Our Patron Saints

These saints were unknown for about 500 years after their martyrdoms during the Turkish occupation of Lesbos. In 1959, the three saints appeared to the people on Lesbos in dreams and visions. They guided excavations of their own graves, called people to repentance, and cured many kinds of diseases. The saints revealed how they were cruelly tortured at the monastery, calling it a “second Golgotha” (in the words of Saint Raphael). Saint Raphael’s torture ended when his head was sawn off. Saint Nicholas died of heart failure when he was being tortured and Saint Irene was tortured in front of her father and burnt alive in a clay cask, where her charred bones were later found. The teacher’s head was cut off and placed between his legs when he was buried. A great deal of blood was shed at the monastery; the Saints were martyred for the sake of their Christian faith and fatherland. Found amongst the excavation was Saints Raphael’s round metallic engolpion with a low relief of Christ Pantocrator on it.