‘Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt’

It was February, 1988. Quite cold in Karyes [the capital of the Holy Mountain]. It’s at quite a high elevation and it’s damp which makes things more difficult. But the weather was dry that day. There was a bit of a breeze and if you were warmly dressed it was quite enjoyable. It was late afternoon and the sun had just dropped behind the hill. I was walking along a path with Father Païsios, and on the way we met up with Fr. Kallinikos from the Skete of Koutloumousi.

We arrived at the little wooden bridge. There were walnut tress all around, with just bare branches.

‘Who’s gone and brought mandarins?’, asked Father Païsios in surprise.

Much further on, about sixty meters away, there was the gate to his yard and something showing at the bottom, which might have been orange in colour. From that distance it wasn’t possible to say more.

We soon arrived and, indeed, we saw a big plastic bag, orange in colour, full of mandarins. How on earth had he seen them? How did he know they were mandarins and not oranges? Given that the bag was orange it could have contained anything, apples, for example.

‘I really like mandarins’, he said, pretending to be greedy. ‘I’ll keep three for myself… No, better make it five… No, now I’ve got the chance I’ll take seven’, he said with a big smile and stopped at seven.

‘Take the rest across to Elder Iosif, Father Kallinikos’.

Father Kallinikos took his blessing and left. Fr. Païsios and I went into his little house. We sat in a cell and he asked me to read some manuscript texts of his.

About twenty minutes had passed when somebody knocked at the gate, wanting to see him.

‘Should I answer the door, Elder?’, I asked.

‘Better not. If they’re curious, they’ll leave. If they really need to see me, they won’t’.

We continued reading, and in a few minutes the knock came again.

‘Now what do we do, Elder?’

Instead of curtains, there was a piece of sheet over his window.

‘Take a peek, without them seeing you and tell me how many there are’.

‘I can’t tell, because I can’t see them’

‘Can’t you even add up? What were you doing all those years in America?. We’ll wait and they’ll knock again.

Sure enough, after a while they knocked again.

‘Now I’ll see if I can count them. I may not have finished Primary School, but I’ll see what I can do’.

He got up and opened the door.

‘What’s the matter, lads? Look at the time. What have you come for?’

‘Father we want to see you for a little. Can we?’

‘Certainly, you can see me, but what will we find to offer you? How many are you? Let me count. Seven. Let’s see what there is in the shop at this time of day’.

He went inside and returned with the seven mandarins.

I was absolutely amazed at the man. How did he know how many mandarins to keep? Did he know in advance? Had God shown him, without him realizing?

‘Where are you from?’, he asked with interest.

‘We’re from Athens. And Bruce and John are from America’.

‘From America? If we give them just a mandarin each they’ll make us a laughing-stock. Let’s see if there’s anything American in the supermarket’.

He went back inside and returned with a packet of American biscuits and a tin of Planters nuts. They were amazed and impressed.

‘Father’, asked one of them, ‘what does the talanto symbolize that they strike in monasteries?’

I don’t know what it symbolizes and it’s not important. What matters isn’t striking the talanto in a monastery but to multiply the talent· God’s given you. Listen. Because of the time, you have to leave. I’ve got only one thing to say to you. The problem with Americans is that, in English, ‘I’ is always written with a capital letter, whereas here in Greece we sometimes write ‘εγώ’ with a small ‘ε’.

They laughed at his joke and the Americans asked: ‘What does that mean? What should we do?’

‘Get rid of ‘I’ from your vocabulary. Egotism’s our great enemy. All of us, without exception, have to fight against it’.

There’s a courtesy about sanctity, a delicacy, a graciousness. He didn’t say anything  wise or theological, nor did he make any impressive revelations. But he filled their hearts. He knew that they would come, but he hid that from them. He gave his visitors a treat each, he was unlike anyone else in his behaviour, edifying in his speech and relaxing in his presence. Without trying to persuade anybody about anything, he convinced everybody about the most important things. With him, you were illumined, you found joy and rest. You felt like Mary at the feet of Christ. Like the apostles on Mount Tabor at the Transfiguration, you wanted never to leave.

