Even though it is is 31C, it is raining. One of our friends said, “you have brought the rain with you from Manchester.” Indeed, but I drank from the fountain of Christ’s Mercy.
St Efraim the Syrian writes:
“Thanksgiving be to Him who caused a stream to flow forth
in the mouths that had been closed,
so that they might give praise without end, through the Son,
to the worshipful Father.”
Nisiben hymns 69
The evening was spent in conversation with Sister A and S at C’s house. The conversation was pastoral in nature, and the conversation revolved around the vicissitudes of life that we all suffer. Set within that larger framework of God’s divine plan.
It is a blessing to share one another’s burdens and to focus on our faith, our common heritage, within a world which often has taken the wrong direction and that is searching for answers. St Paul, in his letter to the Galatians in chapter 6 v. 2, writes, “Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ.” So, in acceptance of these words, we were indeed bearing one another’s burdens, and in so doing, fulfilling that law of Christ, to love God and to love one’s neighbour.
St Porphyrios says, “Christ is everything.” So, we should not add or subtract anything to our Christian faith, since, by adding, we compromise, and by subtracting, we fall short of that perfection which God calls us to. C.S. Lewis calls this “Mere Christianity.”To Wormwood, his nephew, in the Screwtape Letters, he says, what we must do is to keep them in the state of mind I call ‘Christianity and …’, you know, ‘Christianity and Crisis’, ‘Christianity and the New Psychology’, ‘Christianity and the New Order.’” To add to that, perhaps ‘Christianity and Politics.’
The horror of the same old thing is one of the most valuable passions we have produced in the human heart. It creates an endless source of heresies. Pure Christianity, with nothing added and nothing taken away, we find in the monasteries.
C.S. Lewis writes again: “just as we pick out and exaggerate the pleasure of eating to produce gluttony, so we pick out the natural pleasantness of change and twist it into a demand for absolute novelty.”
Original, authentic and unadulterated Christianity does not need nor seek approval of the world, or indeed embrace its passing fads and fashions and fantasies. It remains steadfast to apostolic order, to true doctrine and to the living tradition.
Any movement that is required is impelled by the action of the All-Holy Spirit. Amen.
“Now the enemy’s philosophy is nothing more nor less than one confirmed attempt to evade this very obvious truth. He aims at a contradiction.
The good of one’s self is to be the good of another. This impossibility he calls love. He is not content even himself to be a sheer arithmetical unity.
He claims to be three as well as one, in order that this nonsense about love may find a foothold in his own nature.” C. S. Lewis, The Screwtape Letters.
Loving others is that impossible contradiction that we live as Christians.It requires on our part effort, time, perseverance and patience. These four virtues, cultivated by a little hope, will bring forth fruit.
Today the tenth is the feast of St. John Maximovich, who planted the seed of love in the New World, and indeed also in the eastern world, of which his fruit can be seen today in the USA and in the UK, and in many parts where he was present.
The growth of Orthodoxy is witnessed amongst our young people. It was on this day in 1993 that we, Pilgrims to Orthodoxy, met Patriarch Ignatius IV of thrice-blessed memory. We met him in Paris with these virtues and with equal hope, and he greeted us with “Welcome home.”
Home is more than a place. It is a people. It is being among others in that “arithmetical nonsense” where three are one, and one is three.
The resolute and formidable cost of being a Christian, in the early days of the Byzantine Empire, was evidenced today in the Catacombs (1) and the Baptistry of St. John the Baptist, which we visited today, next to Hagia Sophia Church. Burials, liturgies and prayers were carried on side by side in these underground chambers. These Catacombs were connected to one another, to other catacombs of St Demetrius and Hagia Sophia. There was no separation, not even in death.
Earlier on in the day, we visited the churches of St. Nicholas Orphanos (2) and St. Elias, both early 14th-century Byzantine churches with the most beautiful ancient frescoes. At St. Nicholas’s church, there was a constant stream of visitors. Listening to the accents, we heard English, Romanian and German, and like us, they were leaving names of their loved ones to be remembered at the Holy Liturgy.
We also met F., an elderly lady who looked after the St. Nikolaos Orphanos gardens. She asked for a blessing and also that we may remember her son, N.
At St. Elias’s church (3), the parish priest gave us gifts. May he be blessed.
Our Lord is recorded as saying to the Pharisees that if his followers are silenced, even the stones will cry out, and indeed, they do.
Walking in the midday heat, in a rason*, carrying a bag, takes its toll on the body, especially when you have age on your side. But it was a price well worth the experience of visiting prayer-soaked places of worship.
A living metaphor for my morning travels was the lovely tortoise we saw in the grounds of St. Nicholas’s church. Slow and resolute in her circumambulation of the church, carrying her home wherever she went. We saw her and followed her until it was time to make our own way back home.
*
(1) Catacombs of St. John the Baptist
The Catacombs of St. John the Baptist are located south of the Church of Hagia Sophia, underneath the street. Entering the gardens of the catacombs, one can see the ruins of the nymphaeum, a spring dedicated to the nymphs, as well as the thermal baths dating from Roman times. The nymphaeum was converted into a holy water spring during the Christian times, and an underground worship place was built there, in honour of St. John the Baptist.
