Stories from St. Paisios vol. 2

[ReaderT]

(This is a continuation of this thread. )

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Saint Paisios is a recent wonder-working Greek Orthodox Saint (died 1994, canonized 2015) whose conversations with other monks were recently published in a series called “Spiritual Counsels .” Here are some more of the stories:
“One night at the Stomion Monastery, I was saying the Jesus Prayer while sitting on a stool in my cell. All of a sudden, I heard loud music playing in a nearby building that was used for guests. I was puzzled by this and thought to myself, ‘Who’s playing music so close by?’ I knew that the annual festival had ended already. I got up from the stool and went to the window to see what was happening outside. I saw peace and quiet everywhere. Then I realized it was a temptation to interrupt my prayer. I returned to my seat and continued to pray. Suddenly a bright light filled the cell. The ceiling disappeared and the roof opened to reveal a beam of light reaching up to heaven. At the top of this beam of light appeared the face of a blond young man with long hair and a beard, who resembled Christ. Because I could only see half of the face, I got up to see him more clearly. Then I heard within me a voice saying, ‘You have been made worthy to see Christ.’ But then I crossed myself and said, ‘Who am I, the unworthy one, to be made worthy to see Christ?’ Immediately the light and the supposed Christ disappeared, and I saw that the ceiling was still in place. If a person doesn’t have his guard up, the evil one can readily enter his mind through proud thoughts and delude him with fantasies and false lights, none of which can raise us to Paradise; instead, they will hurl us into chaos. That is why a person must seek repentance, not lights and divine gifts. It is repentance that leads to humility; and then the Benevolent God provides for us all that is necessary.”
“On Mount Athos, I used to hear about Elder Theophylactos, from the community of Saint Basil, who had great amity with wild animals. They could sense his love and would go to his hut whenever they were in need. One time, in fact, a roebuck once went to his monastic cell, bleating sorrowfully because it had a broken leg. The elder went outside and saw the animal lying there without moving, with its broken leg stretched out, as if to show it to him. The elder brought the wounded animal some dried bread to eat and then took two pieces of wood which he tied firmly around the broken leg. Then he said to the young roebuck, ‘Go on now with God’s blessing, and come back after a week so I can take a look at it.’ The good Elder was able to communicate with the animal just like a doctor would with a patient, because he had become a man of God!”

 

[ReaderT]

"I also remember another elderly monk, Father Theoktistos, from the Monastery of Dionysiou. Oh, how much simplicity he had! One night he had stayed with another monk at the monastery’s house in Karyes. Late at night someone knocked on the door and Father Theoktistos rushed to open it. The other monk said to him, “Don’t open the door at this hour; we must rest.” “And how do you know, Father, who it could be? He might even be Christ Himself! Let’s open the door! And he went and opened the door. You see, the simple person has only good thoughts and always expects something good.”
“Even when animals are thirsty and hungry, they take refuge in man, because man is their master. I remember that during one summer at the monastery of Panagouda, a viper came down from the tin roof and coiled right in front of me. It raised its head high, stuck out its tongue, and whistled. It was very thristy - we were having a heat wave - and it was threatening me. It was asking for water, but in an imperative, demanding way, as if I was obligated to go and fetch some water for it. “Look,” I said to the snake, “this behavior doesn’t endear you to anyone!” Then I put a little bit of water which it drank. …I have to tell you about what I am going through right now with the little kittens at the hut. They have observed that each time the little bell rings, I come out, and that sometimes I put out something for them to eat. Now, whenever they are hungry, they pull on the rope and ring the bell themselves. I go outside and I see them ringing the bell and so I feed them. I marvel at how God has made all things!”
“I met someone who attended Church regularly, who fasted and so forth, and had the impression that he lived a spiritual life. In the meantime, although he owned five apartments, received two salaries, and had no children, he wouldn’t give even a drachma [a Greek dollar] to a poor man. So I told him, ‘You have so many poor relatives, why don’t you give them something? What will you do with your wealth? Give some of it to the widows and orphans.’ And do you know what he said to me? ‘You mean I shouldn’t collect rent from my widowed sister?’ When I heard that, the blood rushed to my head. There, that’s worldly justice for you!”

