By Anthonios Markou
Translated by Thalia Dimitriadis
Corrected by Vladimir Moss
It was late at
night. Beside the humble Chapel of St. Anna, inside his even more humble cell, Monk
Gennadios taught his visitors with simplicity, and everyone could sense the
grace in his voice.
Among other
visitors was Monk Theodosios from the near by Hermitage of St. Anthony, his
brother in life, and some others whom he took in for that night. At night, in
the early hours, heavy running steps were heard and a voice - calm at the
beginning, wild and hostile later - was calling Gennady’s name.
“Who are you?” asked the Elder, “what do you want? Go away.”
Silence followed. The
next morning, after the morning service, Fr. Gennadios reassured his visitors
of everything they had heard and added: “Thank
God you didn’t say anything, because they could easily have taken your voices. They
cannot do this to monks. It was a visit of evil spirits”.
Another time, the
evil one came to the Elder in a human shape and asked him:
“Why are you still fighting me?”
“What wrong have I done to you?” replied
the Elder.
“You are teaching the people. Don’t teach the
people”.
“But people are thirsty for teaching and are eager
to listen”.
“Do not teach” continued the visitor. “You are illiterate, you don’t know anything.
Let them listen to the Deacons, to the Priests, and to Theologians. You should
say nothing.”
“But they want
to listen to me too” - admitted the hermit - “because people want to hear about their salvation and I am obliged to
inform them. He who knows the truth and doesn’t share it, hides our Lord Jesus
Christ”.
As
soon as he heard the Holy Name, the evil one vanished. “He got burnt”, explained the Elder a little latter, with an
innocent smile on his face.
Who
was this elderly monk?
Who
had this kind of experience, facing the enemy of humanity (in battle).
Who
is this monk who, in a supernatural, mystical, unearthly way, transferred
himself without any kind of transportation to the place of the tragic accident
that took place in Georgioupoli (Chanea, Crete) in 1972, when 21 students were
drowned?
Who
is he that in a similar way, was found in America, in the civil war of Lebanon
and during the war between Iraq and Iran?
Who
is this monk, who sailed the sea on his cloak, as another St. John the Hermit
or like St. Laurence of Megara (while he was living in the Monastery of
Koudouma)?
Who
is this monk ( considering all the facts), who like another Apostle Paul, was taken
to Heaven and heard amazing things that people are unable to describe or comprehend (II Corinthians 12, 4), and who
like St. John the Evangelist saw the burning lake (Apoc. 21,8)?
He was
a valuable, spiritual pillar of the Orthodox Faith who became a Saint and
enlightened a local region of the Greek island of Crete.
He was
a very recent Holy Father of the Orthodox Church, who served the people with
his gifts of foreseeing things and prophesying, together with preaching to repent and return to faith.
The
following pages, blessed with the fragrance of holiness, describe the life of
this blessed monk, based on the valuable notes of Stylianos Papadogiannakis (a Teacher of Theology at Rethimno, Crete) and other declarations of
trusted people (“he who sees should speak”
John 19, 35). We follow his testimony and humbly dedicate it to the Church for
the glory of God (John 12,42).
The early years of the blessed Elder
Gennadios
The
future hermit Monk Gennadios was born as John Tzekakis in 1887, in the village
of Actouda, in the province St. Vasilios, in the county of Rethimno, Crete. His parents
Emmanuel and Katherine were very poor farmers but ardent Christians, who raised
eight children. John grew up in deprivation, in poverty, in hardship, among his
companions, his brothers. In this way God prepared him for his future ascetic life,
so that he could willingly resist vain earthly delights. On the other hand,
poverty was the reason he remained illiterate. He only managed to finish the
second class of primary school, and then he went to work as a servant to a
Christian family in the village of Prine, where he worked as a shepherd. From
there he departed at the age of 14 for the Monastery of Koudouma.
His
choice was not dictated by the difficult conditions of his life, his poverty,
or by the pressure of the Ottoman ruler (under whom they lived), but from a
genuine attractions of his pure soul towards our Lord and his love for Him.
At
this point we must mention an event
which proves that he was destined to become a Monk and to reach holiness,
as God had planned for him even from the womb (Gal.1, 15 ). When he was young,
while gathering olives on a tree, he carelessly fell. Just under the tree was a
deep pit of water. It was certain that if he had fallen in he would have
drowned. But just as he was falling into the pit, a power grabbed him by his
hand and prevented him.
Young
John left Prine for the Monastery of Koudouma on foot and shoeless. On his way,
a little beyond the village Megali Vrysi, a rider felt sorry for him and took
him on his horse up to the village of Vagionia. From there he continued his
journey through a rough and difficult path among the mountains of Asterousia to
Koudouma.There he placed himself under the protection of the Most Holy Theotokos and under the obedience of the Elders
Parthenios and Eumenios, who were brothers in real life.
St. Gennadios as
a novice Monk
When
young John reached the Monastery of Koudouma,
the Abbot of the monastery was St.
Parthenios (+ 1905). His brother in flesh St. Eumenios (+ 1920) served as a
priest. Both of them accepted young
John with a special love and assigned his spiritual guidance to the Elder Vasilios.
The experienced Elder tried to determine what the real intentions of young
novice John were. So he asked him:
“Why have you come here?”
“I came to be a Monk and save my soul”,
replied John.
“It is a very hard task - added the Elder
- monastic life is a difficult way of life.
Will you be able to handle it?”
“With God’s help” replied John.
His answer was
mature and satisfied his spiritual guide. His first assignment was to graze sheep.