This Catacomb belongs to the greater secret communication system of Thessaloniki, which has not been fully explored yet! Actually, it consists of numerous catacombs and tunnels, used by the first Christians to practice their worship. One can reach them through the Temple of Saint John the Baptist, hence the name. There are also remnants of the early Christian church.
(2) Church of Agios Nikolaos Orfanos
The church of Agios Nikolaos Orphanos is located at the district of Ano Poli Thessaloniki, near the eastern walls, between the streets Apostolou Pavlou and Irodotou. It used to be the catholicon of a Monastery, from which a small part of the entrance of the propylon.
We encounter the name Agios Nikolaos Orphanos in two patriarchal documents, in 1635 and 1638, of the Monastery Vlatadon, which was its metochi already from the period of the Turkish Occupation, and to historical sources of 1745.
The origin of the name has intrigued a lot of researchers. For some the name Agios Nikolaos Orphanos is related to the name of the founder of the church which belonged to the family of Orphanos. But it is also related to Saint Nicholas, who showed great care for widows and orphans (Orfanos meaning orphan).
The present day view accepts as the founder of the church the Serbian king Milutin, who had developed intense building activity in Thessaloniki. To this view lead us wall paintings in the church with Agios Georgios Gorgos and Clement of Ochrid, saints that were specially honored in Serbia. The close relations of Milutin with Thessaloniki is due to the fact that he was married to the Byzantine princess Simonis, daughter of empress Irene Palaiologina, who lived in the city.
Nowadays, the church has the form of an oblong, wooden-roofed hall, which is surrounded on three sides with a portico. The portico on the east ends in two chapels.
At the interior of the church the marble screen dates from the period the church was founded, while the capitals date from the Early Christian period.
The church’s excellent wall paintings, frescoes, are true masterpieces and are the best preserved compared with the ones in other churches of Thessaloniki. They date from 1310-1320. Among them, apart the ones dealing with the life of Christ, of particular interest are the themes of Akathist Hymn and the lives of Agios Nikolaos and Agios Gerasimos Ioardanitis.
(3) Church of Prophet Elijah (Profitis Elias)
The church of Prophet Elijah, at some point the catholicon of a monastery, is at a close distance from the basilica of Agios Dimitrios and is one of the most important examples of church architecture from the Palaeologan period (1261-1453) in Thessaloniki.
Its dedication to Prophet Elijah is a more recent one and is because of a corruption of the Turkish name of the mosque Serayli Camii or because the church is built on a hill, where they usually build churches dedicated to the Prophet. According to the most prevalent view the church was initially dedicated to Christ, as it is evident by the numerous Christological scenes that are depicted at the narthex. It is possible that it is identified with the well-known in the sources Monastery of Akapniou.
Its architectural type, four-columned, cross-in-square church with semi-circular conches on the northern and southern side (side choirs), is unique in Thessaloniki. This type is called Athonite triconch. Easy and west of the choirs, four compartments are added. The two eastern ones are the sacristies, and the two western chapels. These are roofed by domes of smaller dimensions than the huge central one. On the west there is the so-called “liti”, that is spacious narthex, necessary for the funational needs of the catholicons of the monasteries. In the years 1956-1961 there were restoration works at the dome, the portico, the chapels and some Turkish additions were removed.
At the interior some wall paintings of the 14th century (1360-1370) still survive, where scenes from the Life of Christ dominate, as well as isolated saints.
* The rasson (also spelled rason, exorasson, or ryassa) is the voluminous, wide-sleeved outer cassock worn by priests, deacons, and monks in the Eastern Orthodox and Eastern Catholic churches.
We visited a monastery, where a young British man who wanted to become a catechumen “accidentally” met a British Orthodox priest who was visiting the same morning and “happened” to be a parish priest very near this young man’s hometown. Last but not least, they had booked the same return flight to the UK that Saturday! So, this young man had his first 3 catechesis lessons that morning!
The nuns of war.
From Aleppo to …
Years ago, it was a deserted monastery with only two nuns. But in 2013, the war in Syria brought here a sisterhood from Aleppo. These nuns have experienced the war, and each has a moving story to share. This monastery is now vibrantly alive, full of radiant Joy and warm Love.
All of the sisters have studied at Syrian universities – from Fine Arts to Economics – all come from old Christian families, and most of them have postgraduate degrees in Theology, which they have studied in Greek Universities. Pavlos, the Metropolitan of Aleppo, their spiritual Father, asked them to come here.
This is a monastery where Arabic hymns and psalms mingle along with Greek prayers. But what is most amazing and I have never encountered before in any other monastery I have visited, is their joy and love. This radiant Joy and love are a fruit of their obedience to their spiritual father in everything, and especially to his word. This is what a sister told us: “The most important thing is that Joy in a person, being joyful, is a decision. When we are not joyful in this life, it is a sin against God and His love.
When I was in Thessaloniki, I can’t remember because it’s just one, visiting from one monastery to another, and the spiritual fragrance of those places is filled with the living Christ. I met a Gerontas. I won’t tell you his name because I know some know him, but some believe he is a saint already. And when you are next to a saint, you know it. Remember, Orthodoxy is very physical. I wanted to be near him, because you could feel holiness. He told us a story about a woman from Canada. She was Chinese. And she had a dream of this face, of this Geronda. She had this dream every night for four years in Canada. Four years. Every night, this Geronda would come in her dream and say, “Come see me. I don’t have so much time.” She didn’t know who he was. She didn’t know where he lived. So she went and had a car, and she went on a tour of monasteries in northern Greece. Until she arrived at this particular monastery, where Gerontas lived, “Ah, here you are”. (And then, this Gerontas made particular arrangements for her to be properly catechised and baptised back in Canada with a priest next door to her own house!) You see, there are some hidden Christians.
