09 works, Today, August 24th, is Cosmas of Aetolia's day, his story illustrated #236

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 St. Cosmas of Aetolia, Equal to the Apostles

Mural inside a Greek Orthodox church

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Cosmas of Aetolia, sometimes Kosmas of Aetolia or Cosmas/Kosmas the Aetolian or Patrokosmas "Father Cosmas" (born between 1700 and 1714 – died 1779), was a monk in the Greek Orthodox Church. He is recognized as one of the originators of the twentieth-century religious movements in Greece. He is also noted for his prophesies.

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Mount Athos

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Mount Athos or Agion Oros, as it is locally known, is the oldest surviving monastic community in the world. It dates back more than a thousand years, to Byzantine times. It is a unique monastic republic, which, although part of Greece, it is governed by its own local administration. More on Mount Athos

Cosmas was born in the Greek village of Mega Dendron near the town of Thermo in the region of Aetolia. He studied Greek and theology before becoming a monk after a trip to Mount Athos, where he also attended the local Theological Academy.

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Islamic Conversion and Christian Resistance on the Early Modern Stage

Book cover!

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After two years Cosmas left Athos. He studied rhetoric in Constantinople for a time. In 1760 he was authorized by Patriarch Serapheim II to begin missionary tours in the villages of Thrace – later extended to what would form the areas of both West Greece and Northern Greece. The Patriarch had reportedly been worried at the increasing rate of Christians converting to Islam in these areas.

Over sixteen years, Cosmas established many church schools in villages and towns. He called upon Christians to establish schools and learn Biblical Koine Greek, so that they might understand the Scriptures better and generally educate themselves.

Stefano Torelli, (1712–1784)

Allegory of Catherine's Victory over the Turks (1772)

Oil on canvas

Height: 205 cm (80.7 in); Width: 347 cm (11.3 ft)

Tretyakov Gallery,  Moscow, Russia

Stefano Torelli (1712–1784) was an Italian painter. He was born in Bologna. He studied first under his father, Felice Torelli, and then under Francesco Solimena. The future King of Poland, Augustus III, brought him to Dresden in 1740, where he painted altar-pieces and ceiling decorations, many destroyed in the Seven Years' War. He painted figures in Canaletto's twenty-nine views of Dresden (1741). In 1762 he was summoned to the Russian court where he painted ceilings in the Royal Palace, and some portraits, among the latter one of the Empress Elizabeth in armor. He was a clever caricaturist, and etched a few plates. He died in St. Petersburg. More on Stefano Torelli 

The Orlov revolt was a Greek uprising in the Peloponnese and later also in Crete that broke out in February 1770, following the arrival of Russian Admiral Alexey Orlov, commander of the Imperial Russian Navy during the Russo-Turkish War (1768–1774), to the Mani Peninsula. The revolt  was part of Catherine the Great's so-called "Greek Plan" and was eventually suppressed by the Ottomans. More on The Orlov revolt 

After the Orlov Revolt of 1770 in the Peloponnese (which was provoked by the Orlov brothers with the support of Catherine II of the Russian Empire), Cosmas started to preach in what is now Southern Albania, then under the rule of Ahmet Kurt Pasha, governor of the Pashalik of Berat.

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Ahmet Kurt Pasha

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His preachings had aroused the opposition of the rich and powerful and others who felt their position threatened.

Cosmas was also viewed with suspicion by officials of the Venetian Republic, which ruled parts of the territory where he was active. In 1779 he is said to have visited the Venetian-ruled town of Preveza and founded there a Greek school, which would be the only school of the city during the 18th century – an act which the Venetian authorities might have considered as undermining their rule. 

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St. Kosmas Aitolos preaching to the people

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He travelled by foot, by donkey and by ship. When he came to a village he would ask the villagers to plant a large wooden cross in the village square. Then he would mount a bench next to the cross and preach to the villagers about the love of God and the Orthodox faith.

One effect of his preaching was to transfer the holding of the weekly bazaar from Sunday to Saturday, which brought economic losses to Jews – barred by their religion from engaging in business on Sabbath. Some researchers believe that for that reason, Jews in Epirus were involved in his conviction by the Ottoman authorities.

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Icon of St. Kosmas being martyred by the Turks

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Accused of being a Russian agent, he was seized by Ottoman authorities. On 24 August 1779, he was executed at Kolkondas, Fier District, near the mouth of the Seman river (in present-day Albania). There were no formal charges brought against him, nor was he put on trial before being executed – leading to various theories, persisting up to the present, about who might have wanted him dead. More on Cosmas of Aetolia

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The finding of the sacred body of St. Kosmas

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His body was thrown into a river, and after three days, was found by the priest Mark and buried near the village of Kolikontasi at the monastery of the Entrance into the Temple of the Most Holy Theotokos. 

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Icon from the St. Kosmas Aitolos

 Greek Orthodox Monastery in Bolton, Ontario

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