Meanwhile his spiritual father rested in peace (probably in September of 1902)
and St. Parthenios took upon himself his spiritual guideness. After a while he tonsured him as a Great Schema Monk, after going through
all the relevant procedures.
In his communal life Monk Gennadios was tested in obedience. “I was looking at the almonds, the figs and
the grapes and craved them”, he used to say. “I was burning with desire to eat, but I respected my Elder and never
ate in secret, so I didn’t fall into disobedience and secret eating”.
After a while he was
assigned the task of cooking for the brotherhood and in this task he demonstrated
to the rest of the monks his loyalty and pure love to them.
At the monastery
Monk Gennadios, through his struggles, reached high standards of virtue and
holiness, and God allowed a remarkable miracle to make known the virtue of his
servant. They had to perform an all-night vigil in a nearby church, but they
only had a boat for transport. So they started to get on the boat, but there
was no room for the Elder, so he was left outside. The man of God felt very sorry, but he made the sign of the
Cross, put his cassock on the water, sat on it and reached his destination
sooner than the boat with the rest of the brothers. When the boat arrived and they
saw him at the church, although they had left him behind, everyone was
astonished.
Similar incidents
are reported from the Lives of St. John the Hermit (one of the 99 Holy Fathers
of Crete) and St. Laurence of Megara (he who rebuilt the Monastery of Phaneroumeni
Theotokos on the island of Salamis).
The help of the
Most Holy Theotokos was displayed in another incident. There was a dangerous rock
at the Monastery’s beach, from which there was a great view, according to the
other brothers. So one day the Elder decided to climb it to see the view. He
climbed it, stayed on it for a while, prayed and then tried to climb down. But
it was very difficult, he began to feel dizzy and anxious and wondered: “Who told me to get up here? Who is going to
help me get down now?” Remembering his beloved Most Holy Theotokos, he
started praying loudly: “Help me, O Lady, and I will read for you a canon”. Her grace immediately intervened and he
was found on the ground safe and sound.
St. Gennadios was
forced to leave the Monastery of Koudouma around 1918, with the blessings of
Abbot St. Eumenios, after staying there for 17 years. The reason for his
departure was his bad health, due to the climate of the area. Some say that he
left because of the jealousy of some monks, who couldn’t stand the comparison
between their lives and his.
St. Gennadios as an ascetic
St.
Gennadios returned to his homeland the same way he had left, on foot. After
facing some discomforts, he reached the small Chapel of St. Anna, in the area
of Giallia, at the village of Akoumia. The area is peaceful. It is located 12
kilometers from the village. The area is a valley that ends at the sea, at the
amazing beach of Giallia, full of olive trees and cypresses. In the valley
there is also the Hermitage of St. Antonios the Great (where the blessed Monk
Theodosios Dambakerakis lived his life) and many other small country Chapels like
St. John’s, the Holy Apostles’, the Virgin Mary’s, the Prophet Elijah’s and
others.
Initially he
thought of staying at the Chapel of Christ the Saviour, but because the water
was far away, he decided not to stay there. He chose to stay at St. Anna’s Chapel
and with the help of some villagers built a small cell, where he struggled for the
next 65 years, till the end of his life.
St. Gennadios was
of humble appearance, medium height, with a slight hump and pure white hair.
Always quick in his movements, willing and ready to welcome, to bless, to offer
wooden handmade crosses for blessing or small booklets of the lives of saints, he never refused to bless people with
the sigh of the Cross. Most of the time, people who visited him found him
studying the Holy Scriptures or the Lives of Saints or other religious books.
His food was simple
and frugal; he was against any kind of waste. His clothes were old, patched,
but not dirty. He hardly wore shoes, only a plastic boot on one foot and an army
boot on the other. He never wasted time, his time was always devoted to good
causes – praying, studying, teaching, preaching. “It’s better for me to teach than to eat”, he used to say.
His teaching was
simple, well put and understandable. Sometimes he taught very happily and
without any loud sounds, other times he taught with cries of agony or in total
silence. Whenever he talked about the love of God, he was very calm. It was the
same when he talked about the blessings of the Righteous and the beauties of
Heaven, “where it is always daylight and
never darkness and there is always joy”.
He was full of
anxiety when he referred to the apostasy from God. There were cases when he
kept silent, because his visitors had visited him only out of curiosity, with
no spiritual agony in their souls.
St. Gennadios was a
truly solitary person, he did not
seek human company, for human company is usually the reason why God is silent.
Most of the hours
of the day, he stayed in his cell and this greatly helped his inner search for salvation.
He preferred the presence of the trees, of the mountain and of the silence of
the night, and with them he praised the Lord.
In his cell or
outside of it, under the protection of the roof, at the root of an olive tree
or inside the small Chapel, many souls heard his teaching, prayed together with
him, received his blessings and were driven led on the path of salvation. For
those who experienced moments like these, they are among the most valuable
memories of their lives.
According
to the Fathers of our Church, the stage of sorrows is necessary for those who are
struggling to attain virtue. St. Gennadios also went through this burning fire and
shone as melted gold shines. Since his early years he had known poverty and deprivation in his own
family. Then he lived as a servant, away from his family. This was followed by the
17 years of ascetic life at the Monastery of Koudouma, where he fought in
obedience and continuous sacrifice to the brotherhood. His accommodation at St. Anna’s wasn’t
solitary at all, but it was a constant fight with the evil one and his agents.
He couldn’t go to the desert because the desert was for higher spiritual
beings. The blessed Monk didn’t have to face thoughts of this kind.
