Saint Cosmas of Aetolia – Saint indirectly associated with the Monastery

St Cosmas of Aetolia was born in the village of Megalo Dendro in Aetolia of devout parents and his name in the world was Konstas. When he heard of the establishment of the Athonite School in 1749, he resigned from his post as teacher and went and enrolled as a pupil at the School. He attended the lessons of some of the School’s great teachers, such as Evyenios Voulgaris and Neophytos Kafsokalivitis, and acquired a rich treasury of knowledge. After leaving the School, he became a monk at the Philotheou Monastery, taking the name of Cosmas. As he was living a life of holiness at the Monastery, he sensed in the depths of his heart the Voice of God calling him to the evangelisation of the enslaved Greeks and gave himself to this task with missionary zeal. He preached throughout almost the whole of present-day Greece and Northern Epirus. The seal was set on his preaching of the Gospel by a martyr’s death in 1779, on 24 August, the day on which he is now commemorated²².