the 11η On February 1, another Saint was added to the list of saints of our Orthodox Church. A diamond came and was added to the golden chain of martyrs and holy men and women. His form and his action for more than one hundred and fifty years were under question by people. God knew his Holiness and we accepted it too. On this day, the relevant act was signed. Specifically, we read the relevant announcement of the Ecumenical Patriarchate:
“The Holy and Sacred Synod, under the presidency of His Holiness the Great, met in its regular session today, Tuesday, February 11, 2025, to examine the issues listed on the agenda.
During the course of the work, the Patriarchal and Synodal Act of Canonization of the Holy Monk Christopher (Panagiotopoulos), nicknamed Papoulakos, established in the Holy Code of the Holy Great Church of Christ, was signed by His Holiness the All-Holiness, the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew and the holy Synodal Hierarchs, in a special Holy Service for this occasion, in the All-Respected Patriarchal Church of the Holy Great Martyr George the Trophy-Bearer.
We will try to deal with it, with in the present text, with the holy life of the new Saint of our Holy Church. The monk Christophoros Panagiotopoulos or Ppoulakos, as he is known, is one of the modern apostles of Orthodoxy and Greece.
In his time, some called him "unrepentant", the state arrested him and the holy synod, under pressure from the state, confined him to the monasteries of Thira and Andros. The people, from generation to generation, kept alive his memory and the flame of his contribution to Orthodoxy and Greece.
Let's take a closer look at the life of Christophoros. He was born in the village of Arbouna, in the municipality of Kleitouria, in the region of Kalavryta. His occupation was as a butcher.,‧ family business. He was a just and peaceful man. He sees a divine sign at home, in his mature age, commanding him to become a monk and preacher. Then he builds the hermitage of "Κ"Theotokos". He knew the elementary knowledge of his time. He lived in an intense era, perhaps the most intense, for our nation and actively participated in the preparation of the nation for liberation from the Ottoman yoke.
He walked living the national names and with spirituality as a result of the centuries-old ecclesiastical and national tradition of the connection of the Greek church with the Great Mother Church. Thus, when the Bavarians and the executors of their decisions tried to alter the Greek Orthodox spirit with innovations that were suspicious and unacceptable, as non-Orthodox, they found Christophoros facing them, fighting for truth and freedom. He was not alone. He had as allies distinguished rascally scholars such as Kosmas Fliamatos from Cephalonia, Ignatius Lambropoulos of Megalospiliotis, Constantine of Oikonomon, the abbot Symeon of the Gregory Monastery of Mount Athos, the venerable Dionysios Epiphaniades and other Kollyvadi fathers and spiritual people from all social and intellectual strata.
Papoulakos fights by traveling in Attica, throughout the Peloponnese and on many islands such as Poros, Spetses, Hydra, and Elafonisos. He travels and teaches the Word of God. His words are balm and hope for the suffering inhabitants. He denounces the efforts of the Bavarian authorities to alter our tradition. His words act as a catalyst, orthodoxly, so that love, justice and forgiveness prevail.
In the press of the time we read that "what the laws could not achieve, Christophoros achieved with his preaching". Wherever he went, kindness and charity spread. The state arrested him and after his repeated arrests, the Holy Synod requested his release because it found: "that wherever he went, he preached the word of God, neither with greed nor with selfishness, showing any appearance of being unprofitable, but with those who were unselfish and without property, and as the one who preached the word of God among the simple, he restrained and completely stopped, through his teaching, animal theft, tree felling, perjury, etc. and ... considers him innocent of the accusation made against him". The powerful pressure the Synod to issue a new decision prohibiting the activities of the Saint. Papoulakos returns to his birthplace of Arbouna for contemplation. This will not last for long.
The struggle has now become the purpose of his life. He returns to the villages and the countryside. The Peloponnese and many islands welcome him with unprecedented enthusiasm. Everywhere the people and the clergy follow him. and deifies him chanting "I will defeat the General...".
Papoulakos's journey of faith reaches Kalamata. Then the Synod and the government are worried. They order the army and the fleet to suppress the "movement" of the unarmed Elder. Then he takes refuge in the mountains of Mani, there the inhabitants protect him because they love him but the passion of avarice lurks. The reward is six thousand drachmas. and Unfortunately, a rasophor was found to receive it...
The Elder is held in the prisons of Rio for a year. To be tried, he is transferred to Athens. Clergy and people bow down with tears and supplications wherever he passes. Noting the great love of the clergy and people, the government is afraid to put him on trial and is ready to refute the slanders. However, it pressures the Holy Synod to confine him for the rest of his life to the Monastery of Panachrantos in Andros. The people do not forget him. Pilgrims come from all over the Balkans to receive his blessing orη a piece of his robe for consecration.
He died on January 18, 1861 in Andros. The prison guard, shortly before the Saint fell asleep, asked for his wish to become a monk. He believed that Papoulakos' white beard hid light and truth.
He left this vain world, ignored by the ephemeral powerful, but, full of the love of the clergy and the People. The Lord, the Judge of the contest, crowned him with the immortal crown of the victor and ranked him in the choir of His Saints, with his memory being honored on January 18th of each year.
Apolitikion Hosius Christoforou “Papoulakou”
Echo a. Citizen of the desert.
Let us honor the son of Arbounas, Papoulakos the Saint, of the Monastery of the Great Cave, a holy preacher, who had the zeal of Elijah, who was Christophoros the wise in faith, the teacher of the words, of God, crying out: Glory to him who gave you strength, glory to him who made you wise, glory to him who works through you, revealing to us the things that are right.
Apolitikion.Echo, first. The co-created Word.
The God-given false preacher of Christ, who with his all-wise teachings dispelled the ignorance of the people and guided many to knowledge of salvation, we glorified the God-inspired Christ, crying out: Holy Father, have mercy on us, O Most High.
MegalynArion.
Rejoice, you who enlightened those who were in the shadow of ignorance, O Christopher, our father,
In the Peloponnese and the islands of the Cyclades, you are the creator of well-known words.
Another.
Rejoice, young sprout of the Arbounians and newly-shining lamp of all Mani,
Rejoice, Christopher, you who have fallen into the trap of Papoulias, the eternal light of a darkened people.
Condakion. Echo of the Fourth Battle.
Let us honor the good, simple, landless, moneyless, and unlearned preacher,
Christophoros, Papoulakos the Invited, as the gods of the Orthodox, the leader of exile and exile, eagerly awaiting, crying out: Hail, Father Theoliptes.
photo Orthodox Missionaries, https://www.orthmad.gr/osios-xristoforos-papoulakos/
