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Πέμπτη 10 Μαΐου 2012
A saintly Fool for Christ in the heart of Athens.
This excerpt
was taken from the newly-circulated book about Crazy John, a modern-day ”Fool
for Christ”
"Foolishness
for Christ" was always appreciated as one of the most moving chapters in
the voluminous Book of Saints of our Orthodox Church. One more pebble that was
added to this chapter is the history that a humble levite of the Gospel who lives
in the blessed mountains of Agrafa in Northern Greece narrated to us.
His narration
pertained to a contemporary "fool for Christ", who lived in one of
the many faceless, inaccessible and remote neighborhoods of Athens.
Crazy John -
who is the central character of his narration - lived in a tiny, humble
apartment that he had inherited from his mother; one of 20 apartments that
comprised the condominium building. He
worked at the neighborhood bakery and began work at daybreak. From that bakery
where he worked, he would customarily fill two bags with loaves of bread and
bread rolls every day, and would rush to distribute them to the elderly men,
women and students in his neighborhood.
«Here you are
- I thought I might give you some freshly-baked bread, a gift from mister
Apostoly the baker, so that you will commemorate him in your prayers" he
would say.
The truth was
that Crazy John would use up a large part of his wages to provide bread to the
poor of his neighborhood. He would tell
mister Apostoly that he was only helping out some sick friends, and that he was
being paid for his trouble...
But how did
he know who the poor in his neighborhood were?
Well, he made
it a habit to indiscriminately ring the doorbells, not only in his own
condominium, but also in neighboring apartment buildings. He would introduce
himself to everyone and would ask them if they needed anything that he could
help them with:
"And how
did you wake up this morning? Has any
problem come up so I can be of assistance to you? How are your children?"
At first,
some snubbed him. Others slammed their door in his face, refusing to speak to
him - obviously annoyed by his unexpected presence. But there were others who
actually waited for Crazy John to come, so that they could hear a kind word
from him. Eventually, he came to know all of them; he came to know their
peculiarities, but also the elements of their characters.
In the
evenings, Crazy John would retire to his humble home and pray. He liked to
recite the book of Psalms, claiming to someone who asked him why, that
"they were intended to drive away the little critters (demons) from the
neighborhood..."
He used to
read it out so loud, that a newly-arrived tenant who didn't know him that well
called the Police, complaining about him disturbing the peace!Also on a daily
basis, the fool would cense all the apartments, beginning from the top floor
and working down. He would even go out
to the back yards and cense there also.
And when someone was sick, he would visit them and - after censing them
and making the sign of the Cross over them - he would read haltingly, with his
limited education, the words of James' Epistle...
"Pray
for each other, so that you may be healed", he would say to them. He would urge them to go to confession,
"to get well by the greatest of doctors, our Christ..."
Quite often,
after coming home from the bakery, he would grab a broom and sweep the entire
apartment building, "to keep it clean", as he used to say.
He enjoyed
intervening with a smile between those who quarreled about political parties
publicly, in cafes (in older times, there used to be heated arguments over
political parties):
--"Ah,
you guys, why do you count on and pin your hopes on tin cans and cymbals?
Instead of quarrelling, you should be praying to God to send us a David for a
king. He could solve problems, because his knees had bled from prolonged
supplications and prayers. But what do your wise guys do? Their supplications
are only for commission, and they become one with corruption... They take you
for idiots and they mock you", he
used to tell them.
--"Get
lost, Crazy John", they would reply and, to avoid him altogether, they
would send him off on an errand. But he
would always say "Don't pin your hopes on the rulers. Have your hopes in
God only."
One day, Crazy
John didn't go to work. Mister Apostoly the baker was concerned. He was never
absent from work. So he sent someone to his apartment. Before arriving at the
apartment, he saw the fool holding a shovel, cleaning out the storm drains in
the street and emptying them of the dirt and litter that was blocking them.
--"Hey
you! Have you really lost your mind?" he shouted. "Mister Apostoly is
waiting for you at the bakery and you're cleaning storm drains? Did you think
the City Council would hire you that way?"
To which he
replied:
--"I
have been trying to find two coins that I lost, since this morning. But I can't
remember which of the five drains they had fallen into, so I opened all five of
them. And, since I had opened them, I though I might as well clean out the dirt
while I'm at it" the fool said, laughing. "So, go back to Mister
Apostoly and tell him I will work extra tomorrow, to make up for the hours I
was absent today. Hey, they were two
whole coins... that's no small amount" he added.
One can only
imagine the baker's exasperation. As soon as he learnt of the fool's prank, he
threatened to fire him. Five hours later, John the fool had completed his
mission and returned home, very pleased.
--"Well,
did you find your coins?" The grocer asked him mockingly. "You should
go to the Mayor and ask for them, for having cleaned the storm drains" he
said, laughing at him.
But later on
that afternoon, the sky began to darken.
Black clouds gathered threateningly, followed by lightning and thunder
and a heavy downpour. The streets
quickly turned into rivers, sweeping away everything in their path - including
cars on the street. Many catastrophes were recorded in the largest
Municipality: Houses, shops, warehouses
were flooded. Properties were lost. The Fire Department couldn't handle all the
emergency calls for rescues...
The Mayor
visited the stricken areas of his jurisdiction the next day, to personally
gauge the damages. All the citizens of
his municipality confronted him about the blocked storm drains. He eventually went to Crazy John's
neighborhood. There was no flood damage there.
The grocer who spotted the Mayor, went up to him and said:
--"Mister
Mayor, you should go and thank Crazy John who has been cleaning out these storm
drains from this morning. That fool's craziness saved us, thanks to his
persistent search for two lost coins!"
But the baker
also said the same things to the Mayor:
--"It's
fortunate Mister Mayor that the madman cleaned those storm drains, otherwise we
would have drowned after a rainfall like that. His madness saved us from a
worse fate."
