Saint Gerasimos, The New Ascetic

The Life and Endeavors of our God-bearing Father

SAINT GERASIMOS, THE NEW ASCETIC

Whose grace-bringing and incorrupt relics are found on the isle of Cephalonia


Icon by Photios Kontoglou

SAINT GERASIMOS THE NEW ASCETIC
1509-1579

Commemorated August 16 and October 20

TROPARION, TONE 1

Let us faithful praise the divine Gerasimos, who is revealed to us as a protector and champion of the Orthodox, and an angel in the flesh, and a God-bearing wonderworker.

For be worthily received from God the unfailing gift of healing, to restore the sick and heal those possessed with demons.

Therefore be granteth healings to those who bonor him.


The Life has been translated and illustrations furnished by Holy Transfiguration Monastery, Boston, Massachusetts


GERASIMOS, THE SHINING STAR of the Church of Christ, the adamantine stone on which are crushed the heads of all those who deviate from the infallible tradition of our most Holy Orthodox Faith, was born in the year 1509 in the village of Trikala in the Peloponnesus, of the illustrious family of Notaras. His father's name was Demetrios, and his mother's Kale. From his tender youth he was given over to the study of sacred letters, and being endowed with intelligence and a good volition, within a few years he advanced substantially in his studies.

Wise and prudent from his youth, the Saint gave himself over to the reading of the holy Scriptures, wherein he found abiding and edifying truths which brought joy to his soul and made him understand the deception and error which is to be found in the vain studies of human wisdom so-called. From the Scriptures also he came to understand the vanity and error of this deceitful world. Hence, he directed all his longing and search to Him Who alone is the summit of every good, that is, to his Fashioner and God. Being wise, he saw that his homeland, family, glory, wealth, the praise of men, the heat of youth, the violence of the passions were all exceedingly great obstacles to achieving such a purpose. And so, when he came of age, with a manliness of soul rare in our days, he turned his back on all these things, accounting wealth, glory, pleasures, parents and relatives as rubbish, and like a swallow escaping from the snare, fled from his country and went to the isle of Zakynthos.

Thus Gerasimos showed himself to be a true imitator of Abraham, who obeyed God when He told him, "Go forth from thy land, and from thy kindred"; for Gerasimos likewise left his land and kindred that he might be able more easily to find Him for Whom he longed and to Whom all his desires looked. He knew that in order to attain to Him he had to cast away every bodily tie and every cause that, one way or another, might draw him away and drag him forcibly down into earthly and carnal thoughts, and thus estrange him from his spiritual endeavor and impede the soaring of his mind to his only Fashioner and God. For the Lord dwells not in souls that accept carnal and vain thoughts, and which consequently are rendered unworthy of the indwelling of His grace. God fashioned man for Himself, and He granted all things to man so that by means of them he might be able – providing he came to knowledge – to use them well and take delight in his Fashioner, the supreme goal of man.

Having considered these things well, therefore, Gerasimos, like a chosen vessel, set his heart on high. After he had spent some time on Zakynthos, through suffering and asceticism the Saint was freed from every temptation of thoughts concerning country, relatives, wealth and every other care. Thus he began to ascend the ladder of the virtues, whose first step is estrangement from one's own fatherland, and consequently he was freed from the stronger ties and causes which draw man into worldly considerations.

NOW WHEN THE SAINT had well considered that the snares of our common enemy, the devil, are many and diverse, he did not trust in himself, but rather desired to find a good guide who would show him the unerring path of virtue. He departed from Zakynthos, therefore, and with longing and spiritual purpose, with labor and bodily toil, went about the various parts of Greece and came to Thessalonika. From there, he proceeded to the Black Sea, to Constantinople, to the Propontis, to Chalcedon and to every other place where he knew that there lived men renowned in virtue and perfect in the ascetical life, teachers in deed, experienced in the life according to God. After he had gathered from each the honey of the God-pleasing life, like a diligent bee, he then decided to go to the Holy Mountain of Athos and live the monastic life there.

When the Saint came to the Holy Mountain, he dwelt together with the fathers, and found many true laborers in the mystical vineyard of Christ who were able to guide others also in the unerring path of virtue, in the life that brings lovers of virtue to the attainment of perfection.

The Saint was benefited greatly, and the divine longing for virtue was inflamed even more in his heart. Though he was endowed with all the virtues even before he received the great and angelic habit, yet being obedient to the commandments of all those who had shone as luminaries in this selfsame angelic habit, he too was raised to the heights of the Great Schema.

After this, who can tell the struggles and labors which the righteous one added to his former discipline, that is to say, fastings, vigils, tears, prayers, the lifting of the mind to God, total dedication of self to God and total estrangement from the world and all the things thereof? Like an angel in the flesh, like a heavenly man, he became a treasure-house of love, meekness, humble-mindedness, peace, sympathy, and all the other graces and gifts of the Holy Spirit. Like a tower he remained unshaken before all the attacks and temptations of the invisible foe, the devil, who saw that this corruptible and earthly man was about to soar up and receive in heavenly blessedness that station and rank from which he himself had fallen by dint of his pride.


