The funeral of the blessed Elder Joseph of Vatopedion Monastery( some years before)........
2nd July, 2009.
Yesterday at 6:00 pm the
funeral Service for the blessed Elder Joseph Vatopedinos took
place in the Catholicon (main church) of the Vatopedion Sacred
Monastery of the Holy Mountain; it finished at 9.00 pm, and was
followed by the traditional funeral treat in the Synodicon and
the Dining Room of the Monastery.
Present at the funeral
were 4
High Priests, 10 abbots, the Chief Elder Symeon Dionysiates and
the Sacred Supervision of the Holy Mountain, tens of Priests and
hundreds of faithful, who, upon learning of the passing of the
blessed Elder, came to the Monastery from many parts of Greece
and Cyprus, leaving behind whatever pending jobs and activities
they had (myself also being one of them).
Funeral eulogies were
delivered, in order, by the Most Reverend Metropolitan of
Limassol Athanasius, the Abbot of the Vatopedion Monastery
Archmandrite Ephraim, both spiritual children of the departed
Elder, who stressed very emotionally the Elder's immense
paternal love which they had witnessed during the years that
they had associated with him. Next was the Reverend
Metropolitan Seraphim of Kastoria, who highlighted the Elder's
contribution towards the Christian laity, with his comforting
and discerning words and writings, and who had furthermore left
behind an example of forgiveness and forbearance to all those
who had wrongly accused him and slandered him. In his speech in
the Synodicon, the Abbot of the Sacred Monastery of Simonos
Petra, Archmandrite Elissaios, stressed that the Elder Joseph
was a point of reference for the Holy Mountain and possessed by
the desire to see the monks loving God. Every encounter with the
Elder was an experience in itself.
Those present at the
funeral were blessed with the opportunity to offer their last
farewell to the Elder and receive one last blessing from him.
However, what they confronted there was not a frigid corpse;
instead, they were gazing at a cheerful, graceful countenance -
one that seemed to be offering them a smile from Eternity.
Speaking for myself, it was the first time in my entire life
that I had ever seen such an expression and vivacity on a dead
person's face (which you can see for yourself, from the photos
of the Elder).
The burial of the Elder
was not in the Cemetery of the Monastery, but outside the
Catholicon, at its northeastern side, where his grave had also
been prepared a few years ago.
All those who were present
were certain of the Elder's repose at the right-hand side of
God. Feelings were mixed: emotional, along with
resurrectional rejoicing.
May we all have his
blessing.
Chr. Efstathopoulos,
Athens.
Source: vatopaidi.wordpress
