At noon on Monday, 15 March 2010, at the Monastery of Pentalofo Goumenissa, two unknown perpetrators broke through the plastic cover which contained the reliquary of St. Nikodemos. This was done while the monk guarding the reliquary was away for a few minutes. The perpetrators removed two of the three sections of the skull of St. Nikodemos from the side. The Kilkis police are investigating the matter. All leads have remained fruitless so far.
The Monastery of Saint Nikodemos the Hagiorite lies on one of the most beautiful slopes of Mt. Paiko, at an altitude of about 700 m above the village of Pentalofo, in the municipality of Goumenissa. Founded in 1981, it is a dependency of the Monastery of Simonos Petra on Mount Athos. The main church is two storeys high. The upper part is dedicated to Saint Nikodemos, while the ground level to Saints Raphael, Irene and Nicholas of Lesvos. Twenty-three monks live in the monastery today. All of them are young and personally engage in building chores and in the maintenance of already existing constructions.
The monastery is also famous for its excellent, carefully hand-made icons produced in its painting room. All the services and ceremonies are held according to the Athonite Typikon.
