Viaţa
Gherontissa Gavrilia s-a născut în Constantinopole (sau Istanbul) cu peste o sută de ani în urmă, pe 2/15 Octombrie 1897, din Elias şi Victoria Papaianni, ca al patrulea şi cel din urmă copil al familiei, cel mai iubit (Alexandros, fratele ei, fiind primul, iar surorile ei Vasiliki şi Pavelina - al doilea, respectiv al treilea).
Gherontissa înseamnă nu doar o maică bătrână (care supraveghează pe tineri), ci mai cu seamă o persoană înduhovnicită care îi îndrumă pe ceilalţi cu sfaturi înţelepte şi cunoştiinţă de la Dumnezeu, în rugăciune. Întreaga viaţă a Gherontissei Gavrilia a fost o înşiruire de minuni.
A crescut în oraş până ce familia s-a mutat la Thessalonic, în 1923. A plecat în Anglia în 1938 şi a rămas acolo pe toată durata celui de-al Doilea Război Mondial. S-a pregătit pentru a fi ortoped şi psihoterapeut. În Anglia, pentru serviciile aduse în război şi după, i s-a oferit să devină cetăţean britanic, însă ea a refuzat politicos.
În 1945, s-a întors în Grecia, unde a lucrat cu Friends Refugee Mission şi American Farm School în Thessalonic, în primii ani de după război. Mai târziu, şi-a deschis propriul cabinet medical în Atena, unde a lucrat până în 1954. În luna Martie a acelui an, mama ei a murit, iar cabinetul a fost închis. Sora Gavrilia a părăsit Grecia şi a călătorit pe uscat până în India, unde a lucrat cu cei mai săraci dintre cei săraci, chiar şi cu leproşi, vreme de cinci ani. A lucrat împreună cu Baba Amte şi familia sa, cei ce au construit şi au organizat comunităţi săteşti pentru leproşii Indiei. Nu a păstrat pentru ea nici un bănuţ, ci s-a încredinţat pe deplin în mâinile Domnului.
Abia în 1959 merge la Mănăstirea Sf. Maria şi Marta din Vithania (Betania), în Palestina, ca să se călugărească. Ajungând acolo, l-a întrebat pe Păr. Theodosie, eclesiarhul, ce rânduială de rugăciune să urmeze. Părintele Theodosie a fost surprins să afle că ea ştia să citească chiar şi în greacă veche, zicând: "Marii Stareţi de care am auzit nu mai sunt acum. Eu, cu siguranţă, nu sunt unul dintre ei. Ai venit aici căutând să te mântuieşti. Dacă îţi voi da eu o rânduială de rugăciune, îţi vei pierde sufletul, dimpreună cu al meu. Iată-l, însă, pe Părintele Ioan. El îţi va fi Stareţ." Astfel că, pentru primul an în mănăstire, i-a dat ascultare să citească doar Evangheliile şi pe Sfântul Ioan Scărarul. (Trebuie menţionat că la acea vreme Scara încă nu fusese publicată în neo-greacă).
A stat trei ani în Vithania. În Aprilie 1962, s-a aflat că Patriarhul Athenagoras al Constantinopolei dorea să trimită un monah ortodox la Taize, în Franţa. Sora Gavrilia s-a dus la Taize (ştia fluent franceza, încă din copilărie) şi apoi, la scurtă vreme, în America.
În 1963, s-a întors în Grecia. Gherontissa a fost tunsă în schima mică de către Egumenul Amfilohie (Makris) din Patmos în Peştera Sfântului Antonie, ţinând de Mănăstirea Bunei-vestiri (Evanghelismos), cu puţin înainte de a pleca din nou în India, împreună cu Maica Tomasina. Stareţul Amfilohie a fost entuziasmat la ideea unei monahii cu deschidere pentru un misionarism activ în întreaga lume. În India, ea a stat vreme de trei ani în Nani Tal, din Uttar Pradeş, loc în care se găsea Părintele Lazăr(Moore); el s-a consultat cu Gherontissa Gavrilia în traducerile sale din Sfinţii Părinţi şi din Psalmi. Între 1967 şi 1977, Gherontissa a purtat mai multe călătorii misionare în Africa răsăriteană, în Europa, în cadrul cărora a vizitat nişte prieteni vechi, cunoscuţii părinţi duhovnici Lev Gillet şi Sofronie de la Essex, apoi iarăşi în America, şi o scurtă vizită în Sinai, unde Arhiepiscopul Damian încerca să reintroducă monahismul feminin.
