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One of the newest contemporary saints of the Eastern Orthodox church, Saint '''Savvas of Kalymnos''' (also known as Saint '''Savvas the New''') is the [[patron saint]] of the Greek island of [[Kalymnos]], where he lived during the last twenty years of his life as the [[priest]] and spiritual father of the [[nun]]s of the Convent of All Saints. He was a great [[ascetic]], [[confessor]], [[iconographer]], and [[wonder-worker|miracle-worker]]. He is one of the recently recognized [[saint]]s in the Greek Orthodox Church.

He died on [[April 7]], 1947 , and his remains were exhumed 10 years later in 1957. The feasts dates of St. ''Savvas the New of Kalymnos'' are celebrated on various dates in different traditions, April 7 ([[March 25]] according to the [[Old Calendar]]), and the fifth Sunday of [[Great Lent]] with St. [[Mary of Egypt]].

Saint Savvas was born in 1862 in Herakleitsa, Eastern Thrace , the only child of Constantinos and Smaragda , both devout people, who were very poor. Upon his baptism he was given the name Vasilios.

As a young boy he had a calling for the [[monastic]] life and secretely secretly left without his parents knowing for [[Mount Athos]] at the age of twelve where he entered [[St. Anne's Skete (Athos)|St. Anne's Skete]]. Along with the monastic duties, this is where he learned [[iconography]] and [[Byzantine chant|Byzantine music]].

He later traveled to Jerusalem for a pilgrimage [[pilgrim]]age to the holy sites. He arrived in 1887 and entered the [[monastery]] of St. George Hozeva and lived there for seventeen years as a hermit in the deserted and rugged cliffs. After serving for a period as a [[novice]], he was [[tonsure]]d a [[monk]] and given the name ''Savvas''.

In 1890, he joined the brotherhood of the Abbott [[Abbot]] Kallinikos (from Alatsata of Asia Minor) and in 1902 was [[ordination|ordained]] a [[deacon]]. In 1903, a year later, he was ordained to the holy priesthood by Archbishop ''Nikodemos from Diokesaria''. He spent almost 10 years in the desert by the Jordan where he led an austere life and occupied himself with prayer and iconography. His dwelling consisted of two cells which he reached by ascending up a rope ladder. This isolation was necessary for successful inner concentration and noetic prayer and he made great spiritual progress there.

Due to the irregularities caused by the raids of the Arabs in the Holy Land, and health reasons, St Savvas was forced to leave. He returned to the motherland - (Greece ) where he searched for a quiet place to continue his monastic struggle. Originally he was attracted to the island of [[Patmos]], where he lived for a while in the hermitage of Grava and later at the [[Monastery of St. John the Theologian (Patmos, Greece)|Monastery of St. John]]. <ref> This is verified by an inscription on an icon painted by St. Savvas himself at the monastery : "In the month of December in 1914 this icon was painted by the hand of the iconographer, heiromonk hieromonk Savvas the Hosevite." </ref>

He later traveled for three years, throughout Greece, looking for a suitable place to stay. He visited Mount Athos, then the Monastery of Phaneromenis, then Salamina and finaly finally the island of Hydra , but in 1919, he was invited to stay at the island of Aegina, by St. [[Nektarios of Aegina|Nektarios]], to serve as a priest at the Convent of the Holy Trinity, and stayed for six years at this convent (from 1919 until 1925). There he taught the nuns the holy art of iconography and Byzantine music. This period was one of the most significant events in his biography due to his friendship with St. Nektarios; , who was at the height of his spiritual development at this time. St Savvas had the opportunity to confess and receive counsel from the saint , and the two held each other in highest esteem and regarded each other a saint. They were spiritual brothers and the best of friends.

:''One day St. Savvas asked the [[abbess]] not to let anyone disturb him for forty days, during which he remained confined to his cell in which the nuns could hear constant conversation (between the living Saint saint and the reposed Saintsaint). After 40 days, he came out of his cell holding an icon of the saint. He handed it to the abbess and asked her to place it in the church for veneration. The abbess was surprised since Nektarios had not been formerly [[glorification|glorified]] ("canonized") as a saint, and was afraid that the convent would get into trouble. Although Savvas was always meek and humble, he insisted, and told her in a commanding manner: "You must show obedience. Take the icon and place it on the [[iconostasis|icon stand]], and do not scrutinize the will of God." He knew the holiness and purity of St. Nektarios.''