This Gerontas goes and secretly baptises people in Turkey. There are secret Christians. There are people who want to become Christians. Many Muslims, rather than going to Greece, go to Romania, perhaps.
Other little miracles happened during my stay in Thessaloniki. I asked Gerontas for a word. It’s a tradition in Greece to say, “Give me a word.” Do you have this tradition? He didn’t say anything. He took a sweet out of his pocket and gave it to me. And I knew what he meant. He said, Give, feed people with the sweetness of Christ. You see, he doesn’t speak English. And I don’t speak very much Greek, so he just gave me a sweet. Simplicity is the beauty of Orthodoxy.
This same Gerontas shared with us another monastery miracle. Many years ago, on Mount Athos, a small boat with monks and doctors met another small boat with some Italian students. One of them was so impressed with the holiness of the Fathers that he swapped boats and followed them to their monastery pilgrimage. Years passed by, communication continued between this Gerontas and this Italian student, miracles happened to his family with Gerontas’ prayers, including saving his father’s life from cancer, and now this Gerontas visited him in Italy and made arrangements for his catechism and baptism, again next door, by an Orthodox Italian hieromonk, a former Uniate priest and now a member of Gerontas’ synodeia.
With God’s help, our group continues the pilgrimage to Georgia.
The day began with a journey to the ancient capital of Mtskheta, a place sanctified by centuries of Christian witness and home to several of the most revered holy sites in the country.
1. Svetitskhoveli Cathedral – The Life-Giving Pillar
The group first visited Svetitskhoveli Cathedral, dedicated to the Twelve Apostles. The original church dates back to the 4th century and was commissioned by the first Christian rulers of Georgia: King Mirian and Queen Nana. The current building is from 11th century.
TheCathedral’s name means “the Life-Giving Pillar,” reflecting one of the most treasured holy traditions of the Georgian Church. According to ancient tradition, during the Crucifixion of our Lord Jesus Christ, a Georgian Jew named Elias was present in Jerusalem. He obtained the seamless robe of Christ from a Roman soldier and brought it back to Mtskheta. His sister, Sidonia, upon touching the garment, was overcome with divine grace and reposed immediately, clutching it to her breast. She was buried with the robe, which could not be separated from her.
Years later, when Saint Nino came to Georgia preaching Christ, she prayed over this burial site. A great cedar tree had grown there, and from it pillars were fashioned for the first church. One of the pillars, however, rose miraculously into the air and could not be set in place until Saint Nino spent the night in prayer. By God’s power, the pillar descended and began to stream myrrh, bringing healing to the faithful. Hence the name: the Life-Giving Pillar.
Icon depicting the miracle with the Life-giving Pillar
Burial place of the Robe of Christ and Sidonia
2. Samtavro Monastery – St Nino and St Gabriel
The group then moved to the ancient Samtavro Monastery, dedicated to the Transfiguration of our Lord.
This holy place is closely connected with Saint Nino. It was here, according to tradition, that she lived and prayed under a humble blackberry bush, establishing her ascetic dwelling while preaching Christ to the Georgian people. Even today, a chapel marks this place, preserving the memory of her quiet but powerful witness.
The monastery holds the relics of the great modern saint of Georgia, Saint Gabriel Ugrebadze who spent the final years of his life there. Known for his boldness, humility, and deep love for Christ, Saint Gabriel lived as a “fool for Christ,” enduring persecution during the Soviet era. His life was marked by repentance, simplicity, and unwavering faith, and many pilgrims come seeking his intercessions.
Chapel of St Nino at Samtavro Monastery
3. A Hidden Treasure – Antioch in Mtskheta
During the free time, part of the group, advised by a local priest who learned that we belong to the Antiochian Church, was led to a hidden treasure away from the main tourist routes: the small monastery, dedicated to Saint Stephen, also known locally as Antioch. Dating back to the 4th century (though rebuilt several times), it bears witness to the early ecclesiastical ties between Georgia and the Church of Antioch.
Before becoming autocephalous, the Georgian Church was under the jurisdiction of Antioch. This monastery is believed to have functioned as a metochion (kind of ecclesiastical representation or “embassy”) of the Antiochian bishops in the region.
The group was welcomed at the monastery by mother Sophia, one of the nuns, who kindly showed the faithful around and told the story of the monastery. For our group, this visit was a particularly meaningful reminder of the historical and spiritual connection between our Churches.
4. Jvari Monastery – The Holy Cross
The day concluded with a visit to Jvari Monastery, dedicated to the Holy Cross (“Jvari” in Georgian means Cross).
According to tradition, it was on this very hill that Saint Nino erected a wooden cross after the conversion of Georgia to Christianity in the 4th century. This cross became a sign of victory and protection for the newly illumined land. The present monastery, built in the 6th century, stands as a witness to that event, overlooking the confluence of the rivers and the ancient city of Mtshketa below.