A călătorit foarte mult, având multă grijă şi dragoste pentru poporul lui Dumnezeu. Unii dintre fiii ei duhovniceşti au aflat-o în Ierusalim, lângă Mormântul lui Hristos; alţii au aflat-o pe câmpul misionar din Africa răsăriteană. În anii 1950 - 1960, avea câteva mii de prieteni duhovniceşti în întreaga lume, pentru care obişnuia să se roage zi şi noapte!
Începând din 1977, a trăit ascunsă într-un mic apartament, "Casa Îngerilor" din Patissia, în mijlocul hărmălaiei, fumului şi a zgomotului din centrul Atenei - un locşor ascuns şi de mare preţ pentru cei care o cunoşteau.
În 1989 s-a mutat în schitul Sfântului Acoperământ din insula Eghina, în apropierea bisericii Sf. Nectarie. Acolo şi-a chemat ultimele două fiice duhovniceşti să se facă monahii şi să vieţuiască lângă ea. A continuat şi aici să primească mulţi vizitatori. În 1990, la începutul Marelui Post, a fost spitalizată pentru cancer limfatic. A stat în spital patruzeci de zile, plecând în Săptămâna Patimilor şi împărtăşindu-se de Paşti. Şi, spre stupefacţia doctorilor, cancerul a dispărut. Încă nu i se plinise vremea.
Gherontissa s-a retras, în cele din urmă, la linişte. Împreună cu o singură altă maică, s-a mutat pentru cea din urmă oară în viaţa aceasta, în insula Leros. Acolo, cele două au întemeiat sihăstria Sfinţilor arhangheli. Abia în ultimul an al vieţii a primit Schima Mare de la Părintele Dionisie de la Schitul Sf. Ana Mică din Sfântul Munte. Acesta a venit să-i dea schima în Paraclisul Maicii Domnului din Kastro, în vârful Lerosului.
Gherontissa Gavrilia a părăsit această lume pe 28 Martie 1992, fără să construiască niciodată o mănăstire. De-a lungul anilor, şase din fiicele ei duhovniceşti s-au călugărit, însă nu s-au aflat cu ea decât una sau două în acelaşi timp. Doar îngerii pot număra vieţile pe care Dumnezeu le-a atins şi le-a schimbat printr-însa. Biografia şi o culegere a scrierilor ei au fost publicate în greacă în 1996, lucrare săvârşită de ultima ei fiică duhovnicească, monahie, şi cu ajutorul a mulţi alţii care au ţinut mult la Gherontissa.
Oricine a avut prilejul să o cunoască pe Gherontissa Gavrilia şi-a dat seama că Dumnezeu nu ne-a lăsat fără sfinţii săi, chiar şi în ziua de astăzi. Cele câteva cuvinte notate aici arată în mică măsură limpezimea şi dragostea din sufletul ei. Cuvintele sunt doar nişte unelte ale lumii acesteia; minunea Gherontissei a fost învăluită în taina tăcerii lumii ce va să vie.
N-a căutat niciodată să capete renume. Nu a îngăduit să se publice nimic despre ea în cursul lungii sale vieţi, şi le-a îngăduit doar fiilor duhovniceşti să o fotografieze în ultimii ani de viaţă. Cei atinşi de Dumnezeu prin intermediul ei o numeau Gherontissa; ea nu s-a socotit nimic altceva decât monahia Gavrilia.
A fost smerenie şi dragoste întrupată.
Din Apoftegmele Gherontissei
Assorted short sayings
1. Every place may become the place of the Resurrection. It is enough that you live the humility of Christ.
2. As for sleep, keeping vigil is enough.
3. There are people who are vigilant about some things, and there are people who are vigilant about all things.
4. Not a knowledge that you learn, but a knowledge that you suffer. That is Orthodox spirituality.
5. Do not desire many things--more than you have, that which is far away. Rather, seek to take care of what you have so as to sanctify it.
