ATHONITE FATHERS
AND ATHONITE MATTERS

BY THE BOOK OF ELDER PAISIOS,
OF MOUNT ATHOS

The Prodigious Father Daniel

At about the time of Hadji-Georgis, there lived on the Holy Mountain the prodigious Elder Daniel, who also worked miracles even as a mere beginner monastic. At that time, he greatly impressed the devout pilgrims and, indeed, certain God-fearing Russians published some of his miracles in religious journals. Therefore, I would like to record the little I have learned of the holy father, because it was of great benefit to me and I would like it to be so for others, too.

As I was told, he came from Greece and arrived on the Holy Mountain at about the time of the Greek Revolution, in 1821. The God-fearing young man first made a pilgrimage to the Mother of God the Portaitissa (22) at the Monastery of Iveron. Then, he went on to the Monastery of the Great Lavra, where he venerated Saint Athanasios and prayed fervently that Our Most Holy Lady would guide him to a virtuous elder to submit to and become a monk. After this, he lightheartedly set off and continued on his way with complete trust in God. When he had gone past Kerasia and was on his way to the Skete of Saint Ann, he took the wrong path and ended up at the Cell of Saint Artemios. The elder there was a very devout man and a great struggler, endowed with many virtues, so the young man felt at ease with him.

The other fathers from the surrounding Cells, who saw the young novice engaged in the monastic struggle on the same terms as his elder were rather troubled. They told the elder to be a little more careful and lenient with him, because he was only young and had come upon asceticism all of a sudden. But the elder would say: "Don't you worry. I know the sort of person I have".
In a short time, the young man became a monk and was given the name Daniel. He reached great spiritual heights because he was pure, not only in body and soul, but in his mind, too, always having good thoughts and Christ abiding in his clean heart.

Once, they had lit the oven to make bread and dry rusks. While he was raking the glowing charcoal, in order to spread the heat equally in the oven, the wooden handle of the rake burned through and the metal head was left in the hot oven. Father Daniel told his elder about it at once so as not to hold up the baking process and the elder replied: "What are you looking at me for? Make the sign of the cross, get in there and take it out, so we can get on".
Father Daniel made the sign of the cross and got inside the hot oven. He picked up the red-hot iron rake head in his hands, without suffering the slightest burn and without a hair of his beard being burnt! The most important thing of all is that it didn't even occur to him that he had done anything special!

On another occasion again, an elder from one of the Walachian Cells in the neighbourhood had fallen ill and found some relief for his complaint in eating those slightly bitter gherkins. When winter came, the pains from the same illness reappeared and he went down to the Monastery of Saint Paul to try and get hold of even pickled gherkins to help with the pains, but unfortunately he didn't find any. And so, troubled and in pain, he made his way up the incline from the Skete of Saint Ann to the "Cross". Although it was winter and there were not even pickled gherkins around, all of a sudden Father Daniel appeared, left six or seven fresh gherkins in front of him, and went straight away! The sick father was amazed and glorified God. As soon as he ate them, he was cured once and for all. This time Father Daniel brought love and a blessing from a warm far-away country! (At that time there were no greenhouses in Greece.)

There was another elder from the Walachian Cells who was coming back to his Cell from Saint Ann in the depths of winter. As soon as he had breasted the ridge, he was engulfed in a blizzard. He was forced to retrace his steps a little and take shelter under a rock, because night had fallen and he didn't have time to get back to Saint Ann's. Apart from that, it was snowing heavily and a gale was blowing. While he was huddled there under the rock, shivering, at a certain point in the night he felt someone cuddling him and making him really warm and he fell into a sweet sleep. Then, he saw that he was in the arms of Father Daniel, who was embracing him with great love. When it was light in the morning, he awoke from his sweet sleep and stood up to be on his way, since the blizzard had stopped. But what did he see! The snow was everywhere around, but there on the rock it had melted from the divine warmth shed by Father Daniel! The elder was warmed spiritually, too, and went rejoicing to his Cell praising God, while Father Daniel was constantly being warmed by the love of Christ. May his blessing be upon us. Amen.


Elder Cosmas of the Monastery of Pantocrator (the Wine-Grower)

Elder Cosmas was born in Angelochori in Thrace in 1897. His worldly name was Kleanthis and his life was monastic even while he was still in the world. He lived ascetically working his piece of land (he was a gardener). He also cultivated love for others there, while constantly harvesting love from Christ. He performed many acts of charity and was always helping those who were prey to stealing when in need, so as to protect them from the mortal sin of theft and even worse...

On one occasion, a little boy -who told me the story himself when he was grown up- went to Kleanthis' garden to buy produce and then to go on and buy other things from the shops. No sooner had he got to the garden, what did he see! He had lost his money. The young boy started to cry and began to have bad thoughts about ways of solving the problem, because he was afraid of the hiding he could expect from his mother.
After he had calmed the boy down, Kleanthis, as he was then called, said to him:
"Do you remember how much money your mother gave you, my son, and what she told you to buy".
"Yes", replied the young boy. So, he gave the garden produce and the correct change and said:
"Now, don't worry, but be more careful next time". This was the sort of thing he did in the world, when he used to live in his homevillage.

Around 1914, he left the world, his brother and his garden and came to the Garden of the Mother of God to engage in the struggle with other spiritual brethren. He was tonsured a monk in 1915. He stayed in the Monastery of Stavroniceta until 1924 and then, with the change in the calendar (23), left the next year for the cenobitic (24) Monastery of Pantocrator. There, he asked the fathers if he could live outside the monastery at the vineyard, which was close to the place of his repentance. He also lived the ascetic life in other places on the Holy Mountain until 1939. From 1939 onwards, however, he carried on his struggle at the vineyard. All day work and unceasing prayer. He completely disregarded his body, because his whole effort was directed at the care of his soul. His clothes were caked in mud from the sweat and the soil. In a corner on the floor, he had some old blankets to lie on. They were covered with so much earth that if you would have scattered seeds on them they would have sprouted. Although he worked very hard and struggled spiritually with great philotimo, he got by on a very sparse diet: greens, the odd nut and dried rusks. Elder Cosmas would never take the money that the idiorrythmic (25) monasteries gave for monastic tasks to the fathers to live on. He used to say:
"You keep it, fathers, and I will take it all together later on". They thought that he meant he would take it in his old age, but Elder Cosmas meant in the next life. Likewise, any food and the like which the monastery gave him, he would hand out as a blessing to the elders in Kapsala. If any elder refused them, then the next time Father Cosmas went, he would say to him: "Elder, I have brought some things here to sell", and he would then sell them for next to nothing. In this way, he would set the elder's mind at rest and the trifling amount of money would be given away as a blessing. Through his contacts with the fathers, he was also spiritually benefited by their advice. He had no other contacts, except when he went to church and received Communion. He was always to be seen weeding under the vines and cleansing his soul with tears and continuous prayer. He was on the short side and burnt by the sun, but at times his face shone. I saw it with my own eyes, but other fathers also told me about it. The last time I saw him, it made a particular impression on me, because as I was asking him about something, his face again shone -even more brightly- and I was dazzled by Elder Cosmas!
That was our last meeting.

On April 13, 1970, Elder Cosmas from Angelochori in Thrace, flew from the Garden of the Mother of God to the heavens like an angel. May his blessing be upon us. Amen.

25. Type of monasticism, where, unlike the cenobium, there is no abbot but only a superior elected for one year; each of the monks owns property and takes care of his own needs, meal, etc.