Saint George Karslides lived most of his life in the village of Sipsa (now identified as Taxiarches) in Drama of Northern Greece. He established a small monastery there dedicated to the Ascension of the Savior and reposed in the Lord on November 4th 1959. Though his feast day is universally celebrated by Orthodox Christians on November 4th, in his native city of Drama it has been established that his Synaxis be celebrated on the Fourth Sunday of Great Lent. This is done to sanctify and strengthen the faithful in their spiritual struggle during Great Lent.
What is notable for this celebration is the transfer of his relics which takes place through a procession from the Monastery of the Ascension of the Savior in Sipsa, where his relics are kept, to the Church of Saint Nicholas in Drama, and this procession takes place on the Friday before the Fourth Sunday of Great Lent. When the relics arrive at the Church of Saint Nicholas in Drama, the Fourth Salutations to the Theotokos is chanted. Then on Saturday evening, a Great Festal Vespers is celebrated. On Sunday, before the dismissal of the Divine Liturgy, the Lamentations to the Saint are chanted, and a procession takes place to the center of the city of Drama. The relics then return to the Church of Saint Nicholas and the Supplicatory Canon to the Saint is chanted, before the return of the relics of the Saint to their resting place in Sipsa.
The procession of the Saint's larnax is accompanied, with ecclesiastical order and splendor, by clergy of the city, the abbess and the nuns of the Monastery of the Ascension in Sipsa, political and military authorities, representatives of school units and cultural associations and a multitude of believers, who wait patiently to venerate the grace-flowing sacred relics.
Photos are from the arrival of the sacred relics to the Church of Saint Nicholas in Drama:
What is notable for this celebration is the transfer of his relics which takes place through a procession from the Monastery of the Ascension of the Savior in Sipsa, where his relics are kept, to the Church of Saint Nicholas in Drama, and this procession takes place on the Friday before the Fourth Sunday of Great Lent. When the relics arrive at the Church of Saint Nicholas in Drama, the Fourth Salutations to the Theotokos is chanted. Then on Saturday evening, a Great Festal Vespers is celebrated. On Sunday, before the dismissal of the Divine Liturgy, the Lamentations to the Saint are chanted, and a procession takes place to the center of the city of Drama. The relics then return to the Church of Saint Nicholas and the Supplicatory Canon to the Saint is chanted, before the return of the relics of the Saint to their resting place in Sipsa.
The procession of the Saint's larnax is accompanied, with ecclesiastical order and splendor, by clergy of the city, the abbess and the nuns of the Monastery of the Ascension in Sipsa, political and military authorities, representatives of school units and cultural associations and a multitude of believers, who wait patiently to venerate the grace-flowing sacred relics.
Photos are from the arrival of the sacred relics to the Church of Saint Nicholas in Drama:
