Homily on the Venerable George Karslides
By Monk Moses the Athonite
By Monk Moses the Athonite
(Homily at the end of the Festal Great Vespers of the first annual commemoration of Venerable George Karslides at the Sacred Monastery of the Ascension in Sipsa on November 3, 2008)
Today, my beloved brethren, we honor an unknown hieromonk, a poor priest, a nearly illiterate cleric, a compassionate man. He was hidden, invisible, inglorious, unknown to many, sometimes misunderstood, hunted, without outwardly flashy qualifications in scholarship, rhetoric, high acquaintances, dynamic interventions in social life, a large entourage and publicity. Where did God find him? What was it that made him prominent? We will immediately say that he attracted the grace of God with his great and eternal love for Him and His creatures and his constant and genuine humility. “On whom shall I look, if not on the meek and humble of heart.” There the Spirit of God rests and there His grace dwells.
The God-loving, Saint-loving and Venerable-loving faithful people are these days flooding the philanthropic monastery of this virtue-loving brotherhood of monastics, the sacred coenobium of the Ascension of the Savior, founded seventy years ago by our Venerable Father George Karslides, who fell asleep in the sleep of the righteous fifty years ago. The thrice-blessed one was born in Argyroupolis of the saint-bearing and saint-nurturing Pontus, which has produced many and beautiful children, in 1901. He was orphaned at a very young age and his most pious and devout grandmother took over his upbringing. After the death of his grandmother and his virtuous sister, he departed with his grandfather for Erzurum, the Theodosiopolis of Pontus.
The death of both his grandfather and the mistreatment of his brother took him to the Caucasus. Alone, poor, suffering and forced, he was accompanied and strengthened by saints in dreams and visions. He arrived in Tbilisi, Georgia and was led by the bishop there to the Sacred Monastery of the Life-Giving Spring. He donned the honorable monk's robe at the age of just nine. He kept it for half a century and honored it to the fullest.
From an early age he loved God-loving asceticism and God-like prayer immensely. On July 20, 1919, he was tonsured a monk and was named Symeon from Athanasios. At the time of his tonsure, it is said, the bells of the monastery rang by themselves. In the monastery, he met an uncle of his, a bishop, who helped him spiritually. The atheistic regime of the 1917 revolution cruelly persecuted the Church, the clergy and the flourishing monasticism. Together with other monks of his monastery, he was imprisoned, courageously confessing his faith, in a sunless and underground prison, damp and foul, through which the sewers passed. He endured, undaunted and hopeful, great and terrible hardships with extreme trust in the All-Compassionate God. Many of his brothers ended their lives there as martyrs. With the powerful help of the Most Holy Theotokos, whom he always loved dearly, he was saved from certain death. On September 8, 1925 he was ordained a priest and named George. He served with great reverence in Georgian.
He soon gained a reputation as a discerning, insightful and clairvoyant Elder. Many people came from far and wide to meet and consult the virtuous young hieromonk George. In 1923 he went from Tbilisi to Sukhum. In his frequent Divine Liturgies he would recite many names. In his humble cell he would study incessantly and pray fervently. Evangelical abstinence, discerning asceticism, daily vigil and extreme fasting had a permanent place in his holy life. His divinely inspired and divinely motivated prophecies were fulfilled to the admiration of many. Everyone approached him as a saint.
In 1929 he managed to come to his beloved Greece. He heartily glorifies the All-Good God for his salvation. The martyred Pontus, distant Georgia and troubled Russia remain in his memory as places of struggle, asceticism, martyrdom and sacrifice. From Thessaloniki he went to Katerini, Kilkis and ended up here, in Sipsa of Drama in 1930. The hardships of prison, the suffering and deprivations had left him semi-paralyzed, very weak and often found it difficult to walk, so they lifted him in their arms to move him; but during the Divine Liturgy he hovered over the ground.
