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| Venerable Agathon (Feast Day - August 7) |
Verses
With fervent faith you founded Agathonos Monastery,
You who now worthily dwell in the Monasteries on high.
On the seventh the bones of Agathon appeared in the earth.
With fervent faith you founded Agathonos Monastery,
You who now worthily dwell in the Monasteries on high.
On the seventh the bones of Agathon appeared in the earth.
Agathonos Monastery is a male monastery in Phthiotis of Central Greece, located on the northern slopes of Mount Oeta, some 3 km west of the town of Ypati.
As for the builder of the Monastery of Agathonos, which honors the Dormition of the Theotokos because of the miraculous icon of the Panagia there, and the Transfiguration of the Savior, many biographical details are missing.
After the decline of a nearby monastery and the discovery of the icon of the Theotokos by Saint Agathon, he built the present monastery, which received the name of its founder and first abbot from the disciples of the Saint after his repose.
According to recent research, the life of Saint Agathon is related to the life of Saint Athanasios of Meteora (see April 20), whom Agathon followed to Mount Athos. Thus Saint Agathon is numbered and honored among the Saints of the Holy Mountain and is said to have lived in the 14th century. It is worth noting that both on Mount Athos and in the first large monastery of Meteora, founded by Saint Athanasios, the Theotokos and the Transfiguration of the Savior are also honored.
In 1959 on the south side of the beautiful katholikon of Agathonos Monastery, beneath the Holy Altar, after excavations, the Saint's tomb and his grace-filled and honorable relics were found and then translated to the main church.
The oldest image of the Saint is a fresco of the 16th century in the Chapel of Saint John the Forerunner in Agathonos Monastery. A Divine Office was composed in the Holy Mountain by the late hymnographer Saint Gerasimos Mikragiannanitis.
Apolytikion in the Fourth Tone
With strong love, you raised your mind, shining in asceticism and the light of virtue, our Father Agathon; hence you worthily gained heavenly goods, as a servant of the Lord, therefore we entreat you to intercede for our souls.
Kontakion in the Second Tone
By your asceticism, blessed Agathon, you served the good Lord; and now His goodness, do propitiate on our behalf, that we who honor you, may attain divine grace.
Megalynarion
Rejoice, you who achieved in Phthiotis, an angelic life, by denying yourself; Rejoice, O Agathon, builder of your Holy Monastery, and fervent mediator to the Lord.
With strong love, you raised your mind, shining in asceticism and the light of virtue, our Father Agathon; hence you worthily gained heavenly goods, as a servant of the Lord, therefore we entreat you to intercede for our souls.
Kontakion in the Second Tone
By your asceticism, blessed Agathon, you served the good Lord; and now His goodness, do propitiate on our behalf, that we who honor you, may attain divine grace.
Megalynarion
Rejoice, you who achieved in Phthiotis, an angelic life, by denying yourself; Rejoice, O Agathon, builder of your Holy Monastery, and fervent mediator to the Lord.
