By Archimandrite Philotheos Zervakos
Miracle 13
A certain Greek compatriot had come to Paros and visited the Monastery of the Transfiguration, not out of piety, but out of curiosity. Upon arriving in the monastery courtyard, he saw above the entrance door, at a window, a young nun, comely in appearance, watering basil. Being irreverent and driven by passion, he was immediately wounded by desire. At first he sought out the abbess of the monastery, who referred him to Father Arsenios. Presenting himself in a most arrogant manner, he demanded that they give him that nun; otherwise, he threatened to cause great harm to the monastery.
The Saint admonished him with gentleness and meekness, in the sweetest and most courteous manner. But the young man became enraged and angrily threatened both the Saint and, as he departed like one beside himself, declared that he would return to take the nun by force. Then the Saint said calmly: “Cease, my child, your threats and repent, otherwise you will remain immobile and deranged.”
Indeed, after three days he became paralyzed and insane, and, being carried by four men, he was taken to the asylum for the incurable, where the wretched man died miserably. The Saint then advised the nuns henceforth not to place flowers at the windows and not to lean out of them whenever strangers were present.
Miracle 14
A woman named Grammatikē, wife of Silvester, who frequently came for confession, harbored envy against another woman and accused and slandered her before many people, even during confession. The Saint advised her to cease envying and slandering, but she persisted.
One day the woman who had been slandered came to the Saint in tears and begged him, saying:
“What am I to do, Father? How can I protect myself from the slanders of this woman, whom I have never harmed, nor spoken an evil word to or against, but whom I have rather benefited?”
“Do not grieve, my child,” he said. “Continue to pray for her and to do her good, and God will soon deliver you, for she does not repent.”
Indeed, after a few days the slanderer fell ill, spent her property on medicines and doctors, was deprived even of her daily bread, and finally was blinded and died blind.
Miracle 15
In Paroikia there was a fisherman named Nikolaos Tsantanis, or Kololombas. He was very blasphemous and impious. Once he went up to the monastery with others and, after confessing and being admonished by the Saint to cease his blasphemy, he shamelessly and arrogantly replied to the Saint that it was impossible for him to stop blaspheming, because if he did not blaspheme, his boat would not fill with fish.
Then the Saint, setting aside his usual meekness and speaking with indignation, said to him: “Go, most impious man, and according to the hardness and impenitence of your heart, you will drown, and it will be on a Saturday.” And so it happened. While he was in the harbor of Antiparos, at a time of calm weather, his small boat split in the middle, and he alone was drowned.
Miracle 16
At a farmstead in Lagkada lived Georgios Roussos, also called Lykos, from Lefkes, a large landowner. Yet he was unfortunate and impoverished, because his lands did not bear fruit. In this condition he went to the Saint, and the Saint said to him: “This is happening to you because you steal and wrong other people. Do you not know, foolish man, that God hates injustice and punishes the unjust? Have you not heard that whoever seizes what belongs to others also loses his own? Go, repent, restore what you have unjustly taken, ask forgiveness from God and from those you have wronged, and henceforth cease your injustices, and God will send you His blessings, and you will prosper and be happy. And when the time for sowing comes, take me to your fields which you will sow.”
Indeed, this is what happened. At sowing time he took the Saint with his animal to his fields, and the Saint performed the blessing of holy water. After sprinkling the fields, he took wheat in his hand and sowed it himself. Then he took the plow with the oxen and made the sign of the Cross with the plow, and said to Roussos: “Now sow in the usual way, and your fields will bear fruit.”
Such abundance followed that his storehouses were overfilled with grain, wine, and oil; his animals — oxen, sheep, and beehives — multiplied, so that in a short time old Roussos became prosperous and saved many through almsgiving.
But his prosperity lasted only a few years, for Roussos, intoxicated by his success and not content with what God had given him, began once again to steal. For this reason the wrath of God came upon him again and upon his possessions. Seeing his calamity, he ran again to the Saint. The Saint said to him: “Wretched man, know that because you showed yourself ungrateful for the benefaction God granted you, the hand of the Lord is coming upon you. Your possessions will be taken by others; you yourself will die of hunger, and your body will be eaten by lice.”
Indeed, not many days passed before he fell ill; his possessions were plundered, he was deprived of bread, and before he died his body and his bed were covered with lice, which devoured his foul body. Thus the wicked man died miserably, and the lice even accompanied him to the grave.
Miracle 17
Konstantinos Mavris of Paroikia was falsely accused of stealing money from a wealthy man in whose house he was staying. Unable, despite his protests, to prove his innocence, he was imprisoned. He was forced to sell the one and only property he owned, paid the alleged debt, and was left extremely poor.
He turned to Father Arsenios to confess and to receive consolation. Father Arsenios said to him: “Do not grieve, my child, over the injustice done to you. Go with my blessing, and in a few days God will render justice to you, both for what you suffered and you will receive a hundredfold more.”
Indeed, after a few days so many jobs and construction contracts appeared to him in Paros and Antiparos that within a short time he earned so much money that he bought three large properties and provided dowries for his three daughters. He then went to the Saint and thanked him most warmly.
Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos.