Orthodox Christians all over the world have received the unchanging Christian Faith, passed down from the Holy Apostles to their successors, and continue to practice it today in the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church – The Orthodox Church.
Were the Disciples deceived, deceiving others or telling the truth? ChatGPT weighs in.
Here is ChatGPT’s almost instantaneous answer to a question posed in the book Counsels for Life*, the teaching of Blessed Fr. Epiphanios Theodoropoulos. This question is based on a reflection of Blaise Pascal. (Fr. Epiphanios also answers the question in the book)
Which is the most probable reality in your estimation?
That the disciples of Jesus Christ
a) were deceived about Him resurrecting,
b) deceived others that He resurrected, or
c) told the truth about His resurrection?
This is a profound and much-debated historical and philosophical question. Let’s examine each option carefully in terms of historical plausibility, psychological factors, and what scholars generally consider most likely.
Option A: The Disciples Were Deceived
This would suggest that the disciples genuinely believed Jesus rose from the dead, but were mistaken—possibly through hallucinations, grief-induced visions, or misinterpretations of events.
Pros:
Grief and trauma can cause people to have vivid visions or experiences, especially in intense religious or emotional contexts.
Some individuals may have experienced hallucinations that they interpreted as encounters with the risen Christ.
It fits with cognitive dissonance theory: when expectations (Messiah dying) are shattered, people may unconsciously create or embrace beliefs that resolve the conflict.
Cons:
Hallucinations are usually individual experiences. It’s hard to account for reports of group appearances using this model.
Doesn’t easily explain the empty tomb tradition (if that was an early part of the narrative).
Option B: The Disciples Deceived Others
This would mean the disciples knew Jesus didn’t rise, but intentionally lied about it to start a movement.
Pros:
This could account for the coherence and purpose behind the resurrection narrative.
Explains the speed at which the resurrection story took central place in early Christianity.
Cons:
Most of the disciples were persecuted, beaten, imprisoned, or executed for their testimony. People might die for a lie they believe, but it’s less likely they would die for a lie they made up.
There’s little [no] evidence of personal gain (money, power, comfort) that would typically motivate a conspiracy.
The Gospels and letters reflect sincere belief, not the rhetoric of con men.
Option C: The Disciples Told the Truth
This is the traditional Christian view: Jesus actually rose from the dead, and the disciples were reporting what they had seen.
Pros:
Best fits the intensity and willingness of the disciples to suffer and die for their belief.
Accounts for group experiences and the transformation of discouraged followers into bold proclaimers.
Explains the sudden emergence of a movement centered on a crucified and risen Messiah—something no Jew was expecting.
Cons:
Requires acceptance of a supernatural event, which many historical methods do not assume.
If one begins with a naturalistic worldview, this explanation appears less probable.
So, which is most probable?
From a strictly naturalistic standpoint, where supernatural events are considered highly improbable by default, option A (they were deceived) is usually favored—often involving hallucinations or legendary development.
From a broader historical or philosophical lens that allows for the possibility of miracles (not necessarily assuming them), option C (they told the truth) becomes more viable and even compelling for many, especially given the psychological and sociological challenges to both A and B.
Option B (they lied) is generally considered the least probable by most scholars, both secular and Christian, due to the lack of motive and the cost the disciples paid.
Would you like a deeper dive into what scholars (Christian and secular) say about this?
Why, then, would the most brilliant men and women, educated Saints such as St. John Chrysostom, St. Gregory of Nyssa and St. Basil of Caesarea, and people of all walks of life who were pure, honest and upright; and also rich people and poor people; do you really think it is more rational to think that all of these people gave their lives as martyrs, enduring horrendous sufferings, for believing in a mass hallucination?
You’re pointing to one of the most compelling arguments for the truth of the resurrection—not just the origin of the belief, but its persistence, transformative power, and the caliber of people who embraced it. Let’s take your point seriously and assess it fairly.
Your Core Question:
Is it more rational to believe that saints, scholars, martyrs, and multitudes—many of them honest, virtuous, and even brilliant—would give their lives for what ultimately began as a hallucination or deception?
Strong Points in Your Argument:
The Quality and Integrity of the Believers
People like St. Basil, St. Gregory of Nyssa, and St. John Chrysostom were not just pious—they were intellectually rigorous, educated in philosophy, rhetoric, and classical learning.
They had moral integrity and often gave up power, wealth, and safety to serve others.
Many of them had nothing to gain and everything to lose.
The Breadth of Believers
The Christian message spread across all social classes—slaves, merchants, philosophers, and Roman officials.
It wasn’t an esoteric mystery cult appealing only to the uneducated or desperate. It was publicly proclaimed in the cities and debated in the forums.
Willingness to Die for the Faith
Martyrdom is the ultimate test of sincerity.
If the earliest disciples fabricated the resurrection, it’s inconceivable that their lie would spread so deeply and widely, inspiring countless others to suffer and die with joy.
Longevity and Fruitfulness
If the faith began as a hallucination or [a] myth, why did it not [didn’t it] collapse under pressure like so many other cults and movements of the time?
Instead, it produced centuries of [for centuries it produced] saints, scholars, hospitals, monasteries, universities, and enduring moral systems.
So Why Do Some Still Choose the “Mass Self-Deception” Theory?
Because they begin with an assumption: miracles can’t happen. It’s not that it’s a better historical explanation, but that any natural explanation—however strained—is by definition more acceptable than a supernatural one.
That’s not history, though. That’s philosophical naturalism.
Honest Assessment:
If you rule out the supernatural a priori, you’re forced to explain the resurrection through hallucinations, legends, or deceit—even when those explanations don’t match the evidence well.
If you’re open to the supernatural, then the resurrection of Christ becomes the best explanation for:
The radical transformation of the disciples.
The explosive growth of the early church.
The integrity and martyrdom of early believers.
The theological richness that emerged almost instantly (see Philippians 2, 1 Corinthians 15).
Final Thought:
It would be irrational to believe [that] anyone—let alone millions across centuries, including martyrs, saints, and geniuses—would knowingly suffer and die for a hallucination, a lie, or a myth unless there was something real at the center of it all.
If we judge a tree by its fruit, as Jesus suggested, then [“]the resurrection faith[”] has produced fruit that is remarkably hard to explain away.
Would you like to explore early martyrdom accounts or how quickly the resurrection creed developed after the crucifixion?
Orthodox Christians all over the world have received the unchanging Christian Faith, passed down from the Holy Apostles to their successors, and continue to practice it today in the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church – The Orthodox Church.
[Video] Ordination speech of Fr. Emmanuel Hatzidakis to the Diaconate (1988)
This is the day which the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it (Ps. 118(117):24), and I rejoice to know that you are here on my account. You gave me a lesson these past couple of days, because I was humbled by the expressions of love and support and brotherhood in Christ you made manifest to me. I came to a new and deeper realization of the love and goodness that there is out there, I mean in here, in our midst. I know that some of you were looking forward to this moment as anxiously as I was, and this is not strange. For if I can “make it” through, this gives hope and encouragement to all of you, that you, too, can!
I thank God for the love He instilled in you! Oh, there is abundant, sincere, genuine, unpretentious Christian love among you – that’s the best martyria [witness], that you are His disciples. It is sweet and pleasing for brothers to live in the unity of love! (Ps. 133(132):1) Continue to pray hard, my brothers, that I may be accounted worthy of His grace.
I know that you are ready to shout the Axios [worthy], but sober reflection on my part, an examination of my deeds, the realization of my persisting failures, inadequacies, weaknesses and shortcomings make me aware of how far I am from being axios. I am consoled in the belief that this calling is a χάρισμα, a δῶρον: a free gift of God’s great condesension and mercy. As such, I have no cause to glory – only to fear and tremble for the account I will have to give to God. Let it be my glory to be that servant who runs διὰ σποδὸς καὶ κόνεως [through fire and ashes, “labors excessively”] to minister to God’s holy people: you!
In a couple of minutes I will be led around the holy altar, an act signifying my intention to devote myself always to the service of God. Three hymns are chanted while encircling the altar. First are invoked the holy Martyrs who “fought the good fight and have received their crowns”. Identified as a man of God, the priest is called to give witness (martyria) and be a witness (to martyr) for his faith in Christ, who is “the martyr’s joy, of His preaching of the holy Trinity, one in Essence and Undivided”.
Did I throw some big words here? Did I overstate our call to martyrdom? I am convinced I did not. How then do I proceed? Why don’t I take my flight to my Pontus? [St. Gregory the Theologian, Oration 2] I only rely upon the Bishop’s call to step forth, and confide in his and your prayers that the grace of the Holy Spirit may descend upon me to heal that which is infirm and to complete that which is wanting (Col 1:24), so that I may offer my diakonia [service] to the divine Mysteries, approaching without condemnation and laying my hands upon the immolated Lamb of God without being consumed by the fire emanating from It.
And so we are gathered today, on this sweet-smelling spring-like day to celebrate together in a mood of χαρμολῆπη [joyful sorrow]: a joyous event during the sober mood of contrition of this great Lenten day, which produces an inner spiritual rejoicing, a deep-seated exultation in the Lord, whose name be glorified forever. Amen.
I am thankful to his Eminence Archbishop Iakovos for seeing me during our recent trip to New York and for signing the order – on the spot.
My deep gratitude to the leader of our Σχολή, the Most Rev. Metropolitan Silas of New Jersey for his acceptance to be my ordaining bishop. But what do I say? I extend my deep gratitude for his filial love and affection bestowed upon me. It is because of his loving care that he is here today.
To the Dean of the School, Rev. Protopresbyter and dear to us all Fr. Alkiviadis Calivas a deep thanks for his support and assistance since I first got to this School. In his person I also extend my thanks to all the clergy, faculty and personnel of the School, whom I will not acknowledge, as I don‘t want to tire you. I keep all in my prayers.
I must single out my spiritual father, Fr. Theodore (or Fr. “Ted” Stylianopoulos as he is known around this campus), for his support, guidance, prayers and for making it possible for me to be here today. I also think of my fellow parishioners and friends in St. Louis, who, I know, pray for me, led by their pastor Fr. George Nicozisin and Fr. Paul Kaplanis.
There are some very dear people to me who could not be here today. I will only mention my distant mother whose copious blessings I ask. I am certain that her prayers brought me back to the Church, when I erred, and to this step on this auspicious and gladsome day, radiating God’s grace. What better replacement for my mother could I ask than her sister, my dear Aunt Argyro who is here with her son, Felix Protopapadakis and his dearest wife Diana from New Jersey, people well known to Your Excellency [Metropolitan Silas].
I now come to my yoke bearer, who many a time, and especially in these latter times, has shared more than her burden. I don’t want to embarass her and risk to feed her ego, but I will a little just this time: I can answer the question that sage of old poses in the last chapter of Proverbs unhesitatingly, unequivocally, fullheartedly, with an “I can”. What is the question? A good wife, who can find? (Prov. 31:10) In Greek it is “γυναίκα ἁνδρείαν”, a virile, brave, strong woman, in whom the heart of her husband trusts, a woman that “does him good, and not harm, all the days of her life” (31:12).
Lastly, I was told, in an address such as this, you extend thanks to your spouse. That is why most people being ordained do not have three children. I would be remiss if I didn’t give my thanks, love, appreciation and gratefulness for their support throughout this trying period. Indeed God’s hand has been with us in every step, sustaining us, supporting us, strengthening us.
I give thanks to the most-holy Virgin Mary and Theotokos for the gift of her fiat through which it became possible for omnipotent God to incarnate.
I give thanks to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ for the very special and unique gift of calling me to be part of His Body, the Holy Orthodox Church.
Thanks be again and again to God for the call to serve in all purity and humility at the altar.
The Orthodox Witness website is published by Anthony Hatzidakis.
Orthodox Christians all over the world have received the unchanging Christian Faith, passed down from the Holy Apostles to their successors, and continue to practice it today in the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church – The Orthodox Church.
“WHO DO YOU SAY THAT I AM?”
WHO DO YOU SAY THAT I AM?
a homily by
Blessed Fr. Athanasios Mitilinaios
on the theme
“Christ is perfect God and perfect man”
Delivered at the Holy Monastery Komneniou, Larissa
on July 7, 1983
The Sunday of the Holy Fathers of the Fourth Ecumenical Synod
“Whoever disregards one of the least of these commandments and teaches this to the people
will be called least in the kingdom of heaven.” (Mt 5:19)1
Today, my beloved, our Church celebrates the memory of the 630 God-bearing Fathers who convened the Fourth Ecumenical Synod in Chalcedon. The topic of the Synod was Jesus Christ is perfect God and perfect man.
Before we begin to look at the content of this Synod, which is extremely relevant in every era, I would like to explain clearly what “dogma”2 is, because all the Synods, of course, dogmatized.
In our day and age, people do not even want to hear the word “dogma”, let alone its content. (Incidentally, someone has written that our era which liberalizes3 is the most dogmatic era of all.) I would like to make it clear what dogma is, these dogmas which so terrify modern man when he hears about them. Modern man thinks that dogma is something you must accept whether you want to or not, whether you like it or not, no matter if it binds or doesn’t bind your freedom. That is, they think of dogma as something forced upon them. This is the perception out there.
But as I said, our times are dogmatic. Our times are dogmatic in this sense: because You see the people in our day and age flocking like cattle to join the various cults [δογματισμούς] that our era has produced. And what is fashion? Fashion is nothing but a cult [δογματισμός]? “Paris says this”, “New York says that”, “The Westsays this”,“Fashion says that”. And you see – I will say it yet again – the people flocking like cattle to this or that pen, which in this sense is called “cult” [δόγμα].
But, my beloved, we are not talking about this kind of dogma.
Because you also see people who want no distinction among religions, and others who have the most uncompromising faith in their atheism. Yes, there is faith in atheism, because have you proved that God does not exist? You believe that God does not exist. Well, today, of course, you also see people with this belief who worship freedom, while they are the most unfree people in all of history. These modern people, while being enslaved to their passions, are inclined to react and say that dogma restricts human freedom, the human intellect, from accepting whatever it wants. This is not how it is, my beloved.
Dogma is truth revealed and enshrined. An example: The sun is a truth. This truth is a dogma. Whether you want to accept it or not, it is a reality. So you will accept that the sun exists and that it has the characteristics it has. Now, when I tell you what the sun is, what do I make? A shrine.
When science reveals what the sun is, after examining it and manifesting what the sun is, this finding is a scientific truth. In the field of Religion, of Faith, such a finding is called a dogma. So it is a reality. Now what does science do with it? It enshrines the truth and presents it to us. This, my beloved, is what dogma is.
For example, the Church comes to us and says that God is Triune. We did not make this up. It was revealed to us. And since it has been revealed to us, it means that we will accept it as a revelation. When someone comes along and wishes to question this truth, then the Church acts to safeguard it, and this safeguard is called a “dogma”. Why does the Church act to safeguard this truth? Because she believes (and this is in fact how it is) that this dogma, this revealed truth, is the foundation of man’s salvation, and if he loses this foundation then he cannot have salvation.
