Archimandrite Eugenios
Limonis (1875–1961)
The blessed Archimandrite
Eugenios Limonis [1] of Panteleimonas, known in the world as Evangelos, was
born in 1875 in Chotsista [2], Korça, in Northern Epirus. He was a graduate of
the School of Letters and served as a public teacher in his village, while also
being an excellent connoisseur of Byzantine music.
He had great reverence for the Theotokos, and, as we shall see, almost
all the events of his life were connected with Her. The blessed Elder
Chrysanthos Vrettaros, who knew and especially honored Papa-Eugenios, recounts
the following:
"At a
school in Northern Epirus, where he was a teacher, the Turkish occupier,
following the instigation of the Turco-Albanians, intended to set it on fire
and burn it down. The Orthodox Albanians revealed this plan to Evangelos, who
responded: 'We have faith in the Theotokos,
and the Theotokos will protect us.'
When the Turks decided to go to the school to burn it, they saw before them a
mountain, which they passed through without realizing the existence of the
school, and thus they departed without accomplishing anything. When Evangelos
was asked how he and the school remained unharmed, he told everyone that he had
been reading the Akathist Hymn to the Theotokos,
and that the Most Holy Theotokos
became a wall and a shelter, preventing the school from being burned by the
occupiers." [3]
Father Eugenios visited Mount
Athos for the first time in 1902 with the intention of becoming a monk.
However, he ultimately returned to care for his parents, who were in need,
until 1909, when he joined the brotherhood of the Holy Monastery of Dionysiou.
He was tonsured a monk and distinguished himself for his obedience and monastic
exactitude. He received the great Mystery of the Priesthood from Bishop Paisios
Papapaisios of Nyssa (†1924) on June 28, 1917, [4] at the mature age of 42.
At the end of 1927,
Papa-Eugenios, together with other Athonite Fathers, went out into the world to
support the holy struggle for the Patristic Calendar. He placed himself at the
service of the Greek Religious Community of the Genuine Orthodox, which sent
him wherever there was a pastoral need.
During one of these missions, he
was arrested for the first time by the police following actions taken by the
Innovator Archbishop of Athens, Chrysostomos Papadopoulos. Specifically, on
March 10/23, 1929, a Saturday of the First Week of Lent (the Commemoration of
the Miracle of Saint Theodore with the Kollyva),
Father Eugenios was sent by the Community to Magoula, Eleusis, at the request
of the Genuine Orthodox there. The police arrested him by order of the
Archbishop, but the people of Magoula marched to Athens, and together with
faithful from Athens and Piraeus—who had been mobilized by the Athonite
Hieromonks Parthenios Skourlis and Gideon Pasios [5]—succeeded in securing the
release of Father Eugenios.
Nevertheless, on another
occasion, he did not escape imprisonment. The historical Patria records the following:
"'How are
you, Father Gerasimos? Don’t you recognize me? I am Father Eugenios.'
"He was
wearing a priest’s kalymavchion
instead of the monastic Athonite skouphos
he usually wore, which is why Father Gerasimos did not immediately recognize
him. Spontaneously, they embraced and exchanged the kiss of their common
struggle. They were both in the same prison for the same cause." [6]
In May 1929, the healing of the
three-year-old Ioannis Spyridonakos took place, an event that was even recorded
by newspapers. [7] The boy, who was on the brink of death with a destroyed
lung, was brought by his parents to the small Church of the Life-Giving Spring
in Piraeus, where Father Eugenios had just been appointed as a priest. They
came to beseech the Theotokos for his
healing. Father Eugenios made the sign of the cross over the child with the
Holy Spoon, and by the grace of the Theotokos,
the child was healed. [8]
When Father Eugenios first saw
the small Church of the Life-Giving Spring, he said the following:
"Saint
Gregory the Theologian found a small chapel (a humble hut) in Constantinople,
and from there he preached Holy Orthodoxy, and thus today we are Orthodox. And
from this cave, where the church of the Theotokos,
the Life-Giving Spring, stands… Holy Orthodoxy will be preached to the whole
world." [9]
Around 1930, Father Joachim
Makrygenis came to Athens from America [10] and joined the Holy Struggle. Elder
Chrysanthos recalls:
"Father
Joachim connected with the priests of the Old Calendarists and told them to
leave the houses where they were staying and rent a large two- or three-story
building, where middle-aged men desiring the monastic life could reside. They
should have a vehicle and a telephone for their needs and a resident spiritual
father for the spiritual needs of the faithful. Unfortunately, the Athonite
priests did not accept this advice, except for one—the propertyless and
penniless Father Eugenios of Dionysiou." [11]
Unfortunately, in addition to
being fought by the Innovators, Papa-Eugenios was also opposed by some of his
own fellow strugglers, particularly certain Athonites from 1933—whose names
later appeared in the unacceptable document of denunciation ("anathema"!)
