Category Archives: Life Events/Life and Death

Attachments of the Heart

A sister in Christ forwarded this article to me when the situation with our seriously ill spiritual father began exploding and imploding our lives, to help me free my heart from every attachment, even to my spiritual father! Indeed, “The Lord tears us away from what the heart becomes attached, even the spiritual. The heart must be attached only to the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. Only this is worthy and meet—all else is a mixture of the lofty and the human, the passions, and tender feelings—not divine, but human, emotional. Therefore, the Lord changes situations in life…” 31 years of prayers–only five years of happiness!

“Happy is the man who has a place on the earth that he loves more than anything, a place where his heart lies. A place, a land, that as the ancient tales say, gives him strength. And for me, this place on the earth is the Pskov Caves Monastery. It’s the most beautiful, most beloved place, and can never be replaced in my heart. Although I grew up in Moscow, and have been to many places in Russia, to many other countries, there is no more beautiful, warmer, closer place than the Pskov Caves Monastery.

I thank God with all my heart that thirty-one years after I had to leave for Moscow on obedience, He heard my prayers. Thirty-one years went by, and I returned here. How could I ever have imagined that I, first a pilgrim and then a novice in the cow barn, would return to the Pskov Caves Monastery, which was wholly then and still is for me a sacred place, from every stone to every person, and though sinful and unworthy, become its abbot. But this happiness did not last long (smiles)—only five years. The Lord tears us away from what the heart becomes attached, even the spiritual. The heart must be attached only to the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. Only this is worthy and meet—all else is a mixture of the lofty and the human, the passions, and tender feelings—not divine, but human, emotional. Therefore, the Lord changes situations in life—sometimes inside the monastery, and sometimes outside of it.“

THE MOST BEAUTIFUL PLACE ON EARTH… Metropolitan Tikhon’s farewell sermon to the brothers and parishioners of the Pskov-Caves Monastery

Survivor of the Deadly Train Collision in Tempi and Saint Luke of Simferopol


The 20-year-old student studying commercial engineering, Michalis Klapsis from Leipsoi, speaking on T. Stefanidou’s “T-Live” show today, attributed to Saint Luke of Simferopol the Physician and to his icon of him that he always has with him his salvation in the carnage in Tempi, but also that he was found worthy to help and save his fellow human beings, among them a baby. 
 
“Everything I did I did thanks to him,” he declared “… the strength I got to do all this, I believe my patron Saint Luke the Physician gave me because I always carry his icon with me.”

More at www.mystagogyresourcecenter.com/2023/03/survivor-of-deadly-train-collision-in.html

Caption: 57 Tickets to Death

Nea Moudania High School

One of the many protests

Christ is Risen! + Kyprianos

+ Christ is Risen!

Memory Eternal!

Kyprianos +  28/02/2023

Kyprianos Papaioannou, one of the 57 victims, mostly young people, of an appalling train crash in Greece

A chanter and a poet

A priest’s son, one of Fr. Christodoulos’ 6 children from Cyprus, and a priest’s grandson

He was on his way back from a monastery retreat in Andros, after he kept there a three days’ complete fast («Τριήμερο» ie. He abstained completely from any food and water for three days) for the beginning of Great Lent, received Holy Communion, blessed his wedding wreath at the icon of Saint Marina since he was planning to get married soon and left …

Kyprianos wed our Bridegroom, Christ.

Our brother in Christ and now our “ambassador”, interceding for us to Christ, Our Lord

Words cannot communicate our gladdening sorrow! The Mystery of Death! We now better understand our Gerondas’ words to always be ready …

Kyprianos’ grandfather, a priest too, knew his fiancée Christina since a very young child, since she was going to Confession to him. Upon learning the news of the engagement, he was filled with joy in the beginning, but later confessed to his grandson that he saw a strange dream where the sacrament of the marriage was taking place between Christina and Kyprianos, but when the time came to exchange the wedding wreaths between these two, only Christina was there but Kyprianos was gone! The whole family were perplexed at this strange dream! What were they to make out of it? Kyprianos’ grandfather told him that the meaning of the dream in his opinion was that there will be no marriage! He was right! They had been warned by God!

Butterfly

(Kyprianos’ recent diary notes)

Man should be like a butterfly,

Picking only the necessary

From this world’s goods.

Food – for example –

One ought to eat

Only what is necessary

Love –

As is proper,

As offered by God

If any abuse occurs,

Our little life,

Given by our Lord,

Shrivels…

Withering jasmines…

Our garden’s sweetness’

Roses and lilies

Delight we miss…

Kyprianos chanting to the Theotokos:

O Most Holy Theotokos

How much do I love Thee!

Grant my wish to chant thy hymns

Until my hour of death

And stand by Thee then!

Now, chanting with the Angels!

