"Besides all those I have mentioned up to now, it is worthwhile
to mention especially the two select fathers, the wise Russian
priest-monk, Father Sophronios Sacharoff, and the "violent"
hermit, Father Gabriel.
The former (Fr Sophrony) lived at the time a little further down
from our kalyva. I had the blessing and special honor to make
him my confessor with the permission of my elder, when the
confessor of our group, Father Christopher, moved from
Karoulia to the Skete of Vatopedi.
Close to Father Sophronios I found out how much the life of
solitude and prayer enriches the soul. I enjoyed his knowledge,
his experience, and his sanctity. The grandeur of that soul had
captivated me, and I would never want to leave Karoulia, even
though there were so many hardships for me, since I was young
and a beginner.
Father Sophronios had a prodigious education. He knew
several languages, among them Greek and especially ancient
Greek. But it wasn't his education which fascinated me. His virtue,
spiritual radiation and cultivation of prayer attracted me the most.
He described to me the many ways of prayer of the hermits in
Karoulia. One way which he himself used - may he forgive me for
revealing a strict personal fold of his spiritual life - was the
repetition of the Lord's Prayer, "Our Father", with the lifting up
of the hands toward heaven. This repetition was done slowly,
syllable by syllable, so that mind and heart with seize and make
theirs, the content of each word of the God-taught prayer,
penetrating its deepest meaning. He began the prayer at night
and would finish at sunrise. Of course, Father Sophronios would
have practiced the prayer of the heart also. But he made known
to me the former way with the, "Our Father" also, like a preparation,
and perhaps a training, for the perfect, the spiritual prayer of the
heart.
Father Sophronios is now in England. He is the founder of the
Stavropegiac Monastery of the Holy Forerunner in Essex, near
London, and will surely remember, just as I do, with nostalgia,
life in Karoulia". Archimandrite Cherubim
(Please note that Archimandrite Cherubim wrote these words
before Elder Sophrony's repose in 1993)
From the book, 'Recollections of Mount Athos' pp.191-192,
Archimandrite Cherubim Karambelas , Holy Cross
Orthodox Press 1987, Brookline, MA 02146
ISBN 0-917651-44-8 (pbk)
For more on Elder Sophrony, please read here, here, and here
revealing a strict personal fold of his spiritual life - was the
repetition of the Lord's Prayer, "Our Father", with the lifting up
of the hands toward heaven. This repetition was done slowly,
syllable by syllable, so that mind and heart with seize and make
theirs, the content of each word of the God-taught prayer,
penetrating its deepest meaning. He began the prayer at night
and would finish at sunrise. Of course, Father Sophronios would
have practiced the prayer of the heart also. But he made known
to me the former way with the, "Our Father" also, like a preparation,
and perhaps a training, for the perfect, the spiritual prayer of the
heart.
Father Sophronios is now in England. He is the founder of the
Stavropegiac Monastery of the Holy Forerunner in Essex, near
London, and will surely remember, just as I do, with nostalgia,
life in Karoulia". Archimandrite Cherubim
(Please note that Archimandrite Cherubim wrote these words
before Elder Sophrony's repose in 1993)
From the book, 'Recollections of Mount Athos' pp.191-192,
Archimandrite Cherubim Karambelas , Holy Cross
Orthodox Press 1987, Brookline, MA 02146
ISBN 0-917651-44-8 (pbk)
For more on Elder Sophrony, please read here, here, and here
The Cell of Elder Sophrony in Mount Athos
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