If I am the church of the Holy Spirit....

Hieroschemamonk Julian (Lazar)

The elder Julian (Lazar) is approaching the 90th year of his earthly sojourn, brightened by his unceasing prayer. For the purity of his heart, God bestowed upon him the answers to many questions, some not even pronounced aloud. The “Elder of Prodromos,” as people with great affection call his holy mountain, is the kind of spiritual father who is more and more seldom found on Earth: a hermit who weeps with you over your sins and unfailingly heals the wounds of your soul with wise counsel and prayer. A great agent of the commandments, he is one of those men of whom it his said: “whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven” (Matt. 5:19).

 

He has a pure heart, which reflects the heavens like a mirror, thanks to the goodness of his heart. When he is joyful his entire face begins to radiate. It is a great joy to find oneself nearby him then, because a feeling arises as if you are sitting on your knees by a grandfather with a snow-white beard, looking with love upon the inner child of your soul.

And yet, although he has a “good heart and a light hand,” according to Father Arsenie Papacioc’s expression for spiritual fathers, he can also be extremely severe toward your sins if he sees that you persist in them. Even in this severity though (towards the sin, but never the sinner!) his love for people was obvious.

For the purity of his life, God gave him the gift of always seeing (before you did!) where there is a “crack” in your heart, the place through which the passions penetrate into your soul. In precisely this place, Abba Julian teaches you to apply the cure.

Together with three good friends I visited Abba Julian in February 2014¹, and one evening when we complained about the many earthly cares and lack of time for prayer, the elder responded to us this way.

Deification

 

—I see that you people are very busy and could have much to say—if it was necessary to speak—but I think that in this life it is important to struggle for the life hereafter. Indeed, God gave us time and this life so that we would come to Him prepared. We do not know, for it is not given to us to know, neither the moment, nor the hour when we will depart to the Lord to give our account. After all, God did not create us without a purpose. He announced the purpose already in the very beginning of the Bible, in the Book of Genesis, 1:26: And God said, Let us make man according to our image and likeness. The next verse says that, God made man, according to the image of God he made him, and nothing is mentioned about likeness, because it should have been realized in Adam.

Thus, the goal of our life is deification, because it is written: Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect (Matt. 5:48). 

Prayer and Holiness

 

—We do not know what God looks like, as we read in John 1:18, No man hath seen God at any time. This is true, but we can meet with Him in prayer. Go into your room, into your chamber, into your heart, and above all, truly think of Whom you will speak, and then say as I, an old man, teach you: "I thank you, O Lord, for leading me to speak with You; me... the greatest sinner of all!" And then stand and speak with God.

After all, what does He want from us? That we should cast away from within us all the sin that defiles us. At midnight or even noon, because we sin throughout the day, enter into the depth of your soul and speak with Him who forgiveth all thine iniquities (cf. Ps. 103:2). And then say: "Forgive me, O Lord, forgive me, for I did not know that they occur before Your eyes! I was after all dead-hearted and did not think about You." Do that throughout the day and learn to stand before God, for thus will you cleanse yourself and prepare for the coming Judgment.

And again you will see not only your smallness and the abundance of your sins, but the also goodness of God, Who desires not the death of the ungodly, as that the ungodly should turn from his way and live (Ez. 33:11).

All prayers are beautiful, and it is good that you read both the Book of Hours and in the Supplicatory Canon to the Most Holy Mother of God. But if you have little time, stand before God as I taught you, and speak to Him from all the fullness of your heart. Do this and begin to feel God! And you will realize that everything that you do, you do before God!

And again, remember that when your prayers cease, then sin begins! Even the cessation of prayer itself is sin. Indeed, God said, "Be holy!"² And I have never heard of such a thing as saints who did not pray,. Even the Apostle Paul said to pray "without ceasing"!³ Without ceasing—not from time to time.

In previous centuries, there were no priests, no churches, no monasteries, just a community of believers amidst the pagan world. The apostle told them to pray without ceasing, and this exhortation also applies to you who do not have time for prayer. After all, even those who lived during the apostolic times did not know how much time they would have for prayer, because they were always persecuted. 

Sickness of the Soul

 

—And now we look at it in another way: we are departing for another world. We are dying for this world; we are hurting both here and there... When something begins to hurt us, we run to the doctor and take care of our bodies. What about disease of the soul? Why do we not take care of it at all? It may happen that your soul is wounded and you do not know what it suffers from. When your body hurts, you go to the doctor for a cure. In the just the same way, when your soul hurts you should seek solace and healing from a spiritual father.

