Blessed Elder Ieronymos of Aegina was born as Vasilios Apostolides in 1883 in the village of Galyveri, Cappadocia, in Asia Minor. His pious parents, Anastasios and Elizabeth, had six children. As a boy, he was deeply impressed by the fervent prayers of both his mother and the secret ascetics, who lived in the cave-churches of Turkish-occupied Cappadocia.
As a young man, he was ordained a deacon by Metropolitan Sophronios of Amisos in Asia Minor. Later, he visited the Holy Land and stayed for nine months in the Monastery of St. John the Forerunner near the River Jordan. On his return, he served as a deacon in the Church of St. George in Constantinople, where he was long remembered for his holiness, his zeal, and his wonderful voice. The Exchange of Populations in 1922 brought Fr. Ieronymos, as well as millions of his fellow Greeks, back to Greece as refugees.
After suffering for two months from a painful disease, he died in an Athens hospital on Sunday October 3 (old calendar date), 1966. Although not yet glorified as a saint by the Church, his relics repose in his Skete of the Annunciation (Evangelismos) above the town of Aegina.