One of the plane trees, still alive, planted by the Saint in Omala


After the Saint had spent a considerable time on the Holy Mountain, and had become a truly chosen vessel of divine grace and a most perfect model of the life according to Christ, he became wholly aflame with divine love and decided to go worship at Jerusalem.

When he arrived at those holy places, you can well understand with what reverence and longing he worshipped and took delight in them, and what great spiritual joy and gladness filled his soul when he beheld and touched the very places in which the desire of his soul, the Lord Jesus Christ, had deigned to be born in the body, to be reared, to suffer, to be crucified, to arise and bring to fulfilment the other awesome mysteries of His dispensation.

And there again, filled with zeal, he travelled to Antioch, to Damascus, and to practically the whole of Egypt and Libya. He well nigh travelled throughout the whole of the East, everywhere seeking and gathering the flowers of virtue, for he always considered himself imperfect and but a beginner.

Let it not seem strange to anyone that our righteous father Gerasimos went about and travelled throughout so many places, as his life reveals. It was not possible that this God-bearing Saint, who unceasingly and noetically chanted to God the words of David, "Thy law is a lamp unto my feet and a light to my paths," could wander about like some lost or unstable man. Rather, he went about in accordance with the Divine will, even as the Apostles were led from city to city in accordance with the express will of the Holy Spirit, as it is recorded in the Acts of the Apostles.


St. Gerasimos: Icon by P. Vampoule


From some fathers he would receive benefit and thus advance in the perfection of virtue. Others, on the other hand, received benefit from him, and he put many on the path of virtue. In similar fashion other Saints also went about from place to place, in order to see and learn many other disciplines of the monks and hermits, so that with exactness and completeness they might acquire perfection in the monastic life.

After this laborious trek and spiritual harvest the Saint returned to Jerusalem. Being continually afire with love for his most sweet Jesus Christ, and desiring to have a tangible and perpetual remembrance of his beloved Master before him, he wished to serve for one year as a lamp-lighter in the Church of the life-giving Sepulchre of our Lord, and it was here, that he was worthily made illustrious by the Holy Spirit with the most venerable rank of the priesthood.

He was ordained by the blessed Germanos, the Patriarch of Jerusalem, and remained with the Patriarch for twelve years, serving his office with fervor and with the ability and dedication which is proper to virtue.

Thus the Saint lived and struggled indefatigably in all things following the divine Apostle Paul who writes in his epistle to the Philippians, Brethren, I account not myself to have apprehended; but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth into those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Jesus Christ. He did not take his past labors and toils into account, but knew that they who run in the stadium in order to reach the goal and receive the prize do not look back to see how far they have run. Rather, they look ahead continually, and become the more eager as they see that they are approaching the prize that awaits them.

Afterwards the Saint longed to go from Jerusalem to the Jordan River in order to worship there. Thus with the permission of his elder, the Patriarch, he went and stayed there some days, and visited the holy places round about the Jordan, where so many of our God-bearing fathers struggled and shone forth.

While there, the blessed Gerasimos was deemed worthy – even as many other Saints have been – to accomplish, by the grace of God, the forty-day fast, that is, to partake of no food or drink whatsoever for forty whole days and nights. Thus he was shown to be truly wondrous and a most perfect model of the life according to Christ, a dwelling-place of Divine grace. Furthermore, he thus demonstrated clearly that Jesus Christ is the same, yesterday, today and unto the ages, and in addition, proved that Divine grace is given both now and always to all those who seek it with sincere faith and humbleness of spirit, and who follow the commandments of God faithfully. For the promise of the Lord is not false, which said, Behold, I am with you all the days, even to the end of time.

The seasons and times, then, in which we live are not at fault, beloved. Rather, the fault lies in our evil volition, in our ignorance and in our little faith in Him. We prefer the corruptible and fleeting and deceptive things of this world to that which is incorrupt and eternal. We are altogether attached to these things because they are perceived by our senses. As for things heavenly, spiritual, and eternal, we do not bring them to mind at all. How, then, is it possible for Divine grace to dwell in such souls and hearts? My Spirit shall not dwell in these men, said God to Noah, because they have become altogether flesh, and there where grace is not to be found, there also virtue cannot be attained to, most assuredly, even as the Lord Himself has said, Without Me, ye can do nothing.

But this blessed one both sought out God with all the fervor of his soul and also fulfilled His Divine Will diligently and steadfastly. With the humility that is true and proper for one who is but a servant and a creature, he sought Divine grace, and was therefore deemed worthy of being glorified by God. In him was confirmed the promise of the Lord, Who said, He that believeth in Me, the works that I do shall be do also; and greater works than these shall be do.

Filled with the Holy Spirit, the divine father returned to Jerusalem, and after a short time, being moved by Divine grace, besought his elder to grant him permission to depart. Knowing the Saint's virtue and holiness, the Patriarch gave him permission to go wherever Divine grace led him, so that he might benefit others also.

