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| St. Parthenios Partheniades (Feast Day - March 5) |
Hieromonk Parthenios Partheniades was a member of the Kollyvades movement, and when he was forced to leave Mount Athos he went to the Monastery of the Annunciation in Icarus.
In 1798 Parthenios arrived at the island of Patmos, accompanied by several other monks, and the Meadow of Koutroulis, named after the original proprietor and located on the north side of the island to the south of Cape Sardella, was ceded to him by its owners on the condition that he pay them 25 piastres a year. With builders from Samos he established a small monastery known as the Meadow of Monks. Thus he became the first proprietor of the dependency and for that reason it is called the Kathisma of Parthenios. Needing further resources to complete construction of the monastery, Parthenios went to Thrace to raise the funds.
In Didymoteicho, Thrace he served as
a priest. Until 1804 the public market had been open on Saturday, but
the Turks transferred it to Sunday, moving the Greeks to protest.
Parthenios, who was staying at the Monastery of Zoodochos Pege, reacted
strongly against this unjust and hypocritical decision of the Turkish
governor, by denouncing it publicly in the church, causing the Muslims
to take notice.
One
day he also advised a young Christian woman how to flee a relationship
she had with a Muslim Turk. When this Muslim learned of it, he became
enraged and shot Parthenios dead at the entrance to the Metropolitan
Church of Saint Athanasios on Sunday the 5th of March in 1805, after
having served the Divine Liturgy. The Christians then buried his head
next to the Church of Saint Athanasios, while his body was buried
separately.
