{"id":31481,"date":"2020-08-23T10:28:18","date_gmt":"2020-08-23T10:28:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/catalog.obitel-minsk.com\/blog\/?p=31481"},"modified":"2020-08-23T10:28:18","modified_gmt":"2020-08-23T10:28:18","slug":"closer-than-my-own-father-saint-paisios-and-his-spiritual-children","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/catalog.obitel-minsk.com\/blog\/2020\/08\/closer-than-my-own-father-saint-paisios-and-his-spiritual-children","title":{"rendered":"Closer than My Own Father: Saint Paisios and His Spiritual Children"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The elder didn\u2019t like to be photographed. \u201cHe allowed himself to be photographed only for people who were really sick or were going to die soon,\u201d says Nicholas Mentesidis, who knew the elder very well, and would drive him in his car from Athos to Souroti. <\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The path to\u00a0Athos\u00a0is open to men only. But in Greece there is a women\u2019s monastery where they live according to strict Athonite rules and serve without electricity, by candlelight. This monastery, in the village of\u00a0Souroti, was founded by Elder Paisios the Athonite, whose books have been so popular in the past few years in America and Russia. A correspondent of the Russian Orthodox journal \u201cNeskuchnii Sad\u201d headed to Souroti to meet with people who remember Elder Paisios.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cI Was an Atheist\u201d<\/h3>\n

\u201cWhen Elder Paisios would visit the sisters at the Monastery of John the Theologian, thousands of people would come see him. I went especially to see how the swindler was cheating them all. I was an atheist. This was in 1988. The service had started. The church was divided into two parts: for laity and for nuns. There was a taut rope between the two sections, and I didn\u2019t know that I couldn\u2019t go in, so I crossed over. There was an elder sitting among the nuns, whose face radiated light\u2026 Seeing this, I left, but two days later I came again, for a blessing. Then I went to Athos and so remained with the elder for life,\u201d recalls Nicholas Mentesidis, a jeweler who knew the elder.<\/p>\n

There are many such stories, of when the first, and sometimes the only encounter with Elder Paisios changed somebody\u2019s life. They talk about it especially often in Souroti, a quiet village outside of Thessaloniki. \u201cMany who knew the elder have moved here\u2014closer to the monastery,\u201d claims local postman Polikletos Karakatsanis. \u201cYou would think in vain that everyone in Greece is a believer\u2014statistics say otherwise: only two percent of the \u2018Orthodox\u2019 regularly commune. We try to live close to one another, holding onto God and one another.\u201d<\/p>\n

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On the road to Souroti, they sell small church-chapels, as tall as a man (like our cabins or baths). You can buy thse chapels and put them near your house or in your olive grove. Judging by their number, there really are many believers in the surrounding villages. \u201cFr. Paisios told me,\u201d recalls Athanasios Rakovalis, the author of a book on the elder, \u201cthat to avoid sin in our difficult times, we must hold fast to the Church. The farther away, the more people will be lukewarm: The people are divided\u2014those who leave the Church go far, but those who remain with God will be zealous.\u201d<\/p>\n

Zealots<\/h3>\n

For the residents of Souroti, the nuns of the Monastery of the Holy Apostle and Evangelist John the Theologian serve as a model of zeal. More than half of the sixty-seven sisters well remember Elder Paisios. He helped them write their monastic rule and spiritually guided the monastery. The answers to questions, published in Elder Paisios\u2019 books, were addressed precisely to these nuns.<\/p>\n

The nuns avoid communication with the outside world, and don\u2019t give interviews. It\u2019s no accident. Elder Paisios is greatly popular in Greece, and some unscrupulous politicians and journalists use his authority, distorting the elder\u2019s words to their benefit, to give weight to their ideas. \u201cMoreover, Geronda believed,\u201d says one of the older nuns, \u201cthat any participation in secular life, including communication with journalists, can hurt us.\u201d The elder wrote, \u201cIf a monk is constantly occupied with external things, then he will unavoidably go wild spiritually and not be able to sit by himself in his cell; even if they bind him, he\u2019ll always like to talk with people, to lead excursions, talking about the domes and the archaeology, showing them the pots with various colors, and making them meals.\u201d \u201cWe do share our wealth though,\u201d the nuns emphasize, \u201cby publishing the notes of our conversation with the elder and his letters!\u201d<\/p>\n

