Stephen of Grigoriou

Stephen of Grigoriou, with the secular name Constantine Kontomaris, son of Gregory and Irene, from the village of Anaplades on Corfu, was born in 1881. He arrived at Gregoriou Monastery on 16 December 1913. He was tonsured a monk with the name Antonios on 23 December 1914. He was ordained deacon on 6 December 1916, with the name Stephen, and priest on 4 February 1924.

He was a worthy, tireless and devout celebrant of the Most High. Until the eve of his death he took his turn at the katholikon. Always regular in his duty, he celebrated daily. For many years he had the obedience of prosphora baker and sacristan, as was the custom in the old cenobia for priests. He was a great fighter and extreme faster. Daily he ate a little rice. In the monastery cemetery there was, until not long ago, a large tree, a maple, in which nails and boards could be seen. There the blessed Father Stephen climbed and prayed, between heaven and earth, having remembrance of death, tears, a sense of the passing of life and of his own sinfulness, for whole nights. Once in the holy sanctuary of the monastery someone slapped him, for unknown reasons, and he at once turned, unperturbed, the other cheek too and said to him: "Strike from here too," as the Gospel says. When they called him to the Synaxis of the monastery's elders and told him they wanted to make him a confessor, his answer was: "Me, a confessor? To have people come with one thought and leave with seven?" So the humble man did not accept to become a confessor.

Being in the monastery's infirmary, on the eve of his death he called Abbot Bessarion (d. 1974) and confessed. Then he asked forgiveness of all the fathers. The next day he communed in the holy mysteries. Then he said to the fathers: "Now Saint Nicholas has come and told me to have a little more patience and he will come to take me." After an hour he gave up his spirit into the hands of his Maker. It was 23 December 1965. When the blessed Elder Andrew (d. 1988) changed him, he saw an unprecedented sight: the skin of his belly was stuck to his spine, so that his vertebrae could be seen and felt. He was so from his great and unceasing fasting. He is venerated by the faithful, without synodal canonization.