By Fr. George Dorbarakis
1. Our Venerable and God-bearing Father Eumenios (1931–1999) was born in Ethia, in the province of Monofatsi, Heraklion, Crete. From his childhood he was wounded by divine eros and followed the monastic path at the Monastery of the Great Martyr Niketas near his birthplace. At his tonsure as a monk he received the name Sophronios, and at his ordination as a hieromonk — performed by Archbishop Timothy of Crete at the Monastery of Kalyviani — he received the name Eumenios. He was afflicted by demonic temptations and came to the glorious Monastery of Koudoumas, where he was freed from the influence of the Evil One. Later he fell ill with a contagious disease, and for this reason came to the Hospital for Infectious Diseases in Athens, which became the arena of his ascetic struggles and a refuge of compassion for all the suffering and gravely ill. At the Hospital for Infectious Diseases he completed the Church of the Holy Unmercenaries and zealously served Saint Nikephoros (Tzanakakis), who was blind, leprous, and paralyzed. He ministered to all the afflicted and seriously ill and became the spiritual father and guide unto salvation for very many Christians of Athens. He endured his own bodily illnesses without complaint, imitating Job, and became distinguished for his humility, meekness, and compassionate love toward every suffering and weary person. He fell asleep in Athens on May 23, 1999, and his grace-filled relics were placed for veneration in the Church of the Holy Unmercenaries at the Hospital for Infectious Diseases, where they received the final kiss of countless mourners. He was buried with public honor in the land of his fathers. Through his holy intercessions, O Christ our God, have mercy on us and save us. Amen.
2. Only on April 14, 2022, did the Holy Synod of the Ecumenical Patriarchate proclaim the sanctity of the Venerable and God-bearing Father Eumenios (Saridakis), both Cretan and Athenian, and today, May 23rd 2023, the day of his blessed repose, the Church celebrated the Divine Liturgy in honor of his memory for the first time. His inclusion among the ranks of the Saints caused no surprise. On the contrary, everyone awaited it with certainty, since this new Saint fulfilled all the requirements necessary for the glorification of a faithful member of the Church: exceptional holiness of life, special spiritual gifts such as clairvoyance and foresight, and the working of miracles in the name of the Lord Jesus. Evidently the Lord desired to have yet another saint standing before His love, interceding for the whole world and glorifying His holy name in humility. And if this event is a source of joy and gladness for the whole Church, then especially rejoicing are the place that gave him birth — Crete — and the place where his sanctity was revealed — Athens.
3. We shall not dwell at length on the grace-filled elements of his life. The distinguished and wise hymnographer of our Church, Mr. Haralambos Bousias, has already composed the Service for the new Saint, where one may easily “be enlarged” within the fragrance of his life, the myrrh of the Lord Jesus and of the Holy Spirit. The only thing we would like to note is the fact that this new “smiling” Saint was deemed worthy to share in the sanctity of another great contemporary Saint, likewise an ornament of the same Cretan land and also of Athens. We speak of Saint Nikephoros the Leper, who was sent to the Infectious Diseases Hospital by his spiritual father, Saint Anthimos of Chios, because his own contagious illness required specialized medical care, which was provided especially at that hospital. In this place, ultimately sanctified — sanctified not only by the presence of the new saints Nikephoros and Eumenios, but also by the suffering of countless other patients — Saint Eumenios came to know Nikephoros and was counted worthy to serve him until the end of his life. He also received the grace reserved for him by the Lord: to witness the relics of Nikephoros the Leper streaming myrrh in his very presence. The Holy Hymnographer writes among other things: “You sanctified the hospital of infectious diseases by your pure life, wise Eumenios, and in wondrous fashion, like an angel, you ministered to the divine Nikephoros. The honorable relics of that saint were made fragrant by divine grace, revealing that the Lord distributes the rewards of His good pleasure to all” (Sticheron at Vespers).
What expresses in concise form the entire life of Saint Eumenios is the Doxastikon of the Lity from his Service. The hymn reveals that in our own age the Saint was a true human being, just as the Creator intended man to emerge from His hands. This means that although the Saint possessed, like all of us born into this fallen world of sin, the natural inclination toward evil, once he was baptized and strengthened by the grace of the Lord he struggled to remain steadfast in the purity of his baptism: to preserve holiness as his now-natural state because he had become a member of Christ. From childhood his life revealed Christ, and he preserved this orientation through bloody struggles until the end. For this reason he too now enjoys, together with the entire choir of the Saints who went before him, the Kingdom of God.
“Let us honor Eumenios, the new luminary of the Church, who became estranged from every earthly attachment and united himself to the bodiless ranks of the Lord; for through persevering discipline he preserved blameless the image according to which he was made, hastening toward the likeness; and now, standing before the throne of the thrice-radiant Divinity, he intercedes unceasingly for our souls.”
Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos.
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