Saint Panagis Basias

Panagis was born in Lixouri on Kefalonia in 1801, the son of prominent and pious parents. He studied philosophy and theology and worked at first as a teacher, influenced by clergymen of his time who resisted English rule over the Ionian Islands.

At the age of 20, after his father's death, he withdrew for a time to a place of exile for clergy, but returned to the world to look after his widowed mother and sister, while continuing a life of constant asceticism. In 1836 he was ordained a priest under the name Paisios and usually served at the chapel of Saint Spyridon, where crowds gathered to hear him preach.

He was known for his charity and, according to tradition, had the gift of prophecy. To avoid people's praise, in his last years he adopted the way of the fools-for-Christ, feigning madness. He died in 1888 and was proclaimed a saint in 1986.