Today, Friday, April 10, eve of the Raising of Lazarus and before Palm Sunday, our Holy Church honors the memory of Hieromartyr Gregory V, Patriarch of Constantinople, who was born in Dimitsana, Arcadia.
He went to Smyrna, to stay with his uncle, the ecclesiarch Meletios, and to attend classes at the Evangelical School. He then took philosophy classes in Patmos island. However, his desire for monastic life led him to the Monastery of Strofades, where he was tonsured a monk and was initiated into monastic exercise. Later, Metropolitan Prokopios of Smyrna called him and ordained him his archdeacon. As a Presbyter, he returned to Dimitsana. On August 19, 1785, he was elected Ecumenical Patriarch.
Gregory remained on the patriarchal throne until December 1798, when he was deposed by the Sublime Porte for he was deemed incapable of maintaining the subjugation of the Christian peoples under the Turkish yoke and was exiled to Mount Athos.
The period of his obligatory stay in the Garden of the Virgin Mary gave him the opportunity to delve deeper into self-knowledge and theology. He was again called to the Ecumenical Throne, but was subjugation exiled from the Sublime Porte.
In 1818 he was called for the third time to the Ecumenical Throne, where he remained until April 10, 1821, Easter Sunday, during which the Ottomans hanged him at the main Gate of the Patriarchate. This Gate remains closed to this day in memory of the hanged Patriarch.
On April 10, 1921, he was declared Saint and was included in the list of saints of the Orthodox Church. His holy relic is found in the Metropolitan Church of Athens. Pilgrims worship it praying for Romiosini and all the martyrs of the City on the Seven Hills.
Source: Church of Cyprus
