The Wisdom Of Eldar Paisios of Mount Athos

[Charbel]

Reading the threads the past few days had me thinking of this story I read a while back. Thought some of you may enjoy it. I found it on this blog run by a Benedictine monk who talks about Catholic and Orthodox spirituality and monasteries.

http://fatherdavidbirdosb.blogspot.com/

 

THE WISDOM OF ELDER PAISIOS OF MOUNT ATHOS

 

 Once on Mount Athos there was a monk who lived in Karyes. He drank and got drunk every day and was the cause of scandal to the pilgrims. Eventually he died and this relieved some of the faithful who went on to tell Elder Paisios that they were delighted that this huge problem was finally solved. 

 

 Father Paisios answered them that he knew about the death of the monk, after seeing the entire battalion of angels who came to collect his soul. The pilgrims were amazed and some protested and tried to explain to the Elder of whom they were talking about, thinking that the Elder did not understand. 

 

 Elder Paisios explained to them: “This particular monk was born in Asia Minor, shortly before the destruction by the Turks when they gathered all the boys. So as not to take him from their parents, they would take him with them to the reaping, and so he wouldn’t cry, they just put raki* into his milk in order for him to sleep. Therefore he grew up as an alcoholic.

 

 There he found an elder and said to him that he was an alcoholic. The elder told him to do prostrations and prayers every night and beg the Panagia to help him to reduce by one the glasses he drank. After a year he managed with struggle and repentance to make the 20 glasses he drank into 19 glasses. The struggle continued over the years and he reached 2-3 glasses, with which he would still get drunk.” 

 

 The world for years saw an alcoholic monk who scandalized the pilgrims, but God saw a fighter who fought a long struggle to reduce his passion. Without knowing what each one is trying to do what he wants to do, what right do we have to judge his effort?

 

 * Raki is a Turkish unsweetened, anise-flavored hard alcoholic drink that is popular in Turkey, Greece, Albania, Serbia, and other Balkan countries as an apéritif. 

[NadaTeTurbe]

I'm not crying 

[MarysLittleFlower]

7 hours ago, NadaTeTurbe said:

I'm not crying 

Me neither 

[HopefulHeart]

That was beautiful! Thanks for sharing.  

[Era Might]

There's a similar passage in "Brideshead Revisited" that I've always liked:

 

Quote

"So that was the end of Europe for Sebastian. He went back to Morocco, where he had been happy, and gradually drifted down the coast, from place to place, until one day when he had sobered up -- his drinking goes in pretty regular bouts now--he conceived the idea of escaping to the savages. And there he was.

 

 

 

 

"I didn't suggest his coming home. I knew he wouldn't, and he was too
weak still to argue it out. He seemed quite happy by the time I left. He'll
never be able to go into the bush, of course, or join the order, but the
Father Superior is going to take charge of him. They had the idea of making
him a sort of under-porter; there are usually a few odd hangers-on in a
religious house, you know; people who can't quite fit in either to the world
or the monastic rule. I suppose I'm something of the sort myself. But as I
don't happen to drink, I'm more employable."

...

"Poor SebastianI" I said. "It's too pitiful. How will it end?"

"I think I can tell you exactly, Charles. I've seen others like him,
and I believe they are very near and dear to God. He'll live on, half in,
half out of the community, a familiar figure pottering round with his broom
and his bunch of keys. He'll be a great favourite with the old fathers,
something of a joke I to the novices. Everyone will know about his drinking;
he'll disappear for two or three days every month or so, and they'll all nod
and smile and say in their various accents, 'Old Sebastian's on the spree
again,' and then he'll come back dishevelled and shamefaced and be more
devout for a day or two in the chapel. He'll probably have little hiding
places about the garden where he keeps a bottle and takes a swig now and
then on the sly. They'll bring him forward to act as guide, whenever they
have an English-speaking visitor; and he will be completely charming, so
that before they go they'll ask about him and perhaps be given a hint that
he has high connections at home. If he lives long enough, generations of
missionaries in all kinds of remote places will think of him as a qwerty old
character who was somehow part of the Hope of their student days, and
remember him in their masses. He'll develop little eccentricities of
devotion, intense personal cults of his own; he'll be found in the chapel at
odd times and missed when he's expected. Then one morning, after one of his
drinking bouts, he'll be picked up at the gate dying, and show by a mere
flicker of the eyelid that he is conscious when they give him the last
sacraments. It's not such a bad way of getting through one's life."

I thought of the joyful youth with the Teddy-bear under the flowering
chestnuts. "It's not what one would have foretold," I said. "I suppose he
doesn't suffer?"

"Oh, yes, I think he does. One can have no idea what the suffering may
be, to be maimed as he is -- no dignity, no power of will. No one is ever
holy without suffering. It's taken that form with him. . . . I've seen so
much suffering in the last few years; there's so much coming for everybody
soon. It's the spring of love . . ." And then in condescension to my
paganism, she added: "He's in a very beautiful place, you know, by the sea
-- white cloisters, a bell tower, rows of green vegetables, and a monk
watering them when the sun is low."

 

Edited December 14, 2015 by Era Might

[marigold]

I love that story. He's the kind of Christian I would like to be one day.

[MarysLittleFlower]

The story reminds me of my uncle. He was an alcoholic since early life and tried everything to stop, but then when he started going to church he was able to stop completely with God's help. Then he started a ministry at his church to help others and it was so successful that they made a film about him when he passed away. Of course there are cases where a person is still not able to quit and that's where we need to remember this story - not just for alcoholism but anything, and leave the judgement to God. But just wanted to share

[Charbel]

3 hours ago, MarysLittleFlower said:

The story reminds me of my uncle. He was an alcoholic since early life and tried everything to stop, but then when he started going to church he was able to stop completely with God's help. Then he started a ministry at his church to help others and it was so successful that they made a film about him when he passed away. Of course there are cases where a person is still not able to quit and that's where we need to remember this story - not just for alcoholism but anything, and leave the judgement to God. But just wanted to share

Wow that's amesome. Do you mind if I ask what the name of the film is?

[MarysLittleFlower]

50 minutes ago, Charbel said:

Wow that's amesome. Do you mind if I ask what the name of the film is?

I don't think it has a name, it was shown with the church not publicly