--"It
looks like madmen can be a necessity too", the Mayor said with a smile.
John, the
fool for Christ, used to wear very worn-out clothes. Many would feel sorry for him, seeing him in
that state, and they would give him money. "Here, take this you fool, and
buy yourself some trousers and a decent shirt to wear." He would thank them and take the money. He
would then place the money in an envelope, add some more from his own wages,
then would secretly go and toss the envelope under the doors of those whom he
knew were in need.
Whenever he
went to a supermarket, he would purchase very unusual things. He would even
place various women's items for example in the shopping cart, and that would
get the cashier girls giggling. The owner of the supermarket would feel sorry
for him, and had even given instructions to accept only half of the total value
of the items that he purchased.
One day,
someone's curiosity got the better of him, and he decided to find out what the
fool did with all that shopping. So he secretly followed him one day. Crazy
John went to a remote corner of the tiny square so that he would not be watched
by passers-by, and began to separate and group the shopping items. He would then begin to ring doorbells (as he
was accustomed to doing) and would leave the bags with the shopping items on
the doorsteps.
The women's
articles that he used to purchase he would take to a poor student, Katerina,
one of a large family of many children; one who was in great need.
On the day of
his death eight years ago, everyone in the neighborhood had a story to tell
about the fool's "pranks": Anastasy, the janitor of the building
where the fool lived, began to tell about the love he had for the Church.
He would go
to church almost every day. On Sundays he would arrive even before the Priest.
He would light his candle, kneel before all the holy icons and then go to his
place at the entrance of the church, pretending to be a beggar. Whatever money he collected - as the Priest
revealed to me - he would secretly go and deposit in the charity box for the
poor and the elderly.
One day, the
caretaker saw him at the charity box and thought he was trying to steal the
money. So she ran to notify the priest. "Father, Crazy John has got his
hands on the charity box!" she cried out.
The priest then went cautiously over and secretly observed what he was
doing. He saw the fool pulling money out of his pockets and depositing it the
charity box.
--"What
on earth are you doing there you fool?" the priest shouted. And Crazy John replied "Well father, you
see a hole opened in my pocket, so to prevent the money from falling through
the hole and losing it, I put it in the box for the Panaghia to guard, and to
give it to others poorer than me!"
He saved a
woman from the deadly sin of adultery...
Nicoletta
then took a long sip of coffee and began to tell her story with Crazy John...
"One
evening" she said "perhaps ten or more years ago, I saw a young man
wandering aimlessly in our neighborhood. I watched him purposely, because I
thought he was a burglar. Suddenly, I noticed Crazy John coming out of his
building in a hurry and quickly walking in the direction of the only
ground-floor house in the neighborhood, where a four-member family was living
as tenants.
The fool sat
himself squarely on the steps of the front yard, and began to chant the hymns
to the Panaghia out loud. He especially liked to chant "O Virgin pure...."
Two hours
went by, but the fool continued to chant hymns. I went out and told him to
stop. Then I noticed the young man walk hurriedly away. The fool got up and went inside the house. I
followed him out of curiosity, to see what was going on. I must admit that my mind went to something
sinister. I rang the doorbell and a young woman opened the door.
Crazy John
was seated at the kitchen table, eating something the young woman had served
him. Next to him stood her five year old
son. Turning to the boy, the fool began to tell him that one of God's ten
commandments is the one that says "Thou shalt not commit adultery".
--"You
know Georgie, adultery is not something that God likes. Adultery opens a gate
for Satan, who then enters the home and wreaks havoc. That's when families
break up, and sicknesses and pain and hatred come in through the windows and
drive out God's blessing that was given with the sacrament of Marriage. Man and woman - like your daddy and mommy -
become one flesh with marriage dear Georgie; one body. With adultery, it's like
cutting off your arm."
I have to
admit that made me very angry....
--"What
on earth are you telling that poor child, you ungodly wretch?" I
said. The young woman burst into tears
and said between sobs "He's saying it about me; leave him alone - don't
scold him...."
But Crazy
John quickly got up and left. The young woman then confessed that she had
planned to cheat on her husband with a young man she had met in a cafeteria
that she had been to with a friend of hers for coffee. She told her that the
young man was supposed to meet her at her place, thus taking advantage of her
husband's absence, as he was out of town on business, but God protected her and
the young man didn't come.
"I
narrowly escaped a huge disaster, dear Nicoletta. I would have broken up my family and my
marriage. When Crazy John knocked at the
door, I thought it was that young man, and I wouldn't have had the strength to
send him away. Fortunately God saved me
from committing a terrible sin...."
--"It
was the fool who saved you" I said to her, "because the young man had
indeed come this far, but the fool was sitting on your doorstep outside for
hours, chanting incessantly, while the young man was pacing outside your door.
Didn't you hear him?" I asked her.....
--"I had
heard" - the baker interposed - "that John wanted to become a priest,
ever since he was a child. But then came the German occupation, followed by the
civil war, so he never managed to finish his schooling. He only managed to
learn to read and write a little. Thus, while still relatively young, when he
went to the Bishop and asked him to ordain him a priest, the Bishop had
deterred him, and instead recommended that he first go to school.
But now, with
all these things that are being said about John, and with everything that I
personally know about him, I can safely say that God may not have made him a
priest, but He surely anointed him a Bishop in our neighborhood. These last
words by Mister Apostoly were drowned in his sobs and his tears....
The secret
life of Crazy John...
Tears also
began to fall in the eyes of many more who were present. Everyone wanted to
deposit their own testimony. Two girls were observing the scene at a distance from
the others, looking somewhat confused. You could clearly discern admiration
combined with a feeling of sadness, from the expression on their faces. None of
the people present knew who the girls were, and they were curious to find out
who they were...
