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'''St. Ephraim of Nea Makri''' or '''St. Ephraim of Mount Amomon''' (Greek: Άγιος Εφραίμ Νέας Μάκρης / του Όρους των Αμωμών), 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 is controversial to the secular West, as there are no sources testifying to his existence as a historical person. Believers regard him 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 loved saints in the last thirty years and 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 relics were discovered through divine intervention in 1950; 524 years after his death.

==History==

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, Greece. 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 healings. On the site of his supposed life and martyrdom a '''Monastery of the Annunciation of Our Lady''' (Ιερά Μονή Ευαγγελισμού της Θεοτόκου) was later erected. In 1998, Ephraim was officially declared a saint by the Synod of the [[Church of Greece|Orthodox Church in Greece]], pending approval by the [[Patriarch of Constantinople]].

==Biography==

The monastery in Nea Makri, the centre of the saint's veneration and his miracle-working, is now a much-frequented place of [[pilgrimage]] attracting thousands of visitors, especially people praying for the healing of illnesses.

==In the News==

The monastery was the object of a public scandal in 2005, as the nuns of the monastery and the bishop of Attica accused each other of embezzling money from pilgrims' donations.

* [[w:Ephraim_of_Nea_Makri|St. Ephraim of Nea Makri on Wikipedia]]

*[http://clubs.pathfinder.gr/pavmaria/506807/ Ι.Μ. Αγίου Εφραίμ Νέας Μάκρης on '''Pathfinder club''' ] (in Greek)

*[http://flickr.com/photos/53111231@N00/464276234/ New Martyr Ephraim on '''flickr'''] uploaded on April 18, 2007 by ''chadzimarko''.