Original text selection in cooperation with www.agiazoni.gr

Source: http://pemptousia.com/2016/09/let-your-speech-always-be-gracious-seasoned-with-salt/

My encounter with Saint Paisios

Archpriest Panayiotis Papageorgiou, Ph.D.

I consider it a great blessing that I was able to be in the presence of this humble giant of our Faith. This was a defining moment for me as I was searching for ways to anchor my faith in Christ. Elder Paisios stood as a beacon, as a light of Christ’s love, His humility and sacrifice.
Elder Paisios was gifted with the spiritual gift of discernment and was able to read the souls of those he encountered. He showed great compassion for the people who came to him from all over Greece and eventually from around the world. People unloaded their problems at his feet. He would pray, guide and comfort them and they would walk away filled with joy and enlightened by his words.

Elder Paisios lived on earth, but for him heaven was always open. The difference between the two was just a door, which some times opened into Heaven so that he might partake of the divine grace and sometimes it opened into this world so that he might be visited by Christ and the Saints. In one occasion, when he answered the door to his cell, the Theotokos walked in, followed by St. John the Evangelist and St. Efthimia. St. Efthimia stayed with the elder for hours describing to him her martyrdom and helping him resolve the issues he was praying about.
The elder prayed for specific groups of people at certain times. Through his prayers miracles would happen and people would come back to tell him about them. In one case, during the time that he was praying for travelers, a 9-year old boy was crossing the street in southern Greece unaware of a huge truck coming his way. Right before the moment of impact the boy was picked up by “this priest” who rushed to his aid, and suddenly thrown over to the other side of the street, thus saving his life. After landing on his feet, the child looked around, but the priest had disappeared. The father of the child embarked on a search to find the priest who saved his son’s life, wishing to thank him. The search finally led them both to the cell of elder Paisios on Mount Athos. When the child saw the saint, he cried out, “daddy, this is the priest that saved my life”. They explained the event to the elder and he was able to ascertain that indeed he was praying at that time for travelers, but he was never there personally in the flesh! The Holy Spirit had acted on his behalf to save that child, revealing also the holiness of the saint and how God’s grace is poured out through his intercessions.
In another case, a young man, who professed to be an atheist, but was filled with curiosity about spiritual things, visited the saint at his cell on Mount Athos and confessed to him his concern about his father who was dying of cancer. The elder said, “I will come to visit him”. The young man was surprised to hear that, but said nothing. He returned home and went to spend time with his father at the hospital. His father was now in a coma and his death was imminent. That night he stayed by his side and fell asleep in the hospital room. In the middle of the night the young man woke up to the voice of his father calling him. His father was asking to see a priest for confession. He explained that a monk had come to him and told him that he was dying and he needed to have Confession. The description of the monk fit the profile of elder Paisios (although the elder never left the Holy Mountain). The young man brought in a priest who offered his father Confession and Holy Communion. His father passed away that day, cleansed through the Holy Sacraments.
I had the blessing to meet and converse with saint Paisios in 1986 during my first visit to Mount Athos. He was in his “outdoor guest-room” sitting in the shade on tree stumps with his visitors, discussing questions about the Antichrist and the end-times. One of the guests, a young priest, was asking with anxiety about the mark of the beast (the 666) and wondering what Christians could do if this was forced upon them. The elder, calmly but sternly responded: “Father, even if they would mark our body with the 666, can they touch our heart? If we give our heart to Christ, no one can do us any harm spiritually, even if they were to put the mark of the beast on our bodies”.

We lined up, and the elder received us privately to hear our concerns and give us advise. His countenance was radiating peace and joy. His speech was full of love and compassion. This was a remarkable day in my life which gave me reassurance on my path to the holy priesthood and the service of the Lord and His Church.
There are many stories of miracles related to this saint of our times. But the elder left us also with much holy wisdom and a loving approach to the human fallen condition, something that sets him apart in a world of legalism and judgment.

