By Fr. George Dorbarakis
Venerable Patapios, who came from Thebes in Egypt, chose the monastic life and followed Christ. He practiced asceticism for many years in the desert and then came to Constantinople, where he worked very many miracles: he gave sight to the blind, healed sufferers from dropsy by anointing them with holy oil, cast out demons, and even healed cancer. In the end, he surrendered his spirit to the Lord in peace.
Venerable Patapios may indeed have originated from Egypt, but he is a beloved saint of the Orthodox faithful, and especially of the Greeks. This is because, as is well known, his relic (which was gifted by the Palaiologoi to their cousins, the Notaras family, who had settled in Corinth) is located above Loutraki, in the Geraneia mountains, in the monastery that bears his name — something that was “accidentally” discovered in 1904. Crowds of believers come daily as his pilgrims in order to receive the grace of his blessing and to be helped from various problems and needs. And not without reason. The Saint is a protector of all who are in need, and his relic is truly a source of healings. The hymns of our Church never cease to emphasize this truth, which has been confirmed throughout time.
“Your relic, O Wise One, flows with healings for all; by which all the faithful, drawing from them, are saved from many diseases of soul and body.”
“Your relic, Father, has been revealed to those who approach with faith as a depth of wonders, a river of healings, an ever-flowing spring, a stream that is in no way exhausted.”
Especially in our own time — and what age is ever without sorrows and trials? — when people suffer from so many problems and needs, Venerable Patapios is “on the daily agenda”: he offers to all the faithful what they require, for he has great boldness before God. Thus, “You have appeared as the protector of all who are in need, O Venerable Patapios.”
It may seem a bit strange that such a great ascetic, so harsh in training himself, had and still has such a tender heart, ready to be moved by the supplications of every suffering person. But this does not surprise us. For the ascetic struggle of a Christian is precisely aimed at this: that, with the grace of God, he may control the passions of his egoism and transform them into a passion of love. Thus, the harsher the asceticism, the more “fleshly” (i.e., soft and warm) the heart becomes, the greater its sensitivity and tenderness. Let us not forget that the purpose of everything in the spiritual life of our Church is for a person to come to live rightly the love of God and neighbor. And if indeed there is no sacrificial love for our fellow human being, we must also question even the slightest hint of love for God. And what also reveals the truth of love is, of course, humility — the foundation of all virtues. This truth is confirmed again by the pen of the Holy Hymnographer.
“Armed with love as with a sword, O venerable one, and sheltered by the shield of your divinely-inspired humility, you wiped out the hosts of demons.”
“Having acquired humility, vigilance, and fervent prayer, undefiled love, faith, and hope, you became a companion of the heavenly angels, O Venerable Father.”
What the Hymnographer especially emphasizes from the ascetic life of Venerable Patapios — so much so that he compares him to the Prophet Elijah and Saint John the Forerunner (“Imitating Elijah the Tishbite and tracing the footsteps of John the Forerunner”) — is the gift of tears that he acquired. His tears were those which, on the one hand, dried up the passions of the body, and on the other, brought forth the rivers of his healings.
“O divinely blessed Father, you dried up the passions of the body with streams of tears, and you caused rivers of healings to spring forth, O Patapios.”
And again: these warm tears of his, as an expression of repentance and longing for God, submerged the armies of demons and the swellings of sin, while becoming a sea of wonders for those who lay in the depths of sufferings.
“The abyss of your warm tears flooded the armies of demons and the swellings of sin, and has been revealed as a sea of wonders for those in the depths of passions.”
And it is true: if someone does not live repentance with a sensitivity of soul — if he does not weep for his sins and passions — how will he cleanse the vision of his soul? How will he see God shining in the mirror of his heart? May the repentance of the Saint and his longing for God become guiding points for our own spiritual journey. Perhaps we too may thus see “the noetic fire, the Spirit of God, ignite the senses of our soul and reduce to ashes the flame of our sin.”
Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos.
