Biography of Gerontissa Taxiarchia + April 30, 1938 - August 3, 1994 +

Biography of Gerontissa Taxiarchia

+ April 30, 1938 - August 3, 1994 +

A Saint who lived among us

By the Nativity of the Theotokos Monastery

Who was this Saint of God who came to us for a brief moment in time and left so many of us with a longing to recapture the traces of her Christ-like love. Kind, compassionate, loving, humble, clairvoyant, sacrificial, an icon of Panagia (Mother of God) - virtues attributed to her by those who knew her. Most of us in this country knew her for only a short period of five years. Yet the strength of her spirit has left a deep impression on the lives that she touched while she lived, and has affected many people of all ages since her repose.

She was born Aphrodite Doukas on April 30, 1938, in the village of Drakia, Pilio, Greece where they say the mountains remain covered by clouds. Quaint, cobbled-stone streets with buildings dating back to 1655, tell a story of a people who knew how to sacrifice themselves for their faith, for their neighbor. The people of Drakia helped organize the uprising against the Ottoman occupation and suffered greatly under the Nazi tyranny, experiencing martyrdom through the massacre of over 100 of their men and young boys. It was in this milieu that Aphrodite Doukas’s roots were established. Her parents, now deceased, Ioanna and Constantinos were a part of the history of this village. When she was 5 years old, her father was executed by the Communist rebels in the post-WWII Greek insurgence. Her mother was left with Aphrodite and her 3 siblings, Antonios, Chrisanthoula (now reposed) and Stephanos. In Greece, when the father dies, the children are considered orphans. Following their father’s death, the family fell into poverty.

Suffering and pain became a part of Aphrodite’s childhood. At the age of 12, she contracted rheumatic fever which curtailed the normal activities of a young girl and left her with a heart condition that would thereafter affect her health. She was sent alone to the Hospital of Evangelismo in Athens to undergo diagnostic testing for her heart. She cried night and day for her mother and yet when her mother came to see her, Aphrodite courageously feigned happiness that she was given this medical opportunity. These trials and afflictions strengthened, shaped and prepared her for the future role she would play for the Glory of God. 

Her health necessitated that she live a more contemplative life, and nurtured in her faith by her mother, young Aphrodite grew very close to the Church and within her flourished a profound love for our Most Holy Theotokos. Panagia became the model of her life, the fount of her faith.

She eventually came to America for valve replacement surgery and when she returned to Greece, she promised Panagia that if she became well, she would serve Her in a monastery for six months. Young Aphrodite became well and fulfilled her promise to Panagia. In 1971, at the age of 33, she entered the Monastery of Panagia Odigitria (Holy Virgin Directress) in the village of Portaria, on the top of a mountain overlooking the seaside town of Volos. The beautiful Monastery is surrounded by picturesque, panoramic vistas of oak and pine trees, flower gardens, waterfalls and streams. 

The six months came and went, and Aphrodite never went back to Drakia. In the Monastery, she placed herself under obedience to Gerontissa Makrina, renowned throughout the Orthodox world as a spiritual giant of our time. Gerontissa Makrina was the epitome of humility, considering herself the least of all the sisters in her synodia (sisterhood). Thousands of men and women, bishops, heiromonks, gerontas and gerontissas of other monasteries, monks, and nuns from all over Greece flocked to Portaria seeking the spiritual counsel of Gerontissa Makrina. Under Gerontissa Makrina’s tutelage, Aphrodite learned the precepts of the monastic life; the foundation of which is obedience; she learned the prayer of the heart, “Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me”. During her six-month stay at the monastery, she asked Gerontissa Makrina, what is this sweet honey-like taste in my mouth that I constantly experience, and Gerontissa Makrina responded that it was the fruits of the Jesus prayer, the prayer of the heart. On August 28, 1972, she was tonsured a Great Schema and given the name Taxiarchia. 

Only one year had passed since she had entered the Monastery but she had attained such great spiritual heights that she was elevated to the highest level of monasticism, the Great Schema a very rare occurrence that was not experienced by the other Sisters. In the Monastery, not only was she perfected in Christ-like love, obedience, and humility through the teachings of her Holy Geronta Ephraim and her Holy Gerontissa, but she was also surrounded by a supportive, warm and loving sisterhood.