—You see, a truly healthy person always has God in his heart. If you have read Gospel of Luke 17:21, it, then you know that there it is written, Behold, the kingdom of God is within you. We also find another text in the First Epistle to the Corinthians 3:16 that confirms this: Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?

You see that Apostle Paul places a question mark: "Do you really not know that God lives in you?" That is, the body is the temple of the Holy Spirit. The bodies of some saints did not decompose and gave off a sweet fragrance because throughout their earthly lives they glorified God in themselves. 

Love and Mercy

 

—You know that "God is love." Indeed, in his First Epistle the Apostle John writes that, He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love (1 John 4:8). And in Luke 6:36 is written: Be ye therefore merciful, as your Father also is merciful. Love and mercy. Thus, this is what God wishes to find in the heart of man—love and mercy. And if He finds them, then in that heart abides His Kingdom.

Each man should ask, is the Kingdom of God inside me? Is there that much love and mercy inside me? And if there is—and of course there is, for God does not lie—then one should ask himself: what kind of thoughts should come from my mind, if I am the church of the Holy Spirit?

Thus, the safekeeping of thoughts is a great matter in the fight against the enemy. However, anger could not reach our hearts if they are full of love and mercy, for the Lord also says: Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you (Matt. 5:44). What sort of evil could afflict you if you love your enemies?

You should know, however, that in the Second Epistle to Timothy, 3:12 is written that, All that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. So, you must expect tribulations and afflictions if you desire the Kingdom of God; and the Savior tells you to pray for those who persecute you. 

Resentment and Self-Justification

 

—The first thing that sickens the soul is self-justification. It is difficult for a person to suffer "offense" in the world without holding the person that caused it in disdain.

—Saint Isaac the Syrian says, "He who can suffer offense and have it in his power to excuse it attains the solace of God."⁴

—This is certainly true. And yet how would this be, if instead of responding to offense with hate, you smiled amicably at your persecutor and prayed for him?

A good Christian should not have enemies, by a small measure of will and conduct. This is not just for his own sake; if you know that someone suffers difficulty because of you, go and ask his forgiveness, for if you are angry with him also, then there will be two people clothed in hatred; and if you approach him with love, then perhaps you will win him over and you both will gain peace.

God told you to forgive, for then you also will be forgiven.⁵ Who among us does not need forgiveness? Then why should you be deprived of it and justify yourself, when you know that God gives the greatest forgiveness, as only He knows the heart of man? Therefore, give God truth and offerings, and your soul will in this way gain peace. 

Zeal for God

 

—If your soul gains peace, try now to have zeal for God. Speak to Him as much as possible and follow the commandments that He gave you to attain life eternal. Struggle in fasting and in prayer, For without me ye can do nothing.⁶ Thus, as much as possible, we will follow the fasts because through them we make ourselves holy. We are not killers of the body; however, the body needs to be humble and attune itself to fasting and acts of moral courage in order to heal the soul.

We cannot do this without a spiritual father. When a person goes to his spiritual father and weeps for his sins, confessing them since the time of his childhood, he becomes a spiritually healthy person. If you become healthy, you can no longer remain indifferent to the spiritual anguish of others. For the love of your neighbor you must try to save his soul.

It is necessary, however, to have discretion, for Christ said, Neither cast ye your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn again and rend you (Matt. 7:6). Therefore, you must be extremely wise, as wise as serpents, in order to be able to gather other souls both for the sake of Christ as well as for their own salvation. 

—"To see your neighbor is to see God," said Saint Clement of Alexandria...

 

—Yes. It is as I said earlier about the image of God in man. Or as the Fathers have said, "Salvation will come to you from your neighbor, but so also will condemnation."

If you go to a spiritual father and hide no sins from him (nor from God), and if you follow the canons, you will find your way to the Kingdom of Heaven. But it is necessary to feel sorry about your sins, or else you will not receive forgiveness from God. However, if you remain in a spiritual connection with your spiritual father and strive to follow his guidance, you will have a healthy soul and zeal for holiness.

One must make sure that no sins remain unconfessed, because in the world, in the churches of this world, the sacrament of repentance is extremely difficult to fulfill. This is because there are many Christians, few priests, and even fewer spiritual fathers. Therefore, the spiritual father does not have enough time to explore the soul of the Christian, and the latter may return home with unconfessed sins (committed in ignorance, for example). In times past, people had notebooks in which they recorded their sins so that they would not forget them during confession, and now, after communism has taken its turn on these poor people, this healthy custom has been completely lost. 