*
His priest father’s words:

“It is very difficult for a parent to lose a child that he has helped grow hour by hour, day by day. This has always been the worst nightmare of my life since I have 6 children. And now I am called to experience this. I cannot, though, hold any grudge against anyone. … We are all human and we may all make errors. Let us forgive them. This is my consolation. This is how I am helping myself and Kyprianos’ soul. Nobody, nothing can comfort you, no drugs, no psychologist. So, I will forgive all those who are responsible for this so that my soul and my son’s soul are comforted. When I for a moment got upset with the shortcomings and errors, I felt inside my heart that I am betraying Kyprianos. If I held any grudge against my son and he left like this, suddenly, I could never find peace. “A blessed Ressurection. Christ is Risen!” This is what I would say to him. Kyprianos was always very careful with his conscience. He never held any grudges. He has always been like this. Since a baby. A very good child.”

Here, you can watch his father and family in Cyprus: https://www.megatv.com/2023/03/05/tempi-to-megaleio-psyxis-enos-patera-thymatos-tha-sygxoro-tous-aitious-gia-na-parigorithei-i-psyxi-mou/

An update from Kyprianos’ family:

“On Sunday night at 20:00, a vigil will take place where the Psalter will be read. Then, a PresSanctified Holy Liturgy will take place, and those of the faithful who are ready, let them commune the Holy Sacraments on behalf of Kyprianos and all those who died that sudden, violent death. On Monday, 10 am,the Funeral Service will take place at the Holy Churc of the Apostles Peter and Paul, in Avgorou. The request of the family of the departed one is that all who will accompany the funeral procession should be dressed in white. All dressed in white, in the Heavenly Liturgy, revealing Christ’s Light of Truth. Please offer memorials, instead of funeral wreaths, for the completion of the church restoration, In Memory of the soul of Kyprianos”

Kyprianos’ classmates goodbye:

https://www.offsite.com.cy/eidiseis/topika/gia-poy-bales-kardia-moy-sygkinitiko-antio-ston-kypriano?amp

PS. Christ is Risen! So many families here have ‘lost’ loved ones! So young most of them! May our Lord grant them a rich entrance into His Kingdom and may our Theotokos comfort the hearts of their close ones so they do not blaspheme His most Holy Name! Only yesterday another friend of mine texted me that they are to attend the funeral of their beloved cousin and they only have his leg to bury… 🙏

The Back Seat

We are all born with a set of keys in our hands…
And it is up to us to decide what to do with these keys. It is up to us to decide who will do the driving.

I have watched people grab the wheel of their life. Struggle to keep the car on the track. Get stressed with the route, with the destination, with the angles, the curves, and the hills. Get stressed with the fuel, get confused with the maps. I have watched them get angry with their fellow passengers, fall ill from trying so hard and get lost amidst so much care and such stress.

But I have also met others. Humble people. People who sit in the back seat. People who, day by day, try to do their best but do not worry. Day by day, they do their best, and then, they let go… They sit in the back seat and let God be God. Let God do the drive…

I will tell you the truth.
I envy these humble people and want to become one of them…

By Eleutherios Eleutheriadis

I am well …

 

Glory to God for all things!

Dear brothers and sisters,

Christ is in our midst!

There has been some concern about the poor little hermit as you have not heard from me since August and the website could not be reached. At the end of my last blog post, I wrote “Dear friends in Christ, I fear that this will be my last blog post for quite some time, as I am about to retreat for God knows how long. ” Little did I know then … That retreat was only the beginning of weeks of monastic “soaking”… God is in charge and may His Name be blessed. I feel like a “pupa” … How long will “this” last? How many weeks, months away from the blog and “civilisation” in general? Please pray for me as I am trying to learn how one can pray for all mankind.

In Christ

PS. I am not back. I am still there …

Memorial Service for the Fall of Constantinople

Constantine_XI_Palaiologos

Constantine XI Palaiologos (Gr: Κωνσταντίνος ΙΑ’ Δραγάσης Παλαιολόγος, also Dragases ), was the last reigning emperor of the Palaiologos Dynasty as well as the last of the Roman Emperors. Born in 1404 AD in Mystras, he ruled from 1449 until his death on May 29, 1453, at the Fall of Constantinople.

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The Feast by the Sunday School at Perivolaki

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Constantine was the son of Emperor Manuel II. He was trained as a soldier and in 1441 conquered the Morea Peninsula of Greece. It had long been under the Frankish principality of ‘Achaia’ Constantine was crowned Emperor January 6, 1449 AD succeeding his brother. A little less than five years later in 1453 AD he was killed during the final assaults by the Turkish Sultan, Mehmed II on Constantinople. Constantine, with some 8,000 Greeks, Venetians, and Genoese, had faced 150,000 Turkish besiegers under the Sultan, and after almost two months of heroic defense, directed by the emperor, the city and the empire fell. Constantine died fighting with the last of his men. Going back to Augustus and the ancient Roman Empire, he was the 138th and last Roman Emperor.

