Saint Kosmas the Aitolos and His Vision for the Greek Nation

By Protopresbyter Fr. George Metallinos

Father Kosmas¹ is one of the best-known ecclesiastical figures of the pre-revolutionary period, even within the sphere of scholarly research,² although his activity and contribution do not primarily belong to the field of scholarship. This has been emphatically underscored by Professor Gerhard Podskalsky, who included Father Kosmas in one of his strictly scholarly works as the sole exception.

Sufficient evidence of his significance for the enslaved Nation is found in the laudatory words spoken about him by the German researcher himself: "An exceptionally popular missionary and teacher of the Nation." He was a characteristic example of a popular preacher who "possessed a religious piety foreign to academic theology" — "His sermons deeply moved the People both from a national and from a religious perspective" — and for this reason they were regarded as "subversive from a sociopolitical perspective."³ Indeed, it is a fact that, in the mouths of the People and in their Songs, the echo of the sermons of this great teacher of the Nation has been preserved.

Saint Kosmas the Aitolos: His Athonite Paschal Procession to the Enslaved

 

By Stelios Koukos

Every second day of Pascha, in the capital of the monastic state of Mount Athos, Karyes, the procession of the icon of the Axion Estin takes place. Following the morning Paschal services of Matins and the Divine Liturgy, celebrated in the magnificent Church of the Protaton, with its famous frescoes, shining like a full moon in its splendor, the great procession of the wonderworking icon of the Axion Estin is held.

The procession is led by the Greek flag, followed by the hieromonks and deacons, who cense the icon with their thuribles. The icon of the great noblewoman of Mount Athos is protected from the weather by a large umbrella, which also serves as an indication that she is a person worthy of great respect.

The chanters of the Protaton also participate in the entire procession, chanting Resurrection hymns throughout its course.

The icon is initially carried by hieromonks, then by monks, and toward the end of the procession, pilgrims from the world, and in our world, are also permitted to carry it as a blessing. In fact, the first year that I carried it myself, the icon had no weight. After several years, the friend with whom I had carried it together revealed to me that he had experienced the same thing. The second year, however, it had weight.

Life of Kosmas the Aitolos (Fr. George Metallinos)

Life of Kosmas the Aitolos 

By Protopresbyter Fr. George Metallinos

Kosmas the Aitolos, a monk, was a teacher and enlightener of the Nation, a national martyr and a saint of the Church. No personality of the years of slavery has occupied scientific study, literature and theology as much as Patrokosmas (Father Kosmas), as he became known by the broad masses of the people. He belongs to the enlightened figures who prepared the Nation for its rebirth. His appearance coincided with a critical period in the history of the slavery of the Nation. In the 18th century, the reconstruction of Hellenism in all sectors took place. Within the protective framework of the nationally ruling Church, it maintained its integrity and was able to survive in the particularly difficult 16th and 17th centuries.

1. Biography

He was born in 1714 in Mega Dendro (according to others in Taxiarchis), in the province of Apokorou in Aetolia. Mega Dendro is accepted as his place of origin by his first biographer and contemporary, Nikodemos the Hagiorite. He learned his first letters at the Lytsikas seminary in Sigditsa of Parnassos, and at the Monastery of Saint Paraskevi in Vraggiana, Agrafa. He taught as an assistant teacher in Lobotina of Nafpaktia, and in other villages. Wishing to receive a higher education, he went to the Athoniada School (Vatopaidi Monastery) around 1750, where his teachers were Panagiotis Palamas, Eugenios Voulgaris and Nikolaos Tzartzoulis.

When Saint Parthenios of Radovisdiou Met Saint Kosmas Aitolos

A unique encounter with spiritual and historical depth is preserved through the tradition and memory of the inhabitants of mountainous Arta.

This is the meeting of Saint Parthenios, Bishop of Radovisdiou (July 21), with Saint Kosmas the Aitolos (August 24), which, according to many historians and folk tales, took place in the village of Velentziko in Arta.

Saint Parthenios, one of the seven great Saints honored in Arta, was born in the early 18th century in Vatsounia of Karditsa, and was ordained Bishop during the difficult period of the Ottoman Empire. His diocese, Radovisdiou, also included areas of the present-day prefecture of Arta, with its seat initially in the mountainous village of Vrangiana in Evrytania and later moved to Velentziko.

The Greatest Joy in the Life of a 100 Year Old Man From Epirus Who Died in 1872

More than 20 years before the canonization of Saint Kosmas Aitolos by the Ecumenical Patriarchate in the 1960's, a book was written about him by Phanes Michalopoulos that was published in 1940 and greatly contributed to the spread of his popularity that led to his canonization. In the epilogue to this book, he records the following testimony of someone who met Saint Kosmas as a child and what impression he had of him. Michalopoulos writes:

They asked a pious old man from Epirus who was 100 years old, who died in a retirement home in Ioannina in 1872, what was the deepest joy of his soul in his entire life. The old man answered: 

 

"When I was little, I heard Father Kosmas teach and I kissed his hand."

 

 

Light in the Darkness - The Personality of Saint Kosmas the Aitolos (Metr. Hierotheos of Nafpaktos)

 By Metropolitan Hierotheos of Nafpaktos and Agiou Vlasiou

In the horrible and dark slavery of the Turkish occupation, there were some lights that gave hope to the subjugated race. Undoubtedly, the Church with her life, her teaching, her mysteries and her worship, with her schools, both the well-known and the so-called secret ones, with which she offered additional knowledge, was a bright and great light that scattered the darkness.

Surely such a great light, which emanated from the bowels of the Church, was also Saint Kosmas the Aitolos, who toured almost the entire Greek territory, consoling and strengthening the subservient Romans in various ways, with teachings, with miracles, with worship, with the establishment of schools, but mainly with his sanctified existence. And he did this amidst various difficulties and many obstacles. It was not only the Turks who hindered his work, but also the Jews and those with various interests, because their interests were affected. That's why they spread a lot of falsehoods about him.

"I Was Angry With Saint Kosmas Aitolos" (Metr. Athanasios of Limassol)

By Metropolitan Athanasios of Limassol

 

When I was on Mount Athos, there we honored Saint Kosmas Aitolos. I did not give honor to this Saint, to confess to you, because I was angry with him for leaving Mount Athos. And I said, "Look, my child, at the desire he had to leave Mount Athos." If only I knew that I would do the same!

He left Mount Athos and went to Greece to visit the villages, to give sermons! Was this necessary?

Didn't he have others to do these things?

He left Mount Athos, which was an ideal place for monks in that blessed monastic state, and he went round all the villages and built schools.