One winter evening in New Skete, where we lived, someone knocked on the door. It was a group of young people from Athens who came to the Holy Mount Athos rather out of curiosity: they had no special spiritual interest, that’s how it looked from the outside. Out of simple curiosity, they wanted to see the rich nature and beautiful landscapes of the Holy Mountain.
Following the custom bequeathed from our fathers, we received them and treated them from our meager funds. The elder told me:
— Sit down with them, keep a small company while they eat, and then show them where they will sleep.
So it was. We sat down, they began to have dinner, and since they were Athenians who love to talk or listen to something new, as it is written in the Acts of the Apostles (Acts 17:21), they wanted to talk. We started talking to them about different topics. They were young, they had many critical thoughts about the Church, many of which were quite fair, and they wanted to express them.
One of them graduated from the Athens Faculty of Law, adhered to an extreme ideology and philosophy that rejected blacks, Jews, other races, they did not want to recognize Christ because He was a Jew — extreme things. And that guy was very smart, educated, well-read, a real lawyer and Athenian, and with his tongue he cut to the quick. You are one thing for him, and he gives you a hundred in return.
Well, be that as it may, I later showed them where they would spend the night. He says to me:
— Father, I have decided to give God one last chance to talk to me!
I told him:
— It’s good if you decided to give Him one last chance! How will God speak to you, my child?
— Do you want us to talk this night?
— Well, okay, with pleasure!
We went to the small temple where the tomb of the Venerable Elder Joseph the Hesychast stands, sat down, and he began to speak. He said that he grew up in the Church, went to Sunday school as a child, helped at the altar and wore banners at the Cherubic Song. Until he graduated from high school, he remained in the Church, went to Sunday school, participated in various Christian events, and says:
— And you know, Father, no matter what I ask you, I know that you will answer me!
It really was like that. He continued::
— I overcame all this: the Gospel, priests, rulers, churches, and all of you simply do not exist for me! None of this bothers me. I have answers to all my questions, I don’t need the Church and I don’t feel any emptiness in my life. I removed everything from myself: these confessions that I brought, and Sunday schools, priests whom I knew, catechists, everything! And only one thing, father, I could not overcome!
But let’s listen to him. And this is after 5-6 hours of conversations.
— What couldn’t you overcome?
— I couldn’t overcome my mother. Father, in my eyes I still see my mother as I saw her and see her: how she prayed every time I got up at night to go to the toilet or grab something, and she was on her knees and praying. I could not cross out this image of my mother praying in front of the icons, no matter what I did and no matter how hard I tried. And I feel this abuse, I need to tell my mother to pray for me, when I have exams, when some other difficulty arises, and I tell her: “Mom, I don’t believe in God! But you who believe, pray for me!” I need this. And I can’t erase this image in myself at all.
I think this was the greatest wealth that the mother passed on to her son, this particular image. And how important it is for our children to have such images in their souls.
And if instead they have bad memories of parents who contradict themselves and are inconsistent in their words and deeds, if they teach the child one thing and do another in life, then this, of course, is the worst thing for the child, and it will destroy everything that you have built in him. If you leave him, as a precious bequest, these beautiful, powerful images, then know that good will win.
Metropolitan Athanasius of Limassol
Charity Fundnd Holy Land
Investment in the Soul!