He passed on to the Kingdom of God on July 12, 1994. He died of cancer at the age of 70.

Elder Paisios of the Holy Mountain was canonized by the Holy Synod of the Ecumenical Patriarchate on Tuesday, January 13, 2015.

His memory is celebrated on July 12.
May his intercessions be with us.

Source: http://www.pravmir.com/my-encounter-with-saint-paisios-the-athonite-in-1986/

Saint Paisios on Praying for the Departed

Is it possible, Elder, for the dead (other than the Saints) who have not entered yet into judgment to pray?

They regain awareness and seek help, but they’re not able to help themselves. All those who are in Hades for only one offence, would ask if Christ could give them only five minutes to repent. We who are alive still have time for repentance, but the unfortunate reposed, they cannot improve their condition, so they await our help. Therefore, our duty is to help them with our prayer.  

My thoughts tell me that only ten out of a hundred of those who are dead are in a demonic state, and where they are, they curse God, like the demons. They do not ask for help, nor do they want help. What would God do with them otherwise? Like a child that distances themselves from their father, who after squandering their fortune they go on to curse their father. What can the father do? Others who have died, if they have a little philotimo, sense their guilt, repent and suffer for their sins, they ask for help and are helped positively with the prayers of the faithful.

Thus, God gives them a chance, even now, as they are awaiting judgment, to find help before the Second Coming happens. And, as in this earthly life, the one who is a friend of the king may intervene to the king and help on behalf of someone awaiting trial, so it is the same with someone who is a friend of God, they may with their prayer help the dead move from one prison to another better one; from one jail cell to a better one. He can even move them into a room or into an apartment.

Just as we relieve prisoners by bringing them refreshments and other things, so also we relieve the dead, with the prayers and alms we do on behalf of their souls. Prayers and memorials from those who are still alive on behalf of the reposed is the last opportunity that the Lord gives to help the reposed, until the Last Judgement. After their trial, it will not be possible to help them anymore.

God wants to help the reposed, because He hurts for their salvation, but He does not do it, because He has nobility. He does not want to give the right to the devil to say: "Why did You save him, although he has not laboured?" When we pray for the reposed, we give God the right to intervene. God is more moved when we pray for the reposed rather than the living.

This is why our Church has kollyva (boiled what) and memorials. Memorials are the best lawyers for the souls of the reposed. They have the ability to remove souls even from hell. So also should you, in every Divine Liturgy, to read memorials and have kollyva for the reposed. There is meaning to the wheat: It is sown in corruption, and raised in incorruption, that is, it symbolizes the death and resurrection of humanity, as Scripture says.

Elder, do the ones who recently died have greater need of prayer?

When they sentence someone to jail, isn’t it true that it is more difficult for them at the beginning? We have to pray for the reposed who didn’t please God while alive, so that God will do something for them. Particularly when we know that someone was hardened - because we might have thought they were hardened, but in reality they weren't - and lived a sinful life, then we have to pray a lot - with Divine Liturgies. Forty Liturgies are to be served consecutively for their soul, alms should be given to the poor for the salvation of their soul, so that the poor will pray for them saying, "May their bones become sanctified," so God will have mercy on them. Thus whatever they have not done, we will do for them. Meanwhile one person who had goodness even if their life was not good, can be helped much with a little prayer.

I am aware of events that testify how much the reposed are helped through the prayers of spiritual people. Someone once came to my Hut and said to me in tears, "Elder, I didn't pray on behalf of a certain reposed man who was known to me, and he appeared in my dreams. He told me that it had been twenty days and I did not help him, but now he suffers because I forgot him. Indeed, for twenty days I had forgotten due to the various concerns of life, and I had not even prayed for myself."

When someone dies and we’ve been asked to pray for them, is it good, Elder, to pray a full prayer rope on their behalf for forty days?