Attacks
from the evil one are for novices. He went to Gialia spiritually prepared. That
was why the devil insulted him with his appearances. As when he presented
himself in the shape of a serpent. St. Gennadios wasn’t scared nor he did he stop
praying, but he let the holy Name of our Lord chase the intruder away.
Another
time the evil spirits in the shape of scorpions filled his humble cell, the
roof of the cell, even his wooden bed. Again with the power of his prayer he
dissolved the evil appearances. Another time while he was sleeping, the evil one
pressed on his chest with such an awful, unbearable weight that he couldn’t
even breathnor move, but he could pray. The moment he whispered the words of
the Prayer of Jesus, both the evil one and the weight disappeared..
The
evil one fought the Elder with his agents as well. During the years of the
German occupation, he was visited by two Greek Police Officers and their chief
in command. The Elder welcomed them peacefully, prepared food for them and put
them up, as he used to do. After they had eaten and got warmed at the fire,
they treated him badly and one of them even hit the Elder with the butt of his
gun. The Saint didn’t bear him a grudge, but the person who heat him found a
tragic death during the war. Once (with evil one’s help) while he was cutting some
wood for his fire, a branch hit him in his eyes and he lost his eye-sight.
The
Saint felt sadness and fear and agony over what would happen to him, and who
would have control over him. “Who will
find me over here? How will I live the rest of my life? Will they feed me like
a child? How will I read my Holy Scriptures?” It was this above all that
worried him, being deprived of the possibility of reading his Holy Scriptures and
the necessity of leaving his cell and living in some village near people who
could help him. When he felt a little better, he remembered a miracle of St. Demetrios the Great Martyr, when he
restored the sight of a blind believer. He prayed to St. Dimetrios with all his
heart, his prayers were heard and miraculously he recovered his sight and
returned to his cell.
In August of 1980 St. Gennadios left for the
first and last time the island of Crete and went to visit Holy Mount Athos as a
pilgrim. During his return, while in Athens, he was hit by a car, but his life
was saved miraculously, although he was hit in the legs. Mrs Heleni Makrakis (a
very loyal Christian, born in the village of Agia Galini, Rethimno, a resident
of Athens), took the Elder to her house, after he had stayed in the hospital
for 20 days. She had a very close spiritual relationship with the Elder and
offered him great care.
Among
all these temptations, above all through his prayers and his constant
asceticism, he displayed a form of holiness that was unique for our times. “Labours bring wreaths, pains and sorrows
bring glory”, St. Gennadios used to say.
The charismatic
man of God
St.
Gennadios was a true carrier of the Holy Spirit, pure in soul and blessed to
receive remarkable visions and revelations. He served the people of God as a proactive
and visionary spiritual guide to those who needed help. We can mention a few
cases:
The Holy Water of
the Most Holy Theotokos at Almiri
On
the 15th of August 1978, according to the Old Calendar, at the feast
of the Assumption of the Most Holy Theotokos, St. Gennadios among other believers
was worshipping in an all-night vigil service at an ancient church devoted to
the Most Holy Theotokos at Almiri, a village in the centre of the island.
Inside this church there is an old well. During the night the faithful
uncovered the well and Mr. Stylianos Papadogiannakis heard voices saying “Holy water! Holy water!” “Into my mind - he says - came thoughts of infidelity, which I kept to
myself. “Holy water in the well?”
I thought. Since there was no Priest
among the company, it was hard to understand. Then he thought again: “O Lord,
Thou art so powerful, even without Priests you can sanctify everything - the well
and the seas”.
The next morning, after the
end of the service and while we were returning back to Akoumia, I asked the
Elder if he enjoyed the night Service and he replied: “Didn’t you notice the fragance when they
uncovered the well? The whole place was filled with the holy fragrance.” As soon as I heard this, I was stunned,
because those words answered my thoughts which only I knew and had shared with
no-one else. I thanked our Lord and praised
Him for giving to His servants all this grace.
Predicting the
flood (1979)
In
November 1979, the Elder was staying as a guest in the house of the teacher
Andreas Stamaterakis at Misiria of Rethimno. Contrary to his custom, he asked if
he could call Helei Markaki in Athens on the phone and told her. “Do not leave your house without praying
first. This month a great disaster will come upon Athens and many people will
be in great danger”. Indeed eight days later, the great flood of 1979
happened, during which many people drowned, houses and properties were destroyed
and even the dead were unearthed when the stream swept through the cemetery of
Kokinos Milos. The area of Agii Anargyri, where Mrs Makrakis lived, suffered
the most.
The case of
Bishop Irenaeus Galanakis
In
1980, while he was staying at the house of Heleni Makrakis and while she was
cleaning his injured leg, the Elder told her: “Why are
you cleaning and looking after my leg, wondering if it is going to heal? At
Chanea everyone is upset, there is chaos, the people are upset by Irenaeus who
came from Germany, but Timothy is innocent, he is not to blame for anything
that will take place”.
Indeed,
after the return of Bishop Irenaeus Galanakis from the Metropolitan See of Germany
to the See of Kissamos in Crete, while the Archbishop of Crete was Timothy Papoutsakis,
sad events took place in Crete, which exposed the local Church and scandalized
the people. St. Gennadios, without reading newspapers or listening to the radio,
was aware through the grace of God of the events that were taking place. At the
same time and in the same place, three remarkable incidents took place in
Crete.