And so, for reasons of love and charity, the Church enshrines this truth, precisely so that man can achieve his salvation, just as we will say Medicine comes to us with a truth and tells us, You will live like this and like this; you will take precautions against sickness by doing this and this and this, so that you do not get sick. This is what our Church is doing, my beloved; it is doing nothing more than to guard, entrench and manifest the revealed truth. And how does She manifest this truth? Pay attention. With a wording. And how is it manifested? By the mouth of the entire Church [the Synods comprised of Holy Fathers]. This is precisely what the Church does. This is dogma. Why, then, are we afraid of it? Why are we terrified? We have even removed the verb “dogmatize” from our vocabulary. Today if we use the verb “dogmatize”, it means I speak an arbitrary opinion. The Church does not speak arbitrarily. That which has been revealed – I repeat – is enshrined and presented.
Having made this clarification, we now arrive at our main point. What dogma, my beloved, did the Fourth Ecumenical Synod enshrine? That Jesus Christ is perfect God and perfect man in one hypostasis[person]. This is the wording the Fourth Ecumenical Synod produced. The wording is necessary and also relevant, because the people in those days were not the only ones to be engaged in these Christological disputes; we too are also engaged in them today. In other words, the wording produced by the Fourth Ecumenical Synod answers the Lord’s question to His disciples and to all of mankind: “Who do the people say that the Son of Man is?” (Mat. 16:13) I present Myself as a Man; what do the people say about Me? Who do they say that I am?”
The person of Christ, my beloved, is the great question and the great question mark in all of world history. There is absolutely no other more burning, fundamentally significant, life-or-death subject than the subject of the person of Jesus Christ, of who Jesus Christ is. I’m not sure if you understand, beloved, just what this question is… Whether there is an America or not, I can live happily. Whether there are stars or not, however many they may be and whether they are inhabited or uninhabited, it is not my concern. If I do not know anything about Science and Technology, it does not concern me; again, I can live happily. If, however, Christ is this or He is not this, it concerns both my present life and my eternal life, because the person of Christ answers “Who am I” as a human being and what my destiny is.
You understand, then, that the question, “What do the people say about Me?” “Who do they say that I am?” is of foundational importance. And the disciples passed on to us what the contemporaries of Christ were saying about Him: “Some say [You are] John the Baptist, but others Elijah, but still others Jeremiah or one of the Prophets” (Mt 16:14; cf. Mk. 8:28). So there were various opinions.
And the people of our day, what do they say? Who is Jesus Christ?
“Who is Jesus Christ?” is the most relevant of subjects. Some people say, “He is a socialist”; others say, “He is a sage”; a third group says, “He is a magician” (that He studied magical things and tricks somewhere and that He came to show them); still others say, “He is a very good man”, and so on. And the Lord asks the question: “And what about all of you, you who have lived around Me, who have the experience of My person – not mere knowledge, but personal experience with Me. “What do you say?” (Because this question, “What do you say?” is asked to every believer of every era.) And the Apostle Peter says:“You are the Christ, the Son of the living God”(Mt. 16:16). As if he were saying to Him: You are a God-man, perfect God and perfect man, because “Christ” refers to the human nature, and “Son of the living God” refers to the divine nature. So this was the Apostle Peter’s answer. This is the answer given by everyone who believes in the person of Christ and is asked: Who is Christ?
It is not always possible, however, for those who have been baptized, who belong to the fold of Christ, to examine Christ first-hand, to have experience of the person of Christ (the “why” is a big chapter which we do not have time to expand on right now), and as a result, the people wonder and ask: “Who is Christ?” So you do not have experience, but you ask anyhow. What answer will I give you? Because you yourself begin to suggest some answers, the Church comes in to enshrine the correct answer and to tell you:Jesus Christ is perfect God and perfect man in one person, in one hypostasis. How important is this truth? This is an enormous truth, my beloved. Pay attention.
Arius, who was confronted by the First Ecumenical Synod, said that Jesus Christ is not God, but is a creation, that He does not have divinity. But now, at the Fourth Ecumenical Synod, the opposite happened. It was said that He is truly God, but that it was not possible for Him to assume human nature, and if He assumed human nature, it was either in semblance, or was absorbed by the divine nature and did not have too much importance. In the History books this is known as Monophysitism [mono (one) – physis (nature)], that is, the belief that Christ has only one nature, the divine, but not the human. These are the two extremes. One position denies the divine nature of Christ and the other denies the human nature of Christ, and both of these extremes are of foundational importance, in that they shipwreck salvation. How do they shipwreck salvation? As for the first position, if Christ is not God, then He is also not able to save, because all creatures have need of salvation, the Angels included.
(This is not the time to expand on this much, because, unfortunately, in a liturgical homily it is not possible to say too many things. Therefore we need to follow homilies that are orderly, comfortable in length, with good reflections, and we need to study in order to be enlightened… The angels also have need of salvation. And do you know when the angels were saved? When the Incarnation of the Son of God took place and they recognized Him as the Son of God who became man. Because not even the angels had seen God. And when they sang “Glory to God” (Lk. 2:14), it was in recognition of Jesus Christ as the Son of God. Doesn’t the Apostle say, “at the name Jesus every knee shall bow, both in heaven and on earth” (Phil. 2:10)? The angels will also bend the knee to the Son of God. It is a matter of faith. Believing is the final test for the angels. When they believed in the theanthropic nature of Christ, they were established and made firm in salvation, and are no longer in danger – not that they cannot be, they are not unchangeable – but they are not in danger of falling, as some (permit me the expression) comrade angels have fallen, the demons that is.)
So the Angels also have need of salvation. The Angels also have need of faith. The angels believed and they were saved. The representative of the human race, the Mother of God, also believed and was saved – and everyone who believes in the person of Christ is being saved. But whether I am a man, composed of matter and spirit, or if I am an angel, only spirit, I cannot be saved if He in whom I believe is only a creation; because if He were a creation He would not be God, and would have need of salvation, and having the same need of salvation, He could not save the creation.
Let us now go to the other extreme, those who accept only the divine nature and not the human. If you tell me that this does not exist today, that there are only people who deny the divinity of Christ, but not His humanity, you are mistaken. Monophysitism creeps into the entire life of Christians. It creeps in, and only for rejecting the icon of Christ, I am, in fact, a Monophysite, because I deny His human nature. And I say: Is the divine depicted? The divinity certainly cannot be depicted, but if God became man, then He is depicted. Unless I reject the dogma of the icon which was enshrined by the Seventh Ecumenical Synod, then without a doubt, I believe that Christ is truly man.
So if I reject the human nature, what consequences does this have? It has dreadful consequences, as does the first case as well. What are they? It means I believe that God did not really become man, that God did not assume the creation, and because He did not assume it, He cannot heal it. The Fathers say: “That which is not assumed is not healed.”4Christ assumed not only the material body but also the human soul. There are three things: God the Logos, His human soul and His human body. When we say “became man”, it means that He became these two: soul and body. Moreover, He is one person. He is not two persons, the divine and the human, but one person.
You will say to me, “Mysterious.” Indeed it is. This is precisely why I will say, “I believe”, when I cannot understand the things that are around me. Are there not mysteries in science? Are there not mysteries in nature? Do you think that we understand the mysteries of creation? Do we know what a cell is? Do we know what life is? Do we know what man is? What do we know? Do we know what matter is? Do we know what energy is? We don’t know anything. We only describe. We are not much different from Aristotle who made descriptions of the creatures, the so-called “descriptive science”. We have, of course, explained many things, but we are not much different, because we make a description of the essence of beings; we describe the phenomena but we do not get at the essence of things: What is matter? – I repeat once more – What is energy? What is life? To this day no one has answered. Why then must we say that there are mysteries in creation and no mysteries in Faith? There are, in fact, many more mysteries in the metaphysical world.
But regarding the subject of faith in Jesus Christ, it is not enough for me to say: “I accept that He is perfect God and perfect Man.” No, my beloved, it is not that simple. It is something deeper. This is what I would like to look at now.
Someone can say: “I believe that He is perfect God and perfect Man”, but what does he get out of this? He understands that God came to visit us to become like us – not like He visited us on Sinai – and not only to become like us and to associate with us, but for us to take Him in us, and for Him to take us in Him. That is, an incomprehensible union. We did this today. We communed. How else might one say “we communed”? We became communicants of God. Communicants of God? Yes, through His human nature, and since He is one person, we become communicants of God. This is the great subject, the unfathomable, the most precious. In this present life and in the life to come, the crowning glory for man is that he has communion with God! Do you realize this? It is incomprehensible. And yet, my beloved, this is the reality.
So then, the dogma that the Fourth Ecumenical Synod wants to enshrine is that Christ is perfect man and perfect God. It is a dogma which, truly, we must not only believe, but also experience that we have communion with God. Hear what the Evangelist John says in his preface:“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was withGod, and the Word was God” (Jn 1:1). Here he is referring to the divine nature. “And the Word became flesh and lived amongus” (Jn 1:14). Here he is referring to the human nature. Do you see? The Word became flesh. He does not say “He becameman”, but says “He becameflesh [σάρξ – sarx].” Certainly, the word “flesh” also means “man”, and there are many places in Holy Scripture where man is referred to as “flesh”, meaning “man”.
But the word “flesh” [σάρξ – sarx] has another particular interpretation, a refined interpretation, which is this: When we say “flesh”, realistically we understand “meat” [κρέας]. Realistically. So when the Evangelist John says, “The Word became flesh” (Jn 1:14), if we were to translate it we could say: The Son of God became meat! It doesn’t sound good to us, but this is the comparable word he would say. Why would he say this? The Evangelist John used this word deliberately. He writes his Gospel account last, and by that time the Apostle Paul is prophesying what the Gnostics will say about Christ (he knows the reality of things, and what the Gnostics who denied the Incarnation of the Son of God would say), so he pens the expression, “the Word became flesh”(1 Tim: 3:16-4:5).)
The Evangelist will tell us the same thing, my beloved. In his First Epistle, again in the preface, he writes: “That which our eyes have seen, our hands have touched and our ears have heard, concerning the Word of Life” (1 Jn 1:1). But is the Word of Life looked at? Is He visible? Is He palpable? Does He make sounds? In other words, with this realistic approach, using three of the five senses, the Evangelist wants to make us understand that the Son of God really became man.
So, perfect God and perfect man. How very grand this is, beloved! If at some point this mere mental knowledge descends into our being, our heart, then it will become experience. And then, always and everywhere, we will sense the theanthropic nature of Christ, and only the God-man Jesus saves, He who is perfect God and perfect man.
Let us be deaf to the foolish pronouncements of our era, of those who say whatever it is they say, the myths, the old wives’ tales about the person of Jesus Christ. Let us study holy Scripture, and we will discover Him within it. Let us keep His commandments, and then He will come and live within us. Listen to what I said: Let us keep His commandments, and then He will come and live within us. That is, we will have experience. He said it Himself: We will come to the one who keeps My commandments, and We will stay within him (Jn 14:23), I the Son and the Father and the Holy Spirit. And He cannot [come and stay] without having experience [of Him].
This is why I told you that it is about experiencing. First I learn it mentally, and then what? Then this something becomes my life, it becomes my experience, and then I can say that both the present life and the future life are but one and the same thing. The present world and the kingdom of God will become one. Everything belonging in God’s love, everything in God’s plan, everything in God’s communion. I am the happiest person.
TO THE GLORY OF THE HOLY AND TRIUNE GOD
Translated from the original Greek by Anthony Hatzidakis, July 10, 2024. The source text utilized for this homily translation was taken from a post on Aktines, July 5, 2023. The Greek text was transcribed by the honorable Mr. Athanasios K. and converted to computer text and edited by Ms. Eleni Linardaki, philologist. The original audio we consulted for this translation can be found at arnion.com. All emphases are the translator’s.
If you are interested in thoroughly studying this most important topic of the Person of Jesus Christ, consider purchasing Jesus: Fallen?, the most comprehensive study on the human nature of Jesus Christ from an Orthodox perspective, written by the late Fr. Emmanuel Hatzidakis and published by Orthodox Witness (2013). Copies for purchase may also be found at Holy Trinity Bookstore and Amazon.com.
St. Theophylacht of Ochrid and Bulgaria: “He who shall be called ‘least in the kingdom of heaven’ means he who will be last in the resurrection and who will be cast into Gehenna. For such a one shall not enter the kingdom of heaven, far from it!” (The Explanation of the Holy Gospel According to St. Matthew, p. 49, Chrysostom Press 1992, Tr. Fr. Christopher Stade)
Dogma can mean a) opinion b) a fixed belief c) system of belief, religion d) precept, ordinance
liberalize [φιλελευθεριάζει] – to remove or relax restrictions on something
St. John Damascene, Exposition, Book 3, Chp. 18
The Orthodox Witness website is published by Anthony Hatzidakis.
Orthodox Christians all over the world have received the unchanging Christian Faith, passed down from the Holy Apostles to their successors, and continue to practice it today in the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church – The Orthodox Church.
BELOVED ORTHODOXY
BELOVED ORTHODOXY
(Monk Joseph Vriennios, spiritual father of St. Mark of Ephesus)
Performed and recorded by Fr. Emmanuel as a demo.
We shall not renounce you, beloved Orthodoxy.
We shall not forsake you, true Faith of our Fathers.
You gave us birth, in you we live,
And in your breast we shall fall asleep.
We shall not renounce you, beloved Orthodoxy.
We shall not forsake you, true Faith of our Fathers.
And if the times demand of us
we’ll die for your sake ten-thousand deaths.
We shall not renounce you, beloved Orthodoxy.
We shall not forsake you, true Faith of our Fathers.
Orthodox Faith: you are our boast,
Our wealth, our glory, our crown, our force.
We shall not renounce you, beloved Orthodoxy.
We shall not forsake you, true Faith of our Fathers.
We shall not renounce you, beloved Orthodoxy.
We shall not forsake you, true Faith of our Fathers.
Orthodox Christians all over the world have received the unchanging Christian Faith, passed down from the Holy Apostles to their successors, and continue to practice it today in the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church – The Orthodox Church.
Ode of Peace
Words, music and photography by Fr. Emmanuel Hatzidakis
“Peace is what I leave with you,
it is My peace I give to you.
Do not be troubled nor upset” (John 14:27)
“Abide in Me and I in you” (John 15:4)
Ιn Me alone you may find everlasting peace,” (John 16:33).
Take heart, for I have overcome the world” (John 16:33)
“By day, O Lord, You send Your steadfast love.
By night we raise a song of praise to You” (Ps. 42:8).
With arms outstretched we pray to You, O God.
May peace on earth forever reign.
Ο guide our feet unto the way of peace (cf. Lk. 1:79)
Αnd grant that we may grow in harmony and peace.
