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[[Image:Ephraim_Nea_Makri.jpg|right|200px|thumb|St Ephraim of Nea Makri]] '''St. Ephraim of Nea Makri''' or '''St. Ephraim of Mount Amomon''' (Greek: Άγιος Εφραίμ Ἅγιος Ἐφραίμ Νέας Μάκρης / του Όρους των Αμωμώντοῦ Ὅρους τῶν Ἀμώμων), believed to have lived from 1384 to 1426, is venerated as a [[martyr]] and [[miracle]]-working [[saint]] by many [[Church of Greece|Orthodox]] Christians of Greece and abroad. His status as a saint Saint Ephraim is controversial to the secular West, as there are no sources testifying to his existence as a historical person. Believers regard him regarded as a "newly revealed" ("νεοφανείς") saint, whose existence is a matter of divine revelation rather than historical proof. He has become one of the most beloved saints in the last thirty years and his church is a center of pilgrimage for the entire country of Greece. His martyric death is commemorated by the church [[May 5]] and the discovery of his [[relics]] [[January 3]]. The His holy relics were discovered through divine intervention in 1950; , 524 years after his death. The saint was glorified by March 2011.

St. Ephraim's name and biography, complete with exact dates and details, is said to have been were revealed to a hermit [[nun]], Sister [[Makaria Desypri]] (1911-1999), in a series of divinely inspired dreams in 1950. Following these dreams, she believed she was led by God to restore the Monastery of the Annunciation in Nea Makri , which had been destroyed by pirates in the fifteenth century.

With the permission of the local [[bishop]], she took possession of the partially built [[chapel]] and as she worked , she eventually cleared away the rubble and prayed to find out more about the [[monk]] who had once lived there. This prayer was answered with a strong thought to "Dig up the earth here and you will find what you are looking for". With the assistance of a young worker , they uncovered a fireplace, three small windows, and a partially ruined wall, indications that this had been a [[cell]].

A body believed to be that of the saint was found in the ground near the nun's hermitage, on the site of an abandoned medieval [[monastery]] on the slopes of Mount Amomon, near the town of Nea Makri, in Attica. The saint, whose body was kept as a holy relic, quickly became the object of popular veneration, as he came to be known as a worker of miraculous healing. On the site of his supposed life and martyrdom a Monastery of the Annunciation of Our Lady (Ιερά Ἱερά Μονή Ευαγγελισμού της Εὐαγγελισμοῦ τῆς Θεοτόκου) was later re-founded. In 1998, Ephraim was officially glorified a saint by the Synod of the [[Church of Greece|Orthodox Church in Greece]], pending approval by the [[Patriarch of Constantinople]].

According to the dreams revealed to Makaria Desipri, St. Ephraim was born on [[September 14]] 1384 in Trikala, Thessalia. His civil name was Konstantinos Morphes. He became a monk, took the [[monasticism|monastic]] name of Ephraim and moved to Attica to live in what was then the Monastery of the Annunciation of Our Lady on Mount Amomon. In 1424 the monastery was destroyed by marauding Ottoman Empire troops. Ephraim escaped and lived for another year as a [[hermit]] among the ruins of the monastery. In September 1425 he was captured in another Turkish raid. He was held captive and tormented for more than eight months, until he was finally tortured to death on [[May 5]] 1426. A mulberry tree, believed to be that on which the saint was hanged, is today shown as an object of veneration inside the re-erected monastery.

An epistle was sent out by the Holy Synod of the Church of Greece to Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew requesting the recognition of Saint Ephraim, who was martyred in 1436 and whose miraculous relics were divinely revealed in 195o1950, within the membership of the List of Saints of the Orthodox Church. Sixty years after the discovery of the relics of the Saint, the Standing Holy Synod of Greece, in a letter sent - as required - to the Ecumenical Patriarch as the sole power to promote the request, requested that his memory be celebrated on May 5th as well as January 3rd, since on the latter date his holy relics were discovered.

:'' "the influx of pilgrims is massive, almost daily, and on Sundays and holidays the monastery is flooded with pilgrims from all of Greece.... The honor towards Saint Ephraim the New is clearly widespread throught throughout Greece and outside of it.... There are churches dedicated to the Saint in Sitia and Tinos.... Icons of the Saint are venerated throughout the Orthodox world." ''

*[http://flickr.com/photos/53111231@N00/464276234/ New Martyr Ephraim on "flickr"] uploaded on April 18, 2007 by ''chadzimarko''.*[http://www.orthodoxphotos.com/Icons_and_Frescoes/Icons/Various_Saints/31.shtml/ Icon of Holy New Martyr Ephraim of Nea Makri on "OrthodoxPhotos.com"]*[http://www.stinnocent.com/seraphim/dtw/dtw4/overdose.htm/ Story of healing] {{citation|can someone verify this story with name and date?}}*[http://antiochian.org/sites/default/files/december_2017_word_for_archdiocese.pdf "A Most Unexpected Blessing: A Saint Consoles A Grieving Mother" (PDF)]