The life of St Kosmas of Aitolia
For nearly twenty years he traveled on foot, by donkey, and by ship through the Greek mainland, the islands, and Albania, preaching in open fields beside a wooden cross that villagers would plant at his request, urging them to build schools, learn to read the Gospel in their own tongue, and return to regular confession and communion. He is credited with founding well over a hundred schools and many parish churches, and Church tradition also remembers him as gifted with prophecy.
In August 1779, accusations were brought against him to a local Ottoman official; sources differ on who instigated them and why, some pointing to merchants whose trade suffered from his preaching, others to suspicion that he was a foreign agent, and the truth remains genuinely disputed. He was taken to a remote spot near Kolikondas in Albania and hanged, his body given to the river; it was recovered three days later and buried nearby. He was formally glorified as a saint in 1961.
