Fr. Nikon of Mount Athos
Dear People, Christ Is Risen,
In my
daily searches of the internet in Greece, I came upon a wonderful video
of Fr. Nikon of Philotheou Monastery, Mt. Athos, giving a talk entitled
“The Power of the Sacraments in the lives of Orthodox Christians” in
Αίκατερίνη, Greece. He talks about real life experiences dealing with
the miraculous through the sacraments of the Orthodox Church. These
stories are mind boggling because they speak of a spiritual dimension of
Christian life that has been lost in most of the Christians of the
West. I was so taken with these stories that I needed to translate them
into English for our faithful here in the States. In one of the
stories Fr. Nikon refers to the Holy Mother Prousiotissa who is
instrumental in directly saving the life of a young Greek soldier who is
driving a truck on a mountain road. In looking up Παναγία Προυσιώτισσα
I found the following historical roots of this particular
miracle-working icon of the Holy Mother.
According
to the tradition of our Church, this icon was in a Church in Prousa,
Asia Minor. During the iconoclastic period when icons were being
destroyed by heretics of that time this icon was saved from destruction
by a leading member of the Orthodox Church. In order to save the icon,
in 829 AD he took the icon from the Church. This Church leader had
every intention of taking this icon to Greece for its safe-keeping. But
when he reached the city of Kallipolis, the icon was lost. The icon
then miraculously found its way to the location where it is found today
in Prousa, Greece. This miraculous event was disseminated amongst the
Orthodox faithful of that time. The man, who had attempted to take the
icon to Greece and then lost it, found out about the miracle and
proceeded to its location where the icon found its resting place and
verified that it was the same icon he attempted to save in Asia Minor.
He was so impressed with the miraculous events surrounding the icon’s
travels that he dedicated the rest of his life to monasticism. You
should also know that there are many miracles attributed to this icon of
the Holy Mother over the centuries but we will leave that for another
time. We pray that you will enjoy these real life miracles from the
lives of ordinary people in the Orthodox Christian Church of Greece.
Χριστός Άνέστη, Christ Is Risen
+Fr. Constantine J. Simones, May 11, 2014 in Waterford, CT, USA
Panagia Prousiotissa
THE POWER OF THE SACRAMENTS IN THE LIVES OF ORTHODOX CHRISTIANS
Presented by Fr. Nikon of Mount Athos at the
Academy of Aikaterini, Greece, 2014
Faith
is life. It is not simply a question of knowledge. We are not saved
because we have learned about our faith. We will be saved not because
we believe but because we show our faith by the way we live. Knowledge
does not save us. Knowledge gives us the ability to live the way Jesus
wants us to live. This is so because Christ did not come into the world
to teach us theology and philosophy. He came into the world to give us
a new way of life. Even the devil believes but his faith does not save
him. All people have knowledge but all people are not saved. Show me
your faith in your good works is the commandment we have received. We
say that we love Jesus Christ. This may be so but what does Jesus say;
“you will reveal your faith in Me through your good works.” “He who
loves me will honor my commandments.” The way we live life makes us
Christians, not our faith. If we live life properly we will also have a
proper philosophical outlook and we will have good thoughts. This is
so because philosophy comes from the life that we are living. Not
living the right way brings with it wrong knowledge and a wrong
philosophy of life. The proper way of living will foster good thinking.
Since faith is not something that we learn by reading books and
hearing sermons about faith, it is acquired by the way we live life.
Faith
is not logical. This is so because our human nature has been inherited
from Adam and Eve from which came death and corruption. We may not be
guilty for the sin they committed but we are born with their nature and
their fall from grace. We have inherited all of this. And because of
this fall our good God has for a second time opened the Gates of Heaven
to us in order to take us in. The issue at hand is whether or not we
accept this invitation. These Heavenly Gates for us Christians are the
sacraments of the Church. Before we were baptized evil was part of our
human nature into which we were born. Now the Grace of God attempts to
attract us to Him so that we may be saved. When we enter the Gates of
Baptism and this entrance is sealed with Holy Chrism (confirmation oil)
evil no longer dwells in us. Evil is now banished from us and the Grace
of God is now within us. In spite of this evil continues to try to
keep us outside of the Gates of Heaven.
THE POWER OF THE SACRAMENT OF BAPTISM
We
have a monk on Mt. Athos that is a very beloved priest. He came to us
from a far away country. He had a very adventurous life. He traveled
to many countries and learned many things. He was a truly refined man, a
man with grace. He came to us from the distant land of Peru. His
mother must have been a very holy woman. I say this as an Orthodox
Christian priest because she is one of those sheep that is still outside
of the sheep’s fold. I say this because when this priest was a young
boy his mother would tell him the following: “When you grow up you will
be wearing black clothes. I do not know what that black clothing is.
You will live in a place that is not an island and yet you can get there
only by boat.” (Mt. Athos). As a layman this future priest grew up, got
an education and traveled throughout the world. During one of his
trips he went to Paris where he met an Orthodox Christian monk and was
attracted to the Orthodox Christian Church. He was then baptized and
then tonsured a monk taking the name Simeon. He later was ordained to
the priesthood. After many years, he returned to Peru to see his family
and proceeded to baptize his mother in a lake. Fr. Nikon who is
narrating this story tells us that he met him again on Mt. Athos one day
while traveling to the Philotheou Monastery. When he told me about
the baptism of his mother, I asked him how this was possible since he
had not seen her for so many years. How was it possible to prepare her
properly for baptism without catechism?
His
response was most intriguing. When his mother found out that her son
had become an Orthodox monk, she became very curious. She asked many
question like what does being an Orthodox monk mean. She then attended a
Russian Orthodox Church in the capital of Peru in order to learn more
about the Orthodox Christian Church. She began asking questions of the
priest about the Orthodox Church. She wanted to know what the Orthodox
Church was and how if differed with the Roman Catholic Church? The
Russian Orthodox priest answered all her questions with a great deal of
patience. She attended that Church again and again and she fell in
love with it. Finally when Father Simeon arrived in Peru after many
years of absence, he found that his mother was ready to be received into
the Orthodox Church. When the day of baptism arrived, Fr. Simeon went
to a lake with his mother and performed the Sacrament of Baptism there.
He immersed her three times in the waters of the lake. During the third
immersion something most unusual took place to his mother. As her son
literally raised her from the water for the third time she remained in
the air for a moment then plunged back down into the water. Fr.
Simeon’s brothers who were watching this whole scene unfold thought
their brother was drowning their mother. They rushed forward and would
have beaten him up if their mother had not raised herself up from the
water and spoke to them.
The
mother then explained to everyone what was happening to her during the
third immersion into the water. She said that everything around her lit
up brilliantly and she was filled with Light. This Light entered her
body and it was so powerful that she became emotional and fainted. She
was given the name Έλευθερία (Freedom). (A note from the translator)
(This Light that Eleftheria experienced is known in the Orthodox Church
as the Uncreated Light of God.)
ANOTHER STORY ABOUT THE POWER OF HOLY BAPTISM THAT TOOK PLACE IN ATHENS, GREECE
