Savvas the Stageiritis

Savvas the Stageiritis was a new martyr, a monk of the Monastery of Konstamonitou on Athos, killed in 1821. He was born at Stageira in Chalkidiki toward the end of the eighteenth century. Out of love for the monastic life he went to the Monastery of Konstamonitou, dedicated to the protomartyr and archdeacon Stephen and tied to Stageira. There he devoted himself to virtue and piety, preparing for the crown of martyrdom.

He knew his death and its manner beforehand. Sent by the fathers to Ierissos, he told a brother of the community, his friend, what would follow. He saw in a night vision that enemies pursued and killed him, and that his soul was lifted to heaven while his body stayed on earth. Passing by the Monastery of Zographou, he was killed by unbelievers, together with another lay man, a servant of the monastery, also from Stageira. It was the time of the uprising in Chalkidiki.

His first icon was painted by Christos Karapalis, and his service was composed by the hymnographer Haralambos Bousias. The first feast in his honour was held in 1988, when a parish received the icon, in the presence of Metropolitan Nikodemos of Ierissos.