Saint Haido of Stanos, Halkidiki (1 September)
Saint Haido, whose memory our Church honors today, September 1, came from the village of Stanos in Halkidiki and lived in the 19th century. After the revolution of 1821, to avoid the immoral harassment of the Turkish governor, she was forced to leave the village with her mother and settle in Thassos.
There she entered a metochi of the Pantokratoros monastery of Kallirachis, where she served in the Church and lived a virginal life, dedicated to God. After her mother’s falling asleeping in the Lord, she devoted herself entirely to prayer and fasting, and arrived at a spiritual theoria.
According to local tradition, when the Turks attacked the metohi, angels seized and saved the righteous saint from the fury of the non-religious. Two days later, she returned to the metochi and told her story to the hieromonk Gerasimos.
Another tradition states that the saint was severely tortured by the Turks. During her falling asleep in the Lord, her holy relics gave off a sweet smelling scent as a sign of her holiness.
In the consciousness of the Christians of Stanos, the memory and life of the righteous Saint Haido was always alive. That is why they dedicated a holy icon, which they placed inside the parish church of the Entry of the Theotokos into the Temple. The icon was handed down by the Kyrillaion brotherhood to the New Skete of Mount Athos in 1960. The Saint is represented in the local dress of Halkidiki of that time.
Since 1988, September 1 has been designated as the day of remembrance and celebration of the righteous saint. We do not know the exact date of her falling asleep. That is why the 1st of September was set, during which the much older Saint Haido is celebrated among the choir of the 40 female martyrs of Thrace. It is customary, when we do not know the exact date of their torture or falling asleep, to honour the saint in memory of an older saint of the same name.
A church was built in recent years in honor of Saint Haido, on the initiative of the Efimerios, Father Nikolaos Chalkias and with the assistance of the Staniotes of the region.