If you pray the full prayer rope for them, pray at the same time for all the reposed. Why should the whole train go to its destination for only one passenger, when it is able to fit many others? How many unfortunate dead have need and seek for help, but there is no one to pray for them! People sometimes only do memorial services for someone who was their relative or very close. By doing it this way they do not help even their own, because their prayer is not so pleasing to God. As they have made so many commemorations for their close one, let them also make commemorations for all those who are strangers.

Elder, the dead who do not have people to pray for them, are they helped by those who generally pray for the reposed?

Of course they are helped. When I pray for all the reposed, I see my parents in my dreams, because they are at rest from my prayers. Every time I have a Divine Liturgy, I do a general memorial for all the reposed. If I sometimes do not pray for the reposed, then the reposed who are known to me appear before me. A relative of mine, who was killed in the war, I saw him in front of me after the Divine Liturgy, during the memorial, because I didn't have his name written with the others who had reposed, since he was commemorated during the Preparation of the Gifts with those who had fallen heroically. You also, at the Holy Prothesis, do not only commemorate the names of the sick, but also the names of the reposed, because the reposed have greater need.

After death people continue to maintain the powers of their consciousness, and can continue to communicate with God. I do not mean that the soul will pray to God asking for this or that thing, or this or that favour. When I say pray, I mean the energy that unites people with God.

With this kind of prayer, the dead can communicate with the entire human race, in the same way we communicate and pray for the souls of the dead. This is why we have memorials. It is the way we use to communicate, through the grace of the Holy Spirit, with those who have already left for the great journey.

Death does not separate us!

 

Source: http://www.johnsanidopoulos.com/2016/03/saint-paisios-on-praying-for-departed.html#more

Definition of "Philotimo" according to St Paisios

"Philotimo is the reverent distillation of goodness, the love shown by humble people, from which every trace of self has been filtered out. Their hearts are full of gratitude towards God and to their fellow men, and out of spiritual sensitivity, they try to repay the slightest good which others do them."

Source: Epistles by Elder Paisios

Golden Crowns

 

When we’re slandered or wronged by vacuous or wicked people who are full of wickedness and distort the truth, it is good –if we can– not to want to be proved right, in front of other people, provided the injustice only has to do with us personally.

Best not to say even ‘God will deal with them’, because that’s a curse in itself.

The best thing is to forgive them wholeheartedly and to ask God to give us strength to bear the burden of the slander and to continue our spiritual life (in obscurity, as far as possible).

Let those people continue, whose rule it is to judge and condemn, because all the time, in this way, they’re preparing golden crowns for us in the real life…

 - St Paisios the Athonite

 

Source: http://pemptousia.com/2015/11/golden-crowns/

Is God Just?

The following is a story told by Elder Paisios about a man who was seeking to understand the nature of Divine Justice. The man's elder sent him to observe life from a hidden place and here is what He saw.

First, he saw a rich man stop along the road where there was a spring for a rest. He watched him take out his purse and count 100 gold coins. But, when he got back on his horse he absentmindedly left his purse lying there. Later, another man comes along and finds the purse and immediately takes off with it. Next, a poor man comes and sits down in the same spot to eat some bread. About this time the rich returns to retrieve his lost purse. He finds the poor man there who knows nothing about the purse. Thinking the poor man was lying, the rich man beats him thinking he stole the purse. He beat him so badly that he died. But when he examines his pockets he does not find the purse.

The man sent to observe life turned to the Lord in prayer saying: "Lord, what is the meaning of this Will of yours? Please explain how Your Benevolence can tolerate such injustice?" A angel of the Lord then answered him as follows: "Of all the things you just witnessed, some were by God's concession, others were for education, and others had providential reasons. He who lost the coins was the neighbour of the one who found them. The latter had an orchard worth 100 gold coins. Being greedy, the rich man forced him to sell it for only 50 coins. The disadvantaged man turned to God in prayer and asked for God to take care of this injustice. Therefore his discovery of the purse with the 100 gold coins was God's providence which had responded to his prayer to give him his money back two fold."