Relish from
demonic influence
Doctor
Sravroula Laskaris, under the guidance of the Makrakis family, came with other
faithful people to meet the Elder and ask for his blessing. Before they left,
they asked him to blessed them with the sign of Cross. The Elder responded to
their request and made the sign of cross over each one of them, but he refused to
bless a young girl. This refusal
elicited comments and her sister
started crying. On their way out Mrs Makrakis felt sorry for them and told them: “Don’t go yet, I’ll ask the Elder to bless
you with the sign of the Cross”.
“Father “,-she asked the Elder. “why you didn’t give your blessing to the girl? She and her
sister are very sad. Please, Father, they have come from the far end of Athens,
to listen to you and ask for your blessing. Give them your blessing, so that she
won’t leave saddened.”
“Yes,” replied the Elder, “but she is under a spell, and instead of running to the Church to
become well, she turns for help to the magicians”.
When
his words became known to the girl, she humbly admitted that everything was
true, admiring the Elder’s clairvoyance. Finally St. Gennadios blessed the girl
and she left very happy. Some days later the girl called Mrs Markakis and told
her that for almost a year she had seen a black cat wandering around her,
without any one else seeing it, but after she had been blessed by the Saint,
the cat disappeared. In this way God showed the girl, that she was free from
the demonic influence, through the prayers of His servant, St. Gennadios.
Demonic insult due to blasphemy against
Jesus Christ.
One
evening a group of educated people visited the Elder, while he was staying at
Mrs Makrakis’. One of them was an atheist (and probably a Jehovah’s Wintess)
and supported the case that Christ has not yet come, but was going to come. The Elder got upset, stood up and
with a very strong voice, full of
resentment, said to him:
“Jesus, is the true God, Who has come for our
salvation. The Gospel is His teaching. Everyone who tries to burn the word of
God, will be burned himself ”.
That
night the Elder couldn’t sleep. When he was asked “what was wrong?” he replied: “Satan
won’t let me sleep, because we allowed that man to talk against Jesus. We
didn’t throw him out of the house and Satan gathered strength and said, “that
stranger spoke well, because he is educated, he is the one who knows well, he
should talk, not you. You are illiterate, you don’t know what you are saying.”
He is grinding his teeth against me and asking me not to teach the words of
Christ”.
“They think I
have died”
This
incident took place at Mrs Makrakis’ residence at Agia Galini of Rethimno. When
the Elder returned to Crete after he was wounded in Athens, Mrs Makrakis invited him to stay at her country house for a few
days, in order to rest. Suddenly, on Thursday morning, the Elder asked his hostess
to drive him to his cell at Agia Anna. “Father
Gennadios, what are you saying?” she complained. “Didn’t we agree that you would stay here for eight days?”
“Yes,”- replied the Elder, “but if you don’t take me to Agia Anna, some
people will break the door of my cell, because they think that I am inside and
there is something wrong with me. They will wait until night falls and if we
delay any longer, they will break the door”.
They
left for Agia Anna in the evening. When they got there, two excited young men
were waiting. As soon as they saw the Elder, they told him: “Father, we would have waited for another
half an hour and if you hadn’t come, we would have broken the door, because we
thought you were dead inside.”
Other people’s
grapes
A man
named Emanuel Papamihelakis, from the village of Sacturia, came to pay a visit
to the Elder, and in order to thank him, he brought with him a small basket of
grapes. The Elder pick some of the grapes and gave the rest of them back to the
man, saying: “Take these grapes back where you took them from, because they
are not from your vineyard.”
Truly
this was a fact. Papamihelakis had taken the grapes from a nearby vineyard,
which was not of his property. He admired the Elder and left, asking to be
forgiven.
Invisible flames
One
summer evening, while coming back from his village of Aktounda , he saw great
flames outside the village, towards the
olive trees, where the church of St. Nicholas was standing. He also saw smaller flames
around the villages of Vrises and Platane. When they reached Akoumia, he asked
about the fire, but no one knew anything. Later the Elder explained the
phenomenon himself, saying that sad events would soon take place there owing to
the sins of the Christians living there. And in fact a great fire broke out later,
which burnt the southern part of the mountain Siderotas and was stopped with the help of his prayers, when he turned
the holy icon of St. Anna towards the fire.
Appearance to a
blind woman.
Alexandra,
a blind Christian woman, friend of the Makrakis family and a resident of Athens,
heard all about the Elder and felt a great desire to meet him. One night he
appeared to her in a dream and told her: “I am Gennadios. When you come to
Crete, you will meet me first.” After a long time, the blind Alexandra accepted an invitation to come to Crete, in order
to visit the Makrakis familyand stay with them at their country house at Agia
Galini. While there, and although it was on their schedule to visit the
Monastery of Kaliviani, they found out that the Elder was at Akoumia, so they
rescheduled their programme and instead went to Akoumia to meet the Elder. This
is how Alexandra’s dream came true and first of all she met the Elder.
A meeting before
death (1982)
In
August 1982 St. Gennadios, Helen Makrakis and other Christians went for a
pilgrimage to Panagia Almiri. While they were reading the Canon to the Most
Holy Theotokos, the Elder approached Mrs Makrakis and said to her: “Hurry up and finish the prayer, we have to
leave for Kaliviani.”As soon as the supplication was finished, he was the
first to ender the car. Everyone was very curious to know what all this rush was
about.
