Hieromartyr Philoumenos (Hasapis) of Jacob's Well

CLARIFICATION: the assumption of monastic life on Mount Athos has been corrected — no support for this was found; the saint's spiritual formation took place at Stavrovouni Monastery (Cyprus) and the Brotherhood of the Holy Sepulchre (Jerusalem). It was his twin brother, Archimandrite Elpidios, who became an Athonite monk (at the New Thebaid skete) and who, by tradition, had a mystical vision at the moment of Philoumenos's martyrdom.

Hieromartyr Philoumenos of Jacob's Well (born Sophoklis Hasapis) was born 15 October 1913 in Cyprus, his family from the village of Orounta near Morphou. At fourteen, he and his twin brother entered the ancient Monastery of Stavrovouni, remaining about six years. In 1934 the brothers moved to Jerusalem, where Philoumenos joined the Brotherhood of the Holy Sepulchre. Tonsured a monk in 1937 and ordained hierodeacon that year, he was ordained hieromonk in 1944.

He served at various Holy Land shrines and became fluent in Arabic. On 8 May 1979 he was appointed hegumen of the monastery at Jacob's Well near Nablus. When religious extremists demanded he remove the crosses and icons from the site, he refused, insisting the well had been an Orthodox holy place for centuries.

On the evening of 16/29 November 1979, a mentally disturbed man from Tel Aviv broke in, threw a hand grenade, and attacked him with an axe, inflicting cross-shaped facial wounds, gouging out his eyes, and severing his fingers. Years later his tomb was opened and the body found substantially incorrupt and fragrant. The Synod of the Patriarchate of Jerusalem canonized him on 11 September 2009, with solemn glorification on 29 November 2009 at Jacob's Well itself.