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Ieronymos of Aegina

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Blessed Elder '''Ieronymos (Apostolides) of Aegina''' was born Vasilios Apostolides in 1883 in the village of Galyveri, Cappadocia in Asia Minor. His pious parents, Anastasios and Elizabeth, had six children. As a boy he was deeply impressed by the fervent prayers of both his mother and the secret ascetics who lived in the cave-churches of Turkish-occupied Cappadocia. As a young man he was ordained deacon by Metropolitan Sophronios of Amisos in Asia Minor. Later, he visited the Holy Land and stayed for nine months in the Monastery of St. John the Forerunner near the River Jordan. On his return, he served as a deacon in the Church of St. George in Constantinople, where he was long remembered for his holiness, his zeal, and his wonderful voice. The Exchange of Populations in 1922 brought Fr. Ieronymos, as well as millions of his fellow Greeks, back to Greece as refugees, ending the two thousand-year-old Greek Christian civilization in Asia Minor.
<!--- From Monachos.Net for rewording,
Thus, just two years after the repose of St. [[Nektarios of Aegina|Nektarios]], Deacon Vasilios arrived on Aegina, and became acquainted with a priest who was eventually consecrated Metropolitan Panteleimon of Karistia (Evoia). The Metropolitan convinced Vasilios that he should accept the priesthood, and a year after his ordination he was tonsured a monk, with the name Ieronymos, after the Elder '''Ieronymos of Simonopetra''' on the Holy Mountain. Soon after the ordination, however, Fr. Ieronymos had a terrifying vision of the Lord Himself as a baby lying on the holy altar. He was so shaken and convinced of his unworthiness to serve Holy Liturgy that he retired from active ministry and went to live in a small monastery-skete named Evangelismos (the Annunciation), on the outskirts of town. He lived in one small room, which he also used as a workshop. For his private prayers he would enclose himself in a tiny, circular, white-washed room, bare of decoration, which reminded him of the many small rock churches in his native Cappadocia. He was assisted by a nun, Sister Eupraxia, who reposed in 1990.
At least once, and perhaps twice after his incident, while he was praying in his small crypt-chapel, two of his spiritual children came quietly to the door to see if he was free to talk. Opening the door, they saw him praying, seemingly in an ecstasy with both arms raised in prayer, the missing one as strong and vital as a young man's. Fr. Ieronymos quickly came to himself, and said, "Well, don't think this is anything. In heaven there are many greater miracles than this. Don't speak about it."
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After suffering for two months from a painful disease he died in an Athens hospital on October 2, 1966 (OS). Although not yet canonized, his relics repose in his Skete of the Annunciation (Evangelismos) above Aegina town.
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