Venerable Saint Iakovos Tsalikis

Iakovos Tsalikis (Greek: Ιάκωβος Ευβοίας, November 5, 1920–November 21, 1991), also known as Iakovos of Evia (and Saint Jacob/James Tsalikis) was an Ottoman-born Greek saint in the Eastern Orthodox Church. He was abbot of the Monastery of Saint David the Elder. Iakovos Tsalikis was born on November 5th, 1920, in Livisi, Asia Minor. Iakovos was one of nine children his mother Theodora gave birth to. His family, alongside hundreds of thousands of other Asia Minor Greeks were forced to migrate to Greece as refugees of the Greek genocide perpetrated by the Ottoman Empire and Kemalists. His father Stavros was taken captive by the Turks, although he was later rejoined to his family, and the Tsalikis family moved to the island of Evia. Iakovos was descended of many holy men, with many men in his family having been priests. As a child, with help from his pious mother who taught him how to pray and serve God, grew to love the faith. By the age of seven, Iakovos had already memorized the entire Divine Liturgy, despite the fact he was illiterate. Young Iakovos expressed from a young age a desire to be a monastic. He became known as the "monk" in his village, as he was practicing fasting and prayer at such a young age. On a hill outside his village, there was a shrine to Saint Paraskevi, where the children of the village would go for school. However, Iakovos, with his zeal for the Saints, would visit the shrine twice a day, in order to clean and light the vigil lamps and pray before the icons. One day as Iakovos was praying in the shrine, Saint Paraskevi appeared to him. Iakovos was very frightened and ran away from the shrine. Several days later, the Saint appeared again, but this time Iakovos was not afraid. Saint Paraskevi prophesied to Iakovos, telling him great amounts of wealth would pass through his hands, yet he would touch none of it. This proved to be true until the Elders repose, as he was known for his immense generosity and charity.