Today, Saturday, August 30, 2025, His Eminence Metropolitan Chrysostomos of Trikki, Gardiki and Pyli, accompanied by Priests, the President of Urban Development of the Municipality of Trikala, as well as a multitude of pilgrims from Trikala, paid a visit to His All-Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew at the Ecumenical Patriarchate.
His Eminence, with emotion and gratitude, thanked His All-Holiness for the great blessing of the official canonization of Saint Demetrios Gagastathis, expressing the thanks of the faithful people of Trikala (see his words below).
He also particularly thanked the members of the Patriarchal Holy Synod, who were present during this sacred meeting.
His Eminence, with emotion and gratitude, thanked His All-Holiness for the great blessing of the official canonization of Saint Demetrios Gagastathis, expressing the thanks of the faithful people of Trikala (see his words below).
He also particularly thanked the members of the Patriarchal Holy Synod, who were present during this sacred meeting.
Subsequently, His Eminence offered His All-Holiness an omophorion and an epitrachelion, handiwork of the Monastery of Korbovo, as well as the Sacred Icon of Saint Demetrios, painted by Father Theophylaktos, who was also present.
His All-Holiness, with paternal love, addressed words of joy and blessing to the entire Trikala delegation, wishing that the newly appeared Saint Demetrios would sanctify and bless the lives of the pious people.
It was also announced that the official ceremony of canonization and the reading of the Synodal Act will take place at the Holy Metropolitan Church of Trikala, on January 29th 2026, the memorial day of Saint Demetrios Gagastathis, with His Eminence Archbishop Makarios of Australia representing the Ecumenical Patriarch.
Finally, it should be noted that the memory of Saint Demetrios will also be honored on August 30, which is the day of the official canonization, particularly in his birthplace, Platanos, Trikala.
His All-Holiness, with paternal love, addressed words of joy and blessing to the entire Trikala delegation, wishing that the newly appeared Saint Demetrios would sanctify and bless the lives of the pious people.
It was also announced that the official ceremony of canonization and the reading of the Synodal Act will take place at the Holy Metropolitan Church of Trikala, on January 29th 2026, the memorial day of Saint Demetrios Gagastathis, with His Eminence Archbishop Makarios of Australia representing the Ecumenical Patriarch.
Finally, it should be noted that the memory of Saint Demetrios will also be honored on August 30, which is the day of the official canonization, particularly in his birthplace, Platanos, Trikala.
Metropolitan Chrysostomos of Trikki's Address at the Signing of the Synodal Act of Canonization
In rejoicing of soul and glorification of the Saint who now rests among the saints in the midst of the Holy Trinity, we received the message of the ranking by the Holy and Sacred Synod of the Ecumenical Patriarchate in the Hagiological registry of the Orthodox Church of Christ of the priest Demetrios Gagastathis, a rector of the municipality of Platanos, Trikki, and we came today to the all-revered Patriarchal Church of the Holy Great Martyr George the Trophy-Bearer, to the divine center of Orthodoxy, participating in this historic and sacred moment, namely of the solemn canonization of the now universally called Saint Demetrios. Your All-Holiness, Father and Master, Archbishop of New Rome and Ecumenical Patriarch, my lord, lord Bartholomew, we stand before you in a debt of thanksgiving on behalf of the fullness of the Church for the wonders that we are now living.
"I glorify the power of the Father and the Son, and I hymn the authority of the Holy Spirit," primarily for having granted to His Church and having raised in our generation a new Saint as an everlasting testament to the truth of the gospel, a new "example for the faithful in word, in conduct, in love, in spirit, in faith, in purity" (1 Timothy 4:12), the presbyter Demetrios Gagastathis, who according to the saying of the newly revealed Saint Amphilochios of Patmos, "possessed the simplicity of heart and the fervent love for the Lord, attracted the grace of the Holy Spirit, the Comforter, Who both strengthened and illuminated him, so that he might accomplish the sacred work."*
Upon these matters, I glorify God, that He has uniquely bestowed Saint Demetrios on the Sacred Metropolis of Trikki, Gardiki and Pyli, which I have also been entrusted to shepherd, concerning which I can state on behalf of the venerable clergy and the pious flock that Saint Demetrios is someone "whom we have seen with our eyes, whom we have beheld, and our hands have handled" (1 John 1:1), as he has only recently departed for the Kingdom of Heaven, and thus many of our flock and from everywhere have had a personal experience and blessed communication with him.
Saint Demetrios became a saint, a son of God, a god by grace, a pure vessel and worthy dwelling for the gifts of the Holy Spirit, because from his early youth he believed in God, loved Him, kept the divine commandments, abhorred the devil, and turned away from the works of darkness, engaging in the works of light. He was born in the village of Platanos in Trikala in the year 1902. From his early teenage years, his intense love for the holy Church of Christ and his fervent desire for the sacred priesthood, the true art of arts and the science of sciences, were manifested by his continuous study of the Holy Scriptures and the synaxaria, rigorous asceticism, and fervent prayers.