against the holy Bishop Chrysostomos of Florina in 1937, when they followed
[Bishop] Matthew of Bresthena in his fall into schism. Specifically, these
Athonites accused Papa-Eugenios of being a "traitor to the Holy
Struggle" because he commemorated "for all Orthodox bishops."
[12] Moreover, even the owner of the house where he was staying caused him
distress, forcing him to leave, as she wanted to establish a women's monastery
and have him as her elder. In response, Papa-Eugenios, to his credit, told her:
"I did not leave Mount Athos to establish women's monasteries."
Father Eugenios also
distinguished himself as a publisher, primarily of Oikoi and Akathist hymns,
for which he had a particular preference. He was meticulous in his use of the
Greek language and left behind related articles, though only a few have
survived. It is known, however, that he held some unique views on the rendering
of hymnographic texts, which at times even led to certain misunderstandings.
Completely without attachment to
money and exceedingly destitute, he always lived as a guest. His asceticism
resembled that of the ancient Fathers. He slept very little and never in a bed,
but in a chair, which caused his back to become hunched. He spent his life in
voluntary hardship, enduring cold without heating and practicing severe
asceticism. Beneath his tattered and worn cassock, he wore heavy iron chains
that had "eaten into" his flesh. Due to his constant walking and long
hours of standing, his legs had rotted, yet they did not emit a foul odor!
Elder Chrysanthos, in awe, recounts of the most pious Papa-Eugenios: "His
feet had rotted, and as the worms fell from his wounds, he would pick them up
and place them back onto his sores, so that his body would not be deprived of
the martyrdom of the most intense pains" [13] ...
He ate very little. As observed
by Elder Gabriel (†1983), the Abbot of the Monastery of Dionysiou, the blessed
Papa-Eugenios was "a strict faster, or rather one nourished by the Divine
Eucharist, through his daily Liturgies." [14] Nevertheless, when invited
to homes and offered food, he ate very little in order to combat thoughts of
pride. Whatever money was given to him, he immediately distributed. Moreover,
to carefully conceal his virtue of almsgiving, people would sometimes hear him
scolding children—but this was merely a pretense, so that he could secretly
give them money for their impoverished families.
Whenever he was called to read
exorcisms, he would leave quickly to avoid being praised, for the demons would
depart, saying: "Your humility, Papa-Eugenios, has driven us out!"
Elder Chrysanthos also recounts the following incident:
"One day,
while he was serving the Divine Liturgy, there was a possessed man who screamed
so loudly that the chanters fled. Then, Papa-Eugenios asked me to chant. I sang
from the left choir while the demon shrieked. I continued chanting calmly, while
Papa-Eugenios was immersed in the contemplation of the divine Mystery, and soon
the demon left the man." [15]
Many times, while serving the
Divine Liturgy, he was seen not touching the ground. He also celebrated the
Liturgy in a small chapel dedicated to the Theotokos
on the rooftop of a large house in Piraeus, where families would gather in
faith, even during the difficult years of the Occupation. On one such occasion,
a child peeked through the side door of the Holy Altar and, astonished, saw
Father Eugenios elevated above the ground, entirely enraptured in liturgical
prayer!...
During the Occupation, and later,
during the severe persecution under Spyridon Vlachos in the early 1950s, there
are testimonies of "raids" on the rooftop chapel, either by the
Germans or by the police, aiming to disrupt the liturgical gathering of the
faithful of Genuine Orthodoxy and to arrest and mistreat the holy Elder, Father
Eugenios the Athonite—this pillar of piety and virtue. However, the Lord and
the Theotokos preserved him and those
with him. In one such raid, it is testified that the intruders ascended to the
top floor of the mansion, where there was an internal metal staircase leading
to the rooftop with the chapel. In a miraculous manner, although the armed
raiders could hear the chanting and the readings from the Divine Liturgy inside
the church, they could not see the metal staircase and were unable to find a
way to reach the chapel—forcing them to retreat in shame and without
success!...