When
they reached the monastery and before they even had a chance to sit down, the
Archbishop of Crete Timothy came for a short visit. The two men met with great joy, since they
were bound by a friendship of many years. The very odd thing was that they didn’t
exchange a single word. There was total silence. Of course the Elder knew that
this was their last meeting. That was proven by what the Archbishop said that
same day to the Spiritual Father of the Monastery, Archimadrite Nectarios
Papadakis: “This is the last time I am
visiting Kaliviani”. And indeed, the next year, 1983, he reposed. The same
year Ft. Gennadios died also. This is the reason why the Elder was so anxious
to reach the monastery, so that he could say farewell to his friend.
Foreseeing a monastic
dedication
The
Elder kept a close loving relationship with the Monastery of Kaliviani. A relevant incident is the following: Sisters
Ghrisoula and Maria Georgalis, well educated and very loyal, had decided to
devote themselves to the Monastery. The Monastery was very famous for its
social and charity work and both sisters had decided to help it, by staying
there and helping with the community’s work.
When
years before they had visited the Elder to ask for his advice and blessings he
told them: “Yes you will go to Kaliviani,
but for a short time and then you will come back here again. At that moment
the sisters didn’t believe him, but in a month’s time after they had gone to
the Monastery, they got sick due to the climate and on Archbishop Timothy’s initiative
they returned to Athens.
A Miraculous
increase of food
The
Abbess of the Transfiguration Monastery at Rethimno, by the name of Pansemni
Augoustakis, reported the following incident:
“Many years ago, in my early teens, I went to
St. Anna and while I was following the Gospel read by the Elder. I was very
tired and rather hungry and wondered to my self, “When will it be over?” When
it was over, I expected enough food for me and the others. But unfortunately,
instead of all the food I was dreaming of, I could only see a plate on the
table. So I thought to myself, “ Who is
going to eat first?” We began eating and satisfied our hunger, but the food
never ended! I was amazed! He truly was a Saint and had truly blessed the food”.
The Miraculous
extinction of a fire
Once
a fire broke outside the village of Agallianos. Due to the force of the wind the
fire spread rapidly and burned all the south side of the mountain Siderotas and
threatened Gialia.Thousands of olive trees were in danger and with them
hundreds of families. A woman named Antigone Papamihelakis from the village of Vrises, ran to the Elder
and told him: “Father Gennadios, Gialia
will be burnt down, we will be destroyed. Please, Father, do your prayer and
beg St. Anna to save us or else we are lost”.
“It is God’s anger,” replied the Elder, “the wrath of God upon us because of our sins”.
Then
he entered the Chapel, took the icon of St. Anna and walked towards a small
hill, praying and turning the icon towards the fire. In a few minutes the
direction of the wind changed and so did the fire in the direction of the sea,
where it went out.
The Fragrance of
Holiness
Another
time, while Elder Gennadios was staying as a guest at the house of the Teacher Andreas Stamaterakis at Akoumia, the widow of
the Priest Antony Papadakis was passing the road and she was heard to say in
wonder: “What a great saint, what is
happening ? I wonder what it is?” “It
wasn’t perfume and it wasn’t incense,” remarked a man who was present at
the time named Stylianos Papadogianakis. It was the fragrance left by the Elder
who had passed down that same road a while ago. God allowed it to be sensed by
that woman alone.
“He who walks on
the wings of the wind” (Psalm 103)
Truly,
spiritual asceticism and holy humility proved to be forces that lifted Elder
Gennadios up. This Saint of God literally didn’t walk on the earth. There are
at least two testimonies of this fact.
When
the Elder was hospitalized after his injury in Athens (1980), he left the
hospital to visit a Monastery in the area of Loutsa, Attica. He was in the
company of Mrs.Helen Makrakis, who was taking care of him. While he was leaving
the Monastery, the sisterhood asked him to bless them. It was then that the
sisters saw him standing above the ground, while he was giving his blessing.
A
similar incident was observed at the house of the Makrakis family at Agia
Galini. It was the time when the Elder stayed with the family for eight days,
after his injury. On one of these days they saw him coming down the stairs
without stepping on the steps. Instead he was hovering until he reached the
ground floor.
But
there are also verified cases when the Blessed Elder was found in other places,
without using any kind of human means or transport.
The students’
accident at Georgioupoli, Chanea
In
May of 1972 a terrible student accident took place at Georgioupoli, Chanea, which shook the whole Greece. Twenty one
students from the High School of Spili, Rethimno, were drowned during a school
trip, inside the small harbor of Georgioupolis, when their boat capsized. Among
the victims were the two daughters of a very loyal Christian named George
Doulgerakis from the village of
Myxourema, Rethymno.
Human
nature is very weak especially after such a strike. The tragic father almost
lost his mind from the loss of his children. In order to help the salvation of
this brother, St. Gennadios called him and revealed to him that in a strange
and supernatural way he was found at the port of Georgioupolis at the exact time
the students were boarding the boat. The Elder begged them not to get in the
boat, but they didn’t listen to him; some of them even laughed at him. “I don’t know, I really don’t know how I got
there on the beach”, he said, describing the sad event to Stylianos
Papadogiannakis. “The girls were getting
on board and I was telling them not to enter, but they wouldn’t listen to me,
they were as if drunk. Then the boat started to sink. I went into the sea up to
my neck, but I couldn’t save them. It was God’s will. Then I saw your girls in
heaven, crowned with the wreaths of virginity”.
According
to the testimonies of the girls who were saved and of other witnesses who were
at the port the tragic time of the accident, as well as newspaper reports which
covered the event, they admitted the presence of a Priest on the beach from
whom some of the girls asked for forgiveness, but who disappeared soon after
the incident.
