St Paraskevi and Elder Damaskinos

St Paraskevi and Elder Damaskinos

The elder felt the love the saints to make him like a warm stream, as he had confessed. And his reasons assure that the power of this current was high: "We have been dancing and celebrating the saints and the whole of the heavenly world. the saints with their love take our minds, for that matter...
By the time they communicate with us, they are in the light of god and are not obstructed by matter. Well, they are constantly watching us and, when we pray to them, they immediately visit us and they save us from many temptations and delight our minds.
"The saints, you see, rejoice and come to us and want us to rejoice with them, to be friends. We anticipate their visit, because they want it unimaginably. What separates the visible world from the invisible world?
"We will embrace the love of Christ and take the step!"

In the spring of 1988, the elder together with the sisters drove in the car to repair the dirt road which washed away from the rain.
On this occasion they would also cut grass for the cows of the monastery. Shortly before they arrived at St Paraskevi's shrine, in the field of Stambola, which was full of wildflowers, they saw a woman, veiled and dressed in dark clothes, walking slowly. It seemed like she was looking for something. Suddenly she lifted up her head and fixed her gaze on the elder, as if wanting to speak to him.
Everyone was very impressed by her bright and white face, as well as her big, almond-shaped eyes. So they wondered who the unknown woman was. But they passed her without speaking to her.
After about an hour, they encountered the same phenomenon at the same place.the sisters marveled and asked, "What a strange thing, father! What is keeping this woman here so long? She does not seem to gather flowers."
"So the saints appear," replied the elder with simplicity.
At the same time, the woman turned and looked again at the elder, however with much more emphasis this time.
But he, without stopping to drive, repeated the reason:
"So the saints appear suddenly!"
Then the sisters began to think whether the appearance was supernatural and were saddened not to stop to investigate this unusual presence.

After a few days, at the end of the Divine Liturgy of Saturday Sabbath, Sister Th. sees this strange woman, in the same attire, between the congregation and going towards the elder to the altar. She thought with joy: "You are not bypassing me now. I will ask you who you are. " And she rushed to prevent it. But when she was about to approach her, she vanished from her sight. She sought the woman inside and outside the Temple, but she had become obscure! It was certain that her presence was of divine nature. The elder confessed that her sight and gaze had left an impression on his soul,  a Divine joy and gave him the information that it was Saint Paraskevi. Nevertheless, for a long time, he avoided accepting the event as the appearance of the saint, fearing the fallacy. That's why he was trying to convince himself that it was a normal woman, who might have picked flowers. Besides, the elder did not embrace all the supernatural events as Divine. For a long time, therefore, he lost the spiritual sweetness he felt in remembrance of that meeting, thereby safeguarding himself. His soul did not rest with this negative attitude, and eventually - as he said - lost peace to prayer. Then he realized it was his fault not to accept the blessing of God. 
Later he asserted: "As I reflect the look of Saint Paraskevi, so I feel a river of Grace within me. I see that more fire of Divine Love is lit. If I left my mind to work on this issue of the appearance of the Holy One, I would have many openings! But I keep one - and I say: Who am I? Because there is always the danger of fallacy. "

Later, a spiritual child from Megara revealed to him: "I saw in my dream a nun, who said to me: To say to Damaskinos: 'Three times I came to see you. What else does he want?' 
"And who are you?" I asked her. 
"This is the one your elder has honored from his youth. I am Paraskevi."

 PUBLICAON OF HOLY MONASTERY OF SAINT IOANNOU PRODROMOU MAKRYNOU. MEGARA 2006.