 

[ReaderT]

“I once met a monk on the Holy Mountain who wouldn’t listen to anyone. He had abandoned his monastery and was wandering all over the Holy Mountain. Four or five times he attempted to be an ascetic alone, and I had advised him to return to his monastery … After some time I learned that he had become possessed and that he had also lost his mind. The devil had appeared to him as the Virgin Mary and told him, ‘My child, if you kneel to worship me, I will give you the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit…’ He thought to himself, ‘I will now have the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit and will prevail over everybody,’ and he bowed down to worship. As soon as he worshipped, the devil convulsed him and he became possessed, but at the same time he fell into madness. He then went to the Sacred Community (the administrative body on Mount Athos) to become their First Supervisor! He locked all the Fathers who were there inside a room, took the staff of the First Supervisor, and proceeded to go down the front steps with an air of self-importance. The others who were outside saw a different First Supervisor coming out, and so discreetly followed him in a jeep down the road; in the end they took him to a psychiatric clinic. The demon has subsided now, but the madness remains.”
"One must run away from sorcery and witchcraft, as one runs from fire and snakes. Let’s keep it simple: the devil can never do anything good. He can only heal the sickness which he himself creates. I have heard of the following incident: a young man who had become friendly with a witch also got involved with sorcery. He was harmed, got sick and had to be hospitalized. His father, spending a lot of money since they didn’t have health insurance, struggled for months to find out from the doctors what was wrong with his son. But the doctors couldn’t find anything wrong with him. The young man was in a terrible state. At that point, this is what the devil did: he appeared to the young man as Saint John the Baptist, the patron Saint of his region, and said to him, ‘I will cure you if your father builds a Chapel in my honor!’ The young man told his father of his vision and the father said, ‘He is my child, I will give everything I have for him to get well.’ And he vowed to build the chapel in honor of Saint John the Baptist. Then the devil went away and the young man got well. He performed his … “miracle”! Then the father said, ‘I promised to build a Chapel; I must fulfill my vow.’ They were not wealthy, so they had to sell all their fields and their entire property. Now they were destitute and this brought on bitterness and indignation to the whole family. ‘Better to be without Orthodoxy!’ they said in desperation, and became Jehovah’s Witnesses. You see what the devil does? Apparently there weren’t any Jehovah’s Witnesses at that place and the devil found a way to bring them.

 

[ReaderT]

“When someone tells me with pain, ‘I am so unworthy, so unworthy…’, I am pleased with him because, by acknowledging his faults, I know that he will be delivered from them. I once found a man who was living in a hut with cats and dogs. He wouldn’t even light a fire for fear of burning his hut down. He was completely abandoned! I felt pain for him, but he said to me, ‘Don’t feel sorry for me, my good monk; I need to be tormented. If you only knew what I have done, you wouldn’t feel so sorry for me. For me, even living in this place is too good.’ Tell me now, will God not provide for him, no matter what he has done?”
“Think about how many martyrs will come out of those who held on to their faith during those totalitarian regimes! A Russian man who had returned to Russia after many years [in Greece] told me, “A grandmother who knew me from the past approached me and asked, ‘Is this the coat you wear when you go to the Holy Mountain?’ ‘Yes, it is,’ I said. At once the poor woman’s eyes filled with tears and she grabbed my coat, kissing it in order to receive a blessing.” You see, the more faith is persecuted, the stronger it becomes. It is like a spring; the more it is pushed down, the higher up it springs. Eventually, the time comes when the one who is pushing it down will get tired and let it go!”

 

[Tis_Bearself]

What a wonderful story about the animals and the smart little kittens

 

[Phillip_Rolfes]

It’s incredible how similar his sayings and stories are to the sayings and stories from the ancient Desert Fathers. Truly we have Desert Fathers alive and well today.