Summary:
Undoubtedly, the saints of a place are its timeless boast and undeniable glory. Some of them were born in the place they sanctified, others stayed in the place as parishioners, while some martyred in various ways for the glory of the Philanthropic God. However, regardless of the way the saints of each place are naturalized, in most cases, it becomes visible that these people with their tears of repentance watered the place they lived in, seeking with superhuman struggles to renovate themselves and their fellow human beings.
Starting the recording of the information about the Laconian Saints, it is observed that at the beginning well-known local saints were our patron saint (of all the Laconians) Saint Nikos the "Repentant", the saint and miracle worker Theoklitus of Lacedaemonia, the holy neomartyr John, Saint Leontius of Monemvasiotis and the ascetics Saints Thomas and George, the athletes in Maleo. With these saints, a holy icon was crafted, a holy Mass was composed by Panosiol. Chief Yoel Fragakos (now Metropolitan of Edessa) and their feast was established, as a "synaxis" on the Second Sunday of Lent, with a solemn vespers and high-priestly divine liturgy in the precinct of I.N. Agios Nikolaos of Sparta, an aisle of which was inaugurated in the name of the Laconians Saints.
Later, Saints Maximus the Greek, Gregory the Mystrian, Elias the New and Saint Patience, mother of Constantine Palaiologos, were added to the choir of the Laconian Saints. Subsequently, as recorded in the poem of Mr. Petros Vlahakos "The saints of Laconia on the path of history", fourteen other saints related to the history of my wider region were discovered. Thus, in the vast chorus of Laconian Saints, Saint Sarapion the Shroud, Saint Peter, Bishop of Monemvasia, Saint Theophanes of Monemvasia, Saint Theodore of Kythira, Saint Romanos on the veil, Saint Isidoros Boucheiras, the Patriarch of Constantinople, Saint Isidoros of Monemvasia, , Metropolitan of Kiev and All Russia, the neomartyr Saint Romanos, Lacedaemon of Diminitzis, Saint Galaktion of Anavritis, the neomartyr Metropolitan Neophytos of Lacedaemonia, the neomartyr Saint Mitros or Demetrius the Peloponnesian, who came from Theisoa Ilias and the neomartyr Saint John Stamatelopoulos from Turkolek.
The purpose of this work is to create a complete picture of each Laconian Saint, so that it can be a helpful tool for the researcher and sufficient reading for the reader. Therefore, in the main body of the work, immediately after the bibliography (abbreviations of dictionaries, magazines, series, aids) and the summary table with the celebration of the saints in order of their priority in the ecclesiastical year, the relevant hymnographic and hagiological texts are recorded for each saint separately.
To be precise, in terms of the structure of the main theme, at the beginning there is the complete recording of the hymnal text of the sacred hymn sequence of All the Laconian Saints, as it was composed for the second time - enriched by the addition of the rest of the saints - by the Most Reverend Metropolitan of Edessa Mr. Ioel.
Then follows the listing of the saints in their order of priority in the ecclesiastical year. Specifically, the name of each of them, the date of its celebration and whether its celebration is fixed or movable is recorded. To
it should be noted that those saints who celebrate the 2nd Sunday of Lent are recorded collectively at the end, when the gathering of the Lakon Saints is celebrated.
After these, there is a hymnal text – in some just their absolute, in others tropes, stocks, eirmes, theotokia, canons and in some no hymnal reference – in the cases where such a thing was identified by the research.
Finally, after the hymnographic text, where it exists, the synaxari of the saint is listed which is analyzed each time, as this emerged mainly from the parallel study of hagiological and historical texts.
