Homily on the Venerable George Karslides (Monk Moses the Athonite) - Part 3 of 3

 

...continued fro part two.

Venerable George foresaw and accurately predicted his blessed end. Having been prepared for a long time, he awaited it with longing and desire, increasing his prayer, tears, and giving his last advice to his beloved spiritual children. Three days prior, the Mystery of the Divine and Holy Anointing Oil was celebrated. He partook of the Immaculate Mysteries for the last time, as a provision for eternal life. He forgave from the heart, blessed from the soul, and prayed for all. On November 4, 1959, the last words heard from his lips were: “Open the gate of compassion, blessed Theotokos.” The Theotokophile Saint invoked the compassion of the Mother of God and of men, the Lady of the world who is full of grace, the Unwedded Bride of Gennesaret, the Ever-Virgin Most Holy Theotokos. She opened the gate of salvation for him, so that her Son and God, the Heavenly Bridegroom, the Crown-Giving Christ, our Lord Jesus Christ, the Savior and Redeemer of the Universe, might welcome him.

An orphaned, mournful and inconsolable crowd followed him to his last residence, behind the sacred Temple of the Ascension, where he had served for about thirty years. His face was peaceful, cheerful and bright. His dead body was flexible, like that of the children of the Panagia, the Hagiorites. The two cypress trees next to his grave bowed down to adore him, as he had said. Many birds gathered at the time of his burial, without fear of the large crowd, to bid him farewell. Everyone was now certain that a saint was being buried. He asked to be buried with his vestments, his cross and his liturgical books, which he had brought from Georgia.

Homily on the Venerable George Karslides (Monk Moses the Athonite) - Part 2 of 3

...continued from part one.

Always frugal, simple, vigilant, fasting and praying. Selectively silent, taciturn, attentive, strict and serious. Although he loved the sick, was disabled and weak, he was not lazy, restless and yielding in his brave asceticism. While in great need, he himself visited the poor and sick. He had been helped a lot himself with his long, humble struggle and thus could help others crucially. At the Holy Proskomide he commemorated thousands of names of the living and the deceased, like his contemporary Saint Nicholas Planas of Athens. In fact, he noted certain names and, after the end of the Divine Liturgy, he called the particular relatives and told them precisely the problems of the living or the deceased and how they ended their lives. Pure and innocent people and young children saw him as a liturgist who hovered over the ground, like his contemporary, the late Elder Hieronymos Simonopetritis († 1957).

In the daily bloodless divine sacred ceremonies, the thrice-blessed one was bright, peaceful, serene, joyful, and beautiful. He concelebrated with angels and saints, like Saint Spyridon. “I rarely liturgize alone,” the venerable Elder used to say. He had, as we have said, a special reverence for the Panagia, the Honorable Forerunner, and the Holy Great Martyr George. Many sick people, out of great humility, he would send to various saints and with his blessing they would be healed. His humility did not allow him to be honored. He had a sincere sense of his unworthiness. He sought only the glory of the Most Holy God and His friends, the saints. He called the saints his guests. He had good company with them. He had the grace to see the state of the soul of churchgoers. He used this grace with discretely only for the correction and benefit of souls.

Homily on the Venerable George Karslides (Monk Moses the Athonite) - Part 1 of 3

Homily on the Venerable George Karslides 

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.

Synaxis of Saint George Karslides on the Fourth Sunday of Great Lent

Saint George Karslides lived most of his life in the village of Sipsa (now identified as Taxiarches) in Drama of Northern Greece. He established a small monastery there dedicated to the Ascension of the Savior and reposed in the Lord on November 4th 1959. Though his feast day is universally celebrated by Orthodox Christians on November 4th, in his native city of Drama it has been established that his Synaxis be celebrated on the Fourth Sunday of Great Lent. This is done to sanctify and strengthen the faithful in their spiritual struggle during Great Lent.

What is notable for this celebration is the transfer of his relics which takes place through a procession from the Monastery of the Ascension of the Savior in Sipsa, where his relics are kept, to the Church of Saint Nicholas in Drama, and this procession takes place on the Friday before the Fourth Sunday of Great Lent. When the relics arrive at the Church of Saint Nicholas in Drama, the Fourth Salutations to the Theotokos is chanted. Then on Saturday evening, a Great Festal Vespers is celebrated. On Sunday, before the dismissal of the Divine Liturgy, the Lamentations to the Saint are chanted, and a procession takes place to the center of the city of Drama. The relics then return to the Church of Saint Nicholas and the Supplicatory Canon to the Saint is chanted, before the return of the relics of the Saint to their resting place in Sipsa.

Saint John the Baptist as the Protector and Guide of Saint George Karslides

[Saint George Karslides] had special reverence for and boldness towards the Honorable Forerunner, the protector of the monastic order, the prophet of justice, the preacher of truth.

Once the chanter, Hatzi-Anestis, was forced to chant the cherubic hymn a second time, because the Saint was serving the Divine Liturgy and did not make any movement to proceed towards the Great Entrance. One of his spiritual children heard the sweet song of a bird and wondered where it was coming from. In the end, he asked the chanter what had happened and he explained that what he had heard was the conversation of the Saint with Saint John the Forerunner, who together concelebrated the liturgy once again.

During the years of the Bulgarian occupation, Mother Argyro lived in the monastery near the Elder and took care of him. One night around 2:20am, there was a loud noise as if the wall of the church had fallen. She was afraid that the Bulgarians had come to kill the Elder, but she saw that the church was locked.

Saint George Karslides and the Pregnant Woman Who Unintentionally Lost Her Baby

A pregnant mother, who unintentionally lost her baby while carrying something heavy, was given a penance by Saint George Karslides for her to do forty prostrations every night throughout Great Lent. He said to her: "If you can, I want you to dress an orphan as well." Merciful himself, he taught others to always be merciful, for love will cover a multitude of sins. Indeed, the mother bought fabric and sewed a dress for a very poor little orphaned girl. When she gave it to the girl, they were both overjoyed. This is how the Saint taught love, simply and gracefully.

 

 

Saint George Karslides and the Bitter Old Woman

A woman from Fotolivos narrated with great emotion a story of the great love of Saint George Karslides for everyone.

Her grandmother had two boys who were killed by the Bulgarians.

Due to her grief, she had almost lost her mind and she hated the Bulgarians, who killed her children.

One was married and had a child and the other was 19 years old.