Elder John Shova, a well-known Romanian ecclesiastical writer and the author of much of the information we have on the other Elders of Kolitsou, Mount Athos, reposed on February 17/March 2 in the year 2009.

Elder John Shova, a well-known Romanian ecclesiastical writer and the author of much of the information we have on the other Elders of Kolitsou, Mount Athos, reposed on February 17/March 2 in the year 2009.

What follows is a fragment from an interview with Elder John Shova by Archimandrite Ioanichie Balan in 1984, and published in its entirety, along with another interview taken by Fr. Nicodemus Jones, in Fr. Nicodemus’s book “Rivers of Living Water: On the Holy Elders of Kolitsou, Mount Athos”.

Q: Father John, what persuaded you to study theology?

A: The desire of my soul was to know more profoundly the teachings of the Orthodox Faith and to understand God better. Indeed, the profound study of theology, of the Holy Scriptures and of the Patristic writings, is the Christian’s only true guide to the life in Christ. Without true Christian knowledge it is not possible to be strong and steadfast in faith.

Q: What persuaded you to enter the monastic life?

A: My love for God. I realized that mere knowledge, that is, the study of theology and reading, without good deeds, without living a life in Christ, does not save a soul but rather condemns it, according to the word of the Lord: For everyone to whom much is given, from him much will be required (Lk. 12:48) at the Judgment. I loved the monastic life from childhood, and I entered into monasticism out of love, at the prompting of my conscience.

Q: How did you feel in the community of Sihastria Monastery?

A: As in a true spiritual family. Sihastria is a good, beautiful monastery, with an excellent order of life that is renowned both in Romania and abroad. This is particularly due to its great spiritual fathers: Archimandrite Cleopas Ilie, Protosyngellos Joel Gheorghiu and Hieroschemamonk Paisius Olaru. These three spiritual fathers filled the monastery with new brothers, spiritually formed thousands of disciples, and created a genuine spirit of renewal within present-day monasticism in Moldavia.

Q: Why did you withdraw so long ago to Mt. Athos?

A: My soul has always loved stillness, silence and prayer. I thought that nothing would be more beneficial to me in my old age than to dedicate the rest of my life completely to prayer and to the love of Christ. I came to Athos out of love, in order to praise the God of love unceasingly, in accordance with my strength. Then I desired to help the spiritual renewal of the Romanian monastic settlements on the Holy Mountain of Athos. You know how they looked twenty-five to thirty years ago. The majority, with our Prodromou Skete in the lead, were abandoned, neglected and in ruins. The few monks were old, and there was no hope of adequate spiritual and material restoration. Our Athonite monastics and settlements needed help from our Romania herself.

Firstly, all had need of young monks with zeal for Christ, filled with courage and the spirit of self-sacrifice, in order to begin that double renewal—i.e., the spiritual and the material—of Romanian Athonite monasticism. The initiative that led to the coming of about fifteen Romanian monks to Athos between 1974 and 1980 was mine by the grace of God, and it was thanks to the Mother of God, the Protectress of the Holy Mountain, because she helped me and did not abandon me.

Our coming to Athos was a genuine act of sacrifice and courage. You know how much I endured, how many pains I took, how much I looked after every monk from our country who came to the Holy Mountain for good. Now we give God the praise for everything. Prodromou grew much under the abbacy of Fathers Hilarion and Petronius—the community was rejuvenated and the kellia were, for the most part, restored. Lacu Skete and its isolated kellia were the worst. We needed young disciples, because there were only two elderly monks there. But we had everything except young disciples at the time, and so very soon this kellion was also abandoned, just as has happened with many Romanian kellia on Mount Athos.

Q: How do you labor ascetically here on the Holy Mountain, and what spiritual joy do you have?

A: We pray day and night in total stillness and solitude. We do the rule [of all the Church services] as it is set forth in the Church, from Midnight until day, and on feasts we serve the Holy Liturgy, when more Greek and Romanian hesychasts gather from the surrounding area. Then Fathers Gamaliel [George in schema] Boboc and John Goutsou also come from nearby. At other times we go to them at night with our lanterns along the footpaths of the mountain. We take turns serving the Holy Liturgy, and so our life proceeds. At night we work in the Church, and during the day we work in the garden or in our cells while saying the Jesus Prayer. We also read the Psalter and all kinds of holy books, and we constantly contemplate the hour of death and eternal life. We eat once a day in the afternoon (mostly vegetables), we visit the sick monks who live nearby, and on the great feast days and patronal feast days we go to the churches of the monasteries which have that particular feast. A patronal feast is a true feast day on Mt. Athos. Hundreds of monks from the lavras and kellia take part. Then the best Athonite chanters are gathered and sing the vigil service the whole night through. In the morning the patronal feast is ended with a common meal for all. Behold, these are a few of our joys in Christ.

The customary asceticism of Athonite monks is made up of silence, solitude, nightly vigils, unceasing prayer, obedience, humility and the reading of holy books. Athonite monks have also another hidden asceticism of which only God knows. About this, however, we cannot speak.

Q: What spiritual counsel do you send to your monastic brothers in Romania?

A: May we not forget the monastic duties that we each promised before the holy altar, and may we all lead a pure, holy life—as holy as possible. Prayer and humility, obedience and compassion, self-restraint from all that is evil, and especially Christian love form the crown of all monastics. Monks must be torches, alight for all. Let them speak to the world about God first of all through their life and deeds. Then let them defend the right Faith and confess Christ and His Gospel through the word: through preaching, through counsel, and through good books. According to the gift we have each received, let us sanctify our life and praise God unto the ages.