Dear Friends,
On November 2, 2008, the Venerable Elder and New Confessor St. George (Karslidis) was glorified in the city of Drama during the visit there of His All-Holiness Patriarch Bartholomew.
The Venerable George was born in 1901 in Argyrupolis in Asia Minor. In 1919 he was tonsured a monk in Georgia in the Monastery of the Life-Giving Spring.
He was later arrested by the Bolsheviks and sentenced to die by firing squad, but he miraculously survived his bullet wounds and was released. In 1929, with the help of a Greek family, he travelled to Greece.
In 1930, the Elder came to live near Drama and then, in 1934, he lived in the newly-founded monastery of the Ascension of the Lord. He reposed in 1959.
The Holy Elder George (Karslidis) the New Confessor would say: "Love all people including your enemies - this is fundamental. Always bear love toward those who love us and to those who hate us. Forgive them ... and then we will be truly members of God's family."
O Holy Elder St George the New Confessor, pray unto God for us!
Alex
