Elders Paisios and Porphyrios on the Old Calendarist Elder (St.) Ieronymos of Aegina

 

 

(Letter of the Ever-Memorable Elder Paisios)

IC XC
NI KA

Precious Cross

“Saint Anna is our help” 25 July 1976

Sister Sotiria, “Rejoice in the Lord.”

I received your letter, and I was very pleased with your good endeavor.

Unfortunately, I did not know the holy Elder, Father Ieronymos of Aegina, personally. What you should add to this good endeavor of yours (besides your own information and that of others) would be to give it first to Father Porphyrios to read before publication, in order to ascertain whether he truly meant what you wrote (in your notes), so that the Saintly Father may not be misrepresented.

Our good endeavor and education alone are not sufficient unless there is also an inner affinity, because otherwise we would interpret things according to each person’s different vocabulary.

I am writing these things to you concerning Father Porphyrios because the spiritual gift of the one resembles that of the other.

I shall pray that the work may be done well, so that the holy Father may once again appear to his children (now from on high), in order to help them more effectively and that the name of God may be glorified. Amen.

May Christ and the Theotokos be with you,
and may the Saintly Father help you.

Monk Paisios

* * *

Before initially submitting the work On Elder Ieronymos to the publishing house, I also asked the ever-memorable Elder Paisios of the Holy Mountain, by letter, to inform me whether he knew anything about Elder Ieronymos and what his opinion was concerning the writing of the book.

Elder Paisios—may his prayers now accompany us also from where he is—replied to me with his blessed letter, reproduced at the end, in which, on the one hand, he prayed that “the work may be done well, etc.,” and, on the other, advised that Father Porphyrios (of Oropos) should read it beforehand, because “the spiritual gift of the one resembles that of the other.”

The ever-memorable Elder, Father Porphyrios, out of humility, when I asked him by telephone to review the text and give his blessing for its printing, replied to me:

“Who is writing the Preface?”

I answered him: “Mr. Paschos, Elder; you know him.”

And he replied: “Since Mr. Paschos, who is also a university professor, has seen it and is writing the preface, there is no need for me, an uneducated man.”

Then, when I hesitantly reminded him, “Elder, what are we to do now, since Father Paisios writes that you too must examine it?”

At that point, the great and holy Elder Porphyrios, obeying the Athonite Father Paisios, said:

“Very well, take the text and read it to me over the telephone wherever I tell you. Read fifteen pages from the beginning. Ten pages after page 65. Ten pages after page 100. Ten pages after page 150. Skip fifty pages and read to me.…”

He listened with great attention to the pages that he indicated and that I read to him over the telephone. He suggested that certain words be corrected. In particular, concerning the word “anxiety,” which appears somewhere, he said to me emphatically:

“Man, erase that word! It must not appear in your book! A Christian is permitted neither to feel it nor to utter it. There is no anxiety for the believer!”

Then, at the end of the reading of the excerpts, he said with some satisfaction:

“Now it is all right; you may send it to the printer. With my blessing.”

Therefore, with the prayer and blessing of these two holy Elders as well, and with Elder Ieronymos’s loving thirst for the admonition and salvation of souls, which he manifested so intensely during his lifetime, how could these humble words concerning Elder Ieronymos and his wise counsels fail to permeate, benefit, and sweeten anyone who applies himself to them with zeal and love?

 

 

Sotiria Nousi — Elder Ieronymos of Aegina

Greek source: https://entoytwnika1.blogspot.com/2026/07/blog-post_08.html

ADDENDUM

From Facebook (translated from the original Greek):

Dimitrios Katsouras (post of 27 July 2026): Most obviously, the G.O.C. are not heretics. They are uncompromising Orthodox Christians. Indeed, from within their ecclesiastical community, a multitude of Saints has arisen over the past one hundred years (a new book of ours is forthcoming, presenting a dozen such venerable figures—Hierarchs, Priests, monastics, and laypeople). I offer you my personal testimony from a conversation I had with Elder Porphyrios, who specifically named the Old Calendarist Elder Monk Moses [of Athikia]—who had also lived the ascetic life on the Holy Mountain and who reposed in Corinthia—as a great Saint and one who had attained theosis! Indeed, he asked me for his photograph, which I brought to him, and he placed it, in the presence of his sister, the nun Porphyria, among the Icons in his cell at Milesi. Consequently, the opinion attributed to Elder Porphyrios concerning the calendar was his own personal assessment; he himself, however, under no circumstances regarded the G.O.C. as heretics, but recognized grace and sanctity within the G.O.C., as stated above. We all have human weaknesses and deficiencies. Let us not, however, be fanatical, nor use virtuous and holy persons in order to impose our own views. Let it not be forgotten that Elder Porphyrios’s Elders on the Holy Mountain were Zealots—that is, Old Calendarists! Likewise, Saint John the Romanian, an ascetic in the desert of Hozeva, whose relics were uncovered incorrupt, whole, and fragrant, was a faithful observer of the Patristic Calendar/festal calendar and would not concelebrate with clergy who followed the New Calendar. He also broke communion with the Patriarchate of Jerusalem for this reason, as well as because of joint prayers with Papists. The Patriarchate, of course, recognized him as a Saint “out of necessity,” because of his incorrupt sacred Body and his many posthumous miracles. Our final humble conclusion is this: It is not pleasing to God for New Calendarists and Old Calendarists to accuse one another with malice and fanaticism. Prudence and discernment are needed. Instead of opposing one another, the New Calendarists should struggle for the healing of the division and schism caused by the calendar innovation and its uncanonical imposition, while the Old Calendarists should continue their struggle with Patristic discernment, speaking the truth to all in love and courteously enlightening our fellow countrymen who follow the New Calendar that the enemy of Orthodoxy is antichristian Papism and the anti-Church, pan-heretical Ecumenism, which we can confront effectively only when united in the Truth and joined together in love according to God.

Comment of Nikolaos Mannis: Persons who knew Saint Porphyrios confirmed to me that he likewise regarded Elder Ieronymos of Aegina and Papa-Chrysanthos Vrettaros as Saints.

Comment of Panagiotis Kokkalidis: I also offer my personal testimony that Elder Aimilianos of Simonopetra likewise kept a photograph of Elder Ieronymos on his desk in the abbot’s quarters, in a prominent place. I also believe that, in one of the two books about Elder Ieronymos, there is a reference to Elder Aimilianos as a deacon, although his name is not specifically mentioned.