By John Sanidopoulos In the Albanian village of Kolikontasi of
Great Mouzakia in Northern Epirus, in the historical Church of
the Entrance of the Theotokos, lies the tomb of St. Kosmas
Aitolos, the Equal to the Apostles. Today the Monastery
surrounding the church goes by the name of St. Kosmas. The
Monastery of Saint Kosmas Aitolos was built between August 1813
and June 1814 by Ali Pasha of Tepelena when he acquired the
Pashalik of Berat. When Ali Pasha entered Berat he remembered
Fr. Kosmas, who was martyred there, and invited Metropolitan
Ioasaph II of Berat to build a Monastery in the Saint's name and
transfer his relics there, because he considered him to be a
true man of God. The relics of St. Kosmas rest in the
Archdiocese in Tirana for security reasons. They rest in a
simple wooden coffin. The skull was stolen in 1917 by Austria-
Hungarians and likely rest today in a museum in Vienna. The
lower jaw is in the Monastery of Saint Nicholas in Andros. His
right hand rests in the Church of Saint Kosmas in Kon