FROM JERUSALEM, therefore, the righteous one went to Crete, and after he had rested there for a short time, he came once again to Zakynthos. While ascending the mountains of that island, which are found on the coasts facing west, he found there a small cave above the sea in a precipitous place. Here he remained five years, living the ascetical life and practicing virtue. Alone, he conversed with God alone, and with Him alone was he found. The wildness of that harsh and nearly impassable locale – which to this very day is named for the Saint – is such that by itself, with no necessity for words, it gives us to understand the angelic life and endeavors of this righteous man. For the whole five years he spent in that cave he ate nothing but a little boiled and unsalted squash, and pulse that had been soaked in water. Like certain of the renowned ancient saints, and especially our righteous father Theodosius the Coenobiarch, he did not eat bread for the space of thirty years.

How great was the amazement which the Saint's angelic life caused to all! How great was the spiritual joy and edification which he brought to many! Like a sacred vessel of the Holy Spirit and like a pure dwelling place of Divine grace, his continual companion was virtue. Ennobling lowliness of mind was well-rooted in his soul; for this alone is the true guardian of virtue, and it alone can bring the creature near to its Creator. Wherefore also, knowing full well the many and diverse snares of the devil and desiring to flee from the causes of pride, the Saint decided to depart from this place.

From Zakynthos, therefore, the Saint came finally to the island of Cephalonia, where it was the good pleasure of God that he should dwell and afterwards be perpetually enshrined as its guardian and ready helper. After his arrival he chose as his dwelling a certain cave above the village of Argostolion, in the place commonly called Spelaion, the name also of a neighboring village. There he remained for eleven months.

This cave is preserved to this day and still bears all the evidences of the Saint's habitation. Later on, out of reverence for the righteous one, the Christians built a little chapel in the northern part of the cave to the glory of the Saint. There can be seen lying on the stone the mat, now greatly aged, upon which the Saint slept, and there are many other signs of his habitation there as well. Many Christians gather there in the chapel and the cave, and they celebrate the Saint's feast twice a year.

Since the place is near the village of Argostolion, the wondrous life and great virtue of the Saint could not be hidden for long. His fame spread quickly, and all ran to see him. The Saint therefore saw that here it was impossible to enjoy the silence for which he longed. For he wished to be found with Christ, his only desire, and to converse with Him noetically. Thus he decided to leave and go in search of some quiet and untroubled spot that was according to his desire. And the Lord, Who does the will of them that fear Him, fulfilled his godly desire.

ACCORDING TO ancient tradition, Omala, where the Convent of St. Gerasimos is found, was formerly wild and uncultivated. This whole area was forest. On the opposite side, higher up, was the village of Balsamata. In this village there was a certain priest-monk Nicholas who had two unmarried sisters who lived as nuns. He had a church also in this village, where he was parish priest. The location of the Saint's convent can be seen clearly from where they lived, serving God.

One night, as the priest-monk Nicholas was going to the church for the service of Orthros, he saw a light in the aforesaid forest. At first he paid no heed to it; but after he continued to see it many times, he decided to go by day to see if he could find the source of the light. He went, therefore, and examined the area where the old monastic church is today, which was built by the Saint and is honored with the name of the Dormition of our Lady Theotokos. The Saint's grave is there also, and above it is the shrine with his most holy and wonderworking relics. There in a crypt the priest-monk found a holy icon of the Most Holy Theotokos.

After the discovery of this holy icon, this same priest-monk built a little church in the place where the icon was found, and he himself would serve there. His sisters also would come down from the village of Balsamata and lived the ascetical life there by the little church. At that time neither these blessed women nor anyone else understood that this was a supernatural act and miracle of Divine grace which foretold and prepared for the Saint's coming. For grace had ordained Gerasimos as protector of the island of Cephalonia, and it was here that the Saint fulfilled the measure of his earthly sojourn. It was from here that he soared and went to his Beloved, the most sweet Jesus Christ, and it was here that Divine Providence ordained his holy relics to be enshrined as an inexhaustible treasure of God's gifts for those who run to them with faith.

The report of the finding of the aforesaid holy icon spread throughout the island. Wherefore many – some out of curiosity and others being moved by reverence – came to venerate the holy icon that had been revealed in such a strange manner. The righteous one also heard of this discovery, and being moved by Divine grace he too decided to go and see if he could find a quiet and untroubled place according to his desire. For he perceived that in his present abode at Spelaion he could not partake of sacred quiet, since that place was near the village.

When the Saint arrived at the place where the holy icon had been found, the sisters of the priest-monk Nicholas saw him, and immediately they understood from his angelic and venerable countenance, from his manner and from his melliflous words that he was a God-bearer and vessel of divine grace. Thus with all the longing and fervor of their souls, they said to the Saint, "Come, O servant of God; dwell in this place and we will have you as our spiritual father, and like most submissive children, we will be obedient to you to the end of our days. In this way, we hapless ones will be guided by you so that we too may find the unerring path of salvation, and your righteousness also may be able to enjoy the quiet which you desire." The Saint said to them, "If in truth your brother wants me to come, let him certify this in writing, and then I will come here and cultivate this place to the best of my ability."