Penance

 

—I recall that Father Iustin (Pârvu) also mentioned this custom. I want to ask you, Father: is it possible to confess while one is under penance and when it is not permitted to receive communion?

—Of course. If your conscience is nagging you because of a sin you committed, run quickly to your spiritual father and confess. Do not sit in sin and moreover do not put off repentance. It is written in the Book of Revelation 21:27, that in the city Shall in no wise enter into it any thing that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie!

—And what it happens if you have received a penance, and you die without having received the Eucharist, and without having fulfilled the penance? What happens to the soul?

—It is saved. As long as it is under penance and is fulfilling the penance, it is forgiven its sins. However… I read once in a country newspaper about a nun in Bessarabia who had fallen painfully to the ground when she was putting on her shoes, and spent many days in a faint, or possibly in a coma. In any case, she did not die, because her heart was beating properly. When she came to, she told the entire community how the former abbess had met her in a wonderful place, and confessed to her that she had not been there from the very beginning, but the prayers of the nuns had brought her to this status within six weeks from her death. The abbess had died without having recently received the Eucharist and only the prayers of the community brought her to this blessed place.

—That means that even those who die while under penance are not sent directly to the place where they should go—to "a place of brightness, where all sickness, sorrow, and sighing, have fled"?

—He can enter there only by the prayers of the Church, of those who remain among the living. I meet many fathers who, facing death, ask us, "Pray for me!" Maybe it is so. God knows. But a person who is spiritually healthy has is mercy for every soul, and he wants that all might enter the Kingdom of God, and thus he prays for his brothers as he would for himself—even more so! Apostle James says: Pray one for another, ⁷ and Saint Paul says that we should pray without ceasing.⁸

 

A Word

 

– Will you give us a word for the benefit of our souls, father?

– Well, as advice I will remind you of the words of the Apostle James, a kinsman of the Lord, who said, Know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God (James 4:4). It depends on you, whose friend you want to become. 

George Kryshnyan spoke with Hieroschemamonk Julian (Lazar)
English Translation by Tatiana Ozerova

Lumea Credinţei

01 / 09 / 2014

1 The February birthday of the elder—he was born on February 8, 1926.
2 Lev. 11:44.
3 See: 1 Thess. 5:17.
4 See: Saint Isaac the Syrian, The Ascetical Homilies of Saint Isaac the Syrian, Homily 57.
5 See: Luke 6:37.
6 See: John 15:5.
7 James 5:16.
8 See: 1 Thess. 5: 17.

 Source-http://www.pravoslavie.ru/english 

Elder Justin Pârvu- “Man is half love, half struggle”

The newly departed servant of Christ,

Elder Justin (Pârvu) of Romania and his Words of Wisdom

Motto: “If we would be willing to descend into our selves to correct a bit this avalanche of wrongdoings, then our prayer will be heard, the world would be more at peace and our life would suit more the Lord’ liking.

We have become increasingly hostile towards each other by our own selfishness, we see no one but our selves… and when we reach this state of no longer caring for those near us, we encounter the greatest fall”.

Man’s freedom is at the measure of his genuine love

Freedom becomes precious only when it is lost. Or at least, this is how we think. All his life man seeks to be free, but does not appreciate the gift of his freedom until it is too late. Freedom is in our body but also in our heart. Freedom is in action but also in the mind and the intellect. Man is free by how genuinely he loves and is attached to the values of the faith.

We are free when we accept God’s plan for our life, and when we strive to achieve it. Being free does not mean lethargy and bliss, but the fulfillment of your human condition.

Freedom does not mean to do what I always wish, as many times by doing what I like I do the will of the devil. Freedom is at the measure of man discernment, and his capacity to choose between good and evil. Man must realize that only in Truth he can live freely and with so much confusion in this world, he should avoid deception. It was what Communists did not understand, that only on the Cross the human soul gains true freedom, that all their methods of torture and psychological pressure to re-educate us, have made more saints than slaves, have sanctified our land by the martyrs blood.

Freedom is hard to understand when one has not lived in those times [of persecution], and our Christians today barely reflect of this past.

The thirst for God and the love for all people

The thirst for God directs us towards the love of our neighbor and vice versa. So great is the power of love that one who reaches a genuine love for all people denying oneself, receives the gift of healing.

