Theophanes

Holy Venerable Martyr Theophanes the Elder was a Kollyvades monk at the Skete of Saint Anne on Mount Athos, and he was drowned in the sea by men hired by his fellow monks, on the night of the Sunday of All Saints in 1773, together with his disciple or companion Paisios of Messolonghi.

Paisios was born at Messolonghi in the early eighteenth century and became a monk on Athos, at the Skete of Saint Anne. He lived in the hut of the Prophet Elias, under the guidance of the venerable Theophanes the Elder. Theophanes was unlettered, but gentle and of virtuous soul; Paisios was educated, copied the writings of the Holy Fathers and knew the whole Psalter by heart.

In 1754 the main church of the Skete of Saint Anne was demolished to build a larger one. The monks collected donations throughout the Ottoman Empire and promised donors to commemorate their names and those of their departed at vigils. The names grew to over 12,000, and the memorials were traditionally held on Saturdays. Because of the building work, the monks asked to hold these memorials on Sundays, which broke ecclesiastical tradition. Many opposed it, since Sunday is a day of Resurrection and joy, while Saturday is set apart for prayer for the departed. So in 1755 the Kollyvades controversy began. By 1773 it had degenerated into open hostility against the monks who wished to keep the tradition, who were slandered by the others. Some of these hired a bandit, Markos, a ship captain, for seven hundred silver coins, to drown Theophanes and Paisios on the beach of the New Skete, on the vigil of the Sunday of All Saints in 1773. They convinced Markos that the two were Masonic spies and that God had sent him to kill them.

Markos took them prisoner, beat them, hung ropes with heavy stones around their necks and cast them into the sea. Saint Athanasios of Paros, who tells us of the martyrdom, says that before being cast in, the two prayed for the world and asked God to forgive their murderers. When the news reached Karyes, the Protos and the elders wrote to Markos; he realised he had been deceived, went to the Skete of Saint Anne, demanded ten purses of silver sword in hand, and rebuked the monks. After the killing of the two, thirty Kollyvades monks gathered, lamented them, and decided to leave Athos, so as not to be a cause of greater sin for their brothers. The Kollyvades were vindicated by the Holy Community of the Holy Mountain on 19 May 1807.

They are commemorated on 8 June, according to the calendar of the Church of Greece (new style). On the same day the new martyr Theophanes of Constantinople is also commemorated, a different person.