The Holy Monastery of the Transfiguration of Christ (celebrated August 6th), though technically a dependency, was founded by St. Porphyrios of Kavsokalyvia in Milesi, Attica, geographically between Oropos and Malakassa in the northern suburbs of Athens.

From one’s first step as a pilgrim in the area, one encounters the sanctity of the place and the total silence. One is struck by the astonishing Holy Church and the beautiful green surroundings.

A multitude of people hasten to the holy Hesychasterion which honors the memory of the Venerable Porphyrios on December 2nd, the day of his repose, in order to partake in the grace of this Saintly Elder.

The building of the monastery began in 1981, and the building occurred in stages, with the Katholikon being founded in 1990, with permission of Archbishop Seraphim of Athens. The walls of the church were completed in the spring of 1992, a few months after the repose of St. Porphyrios. (1)

Upon arrival, we were blessed with the Supplication to the Saint, chanted by a small group of pilgrims, and personal memories with the Saint treasured and shared by their priest.

The Earthly and the Celestial Pilgrims— Part 1

The first fellow pilgrim to honour is certainly Archimandrite Mark Manolis of blessed memory. Father Mark is the spiritual father of both Father deacon N. and the local “guide/ “driver” M. who helped me throughout this pilgrimage to St Porphyrios. Many a times, all these hours together with both of them, I have wondered if such are Father Mark’s spiritual children, what a blessed spiritual father he must have been.

Upon arrival in Athens, at the airport, M. gave me a recent edition of her late spiritual father’s life, and ever since I started reading this book, on my flight back home, I was unable to put it down before reading it completely at one stretch!

The more I reflect and distil the blessings, the clearer it becomes to my mind how important it is to be under the obedience of and in close interaction with a true spiritual father. Also: how crucial is to discover and become a member in a spiritual family, cultivate the fellowship in a sisterhood/ brotherhood/ parish for our spiritual growth.

“For none of us lives for ourselves alone, and none of us dies for ourselves alone.” Romans, 14:7

One of the many testimonies about the late Hieromonk Markos Manolis at St. George parish church, in Dionysos, Attica (at the foot of Penteli Mountain, near Athens) is the following:

“I met hieromonk at the age of 23. The heights of his ascetics and self-sacrifice were unparalleled. He never slept and was always there for his spiritual children. A great many of his spiritual children had seen him walking above the ground during the Holy Liturgy. When he first saw me, he called me by my first name. I had never known him before. How come he knew my name?

His great humility and abstention from sleep and unceasing prayers had opened his spiritual eyes and he was endowed with the gift of foresight. He was one of the most militant adversaries of ecumenism, spiritual leader of the “Orthodox Press” newspaper, but above all a true spiritual father and leader of many spiritual brothers and sisters in Christ in villages, towns, hospitals, jails around Athens and in Athens itself.

Hieromonk Markos Manolis possessed the power of foresight which had been validated on multiple occasions . Personally speaking, he had foretold my future encounter with my husband two years before his departure from this world.” (2)

To be continued…

(1) Full of Grace and Truth

(2) In the Footsteps of Jesus, Sophia Kioroglou