Archimandrite
Sofoklis Chasapis was born on October 15, 1913, in Nicosia. He entered the monastery of Stavrovouni in 1927. In 1934, he and his brother Alexandros came to Jerusalem and enrolled in the gymnasium of the Jerusalem Orthodox Church. In 1937, they received monastic tonsure, becoming Philoumenos and Elpidios. On September 5, 1937, Monk Philoumenos was ordained as a hierodeacon, and on November 1, 1944, he was ordained as a hieromonk. He served in the Patriarchate and labored in the Lavra of Saint Savva.
He was the abbot of Greek churches and monasteries in the Holy Land, and on May 8, 1979, he became the abbot of the monastery at the Well of Jacob in Samaria. On November 29, 1979, he was killed by religious fanatics after refusing to remove crosses and icons from the Well of Jacob. The murderers inflicted severe wounds on him and desecrated the church.
On November 30, 1983, His Beatitude Patriarch of Jerusalem Diodoros performed the opening of the relics of Archimandrite Philoumenos, whose remains were washed and placed in the Trinity Church on Zion. On August 29, 2008, the relics were transferred to Sichemm, and on November 29, 2009, Patriarch Theophilos III celebrated the Divine Liturgy in the church of Saint Photina the Samaritan, glorifying the new martyr Philoumenos.