Download a PDF from the forthcoming book, “Praise Him!”, a collection of Orthodox songs for kids, for all occasions.
Fr. Emmanuel recorded this “demo track” on a 4-track tape recorder back in the early 1990’s. All the voices are his! He had always wanted a children’s choir.
The Orthodox Witness website is published by Anthony Hatzidakis.
Orthodox Christians all over the world have received the unchanging Christian Faith, passed down from the Holy Apostles to their successors, and continue to practice it today in the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church – The Orthodox Church.
THE DREADFUL CORRUPTING OF CHILDREN WITH PANSEXUALITY
A communication by the
DEPARTMENT ON HERESIES AND FALSE RELIGIONS
of the Metropolis of Piraeus, Greece
October 30, 2023
We, unfortunately, live in eschatological and apocalyptic times where spiritual decline and apostasy, combined with moral impoverishment, have created a demonic situation unprecedented in human history. When viewed in light of the prophetic Biblical and Patristic writings of our Church, it is now commonly concluded that our era contains all the elements mentioned for it to be called an era of the complete subversion of the values which upheld mankind for centuries, values which set mankind apart from the animal kingdom, in which there is no morality, but only blind instincts for the perpetuation of a species.
One of the central manifestations of modern moral apostasy is the complete liberation of the procreational drives from every moral barrier, and the insatiable thirst for pleasure. It is what many have called “sexual liberation” from all ethical morals, from any respect for the “other”, who is acknowledged as a sex object. The flesh has become an object of worship and pleasure is what is most sought after.
From infancy to old age, the pursuit of pleasure has become the meaning of life. Unfortunately, in our tragic days, Epicurean philosophy and Freudian theories have prevailed in mankind, which have raised instinctual eroticism, with all its perversions, to the highest “aspiration”, to a way of life for modern man. Chastity, decency, honesty, conjugal fidelity and modesty have all been marginalized and characterized as anachronistic remnants of the past.
The trailblazer in all this unprecedented moral apostasy is the Western world, which has, during the past decades, through the respective governments of European countries and America, given legal validity to all kinds of sexual deviancy. It legalizes gay “marriage”, reclassifies one’s gender with a simple declaration, and legitimizes all forms of sexual perversion such as incest, pedophilia, bestiality and necrophilia, as tolerable “sexual preferences”, making them equal with the physical union between a married man and woman, with full legal coverage. Concurrently, “sex education” lessons have made it into the curriculum in all Western countries, even for infants! A monumental effort is now being made on a global level to introduce children to the sick world of sexual liberation, and worst of all, sexual perversions. Of course, the result of this initiation is that a distorted understanding about human eroticism is created in children with catastrophic consequences, namely, the disruption in the remainder of their otherwise smooth psychological development.
This present communication resulted from an interesting and eye-opening post on “Aktines”, entitled: “International Organizations support the corruption of children”, a translation of an article by Ms. Janet Levy, originally published on the “American Thinker” website [“Sexualizing Children”]. The author’s topic is the sexualization of children, focusing on how children are being initiated into perversions and into dreadful pedophilia.
According to the author, if you are someone who thinks that forcing children to be exposed to sexual practices as early as infancy is outright wrong, you have great reason to be worried, because:
There is a plan by the World Economic Forum (WEF), the World Health Organization (WHO), and the U.N. (United Nations) as part of Agenda 2030, to sexualize children, promote pornography, and normalize pedophilia. “Under the guise of caring for children’s rights, needs, and health, these organizations are encouraging school systems to incorporate programs rife with sexual content.”
“To get parents out of the way, they are camouflaging their intent as a commitment to protect the ‘sexual rights’ of minors.” … “Schools may not inform parents that their child is being exposed to sexual content, is attending drag queen hour, or is being counseled for sex change.”
Ms. Levy says that “in order for the globalist agenda to overthrow Western and Christian civilization, it strikes at our most vulnerable members”. It “primes [them] for possible future exploitation, filling their minds with ideas and feelings they are too young to understand.” “Brainwashed and confused,” the children will likely “end up consenting to activities parents have taught them to reject.” Eventually “school programs will normalize pedophilia in the name of ‘child liberation’.”
The author adds:
The U.N. and other organizations (Rutgers Foundation, Planned Parenthood, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, etc.) are making an “overarching effort to promote perverse ideas about child sexuality, scaffolded by dubious, politically-driven academic studies.”
“Such sexualization of children goes hand in hand with efforts to normalize what western civilization has deemed one of the worst perversions – pedophilia.”
This “desensitization of children to aberrant sexual practices in the name of sexuality education is nothing more than grooming them for the advances of deviants.”
“Describing pedophilia as ‘just another sexual orientation’ and giving it innocuous names [MAP ‘minor attracted person’, etc.] is reckless, dishonest, and a grave danger to the next generation. It must be exposed and stopped.”
We think that the publication we just quoted is so revealing and clear, regarding pansexualism and the sexual exploitation of children, that it needs no further analysis. It is clear that children have also become a target of the dark and deceitful globalists. The worst and most disgusting form of sexual perversion, pedophilia, is the ultimate demonic “tool” of the dark forces of the New Age for the complete manipulation of humanity. It is so prevalent and entrenched today that there are almost daily reports of sexual abuse of innocent children, even by relatives and their own parents! A political association of pedophiles “operates” legally in the Netherlands, while some corrupt scientists attempt to present it as “natural selection”.
We will conclude by saying that humanity today is living in “the days of Noah” [Gen 6:11-12 : “The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence; and God looked upon the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth.”] and in “the days of Sodom and Gomorrah” [Gen 18:20 “the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is very grievous”]. History teaches us that every moral lapse inevitably brings destruction. In particular, the reduction of the procreational function and its relegation to insatiable passion can only cause calamities to mankind.
The only remedy is the Orthodox Christian way of life and polity. The showing of man to be the face and living image of God. The establishment the mutual respect of people and the respect for the sanctity of God-created human nature. The ascetic ideal of our Church, in its broadest sense, humility and repentance – can resurrect modern man, dead from passions, and regenerate him into “a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ” (Eph. 4:13).
Let us strive to intensify our spiritual struggle and give our Orthodox witness to the apostate world. Let us still try with all our might to protect our children from the satanic attack of pansexualism which is in full force!
Translated by Anthony Hatzidakis. We have condensed and paraphrased some of the extensive quotations cited from Ms. Levy’s article.
Orthodox Christians all over the world have received the unchanging Christian Faith, passed down from the Holy Apostles to their successors, and continue to practice it today in the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church – The Orthodox Church.
Patriarch of Constantinople calls for a permanent pan-religion Synod
We post this translation hoping and praying that Patriarch Bartholomew will come to his senses and begin evangelizing for the Orthodox Church, the true Church.
by Mr. Dimitrios Lambropoulos, theologian.
Originally posted (in Greek) on orthodoxostypos.gr on Nov 24, 2023
Patriarch Bartholomew was in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates (November 3-6, 2023) where he delivered two talks, the first at the 16th “World Politics Conference” with the general theme “The international system between globalization and disintegration: Which forces will prevail?” His talk was entitled, “Religion: Hope in a changing world”. His second talk entitled, “The compass of conscience: Guiding ethical action in a warming world” was given at the “COP28” conference on the so-called climate change, which had as its general theme, “Stream of Consciousness: Uniting Faith Leaders for Planetary Revival”. How many times has the Patriarch traveled to a rich Arab country to preach Christ?
Religion: The network of politics
The Patriarch stated at the outset that in the context of the present conference, that he would not be talking about faith as salvation. He stated,
“The question asked [Which forces will prevail?”] has a broader scope, that of the global future. It concerns the political and geopolitical influence of religion.”
That is, religion can be a mechanism to parallel other institutions, and offer hope:
“If the economy and politics can no longer inspire hope, can we turn to religion?”
He not only equates religion with the secular sphere, but also equates all religions:
“In their teachings and rituals and in the organization of social ties, religions mobilize the wisdom that man has accumulated for millennia.”
He also says,
“Our [diverse] faith traditions share fundamental teachings concerning the spiritual responsibility to care for God’s creation. Our sacred texts command us to protect our common home.”
So according to him, all religions have wisdom, love for God’s creation (even though some believe in “deities” who oppose the Creation) and sacred texts. “Wisdom”, the Patriarch is saying, is human, not divine, as the Apostle says (1 Cor 2:1-16). “Rituals” (read magic) are approved by him as the path of [acquiring] this “wisdom”!
All of these words were spoken for only one purpose: To promote the religions as the healers of the political systems:
“Religions have, in their traditions, the necessary elements to fill the void that has settled in souls. [Religions] can help breathe new life into democratic societies”(!)
as the following:
“Religious and indigenous communities offer ancient wisdom for sustainable living today; their voices can help transform society.”
So then, according to the Patriarch, is saving a democratic society also a goal of theocratic Islam??
The Patriarch also says that religions have an advantage over secular institutions as mechanisms:
“Religious institutions have the ability to reach, through their teachings, more people than international organizations, think tanks or NGOs.”
That is, it is easy for them to go after people because of what they proclaim, even if they it means terrorizing souls or peddling false metaphysical expectations.
The Phanar: The perfect hook
It is easy for one to see that the patriarchal line of reasoning gradually leads the minds of his listeners to his purpose, to demonstrate the Patriarchate of Constantinople’s position and role in this mechanism. The reasoning is plain to see:
“Most religious networks cross continents and borders. Therefore, they form a spiritual structure that can help moderate the forces of separation and division… The Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople, with its global presence, is an model example of this. Its presence and acceptance could prove particularly beneficial.”
So we see that the universal Orthodox Church is nowhere to be seen, having been replaced by, and only by, the Patriarchate of Constantinople! The Phanar views itself as a multinational company called “Patriarchate Corp.” and not as the Church of the true Faith. As for the other autocephalous Orthodox Churches, they are written off. The reason he wants jurisdiction over the entire Diaspora is not for the canonical reasons he has maintained, but in order to have power which he can use as a negotiating card for his political objectives.
The Patriarchate inserts itself into “world politics” and touts itself as the unifying force of the world, holding in one hand the world roadmap which penetrates the other religions, and in the other hand the “parchments” to support him, which other religious groups involved in inter-religious dialogue initiatives do not possess:
“The long history of coexistence, dialogue and exchanges, not only with Judaism, but also with Islam, is a real advantage the Christian world has.”
and also:
“We remain active participants in the inter-religious dialogue, for the protection of the environment.”
“The new normal” according to Patriarch Bartholomew
It is evident that his dialoguing is conducted for no other reason but to serve the priorities of the political “agenda”: now the environment, now health measures, now the ideology about the “West”, etc. It is not by chance that he refers to: “relations between the West and the rest of the world”. He says, “The Russian invasion of Ukraine and now the terrible war between Hamas and Israel have revealed a growing spiritual divide between these two blocs”. So Russia and Hamas belong to the same side… of “terrorism”?
However, “the big plan” suddenly comes into view with the following revelations in the two talks:
“Leaders of the different religions must coordinate their efforts in order to magnify the beneficial results of their ancestral traditions. This is why interfaith dialogue is necessary.”
and
“Cooperation is the new normal! Like never before, disparate groups are forming alliances to protect civilization and planetary health. … In order to sustain cooperation between different religions and partners in science and society, we must create a lasting mechanism… that will turn strong intentions into actualized results. Together we are greater from the sum of our parts.”!
Who will be “responsible” for this cooperation? The Phanar itself? “What kind of fellowship can light have with darkness?”(2 Cor 6:14) Could it be that, if international laws had not been established and if there were no political and military powers, that some [violent] religions would also be “peace-loving”?
The focus of his talks was “cooperation” among religions and the creation of a “permanent mechanism” in order to achieve this cooperation. How will this mechanism be implemented?
First, after we learn to respect or just tolerate people’s freedom to believe even in idols, we will be led to the next step, that of embracing other religions. How else will “cooperation” be possible?
Second, Orthodoxy will be abandoned as a witness to [Jesus Christ who is] the truth and the “Orthodox Church” will be promoted as a procurer of utilitarianism, since the criterion for its contribution will be “global benefit” as defined by the politicians…
Third, who will be the “coordinator” of this mechanism? Is anyone so naïve as to believe that a “permanent synod of religions” will be a neutral and independent body, while “the watchmen have the knowledge” of how all the international organizations function (UN, WHO, NATO, etc.)?
Is bowing to political agendas and promoting them part of the episcopal mission of the Patriarch of Constantinople?
Until now, no one had even thought of such a mechanism, and now all of a sudden Patriarch Bartholomew has this brilliant idea?What does “together we are greater from the sum of our parts” mean?What are the “parts” of the Patriarchate? Does togetherness with other religions surpass the power of God in the Orthodox Church?Is geopolitical influence the only concern of… “a man of God”?
Spokesperson of the USA?
It is dangerous, if not ecclesiastically reprehensible, to give a theoretical foundation to something completely foreign to theology. This reveals, therefore, that an equalizing of everything is being attempted, and not just that, but also the promotion of a pan-religion is being taken to the next level. Interfaith dialogue has been a preparatory stage in order to create the necessary conditions for this “permanent mechanism” proposed by… the “Orthodox” Patriarch! Subsequently, by submitting the religions to each political expediency, direct control of them is given to those who are “responsible”, who will keep their mouth closed when the state gives an order, since the “West” is always on the “right side of history”. For them, this new world religion is also inherently good, because it will be a creation of Antichrist! Whoever does not go along with the para-religon will be labeled as… a terrorist!
When the essentially non-existent hierarchy of the Phanar do not oppose Patriarch Bartholomew’s participating in “conferences of world politics” and his promoting views which they do not approve of, it means that already, nothing is left anymore, whatever it had is gone, not even a reminder that it is a Church!
Translated by Anthony Hatzidakis, November 30, 2023. Bold text is the translator’s.
Orthodox Christians all over the world have received the unchanging Christian Faith, passed down from the Holy Apostles to their successors, and continue to practice it today in the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church – The Orthodox Church.
INTERVIEW WITH BLESSED FR ROMAN BRAGA
The following text is a clarified transcription of words spoken by Blessed Fr. Roman Braga (1922-2015) in an interview he gave to the producers of “Beyond Torture: The Gulag of Pitesti, Romania”, a documentary directed by Alan Hartwick (2007, 35 min). Fr. Roman talks about his early years and family life, God and the devil, prayer, the mission of Orthodox Christians in America, his repeated arrests and especially the infamous communist prison for intellectuals, Pitesti, where he was tortured physically and psychologically for 5 years. Fr. Roman reposed at the women’s Monastery of the Dormition of the Theotokos in Rives Junction, Michigan in 2015.
Interviewer: Jim Murphy
Interviewee: Fr. Roman Braga
— Father, may I ask for your own story, where you were born, the journey of your life.