Then immediately the sisters revealed the Saint's purpose to their brother the priest-monk, and urged him fervently to grant that place and the forest to Father Gerasimos, the stranger. These are the very words in the letter, which is preserved together with the ledger of the Convent. He was granted authority over the property so that he might cultivate it as it seemed best to him, and after his death, to dispose of it according to his wish.

When the Saint had settled in that place, he began to clear it and to plant fruit trees and a vineyard up to the border of the property that had been granted to him by the priest-monk Nicholas. With his own hands he dug a small well which is still found there today and which bears his name. In spite of the fact that an active well is not to be found in the area of Omala, this well unfailingly gushes forth with abundant water. Indeed, in time of drought, when the other parts of Omala are totally bereft of water, the Saint's well gives forth its water generously, both for the inhabitants of the whole area and for their livestock as well. This has happened many times, as all confess with one voice.

There is yet another wondrous thing that occurs with this well which transcends every natural explanation. We ourselves have seen it with our own eyes, and many others have seen it many times, and they confess it openly with one accord. From the beginning, on the two feast days of the Saint there has always been a procession with the case which contains the Saint's relics. At one point in the procession, the priests who are carrying the reliquary set it down so that the customary prayer may be made. At that very moment, the water ascends to the very lip of the well. When they lift the holy relics from that place, the water descends to its customary level. Many, however, having anticipated this, are at the well before the water begins to descend and they draw the water into a vessel, or else they take it with their hands or soak a handkerchief with it.


Shrine with the relics of St. Gerasimos, in the convent which be founded on the island of Cephalonia


Yet because this miracle does not always occur, many have doubted it, and they try to say that even I did not see it, whereas I have gone next to this well during the time of the prayer when the Saint's relics are set down upon the well. Be it therefore known to you who in your pride question the things of faith, that God, because of the unbelief of some like yourselves and for reasons which he alone knows, does not permit this miracle to occur every time. Just because you and those like you have not seen it, this does not mean that it does not happen. Let no man enter tempting the spotless Faith.

AFTER THE SAINT had begun the cultivation of that wild and unproductive place, the wicked devil, fearing the result of his labors, gnashed with his teeth against the Saint. Yet since he was unable to hinder him directly (because the righteous one, through his God-pleasing life, was a living vessel of the Holy Spirit, altogether filled with Divine grace), the evil one sowed tares of jealousy in the priest-monk Nicholas. For when the priest-monk saw that the place which he had granted to the Saint was now cultivated and bringing forth fruit, he repented that he had given it. He was further incited in this by the other villagers and neighbors – most assuredly out of the malice of the wicked one-so that he might hinder the spiritual benefit that was to be and so that he might grieve the Saint. Thus all the neighbors, and especially the priest-monk, brought many temptations and trials upon the Saint.


Procession with the relics of St. Gerasimos, being carried over the afflicted, on his feast day, Oct. 20. On this day countless miracles have taken place over the centuries-until 1966, when a Roman Catholic cleric was given an honored place at the services, and for the first time not a single miracle was performed by the Saint.


The blessed Gerasimos, however, being experienced in the devices of the devil, knew that all these things originated from that hater of good, so that he might hinder the spiritual profit which he saw was to come about. Therefore the Saint was not troubled at all, neither did he neglect his God-pleasing labor, but prayed about this to God. In this manner he continued his work with meekness and peace of soul, being altogether dedicated to God Who knows all things and is able to bring them to pass, and thus he conquered the tempter.

Both the priest-monk Nicholas and the other villagers came to understand the sanctity of the righteous one and the grace of God that dwelt with him. Therefore not only did they cease from bothering him and leave him in complete charge over that place, but they even came and fell at his feet weeping and fervently asking that he forgive their error. Furthermore, they made a firm promise that each of them would help him according to his ability in this God-pleasing labor which he had undertaken. With his Christ-like meekness and forbearance, the Saint, with joyful countenance and spiritual gladness, raised them up and blessed and forgave them. He admonished them in those things that were necessary and dismissed them in peace.

Through the working of Divine grace the righteous one was given to understand that, through him, others also were to be benefited. Being informed that it was the will of the Lord that the place be made into a convent to the glory of God and to the edification of many souls, he began renovating the small church built by the priest-monk Nicholas. Beginning from new foundations, he built the church to be seen there today, dedicating it to the feast of the Dormition of our Lady, the Theotokos. He built various other cells as well and put an enclosure around them, making thus a complete monastery, and named it New Jerusalem.

In the meantime, the Saint's great virtue could not remain hidden, but his fame spread throughout the whole island. People of all ages and ranks ran to him daily. As one who was truly Christ-like, he received all and all departed replete with the benefit of soul and spiritual rejoicing which they received, both from his angelic appearance and from his mellifluous teachings, and also from his heavenly manner of life. Being constrained to do so, he submitted to the eagerness and desire of those who ran to him and besought him with fervor. Thus, together with the two sisters of the priest-monk Nicholas he received others as well, and the number of the nuns came to 25. As for the nuns, they rejoiced in spirit and with their whole soul thanked the compassion of God which had provided them with such a person as their spiritual father and practiced teacher of the life in Christ. Henceforth the Saint kept watchful vigil over the rational flock which Divine Providence had entrusted to him.

