a suitable time, he fled and came to his father, who, for poverty, could not hide him; knowing that the kidnapper was too strong and rich to be fought, he sent him to the village of Keramidi, from where he advised him to go at once to the Holy Mountain of Athos. Avgirinos did not escape, however, the troubles caused by the former kidnapper for hiding Nikon.

For three years Nikon wandered from place to place, until he came to Athos, where he went round all the monasteries and cells looking for an experienced spiritual father, to whom he might confess his fall and receive healing of soul. At last he found shelter at the Karakallou Monastery and confessed his fall to the spiritual father; he catechized him with the prayers of the Church and then united him again with the Orthodox Church. After a time he was counted worthy of tonsure as a monk, with the name Gideon. The elders, seeing his life full of virtue and his obedience without murmuring, chose him ecclesiarch. In the new obedience Gideon added labour to labour, increasing fasting, vigil, prayer and prostrations, and in thirty-⁠five years his heart was purified and warmed by love for Jesus Christ, so that, reading once a book about the sufferings of the holy martyrs, who received from God martyr's crowns and the Kingdom of Heaven, there was born in him a burning desire to suffer too out of love for Christ and to wash away with his blood his denial of the Christian faith. The thought of martyrdom followed him and kindled him more and more, so that he resolved to follow the call of his heart. But first he disclosed his intention to the elders of the monastery, asking their blessing and prayers. The elders, seeing him a perfect man flowering in virtues, gave him their fatherly blessing.

The confession

Gideon went to Velestino, where he had denied Christ, and at once went to the court, confessed before the judges the Christian faith and cursed Mohammed, their false prophet. The judges contented themselves with beating him and drove him out of the court. This was repeated more than once. Then Gideon went to other places for the struggle of confession, but there too the same happened: they beat him and drove him out like a madman. Seeing in this God's unwillingness, he returned to Athos, but after a year his heart was not at rest, and, with the elders' blessing, he went again to Velestino, where he appeared at the court and again confessed Jesus Christ and cursed the Muslim faith, but now too, as before, beaten, he was driven from the court.

Then the saint went to another place, appeared before the governor, declared himself a Christian and cursed the Muslim faith. The governor, hearing the blasphemy against his faith, was afraid and wrote at once to the chief of the region, Veli Pasha, who lived in Thessaly, in the village of Tyrnavos. The pasha sent two soldiers, commanding them to bring the bold blasphemer. When the martyr was brought, Veli Pasha ordered notable men gathered from the surrounding villages and gave Saint Gideon to their judgment. But even then the martyr of Christ remained unshaken. The judges, seeing that he had rejected with contempt all caresses, promises and honours, wished first to shame him before the whole people: they shaved his head and put on it the entrails of a slaughtered sheep and, setting him on a donkey facing backward, gave him the animal's tail to hold, and so led him through all the streets of the village. But the venerable martyr, counting dishonour as glory for Christ God, gently bore the shaming, while his holy lips condemned their faith still more and blasphemed their false prophet.

Martyrdom and veneration

After this shaming the martyr was tormented with the greatest cruelty. Like James the Persian, all the limbs of his body were cut off gradually with an axe, except the head. But the saint, his mind fixed on Jesus Christ, who strengthened him, patiently bore the cruel torments. Then, still alive, he was thrown into an unclean place, where he died on 30 December 1818. His holy relics, the body with the head and all the severed limbs, were ransomed from the Muslims by pious Christians by a collection of gifts and buried with honour in the church of the Twelve Apostles at Tyrnavos. The saint, while still alive, had foretold the fall of his tormentor Veli Pasha, which was fulfilled soon after his martyr's end. After a time a part of the holy relics was brought to the Karakallou Monastery, where he was glorified by rich miracles from his healing reliquary and from touching the relics, for all who come to him with faith. Today the honoured head of Venerable Martyr Gideon is kept on the Holy Table of the metropolitan cathedral of Tyrnavos, dedicated to the Appearance of the Mother of God. He is commemorated on 4 July, in the Synaxis of the Athonite Fathers, a movable day.