St Kallinikos of Edessa

St Kallinikos of Edessa is a very recent Saint of our Church who was canonised on 23 June 2020. He was born in the village of Sitaralona, Agrinio in 1919 and was named Dimitrios Poulos.

After graduating from high school, he entered the Theological School of the University of Athens where he excelled. In 1946, aged 27, he enlisted in the Special Forces of the Greek Army and served with distinction. Returning to the Holy Diocese of Aetolia, he again assumed the duties of Secretary and a layman preacher.

He was tonsured as a monk in November 1957 at the Holy Monastery of the Entrance of the Theotokos in Myrtia and was elected Metropolitan of Edessa and Pella in June 1967.

He worked enthusiastically and tirelessly to properly prepare the clergy under his care. He established a boarding school for young students and a nursing home for the elderly. He also promoted monasticism in his diocese and reconstituted the first monastery, in honour of the Archangel Michael.

Despite his virtuous life and integrity, he was subjected to unjust and defamatory attacks. Even through these trials, he displayed his saintly virtues by treating his attackers with meekness and love. He reposed on 8 August 1984 after a seven-month illness.

St Kallinikos was a humble person characterised by almsgiving and prayer. As an ascetic bishop, he was full of missionary and self-sacrificing zeal. His speech was deeply theological and spiritually moving.

He was buried in the Edessa Public Cemetery at his own request, because he wanted to be close to the people he served and loved.

The expulsion of demons through his prayer and his miraculous interventions on the sick after his death testifies to his glorification by God.

The celebration of his canonisation took place in Edessa on his feast day, 8 August 2020. May St Kallinikos intercede to God for us. The Prophet Ezekiel ministered to Israel in the 6th century BC. He was a contemporary of the prophets Daniel and Jeremiah.

Source: Lychnos August–September 2020