THE REPOSE OF A NEW SAINTLY ELDER!
I was deemed worthy to be
present at the funeral service and burial of my spiritual father, Elder Chrysostomos
of Spetses, who departed for the heavenly journey following a worsening of his
heart condition at the age of 91. After Saint Nektarios in Aegina for the
twentieth century, the Argosaronic Gulf now gains a new saint and confessor for
the twenty-first century—an honorable spiritual grandson of Saint Nektarios,
since Fr. Chrysostomos was a spiritual child of Fr. Philotheos Zervakos from
Paros, who in turn had Elder Saint Nektarios. However, he had severed
ecclesiastical communion with the Bishop of Spetses together with his nuns
since 1984, for the sake of the betrayal of the Faith that is being carried out
by the ecumenists of the State Church, following the Patristic Calendar. Let it
be emphasized that had he remained, as protosyncellus of the Metropolis,
he was designated to succeed the Metropolitan—something he of course renounced,
placing his conscience above hierarchical advancement. Following the invasion
of a raging mob and authorities led by Bishop Ierotheos Tsantilis at the time,
they were exiled to the Isthmus of Corinth, only to return to the island and
rebuild the new monastery of the Panagia Gorgoepikoos and the Holy
Myrrhbearers, passing through slander and the envy of men—28 trials in
total—and in the end, a triumphant acquittal. All this for persistence in the
traditional Orthodox faith, without compromise with the heretical doctrine of
the innovating ecumenist bishops. God yesterday showed us the signs of His
grace on the body of our elder, which bears all the marks of the indwelling of
the Holy Spirit. Take courage, Christians, for although our separation is
painful, we have gained a saint in our time in heaven, to intercede for our
souls. We also observed, after the two days that passed from his death until
his burial, the complete flexibility of his body’s limbs, and personally, when
I kissed his sanctified little hand, I felt the warmth of a living person. The
entire flock had the sense that a saint was being buried, without doubt. For
the record, because malicious tongues, while he was alive, slandered his
refusal of communion—both with the new calendarists and Latin-minded of the
State Church, as well as with the various factions of the Patristic Calendar,
maintaining discreetly equal distance on account of their uncanonical
excesses—saying, “Who will be found to bury him?” I inform you that the funeral
service was conducted by seven priests – hieromonks: Fr. Paisios, Fr. Meletios,
and Fr. Athanasios from Verdikousa of Elassona; Fr. Efthymios Bardakas from
Athens; and three hieromonks from the Holy Monastery of Esphigmenou on Mount
Athos: Fr. Arsenios, Fr. Panaretos, and Fr. Gerontios. The funeral service,
which brought us a foretaste of the paradisiacal serenity that the Elder is
already enjoying, was chanted by the 20-member choir of the music teacher
Michail Makris. Also present were other Athonite fathers from sketes, and a
multitude of people from all over Greece. May we have the blessing of Father
Chrysostomos, the new confessor and teacher, the fearless defender of Orthodoxy
and opponent of the New World Order. I will soon post the exclusive video of
the funeral service, so that you may witness for yourselves the stature of our
Elder’s personality and holiness. Eternal be his memory, and may God reveal
worthy successors of his struggle and legacy for the good of the Church and of
Greece. Instead of further unnecessary words, I prefer to republish the full
profile of the multifaceted personality of Fr. Chrysostomos, written from Volos
by Hieromonk Nikephoros Nassos.
“When the righteous are praised, the
people rejoice” — the great Elder of Spetses.
by Fr. Nikephoros
Nassos
“Many are the righteous, and not
one of them was able to deliver himself from the power of death” (MPG
85, 1304). And the giant of the spirit and “saint of Spetses,” as he was
called, naturally followed the uncontrollable course of human life, which flows
like a river, “unceasingly and filled with successive waves,” according to the
great Revealer of Heaven, Basil the Great…
Full of days, then, the
Spirit-bearing Elder and Confessor, Archimandrite Chrysostomos Spyrou, known as
the Elder of Spetses, departed to the Lord on the 30th of the month of May (O.S.),
2014.
The Holy God, “who measures out
times for the living, and sets the seasons of death, who providentially
arranges the present and beneficially governs the future,” called near to
Himself the one who from his youth was consumed in His service, the sleepless
and tireless shepherd, the laborer for the salvation of souls according to the
model of the Great Shepherd Himself, the Confessor of the Faith, who bore “the
heat of the day and the frost of the night,” the beloved by the people, deeply
cherished and most noble Elder, the ever-blessed Fr. Chrysostomos.
“Who shall declare his virtues?”
His holy soul was a blooming meadow, a garden full of fragrance, bearing to the
“mountains of spices” (Song of Songs 8:14) the sweet aroma of his many virtues.
We would dare to borrow the expression of the eagle of Theology, Gregory,
regarding St. Athanasios, of whom he wrote that he was accessible to men but
inaccessible in virtue, and apply it likewise to the case of the holy Elder of
Spetses! Indeed, as testified by the thousands of people who knew him, Fr.
