Virgin Mary Epakoyoysa - Holy Monastery Zografou

During the period of the false union of the Council of Lyons under th pro-Latin Michael VIII Palaeologus and the Patriarch Ioannes Beccus, in the 13th century, Latin clerics accompanied by soldiers invaded the Holy Mountain, that stronghold of Orthodoxy, to impose by force union with the Western Church. The Zografou Monastery had the honour to produce in this struggle against error the 26 Martyrs of Zographou. At that time, there was a saintly elder living the ascetic life near the Monastery whose habit it was to recite the Akathistos Hymn many times a day before the icon of the Theotokos.

According to the tradition, the founders of Zografou Monastery are considered to be three brother monks, Moses, Aaron and John from Ahrida, who lived on Mount Athos in the 10th century. However, historical evidence testifies to another version of the establishment of the Monastery. In the first charter of Tsimiskis (972), George the Painter (in Greek, Zografos) is mentioned as the builder of the Zografou Monastery, who signs as abbot of the Monastery. The Zografou Monastery is dedicated to Saint George, as an old miraculous icon is preserved, which is one of the most important relics of the Monastery.

Saint elder Iakovos Tsalikis was among the holiest Elders, who lived in Greece the past decades. His holiness is acknowledged by almost all Greeks and thousands of faithful from the rest world. His entire holy life and the miracles he worked and is still working today, place him among the biggest recent Saints of the Orthodox Christian Religion. Fr. Iakovos Tsalikis was born in Livisi, Asia Minor on November 5, 1920.  He was one of nine children that his mother Theodora gave birth to.  His father Stavros was taken captive by the Turks in the catastrophe of Asia Minor, when the Greeks lost the war.  The father was later released and joined his family in Greece.  Because of the difficult times in which the Elder’s family lived only three of the nine children lived beyond infancy.