Mister
Anastasy thought that they might have a family bond with the deceased John, so,
being the janitor of the building, he took the initiative and asked them if
they were related to the recently departed for the Lord, brother John...
The robust
girl then began to say the following, after brushing away her tears:
--"My
name is Arete, and my friend here, Calliope, works with me at the Children's
Hospital. Several years ago, we came to know mister John the Clown. That's how
we knew him - the one that you call Crazy John.
He would come almost every Sunday afternoon, always laden with toys. He
would share them amongst the children and he would play with them. He loved them all, but showed special care
and love for all the newly-born babies that were growing up alone in the
hospital, because they had been abandoned by their parents. He used to bring them clothes and toys and
would always leave some money with the nurses on duty, in case the children
needed something else, for whenever he couldn't go there. We didn't know him as a fool, like you do. To
us, he was the kindest clown, who entertained the children like no-one else
could..."
--"H
especially loved a little child whose parents had abandoned it because it was
born with Down's Syndrome", Calliope added.
"But
tell me, little Calliope, how could they leave behind this tiny angel?" he
would wonder. "If only they (the parents) knew that this angel was for
them a ticket to Paradise and eternity, they would never have abandoned it. How
on earth do you turn your back on such a treasure? Our Lord - dear little Calliope - said that
He is Love. And you know that love contains sacrifice. Love without sacrifice
is like an empty can - an unvarnished one, as my dear mother used to say.
Christ - dear little Calliope - said that whoever doesn't have sacrificial love
resembles a zero. If we only knew dear girl
what treasures God sends to man continuously to save him, we would be jumping
for joy. Here, take a look at this angel here - this is one of those
treasures... In fact, I will tell you a
secret. If we could find a good family today who would adopt it, then not only
would they receive innumerable heavenly blessings, but also, with the sacrifice
of their love, in embracing a little angel with a wounded body, they would even
cure it. Because our Triadic God is
merciful and caring..."
These are the
things that mister John would say as he looked at the sick and abandoned little
child asleep in its tiny hospital crib.
--"Isn't
it strange little Calliope how people nowadays care more about little animals,
and pay no attention to these little children?
I'm not saying we shouldn't love birds and animals. We should care about
them too, but how much more should we care about suffering mankind, who is made
in the likeness of God? We need to
become Good Samaritans nowadays, so that we might give up our lives also if
necessary, to comfort our fellow-man. Don't forget that - especially you nurses, whose work is linked
to human suffering..."
Holy souls
live among living humans...
"I was
under the impression that mister John was a theologian-professor. I surmised
that, from his profound theological but equally simplified analyses. He knew the entire Holy Bible by heart, and
he would exhort me with faith to read one or two pages every day, from the
Bible that he himself had given me as a gift.
He even counselled me to kneel before the icon of the Holy Mother every
day and describe in detail the day's joys, sorrows and problems.
He used to
say "Dear little Calliope, ask our Holy Mother to become your best friend
and you will see everything changing around you. Our kind Mother is the kindest
Mother of all, the kindest sister, the kindest friend. Talk to Her - She
listens..."
Last night,
when I rang up mister John and a gentleman who picked up the phone told me that
mister John had died and informed me about the funeral, I felt as though I had
just lost my father...
Mister
Anastasy suddenly jumped up and asked:
--"When
did you ring up?"
--"Last
night, around 8pm. I wanted to ask him if
he was going to come this Sunday when it is my shift, because I have to confess
that I trusted mister John more than
anyone else - even more than my own parents..."
--"But
the apartment was locked since the day before yesterday, and I'm the only one
who has keys to it", mister Anastasy said, mystified..
So he turned
to the others in the room and asked if anyone else had keys. The replies were
all negative...
--"But
the voice on the phone sounded so much like mister John's. I just assumed it
was a relative of his. But now that you mention it, I remember that he called
me "little Calliope" over the phone - and he was the only one who
called me by that name! Its just that at the time, I was so upset by the news
of his death, that I didn't pay special attention, when I heard the following:
--"And
now little Calliope, you will be looking after the children on your own,
because your mister John has passed away, and can no longer visit you as a
clown..." he said to me over the phone!
I assumed
that his next of kin were aware of this activity of his, so I didn't take any
notice of those words... I am only now finding out that he had no relatives,
and I don't know what to say..."
Just then,
father Dimitri who was observing everything in silence while seated at a nearby
table, stood up and exclaimed:
"This
man is a Saint !!!"
"A
Saint! A Saint!" everyone
instinctively repeated...
--"I
have been listening all this time to the narrations of the adventures of our
departed brother John. Everything that you said about Crazy John - as you all
call him - are miraculous events that characterize only the saints of our
Church. I am under the impression that this isn't a commonplace funeral
gathering; it rather resembles a festive occasion.
Calliope's
realization that he had spoken to her - albeit deceased - over the phone, shook
me to the core, and it reminded me of a similar incident that relates to the
life of the holy elder Porphyry the Hut-burner.."
--"Father,
young Dimitri wants to say something too", mister Apostoly said.
--"Come
on, say it, so that everyone can hear what you told me a while ago about Crazy
John."
Young Dimitri
was a boy in his early teens. He was going on 14 and was in his second year at
High School. He lived together with his brother Paul who was three years
younger than himself, and his parents, just two apartment buildings down from
where Crazy John lived. During the past year, unlike the other children his
age, he had turned to God.
His friends
couldn't explain that huge about-face. They all wondered what had happened to
make that high-spirited Dimitri abandon his pranks and mischief and turn to
studying and prudence. Even his parents had no idea what the reason for his
conversion was. At first, they actually
believed he had been brainwashed by a heretic organization. But later, they
realized that nothing of the sort was lurking behind their son's change. They also noticed that ever since their son
turned to God, the problems in their family had begun to diminish. Quarrelling
stopped. Teachers' praises at school had replaced their complaints about his
mischief...
