By Spyros Symeon
If we knew what the synaxaria hide, then we would become rich. So rich that nothing would touch us.
Yes, yes, rich, perhaps not in material goods, but in spiritual goods, because no matter how many material goods a person has, they are not what will give him the happiness and peace that the human heart seeks.
The synaxaria are the verification of the New Testament of Christ.
It is there we see in practice the application of the Law of God, and indeed through many aspects, since it is not always the path we follow that will determine our destination, but desire will determine the conquest of our destination.
Among the myriad of saints in the synaxarion is Saint Phantinos, who is celebrated today. He was born in Calabria, Italy, to pious parents who essentially dedicated him to God from an early age when they noticed that little Fantino stood out from other children and approached spiritual matters in a strange way, from his childhood.
Later, he was tonsured a monk by Venerable Elias, under whose obedience he was admonished and ascended spiritual stages.
When Venerable Elias reposed and after a total of 20 years of uninterrupted obedience had passed, Saint Phantinos withdrew and became an ascetic in the mountains of Lycaonia, where the devil became furious at his spiritual progress and with many tricks tried to cast him into his own dark kingdom.
He even took the form of his parents and wept before him, begging him sometimes as his mother and sometimes as his father to stop the hardships of asceticism and go enjoy his life.
But in vain because Saint Phantinos had been admonished by Venerable Elias and so the devil did not succeed in any trick to throw him off.
Once, while walking in the forest, he saw many wild boars gathered and he noticed that there were many fallen pears on the ground.
He himself, who had been feeding on roots and grass for months and was suffering from the cold, ran to get some to eat, but the wild boars rushed at him and surrounded him and were ready to attack him.
Muttering prayers, he turns to the wild boars and tells them, "If your concern is obedience to your Creator, and this is a matter of obedience, rush at me, but if something demonic pushes you to do so, then I, as His Image, command you not to do so," and indeed the wild boars departed without harming him or displeasing him.
It happened at that time that he encountered his parents, whom he urged to renounce worldly things.
The fame of his holiness far exceeded the local boundaries of the region, as a result of which many came to see him and be admonished by him, and some of them practiced asceticism and discipleship alongside him, and so he himself founded monasteries and lived for a time in one of them.
The lives of those around him were filled with experiences of many miraculous events.
As was this memorable incident when a bear came to the monastery and ate the honey from the beehives and clumsily it caused damage, so the monks decided to do "bad things" to it in order to save the beehives of the monastery.
The Saint, like another Adam before his disobedience, stayed awake the night before, knowing that the bear would come again for the honey and in a strict tone he told it as if he were speaking to a human being, since the Saints have a special relationship with all of creation and so with the animals they are in a pre-fallen state, telling it that if it wants what is good for it then it should not again touch the beehives of the monastery, and if it disobeys it will be responsible for the evil that befalls it.
And the bear, while nodding with a look of gratitude and obedience to the Saint, departed and did not touch the beehives of the monastery again, although the Saint always took care to leave something for the bear.
After visions and divine signs, he left Italy and passed through the Peloponnese, Athens, and areas of Thessaly, and ended up in Thessaloniki.
The famous Venerable Athanasios the Athonite and Venerable Paul of Xeropotamou happened to pass through there one day as they were leaving Mount Athos and heading towards Athens.
In order not to be noticed, they passed everywhere in a hurry, but Saint Phantinos, charismatic as he was, when he saw them, even if he did not know them personally, from afar ran and made a deep prostration before them, although for some unknown reason they ignored him and passed him by.
However, upon returning from Athens, they made sure to find him since they learned who he was and to ask him for forgiveness, while they themselves felt a great blessing that they had met such a famous holy man of that time.
Saint Phantinos may not be so well-known today, but at that time he was particularly famous for his life, his asceticism, as well as his visionary and prophetic charisma.
Imagine how Venerable Athanasios the Athonite, the first founder of Athonite coenobitic monasticism, considered it a blessing to have met him.
The miracles that he performed were myriads. He reposed after foreseeing his death in a venerable way at the age of 73, after saying farewell and admonishing all his disciples and brothers for the last time.
The miracles did not stop there, however, but merely at the invocation with faith of his name even after his death dozens of miracles of the Saint are recorded.
A Saint who in our days we have forgotten because we do not study the synaxaria of the day nor do we try to see throughout the centuries how myriads of people put the gospel into practice, but we remain in our ego, believing that we are doing what we should without trying for what our Creator Himself has given us in this life.
Saint of God, my Saint Phantinos, you who united the west and the east through your life, you who with one command tamed the wild beasts and who in the eyes of others seemed paradoxical and with your prayerful supplication you transformed it into something logical and simple, I wish that for me too with our Maker and Creator the impossible may become possible.
Megalynarion
You were manifested as a plant from Calabria, O Wonderworker Phantinos, by the grace of the Lord, having sanctified all of Greece through your asceticism, and in Thessaloniki you do now rest.
Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos.