As another David, laboring and shepherding his father’s irrational flock, his heart was inflamed while praying and beseeching, that he might be deemed worthy to become a shepherd of the rational flock of the slain Lamb and the Lamb of God, which came to pass in the year 1931, when, "rejoicing and trembling at once," he ascended the steps of the sacred sanctuary, being ordained a deacon and then a presbyter.
A worshiper of true and rational worship "just before the break of dawn" each day, after rigorous spiritual preparation and recalling the countless names in the holy and sacred prothesis, he performed the bloodless liturgy. Imitating the Good Shepherd, he greatly loved the flock entrusted to him and in times of harsh weather and dire circumstances yearned to become "all things to all people, that he might by all means save some" (1 Corinthians 9:22), striving with a paternal concern and guiding them "to the source of the waters of life." Being attentively mindful of the prophetic word that says, "Comfort, comfort my people" (Isaiah 40:1), there arose a call for the infirmed, a rod for the weary, a support for the burdened, and a restoration for the lost through his genuine ecclesiastical spirit and as a guide for the youth, "not in persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power" (1 Corinthians 2:4). As a married man, he was established as a model of a caring husband and loving father to his nine daughters by birth. The married life and struggles of presbyter Demetrios proclaimed that "this mystery is great" (Ephesians 5:32). Working with his own hands, he nurtured his large family and supported each of the poor as a lover of mercy and a friend of philanthropy.
Saint Demetrios not only honored the priesthood through his struggle but also the divinely established mystery of marriage and the sacred institution of the family, becoming thus a demonstration that "the lawful union and the offspring derived therefrom" is nothing other than a workshop of holiness and divine perfection. Because of all these things, as well as the prophetic utterance of the Venerable Porphyrios of Kavsokalyva, which we see being fulfilled in all respects, namely that "God will reveal a new saint, Father Demetrios, at the appropriate time when marriage is undervalued and procreation is placed on the periphery," we propose that Saint Demetrios the New be established as the patron saint of large Christian families with multiple children, so that he may serve as a "model of the faithful" who embrace the cross of a God-pleasing life and asceticism within the framework of the family, particularly that of the large family.
He tasted the divine mystagogy of the coming of Grace and the secret presence and communion with many Saints, especially the Holy Archangels, whom he served in their temple for more than forty years. Those residing in that broader area became witnesses to this, as they lived and can attest truthfully to many healings of the sick, the removal of dire weather conditions and natural disasters through the prayers of Father Demetrios. Furthermore, many of them testify regarding the spiritual gifts, through which the Grace of God adorned this most revered presbyter. Likewise, this blessed one had a spiritual communion with Saints Amphilochios of Patmos, Ephraim of Katounakia, and the late fathers Aimilianos of Simonopetra, Philotheos Zervakos, as well as with the spiritual children of Saint Justin Popovich. He primarily communicated with all of them through letters, which can be considered as treatises of empirical theology.
Having listened to the general sentiment and testimony of the congregation of the Church of Trikki regarding his holiness, we proceeded to submit a related request to the Sacred Synod of the Church of Greece, which, duly accepting this, forwarded it to the revered center of Orthodoxy, the Ecumenical Patriarchate. Now, through the decision of its Holy and Sacred Synod, as proposed by the Canonical Committee, we have tasted such joy and heavenly grace, which will be a great and divine sign of our personal life as well as of the history of our Sacred Metropolis.
Your All-Holiness,
"Bending the knee of soul and body" we experience the poverty of expressing words of gratitude for the spiritual benefit bestowed upon us. Being a man adorned with love for the saints and divine reverence, adorned in all your life with a vision of the divine, you are truly revealed as a steadfast and unshakeable leader of the spiritual ship of the Church of Christ, preserving the good confession of faith and the gospel, proclaiming and defending the rights of all Orthodox Christians everywhere. Through the Sacred Synod of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, of which you are the head, you have performed numerous canonizations, which evidently express the holy longing within your soul. For you do not only honor and glorify the saints who lived a God-pleasing life but also urge the pious people to emulate their virtues.
I am deeply moved by a statement of Your All-Holiness. When asked precisely about the canonizations that you have made, you said that the saints of God are truly the salt of the earth, and for this reason we have the greatest need not only of their intercessions but also of their honor within the Church, so that the spiritual salt of the saints may be preserved, in a way just as the physical salt preserves food, from the decay and complete corruption of the world due to sin. In this, however, we humbly pray that the only Holy One and the Builder of the Church, our Lord Jesus Christ, through the intercession of Saint Demetrios, who shone in the Platanos of Trikki (with the surname Gagastathis), may grant you health, longevity, strength and every good thing.
Pray, we beseech you, that the one recently enrolled in the Hagiological registers of our Orthodox Church may continually appear before us, upholding our humble service in the ministry of the people of God, and may he boldly intercede for the salvation of the clergy and the flock of the Sacred Metropolitan Church of Trikki, Gardiki and Pyli, as well as for all the devout and Orthodox Christians who remember him and honor his sacred memory with hymns and spiritual odes.
Notes:
* παπα-Δημήτρης Γκαγκαστάθης: Βίος-Θαύματα-Νουθεσίαι καὶ Ἐπιστολαί, published by Orthodoxos Kypseli, p. 254.
Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos.