Our Holy Church celebrates the memory of the modern Saint Georgios (Karslidis) of Drama.
Saint Georgios Karslidis was born in Argyroupoli, Pontus, in 1901. While he was still an infant, his parents died on the same day. While still a child, he prayed constantly. At the age of seven, he went on a pilgrimage to venerate Panagia Soumela. He became a Novice monk there. In 1919 he was tonsured a monk. Soon afterwards he was ordained a deacon. Because of the persecution against the Christians, he fled to Georgia.
During the days of the persecution of the Church in Georgia, the young deacon was arrested by the regime, imprisoned and tortured. He was even sentenced to death by firing squad. He was shot, but survived miraculously!
In 1925 he was ordained a Presyter. In 1929 Karslidis settled in the village of Taxiarches (Sipsa), in Drama, Northern Greece, where he lived the remaining thirty years of his life, displaced from his motherland as did the rest of the Pontians.
He was condemned to death in 1941, but was again miraculously saved, to continue his venerable life in Christ with patience and humiliation. He fell asleep in the Lord on November 4, 1959. Venerable Georgios Karslidis was canonised as a saint in 2008.
Through the lives of the Saints whose memory celebrate today, it is concluded that our Holy Church gives birth to saints at any time regardless of their social, economic or educational level. They are everyday people who are considered worthy by the believers, because throughout the ages the Holy Spirit guides the Church as the guardian of Divine Grace.
Source: Church of Cyprus