They distribute books on the elder, printed in various countries, in various languages, to inquisitive pilgrims to read. The library is in the guest house, in a special room for meeting guests. There, settled in with a book on a bench, you can have a cup of coffee and try some sweet loukoumi. Treating guests with loukoumi is an ancient Athonite tradition which they also follow in Souroti. They say that in less populated monasteries, they put out a jar of sweets and hide in their cells, thus fulfilling their duty of hospitality, but not meeting with tourists.<\/p>\n

Filthy loukoumi<\/h3>\n

There\u2019s a large olive tree growing near the path to the church. On Sundays and feast days, one of the older nuns holds a conversation in its shade with the visitors. They usually sit around in a circle on some stumps and ask the mother some questions or listen to her stories, and sometimes recollections of the elder.<\/p>\n

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Fr. Paisios often spoke with pilgrims just the same way, on the benches. When the elder would visit Souroti, although he would try to hide the time of his arrival, many people would come\u2014cars were parked in the neighboring village of St. Paraskevi, two kilometers away. \u201cAfter speaking with the elder, people would feel peace and comfort in their souls,\u201d says Athanasios Rakovalis. \u201cMany smelled a sweet fragrance during these meetings; many, and even I myself, have seen his face shining; but it\u2019s not people that have glorified the elder, but the Lord Himself.\u201d For instance, Souroti resident Kaliopa tells a story: \u201cMy friend and I went to see the elder. When our turn finally came, he was so tired that he couldn\u2019t even speak. We silently approached, and the elder blessed us with some crosses: He gave me five\u2014my family has five people, and to my friend he gave four\u2014her family has four people. And we didn\u2019t even say anything!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOne day I realized I was asking the elder something I had already asked, because I couldn\u2019t remember the answer,\u201d recalls Athanasios Rakovalis. \u201cThen I started recording the conversations in a notebook. People found out I was gathering recollections to publish them, and they began telling me their stories. For example, one man had filmed an amoral film and was living in luxury. Someone told him about the elder, and having decided that the elder was a charlatan, he went to Athos to confront him. When he entered the kalyvia, the elder treated his guests with loukoumi. He gave everyone a piece, but in front of this man he threw the loukoumi on the ground and said, \u201cIt fell. Pick it up and eat it.\u201d Of course, the man was offended. \u201cHow am I going to eat that off the ground\u2014the loukoumi is filthy!\u201d The elder answered, \u201cYou also feed people with filth.\u201d The man was so shocked that he ran out of the kalyvia, but the next day he returned and spoke with the elder alone. The elder told him to quit his dirty work, and so he did, and now this man is a pious Christian.<\/p>\n

The elder was never angry and never irritated. If someone tried to anger him, he would say he had a headache or some obligation and leave, so as not to offend anyone. But one time he got seriously angry at me. I went with a friend, and we wanted to stay and sleep in the elder\u2019s yard. It started to rain, and I dared to ask the elder to pray that the rain would move. The elder drove us both out of his kalyvia with the words, \u201cWho are you to know God\u2019s plan? If God is satisfied with rain now, it means the rain is needed now\u2014what a big responsibility to care for the whole earth and to arrange rain at the necessary time! And what kind of plan do you have? You say, \u2018I want,\u2019 and don\u2019t think about anything else?\u201d However, when we left the kalyvia, I turned and saw that the elder was blessing us with the sign of the cross.\u201d<\/p>\n

How not to sleep<\/h3>\n

In the guest housing, where I was staying, there were five young girls (men could not stay on monastery territory). Three cheerful girlfriends, students of the pedagogical university in Thessaloniki, Evangelia, Barbara, and Anna, often came to the monastery on the weekends \u201cto pray and get some rest from the big city.\u201d All three were planning to eventually get married, but they loved the monastery life: They went to the services and looked for obediences \u201cto help the sisters.\u201d Two other girls, Elena and Christina, came individually and were very quiet, and would pray for a long time in their rooms\u2014they were obviously inclined towards the\u00a0monastic life.<\/p>\n

\u201cI fall asleep during the long services,\u201d Barbara honestly confessed, \u201cbut if I don\u2019t go to church at all, what\u2019s the point of coming here? Although I know how not to sleep\u2014you have to stand on your feet the whole time. It\u2019s hard, so I sit in the stasidia, and\u2026 fall asleep.\u201d They serve on the new calendar in the monastery, as everywhere in Greece, but according to the Athonite rule, without electricity, with candles, and they serve the full services. In the morning, the services begin at 4:00 and end at 10:00. However, there isn\u2019t always Liturgy. It\u2019s served by priests invited from Athos only on Sundays and feast days. Many commune at Liturgy, although, as is customary in Greece, without Confession. Confession happens in the monastery at individual times. The spiritual life of the community follows the gerontissa, who hears the sisters\u2019 revelation of thoughts and determines how often they should commune.<\/p>\n