His early years
From an Orthodox point of view I am a very normal person. I was born in an Orthodox family and I inherited the Faith from my family. They didn’t teach me religion. In fact, we don’t believe too much in teaching intellectually. You cannot know God by learning about God. God is lived. And in my family we lived the faith in God. We experienced God.
Sunday schools
What is Christian education
If you go to Romania or Russia, you won’t find Sunday Schools. We don’t have Sunday School. Sunday School is when a mother takes her child in her arms, goes to the Icon of the Mother of God and says, “Look, this is Jesus Christ, this is the Mother of God, this is Saint Nicholas.” That is our Sunday School. All of this education happens in the family. Christian education is training, not teaching. You grow up in it, you experience it. This was very serious for us.
His family was “a little special”
As for our family life, sure, maybe my family was a little special, so to say, because my mom knew the Psalter by heart, all 150 Psalms. If I know half of them by heart now it is from my mom, not from the theological institute. They don’t teach you how to pray there.
— She must have been a very devout woman.
She was, and my father the same. My father provided her many books and some of the liturgical books. We prayed together as a family. There was no discussion about it. When the time came for prayer, we were on our knees.
Since we were farmers, we had the time. Maybe in an industrial world like today it is a little more difficult (I recommend to the people who come to this monastery that they pray together as a family, at least for a couple of minutes at night before going to bed).
Preparing for Sunday Liturgy
So we lived a life of prayer. For us, preparation for Sunday Liturgy began Friday night. On Saturday we didn’t work at all. We cooked the meal for Sunday on Saturday, because in our family we never cooked on Sundays, we only warmed up our food. Sundays were for reading a spiritual book, from Scripture or from the Psalter or for having a spiritual discussion. We might also talk about something practical, like what we were going to do the next day, etc., these kinds of things. So it was a typical Orthodox family in this regard.
Crying babies in church
My whole family was in church (and, you know, Orthodox services are pretty long). We were together with our parents in church (In Romania, we didn’t separate children from their parents and send them to Sunday School during the Liturgy, with only the adults left in church with a cry room for the little ones. No! All the children were crying! It was noisy in church! The children stay in church because they are the people of God too. They have the same rights as we adults do, because they are baptized.
While Fr. Roman was speaking about children crying in Church, there was a “divine sign” overhead, “crying” geese which echoed Fr. Roman’s words. “There are none like You among the gods, O Lord, and there are no works like Your works.” (Psalm 86:8, 85 LXX); “Work a sign with me for a good purpose and let those who hate me see it and be put to shame, for You, O Lord, have helped me and comforted me.” (Psalm 86:18, 85 LXX)]
What is a “church member”
We don’t believe that members of the Church are those who pay dues to the Church. No! If we are baptized, we are members of the Church. We can go to any church. In fact, in Russia or Romania or in Greece we don’t have 300 or 400 parishioners. Nobody counts them. They come to church and they receive Holy Communion. We ask them, “Did you go to Confession?” “Yes, I went to my priest where my parents are” (a thousand miles away). “It’s ok, come to the chalice.” A parish does not have formal organization. The Church is a living organism, and is not defined by “how many members” she has.
So my family went to church every Sunday and for all the feast days. We had an Icon corner in our home with an oil lamp burning there all the time. There were some shelves there with Holy Scripture, some prayer books and other books.
How he learned to read
I learned to read and write, as a five-year-old, from the Akathist of St. Mary Magdalene, not in the Latin characters, but Slavonic. (Romanian uses Latin characters. We are a Latin people but had a Slavonic influence.)
And what were our parents? They were not intellectuals. They were farmers. After my mom showed me the word “God”, I found ”God” everywhere in the books, and then another word, and so on, and I found them easily. I learned to read very quickly.
Discipline given by his pious mother
Our parents were very attentive to us, but they were especially attentive to keeping us close to them. Like most children, we were very active. In our family there were eight children. Imagine having to make three meals a day for eight children. It was very hard work, but there was our mother, cooking away. When we went into in the kitchen, she was singing a psalm. When we were playing on the floor, she was singing. If we misbehaved, she would discipline us by telling us to go read three psalms or sing four songs (which, in fact, was a very good way to discipline). So it was a family full of love and faith, and it was beautiful. We had a choir in the family.
Fr. Roman being interviewed by Mr. Jim Murphy.
— Did you know then that you would become a priest?
No, we didn’t. We didn’t think about it.
“We are all monastics”
There was a monastery very close to our house, and the monks influenced us very much, the whole village in fact, because we didn’t look at monasticism as something “different”. In fact, we all are monastics. We all have the “inner” monasticism. When Jesus said, “Take up your cross and follow Me” (Lk. 9:23) or “If you love your mother, father, sons and daughters and brothers and sisters more than Me, you are not worthy of Me” (Mt. 10:37-38), He wasn’t speaking to monks (because there were no monks at that time), but to everyone. “Take up your cross and follow Me”, obedience and other virtues can be accomplished in a family setting by listening to each other and obeying each other. The same with humbling oneself and daily confession of thoughts. All the monastic virtues, in fact, apply to everyone, because “Be perfect as your Father in Heaven is perfect” (Mt. 5:48) is addressed to all of us. There were no monasteries in those days, so Jesus wasn’t speaking to monks, but to everyone. So monasticism is, in fact, within each one of us.
What is a monk?
What monks have that others do not is the “outer” monk, the garment we wear and the vow of celibacy. Monks do not marry because we are the army of the Church, the soldiers of the Church. We are at the disposal of the bishops; when the Church needs someone, we go immediately (we were sent here to open this monastery).
So we all are monastic. The monastery influenced our village in a good sense, but I wasn’t thinking to become a monk in those days.
— What was the moment when you knew that monasticism was your calling?
Communists did not like his teaching method.
At the seminary, the theological institute in Bucharest, I studied to become a teacher of Romanian language and literature. I began to teach at a high school in Bucharest, but when the communists came, they didn’t like the way I taught, because they wanted a Marxist interpretation to be introduced in everything. I didn’t want to lie to my students [by teaching a distorted reality], so I continued until they arrested me. I was a layman at that time, not a monk.
The first five years in prison, I was not a monk, priest or clergyman.
— But even as a layman your faith grew in prison?
Pitești
Well, in my first imprisonment especially, the phenomenon Pitești [Pĭ∙tĕçht].
“Communism is not a normal society”
Fear
I was not a clergyman when I was in Pitești. And Pitești was very interesting. I thank God for my imprisonment there. There are things that happened in Pitești that you American people cannot comprehend. Sometimes, sure, it may seem unrealistic to you, even impossible, but if you read Solzhenitsyn, and especially anything about Pitești where I was for five years, you will understand that communism is not a normal society. You Americans are normal people. You don’t know what it is to be afraid, for your thoughts to be controlled, to fear that whatever word you might utter today could jeopardize your future tomorrow. You don’t know what it’s like to have to lock the doors and the windows if you tuned your radio to BBC London and go around the house to make sure no one was listening, or to be taught as a child not to tell anyone what we are doing at home because they will put you in prison. You don’t experience these kinds of situations. American people are not afraid of anything and, thank God, they are free. I would say that you are normal; those of us who passed through communism are not; something stays with us.
Patriarch of Romania had to send him to Brazil
Later, after I became a priest, they put me in prison twice (In Romania, if you spent time in prison that made you a candidate [for priesthood]). They gave me “vacations” but they always took me in again. I went in and out of prison so many times that the Patriarch of Romania finally said that I had to leave the country (even when I was not in prison, they took me in for every Easter and Christmas; they arrested me on the holy days all the time). Patriarch Justinian told me he had to send me to Brazil, just to get rid of me (it was not easy, because the authorities declined his request eleven times, but the Patriarch insisted.)
— Father, you mentioned Pitești. Could you explain a little bit of what happened there and what happened to the people who were there.
Special prisons for intellectuals were “laboratories” where they tried to “create a communist personality”
Importance of psychiatrists and doctors
Well, in communism there were some special prisons, “laboratories” you could call them, laboratories in which they believed they could create a communist personality. They used all the methods. Mental hospitals, for example. They came with psychiatrists; they were very important (communist psychiatrists also experimented in Russia). They came to give special drugs and said, “You are crazy because you are not a communist” or “You are crazy because you believe in God” or they scorned you saying, “Look at yourself…”
The old were “condemned to disappear”
Children educated in communist doctrine
Pavlovian conditioning
These special prisons were for only for intellectuals, but not all intellectuals. They left the old intellectuals alone because they were destined to disappear on their own. As for the young children (because they had special prisons for the older children, for high school students), they were educated in the communist materialistic doctrine. The old intellectuals were busy working, reading books and so forth, but for the university students (and I was one of them at that time) and for the university graduates (25-35 year-olds), they made Pitești to transform their personalities – because they were an intellectual force – and to alter their thinking. They used every method. They controlled experiences, for example, using Pavlovian behavioral conditioning; they repeated things for you to hear, over and over.
Physical torture
There was also physical torture. Just to relate one incident, when we all lost the sense of time. I remember my room there, it was a big hall with bunkbeds. On the sixth of December everything started with a shock, physical torture. In five minutes we were under the beds, all bloodied. But that is nothing. That is bearable. That was the first shock, when I lost the sense of time.
Authorities brainwashed students to make them torture each other.
I knew when it was Easter and Palm Sunday and other holy days from the things they did there. They took the prisoners and mimicked and mocked liturgical actions, so to say, which were things they all knew from being Orthodox at one time. These actions were not done by the prison officials, but by the students. They had the students torture their own classmates and other prisoners. This was their method. They turned them against each other. They took a group of them who disappeared for a year and a half, and when they came back, they were completely brainwashed (they had said, “We don’t want to die in prison” and the authorities promised them that if they did this, they would be released. That was, of course, a lie, because no one was released.
So the prison was essentially run by one of the the prisoners. We never even saw the Director there, not one official was there.
Communist “confessions”
Former Orthodox people became “demonized”
Desecration of church hymns
They started gathering information. We had to write down everything we could remember from the time we were five years old, every detail. It was a complete confession (the devil has his own confession). They had us stay in a special physical position in which one could remember everything. It was this was this position. I was like this for six months.
We had to sit there, just like that, and when it was time to go for the necessities (there was no bathroom in the room, just a barrel), they led us scornfully, saying all kind of of things I cannot repeat. They also used liturgical terminology, because, as I said, these people knew these things from being Orthodox at one time, but they became demonized. For example, they said phrases from prayers, but replaced the words with dirty words, but said them in the same rhythm as we say them in church. We say, “Holy God, Holy Mighty, Holy Immortal, have mercy on us”, and I could tell you in Romanian what they said, but it’s impossible for me to say these words, because they are dirty words. They did this just to create a shock.
“Inside a man there is a part that cannot be controlled”
What was the strength? Τheir wanted to keep us at the line between normal and abnormal, and no one can stay there; you had to say yes. There were people who said no, and this is most interesting: If a man strongly believes in God, there is something inside him that cannot be controlled. This was their failure. Even those who were brainwashed came back to themselves when they moved us to a forced labor camp. When they saw nature, the birds, they were rehabilitated. They came back.
You know what I saw in Pitești? Saintly people becoming criminals and criminals becoming Saints.
A call to spiritual fathers to collaborate and analyze what happened to men at Pitești
What I would like is for psychiatrists and deep spiritual fathers to collaborate and analyze what happened at Pitești, regarding the subconscious. A man does not know what he could become in certain conditions. We have in our heart, as Jesus said, good parts and bad parts (Mt. 15:19). Our hearts contain our world, both the passions and also all the good things. What is important to to ask “who am I?”
Many good, saintly people “fell”.
Similarity to Solzhenitsyn’s Gulag
The devil has “experts” in medicine, in psychiatry and in everything.
So we passed through Pitești. Two-hundred years would not be long enough for me to understand what I could become under certain conditions.And there were many people, good people, saintly people who fell, who gave up. Some people can resist up to this point, another a bit higher, but one cannot resist under those conditions, the pressure, to be pushed over the limit of normality. This is what Solzhenitsyn writes about, if you read him attentively. The Gulag did not represent the whole prison system in Russia, it was just one special place for intellectuals.
— Pitești sounds to me like a living hell.
It was a hell.
— And you used a very frightening word, that these people were “demonized”, and yet, Father, I’ve heard you say that your time in prison was a great blessing for you. How did the light of faith shine in such darkness?
He took refuge in the Jesus Prayer
It’s very difficult to say how for each individual. As for myself, I had my own inner temple. They couldn’t control me. I was saying The Jesus Prayer. I stayed inside myself. I just didn’t pay attention to them. There were some people who were not as spiritual, and sure, they were churchgoers or nominalistic Orthodox (in Romania we have them too, not just in the western world), and they fell. Those who really had God in themselves, however, did not. They resisted.
— Did your heart become a sanctuary?
If it had not, I could not have resisted. I wasn’t the only one. There were many who passed through Pitești who resisted, who didn’t give names. They thought that we were finished, but that was not the case. This kingdom inside you, this realm of the Church is what saves someone.
Religion must be a personal experience
That’s why I say, don’t learn about Christianity only, you have to live it, because God is life and He is experienced personally. If you don’t experience God personally, what good is religion or union with God? The word “religion” comes from the Latin rĕlĭgo and means contact between man and God). You must experience, not only hear. You can have the Bible and know it by heart and still not know anything because you haven’t experienced God.
Solitary confinement a positive experience where he discovered himself and found God
So in Pitești it was very difficult to see the positive side; we were just trying to survive. When they put me in solitary confinement (and I was in solitary confinement a long time), that was my positive prison experience, because solitary confinement was different. They isolated us from each other thinking that if the intellectuals are isolated, without books, without paper and pencil, they will become beasts, but that didn’t happen. It is a glory to be like that, because sometimes we are the slaves to the books.
Solitary was a healing process where prisoners could “become themselves”
When you are outside, you are not yourself, you don’t even ask, ”Who am I?” You are made up of quotations from different books; you are not yourself. But in there, there is nowhere to go; you are inside four walls; but one has to go somewhere, because the nature of the human spirit is to explore; it must go somewhere. What happened to me in solitary confinement, I didn’t even experience in my family life (which was a good Christian family, going to church together and praying together.); I discovered myself there. On the outside, you never have time to ask, ”Who am I?” and to contemplate your own self, but you can become yourself in solitary confinement.
I found God too, because God is the image of God is within us, but we don’t realize it. Looking at it from this perspective, prison was very positive for intellectuals. My family (and my sister is here in this monastery), they didn’t know where I was. This is communist imprisonment for you. It’s not like being in prison in America. I told all this to a journalist who came here and he said, “Wow, I think you and Solzhenitsyn have a wild imagination.” So I said (and I kissed him), ”I’m very glad for you, because you are normal people. We are not normal people [who passed through communism].” For sure, in prison, especially in solitary confinement, one finds God. There is nowhere else to turn. You have to.
