Hieronymos of Simonopetra

Venerable Hieronymos of Simonopetra, also called the Simonopetrite of Asia Minor, was born in 1871 at Reisdere, in Asia Minor, and fell asleep on 6 January 1957. He was a monk at the Simonopetra monastery on the Holy Mountain Athos and its abbot from 1920 to 1931. He was canonized on 27 November 2019 by the Holy Synod of the Ecumenical Patriarchate. He is remembered on 9 May.

Childhood and monastic life

He was born in the village of Reisdere, in the Krini region of Asia Minor, with the name Ioannis Diakogeorgis, to poor and pious parents, Nikolaos and Maria Diakogeorgis. He liked to say of himself that he was "poor from poor parents". The village church was the centre of his life. When he came of age he went to the Holy Mountain, to the Simonopetra monastery (28 October 1888), where most of the monks were from Asia Minor. He was tonsured a monk on 21 March 1893, Palm Sunday. On 11 April 1920 he was ordained deacon, on 12 April priest, and on 20 April 1920, the Sunday of the Myrrhbearers, he was enthroned abbot of the monastery.

The abbot

He was abbot of the Simonopetra monastery from 1920 to 1931. In 1924 the calendar reform took place and on the feast of the Annunciation he served for the first time by the new calendar, at the metochion of the Ascension. This stirred strong opposition in the monastery, so that on his return a group of monks barred his entry to the church for six months. He bore it quietly, without giving up his views, for he believed that the matter came from some who, deceived by self-⁠conceit, cling stubbornly to things in which it is not fitting, and imagine that they have the right to judge and criticise.

Slandered by his brethren for bad management of money, he was, by decision of the Community of the Holy Mountain, sent into exile for six months at the Koutloumousiou monastery. Though he knew who the real embezzler was, he never exposed him and bore the troubles himself. He prayed fervently also for those who accused him and slandered him.

Exile and last years

Then the Community, tacitly acknowledging his innocence, broke off the exile and sent him to the metochion of the Simonopetra monastery in the refugee district of Vyronas, in Athens. There he helped many, above all the Asia Minor people, who were his compatriots, refugees with many material and spiritual needs. The help he gave was so great that the monastery reprimanded him, judging that he went beyond measure. He slept on a stool or a chair and had an extremely simple diet, even as to water. It is said that he had the gifts of discernment, insight and foresight.

He also visited the Thessaloniki metochion of Saint Haralambos, to hear confessions and give spiritual support to people. In 1937 it was proposed that he return to the abbot's throne of the monastery, but he courteously declined. He fell asleep at the age of eighty-⁠six, on 6 January 1957, and was buried at the metochion of the Ascension in Vyronas.

Relics and canonization

The exhumation of his relics was done in 1965 by his Asia Minor compatriot Archbishop Chrysostomos II of Athens, and those present said that the saint's bones gave forth a sweet fragrance. Today the relics are kept at the Simonopetra monastery. At the first Liturgy after his canonization, wooden shrines with his skull and relics were placed on the abbot's throne, as a sign of asking forgiveness for his unjust persecution. Small pieces of the relics were taken as a blessing to the two metochia of Simonopetra, at Vyronas and at Saint Haralambos in Thessaloniki.

In October 2019, on his visit to the Holy Mountain, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew announced before the Synaxis of the holy community that the Ecumenical Patriarchate would study the canonization of Elder Hieronymos of Simonopetra. Receiving the proposal of the Canonical Committee, the Holy Synod, meeting under the presidency of the Ecumenical Patriarch on 27 November 2019, entered him in the Synaxarion of the Orthodox Church, appointing his commemoration on 9 May.