This is the true “follower” of Christ! Such man loves with the love of Christ all those fallen, thus partakes in Christ’ mission on earth and save himself.

Man is half love, half struggle

(Excerpt from an interview given by the Elder Justin in 2007)

Q: – Father Justin, from your experience of “burying yourself in man suffering”, what do you think, does man need: to be understood or to be loved?

Elder Justin: – Man needs to be loved. But to love him, you must first understand him. If you see him fallen down, then you must give him your hand. The love of neighbor is one’ measure of the love for God. If you cannot love the one near you, if you do not help him, you cannot say you love God.

The love of neighbor is the first step towards salvation, on this step one must labor until he reaches the greatest love for God.

Q: – During the communist regime, we have been [spiritually] poised by the slogan “new man”. Do you think we ended up with this “new man”?

Elder Justin: – You mean, in a materialistic sense? Maybe how the communists had imagine a man freed from the “bondage” of faith and of the Holy Spirit…! But a new man purified and renewed… not so.

But I want to speak more of the new man reborn in Christ, a man that’s quite rare in our present times. The renewal of man and of the world can happen only through the Resurrection of Christ, in its profound meaning. This is the new man, whom every mother preparing to bring babies into the world, must dream of modeling.

Q: – Einstein once said that “the progress made by man, compared with the development of his character, is enough to terrify …”

Elder Justin: - Yes… for a soul that’s at peace with itself can fit the whole world within; while in the soul that’s bitter, soured and distressed, nothing can enter…

Q: – How do you think man should be?

Elder Justin: - Man is – or should be! – Half love and half sacrifice, struggling to keep love undefiled.

Q: – A great thinker of the last century, Carl Gustav Jung said: “For a young man is almost a sin or at least a risk to be too much preoccupied with himself, while for the elder man, it is a duty and a necessity to commit to a more serious self study.” How do you see this?

Elder Justin: - At the end of this search man must find God. God made man in His own image, and God dwells in everyone. Young or old, man must clean up the inside of his being, for no one knows when the end comes…

Q: – Someone said that “in an empty mind, the devil finds shelter”…

Elder Justin: - He is speaking of the man who has the basket always full, for he cares for the wheat needed to be milled. And this wheat is our constant cry to God: “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, save us.” If the enemy finds our mind wandering in useless things, he will enter and find shelter directing it at his pleasure (…)

 Q: – Is there a question that man is rendered to never find the answer in this life?

Elder Justin: - It depends on what someone wants to know. Man has all the answers within himself. About his birth, his life and the meaning of his salvation. But if he wants to find answers to meaningless questions, then he will be constantly miserable. If he seeks answers to questions related to his faith, his purpose in life, he will find happiness.

Q:- Is doubting a sin for the Christian?

Elder Justin: - Yes, but there are “permitted” doubts. A doubt that you’re still alive after a fervent prayer, when your whole being had burned in prayer… This kind of doubt is allowed.

Q: – Father, what is humility?

Elder Justin: - Humility is a fair self-assessment of our human dimensions in relation to the [universe] infinite. Humility accompanied by patience move mounts, that’s how powerful can become for any Christian…

Q: – What is Golgotha [Calvary] for today’ Christian?

Elder Justin: – Man’ unbelief makes every day into a Golgotha.

Q: – Man today is more skeptical than fifty years ago? What can you say to encourage him to go forward, to cope with the trials of life?

Elder Justin: – Our modern man puts too much heart into trifles and details, is assaulted by a lot of false things and does not know how to choose. If you choose wisely, things will become easy and the life beautiful. If you choose wrongly, you are struggling. If you doubt that you have chosen well, your heart is also troubled. Our contemporary man has become too materialistic, a subject to the new tyrant: money. Everywhere we look, we hear that money is everything, the master of this world. He, who makes money his master, makes himself a servant to the devil.

Today, many dramas arouse not from differences in ideas, but from the battle with money, with all that is material. Man bought by it losses his faith and his values and becomes a mare currency.

Q: – How do you define the word happiness? … What advice would you give to Christians who come to you and say they are unhappy?

Elder Justin – Happiness is when you meet with the love of Christ humbly in prayer.

People understand happiness differently. Some who want much may not get it, and feel unhappy. While others may desire less, receive it and are content….

Q: – So happiness is at the measure of man…

Elder Justin: – Happiness is the faith that dwells in us. We have seen people that have many riches, great social positions and they’re still unhappy, because they lock faith!