Dimitri's
about-face had changed the family's course. His parents became even more
surprised, when they saw their son going to church every Sunday and reading the
Holy Bible that Crazy John had given him as a gift. Poor Panagiotis - Dimitri's
father - who customarily went to church every Christmas and Easter - became
very upset. He discussed the matter with his wife Polyxeni.
--"Say,
wife, do you think Dimitri is in trouble? How did he change so much? Is there
any chance he has suffered a romantic disappointment because some girlie left
him? I am afraid that the priests will destroy him. Not to mention that he
risks being taunted by his friends and mocked by them. What do you think?
Shouldn't we have a talk with him?" he would say.
Poor Polyxeni
would listen to her husband carefully. She never spoke. When the time came and
she spoke up, she said:
--"I
don't know what to say, my Panagioti. You may be right. I can't hide the fact
that those same thoughts had crossed my mind too. But one thing I do know: ever
since Dimitri displayed this new behaviour, our family has calmed down. His
grades at school have shown a sharp improvement. His teachers have only the
best things to say about him. Even they are amazed at Dimitri - they actually
asked me if he was being tutored privately. Even young Paul has become
motivated, near Dimitri...
Have you
forgotten, my dear Panagioti, how much we worried when Dimitri would come home
after midnight? Have you forgotten the time we found a packet of cigarettes
under his bed and that magazine with indecent photos? Have you forgotten the
time we were called to the Police Station to pick up our son who had been held
there because he had caused damages together with some others, in the episodes
that took place after their school's party?
Have you forgotten our neighbors, who constantly complained that Dimitri
and his friends would beat Crazy John and make fun of him?
Listen, dear
Panagioti: what I can see is that after Dimitri's change, I am far more at
ease, and so is this household. Our
problems have become fewer. Even our quarrels as husband and wife are minimal.
Ever since Dimitri brought God home, smiling and happiness has returned to
us. So I wonder, could we be the ones
who are wrong? Could we be the ones who were responsible for the path that our
children had taken?
Panagioti,
instead of worrying about Dimitri, I suggest that we follow him on his path;
that we begin as a family to go to church; to do what Crazy John told us to do
the other day, when you invited him over to eat with us...
In other
words, that we find a good spiritual father and go to confession. That's what
the fool meant, when he said that confession is the fuel that drives man
towards the heavens. Remember how he would ask us if we would like to travel to
Heaven and we laughed at him and regarded his words to be foolishness?"
--"Look
wife, I understand what you're saying, but it occurs to me that our friends
will laugh at us if we do something like that", Panagiotis replied.
--"That
thought also crossed my mind, but then I remembered something else. Remember
the time Panagioti when we didn't have enough money to pay the installment on
our housing loan and you had asked your friends to help out, and they all
forgot us? They all disappeared, and they even stopped calling. When did those
friends stand by us? They come over, only when we invite them to eat with us,
or go to a tavern with us.
Weren't you
the one who told me that they gossiped about us, and that you discovered that
deep down, they were pleased whenever they heard us talking about our problems
with the children? We would have lost the house, if we hadn't found that
envelope with the 100.000 drachmas under our door - which, by the way, we never
discovered who had put it there, although I suspect that the fool was behind
that gesture" Polyxeni replied.
--"No...no...I
had asked the fool, but he flatly denied that he had done such a thing.
Besides, how could the fool have known about our financial worries?"
--"He
knows everything, since he makes his rounds in every part of the neighborhood.
Perhaps he saw us worried and asked Dimitri or Paul. Don't rule out anything,
because other families around here have also received envelopes like
that."
On the Sunday
after that discussion, the parents announced to Dimitri that they would all go
with him to church. In fact, they even woke up Paul, who preferred to sleep in
on Sundays. "We have only one day for sleeping" he used to say.
Dimitri was stunned at first, and he may have thought they were aiming to
monitor his moves. But when he saw that this routine was repeated and that his
parents acquired a spiritual father and began to read spiritual books, he then
began to speak of a miracle.
So, with some
coercion by mister Apostoly, young Dimitri began to present his own testimony,
Everyone had now turned their attention towards him. Meantime, several other
people had gathered around, from adjacent tables.
--"One
day" said young Dimitri, "my mother sent me to mister Apostoly's
bakery to buy bread. As I was buying the bread, I also did something bad -
something that I used to do often with my friends also. Well, I stole a
chocolate bar. Mister Apostoly didn't notice, and I was sure that no-one had
seen me take it.
But from the
next day on, as I left the house to go to school, I would find two similar
chocolate bars outside our door, like the ones I had stolen. This went on for
about 20 days. I asked my mother who kept putting the chocolates there and she
told me that every morning, Crazy John usually rings the doorbells in the
building.
--"That
guy does such crazy things" my mother said. That was when I realized that
the fool must have spotted me when I grabbed the chocolate, and this was how he
was taking his revenge. "I'll show that madman, who's trying to make me
feel bad for a measly chocolate that I stole" - that was how I used to
think, at the time...
The next day,
I found chocolates again - one for me and one for Paul, my brother, along with
a note that had the ten commandments written on it, with the commandment of
"thou shalt not steal" underlined.
I became very
angry....
So, as soon
as school was out, I went straight to Crazy John's apartment building and rang
his doorbell. He opened his door and said with a smile:
--"I'm
sorry, my Dimitri. I know you came here to give me a couple of punches for the
chocolates. I'm a fool; I deserve those punches. Come on, hit me, as hard as
you can. Let your anger out."
I was at a
loss, and was going to leave. I got scared. How did the fool know that I had
gone there to beat him, seeing that I hadn't told anyone? As soon as this
thought crossed my mind, he remarked:
--"My
dear boy, you must be wondering who told me you were coming here to beat me,
aren't you?"
I nodded
affirmatively.