— It’s either find God or go insane I would imagine.
Yes, sure, you found God because you are just by yourself there. You don’t have another person to talk to. Just you and God. And in normal life we don’t have this opportunity.
— I don’t know if these are the correct words, Father, but, in a sense, was the solitary confinement a kind of healing process after Pitești?
It was. It was a healing process, yes.
— So Pitești was the violence and solitary confinement was the healing.
Exactly. It was a healing. And I think God provided it to me… and I was not the only one. Many categories of people were isolated like this because they wanted certain people to become beasts. They believed that if we didn’t have books we would be like animals. But that didn’t happen. We became ourselves, and this is what we have to do, become ourselves.
— Father, how is it that you went through all of this and did not become a bitter or cynical man?
He forgave those who tortured him
Difference between suffering a little and a lot
Thank God, and God bless them, if some of them are still alive. I forgave them at that time. Do you know, when you suffer a little you become hateful, you hate and you want revenge, and when you suffer a lot, you forgive everything.
— Why is that?
Jesus on the Cross said, “Forgive them, Father, because they don’t know what they are doing.” (Lk. 23:34) That happened with us, the same feeling that they are insulting you, torturing you, and then you look at them and you realize that they don’t know what they are doing. That happened with us. No one who passed through Pitești wants revenge. No. We forgave them and we want them to come to God and to become people. So in this respect there’s no problem. I pray for them all the time, even though I don’t know the names of the doctors.
WHY PITEȘTI CLOSED
Someone fled the country and told the world
Communists kill and torture but do not want it to be known and have a bad public image
All of the guards and doctors were condemned and executed
What happened at Pitești stopped because one of them fled the country and something was shown on the BBC about a special prison in Pitești, called Pitești, in Romania. So they stopped it immediately, because in communism, they kill, they torture, but they don’t want anyone to know. When it becomes known, they immediately find a scapegoat, and that happened. They condemned and executed the Director of the prison and the doctors (one of them was even the doctor of the city hospital there) and all the wardens there. Everybody who knew about it had to disappear, because the communists didn’t want to have bad things in their archives. They are able to kill each other, and that is what they did with Beria after Stalin, all of this [cover up] in order not to have a bad reputation. For them, the only infallible organization in the world should be communism. They wanted to create a good record, not to have bad things on the record.
— Kind of a public image.
Exactly, exactly.
— I see.
So Pitești stopped and everybody who knew more, how it started, they had to disappear. They were all executed.
— Did you meet other great men in Pitești?
Saintly people in Pitești
Oh, yes. There were some Saints there. Almost all of them are dead, because I am 80 now, but some of them are still alive. I found great people there.
— Could you tell us one or two of them?
Oh, yes. One is priest George Calciu (+2006). Maybe you have heard about him, he is a priest now in Washington DC. And there was Valerio Gaffenko. We considered him to be a martyr, because he died in Pitești.
Goal of the torturers to make you compromise, to “dirty oneself”
“The devil does not want to fill heaven with martyrs”
Eugen Turcanu, one of the brainwashed students who tortured Fr. Roman, whom Fr. Roman forgave.
There were 40 who died in Pitești. But they didn’t want to kill you. They controlled you so you could not have anything, a needle, anything that could be used to harm yourself. One time they wanted some information from me about something that happened outside and I didn’t want to give names. They put me on a table and one of them, Țurcanu (who was the devil, who was demon possessed, was executed by them) told me, “I don’t care what you believe, what you have in your mind. What I want is for you to compromise”, because he himself compromised. So this is the devil… They didn’t want to kill us. The devil doesn’t want to fill heaven with martyrs. He wants you to die after you compromise, to lose your heavenly life and this life too. That was the point of this Satanic torturing in Pitești. They didn’t want you to die. They wanted you to dirty yourself first, so the people would not consider you a hero or a martyr, and then you could die anywhere. This, I saw, is how Satan works.
The existence of the devil
— Satan, there are so many terms used for him. Is he basically the enemy of the human soul?
Consequence of saying, “I believe in God”
Sure, I believe the devil exists. This is not theoretical for me. He is a person that talked with Jesus on the “mountain of temptation” (Mt. 4:1, Lk. 4:5). I don’t have any doubt, especially after I passed through Pitești. One simple example. You could accuse yourself that you did everything [against the regime] and they would forgive you, but when you said, “I still believe in God”, in five minutes you were full of blood. Such was their revolt against God and against Faith.
Another example. I was a witness there when somebody killed a Russian soldier. And he didn’t confess (it was in the woods there somewhere). Maybe he had something on him and he confessed to it there, because, as I said, there was a way to make you remember everything. And they popped up like puppets. They just stood up and started to say everything they knew, and this one said he killed a Russian soldier. “Oh, you confess, you are rehabilitated.” But when somebody said, “I still believe in God”, whoo!, in a couple of minutes [there was blood everywhere]… I discovered the existence of the devil. Until then, the devil for me was only in the books. I am ashamed to say that even my theological preparation was from the books. But I confirmed the existence of the devil in Pitești and the existence of God in solitary confinement.
How the devil is working today
— Now Pitești is closed. What is the devil doing today? How is the devil working?
Freedom and relativism
Well, Pitești is closed and communism is over, but I think the devil invaded American democracy. I don’t want to be insulting and tell you… but there are very good things about democracy and freedom if you understand it in a right way. Today everything is permitted, everything is allowed, nothing counts, we can do everything because nothing matters. This is Satanism, when everything is relative. What is good today will be bad tomorrow and vice-versa. This relativism in which we live, this anthropocentrism, this humanism, that man is the center of everything, that God is out of the picture, that man is important, this is the continuation of Satan, but he changed his tactics. In the end, I think that Pitești was a failure for Satan, because it was forced, it was violent. But Satan has other methods now.
— And what are they?
Veiled persecution of Christians
Today Satan is a “perfumed and elegant person” not with horns and hooves.
Well, to go into a public institution or in schools and not to be able to pronounce the name of Jesus because it’s unconstitutional, well, this is not freedom, this is a persecution, but in another way, more delicate. Satan today is not like he was in the middle ages, with horns and a tail. Today he is a very perfumed and elegant person, at the level of our understanding and culture. Satan has been working in all cultures from the beginning and will be working up until the end of the world.
Persecution strengthen faith in Romania
For an intellectual, Satan is in one form and works through theologians in works in another manner. Satanism in one form or another is at work in all cultures and all societies. I would say that communism and Pitești were provided by God to strengthen our faith. Look at what is happening now in Romania. All of the churches have loudspeakers outside and the average age of a church-goer in Romania is from 16 to 40. Young people who were raised and educated in communist materialistic philosophy are now teaching their parents how to pray. This is due to communism. I see the positive side, like with the 300 years of Christian persecutions up until St. Constantine the Great.
— Father, you said that you encountered the devil in Pitești and encountered God in solitary confinement. When did you find yourself in all of that?
He was the “center of attention” for both God and the devil
I think I was the center of attention for both of them, because the devil’s work is to separate us from God and God’s work is to be united with us, and I was in the middle. I was, in fact, the land to be conquered by both of them.
God is always calling us to come back to Him and the role of Satan throughout the entire history of salvation is to separate us from God. I think God used Satan in communism to usher in a luminous era, that I believe very much is happening now in Russia, in Romania in Czechoslovakia, Poland, in all of these countries with their own religion. Poland with Roman Catholicism and in Russia and Romania with Orthodox Christianity. I think God selected these people to prepare them for something, for the light that is coming. I believe very much in the spiritual era.
Today’s apologists will be lay people, not the clergy
We are in the third millennium now and I think that in this millennium the apologists of the Church, those who will defend the faith, will not be the priests or the clergymen, but will be lay people who experienced communism.
— Father, you spoke a moment ago about the third millennium as being a time of spiritual awakening and revival.
Yes, I believe this very much, but I will not be here to see it.
— I know the Roman Catholic church very much has caught a similar vision of a time of a rebirth of Christianity and a new time of going forth. Do you see some kind of a collaboration in the future, Father, between the western church and the Church of the east?
Dislike of Ecumenism
Need for repentance
Well, there should be, but I think as long as we are separated we cannot speak of ourselves as a church. The church is one, “one Lord, one Church, one Baptism” (Ephesians 4:5). I don’t like this Ecumenism that’s happening now, that’s why I’m not involved and I don’t want to be. Ecumenism is when the Pope in Rome and the Patriarchs in Constantinople and Russia will kneel, will confess their sins, will recognize that we are sinful people and will ask God for forgiveness, and that is the unity. It’s not, “I am right you are not right.” I don’t accept that. I think the [reunion] is coming, but we have to be humble, confess our sins, repent and ask for the grace of God to work upon us — then we will understand this unity and diversity, because God created individuals as “separate entities” and love is the unity, a bridge that unites two personalities. Each will keep it’s own personality. The Protestant denomination should realize that they need to go back to the early Church, the Apostolic Church, to be like it (because it was founded by Jesus), that the sacraments have a basis in Holy Scripture, the word of Jesus Christ, that they must return to a sacramental Church. [Note: The Patriarch of Constantinople and the Pope have already knelt before each other and confessed their sins. Sadly, both the Patriarch and the Pope have gone so far astray from the Faith, that if a reunion takes place, it will be a heretical church.]
— Are we moving in that direction, Father?
Protestants need to find the true Church, the Orthodox Church
Yes, we are. I talked with Father Gillquist and this large evangelical group that became Orthodox. They found that the true Church still exists from reading Church history. We didn’t go after them, I am ashamed to say, they came to us. They were looking for the Church. They read second and third century writings and found in St. Athanasios, in the Apostolic Constitutions, the existence of the sacraments, that everything was there, and they asked themselves, “When did this disappear? Are we in the Church or are we not in the Church?” God brings them, and we have to love them.
What salvation is
Who will be saved
Orthodoxy has introduced in America (and this we don’t believe), the idea that we are the only ones who will be saved. Salvation is not in our hands. It is in God’s hands. He saves whom He [should save].2 Even Saint Paul said that Pagans will be saved if they follow the law inscribed in their own heart, the “natural law”1, because although they don’t have the written law, they have what has been given by God, the idea of what is evil and what is good. If they follow this, they will be saved.”3
— Father, what contribution does Orthodoxy make to the west? What is the gift?
What is knowledge
As I said before, to change their perspective. The west, under scholastic influence, very much stresses the process knowing things intellectually, which is good because God gave us an intellect. However, we don’t have to remain at this level, because there is another level, higher than the intellect, the spiritual realm, in which the grace of God works.
I would say that intellectual knowledge is to ascend toward God but spiritual knowledge is when God descends to you and pours out His Spirit upon you. We have to go into that spiritual realm and unite the practical, the sensible and psychological realms with the intellectual and the spiritual realms. We are not opposed to scientific knowledge, but we believe that [as Christians] we [become] supernatural entities, not against what is natural, but supernatural. Christianity is supernatural and [the Christian] man is a supernatural entity.
— You spoke earlier about how as a child you did not have Sunday School, but that your parents demonstrated religion, how they lived it, that it was a constant thing, touching every aspect of your life. Do you feel that Orthodoxy’s role in the west is not so much to teach [the Faith] as it is to simply live it, to demonstrate it, to show it?
God is experienced in the context of the Church through Her sacraments
Its role is to call all people to engage in the process of having a personal relationship with God, but these experiences are not made individually, but in the context of the Church, because the Grace of the Holy Spirit is given through the sacraments of the Church. So we are calling them to come to Church to have a sacramental experience.
Influence of his monastery
— And your way of life, as a monk in your community, is somehow having an impact on the world…
His monastery open to all
I don’t know how much impact we have. We always have people coming to us here to pray with us. We don’t preach too much to them. We have a guest house that is open even to Jewish people. Sometimes we have Jewish people coming to meditate or to walk around the property. If they want to come inside the church to attend services, it is ok with us. We never push them in any direction if they are not seeking, because we let God work. I don’t believe that a missionary should have a strong personality. It is God who works, through us. We are humble servants and instruments used by God’s hands. Sure, we pray for the whole world day and night in the services here in our chapel (this is why we are building the monastery, to be a spiritual oasis here for the whole Church, not just for ourselves). We pray for the mystical Body of Christ because this is the Church, [Christ’s Body]. Christ is the head and we are the members. Some members are sick or wounded, but the life of this organism is the Holy Spirit, Who heals everything.
Advice: to pray without ceasing
— Father, what advice would you give to people who are busy, trying to pay their bills with very busy schedules? What council would you give them?
Example of Saint Paul
Well, Saint Paul was a very busy person and he said: ”pray without ceasing” (1 Thes. 5:17).
— And how does one do that?
What does ”pray without ceasing” mean?
Well, he traveled a lot and he worked (Acts 18:3), but “pray without ceasing” doesn’t mean to always stay in prayer, but to be conscious of the presence of God, to have the feeling that God is present, that you are in the presence of God, or, more precisely, to feel the presence of God in the infinite dimension of your personality inside you, God in you and you in God.
— How does a person begin that spiritual journey?
The Jesus Prayer
What to say in prayer
With the Jesus Prayer, hesychasm. Those who practice the Jesus Prayer don’t have to use many words, but instinctually say, “O Lord” (you can even just say, “O Lord”, “Lord”, “O Lord Jesus Christ”). If you want to add “have mercy on me a sinner” it’s good. If you don’t have time, don’t say the whole prayer, just pronounce the name “Jesus”, and that will put you in the presence of God permanently.
Have a dialogue with God. I also very much recommend using your own words, not just the official Church prayers, but your own words: “Lord, look at me, I am here”, “Lord, the children are praying beautifully”, “Lord, thank you for a sunny day” or “Thank you for mom and dad; keep us as we are.” We have to become like children (Mt. 18:31). Tell God that you are hungry, that you are making a sandwich, that you are going shopping — everything — and this dialogue will give you a permanent feeling that you are in the presence of God. This is prayer. Prayer is not however long you read for. Prayer is a spiritual state in which you feel the presence of God within you. This is what “pray without ceasing” means. I think this is the answer for everyone in the busy western world. Sure, you are working there in the factory, but you can say, “Lord, look at me here”, “O God, bless my children and my co-workers here.”
Bringing God to the world
— Can we bring God to the world, Father?
“We should see every criminal as a candidate for sainthood”
Well sure. God is in the world but we have to bring God to the people because the world is just our surroundings. God created the world first and then created man, the crown of all His creations, to take care of this world. And God is in the world, His fingerprints are on everything, whether on a bird, a blade of grass, a flower. We have to bring God into the hearts of people, because God created people to be temples of the living God, consecrated churches of God. We must have the desire to do this and pray for this. We should see every criminal as a candidate for sainthood, to become holy.
— That’s a great act of faith.
Sure, they can do it. God created them. God loves them and waits for them.
God never gives up on us
— Does He ever give up on any of us, Father?