Q” – There is a story in the Egyptian Paterikon: it happened that a wise elder once sat at the table with several brothers; as they were eating, the elder saw in the spirit how some ate honey, others bread, and some others dung. And the elder marveled and prayed to God, saying, “Lord, reveal to me this secret, how is that the same food is on the table before all, but they seem to eat different food.” And a voice came, saying, “They who eat honey are those who with fear, trembling and spiritual joy sit at the table and pray unceasingly so their prayers go up to God as incense. Those that eat bread give thanks to God for the food, and they who eat dung, are those who complain: “this is good, this is rotten”….

Elder Justin: – Yes, gratitude for what one has received is after all, a measure of man’ faith.

We need to pray with our hearts

• We must honored with much gratitude the sacrificial love of our martyrs.

• It is very important to know how to pray. And often, we monks in monasteries do not pray, but we just seem to be praying. It’s not enough to go to church and to sit there like you did your duty or obligation. We must insist on inner prayer. In vain we say many prayers with our mouth or our mind, if we do not sail deeply, if we do not live what we pray.

• In our times, even the laity need to deepen the Jesus prayer, as it will become our only salvation – prayer into the heart; the heart is the root of all passions and there we must labor. In the past we were able to go by in a more easy – superficial way, but for the times awaiting us, this will not be enough. If we will not have the prayer rotted in our hearts, we will not resist the psychological persecution awaiting us, because soon they will come with [hidden] methods to re-educate our minds. (the elder had the gift of prophesy/ clairvoyance, tr. note).

• Today I find that indifference [acedia] is the hardest sin. Our hearts no longer move in prayer, we have no tears of repentance. There will come a time when only those who feel the grace of the Spirit will be able to distinguish good from evil, for on its own, the human mind cannot discern. There will be times of great confusion and only the Holy Spirit can save us.

So, pray my beloved, pray so you may not enter into [temptation] deception! For only through prayer we can receive God’s grace. If we do not pray and continue in laziness and carelessness, then it is possible to lose the instinct of repentance. God forbid that we may not lose conscious!

 (Translated by EC)

Father Ioan Guțu

 Father Ioan Guțu 

Father Ioan Guțu was one of the most important Romanian praying Fathers who lived on Mount Athos. Born in 1906, in the Bessarabian* region of Soroca and reposed in the Lord on December 5, 1996, in his cell at the Holy Mountain, Fr. Ioan Guțu lived and died in complete humility.

Fr. Ioan Guțu left us a few words that can be looked upon as his true spiritual ”will”, according to which he himself worked his good deeds: “Let us love all good works equally; however, we should start with the fear of God and finish with our love for Him, which is the wreath of all good works. Prayer should lead the way in all our good works. More prayer, more humility, more love for God – will easily lead us to the Kingdom of Heaven. Let us pray for one another and hope that God will not leave us. That said, we need to be aware that we cannot acquire salvation without temptations, patience, and contrition.”

* * *

Fr. Ioan Guțu was born in 1906, in the Bessarabian town of Popești, region of Soroca. In 1926, after having graduated elementary school, at only 19 years of age, young Ioan left for the Holy Mountain, where he settled at the Vatopedi skete of Colciu, in a cell that was consecrated to the birth of St. John the Baptist.

Later on, after a visit that he made in his Athonite cell at Colciu, his father, glad to see his son’s pure life, told him: “See that you will die here.” Thus, it was in his cell at Colciu that the Fr. Ioan would spend the rest of his life in spiritual effort, namely over seventy years. All throughout that time, he never left the Holy Mountain except one time, when he did obedience to his Spiritual Father, Hieromonk Ilie Vulpe.

Speaking of this humble Hieromonk, Fr. Dionisie Ignat, who lived in St. George’s cell at Colciu, said: “His Spiritual Father was Ilie Vulpe. However, within a short time, the Elders around him died and he was left alone for tens of years. We lived next to Fr. Ioan as if we were brothers: there was no difference whatsoever between our two cells. We would spend all the holy days and great feasts together. Fr. Ioan Guțu was the most rigorous observer of monastic life I have ever met: one of the best monks ever and a very zealous and good man. Others tried to live next to him, too, but they weren’t able to. He was only a Priest; not a Spiritual Father. The moment the last Spiritual Father in his cell died, he stopped performing the service, out of humility.”

To all those who met him – although he never confessed people – Fr. Ioan Guțu was truly a great spiritual father: he would fast all the time, eating only once every few days; he would keep vigil at all times, sleeping only a few hours a night; and he would pray all the time, while doing countless prostrations.