--"Well,
you see, just before you came, Saint Dimitrios was here - who is your guardian
- and the Holy Mother also, and they told me.
You know, they love you very much, and they often talk about you. For
example, yesterday, with your schoolmate Helen - when you slapped her for
disagreeing with you - you made them very sad and they were crying here, along
with me. My dear Dimitri, I will tell you a big secret, under the condition
that as long as I am alive, you will not tell it to anyone. Do you
accept?"
"Yes"
I replied, while I watched Crazy John radiant with joy.
--"Our
Lord Jesus dear Dimitri wants to come over to your place, but every time He
comes to visit you, He hears quarreling and He departs, very sorrowed. So, He
told me to give you His commandments to read, to learn them well, and to
observe them all, and only then will He return to live with you continuously.
Do you know what it means to live in the same house, together with Him, Who
created the entire world? Now leave, go
home, because your mother will be getting worried."
I began to
leave, but while walking me out, Crazy John said with a smile:
--"Hey,
little Dimitri, where are you going? You forgot to give me those punches!"
I left for
home as though flying on wings. As soon as my mother saw me, she asked me why I
was late, and I told her that "I was at the fool's house, to tell him not
to leave any more chocolates on the doorstep, because I will get fat. Mum, give me 30 drachmas to give to mister
Apostoly the baker, because I bought something but didn't have enough money on
me to pay for it."
She gave me
the money, and I went running to the bakery and handed it to mister Apostoly.
He was surprised when I told him that I had taken a chocolate bar along with
the bread, but had forgotten to pay for it.
--"Well,
I was indeed surprised, because I knew you to be a mischievous brat, dear
Dimitri. But, as soon as you made that move, I told myself I shouldn't condemn
anyone, because you never know what kind of heart is inside each person. From
that moment on, I became very fond of you", the baker explained.
The fool's
last letter...
He then
pulled young Dimitri towards him and gave him a kiss, while patting him on the
head. His mother Polyxeni and her
husband Panagiotis who were witnessing the scene were obviously emotionally
charged. Mrs Polyxeni then decided to
say her part.
--"To
us, Crazy John was the support of our family. He was the one who contributed
towards us making the about-face towards Christ. Our life changed, and he made
us partakers of the miracle of salvation. He brought blessings into our home...
To me,
Panagiotis and my children, he was a friend and a brother. As his brothers
therefore, we decided earlier on to suggest to you all that we get together
next Saturday at our parish to perform the 3rd day memorial service and then
you all come to our place to eat with us, to honour his memory."
Mrs
Polyxeni's suggestion was welcomed by all of us. Mister Anastasy in fact spoke
up again, to add that it would be good to continue the impromptu discussion
that had begun in the Memorial Service Hall of the Cemetery, so he proposed to
all the people who were present to write down their own experiences with Crazy
John during their contacts with him.
Father
Dimitri who happened to find himself among the mourners, addressed Mrs Polyxeni
and said:
--"I
never got to meet the departed brother John - that fool for Christ - however, I
would like to ask you, if possible and if you have no objections, if I could
come to your house and listen to this blessed expose of miraculous
events."
--"It
would be a pleasure, father; it would in
fact be an honour if you could come", Panagiotis replied.
So, everyone
was looking eagerly forward to the following Saturday. Mister Apostoly the
baker had arranged for the ceremonial wheat grain offering and all the other
necessities for the memorial service. He had even notified the priests of the
Sacred Temple that after the Divine Liturgy, there would be a memorial trisaghion
for Crazy John. More than anyone else, it was mister Apostoly who was looking
forward to that day.
Besides, he
had every reason to look forward to this gathering, because on the day after
Crazy John's departure, he had received a registered letter. He was very
surprised to see that the sender was Crazy John himself, who had arrange to
send the letter on the eve of his death.
The
ever-curious grocer, mister Pandelis, was begging Anastasy in vain to tell him
what the contents of the letter were. He kept the contents a doubly-locked
secret and wouldn't divulge anything.
--"Ha!
Anastasy, I know why don't want to tell me what the letter says. The poor
deceased fool has probably written all sorts of silly things in there and you
are too embarrassed to read them" he said slyly, in the hope of forcing
him to speak.
Who was the
fool finally? Him, or us?
--"Pandeli,
I will tell you one thing: After I read the letter, I asked myself who was
crazy - him, or all of us? We'll talk about the rest in due course, don't you worry",
mister Anastasy said. But the news of
the letter spread from mouth to mouth, throughout the neighborhood. And as was
to be expected, it had stirred up everyone's curiosity.
Thus, on
Saturday morning the sacred temple of the parish filled up with such a large
congregation that the priest was puzzled. "This is the first time that
I've seen so many people at a memorial service" he whispered to the
sacristan. But he replied:
--"The
fool - Crazy John - mustered them father"
--"But I
can see strangers in the crowd also. They must have been his relatives" he
muttered to himself, as he walked towards the Holy Altar.
Father
Vassily had been serving at that parish for 28 years and he knew most of the
parishioners very well. Young Dimitri who was assisting in the Holy Sanctum
together with his brother Paul, said to father Vassily that mister Anastasy was
asking for his permission (albeit permissible) to say a few words after the
trisaghion.
--"Gladly,
gladly, my little Dimitri. Let mister Anastasy speak" he said and nodded
affirmatively, looking towards the podium where mister Anastasy was standing.
As he himself admitted later to mister Anastasy, he too was curious to learn
the reason that the Church filled up as though it were a Sunday.
So, towards
the end, and before the closing prayers, father Vassily performed the
trisaghion. The entire congregation was crying at the reciting of the words
"My Lord, give rest to the soul of Your reposed servant John....."
that father Vassily was chanting. He then nodded to mister Anastasy to approach
and say what he wanted.