Oh no, He would never. He loves us so much. Sometimes the children are afraid when they hear, “God is looking at you. You are in the presence of God.” “But I’m afraid.” “Don’t be afraid. God doesn’t want to catch you doing something wrong. He is looking at you because He loves you so much, just like a mom who looks at her baby. He cannot take His eyes off you.”
God looks at us when we sin, but He is so patient and loving. Parents should understand that, even when the children are sinning, they are their children.
— Father, I thank you so much for your time.
Thank you.
— “May Paradise consume you”, is that the line?
Yes, Father Cleopa, my spiritual father, used to say, “May Paradise consume you.” It sounds very good in Romanian.
— Say it for us in Romanian.
Manca-te-ar Raiul! When he saw someone he would say, “May Paradise consume you!“
— That’s a beautiful blessing. Thank you, Father, very much for your time.
“I pray for America”
America’s mission is to evangelize
Cultural identities should remain among peoples
American converts: “be yourself”
I pray for America. It’s a great country and God loves this country so much. I think [American Orthodox Christians] have a special mission, to bring [the Orthodox Faith] to the world, not globalism. Even if economically the boundaries disappear, the individuality and the personality of each culture should be kept. It is not about nationalism, it is about identity, and we have to keep our identity. God made us an individual, an individual grows in a family, each family has a specific family in the ethnical realm and the ethnical realm is brought into the Church. I always say to Americans, “If you become Orthodox, don’t be Russian or Greek, come completely American, with all your history behind you. Be yourself. This is very important for salvation.”
Saint John Chrysostom : “Neither Adam nor anybody else who has ever lived can be shown not to have the “law of nature”. For as soon as God formed him, He put that law of nature into him…” (Homily XII on Rom. vi. 19:12)”…if we are found without the law of nature, then we are more senseless than creatures that have no ability to reason.” (ibid)Abba Isaiah : “In the beginning, when God created man, He placed him in Paradise, and he had then sound senses, which stood in their natural order, but when he obeyed the one who deceived him, all his senses were changed into an unnatural state, and he was then cast out from his glory.”
(“On the Natural Law”, Russian Philokalia, II, 1, tr. Fr. Seraphim Rose)
Saint Irenaeos of Lyon : “for He saves those whom He should save, and judges those worthy of judgment. Neither does He show Himself unmercifully just; for His goodness, no doubt, goes on before, and takes precedence.” (Against Heresies (Book III, Chapter 25)Following the law of nature should lead a man into the Orthodox Church, but the Orthodox clergy and laity need to evangelize: “…how shall they believe in Him whom they have not heard about? and how shall they hear of Him without a preacher?” (Rom 10:14) –ed
Romans 2: 12-16 : “For as many as have sinned without law will also die without law; and as many as have sinned under the law shall be judged by the law (for it is not the hearers of the law who are justified before God but the doers of the law who will be justified; for when the Gentiles, who do not have the law do by nature the things contained in the law, these, who do not have the law, are a law unto themselves, who show the works of the law written in their hearts and in their conscience which also bears witness, and their thoughts will either accuse or excuse them) on the day when God will judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ, according to my Gospel.”Following the law of nature should lead a man into the Orthodox Church, but the Orthodox clergy and laity need to evangelize: “…how shall they believe in Him whom they have not heard about? and how shall they hear of Him without a preacher?” (Rom 10:14) –ed
Transcription, editing and emphases by Anthony Hatzidakis
Download an mp4 of “Beyond Torture: The Gulag of Pitesti, Romania” for $19.99 $2.99 at Vision Video. Includes excerpts from an interview with Fr. George Calciu (+2006).
Special thanks to Stephen Mutugi Njeru for providing “May Paradise consume you” in Romanian. Stephen is a Kenyan studying Theology in Romania.
Much appreciation and thanks to Mr. Alan Hartwick, the director of “Beyond Torture” and Mr. Jim Murphy who interviewed Fr. Roman. May our Lord Jesus Christ reward them abundantly.
The Orthodox Witness website is published by Anthony Hatzidakis.
Orthodox Christians all over the world have received the unchanging Christian Faith, passed down from the Holy Apostles to their successors, and continue to practice it today in the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church – The Orthodox Church.
Eldress Galaktia: A blessing to the faithful
We present to you Eldress Galaktia, a saintly woman of our days whose list of virtues, spiritual sayings and counsels are as if taken out of the Lives of the Saints. In this eulogy from her repose in 2021, many of her gifts and “rewards” are revealed, including visitations by numerous Saints and a dialogue with the Most-holy Virgin. Eldress Galaktia lived “in the world” in anonymity for most her life, but God allowed her virtues to become known to us so that we would be inspired and encouraged in these days of increasing godlessness. For the world, she is proof that the Church is alive and continues to produce Saints.
A Eulogy for ELDRESS GALAKTIA
(March 5, 1926 – May 20, 2021)
by Archimandrite Antonios Fragkakis, Preacher of the holy Metropolis of Gortyna and Arkadia
Early yesterday morning a great and venerable person of Crete, who had loved Orthodoxy very much, shed her spider-veined and earthern skin as well as her perishable body – a body that she had crucified during her worldly struggles – and flew quietly into the arms of the Lord to receive from His omnipotent hands the rewards of her spiritual ascent.
After her 95 years of radiant life on earth, she was now in the arms of the Lord whom she fervently loved since childhood and whom she followed with Apostolic-like love and self denial. Perhaps, this was the first time this tireless lady allowed “her eyes to sleep and her eyelids to slumber” (Ps. 132:4 (131 LXX) – a lady who from the depths of her heart lived and breathed the goal of inheriting the Kingdom of God.
She was holy, she was charismatic, she was a true ascetic. Should we dare call her a martyr we will not be held in error. From her youth she fervently loved Christ, whom she followed like the faithful Myrrh-bearers. She earnestly applied His life-saving teachings and was fully quenched by the life-giving waters of His love. She served Him by living His example so that His most troubled brothers would follow her example of true repentance. She lived the Holy Trinity’s presence intensely and essentially, even though she was openly and violently struck by the raging waves that the low dragon stirred up during her life’s turbulent sea.
She cried a lot, she loved more, she worked on virtue, she gave herself unselfishly to her fellow man by joyfully offering them her weak skeleton to help shoulder their weights. She dried their tears, she corrected their desires, she lightened their conscience, she calmed their souls, she inspired holy desires, she enlivened the beauties of Paradise, and likewise was guided with parsimony through the fears of hell and assisted a multitude of souls to traverse into eternal life.
Galaktia’s blessings to the faithful are like a heavy-laden tree, full of fruit
She was wronged but forgave those who wronged her; she was slandered as a deceiver yet she herself deceived the saboteur of men and overcame this vain world; she became a heavenly existence, a dewdrop in the Garden of Eden; and lastly she glowed with a sweet scent of incense, offered motherly smiles and blessed everyone. She taught like an energetic athlete, instructed like an experienced guide, and little by little the light of her existence left this transient life so it could rise up into another hemisphere, that of eternal life.
– “How is Eldress Galaktia?” Elder Anastasios (Koudoumianos) of blessed memory asked me once.
– “She has aged,” I replied. “She is bent over…”
– “The branches of trees, once they are full of fruit, are likewise bent over” he responded. “The fruits are offered to all those around according to God’s will and as a blessing to the faithful members of the Church.”
Beneath her sweet, unpretentious and serene surface, bubbled a flowing river full of love and Divine life, which was made manifest by her penetrating and shining gaze, the brilliant light of her face, her most fervent smile, her angelic countenance, and the refreshment of her heart’s outpouring were magnetizing – so much so, that the more she tried to hide the radiance of her soul in obscurity of ignorance and worthlessness, the more God raised her on the lamp stand (Mt 5:15-16).
As a magnet attracts various metals, as the Sun attracts various satellites in the orbit of its influence, so too the Eldress’s reborn soul, unwillingly attracted around her innumerable souls that came to her and were influenced and transformed by her life. Her holiness was well hidden in her simplicity – a disarming child-like simplicity. As the humble manger’s straw in Bethlehem hid the greatness of the incarnate God, so likewise in this simple and humble soul Christ dwelt alive, and made her shine of holiness and spiritual wisdom. She had spiritual depth, the Holy Spirit flowed from her like a raging river through the channels of her soul. A deep and bottomless splash vibrated from the depths of her heart, and only by paying close attention could your “ears hear” (Mt 11:15) it and your soul draw from it to obtain and enjoy the secrets that flowed from this humble soul.
Still more, she would always cloak the most heroic acts of her life as simple and natural acts. Most of her decisions had the feeling of Golgotha, a heroic spirit and a sensational element. Yet Galaktia viewed them all “in faith” and lived through them “in silence”. For they were from the souls that called to Christ, not “crying behind Him” like the Canaanite woman, but in contrition, politely and calmly, like the woman with issue who was content to simply touch the hem of His garment (Mark 5:24-34). With the same contrition the Eldress Galaktia approached Christ and performed His works. That is why she always succeeded. Indeed, Christ did her favors. Her prayers moved mountains. Her utter faith in God’s providence “activated” Divine power within her and performed miracles.
Her Early Years in Pompia, Crete
The village of Pompia is located in south-central Crete, the largest island of Greece.
She was born in the historic and heroic Pompia on March 5, 1926. Her family background functioned as fertile soil for her subsequent spiritual development. Her father was a doctor and god-fearing man. Galaktia used to say: “I never boasted because my father was a doctor. However, I am glad to say that he was a real man and a Christian.” Without seeking pay he was compassionate toward human pain, and he inspired in his beloved daughter an ethos of sacrifice and selflessness. Her maternal grandfather was a priest. And what a priest – a Saint! – of the same spiritual stature as the Holy Elders Parthenios and Evmenios of Koudoumas Monastery. He lived in matrimony for two years and holy widowhood for sixty-six. His nous was so sanctified by asceticism and prayer, that he said with sincerity of heart at the end of his life, that he considered himself unmarried, because he was not accompanied by any memory of his short married life.
Holy Monastery of Koudoumas – holy Elders Parthenios and Evmenios – father Nikolas Fustanakis – Eldress Galaktia: an unbroken chain of transmission of the gift of hesychastic [from hesychia, quiet] life. Among the four distinguished daughters of the legendary doctor of Pompia, Michael Kanakaki, the third one clearly stood out: Galaktia. …
From a young age she was given to prayer. Unintentionally, secretly, she devoted many hours to prayer but also to the service of her neighbor. Her father’s surgery was considered an ideal place for her to practice “the sport of offering and to burn at the altar of sacrifice”. She took care of the wounds of the sick, sympathized with them existentially, encouraged them to be long-suffering, and secretly gave “from her own wealth.” The same was observed in the house. Galaktia was first to volunteer in everything. Whether it was housekeeping, tending the garden, bringing water, filling surgery orders. Her father, the doctor, seeing her always humble, silent, willing to do any work and indifferent in claiming rights and honor, hugged her and said to her affectionately: “My little Galaktia, raise your stature too. Do not let others take advantage you. I want you to have your voice.”
Her father treated her special; and she loved him. One day, however, at a young age, she said something to him that upset him. Galaktia confessed it to her grandfather the priest and he scolded her. The young Galaktia penanced herself harshly. She would lay face down on the wooden floor of the room and watered it with tears of repentance and begged the Holy Spirit to forgive her. Then one day, while she was in the depths of repentance, the uncreated light of the Resurrection shown in her eyes. At an unsuspecting time, as she went down to the warehouse to get something, a blue-white refreshing flame came unexpectedly from the sky and penetrated her head sweetly and peacefully. It went – as she said – through to her inner “soul”, opened her mental horizons and charismatically widened her heart (Ps 118(119):32). She felt her sins go away, like the dry leaves in the wind and how the strong wind scatters the dry bark from the trunks of the big trees. In this vivid manner is how she herself described this event.
It is understandable from a theological point of view that the heart of Galaktia, which was in great pain from the saving weight of repentance, was pulled hard from the nous and set afire by Divine love. From then on, a holy eros took hold of her that changed her whole life. She kept this great and decisive event of her early youth a secret until her 85th year, when she revealed it to us. It is obvious that God sent her the sweet fruits of Paradise and invited her to the crossroads, which end triumphantly on the wide avenue towards the Resurrection. After this shocking event she did not even want to hear about marriage! What she experienced was an inherent radiance, the first sighting of God that immediately sealed her life’s direction. She said: “When one tastes the holy cake, all other sweets pale in comparison.” And she tasted God empirically, hence she rejected with abhorrence and disgust the sensual pleasures of this world and always “avoided the pleasures of life.”
She acquired another measure with which to evaluate all human things, none other than the Cross of Christ. She was sweetened by the first signs of the immediate divine presence and ran incessantly to find the inexhaustible confectionery of Grace. Worldly grandeur, fancy dresses, majestic buildings, impressive garments, titles and the offices, projection and coquettishness, amusements and the sensual life, repulsed her to the point that oftentimes she would pretend to be ill to avoid them, not having another way to cover the richness of inner fullness.
She developed a special relationship with the Archangel Michael! The precarious health of her favorite niece Antonoula caused her to frequently send offerings to the Monastery of Panormitis on the island of Symi. She sealed the relevant request in a bottle and threw it into the sea. The request went to its destination by sea, and she received the informative answer from the monastery when the little Antonoula spoke the next day. Since then, her relationship with the Archangel was lively, direct, powerful and numerous and continuous miracles testify to this fervent, loving relationship. She threw another bottle into the Libyan Sea, which was found in a deserted church at Anopoli Sfakion (in Crete) and when this was made known the old abandoned church was miraculously renovated and started to function again.
The Archangel continuously showed his favor to the young girl. Once, when she was hard-pressed to accept matchmaking and was about to surrender, she embraced the icon of the Archangel in her bosom and fervently begged him to vigorously intervene and frustrate the match. His intervention once again was swift. There was an earthquake in the house, all the doors unlocked, and a noise disturbed the matchmakers and the family. Her revered father was finally convinced that speaking to Galatia about the matter of matrimony was ineffective and any other attempts would torment her.
Her fervent dedication to God became even more evident during the almost 40 years she lived with her niece Antonia. She loved this child as much as anything in the world. She attended to her almost sacrificially. The particularity of the situation made her already refined soul of Galaktia even more sensitized. She became Antonia’s guardian angel. Together with the child’s parents, she met her every need, like a watchful guardian on the ramparts of her integrity and was adorned with rose petals of her inconceivable love and offering.
She suffered a lot: Attacks by people, insults, ridicule, disputes. It is not easy to tend to a sick child with people treating you harshly and painfully. “Only I and my omniscient God know my cross,” she would say. Nonetheless, she showed them love and forgiveness.
