Greek source: Archive of the Sacred Struggle, Issue 2, Spring/Summer 2015, pp. 28-33.
The legendary Father John, the
first priest of the Genuine Orthodox Christians, the celebrant of the All-Night
Vigils and of the great Miracle of the Third Appearance of the Precious Cross,
was born in 1860 in the village of Pentia (present-day Trikorfo) in Messenia,
into a devout family.
In 1893, he married, and the very
next year he was ordained Deacon and Priest by Archbishop Panaretos
Konstantinidis of Messenia (†1897), and assumed parish duties at the parish
church of his village, dedicated to Saint Nicholas.
After the repose of his presbytera,
and having assumed responsibility for the care of his five children, he moved
to Athens in 1923 for the sake of his youngest son's education, leaving his
native village and remaining without a parish. He repeatedly appealed to the
Archdiocese of Athens to be assigned a parish position, so that he could
perform his liturgical duties and provide for the needs of his family, but
without success. After months of great deprivation, the Most Holy Theotokos appeared
to him in a dream and directed him to the then-picturesque little Church of
Saint Eleftherios in Kato Patissia, Athens, which was destined to become his
parish for a short time.
It was there that the Calendar
Innovation imposed in 1924 found him. It was then that he responded with a
resolute NO to the innovating Hierarchy of the Church of Greece, walling
himself off from his innovating superiors and joining forces with the guardians
of patristic traditions, the ordinary faithful people of God. As was to be
expected, this stance brought him into conflict with the Archdiocese of Athens,
which expelled him from Saint Eleftherios.
New trials began for Father John.
From then on, every chapel on the outskirts of Attica found its celebrant in
the person of the elderly priest, who possessed youthful zeal and conviction.
He found particular solace when celebrating the Divine Liturgy at the
then-abandoned small Monastery of Saint John the Theologian, on the slopes of
Mount Hymettus (Municipality of Papagou), as well as at Omorfokklisia (Veikou)
in Galatsi, both of which welcomed the Old Calendarists during the first years
of the sacred Struggle.
The labors and hardships of
Father John, who was one of the few married clergymen who remained with the Old
Calendar, were blessed by God. To him was reserved the very great honor of
being the celebrant at the All-Night Vigil for the Exaltation of the Precious
Cross in 1925, at Saint John the Theologian on Mount Hymettus, during which
that luminous white Cross appeared, filling the hearts of the faithful with
joy, strengthening those exhausted by persecutions, and enlightening many to
return to the ancestral piety, according to the testimonies of eyewitnesses.
In 1934, the Old Calendarists of
Bala (present-day Rodopoli, Attica) invited him to celebrate the Divine Liturgy
at the Byzantine Chapel of the Honorable Forerunner. However, the Christians
began gathering there for the Divine Liturgy in vain, for they found the chapel
securely locked by the police authorities. Father John, accustomed to
prohibitions and persecutions, was undeterred, nor did he even consider
depriving the devout faithful of the Divine Liturgy, in which they had gathered
with such longing to participate. Accompanied, as always, by the faithful, he
made his way to the village and, beside the site where the present-day Church
of the Holy Trinity of Rodopoli stands, celebrated the Divine Liturgy outdoors,
upon a stone that later became the foundation stone of that church.
Faithful in his observance of the
Sacred Services, Father John never neglected his customary nighttime Service,
even in his extreme old age. Only once, on a snowy night, was he compelled to
depart from his usual practice, intending to read his Service a little later.
But God, Who did not wish such a blessed practice of so many years to be
interrupted, alerted him at the appropriate moment. Startled, the elderly
Presbyter heard a voice coming from the small Icon of the Annunciation of the Theotokos,
which he always carried with him, saying: “Father John, it is the early hour of
dawn!” And the good Levite immediately rose to offer his morning glorification
and praise to the holy God…
During the great persecution of
the Genuine Orthodox Christians in 1951, despite his advanced age, Father John
labored tirelessly, having transformed his home on Kanari Street in Kifisia
into a secret spiritual refuge for the Genuine Orthodox.
At Christmas of that same year,
according to the account of an eyewitness, the father according to the flesh of
Nun Xeni, Abbess of the Holy Monastery of the Dormition of the Theotokos
in Thrakomakedones, Attica, who later became the Monk Theologos, three trucks
filled with faithful from various parts of Attica set out late in the evening
on the eve of the great Feast to keep vigil, far from their innovating
persecutors, at the Chapel of Saint Marina in Porto Rafti. The priest serving
at that All-Night Vigil was also Father John. He was in the last truck,
concealed beneath a pile of coats and overcoats.
Along the way, a police unit
stopped the three trucks for inspection. When the police asked the purpose of
their journey, the passengers in the first truck offered the naive excuse:
“We’re going swimming,” even though it was a freezing December night, with
considerable snow, and the three trucks were filled mainly with elderly people
who were shivering from the cold. When those in the second and third trucks
were asked where they were going, they replied: “Wherever the ones in front are
going.” The Grace of God did not allow the policemen to examine that otherwise
childish explanation in detail, and they permitted them to continue on their
way.
The All-Night Vigil in the
overcrowded little chapel was reminiscent of the early Christian era. The
entire congregation chanted together, and the zealous priest heard the
confessions of all those present and administered Holy Communion to them. At
the end, everyone joyfully exchanged festive greetings, partook of a few simple
refreshments, and departed for their homes, continuing to chant throughout the
entire return journey.
Six months before his repose in
the Lord, the heroic Father John was confined to his sickbed as a result of an
accident. During this time, he was also visited by the ever-memorable
Metropolitan Chrysostomos, formerly of Florina, who had returned from his
second exile of seventeen months on the island of Mytilene.
On December 15, 1953, the feast
day of the Holy Hieromartyr Eleftherios, in whose chapel he had once faithfully
served, Father John fell asleep in the Lord the sleep of the righteous. He was
buried at the Holy Monastery of the Wonderworking Saint Irene Chrysovalantou in
Lykovrysi, Attica, whose sisterhood he had regularly served by administering
the Holy Mysteries.
He was an unsung and courageous
clergyman, a man of few words and great wisdom, who feared nothing but God, and
whose name will remain in the history of the Genuine Orthodox Christians,
inseparably linked with the awe-inspiring Miracle of the Third Appearance of
the Precious Cross in 1925.
Online:
https://web.archive.org/web/20230811094514/https://ecclesiagoc.gr/images/stories/pdfs/Arxeion-2.pdf
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.