Elder Kallinikos the Athonite (1853-1930)

Part I

Kallinikos the Athonite belongs among the great figures of Athonite monasticism. Konstantinos Theiaspris — his secular name — was born in 1853 in Athens to pious parents who descended from the chieftains of 1821.

He was a lively and intelligent child. Alongside his studies, he also read various Christian books, through which he came to know the wondrous life of the ascetics. In 1875, at the age of 22, he joined the brotherhood of the virtuous Elder Daniel, in Katounakia of the Holy Mountain.

When Elder Daniel saw the young Athenian, he had doubts as to whether he would be able to endure the harsh monastic life. However, he soon changed his mind and tonsured him a monk with the name Kallinikos.

Fr. Kallinikos had zeal for the monastic life and a deep inclination for learning; for this reason, he studied various patristic books. In a very short period of time, he was able to speak and write the Russian language, being self-taught. For his overall support of the Russian monks, the Tsar of Russia awarded him medals.

With the consent of his elder, Daniel, he decided to live as a recluse—that is, to live in his cell and within a small area around it—for 45 years.

This heroic decision was combined with complete surrender to the providence of God, with unceasing prayer and fasting. Of course, this life is not for everyone, but only “for those to whom it has been given.” The silkworm produces its silk only after becoming enclosed in its cocoon. (Fr. Cherubim [Karambelas]).

[Metropolitan] Dionysios of Trikke and Stagoi writes about him: “You saw a venerable, imposing, holy figure...” His reputation attracted a multitude of people to him, to hear an enlightened answer to their problems.

Disciples, elders, hermits, cenobites, laypeople, jurists, military officers, university professors, rectors, Greeks, Russians, and generally people of all ages, social classes, and levels of education would turn to the enlightened hesychast of Katounakia to seek his counsel for their problems. Among them were [Elder] Joseph the Cave-dweller, Fr. Gerasimos Menagias, and others.

He was also deemed worthy, among a few other great fathers, of the vision of the uncreated light. Through the practice of the noetic prayer, he was granted divine illuminations, writes Monk Erastos. (Two Contemporary Saints, Athens 1963).

On August 7, 1930, the reclusive hesychast of the desert of Katounakia, Fr. Kallinikos, was destined to depart for “the beloved tabernacles of the Lord.” After he had forewarned his disciple of his end, he told him to go and prepare the Church. For ten minutes before he breathed his last, he gazed upon holy figures who had come to accompany him with honor at his departure. Then he was heard to whisper softly: “I thank You, my God, that I die an Orthodox…” (Fr. Cherubim).

Eternal be his memory.

 

Part II

At the beginning of the 20th century, a strange formation was born within the sphere of the Church. A bizarre monster: Ecumenism.

According to it, no religion possesses the full truth. Each religion has a part of the truth. The complete truth will arise from the union of all Churches and all religions. Ecumenism: a pan-religion.

Various figures have characterized Ecumenism as a pan-heresy (Fr. Justin Popovich). The first step of Ecumenism was the change of the calendar, as is evident in the 1920 encyclical of the Patriarchate and in the proceedings of the Constantinople conference in 1923, in order for Orthodox and Papists to celebrate together. Thus, in 1923, the modernist Patriarch of Constantinople Meletios Metaxakis dared the disastrous calendar change.

The entire Holy Mountain (except for the Vatopedi Monastery for a certain period) has preserved the old (Julian) calendar up to the present day. A significant portion of Zealot monks also proceeded to cease the commemoration of the innovating Patriarch. The enlightened Elder Kallinikos could not remain indifferent in the face of this unprecedented betrayal of the faith.

To him (Fr. Kallinikos), as the wisest and holiest, the concerned Fathers turned for counsel regarding what should be done, and he, interpreting the Scriptures, without evasions or doubts, based on the Holy Fathers and the 15th Canon of the First-Second Council, advised them to cease the commemoration of the modernist patriarch Meletios Metaxakis. In such a gathering, the elder Kallinikos openly characterized the opinion that the commemoration of the patriarch should not be ceased as a “diabolical deception” ([Hieromonk] Maximos Hagiovasileiates, Denunciation of the Athonite Fathers, Holy Mountain 1997, p. 160).

The position of this blessed Elder Kallinikos regarding the Ecumenist innovation of the calendar change is evident from the following incident.

“Someone wanted to become a priest and wrote a confessional letter, which he sent to Fr. Kallinikos. The elder said to his disciples: ‘Write to the brother that he is in a pit of mire, clapping his hands and crying out for us to make him a king. Let him first come out of the pit of the New Calendarist innovation, be cleansed, and then we will see if he is worthy to become a king.’” (Monk Damaskinos Hagiovasileiates, Periodical Saint Agathangelos the Esphigmenite, no. 74, 1984).

He used to receive the religious periodical “ZOE.” But when the calendar change took place, he immediately returned the periodical. (Damaskinos, see above).

We could say that Elder Kallinikos in our days fulfilled the role of Saint Mark of Ephesus, Saint Gregory Palamas, and Saint Maximus the Confessor, as well as other struggling Fathers who, in critical moments for the Church, remained the sole defenders of Orthodoxy.

From the presented evidence, it becomes clear that the holy Elder Kallinikos of Katounakia, the reclusive hesychast, is a contemporary figure of the Athonite desert who denounced the heresy of the Latins, Papism, and the modern pan-heresy of New Calendarism–Ecumenism.

- Panagiotis Iliopoulos

 

Greek source: https://imthes.gr/index.php/%CE%BA%CE%B1%CF%84%CE%B7%CE%B3%CE%BF%CF%81%CE%AF%CE%B5%CF%82/%CF%88%CF%85%CF%87%CE%BF%CF%86%CE%B5%CE%BB%CE%AE/%CE%B9%CF%83%CF%84%CE%BF%CF%81%CE%B9%CE%BA%CE%AC/91-%CE%BA%CE%B1%CE%BB%CE%BB%CE%AF%CE%BD%CE%B9%CE%BA%CE%BF%CF%82-%E1%BD%81-%E1%BC%81%CE%B3%CE%B9%CF%81%CE%B5%CE%AF%CF%84%CE%B7%CF%82