Confluence of rivers: Mtkvari (Kura) and Aragvi rivers
Standingthere, our group chanted “Christ is Risen!” and the Apolytikion of the Holy Cross, giving thanks to God for granting us to venerate these holy places.
On the way back to Tbilisi the group briefly visited the Chronicles of Georgia, created by the sculptor Zurab Tsereteli. This impressive monument stands on a hill overlooking Tbilisi. It is formed of large stone pillars richly carved with scenes: at the lower levels, biblical episodes from the life of Christ, and above them, figures from Georgian history, such as kings, saints, and other notable people, standing as witnesses to the faith and history of the nation.
With the blessing of His Eminence Metropolitan Silouan Oner, a group of 29 pilgrims from St George’s Cathedral, together with brothers and sisters from other Orthodox parishes in the UK, began a six day pilgrimage to Georgia, one of the most ancient Orthodox Christian lands.
The group departed London on the evening of 30 April and arrived in Tbilisi in the early hours of Friday 1 May after a five-hour flight.
Holy Trinity Cathedral – View from the Hotel
Walking Tbilisi
Our guide Beka welcomed the group at the airport and led them to the hotel for a short rest before the programme began. The hotel stands close to the magnificent Holy Trinity Cathedral of Tbilisi, which the group will visit the following day.
The day focused on a walking tour of the city.
Leaning Tower
The pilgrims crossed the Mtkvari River (Kura River as it’s known internationally) and passed the Berikaoba Sculpture of dancing people and historic Leaning Tower of Tbilisi before reaching the oldest surviving church in the city, the Christians have worshipped there continuously since the sixth century, apart from a short interruption during the Soviet period.
The church is closely connected with the Ancha Icon of the Saviour, linked to the Image of Edessa, the miraculous imprint of Christ’s face sent to King Abgar. The original icon is now kept in the Georgian National Museum, while the church preserves a wonderworking copy. Archpriest Mikhail welcomed the group, and the pilgrims venerated the icon and received anointing with oil from its lamp.
The group then passed the residence of the Patriarchate of Georgia, where the late Catholicos-Patriarch of All Georgia Ilia II lived and served for many years. Memory eternal.
The next stop was the Sioni Cathedral, whose present structure dates to the twelfth century. Until 2004 it served as the main cathedral of the Georgian Church and the seat of the Patriarch. The cathedral keeps a relic of the skull of the Apostle Thomas and the Cross of Saint Nino, the Enlightener of Georgia (photos prohibited). It also serves as the resting place of many Georgian patriarchs, including Patriach Ilia II of thrice-blessed memory.
The group continued through the narrow streets of the Old City and reached Vakhtang Gorgasali Square, where they paused for lunch.
After lunch the pilgrims explored the Abanotubani district with its sulphur baths and visited the Leghvtakhevi Waterfall.
The group arrived during Vespers. The interior frescoes have not survived, but the church keeps the relics of the holy Queen and Martyr Shushanik of Armenia. It also commemorates the one hundred thousand martyrs of Tbilisi, who in 1226 refused to trample on the holy icons under the orders of Jalal ad-Din Mingburnu and accepted martyrdom. Their bodies were cast into the river, which according to tradition ran red with their blood.
The final church of the day was the Metekhi Church, dedicated to the Nativity of the Mother of God. The church stands on the left bank of the Mtkvari River, and its present form dates to the thirteenth century.
After a short rest the pilgrims gathered for a traditional Georgian meal. Among the foods weee famous, khachapuri (warm bread filled with melted cheese) and khinkali (dumplings filled with meat and broth). The evening included traditional music and Georgian dances.
This concluded the first day of the pilgrimage. Glory to God!
Nothing had prepared me for what happened today at the monastery. Mother Porfyria had texted me back at night that, God willing, we would meet briefly today, sometime before we leave. In turn, I had texted my spiritual father for his prayers to help me discern what to discuss with her in these precious, few minutes. His reply: “Let Christ decide. He will be there with you”.
And yet, nothing had prepared me for what happened today at the monastery. I remember that this is what I had told you at my first monastery pilgrimage, at Panorama Dormition Monastery, but this time the spiritual experience was far more powerful, overwhelming I would say.
Such beautiful chanting in Church! Listen to a recording of sisters chanting Matins, Semantron and Bells:
After the Holy Liturgy, I went straight to St George Karslidis cell and chapel, open to the faithful only on Feast Days and Sundays, thinking that Mother Porfyria would rest a bit after these long church services, before venturing out in the public. She is so loved by the sisters and all the faithful that there is always a long queue following her wherever she is going. Here one feels what joyful obedience out of love is.
Saint George Karslides cell
And then, it happened! When I emerged out of St George Karslidis cell, I saw her! but what did I see?! I saw Gerondissa climbing up the stairs of the guests’ house in a hurry and ‘frantically’ searching for me everywhere, checking the guests’ living room, and ignoring everybody else! I rushed towards her and asked her to forgive my disappearance, but I thought she might rest a bit. Are you kidding me? Mother Porphyria rest a bit? How little do I still know her! No sleep, no rest, no ease, no break-fast, no coffee, nothing for her sake, only burning herself as a candle, always full of love and humility, always ready to sacrifice everything for her ‘neighbour!
If we burn ourselves up as a candle, we become lights in the world.
