Papa-Dimitri: The Man of God
Description
Father (now Saint) Dimitrios Gagastathis was a simple-hearted priest of the Orthodox Church, he lived and served in a village of Greece from 1902 to 1975. A careful, retrospective look at his life reveals that Fr. Dimitrios—or Papa-Dimitri, as he was known colloquially—was a very special person. He was a living example, a representative—one might even say a God-sent sign—of an alternative reality that breaks up the monopoly which the contemporary world holds to with all its rebellion against God, heedless pursuit of superficial happiness, “scientific” arrogance, and “philosophical” confusion.
The Word of God, our Lord and God Jesus Christ, has declared that “the gates of Hell shall not prevail against the Church,” that “God has chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise and the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty,” and that “the foolishness of God is wiser than men and the weakness of God is stronger than men.”
Fr. Dimitrios was such an example of a “simple” and “weak” vessel chosen by God to enlighten us in these difficult times. He had no considerable education—he confessed that he could not even deliver a proper sermon—but in his great simplicity and love for God, he became worthy of receiving God’s grace in abundance while making his life a living sermon.
The words of the scripture “Our association is in Heaven” were exemplified in this man through his great love and devotion to God, childlike purity of heart, meekness, and humility. Though living amidst the problems and cares of everyday life that beset us all on earth, he was able at the same time to live, in effect, with the saints in Heaven.
The book contains, for the most part, autobiographical notes taken from Fr. Dimitrios’ correspondence. In these notes have been recorded many of his extraordinary and wondrous experiences which, moreover, are stated with such a degree of directness and naturalness that they may perhaps astound or scandalize some readers. After all, living one’s life on earth with steadfast devotion to God, the saints, and the angels, is unfortunately one of those things with which our modern society is not so familiar, notwithstanding the confusion that false “spiritual” men have introduced.
