In a monastery on Mount Oros, before mankind even knew what electricity was, there was a small brotherhood of young monks with their Elder, who was also relatively young.
Within this fraternity, however, there was also an elderly grandfather. The grandfather of our story, therefore, never said good morning and always walked with his eyes lowered.
Whenever he met any of his brothers he stopped in front of him without raising his eyes from the ground and immediately turned his back and changed course. He never went to Prayers and Vespers.
He might be seen occasionally at the dinner after the bank, but he would leave before it was over. Only on Sundays did he go to Mass late and sit until it was over.
All of his brothers called him oddball, strange, and constantly slandered him to their Elder. Many times the Elder was tempted to reprimand him for his behavior,
But each time something stopped him and he justified him by saying that it was “the ravages of age”. So one day Good God called our Grandfather and he left forever for a very long journey.
His brothers were not at all saddened by his loss. They were just as happy, because they would never see his sour old face again. But they wondered what will happen to the soul of this strange hawk who did not perform any of his religious duties?
They asked their Elder about it and he in turn told them to pray and fast for 40 days and then the Good God will reveal to them what happened to the soul of their old brother.
After 40 days, an Angel of the Lord appeared to the Elder and revealed to him that their Gerakos is in Heaven near the Good God and is praying for them and for the salvation of their souls.
The Elder asked. He asked Angelos: “But how? After…” But before he could finish what he wanted to say, the Angel answered him: “Your brother is in Heaven because he never said a bad word about his brother and never criticized any of you!
His gaze was always on the ground so that he would not see any of you and curse him, he did not come to services so that he would not see any brother sleeping, or do his penances and judge him”.
The Elder was speechless. The news quickly spread by word of mouth not only in the small commune but also in the surrounding Monasteries and Sketes. Instead of joy, however, an immense sadness spread.
Even the birds were silent that day. The wind did not blow and the white sheep of the sea stopped licking the walls of the monastery. That night not even the stars came out in the sky. The people mourned, but the whole earth mourned with them.
I wish we could have even a little of the humiliation of this Saint old man and we wouldn’t care if they called us strange..
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