It was so embarrassing for me! I must have scandalised all the pilgrims and the sisters in the monastery! First this frantic search, and then this grabbing me and ‘pushing’ me further and further behind the inner gates, since pilgrims and sisters never stopped approaching her, literally disappearing and returning after half an hour! Half an hour?! So, the Abbess disappeared for half an hour at the monastery’s busiest visitors’ time, after the Sunday Holy Liturgy, with the monastery literally packed, overflowing with people?!
What’s more, not for 5 min but for half an hour, all alone, listening to her precious spiritual counsel! What a blessing! And what a profound spiritual encounter ours was! Mother Porphyria reflected on our “common” Way of the Cross, dating back to 1988, at our visit to Sipsa monastery, both of us lay persons then, both of us spiritual daughters of + Gerondas Gregorios. Such a beautiful synaxis after so many years! She insisted how our first meeting sealed our future in God’s unfathomable Providence. Back at this time, she was exploring various monasteries with the desire to become a nun, while I was visiting various monasteries for my spiritual growth, before my graduate studies and work at the States. This first meeting dates back to the Pentecost Feast of 1988. Our 36 years anniversary in her words!
Providence brought us to the same monastery, with the blessing of +Gerondas Gregorios, and the following amusing misunderstanding happened then: because I arrived earlier than Mother Porphyria, the sisters at Sipsa monastery thought that I was the one interested to become a novice. So they offered me a single room to have more “space” and privacy to pray. When Mother Porphyria arrived, the sisters understood their mistake but because they did not want to upset me and have me change room, they left me all alone, at peace, and accommodated Mother Porphyria in a double room. Of course, I was clueless about all this, and when I met her, later in the day, at the services and the meals, she did not give anything away. To this day, she finds all this very funny!
Glory to God for all His gifts, especially our fellow travellers in the Way! Mother Porphyria stressed how important is to be always grateful, how God loves those who are grateful. Our faith and life is literally eucharistic. Glory to God for all things were Saint John Chrysostom. last words as he died in exile in the year 407. The word “Eucharist” is derived from the Greek word eucharistia, meaning ‘thanksgiving. This term originated in the 1st or 2nd century A.D. as early Christians commemorated Christ’s Last Supper with thanksgiving. Such thanksgiving inspires and empowers us to act in humble, loving, compassionate ways, with empathy and in service to others.
She also told me that gratitude and total surrender to God will make us fools for Christ and full in His Joy. Galatians 2:20 speaks to the profound change that occurs when we surrender to God: “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” And then, the greater the trials and tribulations, the greater our Joy will be. Mother Porphyria told me that this was a key teaching of Gerondas Gregorios of blessed memory to his spiritual children.
She then added that when we are ‘crucified’ wherever God’s Providence has placed us, then our martyrdom, and especially our prayers during our martyrdom, transfuses our crucifiers with His love. And this is such a blessing to offer to the world because sadly there are lots of people who rebel against God’s boundless Love and refuse to accept it and then share it. But the key to become such a channel for God’s Love is the will to be crucified and our gratitude for all our crosses. There is simply no other way!
God is indeed doing something wonderful. If we burn ourselves up as a candle, we become lights in the world. These are my spiritual Father’s words.
“Just as the oil and wick burn in the vigil lamp, submissive to our will, so let our souls also burn with the flame of love in all our sufferings, always being submissive to God’s will”, St. Nikolai Velimirovich.
This burning, of course, hurts, but Christ, our Bridegroom, bore the heaviest Cross of all: All our crosses plus only He knows what more …
Then Mother Porfyria moved on to some very private matters for herself and myself, which obviously I cannot share. All I can say is that her words were overpowering. A bit too powerful and profound for my spiritual level … standing in awe before the Burning Bush… We have been meeting all these years, but never before had she administered such a “deadly blow” on me! She has always been supportive and kind, wiping my tears, but this time was “only” “tough love”. Days later, and I find myself still reeling… Very tough love…
When I shared these words with my spiritual father, he told me: “Indeed tough love but which bolsters faith in an uncomfortable way”. And it was not so much her words, but the Holy Spirit through her words. Such a powerful presence! Even now, days later. Palpably so…My eyes have opened a little bit to the price our spiritual fathers and mothers “pay” when we ask for their prayers.
Please forgive me for not being able to share further our private discussion. And also forgive me if I cannot put her holy wisdom into words. Days later, I listened to a homily from Essex Monastery, which emphasises the same point: “The Taste of Death is a Prelude to Resurrection Life” How Elders burn themselves up to offer light and “how their spiritual children can make them prophets [ie. prophetic lights] with their holy obedience”, in Saint Sophrony’s own words. But I repeat, it is one thing to just listen to these holy words, and another thing the holiness of the speaker to be transfused to your heart and nous. “… and a great multitude of people … came to hear Him and be healed of their diseases … for power went out of Him and healed them all” (Luke 6: 17-19).
One thing I can certainly share is Mother Porfyria’s insistence on the power of the Psalter in spiritual warfare, which she also stressed at a group discussion with the faithful, at the monastery courtyard, shortly after our private discussion: “The Psalms of the prophet David – the sacred Psalter – are an age old weapon, an effective cure against fear, terror, and demonic forces.”