He taught them daily; sometimes he would explain to them how to guard themselves and how to recognize and flee the evil devices and enticements of our common enemy, the devil, who had great malice against them, especially now, seeing that they had received the angelic Schema. Concerning the angelic Schema, he taught them that if they stood fast in their rule of life, they would become heirs of every eternal and good thing from which Satan himself had fallen on account of his pride. On other occasions, he showed them the true path which was able to bring them to Paradise. He pointed out to them how in order to win Paradise they had renounced every vain and corruptible thing which this deceitful world had promised to them, and that only in this manner could they put on the sweet and light yoke of Christ, the true Bridegroom of the soul. On yet other occasions he taught them the degrees of virtues, and how true workers of virtue advance gradually. For the spiritual virtues cannot be acquired except through sincere love for God and neighbor, through meekness of spirit, through bodily labors.

These things did the Saint teach his spiritual children daily. He taught much more by his own example, by his angelic life and manner, for this is the true teaching. It has more power to incite the beholder to seek for virtue, which is not so for one who only hears, for we believe our eyes more than our cars.

THE HEAVENLY LIFE of this divine father showed him to be one who was worthy of great boldness before God, and one who had received the grace of miracles. He became an inexhaustible well-spring of healings and a helper in afflictions, and an ardent intercessor for those who called upon him fervently and for those who ran to him with sincere faith. This is apparent from the few things which we must narrate without fail, so that we may not leave the Christians and those that come after us in ignorance, and thus deprive them of spiritual benefit.

At that time, the island of Cephalonia was suffering from a great drought. In those times this was a terrible evil, since the island had but a few vineyards, and the income of the people depended almost entirely on various types of cereal plants and grasses. The inhabitants ran unto God with supplications; yet time passed and the evil was threatening to destroy the crops utterly. Then the extreme compassion of God gave the command, both in order to heal the great evil and also to reveal the audience which Gerasimos had received in the presence of God through his faithful labors. With one accord all cried that if they did not hasten to the righteous Gerasimos, and if he did not beseech God, there would be no correction of the present affliction.

Thus from every part of the island they ran as though they were one to the righteous man, who was the only hope left to them, so that he might deliver them. They besought him fervently not to abandon them, but to intercede in their behalf with Him that is able to heal that terrible plague. The Saint received them joyfully; he heard them and sincerely grieved with them in soul. But when he heard their request of him, his utter humility caused him to draw back and to excuse himself, for he considered himself a sinner and unworthy to be so bold before God. He remembered the saying of the divine Maximos, "The struggle to free oneself of vainglory is not small." But his humility only increased the fervor and hope of the people, and, to be brief, the Saint was finally convinced. He knelt weeping, and with faith and fervor besought the Creator to have mercy on His creation, to overlook the faults of His children, and to open the gate of His favors and have mercy on His people. And truly, God hearkened unto the prayer of His slave, and his request was fulfilled; the audience which the righteous Gerasimos had in the presence of God was made manifest and was certified by all. The thirsty earth was satisfied; the plants were refreshed; the grieving people were comforted and with their whole soul glorified the compassion of God and thanked the Saint as was meet. Each returned to his house rejoicing, with a loud voice proclaiming the Saint's holiness and his boldness before God.


A folk icon of the Saint's repose


Thus, living the angelic and heavenly life, the Saint was henceforth shown to be an unmercenary healer of the sick, and a most wise physician and teacher for all suffering from bodily diseases, or from catastrophes and afflictions of this life, or from sins and ailments of the soul. All who ran to him departed healed and comforted. And assuredly, it was apparent that Divine compassion had sent the Saint to the isle of Cephalonia as a heavenly gift and treasury of the benefactions of God's compassion. Especially, he received great authority over demons, whom he chastens invisibly and wondrously casts out of those possessed by them.

YET THE TIME arrived for the righteous one to depart from this fleeting life and pass over to the eternal and unending, so that he might enjoy more purely and more closely Him Whom he had loved with his whole soul from his youth. With steadfast persistence he had struggled to possess God and be possessed by Him. He had shown great courage in every adversity and combat with those three fierce enemies of man – the flesh, the world, and the devil. In times lacking in examples of an angelic and superhuman life, he was deemed worthy of such grace and might from God as to reach the foremost saints of our Orthodox Church in divine gifts from God. Thus when he was 70 years of age, or a little over, he received a divine revelation that the time of his departure had arrived.

With humility and gratefulness, the Saint thanked his Creator that He had deemed him worthy, through His grace, to pass the time of this fleeting life in accordance to His divine will. As a loving father and a good and faithful shepherd, he called his beloved spiritual children, and with his customary meekness and joyfulness he revealed to them that the time of his departure had come. He instructed them not to be troubled nor to grieve over this, but rather to rejoice, for if he found boldness before the Creator in the heavenly Kingdom, he would be able to visit and care for them even better than if he were near them here below on earth. Then he admonished them always to keep well in remembrance the promises which they made to their heavenly Bridegroom, Jesus Christ, when they put on the angelic habit. He counseled them to strip themselves of every bond with this corruptible and vain world and to cleave only to their love and desire for the Saviour, and to preserve their monastic rule and typicon unaltered, even as he had surrendered it unto them.