He then in
turn stood next to the Sanctum entrance and said:
--Reverend
father Vassily, you must be wondering what the reason is for this blessed
gathering. You must be wondering why the entire neighborhood -but also other
Christians, not from here- have come to honour the memory of our brother John,
who was known to all of us as "Crazy John". Even the shop owners left
their shops closed in order to come to the church from early this morning, to participate
in the divine service, and not just to come for the trisaghion memorial service
- as many people erroneously are accustomed to doing...
Today, father
Vassily, we have gathered here to honour a saint, a humble man whom the Lord
had bounteously blessed with a holy spirit. A man just like us, who concealed
under the cloak of a fool all the virtues that Christ had offered him. John was a "Fool for Christ", who
cared for his fellow-man day and night, selflessly. He approached every person
with love. He supervised the neighborhood like a Bishop and a guardian of our
Orthodoxy and would bring back souls - with his supposed madness - to our
almost entirely forgotten nowadays Lord - Jesus Christ.
There are
many of us who are lucky, because we were blessed enough -albeit unworthily- to
meet and get to know a saint of God in our everyday lives. My words are too
poor to adequately describe the life of our brother John. In fact I regard
myself as unworthy, after having read the letter that I received the day after
his death, which had been sent by the deceased.
As he
mentioned in his letter, John had been advised of a miraculous event by the
Blessed Baptist a week before his passing away, that is, to prepare himself for
his exit from this world. As far as I knew, he was not suffering from any
sickness, nor had anyone suspected anything from his behaviour. On the
contrary, in the last days of his life he arranged to leave quite a significant
trust for our neighborhood. He made arrangements for all of us.
In his
letter, John gives advice and exhortations to each and every one of us by name,
personally, that we must be hooked on our Christ and to study the righteousness
of God. I will read you the letter in detail", said mister Anastasy, and
pulled out the letter from his coat pocket. However, he was overwhelmed by his
tears and was unable to say a word. Tears welled up in everyone else's eyes
also.
Father
Vassily then intervened, saying:
--"Dear
Christians. I have known the deceased for more than forty years. But, possibly
because of my sinfulness, I was not able to diagnose John's holiness. Listening
to mister Anastasy earlier, certain events came to mind, with Crazy John as the
central character. It is only now that I
am made aware of those events and can perceive them as miraculous acts.
I remember
how one Sunday morning at daybreak when I unlocked the temple I found Crazy
John kneeling in front of the icon of Christ.
--"How
did you get in, you fool?" I asked him.
--"Well,
dear father, yesterday evening during Vespers I completely lost track of time
and the sacristan locked me in."
--"And
what was the soliloquy you were muttering in front of Christ's icon?" I
asked him
--"I was
just singing a song father, to pass the time" he replied.
--"Just
be more careful, because next time I will call the police." I have to confess that I reprimanded him very
severely..."Dear God, forgive me..." father Vassily murmured. "I
am only just realizing why his face was shining like the sun.... And he went
and took his usual place next to the main entrance of the church like he always
did, and would sit and beg."
He begged for
alms, to give them to others...
There are poor
and unemployed who ask for help every day, but nobody can ever know what
diamonds and holy souls are hidden behind every beggar that we meet.
He then went
on to describe the incident with the money that he gathered from begging and
deposited inside the charity box, which we described earlier on. I have many
things to tell you, dear Christians, because I believe that the riddle has now
been solved, and for this, I must thank mister Anastasy. I will narrate on ly
one incident, and then I will let mister Anastasy take over.
"One
afternoon, Crazy John was standing in front of the icon of the Holy Mother. I
was in the office. I could hear him talking and I could hear -without seeing-
that he was conversing with a woman, I paid no attention. When I came out of
the office, I could see only Crazy John, and there was nobody else inside the
church. The sacristan was away on an errand. Crazy John approached me and,
after prostrating himself before me as he usually did, he said:
--'Father,
you should go to Mrs.Stamata after Vespers. She is waiting for you to give her
Holy Communion because her hours are numbered and she may not make it through
tonight."
--"And
how do you know this?" I asked him.
--"A
woman told me, a while ago", Crazy John replied.
--"And
why on earth didn't she come and inform
me?"
--"Well,
she must have thought I was the sacristan" he said, and departed
immediately afterwards.
I have a
clear view of the main entrance of the church from my office, and I didn't see
any woman entering. But even so, I didn't give it much thought...
After
Vespers, I went to Stamata's house. Her daughter was astounded when she saw me,
as she was planning to come and notify me the next day so that her mother can
receive Holy Communion, and not oblige me to go there in the night. I entered
Stamata's room and gave her Holy Communion. She thanked me, and held my hand
for a short while, then said to me, breathing with difficulty:
--"Father,
please look after my daughter and my grandchildren."
Her daughter
was divorced and she was raising her two children on her own. As I was leaving,
she asked me who had notified me. I replied that it was the woman whom she had
sent to church, who told Crazy John. She looked puzzled.
That evening,
two hours after receiving Holy Communion, a little before 10pm, Stamata
departed for the Lord. Next to her at that moment were her daughter, her two
grandchildren and Crazy John, who was reading Psalms from the Book of
Psalms. I was told this by the late
Stamata's daughter, who is here and can verify it.
Then Maria
(that was the name of the daughter of the deceased Stamata) sprang up suddenly
and said:
--"Tell
them father Vassily about the envelope with the money also, which I thought you
had left there and for which I had thanked you."
--"Yes"
said father Vassily, "Maria had indeed found an envelope on a chair in the
room, which contained 100.000 drachmas. She thought I had forgotten it there
and she came to give it back to me. But I had no idea about the envelope."
--"But
father, you and Crazy John were the only ones who came into our house. when I
asked Crazy John, he said that the Holy Mother had sent the money for the
funeral expenses, because you are poor."
"The
Holy Mother does that sort of thing" he used to say.
--"I
didn't take him too seriously and I was convinced that you had sent him and
were trying to hide the truth" said Maria.