Mother Porfyria’s insistence on the power of the Psalter, reminded me of another homily, by Metropolitan Neophytos of Morfu this time, about a holy ascetic of our times, Elder Theodoros the cave-dweller from Agiofarango, Crete (†2016), about the power of the Psalter:
“If you were to ask me to tell you what I learned after so many years in the desert, I would simply answer this: the power of the Psalter. If I were to start my life over, I would struggle to do one thing: memorize the Psalter. This is the womb of noetic prayer. This is the fertile soil where the seed of prayer thrives. It scourges the demons. When I was reading the Psalter during my vigils, a demon came, roaring like a wild boar in my ear, especially when I said the verse, “Let God arise and let his enemies be scattered, and let those who hate him flee before him…” (Ps 68:1 (67 LXX)) and the verse that says, “…for You are my Lord and my God”. He was in a rage, grabbing me by the throat and choking me. He tried to mess up my words so that I wouldn’t say it.”
Saint Paisios of Mount Athos reveals a similar experience of his about the power of the Psalter:
“How much consolation I find with the Psalter! That hour and a half when I read the Psalter, I see it as the most positive help to the world… The Psalter is divinely inspired, it was written with divine illumination, this is why it is so potent, so deep in meaning… With the Psalter I feel like rejoicing…I was pounding the devil with a cannon. During the day I pounded him with the Psalter, at night with prayer.”https://www.orthodoxwitness.org/the-power-of-the-psalter
Mother Porphyria also urged the faithful that flocked around her to cense, ie. offer incense to, not only our icons, immediate environment and people near us, but also God’s creation!, those afar, our families at school, our colleagues at work, our families and friends away, all over the world … She told us that is what Fathers have told her and insisted on this. So, we must sense and cense … since before we offer incense we must sense them.
If we burn ourselves up as a candle, we become lights in the world.
What I find most moving, though, are not her words to me or to all the faithful huddling up near her, but the prayer and the Holy Spirit she transfused us through her words.
Like the other sister with a charisma from God at Panorama Dormition monastery, who offered me 5 minutes of her time before I left the monastery. When she told me, for example, to focus on the Holy Liturgy “which is Everything” in Saint Sophrony’s of Essex words, or the Jesus prayer, she transfused the energy of the Jesus prayer to me, and for some hours and days after this, the Jesus prayer would not stop echoing in my heart. Likewise, when Mother Porphyria spoke to us about the power of the Psalter, she transfused this energy, and from there on, for some days, all I could do was to recite the Psalter…
St. Justin Popovich
“To be Orthodox means to have the God-man Christ constantly in your soul, to live in Him, think in Him, feel in Him, act in Him. In other words, to be Orthodox means to be a Christ-bearer and a Spirit-bearer.”
His holy presence is immediately felt upon entering the monastery gates! This Saint is St. Georgios’ Karslidis, the New Confessor of Drama, the founder and first spiritual father of the Ascension Monastery. A bit exhausted after the long drive, off we rush to kneel before his relics and venerate them. … Rush! Waste no more time! “The doors are not yet shut; the bridegroom hears you”. St. Basil the Great
“Take off your shoes”
Hundreds and thousands of the faithful, all these years, especially since his canonisation in 2008, have knelt before him, to seek comfort in life’s trials and tribulations. So many miracles are happening and are being recorded every day!
“Take off your shoes”
Next, we kneel at Gerondissa Akylina‘s grave. Saint Paisios characterized her as “Gerondissa of Gerondisses; ie. Abbess of Abbesses” and Saint Porphyrios of Kausokalyvite called her “Cherub with golden wings”. Her canonisation is expected to take place soon and her relics are now displayed inside the Ascension Church, next to those of St.George Karslides, for veneration too.
So many contemporary Saints and spiritual Fathers and Mothers have blessed her diaconate: Saint Paisios, +Gerondas Iosif Vatopedi, +Gerondas Gavriil Dionysiatis, +Gerondas Gerasimos Mikragiannanitis, +Gerondas Theofilos (Lydia), Elder Efraim of Arizona, establishing her prayer rule, +Elder Georgios Kapsanis Gregoriou, +Elder Aimilianos, Saint Porfyrios, Mother Nikodemi-Ormylia monastery, +Mother Fevronia-Dormition Panorama monastery, to name just a few.
(Mother Porfyria’s obedience for a decade was the exclusive care of the elderly and frail Gerondissa Akylina).
“Take off your shoes.”
The nuns welcome us, show us to our rooms, offer us a meal, in the separate guests’ house, and leave us to rest before Vespers. Yet, what seems most urgent is the need to repent. Now, on the interpretation of the Greek Fathers of the Burning Bush, St. Gregory of Nyssa for example, shoes, made from the skins of dead animals, signify the deadness of repetition, boredom, inattentiveness.
“And the angel of the LORD appeared unto him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush: and he looked, and, behold, the bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed. … And he [God] said, Draw not nigh hither: put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground.” (Exodus 3:2-5 KJV )
“Take off your shoes.”
Start afresh, free yourself from what is lifeless, from enslavement to the trivial, the mechanical, the repetitive. Shake off the deadness of boredom. Wake up. Come to yourself. Open your spiritual eyes. Cleanse the doors of your perception. Look and see! Listen!
“Take off your shoes.”
