Joseph Gerontogiannis

Venerable Joseph Gerontogiannis was the founder and renovator of the Kapsa Monastery in Crete. He was born in 1799, with the name John, in the half-⁠ruined little monastery of Saint John the Forerunner at Kapsa, where his parents Emmanuel and Zambia had taken refuge during a Turkish raid; later they settled permanently in the village of Lithines. He married Kalliope of the Gerontakis family, and they had four children.

Change of life

John was quick-⁠tempered but very devout, and many times the Turkish authorities sought him. One Sunday he loaded wood onto his animal to sell it, as he usually did, took Kalliope as far as Lithines, and left the children alone. On his return he found that his little daughter Irene had been burned on the threshing floor. John took the girl's death as God's punishment for his sins, above all for breaking the Sunday rest. From then on he changed: the harsh and quarrelsome man became long-⁠suffering, merciful and gentle. In 1841, at forty-⁠two, he fell into a deep sleep of forty-⁠three hours in which he saw the mysteries of the righteous and the torments of the condemned; when he awoke he healed a paralysed old woman and began to preach and work miracles.

Struggle at Kapsa

This made him suspect to the Turkish authorities, who saw in the gatherings at his house a revolutionary pretext; he was brought three times before the governor. When the governor's child fell down the stairs and lay unconscious, Gerontogiannis healed him with a prayer, and also the governor's mother-⁠in-⁠law, who had long been ill, and was set free. Bishop Hilarion of Hierapetra and Siteia advised him to withdraw to a remote place. In 1841 he settled at Kapsa in a ruined hermitage and lived seventeen years in a steep cave, while the old cells were given to pilgrims and the first monks gathered around him. The monastery was rebuilt over several years; in 1863 Bishop Hilarion consecrated the great church and tonsured him into the great schema with the name Joseph. During the uprising of 1866 he moved for a time to the Monastery of Saint Sophia on the Armenoi plateau, and then returned to Kapsa.

Repose and relics

He lived in severe ascetic struggle, with prayer and fasting, eating dry food: olives, greens and rusks. He stayed in his cell almost all day, following the services from a window and going down to the church only on Sundays for Communion. His fame spread through all Crete and the islands of Chalki, Kasos and Symi. It is said that he made the sign of the cross over sea water and it became sweet, that he laid his cassock on the sea like a raft and crossed to the island of Koufonisi for stillness, and that he had the gift of foresight. He foresaw his death, called the community to ask forgiveness and give his last counsel, named the monk Ananias his successor and set the day and hour of his death. He fell asleep on 6 August 1874, after receiving Communion.

His body was buried on 9 August 1874, after three days in which crowds came to venerate it, in the church of Saint John the Forerunner, in a tomb cut in the rock. His holy head was taken up later and placed above the tomb. On 7 May 1982 his relics were lifted, after an all-⁠night vigil, and placed in a silver reliquary together with the head in the church; they give off a fragrance. A part of the relics is at the Dionysiou Monastery on Athos. The Ecumenical Patriarchate numbered him among the saints in 2004. He is commemorated on 7 August, in the calendar of the Church of Greece (new style), and the translation of his relics on the Tuesday of Bright Week.