Folklore - Saints

 
 

Gerontogiannis

 

  

 

Ioannis Vizentsos, later known as Gerontogiannis or Osios Iosif, was born in 1799, while his parents visited the Kapsa monastery on the southeast coast of Crete.

As Ioannis grew up, he proved to be a proud and self-willed young man, and in order to avoid episodes with the Turks in Lithines, the family's hometown, his father sent him away to distant places to herd sheep.
A Greek family with two very beautiful daughters lived in Lithines. A local Turk forced the oldest daughter to marry him, and in order to avoid the same misfortune coming upon the youngest daughter, Kalliopi, she was sent away to the south coast, until she and Ioannis could get married. At the marriage Ioannis took the girl's surname, Gerontakis.
         Lithines

 
They settled in Lithines, had four children and a quiet existence until the spring of 1841, when an unexpected event would change the family's life. Without any warning, Ioannis fell into a deep comatose sleep, which lasted for 43 hours.

 
When he woke up he showed no sign of exhaustion or confusion, on the contrary, he seemed very refreshed and told immediately about his dream: An angel had guided him around in both paradise and hell and had given him the strength of being able to perform miracles and do good deeds.

 
His first miracle was healing an elderly woman from the village so that she was able to walk after several years of paralysis.

 
In order to praise God for the transformation which had happened to him, he went into the Panagia church in Lithines, and when he after several hours of prayer came out again, he called on the crowd who had gathered in the church square, to be kind to each other and live in toleration.

 

 
The rumour of Ioannis' healing powers spread fast, and naturally this caused many people to flock to Lithines - either to be cured or just to see Ioannis.

 
When the Cretans again that year rebelled against the Turks, Ioannis was arrested several times and taken to Iraklion, accused of inciting the masses to revolution.

 
After having healed the Turkish commander's mother in Iraklion and the child of the local commander in Sitia, he was, however, given permission by the authorities to continue his practice unchallenged - but in a faraway place.

 
Also the Orthodox Church was concerned about Ioannis' popularity at first. But during the bishop's visit to Lithines his horse foaled and after that it became wild and afraid of people. Nobody could get near to it, except for Ioannis, who stroke its muzzle and the horse calmed down. After this episode, the church allowed Ioannis to carry on his practice but it demanded - as the Turks - that it should take place at a faraway spot.

 
In November 1841, Ioannis therefore went to the Kapsa monastery, where he had been born, baptised and married. The owner, Chatzis Nikolaos Zafeiris, placed the little monastery and some land at his disposal, free of charge. He started immediately to repair the monastery, but the work did not really speed up until 20 years later (1861-1863).

Kapsa
When the new church was consecrated by bishop Harion in 1863, Gerontogiannis was simultaneously ordained as a monk and got the name of Iosif.

 
Some years later Gerontoiannis was sent to the Agia Sofia monastery near Chandras, northeast of Kapsa, to lead the repair work there.

 

Not until 1870 - after more than three years in the Agia Sofia monastery - did he get permission to return to the Kapsa monastery, where he lived till his death, on August 6th 1874.

 
Today the earthly remains of Osios Iosif are placed in the church as a relic for the believers.