When
the tragic father heard the really incredible information from St. Gennadios, because
of his loss, he challenged the Elder by saying to him: “If you want me to believe everything you said, pray to God to turn my children to pigeons and while I am plowing they can come to me, so I can see them”.
All
this was told us by the tragic father George, who was crying and trembling,
while talking in 1986 outside the historic Church of Panagia Lambini, to a
group of Orthodox Christians from Chanea. Among others therewas the writer Ant.
Markou and his wife Maria, the Psychiatrist Stylian Doxakis and his wife Helen,
Teacher of Philology at the High School, Anthony Vavoulakis and his mother Eleutheria,
Basil Hatzioannou and his wife Anna and other believers. We stress the
professional opinion of Stylian Doxakis, because as a specialist he didn’t diagnose any kind of mental disorder in the narrator, brother
George.
“My brothers,”- he continued, “while I was plowing, I saw two white pigeons
circle over the field ! “My Lord, I said, if they are my children, let them
come to me, so I can pet them”. And they came to me and I could pet them! After that, I came to my senses and subjected
myself to the will of my Lord!”
All
the above is unbelievable, but such was the confidence before God of Elder
Gennadios.
At
this point, someone might ask, did the souls of the girls really turn into
pigeons? We asked a well-known Spiritual Father of our days and he told us: “Don’t you know that according to the Apostle
Paul, “the Saints shall judge the world” (I Cor. 6,2). Our Church’s writings are
full of similar incidents, even more awesome and more paradoxical. There is
great power in the prayers of the Saints. And of course the souls of the two girls did not become pigeons. We can accept,
though, that the guardian Angels of the two girls, according to the will of God,
took the form of the birds in order to ease the unbearable pain of the father”.
Saved from suicide
In
another case, a married woman named Maria (for obvious reasons we do not reveal
her other data), was very disappointed with her life, and was driven by the evil
one to despair and decided to commit suicide. So she took a basket with a rope
inside, left the village, got in the field with her own olive trees and started
to look for a tree to tie the rope to hang herself. Fifty metres in front of
the tree she had chosen she stumbled and fell. When she got up, there in front
of her stood St. Gennadios (we have to remark at this point that the distance
from St. Anna to that place was about an hour by car).
“Are you the one who made me stumble?”
the woman asked.
“N,o not me,” replied the Elder, “ but your guardian Angel. I was sent by God
in time to prevent you from doing what you have in mind, to prevent you from
committing suicide.”
The
woman admired God’s Providence in the presence of the Saint. She glorified God,
repented and lived a Christian life afterwards.
Visiting America without leaving Crete!
Dimitra
….from the village of Chromonastery, Rethimno, declares that St. Gennadios was
seen in America! “I went to America,”
admitted the Elder with his characteristic simplicity to Stylianos Papadogiannakis.
“I took a book, but couldn’t understand
their language and had difficulty in communicating. I also saw Dimitra from
Chromonastery and she was running to catch me to greet me, but I slipped away
from her. How I got to America and how I came back I don’t know”.
Stylianos
Papadogiannakis met Dimitra later on at Rethimno, in the house of Zacharoula
Vournazis, who was present and heard the conversation between them. Truly,
Dimitra had been to America, where she stayed for fifteen years and she truly saw
the Elder. “I suddenly saw him and I ran
to greet him,” she said, “but he left
and I lost him.”
A spiritual vision of the war in the Middle
East
For a
certain period of time the Elder was pale and very sad and didn’t want any food.
When he was asked the reason of his sadness and fasting he replied:
“When people talk to me, I can’t hear them
well, and yet I can hear the war in Lebanon and Persia and Iraq. I can hear the
cannonballs exploding and the cries and groans
of people calling their mothers. When people talk to me, my ears do not hear, they
hear those who are fighting in the war and suffering”.
To
put it simply, St. Gennadios had a spiritual vision of the civil war in Lebanon
and the conflict in Persia. And as a matter of fact he was physically present at
those battles, and the bullets were falling like rain around him. At first he
was frightened that he would be killed. But then he noticed that the bullets
were avoiding him and this gave him courage. He understood that it is not the
bullets that kill the people but their sins.
After-death experiences
Extremely
important are the experiences of the Elder in relation to the after
life, both heaven and hell. Twice during his holy life it is said that he was
taken to Heaven. The first time in some inexplicable manner he found himself in
a hole in a rock which seemed to be some kind of animal nest. He narrated his
experience as follows:
“I heard Angels chanting, I saw beauties that
I cannot describe. There was heaven. I stayed there for five minutes. How I got
there and how I came back I don’t know”.
It certainly
was an amazing experience, like that of the Apostle Paul’s assumption to Paradise
(which he describes in his second Epistle to the Corinthians). St. Gennadios had
the same experienced; he humbly and gratefully described it to his visitors,
not out of pride, but in order to support their fragile faith, so that they
could build up their trust in God.
During
his second assumption, blessed Fr. Gennadios saw and recognized Christians who
had died and who during their lives had been faithful and prayerful. He also
mentioned their names (which we can not reveal in this project for logical
reasons). It was like the Gospel story of the rich man who suffered in Hades
could see Abraham holding Lazarus in his bosom a long way off (Luke 16, 19-31).
“He who is spiritual judges all things, yet he himself is rightly judged by no
one (I Corinthians 2.15).
There
was also a third assumption. The Elder found himself in a horrible and unbearable
lake. There he could hear people groaning, wailing and moaning. “Who are these people?” he asked. “In here,” he heard an unworldly voice, “are the adulterers and the fornicators who
did not repent of their sins.”