Despite the persecutions against
our Church and against Father Eugenios himself, he remained peaceful and
without fanaticism—steadfast in the Confession of Faith and a true struggler,
yet also opposed to any form of deviation against his persecutors. For example,
there is a reliable testimony that, as a spiritual father, he once imposed a
severe "penance" on a Christian of the Patristic Calendar who, out of
indignation—likely due to an excessive ("bitter") zeal—referred to
the fierce persecutor of the Genuine Orthodox, Archbishop Spyridon Vlachos, as
a "goat," failing to show respect for his clerical dignity, which he
bore even if unworthily!...
Father Eugenios was an excellent
spiritual father, endowed with discernment and the gift of insight. He was
particularly insistent on the decisive rejection of evil thoughts sown by the
enemy devil, especially those of the flesh, which contaminate the souls of men.
Through his demeanor and counsel, he inspired those who confessed to him with a
spirit of optimistic struggle, as confirmed by many reliable individuals who
knew him, including the late theologian Stavros Karamitsos [16] and the blessed
Metropolitan Kyprianos of Oropos and Phyle, [17] among others.
The blessed Papa-Eugenios had an
immense love for the Theotokos and
for Her holy mother, Saint Anna, the Theopromitor
["giver of the Godhead"] and "grandmother" of all
Athonites, whose Akathist Hymn he would recite many times a day. It is no
coincidence that his repose occurred on her feast day. On the morning of
December 9, 1961 (according to the Orthodox Calendar), he celebrated the Divine
Liturgy in honor of Saint Anna and exited the Holy Altar with tears of joy.
That evening, seated on his stool and holding his prayer rope, he peacefully
ended his earthly life in a saintly manner at the age of 86, continually
uttering the word "Rejoice."
It was the time when, after a
year of being orphaned following the repose of the holy former Metropolitan of
Florina, Chrysostomos, our Church had already gained a head in the person of
the blessed Bishop Akakios of Talantion (†1963). Moreover, when certain
renegade clergy of that time maliciously commented in a pamphlet that some
venerable clergy of our Church of the Genuine Orthodox Christians of Greece had
supposedly not accepted the newly consecrated Bishop Akakios of Talantion—who
had been ordained in America amid countless difficulties—an official written
confirmation was made stating that those clergy, including the venerable
Archimandrite Father Eugenios Limonis, fully accepted and commemorated their
hierarch, His Eminence Akakios, as obedient children of the Church.
Around 2,500 faithful attended
the funeral of the blessed Father Eugenios. The Funeral Service of the
"hero of the Struggle," as he was justly called among others, was
officiated by the Archimandrites of our Church: Paisios, Chrysostomos, Niphon,
Germanos, Merkourios, Longinos, and Antonios, along with Hieromonk Hesychios
and the Reverend Father Nikolaos Kaloskamis. His burial took place at the Holy
Monastery Axion Estin in Varympompi,
Attica. [19]
The guards of the Royal Estate,
which was located near the Monastery, reported that they saw light emerging
from his grave at night!
His forty-day Memorial Service
was held at the Church of the Life-Giving Spring in Piraeus, with His Eminence
Bishop Akakios of Talantion presiding, on January 18/31, 1962. In a brief
biographical note presented on that occasion, it was characteristically
written:
"Hearing
the turmoil in the world caused by the Innovation of the New Calendar, the
Athonite Hieromonk Father Eugenios, following the example of the ancient
God-bearing Fathers, left his solitude and went out into the world,
strengthening and comforting the faithful through both his character and his
words, becoming for all a model, an exemplar, and a most exact rule of virtue.
Modest, simple, meek, and quiet, he attracted everyone to himself like a
magnet. He departed to the Lord, full of days, having received a double
crown—the crown of asceticism and the crown of confession." [20]
A photograph has been preserved,
which we publish, from a Trisagion Service at the grave of Father Eugenios,
with the reading of Absolution Prayers by the blessed Archbishop Auxentios in
December 1964. [21]
The honorable Skull of the
blessed Father Eugenios is preserved in a reliquary and placed for veneration,
along with his other sacred relics, at the Church of the Life-Giving Spring in
Piraeus. However, this church, being private, is unfortunately held by
uncanonical clergy who do not belong to our Church. Two
Theotokos icons and several other sacred objects, as well as
structural elements from the rooftop chapel where Father Eugenios celebrated
the Divine Liturgy, were collected and later safeguarded at the Holy Monastery
of Saint Onuphrius in Dardiza, Keratea, Attica by His Eminence, Bishop Justinos
of Evripos and Euboea. Bishop Justinos had known Father Eugenios during the
time when he, as a Hieromonk, was serving in Piraeus and even celebrated the
Divine Liturgy in that chapel after Father Eugenios' blessed repose.
