Taken from the Bios of the Elder Paisios of the Holy Mountain
by Hieromonk Isaac, pages 224-228
A publication of the Hut of the Resurrection, Kapsala, Holy Mountain
The Elder (Paisios)
was in the front yard of his retreat
when he was visited by one of his spiritual children. He
was repeating, from the heart, "Glory to You, o God", over and
over again.
"Can someone be rendered useless
- in a good sense?"
the Elder suddenly asked him.
"Who would that be, Elder?"
"Well, I was sitting in my Cell
quietly, then she came here and drove me crazy... They are
having such a good time, 'up there'.."
"What's troubling you, Elder?"
"I will tell you, but don't you
tell anyone."
He went on to narrate the
following:
"I had just returned from the
world, to deal with an ecclesiastic matter." (He had a meeting
with the late Mayor of Athens, Mr.Tritsis)
"It was Tuesday, around 10 in the morning, I was in my Cell
reciting the Hours. I hear a knock on my door, and a woman's
voice saying:
"With
the blessings of our holy Fathers..." (
note: the traditional monastic manner of requesting permission
to enter another's quarters).
I
thought to myself: "How did a woman come to be on the Holy
Mountain?"
And
yet, I could feel a divine sweetness flow through me, so I
asked: "Who is it?"
"Efimia" (replied the voice).
I thought to myself: "Who is this Efimia? Could it be a woman
who did something foolish and came to the Mountain wearing men's
clothes? What am I supposed to do now?"
A
second knock was heard.
I
asked again: "Who is it?"
"Efimia" (replied the voice again).
I
thought it over and decided to not open the door. At the
third knock, the door opened on its own, even though it was
bolted from the inside. I heard footsteps outside, in the
corridor. I dashed out of my Cell and saw a woman who was
wearing a head veil. She was accompanied by someone who
resembled Luke the Evangelist, but he vanished. Despite my
certainty that this was not a sinister phenomenon because the
woman's presence glowed with a radiant light, I asked her who
she was.
"The
martyr Efimia"*
(she replied).
"If
you are indeed the martyr Efimia, come with me, and let us
prostrate ourselves before the Holy Trinity. Whatever I
do, you must do."
I went
into the chapel, prostrating myself and saying "In the
name of the Father....". She repeated it, also
prostrating herself.
"And
of the Son...."
"And
of the Son...." she repeated in a soft voice.
"Louder,
so I can hear you" I said to her, and she repeated it,
in a louder voice.
While still in the corridor, her prostrations were not in the
direction of the chapel, but towards my Cell. At first I
was puzzled, but then I remembered I had a tiny paper icon of
the Holy Trinity pasted onto a piece of wood, which was hanging
above the door of my Cell. After our third prostration,
saying:
"And
of the Holy Spirit..."
I said to her:
"Now,
let me prostrate myself before you." I prostrated
myself and kissed her feet and then the tip of her nose. I
thought it too impertinent to kiss her face.
The
Saint sat down on a stool and I sat myself down on the small
chest, and she proceeded to give me the solution to my concern
(regarding the ecclesiastic matter).
Then
she told me about her life. I knew that a Saint Efimia
existed, but I didn't know anything about her life. When
she described her martyrdoms, I didn't only hear them being
described; it was as though I could actually see them and feel
them.... I shuddered.... oh my God !!
"How
did you survive such tortures?" I asked.
"If
I had known what kind of glory the Saints have, I would have
done whatever I could to undergo much worse tortures."
"Well, after that occurrence, I
was unable to do anything for three whole days. I was beside
myself with elation and was constantly praising God. I
didn't want to eat, I didn't want anything... I was constantly
glorifying...."
________________________
In one of his letters the Elder had mentioned:
"In all my life, I will never be able to repay my huge
obligation to Saint Efimia, who, although entirely unknown to
me, and without being obliged to, bestowed on me such a
great honour..."