The Elder
carefully avoided saying whether he had seen any Christians or if he recognized
any souls. Since that experience, his face often darkened and tears ran down
his wrinkled face. We wonder if he was able through his prayers to release any
souls from hell (like for instance is reported from the life of St. Gregory,
Pope of Rome in his Dialogues). Anyway, St. Gennadios experienced those
states either physically or spiritually as they are also described by the Apostle
and Evangelist John in the Apocalypse
(21,8).
The confession of the Blessed Elder
On
the issue of the authenticity of the Orthodox Faith, the Blessed Elder was very
strict. He deeply respected and accepted the traditional Calendar which he
received after his repentance at theMonastery of Koudouma. The introduction of
the papal innovation of the new calendar into the Patriarchate of
Constantinople and the local Church of Crete (the first move in the imposition of
the heresy of Ecoumenism) took place in 1924.
The
change found him serving in the humble Chapel of St. Anna, where he had been
staying since 1918. The Elder was especially saddened by the schism of the two
Churches.
“We are divided by the enemy,” he used to
say. Woe to the innovators. They left the
truth and followed the darkness.”
He
saw the great miracle of the third appearance of the Holy Cross (in the area of
Holargos of Attica, in 1925) as a diving confirmation that the struggle of the
True Orthodox Christians was sacred. He often mentioned the appearance of the Cross
to his visitors and earnestly recommended that they return to the Orthodox Calendar.
Moreover,
the fourth appearance of the Holy Cross, above the mountain of Kofinas in Southern
Crete (1937), during an all-night vigil that had been organized by the strict
and ascetic monks of the Monastery of Koudouma was another fact that convinced
the Elder. We do not know whether he was present at the service. However, he
was a witness of the miracle since it was visible throughout central Crete. He
also shared the news of this astonishing event with other faithful Christians,
as a further proof of God’s will, and as a second confirmation of the sanctity
of the struggle the True Orthodox Christians concerning the Faith.
The
Blessed Elder confessed and received Holy Communion from the hands of Fr.
Kallinikos Seliotakis, who has been ordained by Archbishop Andrew of Athens
(TOC of Greece) in 1979. Fr. Kallinikos also had the honour of burying him.
The Saint’s Repose
God’s
Blessed one Gennadios came to the end of his earthly life in March 1983. In
January of the same year he fell ill, and a devoted Christian from Akoumia,
named Chrysi Manarakis, offered to nurse him in her home. Later on he was taken
to the home of Eleutheria Papadogiannakis. There he joyfully received his
visitors and taught them God’s will, even though he was 97 years old! He was
serene, ate regularly and his spiritual strength was flourishing. The winter of
that same year was extremely cold, with lots of snow and ice everywhere. Yet
many believers visited the Elder to receive his blessing, sensing that his end
was near.
At
the end of February, he displayed certain symptoms that were taken as
harbingers of his death. He became restless, ate very little and started to
lose his strength. It was then that he asked for the company of his good friend
Stylianos Papadogiannakis. On Sunday 28th of February he woke up as
usual, prayed, read Mattins and asked the Police Officer of Akoumia Police
Station, the Secretary of the Province and Stylianos Papadogiannakis to take in
charge some personal matters of his, some kind of will. From this we deduce
that he foresaw his end three days before.
At
noon on Tuesday the 2nd of March, he returned on foot to the house
of Chrysi Manarakis. There he was visited by some Teachers from Rethimno, Andrew
Stamaterakis, Styliani Fotakis and Pagona Fotakis (a kindergarten teacher). The
Elder received them pleasantly, spoke to them some words of salvation, blessed
them with his wooden Cross which he always carried on his chest, and let them
leave.
The
heavenly citizen and Elder had recently been to confession (the previous week) to Hieromonk Kallinikos,
but hadn’t received Holy Communion, since the Liturgy had been celebrated far
away, in the Hermitage of St. Anthony.
On
Wednesday the 3rd of March, the Elder started to feel uncomfortable.
Immediately Hieromonk Kallinikos was asked
to come, so that the Elder could receive Holy Communion. But the Priest was
hospitalized in the Venizelion Hospital in Heraklion, because he was suffering
from asthma. But on his own initiative he left the hospital and with the help
of John Klisarhakis got into a taxi. Despite the very bad weather they headed
for Akoumia.
The
news that the Elder was in his final hours had spread throughout the village
and many people went to the house and waited for the Priest. Everyone was
worried if the Priest would come in time to give Holy Communion to the Elder. “Be quiet”, the Elder told them, with his
eyes closed and indeed in five minutes Priest Kallinikos with his escort John entered
the house.
St.
Gennadios confessed for the last time and received Holly Communion with his
spirit in complete clarity. He waited for his end peacefully, with his face
shining. He did not talk, only from time to time he opened his blessed eyes and
smiled. “What has he seen?” everyone
wondered. The Elder received Holy
Communion on Wednesday 3rd of March, at 4 o’clock in the afternoon, and
although it seemed that he was leaving this world, his blessed soul didn’t leave
his body. It was if he was waiting for something. At one point Fr. Kallinikos asked
if he was wearing the Great Schema. “No”, they replied. So
they sent and brought it from St. Anna’s cell by car, as quickly as they could.
Stylianos
Papadogiannakis, among other witnesses of the Elder’s death, describes the end
of the Elder as follows: “Monk Theodosios
brought the Great Schema and put it on the Elder’s chest. What a surprise! What
a sweet miracle! What an amazing event!