Once, a younger brother asked him for some words of spiritual profit. Fr. Ioan told him: “I am a simple man and have no such words. I, too, ask for spiritual advice and counseling from others, who are more advanced spiritually. Yet I can say this much: if we fulfill our monastic vows and complete our life’s journey as we have started it, we can hope for salvation.”

During the last years of his life, because of his efforts and his long years, Fr. Ioan got ill. Yet even so, he didn’t call for any doctors and continued his monastic canon all the way to the end, without sparing himself any part of it. As a result of that, well over two months ahead of his repose, he told his apprentice the date of his departure from this world.

Fr. Ioan Guțu reposed in the Lord on December 5, 1996, aged 91, after having led a holy life. On December 3, he confessed to Fr. Dionisie Ignat, took part in the day’s services and received the Holy Mysteries. Then after having asked for forgiveness from all the monks living at Colciu, he withdrew peacefully into his cell. According to his apprentice, Hieromonk Augustin, Fr. Ioan Guțu was “a model of humility in everything: from clothing, to food, his cell, his way of speaking… everything. We have learnt a lot from him”.

Teodor Danalache
Source: http://www.crestinortodox.ro/parinti/parintele-ioan-gutu-127018.html

* Bessarabia = the current Republic of Moldova

* * *

Between 1906 and 1996 (December 5), for 90 years, Abba Ioan amassed so much grace and humility, that he attained a most profound innocence. He was a great faster (as he would eat every two days) and a great ascetic worker (as he would sleep three hours a night, at most, sitting on a stool), and a great prayer (he would do prostrations even when his legs started to bleed, in his old days), and he never used medicines. He didn’t speak much, because if you did not take profit from his silence, there would be no reason for you to ask for any of his advice (and isn’t it that we can learn about humility only by looking at it?). He always thought that “we must start with the fear of God and finish with our love for Him – and put much humility and prayer in between these two and we will get to the Kingdom of Heaven”.

For his efforts, God revealed him the hour of his departure ahead of time, so he took care of everything else that needed to be put straight in his life, two months beforehand, asked for forgiveness from all his brethren – including the ones in St. George’s cell, where Fr. Dionisie Ignat lived (and who also confessed him) – and, on the day of Holy Savvas, he went to the Lord.

Fr. Ilie of Colciu used to recall that one year, they had nothing left to celebrate the patron saint/feast of the cell. They went down to the sea and laid out their nets but caught nothing. Since it was already St. John’s eve, they went to Abba Ioan and with a saddened heart, asked for his advice. Geronta told them: “Go back to the shore and bring that big fish.” The fathers would have liked to tell him that that is where they were coming from, but they kept quiet and did obedience. As soon as they got back to the shore, they were surprised to see quite a large fish, heading towards them, which would have been enough to feed all of them for two days. They took it out of the shallow water with their bare hands and praised the Lord.

In one of the last years of his life (in November 1996), Abba Ioan Guțu met with a young man who later on became Minister of the Department of Cults in Romania […]. The young man asked him: “Father, what do you deem that you have acquired during your 70 years of prayer at Mount Athos?” And the Elder told him: “I have acquired boldness before God”…

As he was working in the garden with Abba Ioan once, Fr. Augustin, his apprentice during his last years, told him in a slightly jesting tone: “Father, please pray to God, as you have acquired credit before Him, to send us a spring that would be closer to our cells, so that we don’t need to carry the water all the way up here from the valley”. The Elder didn’t say anything then, but towards that autumn, as the apprentice had all but forgotten his comment, fresh water sprung one day on the coast above the cell, just a few meters away from their garden plot… It is from that spring that the monks take their water from to this day.

Once, a Greek brother came over from the Vatopedi Monastery, to hear a word of profit from the Elder. And upon receiving his blessing, he meant to take his leave, but the Elder greeted him: “Kalos taxidis, pater Athanasios”. The brother wasn’t even a monk at that time, but when he tried to point that out, Abba told him: “It isn’t according to your will, but according to God’s will in your regard”. Today, one can find Father Athanasios living in that same community at Vatopedi.

Elder Ioan made himself inconspicuous, casting off his own will, but upon doing that he also cast off all worries, thus amassing peace for himself and also providing rest to his brethren…

George Crăsnean

Source: http://www.lumeacredintei.com/sct_3/st_24/despre_avva_ioan_guu.htm