When describing the incident, he added very humbly that Saint
Efimia appeared before him, "not because I was deserving, but
only because I was preoccupied at the time with an issue that
had to do with the state of the Church in general, and for two
other reasons."
What had especially impressed the Elder was "how that petite,
frail person could last through such tortures....If she were
more of a....(implying a woman of a bigger and stronger
physique).... but she was so tiny...."
While
in that paradisiacal state, the Elder composed a versicle in
honour of the Saint: "With what complimentary songs can we
praise Efimia, who condescended from above and visited a
wretched resident monk in Kapsala? On knocking the third
time, the door opened miraculously and she, the Martyr of
Christ, entered with heavenly glory, and we worshipped together
the Holy Trinity."
He also composed a closing hymn, which began with the words:
"Glorious Great Martyr of Christ, Efimia, I
love you very-very much, after the Most Holy Mother....".
(Of
course he did not intend these compositions for liturgical use,
nor did he chant them in public.)
Contrary to his custom, the Elder left (Kapsala) for the town of
Souroti and made the sisters of the monastery there participants
of that celestial joy. With his help and his instructions, they
painted an icon of the Saint exactly as she had appeared before him.
The Elder himself had fashioned a negative of the Saint's icon onto
a metal mold, which he used to print small, stamped icons that he
distributed as blessings to visitors, in honour of Saint Efimia.
While sculpting the mold of the icon, he had trouble fashioning
the fingers of her left hand. He said: "I struggled to
fashion her hand, but then I put forward a positive thought to
explain it : 'Perhaps it is because I had also oppressed the
poor girl'..."
________________________
*During
the Fourth, Holy and Ecumenical Council, which was convened in
Chalcedon by the pious emperors Marcian and Pulcheria in the
grand basilica of Saint Efimia, the 630 Fathers undertook the
retraction of the heretical views of
Archmandrite Eutychius, who was supported by Archbishop
Dioscorus of Alexandria. To resolve the dispute through a
divine decision, the Patriarch -saint Anatolius- proposed to
both sides to compose a tome containing their respective
Confession of Faith, and both documents would then be placed
inside the reliquary of saint Efimia. The two parchments,
on which were inscribed the definitions of the Faith with regard
to the Person of Christ, were placed on the saint's chest and
after the reliquary was sealed shut, the Fathers began to pray.
After eight days, they all went to the witnessing place, where,
upon opening the reliquary, they
discovered to their amazement that the saint was hugging the Orthodox tome
in her arms, as though she wanted to place it
inside her heart, whereas the tome of the heretics appeared to
have been thrown down to her feet. In the face of such a
splendid proof of the truth, the Orthodox offered up thanks to
God, and the heretics were scorned and jeered by the crowd of
faithful.
Other miracles have been mentioned, which the
precious relics of saint Efimia have performed. During a
Persian invasion, the barbarians stormed Chalcedon and attempted
to destroy her relics with fire. However, they remained intact
and furthermore, blood was seen pouring out of the hole that was
made to open the reliquary. This miracle repeated itself
occasionally at later times and would heal the faithful who came
to collect some of the blood of saint Efimia. However, her
tomb would more frequently exude a fragrant aroma, thus
witnessing the favour that God had bestowed on the saint.
To protect them from another vandalization,
the precious relics were translated to Constantinople where they
were deposited in the temple of Saint Efimia, near the
Hippodrome. During the years of persecutions by
Constantine V Kopronymos, her temple was turned into an arsenal,
while her precious relics were thrown into the sea and were
washed ashore on a coast of Limnos Island, where they were
salvaged by two fishermen. They were rediscovered during
the reign of the Empress Irene and were transferred officially
to the Capital (Constantinople) in 796, where they continued to
work miracles. After many other adventures, the relics are
now venerated in the temple of the Ecumenical Patriarchate in Fanarion. [The New Book of
Saints of the Orthodox Church (July Volume), "Indictus"
Publications, p. 112]
