Heavenly men and earthly angels

The blessed elder Joseph the Cave-dweller (†1959) was striving to hearten a young monk who had been seized with sadness and who had resolved to leave the monastery and return to his own people. And so he told him of this wonder:

“Not long before I came to the Holy Mountain, I came to know a monk who was the novice of a blind hieromonk. Listen to what once befell him.

One day a layman came to his cell.

— Whence art thou? — the monk in his black habit asked the guest.

It turned out that they were from the same country, but the monk did not disclose this to the newcomer.

— Dost thou know how such-and-such a man fares? — the ascetic asked, meaning his own father.

— I know, — answered the newcomer, — he has died, and his wife and daughters are left to the mercy of God. They had a son also, who left them many years ago. Since then nothing has been heard of him.

This news greatly grieved the monk. There arose in him a desire to leave the monastery and to return home.

— I shall go, — he said one day to his hieromonk, — I shall go and take care of my mother and sisters.

But the hieromonk did not bless him and with tears begged him to remain, while he stayed unmoved. In the end, being unable to hold back the young man, the blind hieromonk let him go according to his own will. And he left the Holy Mountain.

Weary from the road, he sat down in the shade of a tree. A little later another weary monk came to this tree and sat down beside him.

— I see that thou art grieved, brother; what has befallen thee? — asked the latter.

— Father, a misfortune has befallen me, — answered the novice who had left his hieromonk, and he told him his story.

Then the good traveller said to him:

— Hear me, brother, return to thy hieromonk; the Lord Himself will take care of thy kinsfolk, and thou must not forsake him, the more so since he is blind.

But he paid no heed to the counsel of his chance companion. The traveller set many examples before him, but the stubborn monk rose to his feet and made ready to go on his way.

— So then, thou hast not hearkened to my words? — the traveller asked the monk for the last time.

— No.

— Then know this! I am an angel of the Lord. As soon as thy father died, the Lord laid upon me the care of thy family; but since thou thyself desirest to care for it, I leave them and depart.

The angel at once vanished. The monk was greatly grieved and returned in repentance to the blind hieromonk. Entering the cell, he saw that his guide was praying for him...”

Translated by Khatuna Rakviashvili. The newspaper “Tidings of the Patriarchate”, no. 12, 2003

A young man who went constantly to the monastery, but whom the life of the world also drew very strongly (he loved music, all sorts of spectacles, travel and amusements), asked Father Epiphanios whether it was permissible for him to think of monasticism.

— My child, thou art not fit to be a monk, — answered Father Epiphanios, — the world draws thee too much; but a monk must have the opposite inclination: his inner world must draw him, and not the other way about.

Once an abbess told Father Epiphanios by telephone that a certain God-fearing girl wished to take the monastic habit in her monastery, but that the girl's spiritual father did not much favour monasticism and would not give his blessing.

— Geronda, how am I to act? Shall I call her to submit to her spiritual father and to suppress her desire to become a nun, or shall I counsel her to pay no heed to his opinion and to come to the monastery without a blessing?

— Hear me, mother. This intention of hers will always be holy and worthy of respect. But if she comes to the monastery without a blessing and for one reason or another meets with difficulties there, then she will lay the blame for them upon her own disobedience. On the other hand, if she prospers in the monastic life, inwardly she will always have a sense of guilt that she is doing all this without a blessing. Therefore I counsel you: propose to her that she submit to her spiritual father and pray that God, if it be His will to fulfil her desire, may change her spiritual father's attitude towards monasticism.

And so it came to pass. Half a year later the abbess joyfully told the elder that the girl, after long waiting, had received the blessing of her spiritual father, who addressed her thus: “My child, since, despite my long disagreement, thou still strivest to become a nun, it is plain that thy desire is from God. Therefore, with my blessing, go to the monastery.”

— Mother abbess, it is God Who has rewarded her for her obedience! — was Father Epiphanios's answer.

— Geronda, Saint John of the Ladder says that “the light of all men are true monks” (26, 31). Does this not mean that even the most virtuous layman is surpassed by the least monk?

— No! Here the venerable father speaks not of any particular monk, but of the monastic life, that is, of monasticism in general. He means that monasticism, as a way of life, stands higher than the way of life of the world. But this does not at all mean that there is no layman more righteous than a monk.

“The teachings of Archimandrite Epiphanios Theodoropoulos”

A monk of the house of Kavsokalyvia was assailed by the evil one from the right hand with such thoughts as that he was doing nothing, whereas in the world he would have brought good to his neighbour, and so forth. The evil one put into him also the thought that the monastic citizenship is something of the second rank, and the like.

The good God, seeing the craft of the hater of good and the great danger that threatened the brother, showed mercy and revealed to him while awake a wondrous vision.

And behold, he sees himself dead, and demons drawing near and reviling him, and at a distance a populous settlement. Suddenly an angel appears to him and says:

— One worthy monk is of more worth than this whole settlement.

Scarcely had the monk come to himself from the vision when he said to himself:

— Seest thou what dignity the Lord gives a man when he becomes a monk!

After this he strengthened his spiritual struggle yet more. And the angel's words he wrote upon the wall in his cell, that he might see them often and struggle more and more diligently.