Orthodox in general do not consider Constantine XI a saint, though there are some who incorrectly, personally consider him so because of their love of the Byzantine (Roman) Empire. However, the last Emperor has never been recognized as a Saint due to his heretical beliefs and his compromising of the Faith in order to gain material aid from Latin lands. When the Empire was in need, he sought Latin military aid by reaffirming the heretical statements of the Council of Florence. And it is said that he defiled the Church of Agia Sophia the day/night before the Fall with a blended Divine Liturgy and Latin mass. In attempting to preserve an earthly Empire, he lost a Heavenly Kingdom. In contrast, there is Tzar Lazar of Serbia, who gave up an earthly Kingdom for the Heavenly. The Faith is always more important than earthly possessions. May our Compassionate Lord forgive him and all his transgresions. (Orthodoxwiki)

St. Ipomoni, Born as Helena Dragaš. Before becoming a nun and assuming the name Ipomoni, Helena was the mother of Constantine XI Palaiologos. She lived a monastic life for over 25 years, after entering into the habit after the death of her husband. She died 1450AD and is commemorated by the church May 29. The relics of her skull and her icon are found at the Monastery of St. Patapios, Loutraki of Korinthos, Greece.

agia ypomoniupomoni2

The Coronavirus Diary of a Joyous Pustinik — 37

mount athos

Touching Heaven! 

Christ is Risen!

I’m back!

I have all my data and files retrieved and installed on my new laptop. So once more I am able to inflict my poems on you. My “tech savvy” trusted helper patiently guided me through the installation, asking nothing in return. Such love and kindness inculcates a bond of respect.

However, I am going to miss my old keyboard, my new laptop is so sensitive to the touch! Things are different and yet the same- the same files but a new approach, a new style, a new image.

Quite recently, I met a former pupil in the city centre whom I had taught at school. He said:

“Hello sir!”  I haven’t been referred to as sir for some time! I searched my memory for a name, I hardly recognised him, not simply because of his physical maturity but because he had grown in confidence from the rather shy student I began to remember. He had changed and yet he was the same- his voice deeper but with the same inflection, accent and tone. When he began to speak, I knew who he was. What a joy it was to see him and to hear his news.

In the appearances of our Lord after his resurrection, his disciples do not always recognise him. The nature of His glorious resurrected body was so different and yet the same. His resurrected body contain the wounds of the crucifixion and yet it was transformed. His voice, His words, His actions reveal his identity.

2 Corinthians 3:18

But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.

 

Touching Heaven

John 21:4 “Jesus stood on the shore; yet the disciples did not know that it was Jesus.”

 

The young monk stood upright head bowed in prayer.

Barefoot, he perched on rocks breathing the fresh spring air

The blue, tranquil lake lapped at his feet.

His eyes closed in mystery towards the setting sun,

Hands held aloft in reverence for the Holy One

Harmony of God and nature’s seat.

His leather holy belt hung at his waist

A sign of his ascetic labour and a taste

Of blessed Communion, Oh so sweet.

The stillness mirrored in his soul

Deep thoughts of Christ to make him whole

His heart in tandem with creation’s beat.

Here where sea and sky converge

This figure and Christ’s image merge

Earth touches heaven and for an instant meet!

To the Glory of God

 

“That is what the torment of hell is in my opinion: remorse. But love inebriates the souls of the sons and daughters of heaven by its delectability.”

St. Isaac the Syrian

Quick, While There’s Still Time!

 

I too meant to share with you but I am having problems with my laptop 😦 I tried to yesterday but was not able to … It is such a beautiful documentary! Even if someone is not so interested in the life of Elder Joseph the Hesychast, the scenery is breathtaking, the monastery “sightseeing tours”amazing,  and Jonathan Jackson’s acting is so good!

Update Saturday, 23 May: Actucally, there is time. You can watch the whole documentary on the great 20th-century Athonite spiritual father “Saint Joseph the Hesychast: ELDER JOSEPH THE HESYCHAST FILM (Άγιος Ιωσήφ ο Ησυχαστής)” , starring the Emmy-award winning Jonathan Jackson.

here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oCZT8KvCsjU&feature=share&fbclid=IwAR2HqjqLGcpfIL4jlPzhEQsngfJT19nN8z7pPPS-ekcGDB1YPAxgP7RC9rc

 

or, here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ep9H5fM7d8c

matushka constantina's avatarlessons from a monastery

Christ is risen!

For a few more hours you can watch the full documentary of the life of Elder (Saint) Joseph the Hesychast for free!

I meant to include this link in my earlier post as a “treat” to share with you on my name’s day and completely forgot. Forgive me!