--"No,
child, I would have told you", said father Vassily.....
Constantine,
who always used to sit in the last rows of the church, got up - with obvious
hesitation at first - and walked up to old Anastasy. As he walked to the
pulpit, he noticed that everyone was looking at him in a strange manner. He
could see a vague look of wonder in the eyes of the churchgoers, while he was
wondering why old Anastasy invited only him to stand by him, during the reading
of the letter.
Something
unusual was however prompting him, so, after a quick glance at his beloved
Katerina, he asked old Anastasy to say a few words in memory of Crazy John. Old
Anastasy intended that the letter be read first, then Constantine would have
been asked to speak. But father Vassily intervened, saying:
"Let the
boy speak first, Anastasy".
With his head
lowered, Constantine approached the microphone.
"I
regard and perceive myself as the worst miasma that has ever existed in
mankind. I furthermore know that you all confront me as a miasma of society, on
account of my prior sinful activity. You are absolutely right to do so. That is
how I deserve to be confronted by you, because with the life I led, I not only
harmed myself, but also those near me - that means you all - but also all those
that I caught in the meshes of iniquity. So, I am taking the opportunity that
mister Anastasy is giving me, to ask each one of you personally to forgive me.
I don't even deserve your forgiveness, because I have harmed you more than you
could ever imagine. I harmed our town, our district, our neighborhood. I harmed
friends and acquaintances of mine, and parents and relatives, because with my
lifestyle, I had brought the mire of debauchery into your everyday lives.
This downhill
slide that I had taken was ended once and for all by Crazy John. The prayers of
that fool released me from the clutches, not only of one demon, but of an
entire legion that had lodged inside me.
I was a
transvestite for almost ten years. I believed at the time that happiness could
be found in the ephemeral pleasure that bodily contact can arouse. I dressed
provocatively; I used to be furious with people. I confronted life as though it
were a vessel for pleasures, which I had to make sure I filled, on a daily
basis. I experienced the mire of Hell, more than a human mind could ever
imagine. That is why I used to regularly change my place of residence, since
society had rightly perceived me as an outcast. And that was essentially what I
was. I believed that quarrels, insults
and disappointments were the best kind of defence, in my literally vehement
obsession to pursue something that deviated from what was socially correct -
from the ideals and the values of the Gospel. At the time, I had looked upon my
illness as a human right, and was under the illusion that it was an outright
normal thing - a thing that nowadays, even top-level leaders tend to advertise
as a mere supposed "otherness".
So, there wasn't
a single police station in Athens that didn't know me. There wasn't a single
courtroom where I hadn't been a "customer" - either as an accused,
for having offended virtuous behaviour, or as a witness for the defence or for
the prosecution, in various, related cases. I was under the illusion that with
my overall immoral activity, I was serving a silent revolution in favour of the
acceptance of homosexuality. Hunted as I was, I arrived at your neighborhood
too, and presented myself to the kindly, poor old lady Chrysoula, to ask her to
let her one-room apartment to me. That
is where I saw Crazy John for the very first time; he had brought over some
bread to the almost destitute old woman.
Unlike most
other tenants, I wasn't asked too many things by old Chrysoula. She just
mentioned that the 30.000 drachmas she was asking for was the only income she
would have, to make ends meet; so she asked me to not delay my payments because
she had to pay for the bills, the building maintenance, as well as to buy her other
basic needs.
"Oh, my
dear child Constantine, God must have sent you! The apartment hasn't been
rented out for three months and I am living off the help I get from mister
Apostolis the baker and mister Pantelis the grocer here, who send me bread and
provisions with this fool here", she said, pointing to Crazy John.
"But I
never sent you any bread Chrysoula, as I wasn't aware of your situation"
Apostolis spontaneously remarked.
"Nor
have I ever sent you any provisions", Pantelis added.
"But
that's what Crazy John told me!!" old Chrysoula replied, totally at a
loss...
After this
small and "endearing" intervention, Constantine continued:
"Crazy
John always used to conceal his good deeds... He may have brought you food, my
dear Chrysoula, but to me, he brought God".
Constantine's
eyes became misty, and tears began to fall. Everyone was now becoming tearful,
along with him. He took a deep breath and continued:
"Three
days later, I moved into the apartment. Crazy John had helped me carry all my
things. And when the transporter purposely dropped an innuendo because of my
behaviour and the manner that I spoke, Crazy John stunned him, by pointing out
to him that, as a person who systematically lived adulterously and behaved
brutally towards his own two children, he had no right to make such remarks
about me. The transporter was shocked by these revealing words, and he
immediately stopped his sarcasm. I of course was under the impression that the
two of them were acquainted, but was taken aback when the transporter turned
towards Crazy John as he was leaving, and said:
"What
are you anyway? Some kind of charmed one?"
"Yes
George, I have been 'charmed' - by our Christ's love", the fool replied.
He even asked
the transporter to stop sorrowing Christ, because, in spite of his overall
behaviour, Christ had healed his daughter Theodora from a very serious ailment.
George then departed, with his head lowered..... He is the gentleman who is
sitting over there with his wife, and he can confirm the incident I just
described. I was impressed by that
dialogue, but at the time I had dismissed it as the ravings of a fool.
So, on the
evening of that same day, I dressed up in women's clothes as I normally did,
and I went to a familiar transvestite haunt, on the main highway. You can
imagine my surprise, when I spotted Crazy John watching me from the opposite
corner of the block. The thought crossed my mind that he was seeking erotic
companionship. But then, how did he find me?... The fool must have followed me
(I thought to myself), and now he would go and tell what he saw to old
Chrysoula... Oh well, I guess I will be searching for accommodation again... As
all these thoughts were running through my mind, a prospective
"customer" stopped in front of me. Just then, like a coiled spring,
the fool jumped up and started to yell from across the road:
"He's
got AIDS!! He's sick and he will pass it
on to you!! Go away!! Go away!!"