"The poor man who was murdered unjustly also committed murder once in his life. He had repented and afterwards lived a God pleasing life. He constantly asked God to forgive him for the murder and to give him a death just like the one he had inflicted." "Naturally, the Lord forgave him based on his repentance. God was moved by his sincerity and his efforts to live a life according to His commandments and his desire to pay for his crime. Thus the Lord granted him his wish and allowed him to die a violent death and then took him into His bosom.

Finally, the greedy man who lost all his gold coins and then committed the murder would have a disastrous end due to his greed and love of money. God therefore allowed him to fall into the sin of murder so that his soul would be severely pained and he would seek to repent. The result was that this person did repent and abandoned all worldly pleasures and become a monk. "Now in which of these cases did you find God to be unjust or cruel or insensitive?"

-Saint Paisios

Elder Paisios and St. Euphemia

"Father Paisios was going through a very difficult phase. A problem was created in the Church at that time and many bishops had gone to him to ask for his help. However, it was a very complicated problem and even if he wanted to, he was unable to assist; as he said, no matter from which side you look at the problem, you come face to face with a spiritual impasse. So, he decided to turn his efforts to solve the problem into prayer. During that time, Father Paisios constantly prayed for God to give solution to the Church’s problem; especially, he prayed to St. Ephemia:

- St. Ephemia, you who miraculously solved the serious problem the Church was facing then, take the Church out of the present impasse!

One morning, at nine o’ clock, when Father Paisios was reading the service of the third hour, he suddenly heard someone discreetly knocking on his door. The Elder asked from inside:

-Who is it?

Then, he heard a woman’s voice answering:

- It is me, Ephemia, Father.

-Which Ephemia? He asked again.

There was no answer. There was another knock on the door and he asked again.
-Who is it?

The same voice was heard saying:

-It is Ephemia, Father.

There was a third knock and the Elder felt someone coming inside his cell and walking through the corridor. He went to the door and there he saw St. Ephemia, who had miraculously entered his cell through the locked door and was venerating the icon of the Holy Trinity, which the Elder had placed on the wall of his corridor, on the right hand side of the church’s door.

Then the Elder told the saint:

-Say: Glory to the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.

St. Ephemia clearly repeated those words and immediately Father Paisios knelt and venerated the saint.

Afterwards, they sat and talked for quite a while; he could not specify for how long, as he had lost all sense of time while being with St. Ephemia. She gave the solution for all three matters he had been praying for and in the end he said to her:

- I would like you to tell me how you endured your martyrdom.

The saint replied:

-Father, if I knew back then how eternal life would be and the heavenly beauty the souls enjoy by being next to God, I honestly would have asked for my martyrdom to last for ever, as it was absolutely nothing compared to the gifts of grace of God!"

St Paisios on Humility and Patience

This week, the Orthodox faithful celebrated the memory of St Paisios of the Holy Mountain; the most recent saint to be officially canonised by the Orthodox Church. He passed away on the 12th of July, 1994. St Paisios’ life and teachings touched the life of thousands of people around the world and continues to do so to this day. In 1977, with the blessing of His Eminence Archbishop Stylianos, Australia was blessed to have been visited by St Paisios. To read more about the life and teachings of the saint, visit: http://www.orthodoxbookstore.org.au/

Here is what St Paisios taught regarding humility and patience: 
 

"When we patiently endure our problems and turn to God for help, we notice that He gives us the best possible solution. Unfortunately, in our days, people are very impatient. We do not love patience at all. Christ assured us, however, that only the ones who are patient will inherit the Kingdom of God. (“…they are those who, hearing the word, hold it fast in an honest and good heart, and bring forth fruit with patience.” Lk 8:15- “but he who endures to the end will be saved” Mt 24:13- “by your endurance you will gain your lives” Lk 21:19.)