The evening service is short, except when the All-Night Vigil is served, which literally lasts all night. But usually the services go from 5:00 to 8:00 PM, including an hour break for dinner, as on Athos.<\/p>\n

The monastery church is divided by a rope. When there are too many parishioners, the nuns, not at all annoyed, condense and move the rope closer to the altar, so it wouldn\u2019t be too crowded for those who come. Women stand on the left and men on the right. The women don\u2019t have head coverings but they are always in skirts; if you come in pants you can get a skirt at the entrance to the monastery\u2014it\u2019s a rule commanded by Elder Paisios.<\/p>\n

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There are stasidia along the walls of the church, but no rows of cushioned chairs, which is usual for Greek churches (just folding chairs for the infirm). \u201cFor the Greeks, the church is like one of the rooms in their house,\u201d says one observant pilgrim from Russia. \u201cOn the one hand, he feels the need for it and his responsibility for it, but on the other hand, \u2018at home\u2019 he usually wants it to be comfortable and easy: pants, chairs, short services.\u201d But Elder Paisios strictly denounced any kind of \u201cChurch comfort:\u201d \u201cIf every monk had his mama near, taking care of him, of course it would be a comfort,\u201d he wrote to the sisters. \u201cAnd if we put a tape recorder in the church to play the sounds (prayers), then, of course, it would give us rest, and it would be an even greater rest if the stasidia were turned into beds. And no doubt, it would be nice for the ascetic if he had a little machine specifically for moving around his prayer rope, and a doll-ascetic who would fall and get up, doing prostrations for him, and he could buy himself a soft mattress, to lie and give some rest to his suffering flesh. Of course, this all brings relief to the flesh, but the soul is ravaged and becomes unhappy, leaving it only with feminine emotions and disquietude.\u201d<\/p>\n

Trapeza\u2014part of the service<\/h3>\n

The nuns eat only twice a day. The pilgrims have an easier life: They are offered an additional light breakfast after the service, then also milk and cookies in the afternoon, and also little things like coffee and loukoumi, and you can take this whenever you want throughout the whole day. The monastery trapeza, painted with frescoes like a church, is located in the sisters\u2019 building. First the nuns go, and then the guests are seated in the appropriate places.<\/p>\n

Meals consist of one main dish (cooked beans, boiled grains, or pasta) and appetizers (olives, cabbage salad, feta cheese). The dishes are made of metal. Everyone gets another small plate for extra food if the portion isn\u2019t big enough for you. For drinks, there is a pitcher of water\u2014there is no coffee or tea anywhere. They don\u2019t drink Greek coffee at all, except when they\u2019re sick with a cold, for which they usually even sell it in drugstores. For dessert there is fruit, honey, and oriental sweets\u2014all divided into portions.<\/p>\n

The local pastry chef is very talented\u2014Greeks love sweets. A box of sweets from a good confectionery is received as a valuable and welcome gift. \u201cOnce, when I was with the elder, fifteen young people came to him at his kalyvia,\u201d says Nicholas Mentesidis. \u201cThey brought some oriental sweets with them as a gift for him, each in a big box. The elder, as soon as he saw them, not letting them in the yard, told them to exchange the boxes and receive them as a blessing from him: \u201cGeorge, give to Demetrios, Demetrios to Kosta\u2026\u201d he directed. Then he made sure that every last piece of candy was eaten, and said, \u201cWhy did you all bring me something I don\u2019t need, so I had to take care of it?\u201d<\/p>\n

During the meals, one of the sisters reads the lives or teachings of the saints from a special high cathedra, which they call an ambo here. \u201cThe reading depends on the situation in the monastery; we read whatever is relevant for the community at any given moment,\u201d says one of the older nuns. The reading ends at the ringing of a bell, everyone stands, they pray, and the pilgrims leave first. \u201cDuring trapeza, everyone bears in mind that the service hasn\u2019t ended,\u201d explains one of the nuns, \u201ctherefore the general mood is not relaxed. Trapeza is not a rest after the service, but part of it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Source: https:\/\/orthochristian.com\/105097.html<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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