A good swimmer, writes the fifth century Saint Diadochos Bishop of Fotiki, does not swim against the waves but dives below. She did not harm anyone, she did not hold grudges, she did not complain, she did not say anything negative. Above all, she did not open her mouth against anyone, and she did not keep in her soul even a trace of revenge. If anyone made her bitter or hurt her, none of us would ever know …
Spiritual labors
Together with her heavy Cross, she also cultivated asceticism towards the complete transformation of her heart. She maintained ceaseless prayer and communication with Christ, made innumerable prostrations and continued with ecclesiastical study. She also attended church from early morning and gave special emphasis to silence. Her nephew Nikos once said: “She prayed and fasted as much as all the nuns of Crete together.”
Her godly state and her most fruitful practice, especially her fiery prayer, echoed in the heavenly realms and imprinted the image of Christ on her heart. She regarded prayer as the most important time of human existence. She believed prayer was the strongest societal communication. For this reason, any surplus of agape * that she nourished toward the Savior Christ, she channeled into unceasing prayer. Prayer strengthened her. Through prayer she attracted Grace and increased the virtues of purity, humility, silence and love. Her prayer was so strong and powerful that sometimes, young children, during the Divine Liturgy, saw her bright and otherworldly, rising from the earth and the heavenly angelic brigades surrounding her and chanting with her.
The Pompians and the inhabitants of the surrounding villages of Crete loved and respected her very much. The famous Pompian Manolis Fustanakis, of blessed memory, once told me: “Even if we would examine Galaktia’s life under a powerful microscope, we will not be able to find any evil.” Naturally, as Adam’s descendant, she too had her weaknesses and her human faults. Yet hers were so innocent and childlike that you would overlook them with a smile, because her heart’s intentions were only to bring joy and comfort. Everyone admired the humble and virtuous doctor’s daughter, who burned like incense for others to smell, and melted like fiery beeswax candles to bring forth the light and the glow for the people to enjoy. But, if we wanted to render the greatness of the Eldress in a concise way, we could sum it up in few words: the incarnation of humility and love.
Virtues
She was truly humble. Bigotry never took hold in her soul. She did not have any complexes because she was free from complex situations, nor did she feel a sense of inferiority because she enjoyed mental fullness. A deep and holy virtue was observed and revealed in her the hospitality and tender-heartedness of herself and made her know herself. She always had the feeling that she was the least of all; she kissed everyone’s hand and asked for their forgiveness. She did not do this out of humility but, with full awareness of her insignificance, she thought that she was so lowly, worthless, and that she still lacked a lot, that she was not where she should be and could be. She was characterized by her good thoughts for her neighbor and ruthless self-criticism for herself. And God, who judges our struggles, lifted her from the depths of her nothingness, to the face of the incomprehensible divinity, because “those who humble themselves will be exalted” (Matt. 23:12) according to the infallible word of our Lord.
Her love was proverbial and incomparable. She loved everyone, especially the poor and the downtrodden, the lame and the cripple, the needy and the afflicted, travelers and the locals, little children and the elderly, and she discreetly showered them all with her gifts of love. And all this love gave birth to her most discreet alms. I freely confess that she was the most charitable person I have ever met in my life. She took her salary and immediately distributed it. She would say: “I have made an agreement with the Virgin Mary, that I should empty my house and that she should send me what I would need to spend each day”,“sometimes she was late to test me. However, I am not worried because I know that it will definitely come.”“And indeed,” she would continue, “after a few days, it would arrive. The Virgin Mary does not fail on Her word”.
An extraordinary meeting
Until her deep old age, she distributed, giving “to the needy”. Even as an old woman, although having been operated on both of her legs, she would set out a large pot of food so that the lonely old men and a sick old man in the neighborhood would not be deprived of a meal. That is why, shortly before the end, the Seven Archangels, who carry the saints prayers from earth to heaven, visited her. They introduced themselves to her by their names, she did not forget them but retained them in her heart’s memory: Michael, Gabriel, Uriel, Raphael, Phanael, Thanael. Uriel told her he guards the abyss. They raised their swords and made a road for her, as she said, to pass. She was taken to a golden palace. This is your dwelling place they told her. In the middle overflowed a golden vessel with crystalline water gushing forth.
– “What is this?” she asked.
– “It is the vessel of your heart,” they replied. “And it overflows from your purity, your silence, your humility and your mercies.”
Antonia’s falling asleep
Little Antonia’s early “falling asleep” cost her dearly. She cried constantly but was comforted by the hopeful expectation of reunion in eternity. In 1998 the Eldress’ health problems began. Due to her physical weakness, she could not take care of the child to the same degree as before. That year my lowly self was also appointed pastor of Pompia. We became very close, like a mother with her child, for twenty whole years. God gave her information in prayer: “I took your Antonia but I sent you an Antonios.” And indeed! I loved her as much as my natural parents, maybe even more. I felt close to her, her unwavering motherly affection and her unceasing care. May the barren ground of my soul be penetrated and bear the life-bearing sweet wine which I saw gush forth from her for so many years in her godly and angelic way of life. …
Relations toward others and prayer
She never boasted. She was aware, not simply of her insignificance, but her absolute nothingness. We found her many times to lament in repentance, slapping her face and calling herself “whore, robber, wretch, pitiful”. She was sad when they praised her because she thought that they did a great injustice to the truth, and went brutally against the just evaluation of God. She rejoiced in the accusations because she perceived them – as she said – as opportunities for correction, repentance and a salutary redefinition of her entire existence. She had established within her a rare and unobstructed factory of good calculations. He had a good reason for everyone. And the most difficult and scandalous actions, he did not pardon them, but kept silent and prayed for those responsible, when he was informed about them. “I am the greatest submissive before God – he said – and I have no right to judge anyone”. He found something good in everyone and that’s what he showed. She was interested in good reigning in the attitude of others and in the fabric of society. That’s why he finally escaped her and said: “I am burdened with sins and I hope only in the mercy of God, because I have grown old without works of repentance. However, for criticism, I think that I will not give a reason to God, the just judge!…”
She spent the last 20 years of her life in the fruitful practice of holy hesychasm and in the multifaceted implementation of the works of agape love. She lived in unceasing prayer. Her sleep was minimal, her meals even less. She spent her nights in prayer. Her nous, completely sanctified, went its original place, it went to its natural destination. It was activated in the bottomless well of the deep heart, as the Eldress herself described it. From there her nous was catapulted to the heavens. She penetrated sufficiently into God’s ineffable and amazing mysteries. She saw and enjoyed the abundant and bright Light of God, the inalienable glory of the Holy Trinity which is uncreated and homogeneous – as she said – and has no beginning and no end. The sun is but a lamp in front of Him by comparison.
She distinguished in that united, impossible Light, three lights, the hypostases of the Holy Trinity and made unique, empirical descriptions, which only the great Fathers of the Church dared to make. She saw bodiless Light, the Beginingless Father, the God-source. She saw the incarnate Light, the incarnate Word, and described with astonishing clarity His human characteristics. She also saw the third Light, the Holy and Life-creating Spirit, continuing and encompassing the Church, penetrating the hearts of the bishops and the priests stole, and raising them sufficiently in the midst of the prayers and tears of repentance. Pentecost day came – she would say – but has not left. The Holy Spirit moves about in the world with a loud bang, like the sound of “heavy breath” though nobody is paying attention, only those who have activated the secret mechanism of their heart.
With the “binoculars” of the nous and her most meticulous attention, she detected not only the heavens and the depths but also the hiding places of other peoples hearts. She had experiential knowledge of the degrees of heaven. “Heaven,” she would say, “has many degrees of grace that extend to infinity; they never end…” This means that she saw the alternations of the ages. She also let her mind descend to the fiery and dark kingdom of Hell. She saw many, but never disclosed who. “I light candles,” she would say, “I pray a lot and I try to move them into a better place, because they are mixed.”
She charismatically identified with the whole world and saw in herself her father Adam. As his descendant, she considered herself, to be the culprit for whatever bad is happening in the universe. For this reason, in the early morning hours, she made a long improvised, sensational prayer, which included the whole creation and every kind of people “under heaven”.
The radiance of her face and the sweetness emanating from her heart attracted a large crowd of people to her, especially young people, who came to her because they saw the everlasting and immortal vitality of a brittle and tired world: a spiritual and anointed soul in a skinny and old body. She herself felt like a mother. She especially embraced the most sinful ones, raising their hopes, strengthening their mind towards a spiritual repentance, emphasizing the endless dimensions of the Divine Mercy, and the infinity of God’s love in the world. She lovingly imprisoned convicts in the cells of her heart, in order to liberate them from the chains of their passions and to give them inner freedom. She did not, however, allow anyone to be discouraged. She repeated in her own way, the saying of Saint Nikon: “After departing this life, there is no possibility for repentance.”
Words of spiritual wisdom
Her legacies were simple and practical but full of spiritual wisdom and grace.
“The tongue is Satan’s best friend.”
“You need four things: love, humility, silence and secret almsgiving.”
“Confess as you should, so that the devil will not have any hold on you.”
“Let us not malign others, because then God will malign us when he returns to the world.”
“Pray with the prayer ‘Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me’, but add also the Trinity. I pray like this: “Father, forgive me, Jesus Christ have mercy on me, Holy Spirit enlighten me.”
“Whoever fears does not fear.” (That is, he who is afraid to sin is not afraid of anything.)
Contemplation – Her Theoria
The constant contemplation of God’s Uncreated glory, which the Elderess had to the degree of Deification, consolidated in her the sense of nothingness and an aversion of herself. At the same time the charismatic state of repentance as a mystery and a lasting experience was magnified in her. She would say:
“From my heart I can see what God is and what I am. God is everything and I am a nothing. I thank him, however, for showing me how messed up I am and giving me the opportunity to repent. I live the mystery of His Love daily, whatever I ask for He gives me. He does not deny me anything, even if I am His most naughty child. He treats me like a child bringing him good news. He takes care of me and supports me to the extent that I can not stand it, even though He ought to give me water to drink from New York’s sewers and not that from my own village because it is clean.”
The closer she got to God and empirically studied His unexplainable Uniqueness, the more she would lower in her soul her own self worth and cried rivers of tears seeking the mercy of God. And the generous Creditor endowed her from the storehouses of His Love with rare gifts: foresight, strong clairvoyance and prophecy.
She considered all these gifts to naturally be for everyone, because she had proactive purity and childlike simplicity. …
And the Eldress had a rare gift to discern the spirits, which defines sound Theology. She was considered a New Testament prophetess, because she was a true hesychast. She perfectly distinguished the difference between the psychological from the spiritual, between the created and the uncreated. She said:
“The demons come in various forms, especially when I pray at night. Sometimes they become horrible monsters and try to scare me and other times, especially in the beginning, they would disguise themselves as good spirits and try to deceive me. But their stench betrays them. Spiritual stench, which is not perceived by the physical sense of smell, stinks worse than that of worm-eaten animal intestines and 16-day-old rotten meat. The Divine strengthens the tears of repentance and humility, pacifies, and makes the soul stronger. The demonic ones, no matter how camouflaged they are, create turmoil, fear, pride, and you get caught up in the stench of nausea. Your insides are disturbed.”
Many times I saw her as being caught up in a state of Divine rapture, immersed by her heart in the here and there, and thrown into the celestial worlds bright and “unaware” for what was happening around her. She would say she could see that her natural eyes changed by the Divine Light that was brightly shining down to the depths of her soul, changing them, so that throughout her whole body, from the hair on her head to the nails of her toes, all her senses became one. Christ reigned everywhere and she did not know where she actually was during all the times that the Holy Spirit visited her. She would say definitively that “the tongue cannot describe these things and the mind cannot fathom them – neither could an angel’s mind understand. I wonder how there can be people who claim not to believe.”
The evil spirits’ stench that she sensed was due to the fact that she herself prayed mentally in her heart. She felt – as she said – her heart murmur, especially at night when she lived “intense spiritual rejoicings”. She was fragrant with the incense of the Holy Spirit, which is why she could discern the deathly odor and the foul stench of the unclean spirits. Through her hesychastic prayer she activated the Holy Chrism in her heart. This is what the Holy Apostle and Evangelist John means when he writes: “We have received Grace from the Holy one and we know Him (1 John 5:20). The Grace is the activation of the holy Chrism in the heart, mental prayer and the enlightenment of the mind, situations that when absent, the germ of conceit can easily enter the inner room (Matthew 6:6) and make man conceited and disintegrate by the worm of delusion, and become like a hollow meaningless fruit cake, and in the end be lost. …
The priests of our Metropolis, at least those who have spiritual discernment, loved her as their mother. And she loved them as her children. The miracles from her prayer… innumerable, but that is not for now. Let those who were benefited by her speak about them. I do not want my words to be considered a subjective alteration of reality and an emotional elevation of the moment [of her departure].
Someone indiscriminately recently said to her:
– “Too bad, Eldress, that I did not meet you earlier. A certain monk made mention of you during our meeting that you were in prelest, and that if we speak with you we will be contaminated!!!”
Yet the humble and forgiving Eldress, with surprise and spontaneity, without a trace of turmoil or anger, replied:
– “I wonder, dear child, why you should have known me earlier. I am no greater than others; rather, I truly lack in many things. What the father told you is true. He knows, he is an experienced person. But let him come and absolve me, so that I too can be rid of my sins.” …
The last years of the Eldress
And I now conclude my meager reference to the Eldress’ giant spiritual caliber, and continue with a brief depiction of the fiery sunset of her earthly life. This period was considered completely different from the previous years in this world’s journey. With her physical strength diminished and her spiritual one flourishing, she looked like very ripe and fragrant fruit. She embodied the apostle’s word: “Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day” (2 Cor 4:16).
“Only I and my omniscient God know my cross,” she would say.” … After a lifetime of caring for the wounds of the sick, and encouraging them to be long-suffering, the Eldress gave counsel and encouragement to others while confined to her bed in her last years.
She sensed the complete homogenization of her inner self. She was completely transformed into a “child”, in the spiritual sense of the word. She rejoiced with the little children, in the presence of those who loved her, she wondered about nature, the little ones of the neighborhood, the song of the birds, the sound of the rain, the rustling of the air, even the branches of the trees. She felt the whole creation in harmony with her heart, in communion with God. It is obvious that she had heard “the words of the beings” mentioned by Saint Maximos the Confessor. The heart – he said – has many sensory forces, which man ignores, as they are impeded by sins. When the Grace of God activates these mysterious inner-soul mechanisms, the Divine presence is actively observed in all the surrounding physical space. Then one realizes that even the soulless inanimate things of this world also praise the Creator, much like the Hymnologists, and the heart refined by Grace.
More recently, her universal motherhood had become more evident from the fact that she spiritually conceived and noetically gave birth to many contemporary Christians. Despite her old age, her spiritual antennae were attune and she acted with great discernment, prudence, and humor. She told high truths as a distillate of her life, but in a very clever and graceful manner, in order to guide others to salvation, without exhausting herself mentally and her maternal awakening having the best possible result with surgical precision. She never behaved like a teacher or a nun, though in reality she was an excellent pedagogue and an angelic person, who taught by simple examples, with deep meaningful content, with prayer, silence, subtlety and humor, self-criticism and discreet advice. She would say:
“I see everybody’s thoughts (λογισμοί). Some people come here just to scrutinize me and create problems for others, but I do not care. While they are here, I do not speak, I pray, looking into their hearts and I secretly embrace them with my love. They leave with good thoughts and most of them come back changed.”