Papa-Eugenios, boast of our Holy
Struggle, intercede for us, your unworthy successors!
Notes
1. He is more commonly known as Lemonis [Λεμονῆς], although
his surname, as he himself signed it, is Limonis [Λημόνης].
2. A town near the present-day Greek-Albanian border. At that
time, its population numbered around 2,000 inhabitants, of whom approximately
1,600 were Romioi (Greeks and
Albanian Orthodox), while the rest were Muslims.
3. Hieromonk Chrysanthos of Mount Athos, Elderly Memories and Narratives, published by Holy Monastery of Panagia Odigitria, Molos Lokridos, 2011, p. 282.
4. See the manuscript "Clergy
Register of the G.O.C." (No. 65), preserved in the Archives of the
Offices of our Holy Synod.
5. See the periodical "Ta
Patria" (Jan.–Mar. 1978), p. 15.
6. See the periodical "Ta
Patria" (Jan.–Mar. 1977), p. 24.
7. See the newspaper "Skrip"
(22-5-1929).
8. Details of the miracle can be found in "Archive of the Holy Struggle",
vol. 4 / Year 2016, pp. 29–31.
9. Hieromonk Chrysanthos of Mount Athos, op. cit., p. 35.
10. Regarding his figure, see Archimandrite Cherubim, Contemporary Athonite Figures, vol. 1, Joachim of St. Anne's Skete, published
by Holy Monastery of Parakletos, Oropos, Attica, 1983.
11. Hieromonk Chrysanthos of Mount Athos, op. cit., p. 236.
12. See Agathangelos Koletsas, So That the Truth May Be Known, Athens, 1933, p. 12.
13. Hieromonk Chrysanthos of Mount Athos, op. cit., pp. 236–237.
14. Athonite Library,
Year XXVII [1962], p. 58.
15. Hieromonk Chrysanthos of Mount Athos, op. cit., p. 285.
16. See The Agony in
the Garden of Gethsemane, Athens, 1961, p. 327, where Father Eugenios is
described as the most enviable ornament and the most precious treasure of our
Holy Struggle.
17. Regarding Father Eugenios Lemonis, excerpt from a sermon
by His Eminence Metropolitan Kyprianos I (†) in Australia
(http://agioskyprianos.org/dihgiseis_1.shtml).
18. See "The Voice
of Orthodoxy", issue 358 / 6-2-1961, p. 8. Additionally, Father
Eugenios co-signed, along with other clergy of our Church, a declaration
concerning the unity of the Church of the G.O.C. of Greece and the acceptance
and loyalty to the rightful and canonical Shepherd, Bishop Akakios of
Talantion, in response to a slanderous campaign against him by malicious
individuals (see "The Voice of
Orthodoxy", issue 371 / 31-7-1961, pp. 1–2).
19. See "The Voice
of Orthodoxy", issue 381 / 18-12-1961, p. 6.
20. See "The Voice
of Orthodoxy", issue 383-384 / 15-1-1962, p. 11.
21. See "The Voice
of Orthodoxy", issue 462 / 15-2-1965, p. 5.
Primary Sources:
– Hieromonk Chrysanthos of Mount Athos, Elderly Memories and Narratives, published by the Holy Monastery of
Panagia Odigitria, Molos Lokris, 2011 (primarily pages 281–286).
– Archimandrite Gabriel of Dionysiou, Eugenios, the Hieromonk of Dionysiou, in Athonite Library, Year XXVII [1962], pp. 58–59.
– Monk Moses of Mount Athos, Great Gerontikon of Virtuous Athonite Elders of the 20th Century.
– Periodical "Ta
Patria".
– Recollections of His Eminence, Metropolitan Justinos of
Evripos and Euboea, recorded by Brother Zisis Tsiotras, theologian and
educator.
Source: Αρχειον
του ιερου Αγωνοσ [Archive of the Holy Struggle], Issue 7, First Semester
2018, pp. 37-49. Online: https://www.ecclesiagoc.gr/images/stories/pdfs/Arxeion7-S.pdf.