He admonished them also to have, above all else, love and concord among themselves, to have always before their eyes the utter humility and forbearance of their heavenly Bridegroom, Jesus Christ, and to consider themselves sinners even to their last breath and always to call themselves unworthy handmaids of Jesus, their Bridegroom. Finally, if Divine grace deemed them worthy to accomplish some God-pleasing labor or virtue, they should attribute it all to the grace of God and to His compassion which gave them the strength to achieve it, and not to themselves, since evil and sin is man's, whereas good and the virtues are given and bestowed freely from God alone, even as He Himself has told us, Without Me, ye can do nothing.

After he had comforted and strengthened his spiritual children with these and other words, the Saint blessed them, and with joy and gladness surrendered his blessed soul into the hands of his Creator and Fashioner. So faithfully and diligently had he labored for the Saviour during his lifetime that he was deemed worthy to hear that longed-for voice, Well done, thou good and faithful servant... enter into the joy of thy Lord. Of the seventy or so years which the Saint lived in this corruptible life, nineteen were spent at his venerable Convent which he built from the foundations up and which he set in order and left as a paternal inheritance to his spiritual children which would live down through the years, even as his testament sets forth in detail. His blessed repose took place in the 1579th year of the Incarnate Dispensation, on the 15th of August,

Since the august Dormition and translation of our Most Holy Lady, the Theotokos, is celebrated on this day, the service of the Saint's repose is chanted on the 16th of the same month. The service of the recovery of his grace-gushing relics, which took place under the supervision of the patriarchal exarch in the year 1581 when Kyr Jeremy sat on the apostolic throne of Constantinople, is chanted on the 20th of October.

Because, however, many of the enemies of our spotless Church (i.e., the Venetian Roman Catholic overlords) were moved to speak words of condemnation and blasphemy, on this account the sacred relics of the Saint were buried again at the recommendation of Kyr Gabriel, the blessed Metropolitan of Philadelphia, and were left in the earth for another eight months. Then the holy relics were uncovered again. To the eternal shame of the enemies of the Faith and to the everlasting joy of the Orthodox, not only were the sacred relics again found whole and intact together with the sacred vestments with which he had been buried, not only did they breathe forth an inexpressible and wondrous fragrance, not only did they bear on themselves all the manifest signs of sanctity and Divine grace, but in addition they became a source of many signs and wonders which the Saint worked and continues to work for those who run to him with faith and reverence; for it was not possible that his great virtue and holiness, nor the power of grace which dwelt in him, should remain hidden. The holy relics were buried for a total of 2 years and 8 months.

WHAT TONGUE can narrate or what pen is sufficient to describe the miracles that took place and unceasingly continue to take place for those who hasten to venerate the Saint's sacred relics with faith and call upon his aid with reverence? Who has run to the grace and help of the Saint with faith and piety and has not been showered freely with benefits by this God-given luminary of our Church? Who has not been witness to his many miracles? Who does not acknowledge the God-bearing Gerasimos as a genuine servant of Christ and most wondrous vessel of the gifts and grace of the All-holy Spirit? Who can deny the fact of his protection and help, especially for the isle of Cephalonia which he manifestly preserved unharmed during the time of slavery and which he saved from captivity during the war between the Venetians and Hagarenes, as well as from that fearsome drought? Again and again, at every time of peril and grieveous affliction, he has been shown to be a fervent intercessor and mighty helper and most loving father.

Out of the numberless miracles which the Saint has performed, we shall mention only a few which we have gathered from exact and infallible documents and unimpeachable eye-witnesses. And this we do, first of all, to the glory of God Who is glorified in His Saints, and secondly, out of gratefulness to the Saint, so that later generations might not be ignorant of his many benefits towards us. And finally, we have set forth the record of the Saint's life and miracles to the glory of and boast of our blameless Orthodox Church and to the utter shame of the unbelievers and blasphemers who seek, like ravaging wolves, to scatter the flock of Christ and bring His words to nought, Behold, I am with you always.

A short time after the repose of the Saint, there came to the convent a woman who was vexed by an unclean spirit. Having come there for the sake of finding healing, she would go daily and fall before the grave of the Saint and fervently beseech him with many supplications to be freed of that unclean spirit which tormented her so grievously.

One night she was troubled so greatly by the man-hating demon that she was dragged and violently carried along by the movement of that wicked spirit which sought her destruction, and she was cast into the well which is in the inner court of the convent. But as one loving and compassionate, the Saint anticipated this and was there with his ready help. At the very moment when the adversary had cast that poor woman into the well, every nun in the convent heard the sweet and familiar voice of the Saint telling them, "Hurry, the demonized woman is in extreme danger and needs help."

