| George of Drama | |
| Titles: | Venerable Elder and New Confessor |
| Birth Name: | Athanasios Karslidis Georgian: ათანასე კარსლიდისი |
| Birth Date: | January 1, 1901 |
| Birth Place: | Chadik, Tsalka, Borchaly uezd, Tiflis Governorate, Caucasus Viceroyalty, Russian Empire (today Georgia) |
| Death Date: | November 4, 1959 |
| Death Place: | Taxiarchis, Drama, Greece |
| Venerated In: | Eastern Orthodox Church |
| Canonized Date: | November 2, 2008 |
| Canonized Place: | Monastery of the Ascension of Christ, in Taxiarchis, Drama, |
| Canonized By: | Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople.[1] |
| Major Shrine: | Relics in Monastery of the Ascension of Christ, in Taxiarchis, Drama.[2] |
| Feast Day: | November 4 (ns)[3] [4] [5] October 24 (os)[6] [7] |
George of Drama (Greek, Modern (1453-);: Ὁ Όσιος Γεώργιος της Δράμας, Georgian: დრამის წმინდა გიორგი, January 1, 1901 – November 4, 1959) was a Caucasus Greek elder known for his gifts of spiritual discernment and clairvoyance. He is considered by Eastern Orthodox as a confessor and venerable.
Karslidis' relics are kept in the Monastery of the Ascension of Christ, in Taxiarchis, Drama,[2] and he is one of the few saints known to bear an imprint of the sign of the cross on his skull. He was glorified on Sunday November 2, 2008, during the visit to the city of Drama of Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew,[1] and his Feast Day is celebrated every year on November 4.[3] [4] [5]
The Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church decided at its meeting of December 24, 2008 to add Karslidis' name to the Menology of the Russian Orthodox Church, establishing his feast day on October 24/November 6.[6] [7]
George Karslidis was born in Chadik, Tsalka, Russian Empire in 1901.[8] [9] His grandparents were refugees who came from Gümüşhane in the Ottoman Empire following the Crimean War. He was orphaned at a young age losing his father and his mother on the same day, leaving him with his older brother. Wounded by the abusive treatment by his older brother, he escaped alone to the mountains, where he was saved by Turkish villagers who took him with them to Pontos.[10] He is known to have travelled to Georgia, Armenia, and Russia before spending most of his life in the village of Taxiarchis, Drama, Northern Greece. He founded the Monastery of the Ascension of Christ in the village of Taxiarchis, which was officially consecrated in 1939, and became the spiritual leader of the community of Drama. Like other contemporary elders and many saints throughout Christian history, Karslidis is said to have sometimes been seen levitating in prayer during the Divine Liturgy.[11]
Karslidis became a Novice monk at a monastery in Georgia after travelling to Tiflis, Georgia, where a priest cared for him. There, he began his monastic life. He waited nearly ten years to be officially tonsured a monk, which took place in July 1919 at the age of eighteen. He was given the new name Symeon.[12]
Karslidis was given the new name George. By this time he had acquired the reputation of being a God-bearing elder and so people flocked to him.[13]
In 1929 Karslidis settled in the village of Taxiarches (Sipsa), in Drama, Northern Greece, where he lived the remaining thirty years of his life.[3]
In 1936, Karslidis managed to make a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, visiting the sites of Christ's life, and visiting various monasteries and hermitages.[14]
In 1938 the Greek government made a permanent distribution of farmland, Karslidis was given an acre of land on which he managed to build the foundations of a monastery dedicated to the Ascension of Jesus. The monastery was officially consecrated in 1939.[14]
Karslidis is believed to have foreseen the coming of World War II as well as the Greek Civil War that would follow it.[14] He was sentenced to death for the second time in his life in 1941 by Bulgarian forces, but after he prayed with calmness and asked them to proceed with their work, they abandoned him out of fear and ran away; thus once again he survived miraculously.[3]
Karslidis died a few hours after midnight on November 4, 1959 and was buried behind the Katholikon of the Monastery of the Ascension.[1]
After Karslidis' death, the monastery that he established fell into disrepair until 1970, when Metropolitan Dionysios (Kyratsos) of Drama undertook its renovation. Since then its monastic life has been re-established, along with a monastic sisterhood dedicated to Christ.[15] On April 25, 1971, the monastery was consecrated, and on November 5, 1976, it was granted official recognition by the Church of Greece.[16]