James of Docheiariou

Holy Venerable Martyr James of Docheiariou received tonsure on Athos, in the monastery of Docheiariou. Moving to the desolate Iviron skete of the Honourable Forerunner, he renewed it, submitting himself to the elder Ignatius. Doing obedience in various labours of self-⁠denial, the divine James rose to such purity that he was granted heavenly revelations: like the Apostle Paul, the dwellings of paradise and the dungeons of hell were shown to him. By a gift from above he saw the secrets of the heart and the hidden thoughts of each of those who came to him. He received also the gift of working miracles. Visiting Aetolia with his disciples, he worked many miracles, healing the sick and edifying all. A multitude of people gathered to the venerable one. The Turkish authorities, making use of a false denunciation that, gathering the people, he could stir up revolt, tried to force the saint to renounce Orthodoxy. But Saint James and his two disciples, the hierodeacon James and the monk Dionysius, after enduring cruel tortures for many days, received the end of martyrdom on 1 November 1520.

The holy relics of the venerable martyrs, glorified by wonderful healings, were laid in the monastery of Saint Anastasia the Deliverer from Potions at the place Galatista, near Thessalonica. The glory of the relics of the holy martyrs soon drew into the monastery as many as a hundred brethren, under Hegumen Venerable Theonas (commemorated on 5 April), a disciple of Venerable James.

They are commemorated on 4 July (new style, a movable day), in the Synaxis of the Venerable Fathers of Athos.