Cosmas of Aetolia was an 18th-century Greek monk and theologian who served as a missionary throughout the Ottoman Empire. Born in Megas Dendros, he studied theology at Mount Athos before traveling to Constantinople to study rhetoric. He spent sixteen years traveling through Thrace, Greece, and Albania to establish schools and encourage literacy in Biblical Greek. His efforts to educate the Christian population and his influence over local communities eventually led to his arrest and execution by Ottoman authorities in 1779.