Laurence

Venerable Laurence was a monk of the fourteenth century, tonsured in the Great Lavra Monastery on the Holy Mountain, who founded a monastery and a skete near Volos and fell asleep in the Lord at a great age. He is commemorated on 10 May.

Because the heresy of Barlaam and Akindynos had spread on Athos, and especially in the Lavra, he left there and came to the region of Volos, to the village now called Saint Laurence, where he began to build a monastery. At that time the pious emperor Alexios Komnenos reigned, who sent him a chrysobull as well as the gold and the sacred vessels needed for building the church. The church was completed in the year 1378. Then Laurence founded a skete, dedicated to the Transfiguration of the Saviour and the Holy Prophet Elijah, which soon gained great fame and drew many young and educated monks. He spent his life in fasting and prayer and fell asleep in peace, at a great age.