6. One thing is education: that we learn how to love God.
7. Nothing is cheaper than money.
8. Better hell here than in the other world.
9. It is not that which we say, but that which we live. It is not what we do, but what we are.
10. I put on the raso (the monastic habit), and I don’t say anything unless asked. The raso speaks.
11. If you have love for the whole world the whole world is beautiful.
12. Someone said that the Christian is one who purifies love and sanctifies activity.
13. We desire our freedom. Why? In order to be slaves to our passions.
14. Conference: When good-for-nothing people gather and decide that nothing can be done.
15. The aim is that even when we have the parasite in the head . . . we have the Paraclete in the heart.
16. We become a replication of heaven with “May Your will be done on earth as in heaven.�?
17. One who loves does not notice, just as one does not notice that he breathes.
18. When the doors of Heaven are open, so the doors on earth are also open.
19. When the mind (nous) is not scattered in worldly things and is united to God, then the “Good day�? that we say becomes a blessing.
20. Every rejection and negativity destroys our work.
21. We must not exist before every image and likeness of the Other.
22. In the beginning of our life we have need of the presence of another to love or befriend. As we progress, the One--God--fills us with such love and His joy that nobody at all is needed. All of this longing for another the soul does in the beginning because it still doesn’t know Whom it loves and therefore thinks it needs a certain person.
23. God often does not desire the act but the intention. It is enough that He sees you are willing to do His command.
24. Jesus Christ gave the golden rule: alone and with the other.
25. When God created us, He gave us life and breathed His Spirit into us. That Spirit is Love. When we lack love, we become corpses and are altogether dead.
26. The Christian must respect the mystery of the existence of everyone and everything.
27. To reach nonexistence, love, love, and love--and so identify completely with the Other, with every other. Then at the end of the day you ask yourself, “Do I want anything? No. Do I need anything? No. Do I lack anything? No.�? That’s it!
28. The spiritually advanced person is the one who arrives at a place of no identity and who has understood in his depths that whatever happens is the will of God or by the permission of God.
29. Only when the person stops reading otherbooks except the Gospel does he begin to make real interior progress. Only then, united with God through the Prayer, can he hear the will of God.
30. Never desire anything but the will of God, and receive with love the evil that comes to you.
31. Do not respond to a person with the evil he brings you, but see Christ in his heart.
32. Never say, “Why has this happened to me?�? Or when you see someone with gangrene or cancer or blindness, don’t ask, “Why did this happen to them?�? But ask God to give you the vision of the other bank of the river. Then you will see with the angels as it is in fact: Everything is according to the plan of God. Everything!
34. If we want to be good monastics, we must at every moment think of God before monasticism. Otherwise we will not become good monastics.
36. Our most vulnerable spot is found in many words and discussions.
38. When you have thought of critcism . . . judging others, ask God to take hold of you at that hour so that you can love that person as He loves. Then God will help you see your condition. If Christ were visible, could you criticize?
42 What we say remains to eternity.
43 Only when you are perfected in Love can you arrive at dispassion.
48. When needed, God will send someone to us. We are all fellow travelers.
49. The language of God is silence.
50. Whoever lives in the past is as if dead. Whoever lives in the future in his fantasy (or imagination) is naive, because the future belongs only to God. The Joy of Christ is found only in the present, in the Eternal Present of God.
59. Better to say the Jesus Prayer aloud than not at all.
66. Worry is for those who do not have Faith.
67. Anxiety and worry is for those who don't have faith.
68. Love is only on the Cross.
68. Love is only found on the Cross.
69. Relationship is difficult when "I" stands above "You".
70. As God loves you, so does He love your enemy.
71. Do you want to pray? Prepare to answer God secretly.
74. We should arrange to live in the world like the oil and the water in a vigil lamp, which do not mix and thus are in and for God. In the world, but not of the world.
75. We are all containers; sometimes of the Light, sometimes of the Dark.
80. Only when we are "still"...not busy-bodies...busy-bodying...caught up in many activities... do we give the angels an opportunity to do something.