All his possessions were a few ecclesiastical books in the Georgian language, simple priestly vestments, a few icons and part of the relics of his sister Anna. According to Saint Ephraim the Syrian, he was “a landless monk, a high-flying eagle!” Many people then began to approach the blessed one for help. The truly God-loving, always saint-loving, constantly brother-loving and extremely philanthropic father tirelessly performs Supplications, constantly hears Confessions and admonishes with abundant love. In 1938 he built the small monastery of the Ascension. Here he would perform compunctionate services, preach humbly, hear confessions incessantly, foretell the necessary things and work miracles in secret for a whole twenty years. The sacred temple and his simple cell were transformed into a new Pool of Siloam, for the treatment of many psychic and physical illnesses.
PART TWO
The God-loving, Saint-loving and Venerable-loving faithful people are these days flooding the philanthropic monastery of this virtue-loving brotherhood of monastics, the sacred coenobium of the Ascension of the Savior, founded seventy years ago by our Venerable Father George Karslides, who fell asleep in the sleep of the righteous fifty years ago. The thrice-blessed one was born in Argyroupolis of the saint-bearing and saint-nurturing Pontus, which has produced many and beautiful children, in 1901. He was orphaned at a very young age and his most pious and devout grandmother took over his upbringing. After the death of his grandmother and his virtuous sister, he departed with his grandfather for Erzurum, the Theodosiopolis of Pontus.
The death of both his grandfather and the mistreatment of his brother took him to the Caucasus. Alone, poor, suffering and forced, he was accompanied and strengthened by saints in dreams and visions. He arrived in Tbilisi, Georgia and was led by the bishop there to the Sacred Monastery of the Life-Giving Spring. He donned the honorable monk's robe at the age of just nine. He kept it for half a century and honored it to the fullest.
From an early age he loved God-loving asceticism and God-like prayer immensely. On July 20, 1919, he was tonsured a monk and was named Symeon from Athanasios. At the time of his tonsure, it is said, the bells of the monastery rang by themselves. In the monastery, he met an uncle of his, a bishop, who helped him spiritually. The atheistic regime of the 1917 revolution cruelly persecuted the Church, the clergy and the flourishing monasticism. Together with other monks of his monastery, he was imprisoned, courageously confessing his faith, in a sunless and underground prison, damp and foul, through which the sewers passed. He endured, undaunted and hopeful, great and terrible hardships with extreme trust in the All-Compassionate God. Many of his brothers ended their lives there as martyrs. With the powerful help of the Most Holy Theotokos, whom he always loved dearly, he was saved from certain death. On September 8, 1925 he was ordained a priest and named George. He served with great reverence in Georgian.
He soon gained a reputation as a discerning, insightful and clairvoyant Elder. Many people came from far and wide to meet and consult the virtuous young hieromonk George. In 1923 he went from Tbilisi to Sukhum. In his frequent Divine Liturgies he would recite many names. In his humble cell he would study incessantly and pray fervently. Evangelical abstinence, discerning asceticism, daily vigil and extreme fasting had a permanent place in his holy life. His divinely inspired and divinely motivated prophecies were fulfilled to the admiration of many. Everyone approached him as a saint.
In 1929 he managed to come to his beloved Greece. He heartily glorifies the All-Good God for his salvation. The martyred Pontus, distant Georgia and troubled Russia remain in his memory as places of struggle, asceticism, martyrdom and sacrifice. From Thessaloniki he went to Katerini, Kilkis and ended up here, in Sipsa of Drama in 1930. The hardships of prison, the suffering and deprivations had left him semi-paralyzed, very weak and often found it difficult to walk, so they lifted him in their arms to move him; but during the Divine Liturgy he hovered over the ground.
All his possessions were a few ecclesiastical books in the Georgian language, simple priestly vestments, a few icons and part of the relics of his sister Anna. According to Saint Ephraim the Syrian, he was “a landless monk, a high-flying eagle!” Many people then began to approach the blessed one for help. The truly God-loving, always saint-loving, constantly brother-loving and extremely philanthropic father tirelessly performs Supplications, constantly hears Confessions and admonishes with abundant love. In 1938 he built the small monastery of the Ascension. Here he would perform compunctionate services, preach humbly, hear confessions incessantly, foretell the necessary things and work miracles in secret for a whole twenty years. The sacred temple and his simple cell were transformed into a new Pool of Siloam, for the treatment of many psychic and physical illnesses.
PART TWO