View original post

The Coronavirus Diary of a Joyous Pustinik — 35

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Remember the little things- lifting the leaves–a Peace Plant and Basil miracles

 

Dear Friends in Christ 

Christ is Risen!

My peace plant that one Parishioner gave to me earlier this year is thriving. I was reading about the care of Peace Lilies and it said in the blog that when they need some water they will tell you as their leaves will begin to droop. Do not overwater! Plants may speak to us but what about us speaking to the plants? Eyebrows were raised some years ago when a prominent person admitted to talking to plants. I did not think this was odd.

 

Whilst not indulging in philosophical debate or tiresome monologue with my plants, I often say “Christ is Risen!” to them and show them a little attention by making sure that they have light, warmth, sustenance and care. Love, it seems, lifts the leaves.

 

I am reminded that God created the plants by speaking and they came into being:

 

Genesis 1:11-13 

11 Then God said, “Let the land produce vegetation: seed-bearing plants and trees on the land that bear fruit with seed in it, according to their various kinds.” And it was so. 12 The land produced vegetation: plants bearing seed according to their kinds and trees bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good. 13 And there was evening, and there was morning—the third day.

We have been placed on this earth as stewards of God’s creation.

 Our Lord Jesus Christ told us to behold the lilies of the field and that Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. (Matthew 6:28) Indeed!

If speaking kindly words to plants helps them to grow, how much more will speaking encouraging words to our fellow humans help them develop and “lift their leaves”. We humans, it seems, require much the same as plants: love, warmth, sustenance, light and care.

 

I also want to share with you the little miracle that a parishioner witnessed back in 2013 when he transferred his Basil to Holy Water!

image

Glory to God

 

Love and prayers

Eν Χριστώ

Father Pustinnyk

 

The Coronavirus Diary of a Joyous Pustinik — 31

 

The ruins and rock-hewn graves of St. Patrick’s Chapel, Heysham 2

The ruins and rock-hewn graves of St. Patrick’s Chapel, Heysham

There is an ancient Chapel dedicated to St Patrick which I often visit. I like to take friends and visitors there( when possible) and each time it is a blessing for us. The place is holy, graced by God and visited by His saints. There is a tangible feeling of the eternal energies breaking through time and space. It is a place which attracts people like metal to a magnet. Some are drawn by the sheer beauty of the place, some come for daily exercise or recreation and others come to pray and experience harmony with God.

saint-patrick-s-chapel Heysham

Saint Patrick’s Chapel, Heysham

At Tara today in this fateful hour

I place all Heaven with its power,

And the sun with its brightness,

And the snow with its whiteness,

And fire with all the strength it hath,

And lightning with its rapid wrath,

And the winds with their swiftness along their path,

And the sea with its deepness,

And the rocks with their steepness,

And the earth with its starkness

All these I place,

By God’s almighty help and grace,

Between myself and the powers of darkness.

 

The Rune of St Patrick

 

Inside st Peter's church heysham

Inside st Peter’s church Heysham

 

Here and now.

 

Matthew 28:19: “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations,

baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.”

 

Here, St. Patrick’s monks made toil of prayers

And shared the task to foil the demons snares,

Here on this headland of Bannavem Taburniæ,

The work of saints confer a blessing still today.

 

Near is that realm on high where heavenly host

 Disperse the thoughts that charm us most.

 Here, upon this ancient Celtic Christian place

 A light shines upon the weary pilgrim’s face;

 

So that we may too reflect in holiness of life

 Struggling human flesh in ascetic pious strife.

 Here, where holy bread was broken

 Lies a shadow of that most holy token

 

A simple meal in fellowship

 A contract signed in partnership.

 Here, on Britain’s western edge of land and sea

 An eastern promise is fulfilled, made once in Galilee:

 

“Lo, I am with you always even to the end of the age.”

 He is with us now, to bestow upon the simple sage

 A truth perceived, perhaps a joy or word of inspiration,

 To those who gather here from every nation.

 

 Here where sea and human efforts ebb and flow

 The eternal veil is lifted high on those below.

 Here, where gold-red beams of sunset sink beneath the waves

 Christ, the Rising Son of times past, future and of present, saves. 

 

“What is a merciful heart? It is a heart on fire for the whole of creation, for humanity, for the birds, for the animals, for demons, and for all that exists. By the recollection of them the eyes of a merciful person pour forth tears in abundance. By the strong and vehement mercy that grips such a person’s heart, and by such great compassion, the heart is humbled and one cannot bear to hear or to see any injury or slight sorrow in any in creation. For this reason, such a person offers up tearful prayer continually even for irrational beasts, for the enemies of the truth, and for those who harm her or him, that they be protected and receive mercy. And in like manner such a person prays for the family of reptiles because of the great compassion that burns without measure in a heart that is in the likeness of God.”

St. Isaac the Syrian

My prayers
Eν Χριστώ