All the nuns rose quickly and searched everywhere carefully, yet they were unable to find the unhappy woman anywhere. But at the inspiration of the Saint they looked down into the well, and – Oh, the wonder! – they saw the woman standing on the water as though she were being upheld by someone. She cried to them, "Throw me a rope so that I can come out." They threw her a rope, therefore, and she came out weeping, not from pain, but from joy and gladness and gratefulness to her deliverer. The nuns, who also were weeping and stood around her in amazement, asked her how she had fallen into the well and had been saved unharmed. And she, rejoicing, replied, "My Lady Mothers, as you well understand, it was by the working of the demon that I was pushed and fell into the well. But as soon as I fell in, I saw with my very own eyes a monk who caught me and held me above the water and told me, 'Do not fear; you will suffer no harm, and you have been freed from the unclean spirit.' He spoke these words to me until the moment you found me." Immediately the nuns and the healed woman hastened to the Saint's grave and with tears of joy thanked God and His servant Gerasimos.

IN THE YEAR 1760, when the island was stricken with the plague, the steward of the convent was a certain nun, Akakia by name, who was from the village of Zervata, in the parts of Samis. Her life, even as her name reveals [akakos: "guileless"], was virtuous and free of evil, and therefore all the nuns revered and respected her.

One night, Akakia saw in her sleep that she was in the convent's store room doing her customary work. She turned her eyes towards the icon of the Mother of God that was there and saw a monk kneeling before the holy icon and saying to the All-Holy One, "Is it your will, my Lady, that I chase away the death-bringing plague from this island, over which the compassion and providence of Thy Son and Thy God has appointed me as protector and guardian?" Then Akakia heard a voice which seemed to come from the holy icon and which said to the monk, "Yea, true servant of My God, it is His will that you do this; for I have besought Him concerning this and He has given permission." After this, Akakia saw the monk arise and unwrap a thick cloth which was wound around the staff that he held in his right hand. After he had laid it out, he gathered up with his staff what seemed to be fine strands of cotton from the cloth. When he had gathered it all at the tip of his staff, he went out and scattered it to the wind. At this, Akakia awoke full of joy and gratefulness, and she called all the nuns and told them her dream. Immediately they all ran with joy and tears and chanted the supplicatory canon before the holy icon. They immediately spread the news of the vision so that the terror-stricken people might be comforted and take courage because of the Saint's intervention. But what happened then? Miracle followed upon miracle so that all might be further assured.

A few days before Akakia had seen the vision, a certain woman from the village of Lakethra who was married to the son of John Balsamos Pagulatos, had just returned to her husband's village, Balsamata, after a visit with her parents in Lakethra. On the very night when Akakia saw the dream, this woman also saw a monk in her sleep. In no uncertain terms he told her, "Tomorrow, when you arise in the morning, return without delay to your father's house, lest the whole area be endangered on your account." The woman arose in the morning and told the vision in the presence of all. In order not to disobey and fall into danger herself, she set out for her father's house immediately.

In the meantime, the report of these two visions was spread abroad and was on everyone's lips. The other woman, the wife of John Tsakarisianos of the village of Balsamata, heard these things and refused to believe them. In an audacious manner, she proclaimed openly that both the nuns and the wife of Pagulatos were telling myths and stories. On the following night, she too saw a monk with a staff in his hand. He lifted the staff and struck her on the right side and said to her, "So it is myths and stories that I, by the will of the Theotokos, chased the plague from the island?" The woman awoke terrified and with a pain in her right side, as a proof of the miracle. Wailing and weeping and crying aloud, she confessed the error of her unbelief and her foolish words. Quickly she ran down to the convent and fell before the Saint's reliquary. Lamenting and confessing her sin, she fervently asked forgiveness from the Saint, and also healing of the pain which she still felt in her side.

Hearing the shrieks of the woman, all the nuns ran, and hearing all that had happened to her and seeing the mark of the blow, cried out, "Lord have mercy." Thus there was no longer any doubt that all these things came to pass that the great boldness which the Saint had in the presence of God might be demonstrated and that his powerful and unsleeping protection for the isle of Cephalonia might be shown forth.

All in common, therefore, sent up glory to God and thanks to the Saint because the disease was quenched henceforth and no longer caused anyone harm or evil. Each and everyone was fully assured of the righteous one's sanctity, for even as God himself revealed, the words of the Gospel are applicable to the Saint in truth, "Heal the sick, cast out demons. Freely ye have received; freely give."

IN THE YEAR 1781, they brought to the convent a certain peasant lad named George from the parts of Katouna. He was sorely ill and afflicted and appeared to be insane, but in fact, he was possessed by a demon. At times he became incoherent and great weakness would overcome him as well as paralysis of his whole body, so that he was a wretched and pitiable spectacle to behold. He remained for one year in the convent without receiving any healing for himself.