When they routinely asked for her blessing, she would say:
“May you have the blessings of the Beginningless Father, His Co-Eternal Son, the Divine and Life-Creating Spirit, the Virgin, the Forerunner and the Baptist, who is the highest of all the Saints but also an austere visitor, of the Apostles and All the Saints. Be under the protection of the Celestial Powers. And if you deem my blessing worthy, may it be blessed.”
She talked about the passage into eternity. I would say she celebrated it and looked forward to it. She did not show any fear at the dread hour of her death. She had her eyes fixed on the great gate and walked steadily toward the Kingdom of the “Lamb”. She spoke laughingly about the end of her earthly course. She was preparing herself even more intently, in order to be “welcome”, as she said, in front of Christ’s Judgment Seat.
Sick, almost motionless and paralyzed, she continued to care and pray… for Christ’s Church; for the faithful; for the unbelievers and the heterodox who are “weary and scattered like sheep without a shepherd” (Matt. 9.36); for the tired and aged; for the anxious heads of family and for the troubled youth. In the summer of 2016 she said:
“I want to sit on the street to say goodbye to my village. I only have little time left to stay with you. But God who unites us all is eternal.”
Many young children would tell her, when they heard her saying goodbye: “We do not want you to leave. But even if you leave, don’t forget us.” And she would answer with a question:
“This, my children, happens only with the Saints. I am a sinner and I need your prayers. I’m aiming for a small opening. At the least, if I can squeeze in and enter there with the Virgin’s help, I will not forget any of you.” (Lk. 13:24)
The Holy visions, her bodily myrrh-streaming, and her visions of saints also increased very much, especially after August 2016. The four “horsemen” Saints, Menás, George, Dimitrios and Nikitas were considered almost her constant companions. She described them with simplicity of heart and astonishing accuracy. She thought that vision is a natural idiom of all people, and so we can all receive the same visions. She said:
“My child, Menás is a monster in height, a robust man, full, wide, with tanned skin, older than the others, with white hair on his head, and he is a leader. He is the leader of the group. George and Dimitrios are beautiful lads. Moderate in stature and about twenty-five years old. Nikitas is tall in stature and blonde. His hair looks like my grandfather’s beard, which looked blonde like flax.”
She described the bodies of their horses with golden saddles, their snorting noise, and the lively stomping of their hooves. On December 16, 2016, the Saints visited her and the house smelled of incense. She was presented with her notebooks, her “soul’s record”: With childish innocence she said, “Let me show them to you so you can see them! They shine!!!”1
The most-holy Mother of God, accompanied by Saint Paraskevé, appeared to the Eldress and conversed with her about her departure from this life.
From December 16 until today, what didn’t we see, hear, or experience? On January 13, 2017, she was diagnosed with a severe lung infection. The attending physician examined her, gave her one night to live, and assessed the condition as pulmonary edema. The Eldress was bedridden and unconscious. Every now and then she woke up and spontaneously narrated some of her otherworldly experiences. Nine priests were present to perform the mystical service of Holy Unction, at which moment her room flooded with an ineffable fragrance. We had not lit incense, so as not to aggravate her respiratory dysfunction. The old woman happily revealed to her first cousin Katherine (Rethymniotaki) who was taking care of her, that she had received a visit from the Lady Theotokos and she was accompanied by Saint Paraskevi.
Our Lady told her:
– “Your suitcase is ready and your record is stellar. Your departure is imminent.”
– “Take me now, my Panagia, since I am ready,” the humble Eldress begged.
The Virgin Mother smiled and replied,
– “You received a small extension. I will take care of the matter soon.”
Even though the doctors had her life finished, she truly livened up. She sat on the bed and, imbued with the Holy Spirit, taught, admonished, strengthened and prophesied to everyone present – and there were quite a few! Earlier, when she had first awoke from her lethargy, she talked about a gift that Anthony the Great would give her on the evening of his feast! She invited some to attend that glorious moment of her life when she would “finally put on her wedding dress” and “a Bishop would put something on her head.” I personally connected it with her dormition, because she loved Saint Anthony and also because she couldn’t live much longer. I believed then that the extension mentioned by Our Lady was for three days until the Vespers of Saint Anthony…
What she would receive on her head, I connected with the indestructible Wreath of Glory from Christ’s spotless hands! And the wedding dress I interpreted to be her funeral shroud. An Athonite monk that was in attendance understood that she meant her putting on the Great Habit! Indeed, the service paradoxically and hastily took place during the Vespers of the Feast of St. Anthony the Great, after the sincere blessing by our Most Reverend Metropolitan Makarios. From then on, her worn-out aged body gained strength and she lived for about five more years. I placed a no entry sign on the door of her house, to protect her from the crowds, since because of the many wonderful things she exhibited, her charismatic fame had spread, quickly, to the ends of the world…
Even though her brain could no longer function, and there was no indication that she could hear or converse, she was obviously being informed in a supernatural way, and insisted that the sign be removed, “because it was important for the people to communicate” with her! We obeyed her command immediately, which had the effect of making her house a meeting point for all Orthodox people and a place of sharing wonderful events and paradoxical other-worldly manifestations of God’s omnipotence! Naturally, it also had the most painful consequence for me personally, that I suffered from the flaming arrows, “that I”, so-to-speak, was “exploiting the most-holy Eldress to promote myself”! And all of these, emanating from persons within the Church, from both locals and foreigners… To a certain degree this is expected and understandable! Those who did so with good intentions I excuse, and those who were vicious and insidious, from the bottom of my heart I sincerely forgive. And I beg they are forgiven by the heart of Christ, our righteous Savior.
Throughout the last years of her life, especially when she was completely helpless and bedridden, the rich gifts bestowed upon her by God and His energies were made evident when she reflected on them to us. Her excessive sacrifices which were beyond human measure for the love of Christ, brought her a multitude of heavenly rewards, as God is faithful to His promise to reward our good deeds! Thus, our Eldress, having been endowed with the gift of healing, healed the mental and physical ailments of the people, performed many great miracles, caused internal changes to her visitors, guided by the breath of the Holy Spirit!
She did not have advanced education, but because she purified the nous of her soul, she received spiritual wisdom, she developed the receptive power of the Logos, she acquired existential knowledge, she gazed at the image of the future and its secrets, she gained “solid faith”, therefore she was spent philanthropically and beneficially for any of her fellow human beings! Whoever manages to be united with Christ, generously scatters the content of this bountiful share with the rest of the world… That is, they are consumed daily for the benefit of their brother in Adam’s family of man, to willingly accept to be “a curse” (Galatians 3:13, Matthew 5:11) so that their fellow human will receive a blessing…
Her great love for the living and for the dead was initially manifested by her fervent prayer and sacrificial martyric ministry. Her spiritual completion however, transformed this exhaustive giving of self into an ever-increasing charismatic miracle. I will never formally mention any of the numerous miracles that happened to many, both known and unknown. The unbridled slanderous statements about her subjective heightening and enthusiastic and self-mythologizing of herself cannot be allowed to continue. Of course she was not infallible! Being a person of God does not mean they are infallible. A person of God continually struggles and constantly repents! It is no coincidence, after all, that repentance was her constant teaching, and the quintessence of her God-loving course! If the works of the Holy Spirit which were manifested through her are deemed to be constructive, then let their numerous recipients speak out about them. My own concern is the matter of her holy personality.
I think her long life can be summed up in the following simple sketch:
Throughout her life she had an ecclesiastical mindset;
She respected and obeyed the institutional persons of the Church;
She had good examples from her grandfather the priest and her parents;
She was very patient with her niece and God blessed her for this; He gave her many gifts;
The basic gift she had was that of self-denial, from which came compunctionate prayer and the prayer of the heart.
Most of her life was lived in obscurity,from her self-denial and prayer;
Without her realizing it, her nous was separated from her intellect (this increased during the years of her illness).
Thus, God’s gifts of clairvoyance, foresight, and the other spiritual gifts were bestowed to her in a natural way.
Because she lived humbly, in the Church, the Church will put her God-loving life to good use. There won’t be any need for me to take any action on her behalf, even though as in the case of the Eldress, a human being can easily deceive and seduce world orthodoxy. I cannot, though, be silent about her amazing miracle-workings, I cannot keep my mouth shut about her living theology. She expressed it to us simply in her intimate relationship with God, but loudly. All of these are summarized in the following examples:
The Eldress oftentimes found herself engulfed within bright azure-white light
“Oftentimes I would find myself suddenly and quietly engulfed within bright infinite azure-white Light, when everything around me was shining brightly with a blessed, bright Light”!
I purposely use such words as much as possible, which when hearing them you thought, yes, you thought that the sweet mouth of Saint Symeon the New Theologian, Saint Gregory Palamas and so many other Fathers of our Church were talking to you.
“I lived inside God’s Three-fold glory, dressed in the God-woven apparel of Uncreated glory and the Divine Radiance of God’s Trinity, within the Everlasting and Uncreated Light; I do not know how I had totally become Light, but a Light that was without evening, a Resurrectional Light, plentiful Light without beginning and end. The rays of the intangible Uncreated Substantial Light were radiant and generous, with an inexhaustible purity so that all divine knowledge flooded my soul and I implicitly understood the secret mysteries of God and the glorious chanting of His myriad angels.
“I lived in the place of God and my heart was embellished by the same inexhaustible Light, beginningless and triune, through which the infinite little ones are adorned and surround the Powers…”
How, indeed, did these highly theological descriptions find themselves in a simple woman who had no academic study of theology? The splendor of the celestial powers, constantly transmitted to her with an uninterrupted flow, the inaccessible beauty of the uncreated divine Light within her created self. And she wore this Light like a divine garment, she duly became Light “from head to toe” according to her own confession! She lived from the Light, she drank from it, she perceived it as the coolness of pure water, she was satisfied with its superficial presence, she breathed it in like the oxygen of heaven!
“I lived in the deep sea of divine usefulness, of divine mercy, of divine love, which for me was considered both indescribable and indestructible. We can only say a few things; the sun is but a lamp in front of Him!”
These, and many more words that we heard from her which she allowed us to tape or have as a written treasure, unreservedly solidifies her status among the many blessed persons of our era as an empirical theologian and Eldress! An Eldress who taught with the utmost self-reproach and achieved the strongest spiritual maturity, by constantly comparing her lowly self with the height of the unspoken revelations she was deemed worthy to live and observe; this is why she wrote and behaved with the utmost humility, more than I have ever encountered. The simplicity of her speech testified to the excellent attaining of her goal, the goal of leading a Christ-like life, which she had set for her whole life.
She beheld a multitude of saints, a choir of Holy Fathers, St. Anthony the Great and his company, the heavenly Temple with its incomprehensible – as she said – illuminations and music. Her beloved Archangel Michael constantly appeared to her and strengthened her during the last stages of her struggle. The mystery is that he also appeared in person to one of the Eldress’ assistants, to strengthen her faith. He was assigned to the “exit process” and took liberties. And yesterday, peacefully and serenely, she closed her eyes to this fleeting life, only to reopen them in the brighter and clearer life of the enduring reign.
Into Your all-radiant Kingdom receive me in Your mercy,
I who have not done anything in my life to thank You,
but far from You I cannot live,
because I have loved You, because I love You…
– Nun Galaktia
Our memorable, ever-venerable and many-layered Elderess in Christ: …
Rest assured that the next generations will fix their gaze on you. They will feel you like a mother. They will become students of your hesychast legacy. And they will boast “in the Lord” (Psalm 5:12, Psalm 89:18 (88 LXX) because in the waning of the twentieth century a great star has shone again in AgiotokosMessara, able to illuminate with its radiance our spiritual path in the third millennium.
May your memory be eternal, until we meet again!!!
Translated by Peter Los and Anthony Hatzidakis
St. Isaac the Syrian: “As long as we are in the place where altering is possible, let us observe ourselves; and while we have authority over our lifebook and our book is still between our hands, let us zealously add [acts of] beautiful behaviour, and let us scratch from it the loss of the old behaviour without freedom. We are allowed to scratch out faults, as long as we are here. And God will take into account every alteration we make in it. May we he deemed worthy of life everlasting before we appear before the king, and He puts His seal on the book. As long as we are in this world, God will not put His seal neither on our good works nor on our bad ones, before the hour of departure, when we have completed the service of our country and we prepare to strike camp.” (Mystic Treatises, p. 292. Tr. Wensinck, 1923)
St. Symeon the New Theologian: “God is truth and light. God’s judgment is nothing else than our coming into contact with truth and light. In the day of the Great Judgment all men will appear naked before this penetrating light of truth. The ‘books’ will be opened. What are these ‘books’? They are our hearts. Our hearts will be opened by the penetrating light of God, and what is in these hearts will be revealed. If in those hearts there is love for God, those hearts will rejoice in seeing God’s light. If, on the contrary, there is hatred for God in those hearts, these men will suffer by receiving on their opened hearts this penetrating light of truth which they detested all their life…” Source
The Orthodox Witness website is published by Anthony Hatzidakis.
Orthodox Christians all over the world have received the unchanging Christian Faith, passed down from the Holy Apostles to their successors, and continue to practice it today in the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church – The Orthodox Church.
Abba Pambo’s frightful prophecy about the End Times
Abba Pambo (+ 375 AD) was an Egyptian Desert Father, a disciple of Saint Anthony the Great. His feast day is July 18. He lived in the Nitrian Desert where he founded many monasteries.
A monk once asked Abba Pambo, “Is it true, Abba, that the customs and traditions of Christians will change and there will be no priests in the churches?”
The Elder answered, “In those days, the love of many will grow cold and great distress will fall upon them. There will be raiding of nations, migrations of peoples, unstable Kings, rulers will be corrupt, the priests will become prodigals, and the monks will live negligently.
The clergy will be indifferent concerning their own salvation, but also that of their flock. All of them will be ready to run first to the table, and they will be quarrelsome, lazy at their prayers but eager to criticize, and ready to accuse.
They will neither want to imitate nor listen to the lives and counsels of Elders, but mostly, they will be all talk and say: “Had we lived in their days, we would fight too”…
They will not defend the poor when they are accused.
They will grieve the widows and harass the orphans.
Infidelity, immorality, hatred, enmity, jealousy, strife, theft, drunkenness, rampant entertainment, adultery, fornication, murder and robbery will also enter into people’s lives.”
The brother then said: “And what can one do in such difficult times?”
And the Elder answered: “My child, in such days the one who wants and tries to save his soul will be saved, and he will be called great in the Kingdom of Heaven.”