The very same moment that he put on his Schema, that same moment he bent his head, closed his
eyes and let his soul fly to his Lord and eternal King! The time was 8:30 in
the evening, 3rd / 16th of March 1983. Everyone was deeply
moved. “He was a true monk!” they sai.d “He will become a saint!” others said”.
St.
Gennadios had expressed the desire
to be buried outside his cell, at the Chapel of St. Anna where he had already
made a place for his burial. He want the Service of his funeral to be carried out
by Hieromonk Kallinikos. Everyone who was connected with him were notified, and
especially the sisters of the Monastery of Kaliviani, whom he loved and cared for
as much as they did him. The day of his death was very difficult from the point
of view of the weather. It had snowed, it was extremely cold and it was snowing
or raining all day. The next day, the day of his funeral, was “the Lord’s joy”,
it seemed like a sunny summer day. Maybe this is how God and his Angels were
welcoming in heaven this true fighter for virtue. Nature was participating in
this joy, the weather changed, and everyone from the surrounded villages could
come and show their respects to him.
Many of
the faithful stayed up all night at the house of Chrysi Manarakis, reading the
Psalms for St. Gennadios, in accordance with tradition. The funeral procession
started at around 2:00 pm on Thursday, at the Chapel of St. Anna. It was led by
Ft. Kallinikos in the presence of the Priests of the surrounding villages, who
respected and cared about the Elder. The funeral speech was delivered by
Archimandrite Nectarios of the Monastery of Kaliviani.
After-death testimonies
“Elder Gennadios,” writes Stylianos
Papadogiannakis, “left earth for heaven.
But he hasn’t abandoned people. He prays with the other members of the
triumphant Church for our souls’ salvation. He has gained our Lord’s
confidence. St. Gennadios has departed from this vain world physically but not
spiritually. His humble tomb outside St. Anna’s chapel accepts the reverential
pilgrimage of the people who come to light a candle at his tomb and ask him to
pray for their problems to our Lord”.
There
are many testimonies to his intervention after his death in the lives of many
Christians. Among the after-death
testimonies there is one that relates to the authenticity of the Orthodox Faith
and to the genuine Orthodox Confession of belief. It is about a woman from a
nearby village facing a serious health problem. She was praying to St. Gennadios
to help her with her problem. One evening after her prayers, he appeared to her
in her sleep and, using the Cretan dialect, said to her: “What can I do for you, since you
follow the New Galendar?”
The Sacred Relics of St. Gennadios
In
1990, with the blessing of Archibishop Andrew of Athens (TOC), there tooknplace
the Translation of the secred Relics of the Elder. The planned memorial Service
was performed by Fr. Zacharias Tsikritsakis in front of twenty people. During
the translation the Relics of St. Gennadios were found joined (the bones were
connected having a yellowish color), while his Great Schema and the rest of his
clothes were intact. The Saint’s honored head was presented without any skin connected
to the rest of his body! Some of the
people present sensed a sweet smell coming from the tomb and the Relics.
The
sacred Relics were not moved from the grave during the translation. When Archbishop
Andrew was informed of the condition of the Relics, he ordered them to be put
in a coffin and moved to the church of the Holy Trinity (TOC) in Heraklion, the
capital city of Crete. But unfortunately his order was not obeyed.
Today
parts of his Holy Relics are to be found in the following places:
a.
Metropolitan Kyrikos’ collection (TOC of Greece), in St.
Catherine’s Church at Koropi, Attica.
b.
In the Paramythia Hermitage at Menidi, Attica (TOC of
Greece).
c.
In the chapel of St. Xenia the Fool for Christ of Ant.
Markou’s family at Mandra, Attica (one of his hands and a part of his right
foot). From there about 20 small parts have been donated to various monasteries, churches and church people
all over the world.
d.
In Metropolitan Gerontios’ collection (TOC of Romania).
e.
In Metropolitan Parthenios’ collection (TOC of
Cyprus).
The conscience of the Church
The Hermitage
of Gialia is deserted today. The Chapel
of St. Anna is preserved by the local Christians who maintain it in a really good
condition. The cell of St. Gennadios is closed as well, but is always freshly
painted, with a new door, eliciting unforgettable memories in those who have met
the hermit. The cypress trees, the olive trees, the carob trees like are thereas
in those blessed times of his teaching.
They surround his simple grave, which accepts the tears and the pain of the
people who suffer and visit it for help. Faithful people from Acoumia and the
surrounding villages and even from far away places on the island of Crete come
to visit the grave, light his oil lamp and give incense at St. Anna’s Chapel, a
place which accompanied the Elder in his straggle for 65 years. They kneel at
his grave asking for help, believing that they will receive God’s mercy.
Saint
Gennadios is honored locally by the faithful people of the local Church, then
by all those who knew him and can testify to his holy life and his after-death appearances. The fame of his holiness has
already exceeded the local boundaries of Crete and has spread not only in
Greece but also in Cyprus, Romania, England, Canada and other places.
An
icon of St. Gennadios (possibly the first), was painted by Fr. Loukas Panidis (an
Iconographer Monk of St. Demetrios Church at Menidi, Attica), in fulfilment of
an order by the writer’s family and has been placed in the Chapel of St. Xenia
the Fool for Christ at Mandra, Attica.
The
first prayer to the Saint was composed by Stylianos Papadogiannakis. A full
Service to St. Gennadios and also a Canon to him was written by Antonios Markou
in 2010.
We
celebrate the memory of St. Gennadios on the day of his departure, on the 3rd
of March.
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