[The text
refers to Saint George as “Elder”, because, at the time when Fr. Moïsis
composed it, the former had not yet been recognized as a saint of the
Orthodox Church]
The blessed Elder George came from the
Black Sea and was orphaned and left on his own very early in life. After
being persecuted and imprisoned by the atheist regime in Georgia, he
came to Greece where the humble man lived with such asceticism and
zealous faith that he was granted the gifts of discretion, perception,
precognition and prophecy.
Father George was born in Argyroupolis
(Gümüşhane) in the Black Sea region in 1901. He was orphaned at an early
age and his upbringing fell to his devout grandmother. After the death
of his grandmother and sister he and his grandfather left for Erzurum in
Greater Armenia. The death of his grandfather and the abuse of his
brother took him to the Caucasus. Alone, poor, hurt and needy,
accompanied by saints in dreams and visions, he arrived in Tiflis, in
Georgia, and was taken by the bishop there to the Holy Monastery of the
Life-Receiving Spring. He was clothed in the honourable monastic habit
at the age of only nine [that is, he entered a pre-novitiate mode of
existence] and would wear it for over half a century.
His Tonsure
He had loved the
ascetic life and prayer since his childhood. On 20 July 1919, he was
tonsured a monk and his name changed from Athanasios to Symeon. It is
reported that at the moment when he was tonsured, the bells began
ringing of their own accord.
At the monastery, he met an
uncle of the bishop, who helped him spiritually. The atheist regime of
the Revolution of 1917 persecuted the Church, the clergy and
monasticism. Together with other monks of the monastery he was
imprisoned in a sunless, underground room through which sewers ran. He
withstood dreadful privations, trusting in God. Many of the brethren
died martyrs’ deaths there. He himself escaped certain death through the
aid of the Mother of God. On 8 September 1925, he was ordained to the
priesthood and renamed Giorgi (George). He conducted services in
Georgian.
He soon acquired a name as a
discerning, perceptive Elder, who had the gift of precognition. Many
people came from far and wide to make the young hieromonk’s acquaintance
and seek his advice. In 1923 he left Tiflis for Sukhumi. In his
frequent liturgies he would commemorate a great many names. In his cell,
he studied and prayed continually. Abstinence, asceticism, vigils and
fasting were a constant part of his life. His prophesies were fulfilled,
and people began to regard him as a saint. In 1929, he was able to come
to Greece.
Arrival in Greece
He glorified God for
his salvation. The Black Sea region, Georgia and Russia remained in his
memory as places of struggles, hardships and sacrifices. From
Thessaloniki, where he arrived on October 19, 1929, he moved on to
Katerini and then on further to the villages of Alonia, and Koukkos,
Mikro Dasos near Kilkis, and finally, in 1930, to Sipsa near Drama. The
maltreatment in the prison in Georgia had left him half-paralysed, very
weak and he often had great difficulty in walking, so that he had to be
carried to go where he wanted to.
His only possessions were a
few Church books in Georgian, priest’s vestments, icons and a part of
the relics of his sister, Anna. Many people started to come to him for
help. Father George, who loved God, the saints, his brethren and all
other people, conducted services of intercession, confessed people and
admonished them. In 1938, he built the little monastery of the
Ascension. Here he would celebrate, confess, preach, foretell, work
miracles for twenty years. His cell and the church became a pool of
Siloam for the bodily and spiritual ailments of many people.
He travelled to Jerusalem as
a pilgrim and then to the Holy Mountain, where he met holy figures who
convinced him to stay where he was because the faithful had great need
of his presence and witness. In 1941, he was miraculously saved from
certain death at the hands of the Bulgarians, who had arrested him and
wanted to execute him. The whole of his life passed in a continuous
miracle. With the aid of Saint Nicholas, he was partially cured, at
least to the extent that he could support himself.
He was always sparing,
simple, fasting, vigilant, sickly and prayerful. He spoke little, was
careful, strict and serious. He visited the sick and poor in great need,
because he himself had been helped and he knew how to help others.