I was taken
by surprise by the erratic behaviour of a man whom I hardly knew. Naturally the
prospective customer left. Then I started to curse Crazy John... I became
hysterical...This went on for almost a month. Until this day, I will never know
how he managed to discover those illicit haunts. One evening I actually beat
him, and in fact quite severely.
But just
imagine my surprise, when, every night after I got home, I would find an
envelope containing almost double the money that I used to earn from my filthy
activities, and on it would be written: "A blessing, for the servant of
God, Constantine". I didn't know
what to make of all those weird things I was witnessing. In the afternoons, I
would go for a walk and whenever I'd see Crazy John, I would get angry. But he
would say
"My dear
Constantine, stop sorrowing Christ and our Holy Mother, Who are mourning
incessantly for you".
I had even
contemplated leaving the apartment, but something was holding me there. The
other transvestites would ask me:
"Hey,
could he by chance be in love with you, which is why he's acting so
weird?"
"No",
I'd reply, "he doesn't have any such intentions."
To make a
long story short, I decided to invite Crazy John to my place, to put an end to
all these things. I was hoping that someone had been putting him up to it
purposely, just to drive me insane. Crazy John responded to my invitation
affirmatively, despite having been humiliated by me so many times. I don't know
what came over me that evening, but I cleaned the house, cooked something
light, and sat down to do some reading. I was leafing through a magazine with
assorted material, and an article caught my attention, about a certain Elder
Porphyry who served in the chapel of a hospital in central Omonia square of
Athens.
I hadn't
finished reading the article, when I heard Crazy John knocking on my door. As
soon as I opened the door, he said:
"Be
blessed, my Constantine, in the present aeon and in the one to come".
It was the
first time that I had ever heard such a greeting, but it was also the first
time that I had ever heard a demonic voice speaking from inside me:
"Have
you come to my house here as well, you crazy old man, to drive me out? I'm not alone here - I have 365 other
friends! I don't intend to go away!
You'd better be the one to leave, otherwise I'll kill you!" Crazy John
then pulled out a Crucifix from his coat
and raised it in front of me, and began to say:
"In the
name of the Holy and Homoousion Trinity...." but I didn't hear anything
after that, because I lost consciousness...
When I
recovered, I saw the old fool standing there, smiling at me. I felt really
happy that he was there, but didn't know the reason I felt that way.
"I
brought you a gift, my Constantine. It is the Book of Psalms - a book that was
written by the king and Prophet, David."
"What's
going on? What happened?" I asked.
"My
Constantine, you have received an enormous blessing. Christ has chosen you. He
is preparing you for very important feats. However, you must be prepared to put
up a serious fight, because what you have inside you is not about to leave very
easily."
If you could
only have seen the way that Crazy John's face glowed, you would have understood
why I was so terrified. I had always thought that all the talk about demons was
sheer fiction. I believed that they were just an invention thought up by
priests and religion, intended to scare people and to extract easy money from
them, so that they would enjoy their own lives, get rich, etc.. And yet, there I was, a living witness of
their insidious activity against humans. Crazy John became a brother and a
friend from that day on. That very same night, I gathered all the women's
clothes and shoes and cosmetics that I had, and threw them into the garbage
can. The next day, I changed my phone number. With the help of that fool, I
even secured a job in the Accounts department of a large company. The owner of
the company was a friend of Crazy John; he actually hired me with a
satisfactory salary. At the same time, I would go with Crazy John - on an
almost daily basis - to a church high up on Hymettus Mountain, where the priest
would read the benedictions of Saint Basil (exorcisms) over me, while Crazy
John would read Psalms. I cannot describe what I went through. What I can now
shout out, thanks to this experience, is that homosexuality (and prostitution
in general) is not an "otherness" or an illness; it is a formidable
demon, which infuriates the Almighty. What I also want to tell you, is that our
holy Church possesses the weapons that are able to exterminate all those things
that our modern society nowadays believes (as I used to believe) to be "nonsense".
The prayers
of our neighborhood fool saved me. My acquaintance with him changed my entire
life. What I experienced over these last few years in this blessed neighborhood
constitute a true miracle of the Triadic and only true God. I escaped from the
clutches of a true Hell, and I am now living in a world that I had never lived
- not even in my wildest dreams.
With the
constant support of this saintly man - who was anything but a fool - I came to
understand my mistake; I realized various things and situations that comprise
the foundations of our society; I became familiar with the love of Christ. I
had been functioning like one who is addicted to a toxic substance; I couldn't
be told apart from a drug addict; I was living in a nightmare, which that wonderful
saint of God - Crazy John - put an end to.
But I don't
want to tire you any further with my story. After all, I am only recording my
entire story in detail, as old Anastasy asked me to. I also apologize to you all, and to the
innumerable victims that I had lured into the meshes of the iniquity that I was
trapped in. I apologize to my beloved Katerina, who has opened her embrace to
the most sinful person in the universe; who shut her ears to all the
unfavorable comments and the justified criticism, and has accepted my marriage
proposal to her. She has accepted to
live with a zero, with an outcast, a moron.
This holy man, Crazy John, had invested in this marriage with his
prayers and his tears.
Constantine's
last words were lost in his sobs. Also crying with him was Father Vassily, who
had run up to hug him, as did all the other churchgoers.
"Father
Vassily, I'm thinking of moving out of the neighborhood - not for me, but for
Katerina", Constantine murmured falteringly, with difficulty.
Father Vassily
then spoke up, and said:
"Dear
brethren, Constantine has just expressed the desire to leave our neighborhood.
What do you say? Are we going to leave the living testimony of a miracle by our
departed brother John - Constantine - but also our own Katerina, to
leave?"
"No!
No!" they all shouted.....
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