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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 [[prayer]]s of both his mother and the secret [[ascetic]]s who lived in the cave-churches of Turkish-occupied Cappadocia. As a young man he was [[ordination|ordained]] a [[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 [[w:Population exchange between Greece and Turkey|Exchange of Populations]] in 1922 brought Fr. Ieronymos, as well as millions of his fellow Greeks, back to Greece as refugees, ending the 2000-year-old Greek Christian civilization in Asia Minor.
After suffering for two months from a painful disease, he died in an Athens hospital on Sunday [[October 3]], 1966, at 12:33pm.<ref group="note">"The time was exactly 12:33 in the afternoon, Sunday October 3, (October 16 n.s.), the feast of Saint [[Dionysius the Areopagite]], 1966." (''Botsis, p.248'')</ref> His funeral service was presided over by Metropolitan Akakios of Attica and Diavleia, and his [[relics]] repose in his [[Skete]] of the Annunciation (Evangelismos) above the town of Aegina. On September 5 (September /18 n.s.), 2014, Blessed Ieronymos was glorified a saint by the [[Church of the Genuine Orthodox Christians of Greece]].
==Notes==