At the holy proskomidi (Office
of Oblation), he would remember thousands of names of the living and
the departed. Some of them he would make a note of, and, at the end of
the Divine Liturgy would summon the relatives privately and tell them
the problems facing their loved ones, living or dead. If they were dead,
he would tell the relatives how they had ended their lives. Pure and
innocent people saw him celebrate the Liturgy without his feet touching
the ground. At the divine services he was luminous, peaceful and joyful.
He concelebrated with saints. “I rarely celebrate alone” the Elder
would say. He was particularly devoted to the Mother of God, the
Honourable Forerunner and Saint George. He would send ill and needy
people to different saints and, through his prayers, everything would
turn out well. Out of humility, he did not wish his unworthiness to be
honoured, but that God should be glorified by his saints. He used to
call the saints “visitors”, and he had the gift of being able to see the
state of the souls in church.
The Elder observed the
canons of the Church very strictly and was not indulgent as regards
inadmissible “dispensations”. He was even stricter with the unrepentant.
He held the vocation of Spiritual Father in very high esteem and took
his responsibilities seriously. He had no desire to surround himself
with supporters who would flatter him, but retained a discriminatory
severity. His aim was always to bring humility to the persons
confessing, along with genuine contrition and repentance, for the
salvation of their immortal souls.
The Charismatic Pastor
His fervent faith,
ascetic existence and pure life brought the humble and worthy servant of
the Most High gifts of discernment, perception, precognition and
prophecy. God enlightened the blessed Elder to the extent that he could
see things far away and in the past as if they were close and in the
present, even, sometimes, things which were in the future, as many of
his spiritual children relate. Some doubted the Elder’s gifts, but when
they got to know him they were not slow to recognize that he was truly a
man of God. The Elder used his gifts for the assistance and salvation
of souls, not to expose or shame people or to promote and boast about
himself. He spoke with tears about imminent hardships: the German
occupation in 1940, the Bulgarian incursion, and the Civil War. He read
people’s hearts like an open book. In order to retain his humility, he
sometimes feigned stupidity, like foolishness for Christ. Virtue takes a
great deal of effort to acquire and ample skill to preserve.
In his pastoral work, the
Elder showed particular attention to women, who, because of their wealth
of sensibility easily exaggerate the honour to be paid to others. He
was quietly strict with them. But he concealed a heart that was full of
love for everyone. His almsgiving was always in secret. Once it got
dark, he would send some of his confidantes off with clothes and food
for the poor. He comforted those who were grieving and cared
conscientiously for the departed. He loved children, gave them
affectionate advice and shared little gifts with them unstintingly. He
always tried to conceal himself and never wanted to be in the limelight
or to be honoured. The Elder never wanted anyone to leave his monastery
hungry. He would cook and bake bread and share his efforts with everyone
as a “blessing”. He was hard-working, tireless, charitable and
open-handed.
For all of this, the
faithful harboured great respect and love for the Elder. He accepted the
love of his children, but did not provoke or desire it. He was humble
and liked especially to talk about holy humility. In the end, he lived
in sacred isolation. Most people did not understand him and some,
indeed, misunderstood him. There were only a few who could understand
the depth of his spirituality.
His Demise
He
foresaw and foretold exactly the date of his departure from this life.
Having been prepared for some time, he awaited it with even greater
prayer, giving his final instructions to his spiritual children. Three
days before his death, the sacrament of Divine Unction was celebrated.
He made his communion. He forgave, blessed and made his farewells to
everyone. He died on 4 November 1959. The last words which passed his
lips were: “Open to me the gate of loving-kindness, blessed Mother of
God”.
An orphaned, grieving and
inconsolable body of people accompanied him to his final resting place,
behind the church of the Ascension, where he had served for about thirty
years. His face was peaceful, joyful and radiant. His dead body was
supple, just as is the case of those on the Holy Mountain. The two
cypress trees at his grave bent, as though in veneration, as he had
foretold, and lots of birds gathered at the time of his burial, with no
fear of the large crowd of people. Everyone was now certain that they
were burying a saint. He had been asked to be buried in his vestments,
with his cross and the liturgical books that he had bought from Georgia.
Περιοδικό Πεμπτουσία vol. 17, pp. 116-23, April-July 2005
Saint George was inscribed among the Saints by the Ecumenical Patriarch Vartholomaios II, in Drama, in 2008.
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