The Attic land, after the gospel of Christ was preached, has produced a multitude of saints, who brighten the hagiological firmament of our Church. One of them was Saint Timothy, Bishop of EvriposA bright star, a great spiritual personality, in difficult times for the Church and our Nation.
Born in the year 1510 at Kalamo, AtticaHis name was Tasos Kalamiotis. His father was a village priest, who taught him his first letters. Above all, he inspired in him faith in God and a virtuous life. Both his priest father and his pious presbyter mother filled his childhood soul with love for Orthodoxy, the only true faith. From a young age he showed a great aptitude for letters, for which reason his parents sent him to the schools of Athens, where he received the best possible education of his time. His main teacher was Bishop of Oreos in Northern Evia, who financed his studies. After completing his studies, he returned to Kalamos for a short time.
But, from the age of adolescence, he showed his calling to monasticism and asceticism. The one who inspired him to embrace monasticism was his respected teacher, Bishop of Oreos, whom he called to Northern Euboea and initially made him his secretary. He was tonsured a monk by him and received the monastic name Timothy and was later ordained a deacon and elder. From then on, his spiritual offering to the Church and the Turkish people of the region began. He had such zeal that when he celebrated the Holy Mysteries and especially the Divine Eucharist, he considered himself a voluntary instrument of God for the sanctification of the faithful.
After the death of his elder Bishop, he took his place and was elected bishop of Oreos. But after a short time he was elected Metropolitan of Evripos Based in Chalkida. As metropolitan, he literally devoted himself to the spiritual regeneration of his flock and the social ministry of the needy, without any discrimination. Along with the Christians, he also relieved the non-Christian Turks and Jews. This made him very dear to everyone, even the Turks.
But it wasn't long before the climate changed. The Sultan Selim II (1566-1574), wanting to convert the non-Muslim subjects of the Ottoman Empire to Islam, decided to convert the largest and most magnificent Christian churches into mosques. Then Timothy reacted fiercely and informed the local Turkish-Albanian pasha that he would not allow the Sultan's firman to be implemented. The barbaric and ruthless pasha considered the attitude of the holy Bishop hostile to the high gate and declared him an enemy of the Ottoman state. In fact, he planned to kill him. But the pasha's crypto-Christian wife, his old spiritual child, warned him to be careful. She gave him a large sum of money and advised him to leave the area. There is evidence that he was protected and helped to leave by the Turks of Euboea, who, as we said, appreciated and loved him.
Timothy, seeing that his life was indeed in danger, one night of the year 1572, accompanied by two of his clergy, secretly crossed to the other side of Attica and initially settled in his birthplace, where he stayed for a short time, in the small village there. Kololivadi Monastery.
But a significant event changed things in enslaved Greece. The defeat of the Turks by the combined Christian European powers in 1571 at Echinades Islands (Battle of Nafpaktos), under the Austrian don Juan, resulted in the intensification of persecutions against enslaved Christians by the Turks. Thus, the life of the exiled Bishop was more in danger.
About it 1573-74 The Pasha of Chalkis had sent his men to arrest him, but Timotheus managed to escape and hid in the "Mount of the Immaculate", as the Pentelic mountain was called, into a hermitage in honor of Holy Trinity, where he attracted other ascetics.
But he longed for peace, because his many fellow ascetics deprived him of this desire. That is why he was looking for another place where he could establish his own retreat. Exploring the entire area, with a small entourage, he arrived at a spot full of wild olive trees and where there was an old skeleton. Examining it, he found that in the area of its heart was engraved the image of Virgin Mary Sweet-Hearted. It is said that in ancient times there was a sanctuary of Athena at that location. According to another tradition, the Virgin Mary herself led him there to build a Holy Monastery in her honor. According to another tradition, the Virgin Mary led him to a nearby hut, where he found the skeleton of a monk holding the icon of the Virgin Mary Glykofilousa.
The saint approved the site and gave orders for the reconstruction of the Monastery, dedicated to Assumption of MaryIt is the famous one that survives to this day. Holy Monastery of PenteliThe construction took place between the years 1576-1578After he had manned and organized it, he shepherded it for five years and then retired to an estate he bought in the area. Gerakas, for greater peace. Then he went to other retreats, such as the Boyiatio Attica (Agios Stefanos), Kastraki, Agios Georgios Kokkinaras and Talassi, a marshy area at the base of Pentelicus. It also passed through the Holy Monastery of the Transfiguration of the Savior of Kalos Livadi in Kalamos, his village.
Shortly after we meet him at Skete of Saint George Hostos, in Gargittos, south of Mount Pentelicus. After a while, the 1580, settled in Skete of Saint George, Vravrona, Attica. There he renovated the Monastery and built new cells. During his stay there, a great miracle occurred. Some Turkish pirates kidnapped the children of a Turkish landowner. She learned of his holiness and therefore ran to him to beg him to save her children. The miracle happened, with his prayers the pirates freed the children. As a token of gratitude, she granted him a large area of her property in the Vravrona region.
But here too he found no peace. The other landowners of the area considered that the multiplication of their estates posed a danger to their own properties and therefore new persecutions began against Timothy. To intimidate him, they burned the boat he was fishing in. Therefore, he was forced to be displaced again. He crossed to the opposite island Kea (Tzia), where he settled in the ruined Holy Monastery of Saint John the BaptistIn the summers he frequented a cave in the area of Lourou, where he spent his days fasting, watching and praying without ceasing. There he performed another miracle, gushing forth gurgling water from the dry rocks. The spring exists to this day, along with his temple. Saint Panteleimon.
One might wonder why he had all these trips. The answer is that he himself was an incorrigible man. He gave vent to anger and preferred to escape from trouble. His principle was "Fear and flee"! He was also a man.
of tranquility and even more: in all the areas he went, he created spiritual centers, which operate to this day!
Through his personal struggle, he was purified, sanctified and deified. He even received the gift of miracles. The Saint became known for his miracles during his lifetime, after his death as a persecutor of the diseases of cholera and plague. His relics were associated with multiple miracles such as that of the disappearance of locusts and the plague.
Crushed by his sufferings and ascetic struggle, he slept peacefully at August 16, 1590,at age 80 years old, in the cave of Louros. His holy relic was buried in the chapel of Agios Panteleimonos. But later he appeared in a dream to monks and urged them to transfer his relic to Holy Monastery of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary of PenteliBut in 1821 The Turkish troops plundered the Monastery and destroyed his holy relics. Only his holy Kara and the icon of Panagia Glykofilousa were saved.
His memory is commemorated on August 16, on the day of his holy death. He is particularly honored in the Holy Monastery of the Dormition of the Theotokos of Penteli, who is considered its founder and protector. There are temples to him in Chalkida, Kea and Gargittos in Attica.
Photo From Holy Monastery of Penteli (IMP) – Holy Monastery of Penteli (IMP), Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=65024949, https://el.wikipedia.org/wiki/