During the forty days he spent locked in the room where St Nektarios 's tomb was, the nuns could hear two voices having conversations, and believed the second voice was that of the recently departed St Nektarios, so the living and dead were having discussions.

Soon after the repose of St. Nektarios, the number of pilgrims to the convent increased rapidly due to the growing reputation of the saint as a miracle-worker. This greatly disrupted the quiet life that Saint Savvas loved , and with the encouragement of the influential wealthy Kalymnian Gerasimos Zervos<ref> Gerasimos Zervos, the husband of Anna, who later became Sister Monica, who also went to Kalymnos.</ref>, he departed in 1925 and went to the island of Kalymnos.

There, he spent the last years of his life as the priest and spiritual father at the ''Convent of All Saints''. As a [[confessor]], he combined leniency with severity. He was lenient on certain sins and severe to others. For him Blasphemy blasphemy against God and his His saints was one of the greatest sins. He remained an ardent spiritual striver until the end of life and practiced extreme forms of self-restraint with regard to food, drink, and sleep. St. Savvas became a shining example of virtue to all who came into contact with him. Many smelled a heavenly fragrance in his presence and some even saw him rising above the ground as he stood at prayer.

Towards the end of his life, St. Savvas remained in a state of intense prayer and holy contrition. For three days he did not receive anyone and he gave his last counsels: requested , requesting love and obedience in Christ. When he was on the point of death taking his last breath, suddenly he received strength, brought his blessed small hands together, and clapped them repeatedly saying his last holy words: "The Lord! The Lord! The Lord," then he recited the hymn of the [[Annunciation ]] which the nuns found odd as it was not the Annunciation with the new gregorian Gregorian calendar, but only did the nuns realise later that at that point those following the old Julian calendar were celebrating the vesper vesperal feast for the Annunciation. Thus, he died on [[April 7]]], 1947 (which was March 25 for the Old Calendar - , the eve of the [[feast]] of the [[Annunciation]]. Upon closing his eyes, one of the nuns saw the soul of the saint ascending in a golden cloud towards heaven. After 10 years when the saint's grave was opened, a heavenly fragrance emanated from the grave which covered the whole island of Kalymnos, this phenomenon was witnessed by many, including the local [[bishop]] who upsettingly and initially was refusing refused to grant permission to the nuns to exhume his relics (when after three years of his death St Savvas miraculously appeared to the nuns ordering them to exhume him as the side of his head was getting wet being buried with his head at the base of a water deposit-(''sterna '' in greekGreek) and only after following years of torment and dreams did the then -Bishop Isidoros believe and allowed his relics to be exhumed, finding his whole body incorrupt and intact apart from a small section on his skull where a patch of his skin deteriorated because of the water leaking on him- &mdash;as the Saint saint had said to the nuns!) This was a testament to the sanctity of the saint. Numerous [[miracle]]s and healings have since been attributed to St. Savvas the New of Kalymnos. == Icons of the Saints Life ==

==SourceSources==*Revised & ''Αγιος Σάββας ο Νέος'', revised and written by Fr Savas Pizanias (BTh, BEd) with the use and reference of St Savvas ' original biography- book in Greek ''Αγιος Σάββας ο Νέος", Papanikolaou Eds. 1993.Also *''Modern Orthodox Saints'', Vol. 8. , by Dr. Constantine Cavarnos, Institute for Byzantine and Modern Greek Studies . ISBN 0914744631 *Photographs & Icons and icons courtesy of Fr Savas Pizanias and Constantine Vellis Cutie-Pie Photography Photo Studio - NSW Australia contact - sales@cutiepiephoto.com.au*[http://www.stsavvaskalymnos.org St Savvas of Kalymnos Orthodox Church and Community - Syndey]

*[http://www.abbamoses.com/months/april.html Saint Savvas the New of Kalymnos (19481947) (March 25 OC)] (under the entry for April 7)