The monastic triptych of “prayer, study and work” (Abba Isaiah of Scetis ascetic discourses) is observed here too, but with a greater austerity than in other monasteries, probably because of the +Gerondas’ and +Gerondissa’s relics’ omnipresence and the specific typikon they follow, at the inspiration of +St. Efraim of Arizona. A variation of this salvific triptych is “prayer, attention and work”. This triptych offers balance, healing, consolation. There are 38 sisters in this monastery, and lots of young novices and postulants, pre-novices. Nuns come and go busy bees, novices and postulants race all round, pilgrims flock, beautiful gardens and fields surround us, yet everything fades before my eyes. My heart has been struck, smitten (Psalm 102:4)
“Take off your shoes.”
In the evening, I text to Gerondissa Porfyria to plead for a meeting, even for 5 minutes, anytime, before we leave the next day. The day is coming to a close. We retire to our cells. I pray and wait …
Gerondissa Porfyria’s balcony is the one with the lanterns
St. Gregory of Nyssa
“Sandaled feet cannot ascend that height where the light of truth is seen, but the dead and earthly covering of skins, which was placed around our nature at the beginning … must be removed from the feet of the soul.”
St. George Karslides
“God cares for everyone. Despair is in effect a lack of faith.”
The time has come! The day has finally arrived! After a long, tiring month full of all kinds of jobs and obediences —other than a blessed Synaxis at Holy Cross, UK —and an especially hard time last week, I have finally arrived at the first monastery in my pilgrimage “list”: the Dormition of the Theotokos monastery at the Panorama suburbs of Thessaloniki.
This most beautiful monastery is dedicated to Panagia Elefterotria, the Liberator. It was founded in 1957, has 60 nuns and Melania is their Mother Superior.
Last August, we visited this monastery together with Father J. but our visit was very brief …
I remember so little from our visit last year. I cannot find my way anywhere around. I have arrived so upset, sad and stressed out. Yet here at the monastery, there is an hesychia and a fullness of the Holy Spirit that is most healing.
The hospitality and kindness of the sisters is felt in their warm smiles and their radiant, kind, prayerful eyes. They offer me breakfast, ask me to wash the guests’ dishes, then take me to my room and I start meeting pilgrims from all over the world!
Talking about hospitality, please have a close look at this notice in my cell:
I translate the last two paragraphs: “To our dear guests: A humble request: … You can leave a pair of your own bedsheets if you are a frequent guest. Please do not keep the monastery bedsheets, if you are not considering returning to our monastery within a fortnight”. “Returning to our monastery within a fortnight”!
Everything is happening very fast and with as few words as possible. The sisters work hard and very fast, they multitask, they are such bright busy-bees, yet more importantly they constantly pray. They had to accommodate nearly 300 (!) pilgrims during Dormition Fast in August.
My first obedience, upon arrival, is ivy pruning. I sense that this will be my obedience all these days, until I leave, as the monastery fence is a very long, miles long fence. The other pilgrims from other countries cannot suffer the heat and the sun. As for me, after all this prolonged, all summer training of 40-45 Celsius here, this 30+ C heat and sun feels a bit autumn-like breeze!
So, I prune and pray and hope my sadness will fade away since this is what my spiritual father reassured me and is praying about. I always love to work in nature, yet even here my thoughts, my logismoi still bother me and interfere. But I have faith in my Gerondas’ words. I am under obedience, he will stand by my side on Judgment Day before our Lord, surely he knows better.
Hours pass under the sun with pruning and the Jesus prayer. A little tortoise seems confused with our pruning and we have gently to carry her across the road to greener paths. Glory to God! Little by little, my sorrow begins to evaporate with this heat, sun and prayers. So Gerondas was right, again! “A disciplined schedule, manual labour, study and prayer” (Abba Isaiah of Scetis Ascetic Discourses), and this blessed monastic community did work miracles for my pusillanimity and faintheartedness.
No time for logismoi, thoughts, moaning, worries, fear, sorrow and self-pity. This is the time, καιρός, for metanoia, obedience, faith, and joyful, godly, bright sorrow, “Charmolipi” (an old Greek work made up of ‘chara’ (joy) and ‘lipi’ (sadness). There is no equivalent word in English; it means a feeling of happiness and sadness at the same time.
10 Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death. (2 Corinthians 7:10)
One has literally moved next to the monastery to be there all the time, and the other one does not mind driving 6 hours to be at the church services and the fathers of the monastery! This pilgrim was baptised in a Roman Catholic Church due to his Orthodox parents “carelessness and ignorance” — the pilgrim’s own words— but our Lord found him, guided him to His Church, and he is now on pilgrimage together with his mother! Glory to God for all things! All these Elder Efraim’s monasteries, 20 in total, I believe, in USA and Canada, are all following the Cenobitic way of monastic life (“Cenobitic” is derived from the Greek word “Keenovio” which means “common way of life”) therefore consisting of common work, common meals, and common rest periods.
After Little Compline, a small fasting dinner and then hesychia. My sorrow has been healed and joy fills my heart. What a transformation in just a few hours! My spiritual father was right: “The time there will be a time of healing”. All this prayer and few idle words, manual labour and study, have wrought a miracle.
Abba Isaiah of Scetis
“Observe these three things: your manual labour, your study, and your prayer. Think to yourself daily, “I only have this day to do something in this world” and you won’t sin before God.“
Last week, on the eve of St Panteleimon’s Feast, I arrived at his monastery at the suburbs of Vlasti, and 33km away from the bustling heart of Kozani, to help the monastic synodeia there for the Feast.