81. You do what you should, and God will do what He should.
93. How beautiful is the Mystery of Tommorrow!
95. The Lord said: "Whoever wants something, believing he will receive. It is enough that the request is in agreement with the Commandments of God, that is with Love.
100. If you knew that you are not Here, then you would be There.
101. In order for miracles to occur, it is enough that we love. Neither prayer nor komboskini has such power.
102. My experience teaches me that nobody can help anyone, no matter how much they wish to of they love. Help comes only from God when it is His time.
103. When we have God always in mind, then God has us always in mind. (When we think always of God, God thinks always of us.)
105. We are only useful when we do not exist for ourselves, and the opposite.
106. We must not make decisions for others. Leave them to the Angels and they will find the best solution.
107. Never forget that you are His.
108. Like Symeon of Cyrene we must be ready to run to the help of our fellowman.
109. If you seek assistance from someone who is busy, he will do it for you, not the indolent and the lazy.
110. Woe to me if I do not love.
111. Three things are needful. First Love, Second Love, Third Love.
112. The fasting of a diet is so easy when one wants to slim. And so difficult is the Wednesday and Friday fast when the Church wants it.
113. In the Church we should always sit in the same place, for the Angels.
114. After the Liturgy, we should sit in the Church so long as we can, for the Angels
115. When we are talking and someone interrupts us, we should not continue. It means that he should not hear that which we would have said. The Angels do thus.
116. He who does not want to see anybody is not human.
117. Nowhere are we ‘forever'. (We are never anyplace "forever".)
118. Whatever happens to us is only our own fault.
119. Every morning, on the new page we open, we sign the blank. Whatever God wills, let Him write. (Every morning open a new page and put your signature on the blank. Whatever God wants, let Him write.)
120. When we pray we should lock our door.
125. If you do not reach the point of despair, you will never see the Light.
136. Be still and know...There is no greater school than this kind of stillness of the mind.
137. The only true joy is freedom from worry.
150. Christ said to us: Go and make disciples of all nations. And we - hushing up - what do we do?
179. The most powerful prayer is the Epiclesis of the Divine Liturgy.
183. Love is a bomb the destroys all evil.
192. The other day a lady asked me what would happen with the 'toll booths' after death. I said to her, " I will tell them the Light of Christ shines to All! You however are in darkness and I don't see you!"
194. The greatest part of my prayer here and for years now is Thankgiving. What else should I ask, when I have everything?
199. God put the sense in the head. Why? Do you know? So that we can not see ourselves. Yes! So that we see only the other and love only the other. And so that we see ourselves only in the eyes of the Other.
243. Some want to go to the Resurrection without passing by way of Golgotha.
244. Because the Christians could not put in practice the Gospel while living in the world, they fled. That's how they became the first monastics.
259. Every person is 'sent'.
267. Our soul is a Divine Breath. Our body is His Creation. In the whole of us we are the icon of God.
290. Day and night let us bless God for the gifts He gives us.
291. Few words, much love. To all. No matter who they are.
Conversations
Have Faith
Only one thing do I know that I have always, and it is not pride, nor fantasy, but that which I have day and night, wherever I find myself--three things: first, Faith; second, Faith; third, Faith. That’s all! Nothing else can I say to you. It has directed all my life. When we believe and someone says, “Do you want to come to Lebanon with me?�? I say, “Yes.�?
“How do you say Yes to everything?�?
I say yes because I believe that if it is not for my good God will make it so that the No will come from the very one who invited me. Some paper will not be ready, or something will happen.
Today I am ninety years old--may you live so long! I read again and again and again in the Gospels, and I see something strange. Jesus Christ comes and says to the Apostles, “Leave now what you have and follow Me.�?
Now, if they said, “And who are you? Why should we lose what we have? Why should we lose our profit? Where will you take us? What will you do with us?�?--if they had said that, what would have happened? They would have remained in darkness.
They said Yes to some Unknown who came and said, “Throw all that away!�? Why? Because they believed in God, and they waited for the One who would say to them, “Come!�? And that was the beginning.
Because if we say No, what will happen? . . . One or the other: If you believe, you will walk on the water like St. Peter. If you are scared--Bloop! Nothing else.
