St. Philoumenos of Jacob's Well (1913-1979)

Sophronios Hasapis was born in 1913 at Orounda in Cyprus, one of twins; at fourteen he and his brother Elpidios became novices at Stavrovouni, and six years later they went to Jerusalem as monks of the Holy Sepulchre. As Philoumenos he served the Patriarchate of Jerusalem for forty years, and in 1979 he was given the keeping of Jacob’s Well at Nablus, where Christ spoke with the Samaritan woman (John 4), though he had been threatened there by men who wanted the shrine cleared of Christians. On 29 November, while he served Vespers, a man broke in and killed him with an axe. His body was found undecayed when it was raised four years later; in 2009 Patriarch Theophilos numbered him among the saints, and his relics lie in the church at the well. Feast: November 29.