Elder
Parthenios came from a noble line of Russian tsars and at age eighteen became a
monk in the kellia of St. Nicholas “Bourazeri”. He labored in obedience,
humility, and contrition of thought as the coenobitic life teaches, but
nevertheless his thirst for perfect hesychia made him leave his kellia for
Karoulia, where he showed self denial and love for all the hesychastic fathers
there, whom he viewed as holy angels of God in the flesh. In general, he helped
everyone, but he never allowed anyone into his own cell, in order to hide the
fact that he slept on the floor of the cave and never on a bed.
His
outward appearance was Biblical, and it was enough to look at his face to guess
his noble origins. His hands never parted with his prayer rope, nor his lips
with prayer. When people saw him they experienced fear mixed with admiration.
He inspired respect from everyone, and everyone loved him. Nevertheless, due to
his many podvigs he did not live very long. God called him to the heavenly
chambers so that he might ever rejoice there with the eternal God, Father, Son,
and Holy Spirit.
Elder
Zosima, the basket weaver
Another
monk worthy of remembrance and filled to overflowing with virtues was Elder
Zosima, a former officer of high rank in the Russian army, who after the fall
of the tsarist regime visited the Monastery of St. Panteliemon and then the
Skete of St. Andrew, called also “Serai”, and the Skete of the Prophet Elias
(sketes that were built and inhabited by Russian monks), but he did not remain
in any of them; his soul found rest on the steep cliffs and slopes of Karoulia.
So
that he would not be a burden on anyone, he learned to weave baskets. This was
his handiwork, which brought him his daily bread. Prayer was always on his
lips, as for all monks, and the remembrance of death was always before his
eyes—especially after everything he had seen and experienced during the years
of revolution and war in his native land. He was beloved by all, and the
All-Good God took him in deep old age to the Kingdom of Heaven.
Stamatos
the Robber
This
robber committed innumerable robberies in the area around the Chalkidiki
peninsula, until, as legend tells, he came to even rob monks on Holy Mount
Athos itself.
One
day, he decided along with two youths to rob one of the kellias located a long
distance from Karyes and standing on its own apart from the other kellias. This
very old kellia belongs to the Monastery of the Pantocrator, and it has a
church dedicated to St. George Phaneromenos. As Fr. Joachim, my elder, told
me—and this was confirmed by the fathers of the Daniel brotherhood who also
heard about it from their elders, and they, from their great grandfather, Elder
Daniel the First—that robber set out to rob this kellia, which was considered
one of the wealthiest kellias in Karyes.
As is
known, during the years of Turkish enslavement all the mountains of our country
were teeming with thieves and of robber bands. These robbers were watching in
ambush and found out that in this kellia lived two helpless old men, with lots
of money. The robbers did not think long about it. At midnight they set out for
the kellia and knocked at the gates. They heard a voice asking who it was and
what they wanted at such an hour. The robbers did not answer and continued to
bang on the gates. At one moment their leader, Stamatos, shouted in an
imperious tone:
“Open
the gates! We are pilgrims, seeking a place to stay for the night!”
A
young man opened the gates and asked what brought them to the kellia. Not
hiding their weapons, they told him that they needed to talk to the abbot. Just
the same, they were surprised to see a youth in the kellia, since they knew
that only two old men lived there. He led them to the guesthouse, the “archondariki”,
and said, “Wait here while I call the abbot.
St.
George works a miracle
The
robbers sat down and waited for the abbot. An hour passed, then two, but
neither the abbot nor anyone else appeared; total quietude and silence reigned
throughout the house. Then the robbers lost their patience and wanted to get up
and start plundering as they had decided to do from the start, to take
everything of value from the money to the silver oil lamps—whatever they could
find. So they tried to stand up, but they couldn’t move to the right or to the
left, and they couldn’t move their arms or legs. They were unable to move from
the spot, as if they were chained to it in manacles.
Then
the armed robbers started shouted and asking for help from the weak and infirm
old men. Hearing the shouts, the old monks jumped up frightened from their
sleep and ran to the place where the noise was coming from, and what did they
see? The robbers, who although they were not bound by anything could not make
the slightest movement. The elders asked them:
“Who
are you? What do you seek here? Why did you come, and how did you get into our
home? Who opened the gates to you and let you in?”
The
robbers at first cursed and threatened:
“We’ll
cut your throats like goats! You’ve bewitched us and petrified us here! Let us
go if you want to stay alive! Why did you bind us? We are good people, we have
not come to do you any harm.”
Finally
understanding that they had less strength than those old men and could do
nothing, the robbers broke into tears and started begging that the monks unbind
them. The monks asked them in gentle and calm voices:
“Brothers,
how did you get into our home? Who let you in, and what do you want from us?”
The
robbers in tears told them about the evils that had come upon their heads:
Understanding
that a miracle had happened, the elders ran to the church, took the icon of
holy Great Martyr George, and showed it to the robbers. When the latter saw the
icon they were frightened, and in one voice shouted:
“Yes,
that’s the man who let us in!”
And
right then and there, after they repented, they jumped up from their place,
fell down and bowed before the icon of St. George, exclaiming joyfully:
“He
appeared to us, and now he’s freed us from those invisible bonds!”
They
brought forth repentance for their evil deeds and gave many gifts to that
kellia, including an icon of St. George, which has ever since been called “St.
George Phaneromenos”, meaning, “The appeared”.
After
this great miracle the robber, as the Daniel brotherhood assured us, repented,
quit all of his robbing and left for Karoulia. There he built a tiny kaliva
with a little church dedicated to St. George, and became a monk with the name
Stamatos.
They
say that he was the first to settle in Karoulia. In this desert he found peace
and rest for his soul, spending the rest of his life in sincere repentance and
contrition of heart, confessing his sins every day. He made such progress in
the spiritual life that a monk of the Lavra, later Metropolitan of Karitsa and
professor of Athens University Eulogios (Kourilas), as Elder Daniel of
Kantounakia writes, found in the documents of the monastery of the Great Lavra
that “Elder Stamatos, the former robber, was a holy monk and was vouchsafed a
venerable end.”
From
the book, Monk Andrew the Hagiorite. Patericon of the Holy Mountain (Monahul
Andrei Aghioritul. Patericul Sfântului Munte. Editura Sophia, 2013. Р.
205–218).
Monk
Andrew the Hagiorite
Translation
from the Russian version by Nun Cornelia (Rees)
Sfantul
Munte Athos
1/24/2020
Δεν υπάρχουν σχόλια:
Δημοσίευση σχολίου