“Sometimes God allows for a relative or a fellow worker to cause us problems in order to exercise our patience and humbleness; however, instead of being grateful for the chance God gives us, we react and refuse to be cured. It is like refusing to pay the doctor who is giving us a shot when we are ill.”

“The good Christian must also endure his corrupt supervisors; for they are amazed by his good behaviour, while they are being unfair to him.”

“God does not want us, His children, to be pestered. He gives us temptations and hardships in order to become perfect. Temptations will cease to exist in our life, when we reach the level of perfection.”

“We, Christians, ought to love afflictions and not try to get rid of them; afflictions are necessary means leading to our perfection.”

“When people treat us unjustly, we must be happy, because God’s justice, which is superior to human justice, will protect us. We should either seek human justice, or patiently wait for the justice of God. We must be careful, however, not to pursue an unjust treatment, because this would be unfair on our part and would indicate lack of love towards other people.”

“It is for our own benefit to hope for divine justice, when treated unfairly, and not react to the injustice done to us. Not only we will profit from this, but later on our children will be benefited as well. However, the opposite thing happens, when people curse us and the curse is just.”

“When God sees that we are proud and arrogant, He allows for the presence of temptations in our life. He will take them away from us, only when He sees that we humble ourselves.”

"My mind tells me that even the animals are better than me; so, I humble myself and obey them. Very early this morning, being tired from praying all night and exhausted because of my illness, I lay down to rest. After a while, I heard a kitten miaowing outside my cell as if she needed something. I really wanted to rest, but I humbled myself and went against my own will. I obeyed the kitten and replied to her calling. I went to open the door. It had started to rain and I let her in so she wouldn’t get wet. What do you think then? Should I obey the animals or not? My thoughts tell me I should.

 - Elder, should we practice obedience with discretion, or obey with complete trust without questioning?

He replied:

"After we voluntarily submit ourselves to a good spiritual father who is humble and giving, then we should obey him without questioning. I will give you an example, so that you may understand the way God functions in our lives. Suppose the abbot tells you to go to Iviron Monastery and take the boat to run an errand at Lavra Monastery. And you answer him according to your own logic: “Father, don’t you think it would be of greater spiritual benefit for me to walk through the mountain since I would be alone? The boat is very crowded and I might be involved in useless conversation that would spiritually harm me.” The abbot might tell you to do as you like, because he does not wish to upset you. You, however, must realise that you are acting according to your own will and you are not under his obedience. Thus, God may allow for a mishap while you will be walking through the mountain, i.e. to be bitten by a snake, to fall and hurt your leg or get lost, in order to teach you to be humble and not look selfishly after your own good, but instead let Him do so. On the other hand, if you did not express your own will and obeyed your abbot by taking the boat to Lavra Monastery, then God would have protected you, and He would see that your encounter with the other people wouldn’t have spiritually harmed you.

We should unhesitatingly trust and obey our spiritual fathers. If we think over and examine with our own logic whatever they say to us, then we should know that we are not obedient to our spiritual father, but rather to our judgment and opinion. We must bear in mind that the grace of God is attracted by the simple-hearted people, who humbly trust their spiritual fathers and do not have confidence in their own thoughts.

The aim of complete and trusting obedience of a monk to his Elder is the perfect purification of his mind and the total submission of his own will to divine grace. When a monk is granted this gift then the goal of obedience has been fulfilled and “…against such there is no law” (Gal 5:23).

Father Paisios said that the spiritual work of a Christian should focus on the acquirement of humility.

"God loves man very much; He knows very well the problems of each one of us, and wishes to help us before we ask Him to do so. Since God is omnipotent, there are no difficulties which He cannot overcome, except one. The difficulty God faces, and I repeat, it is the only one, is that He “cannot” help us when our soul is not humble. God “feels sad” because, while He sees His creature suffer, He “cannot” offer any help. Whatever help He offers, it will harm the person because he lacks a humble mindset.