Through all my life it has been like that. They called me to the strangest and most distant place in India. One night they sent me a message: “Come and see someone who is sick.�? We started out in an ox cart driven by some shepherd boy. And as we were going up the mountain in the forest, what do I see above us? Two eyes shining, a tiger. What do you say then? “Lord have mercy on me, and may Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.�?
So I closed my eyes and saw that written within me. Because He said to us, “Why do you worry? Why do you worry? Even the hairs of your head are numbered!�? Why worry? Faith is lacking. May we have faith.
Languages
Once when I was there where I was, some foreign missionary came and said to me, “You may be a good woman, but you’re not a good Christian.�?
I said, “Why?�?
“Because you have been here so long and you only go about speaking English. What local languages have you learned?�?
I said to him, “I haven’t managed to learn any of the local languages, because I travel a great deal from place to place. As soon as I learn one dialect, they start speaking another. I’ve only learned ‘Good morning’ and ‘Good evening.’ Nothing else.�?
“Bah, you’re no Christian. How can you evangelize? All the Catholics and Protestants learn all the local dialects in order to . . .�?
Then I said, “Lord, give me an answer for him.�? I asked it with all my heart, and then I said, “Ah. I forgot to tell you. I know five languages.�?
“Really? What are these five?�?
“The first is the smile; the second is tears. The third is to touch. The fourth is prayer, and the fifth is love. With these five languages I go all around the world.�?
Then he stopped and said, “Just a minute. Say that again so I can write it down.�?
With these five languages you can travel the whole earth, and all the world is yours. Love everyone as your own--without concern for religion or race, without concern for anything.
Everywhere are people of God. You never know if the one you see today might tomorrow be a saint.
388. Come let us be silent.
Thanksgiving
When in truth we appreciate the gifts which God gives us, we don't have time to seek anything else. We run to say thank you. Thank you, thank you, thank you. We see a person ... thank you. We see a flower ... thank you. We see a glass of milk ... thank you. For everything ... thank you. And such a joy comes into our life, that many do not understand even if they are close to us; What is all this! They said to me once in England: "What's happening? Why are you so cheerful?" "Because I am alive and I see you!" Have a good day!
- — Holy Protection, Aegina, 1989
Holy Communion
It's not for us to decide when we should or should not receive communion. It is not easy to see ourselves clearly, especially on our disordered side. For that there must be the Spiritual Guide. There must be Sacred Confession which will draw out of us whatever should not exist in us.
- —Leros, January 1, 1991
Monastic Society
The Lord said to His disciples: "Soon you will all scatter and leave me alone, but I am not alone because My Father is always with me". The same with us, if we think about it. We are never alone. As soon as we turn to Him in a glance of our mind, we'll find ourselves in the appropriate condition toward Him first, and then toward our fellowman. That is, if we want something, some enlightenment, immediately we run to the Gospel. (Certainly at the time when there is no suitable person.), that is my start. In the Gospel is Eternal Life, that is, Himself. God gave us our conscience: His Gospel. In this conscience we always find an answer. . . . Another thing that helps a great deal, as we know, is frequent prayer. It's not something that should be in words, neither in thought. The Prayer is not something we do: it is a condition of soul. And wherever you find yourself, whatever you are doing, in whatever circle you are, your soul can be found in the condition of Prayer. For the soul is from God. Next, when it is helped with prayer and the Jesus Prayer to be united with the Holy Name, then it continues, whatever you do.
Sources and external links
- The Ascetic of Love, the complete life and sayings of Gerontissa Gabrielia, published by toperivoli.gr
- Gerontissa Gavrielia from the website of St. Gregory Palamas Monastery
- Gerontissa (Elder) Gabrielia and some of her sayings
- The Ascetic of Love: Sayings (Apophthegmata)
- "Mother Gavrilia(1897-1992): 'a Holocaust to His Love'" by John Brady; published in In Communion, the journal of the Orthodox Peace Fellowship
- Orthodox Poetry Of Gerondissa (Abbess) Xeni Of Aegina, Greece (1867-1923) - Compiled by Father Demetrios Serfes, Boise, Idaho, USA