This was my first time there and the surrounding landscape scenery at 1650 m altitude was stunning. The landscape altered among numerous fields with sparse cedar, lammergeyer, oak and pine forests. At the higher positions, sheer rocks and alpine fields add a particular mountainous character. St Panteleimon’s misty and mystic monastery dates back to the 15th century and is almost permanently capped by gray clouds and fog. It is by far the monastery at the highest altitude all over Greece, Mount Athos included.
For stunning views of this mystic and misty monastery and the surrounding landscape, go to this YouTube link:
Except for the incomparable beauty, this area is also known for its ecological characteristics, as it constitutes a biotope of bears and other predatory birds such as the war eagles, haggard eagles, snake eagles and the bullfinches. Vegetation is also lush, with a great variety of wild flowers and herbs. This travel/ pilgrimage destination indeed beckons not only pilgrims, but travelers seeking tranquility and untouched beauty.
For video excerpts of the church services these two days (Vespers and Matins- Holy Liturgy), go the following YouTube link:
Though I normally share with you church services highlights, everyday Saints stories and elders’ spiritual encounters from my pilgrimages, this time I would like to introduce to you two local customs during the Feast, which I have encountered only in this area: the Horse Riders’ Tama (votive offering) to St Panteleimon and the Tranos Choros (Grand / Magnificent Dance).
The Horse Riders Tama to St Panteleimon
On the Feast day, the inhabitants of the nearest village Vlasti, as well as friends and relatives all over the world, who come specifically for St Panteleimon’s and later Panagia’s Feast on August 15, prepare their horses (some may borrow), and climb up to the monastery of Agios Panteleimon on Mount Muriki, so that they can attend church and honour the Saint.
After the Divine Liturgy, the horse riders descend from the beautiful, meandering paths of the mountain, to the center of Vlasti, a nearby picturesque village, just 4 km away from the monastery, nested in the mids of alpine landscape and lushy fields, and sitting at an elevation of 1200m. Background music accompanies them all the way unto the monastery and back to the village feast.
Again, for video excerpts of the horse riders’ tama, and the village feast visit the following two YouTube links:
The Tranos Choros (Tranls. Grand / Magnificent Dance)
This dance is a traditional community event based on the dual elements of «song – dance» (a capella, ie. vocals and dance without the accompaniment of musical instruments). It bears a ritual character, passed on from one generation to the next. The term Tranos denotes the universal participation of the local community in its performance and its great importance to the community.
The dance is performed not only by permanent residents of the community, but also by Vlatsiotes all over the world, who, although are no longer inhabitants in their land of origin, make a point of returning to visit every summer during these feasts, with the aim of reconnecting with their village and reconfirming their group identity.
The Tranos Choros (Grand/ Magnificent Dance) is danced annually in Vlasti in the afternoon of July 27, day of the feast of Saint Panteleimon, as well as on the two days of the feast of the Dormition of our Lady Theotokos, on August 15 and 16.
The Tranos dance in Vlasti has its own rules. These rules define what time the dancers gather, their hierarchical position in the circle, the dance pattern, the order of songs, the specific dance motifs.
Hierarchy, based on gender and age, is a characteristic of its structure. The men lead the dance, positioned in order of seniority, those wearing traditional dress first . Age is again the criterion for each woman’s position in the dance circle. In the case of women of the same age, the criterion is their wedding date. Traditionally, the leading dancer is the eldest, an expert on both songs and rhythm.
The dance begins at the moment when the leading dancer crosses his left foot over the right. It is a particularly symbolic move, with the leading dancer raising his left leg and holding it above the right for the dance to begin. For the Tranos dance, this move has the same role as the raising of the conductor’s baton in a symphony orchestra. The movement is accompanied by a simultaneous move of the hand holding the kerchief and the rendering of the first verse of the song.
The lead dancer is joined in song by most of the men. The lyrics are repeated by the women’s semi-chorus and the men who are last in line. This ritual dance in the minds and hearts of the locals evokes people long departed. “This place has existed and will always exist. To paraphrase the poet George Seferis, «as the pines retain the form of the wind, even when the wind has gone and is no longer there»”
Watch this communal, ritual dancing in the following two YouTube videos:
Doxastikon of the Stichera in the Plagal of the Second Tone
You traveled the path of the ascetics well, towards the working of virtues, O God-bearer Paisios, and you drove out the man of the flesh from your heart, while your nous meditated on unceasing prayer, andtheoria of the Uncreated Light. Therefore, having partaken of the gifts of your graces, we hymn you, O Venerable One, and we say with joy: Rejoice, the offspring of Farasa, the pride of Athos, the pillar of Konitsa, the teacher of Monastics, the dweller of Sinai. Rejoice, you who were adorned with the garment of dispassion, and therefore became a guide to the youth, the lifting-up of the fallen, and the return of the deluded. Rejoice, O example for Monastics, the type for laymen, and the rest and refreshment for the faithful Orthodox. And now, O Godly-adorned Elder, ceaselessly entreat Christ God on behalf of us, who celebrate your sacred memory.
ORTHODOX CHRISTIAN FAITH AND LIFE 