Whatever happens to man, depends absolutely on his humility. For instance, we see a man striving and finally being subdued by one of his passions. God allows this to happen for only one reason: because his soul is filled with conceited thoughts and pride. Perhaps this man hates this specific passion and fights really hard to get rid of it. He will not achieve anything, however, because God does not help him; and He will not help him unless he humbles himself. Although he hates this specific passion, he is subdued by pride, which is the passion that introduces man to all other passions. “Pride is the cause of every passion,” St. John of the Ladder.

Man wants to progress spiritually and asks God to give him love, prayer, obedience and all virtues. We should be aware that God will not give us what we are asking for, no matter how hard we try, unless we humble ourselves. If our only aim is humility, then God will give us everything for free.

God wants and desires only one thing from us: our humility. He does not need anything else; just to humble ourselves, so He can actually make us partakers of His divine grace, which was granted to us through the mystery of Holy Baptism. Although we did not love Him yet, neither had we struggled to acquire His grace, He gave it to us as a gift out of His extreme kindness. He is only asking from us to humble ourselves and respond out of gratefulness and appreciation to His love. Thus, divine grace, which abides in us, will be activated and function accordingly. It will make us love God and get to know Him; it will do everything for us, if we only humble ourselves and allow for it to act. The only obstacle to the energy of God’s grace is our pride, our lack of humility.
St. Peter in chapter 5 of his 1st Epistle helps us clearly understand our fault and tells us what we should do: “Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another, for God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble. Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that in due time he may exalt you. Cast all your anxieties on him, for he cares about you.” (1Pt 5: 5-7)

Source: http://www.stparaskevi.org.au/humbleness_and_patience

A photograph taken of the saint when he visited Australia

 

Saint Paisios and the Young Man With Protestant Leanings

The following conversation between Fr. Paisios with a pious young man, who had been deceived by the falsehoods of Protestantism, was published in the annual publication O Hosios Gregorios of the Holy Monastery of Gregoriou in Mount Athos in the year 1995.

The late elder with seemingly simplistic answers to the existential questions of the young man, saved that soul from being lost and restored him to the embrace of the Orthodox Church. The Abbot of the Sacred Monastery of Gregoriou, Archimandrite George, gave us permission to republish the text of this conversation:

A Severe Illness Requires a Big Hospital

Eventually I decided to go to the Orthodox Church. I confessed and began to receive communion regularly. Yet I had many serious questions to which I could not find answers. I sought the answers by meeting with theologians and clergy, but still no avail.

“Kosta, no matter how much I try I cannot satisfy you with anything. You want to understand the mysteries of God with your reason. This isn’t Orthodox. Only one thing will save you: let’s go to the Holy Mountain. Will you come?”

This was the opinion of an Archimandrite to whom God led me, I believe. After I agreed, he informed me of a great surgeon (my own characterisation) who is there, so we went. His name was Fr. Paisios. Another blessed elder from Pyrgos, I later learned, said the following about me: “If Fr. Paisios receives him, there is hope, if not, he will be lost in his pride.” He had a point. Fortunately Christ shed His blood for our sins. Glory to His holy name.

I will try to convey as accurately as possible the conversation I had with Fr. Paisios.

Question: Holy Scripture teaches that only Jesus Christ saves. In the Orthodox Church we ask the Virgin Mary to save us. Is this correct?

Answer: Jesus is the only Savour. He offered Himself for us. If you were someone with great power and went to the city with your mother, everyone waiting there for you would greet both you and your mother. They would even say the best words about her, even if they knew nothing about her. And when you heard them, you would rejoice, and would be proud for your mother. So also does Christ rejoice and is proud for his mother, when He hears our good words about her. Look, if a poor woman went to your mother and begged to ask you to appoint her to a position and you did this favour of your mother, then that poor woman would say your mother saved her, even though you appointed her. Well, so we also say that the Virgin Mary saves us, and her Son who as the One in power, yet is humble, rejoices to hear good words being spoken by us about His mother.

