Icon of St. Savas of Kalymnos - 00STSK01

Feast Day/Commemorated: February 19

Early Monastic Calling and Journeys to the Holy Land

Saint Savvas, born Vasilios in 1862 in Herakleitsa, Eastern Thrace, was the only child of devout but impoverished parents. From a very young age, he felt a strong calling to monasticism, secretly leaving home at twelve to enter St. Anne's Skete on Mount Athos, where he learned iconography and Byzantine music. In 1887, he embarked on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem and subsequently spent seventeen years as a hermit in the desolate cliffs of St. George Hozeva Monastery. After serving as a novice, he was tonsured a monk, taking the name Savvas. He joined the brotherhood of Abbot Kallinikos in 1890, was ordained a deacon in 1902, and a priest in 1903. For nearly a decade, he led an austere life of prayer and iconography in the Jordan desert, inhabiting remote cells accessible only by rope ladder, where he achieved significant spiritual progress through intense inner concentration.

Return to Greece and Spiritual Brotherhood with Saint Nektarios

Due to Arab raids in the Holy Land and health issues, Saint Savvas was compelled to leave, returning to Greece in search of a quiet place for his monastic struggles. After exploring Patmos and various other locations across Greece, including Mount Athos, Salamina, and Hydra, he was invited to the island of Aegina in 1919 by Saint Nektarios. He served as a priest at the Convent of the Holy Trinity for six years, teaching the nuns iconography and Byzantine music. This period was profoundly significant, marked by his deep friendship and spiritual guidance from Saint Nektarios, who was then at the height of his spiritual development. They held each other in high esteem as spiritual brothers and close friends. Saint Savvas notably conducted Saint Nektarios's funeral service and later painted the first icon of the canonized saint, a testament to his profound spiritual connection and prophetic insight into Nektarios's holiness.

Later Life, Miracles, and Repose in Kalymnos

After Saint Nektarios's repose, the increased influx of pilgrims to the convent disrupted Saint Savvas's cherished quiet life. With encouragement from Gerasimos Zervos, a wealthy Kalymnian, he moved to the island of Kalymnos in 1925. There, he spent his final years as a priest and spiritual father at the Convent of All Saints, known for his unique approach to confession that combined leniency with severity. He remained an ardent spiritual striver, practicing extreme self-restraint in food, drink, and sleep, and became a shining example of virtue. Many who encountered him reported smelling a heavenly fragrance, and some even witnessed him levitating during prayer. Towards the end of his life, Saint Savvas was in a state of intense prayer, giving his last counsels of love and obedience. He passed away peacefully on April 7, 1947, clapping his hands and uttering "The Lord! The Lord! The Lord," then reciting the hymn of the Annunciation, a feast celebrated on the Old Calendar on the eve of his repose. Upon his death, a nun reportedly saw his soul ascending in a golden cloud.

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