Chrysostomos was very approachable to people, but inaccessible—unreachable—in
virtue! He loved God as the Saints did, with a divine longing and fervent love,
as described in the patristic literature of our Church, and he made his very
being a chosen vessel of divine Love, a partaker of divine, uncreated radiance,
a vessel of spiritual virtues. But this did not come without toil, nor was it
accomplished automatically! The Elder “gave blood and received spirit,”
according to the patristic saying. He did everything humanly possible to draw
near to God. He purified his soul through the labors of asceticism, through
fasting and prayer and with inexpressible groanings, in order to reach the
heights of virtue, the unending perfection, the divine mixture and charismatic theosis,
the attainment of “likeness,” knowing as a capable theologian that, according
to the most holy hierarch Gregory of Nyssa and our entire Tradition, “the limit
of human blessedness is likeness to the divine.” (MPG 44, 433C).
In his case, one encountered a
harmonious combination of the gifts from God, which he possessed to a high
degree. A biblical figure, a refined soul, a sensitive and chosen being, with a
sacrificial ethos and pastoral love, lofty theological knowledge, rare
eloquence, astounding breadth and depth of learning, a noble voice—both
compunctious and aristocratic at once—remarkable writing ability. Truly a
many-talented father, combining grace and knowledge, contemplation and action!
An unparalleled celebrant, an
excellent mystagogue, a honey-flowing preacher, an exceptionally clear reader,
a distinguished chanter! But the unique, great gift of the Elder—the one richly
given by God, by which he stood out and refreshed for decades thousands of
souls as a spiritual fountain—was the gift of spiritual guidance and
confession. The epitrachelion of the ever-blessed Elder of Spetses
became for many “a laver of regeneration,” a “Jordan River,” a “pool of
Siloam,” and his entire personality as a shepherd and spiritual guide became “a
tree full of shade, under which many found shelter.” He was also, among other
things, endowed with the gift of consolation—he was truly a “son of
encouragement” according to the Scriptures. His counsel and admonitions were
like the “dew of Hermon”—they convinced, inspired, and informed the inner
being! Unforgettable to the writer will remain, among other things, the words
of consolation, “sweeter than honey and the honeycomb,” that the holy Elder
once expressed over the phone in a particular circumstance during a time of
great sorrow (about ten years ago)—words which indeed revived, instilled divine
mercy and inner comfort, were deeply engraved in the soul, and by the grace of
God worked deliverance and edification.
But beyond the personal, few yet
powerful experiences we have drawn from the love and dewy, grace-filled source
of divine gifts which God abundantly offered to afflicted souls through His
true servant, Fr. Chrysostomos, we also have the countless experiences of his
spiritual children—those who lived near him and bear abundant witness. The
All-Holy Spirit, which “renders the heart peaceful in form,” graced the blessed
Elder with great meekness and inner peace of soul, with deep sensitivity and
profound spiritual discernment, as well as with abundant uncreated
illumination, so that he would bring rest to souls, deliver them from the
tormenting tyranny of the demon and the unbearable bondage of defiled passions,
and lead them to salvation—to participation in the purifying, enlightening, and
deifying Grace of the Triune God. The renowned spiritual father of Spetses,
this rich granter of sustenance to the faithful, confessed day and night (both
in person and by phone), ceaselessly consoled, most fatherly exhorted, offered
divinely inspired solutions, and, in sum, brought rest to souls—always inspired
by the Scripture: “I will seek the lost, and bring back the strayed, and bind
up the broken, and strengthen the sick” (Ezek. 34:16).
To refer in detail to his
struggles for the Faith is impossible within the very limited scope of a
general overview such as this text. We know, however, and believe that many
brethren will offer significant facts and testimonies, in speech and writing,
concerning this truly titanic confessional struggle of the honorable Elder,
from the year of his walling off (1984) and thereafter, and will recount his
subsequent martyric course amidst spiritual birth pangs and sorrows. Also, it
will likely be mentioned—so we believe—his relentless persecution from his
first monastery by that impassioned persecutor, Bishop Ierotheos Tsantilis; the
endless trials, accusations, public defamations, conspiracies, and oppressions
he suffered at the hands of the people of darkness, and many other things
through which he is characterized as a great modern Confessor. Elder
Chrysostomos reposed during the week in which the Comforter is celebrated, Whom
he had indwelling within him through divine energy. In our humble opinion, Fr.
Chrysostomos, like the Saints of our Church, was a fruit of Pentecost. Saint
John Chrysostom writes that if the divine economy and earthly life of our Lord
is likened to a tree, then its roots are the Nativity, its trunk the
Crucifixion, its branches the Resurrection, its blossoms the Ascension, and the
fruit of the tree is Pentecost. The blessed Elder of Spetses lived the mystery
of the divine Economy experientially and through the liturgical life of the
Church in all its phases and dimensions (“the stages of the life in Christ”),
and he reached the fruit of Pentecost—which divine Pentecost is presented as
both the aim and the goal: the acquisition by all of us of the Grace of the
Holy Spirit, according to the well-known teaching of that most holy Father of
Russia, Seraphim of Sarov.
May the Lord eternally rest the
blessed Elder Chrysostomos and make him a partaker of His Kingdom and a sharer
in those supercelestial, unending, and “beyond comprehension” gifts and graces,
“which God has prepared for those who love Him”…
Eternal be his memory. May we
have his holy blessing.
Greek source: https://papoulakosaigio.blogspot.com/?m=0
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