Brookline, Massachusetts, October 12, 2026
Photo: orthodoxobserver.org
The incorrupt relics of Bishop Gerasimos of Abydos (GOARCH) were brought out of their burial place and into the chapel at Hellenic College Holy Cross in Boston on Saturday, 31 years after his repose.
Hundreds of faithful and the school’s entire student body watched as the relics were offered for public veneration for the first time. The translation took place on what would’ve been his 116th birthday, reports the Orthodox Observer.
Archbishop Elpidophoros of America presided, joined by Metropolitan Savas of Pittsburgh, who was the priest who gave Holy Communion to Bishop Gerasimos shortly before his repose on June 12, 1995, the feast of the Holy Spirit.
Bishop Gerasimos was a titular bishop of the Patriarchate of Constantinople who oversaw districts of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of North and South America in Boston and Pittsburgh, but is remembered most vividly as a mentor to many students at Holy Cross during his time as a professor and administrator, and later as spiritual father in residence.
The translation of his relics represents a local recognition of the holiness of Bishop Gerasimos, not a formal canonization, the Orthodox Observer emphasizes.
Photo: orthodoxobserver.org
On Saturday morning, Archbishop Elpidophoros, Metropolitan Savas and the community offered a Trisagion at Bishop Gerasimos’ gravesite. The relics were then carried into Holy Cross Chapel. There, Archbishop Elpidophoros and Metropolitan Savas vested them in new hierarchical vestments, assisted by clergy who’d been colleagues, spiritual children, and acquaintances of Bishop Gerasimos.
The relics were then carried in procession around the chapel, amid prayers and hymns, before being presented for veneration.
In his remarks, Archbishop Elpidophoros cited Christ’s words in the Sermon on the Mount about a lamp not being put under a bushel. “Today the lamp comes out from beneath the bushel—in this case, the very earth itself,” he said. “For the light that shined in life as Bishop Gerasimos of Abydos, has never been extinguished, because it partakes of the light of Christ.”
Archbishop Elpidophoros described Bishop Gerasimos as a pastoral, peaceful, and patient presence on the campus he loved. He concluded that the covering of the earthen bushel had been taken away, and that it was time for the relics to shine.
Archbishop Elpidophoros then invited those present to chant, for the first time, the Apolytikion honoring Bishop Gerasimos, Mode pl. 1:
God-inspired professor and teacher of the Faith and the spiritual life to the Orthodox who live in America, O grace-filled Gerasimos, we salute you as a Christ-centered, humble hierarch who loved the all-holy Gospel. We pray, implore Christ our Savior to have mercy and to save us all.
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