In 1989, Sister Taxiarchia was called by her spiritual father, Geronta Ephraim to make a supreme sacrifice. She was asked to leave her beloved Gerontissa, and Sisters; to leave her home, her beautiful monastery and come to the United States to answer Christ’s call to serve Him in a very different way. She came with one other Sister to Pittsburgh to meet Bishop Maximos who together with Geronta Ephraim had the vision, unbeknownst to her, to plant the seed of Greek Orthodox monasticism in America. The two Sisters were taken to Saxonburg, to a very rural and alien environment, to a small unkempt farmhouse, in stark contrast from the Byzantine monastery that she left behind.



And there it all began. Visitors started coming to see for themselves the first monastic presence from Greece in this country. Eventually, the reasons why they came changed; many priests and people were drawn because they heard of the quiet, humble and discerning nun, and sought her out for her spiritual counsel. They experienced an authentic and unconditional love, the kind of love that Christ imbued when He came into the world. Almost every word from her mouth was a blessing upon others. One of the early visitors observed “The calm, measured way in which she responded, in such humility, and so in communion with “the other world”, and how she spoke so carefully to the person in front of her, was truly notable.”

A synodia of two became three and on July 20, 1991, Sister Taxiarchia was enthroned Gerontissa Taxiarchia, the first Igoumeni (Abbess) of the Nativity of the Theotokos Greek Orthodox Monastery. During her installation speech she remarked, “It appears that God wants to show his strength in giving this responsibility to one as weak as I.” Such was her humility as it took tremendous strength and courage to overcome the cultural and language barriers, the longing for what she left behind, and to transcend it all in order to execute her perfect obedience to her spiritual father and to the Bishop’s vision.

In 1991, a building was constructed with a chapel and the synodia gradually became ten. It was a fledgling sisterhood comprised of women born in the United States. There was no sister monastery in this country to serve as a model. The monastic way of life, its rules, its orderliness; the behavior of a monastic; and the way to read and chant Byzantine music were all foreign elements to the Sisters. Gerontissa Taxiarchia, with infinite patience, with a spirit of self-sacrifice, and a maternal, all-encompassing love, began her obedience of shaping the souls under her charge.

She taught by example: be gentle, pray unceasingly, bow your head in a spirit of humble- mindedness, and mirror Christ’s self-sacrifice in order to earn His love and your salvation. As she taught her Sisterhood, she also taught the priests, the children, the mothers, the elderly – all those who came to her in need, in pain, in sorrow, seeking advice. Throughout her short tenure as Gerontissa of the Monastery, there were many witnesses of the grace she was given by God to heal as well as the gift of discernment.

God’s grace to heal...

One visitor witnessed the miracle of healing in an elderly man whose left arm and hand were severely misshapen and atrophied. He told Gerontissa about the pain in his arm and how difficult it was to work. She crossed his arm and hand three times, while praying inaudibly. She took a 33 knot prayer rope out of her pocket and put it on the man’s wrist. Then she told him to go back to the hotel and pray the Jesus prayer using the prayer rope. He rested and when he returned for Vespers and Compline, he came with great rejoicing. His arm that had been paralyzed for years was completely healed. He thanked Gerontissa profusely, but she told him that it was the Lord’s mercy that had healed him and not anything that she had done.

God’s gift of spiritual clairvoyance...

One summer, a visitor to the monastery related the following: “My family was visiting the monastery....we sat outside the little house and chatted with Gerontissa. In a bit, a neighbor lady and her blond-haired, blue-eyed daughter stopped by. The little girl and our daughter were playing and trying to communicate as much as toddlers are able to. At one point, Gerontissa Taxiarchia turned to us and said, in Greek, ‘the little girl’s eyes don’t have light,’ meaning Gerontissa could see the light of baptism in our daughter’s eyes but not in the eyes of the neighbor’s unbaptized child.”

In another instance, a married couple from the South attempted for over five years to conceive and could not. They came to see Gerontissa Taxiarchia and she counseled them not to worry and foretold that in a year’s time they would return to show her their baby. The following year, the couple returned to show Gerontissa their baby girl.

Lastly, when she was nearing the time of her leave-taking, Gerontissa Taxiarchia intensified the counseling and teachings she imparted to the former Sister Theophano, knowing that she would be her successor one day. She said to her: “The measure you know and live by, don’t expect the younger generation to uphold....be generous, forgiving, and understanding of them....”

Her time with all those who knew and loved her ended far too soon. She had suffered many afflictions, battled breast cancer, and a failing heart. Gerontissa Taxiarchia reposed in the Lord on August 3, 1994, at the age of 56. She was buried at the Nativity of the Theotokos Monastery on August 6, the Feast Day of the Transfiguration of our Lord.