 

Question: The Lord taught us to pray to God the Father. The Orthodox Church prays to the Theotokos and the Saints who are people. Is this correct?

Answer: Listen. All prayers go to God. We pray to the Virgin Mary and the Saints, that is, we ask that they pray to the Lord for us. And their prayers have great power.

Question: Yes, but (I interrupted) the Virgin Mary and the Saints were people and they died. They do not hear us, nor are they present everywhere. Perhaps God is angered over the fact that we pray to them?

(Here it is my great obligation to stress with emphasis what happened to me. At the moment I said the word “but”, I felt a spear pinning me down to the earth without hurting me and without me making a noise, but something opened up within me and “sucked” in whatever the elder said to me.)

Answer: My child, to God no one dies. When someone dies, they die to us who are left here on earth. They do not die to God. And if that person has boldness before God, they learn from Christ that we are asking them to pray for us, and so they pray for us, and Christ hears and rejoices. The prayer of the righteous has great power.
Question: The Lord says: “I am the Lord your God. You shall have no idols nor images, to venerate them. Nor shall you worship them, for I the Lord your God am a jealous God.” The Orthodox Church venerates icons. Is this correct?

Answer: Listen. A mother whose child is at war, fears for him day and night. She has much suspense for him. Suddenly she receives a letter from her child with a photograph of him inside. When she sees it, what does she do? She takes it in her hands and kisses it, then puts it to her bosom to touch it to her heart. Well, what do you think? This mother with such fiery passion for her child, does she believe she is kissing the photograph? She believes she is kissing her child. The same is believed by those who have a fiery passion for the Virgin Mary or the Saint depicted in an icon that they venerate. We do not venerate the icons because of the icons, but because of the Saints, and these not for them in themselves, but because they strove for Christ. It is true that God is jealous. However not for His own, but for the devil. A father is not jealous of his own children. Don’t worry, for the Lord rejoices when He sees us revering and loving His Mother and the Saints.
Question: What about the Protestants, the Evangelicals, the Pentecostals?
Answer: Luther had a complaint with the Pope, and for this he was justified. If he was sincere, then why didn’t he go to the Orthodox Church about which he had no complaint? Instead, he made another “church” of his own. Leave them be. Do not go there again. Go to church, you and your wife should confess to the same spiritual father, and everything will be well.

Question: Father Paisios, I don’t know how to pray. How should I pray?

Answer: You should feel as if you are a small child and God is your Father. Then seek Him. If you seek Him and not stupid things, do not be upset, He will not be angry. He sees your heart and will give what is best for you. It is like a child that asks his father to buy him a motorcycle, because he believes he is old enough, and because the father is afraid something bad will happen to his child, he may be slow to grant the child what he wants, but in the end he buys the child a car.

Question: When we pray is it good to wait in our prayers until we feel joy? I do this often and it happens.

Answer: No. Then it is like a child who asks its father for something, not to buy him something, but only to caress him.

I thank and glorify God that He made me worthy to know a holy man while he was alive on earth, to be counselled by him and for him to pray for me and my family.

Truly how wonderful God is. How all-benevolent and all-merciful! Glory to His holy name. This is how I became – not I became, but the Lord made me – an Orthodox Christian, without of course forgetting something else Fr. Paisios told me, how at every moment we are under examination.

Source: The periodical Dialogos. Translated by John Sanidopoulos.

http://www.johnsanidopoulos.com/2015/05/saint-paisios-and-young-man-with.html#more

From Saint Paisios the Athonite (+1994)

 

"Whoever is at peace in the material world and is not concerned about the salvation of his soul is like the senseless birds who don’t make a noise from within the egg, so as to break the shell and come out to enjoy the sun – the heavenly flight in the life of Paradise – but instead remain unmoving and die inside the egg shell".

Source: Precious Vessels of the Holy Spirit: The Lives and Counsels of Contemporary Elders. Published by Protecting Veil Press 2003.