Lord Jesus Christ, I want You to save all people.Elder Evmenios Saridakis

 

Elder Evmenios Saridakis: the holy friend of lepers(on May 23, 1999 )

St. Porphyrios of Kavsokalyvia used to say about Elder Evmenios: “ You should go and receive the blessing of Elder Evmenios, for he is the hidden Saint of our time. A saint like Elder Evmenios comes along only once every two hundred years ”.

The holy Elder’s secret life (= his personal ascetic struggles) is not widely known. However, the following prayer of his is of particular importance;

 Metropolitan Neophytus of Morphos, Cyprus, narrates the following story:

“A very important event from Elder Evmenios’ life that I recall, is a prayer that he had coined:

“Lord Jesus Christ, I want You to save all people”.

“And God was pleased”, he would tell me.

“And then I said: ‘Lord Jesus Christ, I want You to save all the Catholics.  And all the Protestants, my Christ, I want You to save them”. And God was pleased.

“I also want You to save the Moslems and all those who belong to all the religions; I want You to save even the atheists”. And God was very pleased.

And I told him: “My Christ, I want you to save all those who have fallen asleep, from the time of Adam until now”. And God was very pleased.

And I told him: ‘My God, I want you to save Judas also’. And finally I added: ‘I want you to save the devil also’. And God was saddened”.

I told him: “Why was God sad?”

“Because God wants to, but they don’t (want to be saved)”, he replied; “there is not a trace of good will for salvation in the devil”. 

“Hold on”, I told him, “how did you know when God was pleased and when He was sad?”

And he said to me: “If your heart becomes one with Christ’s heart, you feel what He feels”.

 

 in the excellent book by Monk Simon, Fr. Evmenios – The hidden saint of our time, Athens 2010, ed. 2