The truly great Saints of our times

These days when stress and insecurity prevails and unimportant issues are presented as crucial, I think we must remember the wonderful Saintly Elders (gerontes) of our times, who lived among us just a few years ago. These gerontes were regularly consoling hundreds of people of all religions and beliefs, believers and non believers alike, and were performing miracles with their prayers, curing many of their physical and mental illnesses.
Gerontas Paisios of Agio Oros (Holy Mount Athos), whose many prophecies have been regularly cited in this blog, used to say:
-“If one lives to serve his own interest only, he is a useless person”.

read more…-“We must never criticize anyone. When we see someone commit a sin, we should cry and pray to the Lord to forgive him…”
-“He who helps his fellow brother, receives help from the Lord. He who criticizes him with malice has the Lord as his accuser”.
-“Is there anyone who looks after his brother, nowadays? No one. We are all interested about ourselves, but no one else. We are going to have to explain ourselves on this,since our Lord, who is full of Love will not forgive this indifference about our fellow men”.
However, one of the most wonderful sayings is found in the words of Gerontas Porfyrios Kafsokalyvitis, who lived in his monastery in Milesi, which has always been the place of solace for the unhappy people.
-“This is how we must truly see Jesus. He is our friend, our brother. He is all that is good and beautiful. He is Eveything. But he is also our friend and he is calling on us: ‘Hey, I am your friend, don’t you see it? We are bothers.I am not holding the threat of hell in My hands, I am not making you scared, I love you. I want you to find happiness in life with Me”.
And even more:
-“When you are desperate, think: God is at hand. When you are frantic, He sends you something which you are not expecting… you only have to believe in Him and love Him, jbust as He loves and looks after us, like every father does for his children.”
Gerontas Porfyrios’ love for people was expressed in many ways. He did not practice a rational, ideological, psychological or even a theological system of teaching, but all was sorted out by his heart which was burning with the love of God.
Listen to what he had answered to a tourist guide who was showing the statue of Zeus to a group of tourists.
“I do not know anything about this”, he said to her. I only admire the artist’s work but also the person which God so perfectly created. I understand that this artist had a great sense of the Devine. As you can see, while Zeus is sending his thunder to people, his face is peaceful. His is not mad. He is unmoved. What does this tell us? That God has no passion even when he is punishing us”.
Numerous books have been written about these yerontes, their lives and the miracles they had been performing, but also about their full of love and compassion sayings.
The Reader

Translation by Olga Kokkinos, journalist

Source: Troktiko