The feast of the Holy Martyr Euthymios and those who were martyred with him at the Vatopedi Monastery

The memory of the Holy Martyr Euthymios, Abbot of the Vatopedi Monastery and the Twelve Holy Martyrs with him, was honored on Saturday, 17/01/24 (04/01/24 BC), the eve of the Epiphany according to the old Calendar, by the Vatopedi Brotherhood. The Abbot of the Holy Monastery of Simonos Petra, Elder Eliseos, presided over the feast and the Eucharistic Synaxis, flanked by Elder Ephraim of Vatopedi and other Fathers, and the Bishop of Eumenia, Mr. Irenaeus, also attended and prayed. Saint Euthymios served as abbot of the Vatopedi Monastery in the second half of the 13th century, during a critical period for the course of the Orthodox Church and Mount Athos. After the Council of Lyons in 1274, where the union of the Churches was supported, the Latin-minded envoys of Emperor Michael VIII Palaiologos (1259-1282) and Patriarch John XI Bekkos (1275-1282) wanted to convince the Athonite monks of the heretical doctrines. This happened around 1279/1280. Saint Euthymios “having firm hold on the Orthodox traditions, he controlled the Latin-minded ones”. Therefore, according to Saint Nicodemus the Athonite, “he was bound with chains and drowned by them in the sea of ​​Kalamitsi”. According to Manuel Gideon, “They tied up the abbot Euthymius and set him on a rocky reef, which is called Kallamitzion, and drowned him.” His twelve like-minded disciples, learned hieromonks and subordinates of the brave abbot, also met a martyr’s end.