The Holy Patriarch Gregory (George Angelopoulos in the world) was born in 1745 at Dēmētsána in the Pelopónnēsos. He began his education in the village schools, since his father could not afford to send him to better schools. In 1765, he went to Athens to study under the renowned teacher Dēmḗtrios Vodas, and in 1767, he went to Smyrna to attend an ecclesiastical school. Later, he went to Patmos for further study, and was ordained as a Deacon in 1775 at Smyrna. Soon after, he was ordained as a Hieromonk.
In 1785 he was consecrated as a Bishop, and was chosen as the Metropolitan of Smyrna. His ministry produced much spiritual fruit, and he edified his flock by his eloquent sermons, by building schools, and by writing books. On May 1,1797 he was elected as Patriarch of Constantinople. From that day forward, he concerned himself with the internal and external order of the Patriarchate. He established rules for his household and staff, called regular meetings, and set agendas for the Synod of Bishops.
In the early XIX century, Greece was suffering under the heavy Turkish yoke, though many Greek patriots hoped to regain their independence. They found support from the Holy Patriarch, whose connections with Greek patriots were revealed only after Alexander Ypsilantis crossed the Prut River with his army against Sultan Mahmud.
The Patriarch was an ascetic who kept the fasts and devoted himself to the unceasing Prayer of the Heart. Such traits did not endear him to everyone, and he had many enemies. The Saint's austerity annoyed some bishops, who slandered him, resulting in his removal and exile to Mount Athos from 1798-1806, where he lived in the Greatest Lavra.
His second tenure as Patriarch began amid political turmoil. Once more he began a program of building churches and schools. Turkey declared war in 1807 as the result of Russian activity in the Balkans. The Sultan ordered Saint Gregory to issue an encyclical against Russia in order to prevent the Greeks from cooperating with them. He bore no malice toward Russia, but he was trying to avoid massacres and insurrections. Three times during his second Patriarchate, Saint Gregory was forced to quell Greek attempts to revolt. Nevertheless, he was deposed and exiled to the Holy Mountain in 1808.
In January 1819, the Holy Hierarch ascended the Patriarchal throne for the final time. He established a fund to help the poor of Constantinople and reorganized the Patriarchal printing press, which published many spiritual books. In March, several bishops were imprisoned or executed because of the failed insurrection of Alexander Ypsilantis in Moldavia. When the Greek Revolution began on March 25, 1821, the Turks ordered the Patriarch and his Synod to issue an anathema against Ypsilantis and those who had cooperated with him. The anathema was ignored, because the Greeks knew that it had been issued under duress.
During that Lent, jailings and executions were common. One of the Patriarch's friends advised him to flee from Constantinople to the Morea. Saint Gregory replied: "I have a premonition that the fish of the Bosphorus will eat my body, but I will die calmly, for the sake of of saving my nation."
On Holy Pascha, April 10, 1821, the Patriarch was seized at 10:00 A.M. and hanged at the gate of the Patriarchate, and then his body was thrown into the sea. That gate has remained shut ever since.
Greek sailors noticed the place where the Hieromartyr's body was abandoned, and placed it on a ship from Kephalonia under the command of Captain Macri Sklavos, and then it was taken to Odessa under the Russian flag. The Hierarch's relics were buried in the Greek church of the Holy Trinity on June 19, 1821. Patriarchal vestments were sent from Moscow for the Saint's relics, as well as a mitre and a cross, which had belonged to His Holiness Patriarch Nikon (1652-1658). The Hieromartyr Gregory V of Constantinople, held the See of Constantinople three times (1797-1799, 1806-1808, 1819-1821).
In 1871, at the request of the Greek government, permission was granted to transfer Patriarch Gregory's relics from Odessa to Athens for the celebration of the fiftieth anniversary of Greek independence. A special Service was composed in Athens in honor of the Hierarch, whose martyrdom heralded the triumph of Christianity in Greece.
The Hieromartyr Gregory was glorified as a Saint in 1921. The scroll on his Icon reads: "For freedom Christ has set us free; stand fast therefore, and do not be entangled again with the yoke of slavery" (Galatians 5:1).
