Father Iliodor (Gairiyants) of Optina, the “Greek“On October 26, the Our righteous Father Archdeacon Iliodor (Gariyants) of Optina, the “Greek“, reposed in the Lord on 2020.

 

We’re parting, but not saying goodbye

From his youth, Father Iliodor was a virtuoso piano player. In the worldly world, he even had his own musical group and wrote poetry and music. Before entering the monastery, he burned a large pile of his compositions.

– Father, why did you do this? We could learn your songs now.

– Why?

Nevertheless, when visiting his spiritual children, Father Iliodor often played music. His favorite love song was “A Million Scarlet Roses.” “Who among you is ready to do such a thing for the sake of a loved one, huh?” he would ask.

I’ll help everyone in one fell swoop

When my godfather was hospitalized, we were confident he would definitely recover. His condition became serious, but we continued to hope he would recover.

On Sunday evening, October 25th, like a bolt from the blue, news came from the doctors: the only hope was a miracle, his condition was critical. The feast of the Iveron Icon of the Mother of God was approaching. The words from the Akathist hymn came to mind: “Rejoice, blessed Gatekeeper, who opens the gates of paradise to the faithful.” We understood everything, but we didn’t want to let our godfather go. We practically cried out to the Mother of God: “No, Queen of Heaven! We need a priest here!”

On the night between Sunday and Monday, we were driving along the night road to Kaluga. I was driving and asking my husband to continue praying for his father. He was reading the Psalter and seemed to hear a familiar voice in his soul: “Volodenka, don’t! It’s all over… The Lord showed me that while I’m here, I won’t be able to help everyone at once, but if I’m there, I’ll help everyone in one fell swoop, you understand?”

Here on earth, we were happy with our godfather, and now we believe that in him we have found a heavenly patron for our family.

Elena Galkina

Source: Monastic Bulletin, No. 1 (49) 2022. Pp. 40–49.

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Hierodeacon Iliodor

A story about disobedience

Once we were on Mt. Athos, at the Skete of the Panagia. The skete is a small building: Inside there is a hall with a fireplace that can be kindled to get dry and spend the night in warmth, and part of the building is a small chapel. Pilgrims usually spend the night in the skete, and in the morning, having rested, make the last dash to the Church of the Transfiguration on the summit of Mt. Athos. They also stop for a bit in the skete before going back down.

And we took a break before our descent; we ate, we drank coffee, and we felt good; we were happy. I said: “Now, let’s read the Akathist to the Mother of God, as usual, and then we’ll head down.”

But our secular companions said: “No, we don’t have time to read the Akathist here; we’re in a hurry! We need to get down the mountain faster!”

I gave in to their entreaties, and we all started to go down together.

There is no vegetation on the mountain there, the rocks are slippery under your feet, it’s easy to fall and it’s easy to hurt yourself, rolling down the mountain. And just as we began our descent, thunder cracked and a storm began. And instead of an Akathist in the chapel, we went down the mountain in the rain. We went down to the cross at the fork, where people usually make another stop, dirty, wet, and we stood, looking at each other. Well, we were in a hurry…

We started reading the Akathist to the Mother of God at the cross…

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