Then, one day, when the priest who was about to serve the Liturgy that day was going to the church, he saw George sitting outside the church and weeping bitterly. Being moved with compassion, the priest said to him, "What is the matter, George, that you weep?" "What is the matter?" replied he, "I have been here for so long and my condition has not improved at all. I see so many others who came after me and who have received healing and return well to their homes and I, the hapless one, seeing that in so much time the Saint has not shown his mercy to me, how is it that I should not weep and lament?"

Saying these things, the unfortunate boy wept so earnestly that the priest, feeling even greater compassion for him, ran quickly and revealed these things to the spiritual elder of the convent. He too, being moved with compassion, and also being inspired by God most assuredly, called George immediately and said to him, "I also cannot understand this matter regarding you, my child, because, glory be to the Saint, no one who has come here has returned to his house without first having been healed. You yourself have seen how many have come here since you came, and all, to the glory of God and the Saint, have departed well and rejoicing. Is there, perhaps, some sin, my child, which you have not confessed out of forgetfulness or ignorance on your part, and this is the cause that the grace of God is hindered from working for you by the intercessions of the Saint?"

With even more tears, George said to him, "Holy father, I know of nothing else, except that when I was stricken with this illness, I went to one Moslem woman concerning whom all in our village say that she can work many cures. She gave me this amulet to keep." Having said this, he took out the amulet and gave it to the abbot, who unwound it and found a knotted thread inside which was wrapped around a small piece of paper upon which Arabic letters were written. Immediately, then, the elder, still holding the amulet, took the ailing lad by the hand, and together they went and opened the Saint's reliquary.

After he had admonished George as was proper, he told him to prostrate himself with true contrition and ask forgiveness from the Saint. After the Liturgy, when all the nuns and all that were present were gathered together, he made George burn that accursed am let himself in the presence of all (for many had come that day, to attend the Divine Liturgy, certainly, but also to learn in detail the things concerning George, since word had gone out).

After the Divine Liturgy, all in common chanted the supplicatory canon with reverence and faith, beseeching the Saint to intercede on George's behalf so that he might receive forgiveness and healing from God. Afterwards the abbot again took him, and having made him steadfast in faith, left him there in the church. When all the aforesaid events had taken place, George took courage and was filled with hope, and he stayed in the church praying to the Saint as well as he knew and as well as he could, so that the Saint might show mercy to him.

That very night, while George was sleeping in the church, it seemed to him as though the Saint's reliquary opened and he saw the Saint, who raised his right hand and blessed him, saying, "George, you are healed of your sickness. Only have fear of God and take care henceforth to keep yourself from sin." Immediately George awoke and ran and fell before the holy relics and thanked the Saint with tears. At that very moment the semantron sounded for Orthros and the priest came to the church. All the nuns gathered also and they saw George prostrate before the reliquary and glorifying the Saint. When he saw that they had come into the church, he arose immediately and with a clear voice and befitting gratefulness told all of the Saint's compassion on him and of all the things that he had seen in his vision. All glorified God fervently, and from that time on George was healed. He left the next day for his country rejoicing and thanking the Saint and everywhere proclaiming to all the miracle which the Saint had worked for him.

OUT OF THE numberless miracles which the Saint has worked, my beloved Christians, let these be sufficient to satisfy the piety of the faithful. Our divine father Gerasimos has no need of human praises and encomiums; he is sufficiently glorified with the glory of God, which alone is able to fill the soul with true joy and gladness, according to the word of the divine David, I shall be filled in beholding Thy glory. All these things that have been written, my beloved brethren, were written for our benefit and instruction. For this cause, we shall be without defense before the terrible judgement seat of God, when after all these examples, after all these indisputable miracles which the Lord God has worked through His saints, we be found ungrateful and unmoved by the benefits which He has bestowed on us so abundantly.

Wherefore, let us take care henceforth to correct our life. Let us not gather at festivals, celebrating as the heathen do with shouts and tumult, eating and drinking, and with adornments of the flesh, for which things we receive not benefits and blessings, but a curse and separation from God and His saints. Nay, rather, let us celebrate with modesty and humbleness of heart. Let us ever be mindful that the form of this world is passing away, that is, that one day we shall descend into the tomb; for we are strangers and sojourners in this world. The present time, brethren, is a time of toil and labor; the time to come is a time of recompense, either of rewards or of punishments. Each one of us shall stand alone before the terrible and unerring Judge Who does not take into account the person of a man. Each one shall come bearing his deeds, whether good or evil, and we shall give an exact account to God concerning the grace and the benefits which He bestowed on us and how we responded to them and used them. Since our miserable life is an unceasing struggle against our three fearsome and deadly foes, that is, the flesh, the world, and the devil, let us seek through our faith and reverence to acquire this radiant light of the Church as an intercessor and mediator with God in our behalf.

Yea, O divine Gerasimos, even as things inform us, thou hast great boldness with God. Do thou entreat Him, by thy supplications which are well-pleasing to Him, that He may deem even us unworthy ones as worthy of His divine grace, whereby we shall be able to escape the snares and attacks of these our three deadly foes, and that we may be able to pass the tempestuous sea of this life in peace, according to His divine will, and that we too, though unworthy, may be accounted worthy of His boundless glory and kingdom. Amen.