Elder Eumenios (in the world, Constantine
Saridakis) was born January 1, 1931 in the Cretan village of Efia, to the
family of the pious George and Sofia Saridakis. He was the eighth and last
child in this poor family, which lost its breadwinner early. The difficult
years of Nazi occupation in Greece did not allow little Constantine to receive
an elementary education. Nevertheless, the boy stood out not only for his
intelligence but also for his special piety. A wondrous event had a decisive
influence on the future elder’s choice of path in life. It happened in 1944.
During a festive dinner an extraordinary, blinding radiance appeared, which, as
Fr. Eumenios later related, penetrated deep into his soul. Amazed and shaken by
the divine light, the youth cried out, “I will become a monk!” Constantine’s
path in life was foreordained. As the elder himself said, “If a person has a
calling from God for something good, then God works and helps him.”
In 1951, Constantine Saradakis entered
the monastery of Prophet Elias not far from his village. In that monastery,
besides the abbot there labored two elderly, blind monks, whom the young novice
served with great love. Three years later Constantine received the monastic
tonsure with the name Sophronios.
In 1954, Monk Sophronios was recruited
into the army, as was mandatory according to Greek laws of the time. Just as in
the monastery, in the army the young monk did not disdain to do any kind of
work, showing respect and obedience to his superiors, but at the same time
trying to fulfill his monastic duties as well. But in the army Fr. Sophronius
was hit by a great temptation, accompanied by demonic attacks—he got a fever
that would not go down despite all the doctors’ efforts. The drafted monk was
transferred to Thessalonica in serious condition, and there they found the
terrible cause of this strange illness: leprosy! Thanking the Lord for this
heavy cross, the sick monk was taken to the Athens leprosy hospital, where
fortunately the treatment was successful and he completely recovered. But
having tasted the bitter taste of that terrible illness, he decided to remain
in the leper colony and serve the suffering. And there were over 500 of them in
that hospital! The hospital administration gave the monk a small hut near the
hospital church dedicated to Sts. Cosmos and Damian. It was here that the elder
spent the rest of his life. The monk spent his days in the leper colony in
spiritual ascetic labors, in care for the bed-ridden lepers, and in church
services.
It was a great blessing for Fr.
Sophrony to meet St. Nicephoros the Leper, who was infected with leprosy while
still very young and lived for forty-three years in the leper colony on Chios.
In 1957, St. Nicephoros, by then blind and nearly paralyzed, was transferred to
the Athens leprosy hospital. Until his repose in 1964, St. Nicephoros was Fr.
Sophrony’s spiritual guide, and the latter took care of the saint with great
love until the end of the saint’s days.
In 1975, the forty-four-year-old monk
was ordained a priest with the name Eumenios and became the father confessor to
the leprosy hospital, which became a hospital for acute infections.
Having
lived more than a half century in his humble hovel in the hospital yard, the
elder ceaselessly served God and people—hearing confessions, serving at the
holy altar, consoling, giving advice in complicated situations, working
miracles and healing both spiritual and physical illnesses. Despite the serious
illnesses that he also suffered, a smile never left the elder’s face, and
boundless love for God and all people shone in his eyes. According to
eye-witnesses, clairvoyance, working miracles, and seeing the saints were all
ordinary business and par for the course for Fr. Eumenios. Generously endowed
with grace-filled gifts of the Holy Spirit, the elder “hid himself”
successfully behind the walls of the hospital. St. Porphyrios of Kapsokalyvia,
who sometimes went to Fr. Eumenios for confession, called him a “hidden saint
of our days”.
After
the fall of the communist regime in the USSR, Fr. Eumenios and his spiritual
son, now Bishop Neophytos of Morphou (Cypriot Orothdox Church), made a
pilgrimage trip to Kiev, Moscow, and St. Petersburg, where with great reverence
he venerated the holy tomb of Holy Righteous John of Kronstadt. After returning
to Athens, the elder’s health problems worsened: diabetes, weak vision, kidney
problems and problems with his legs, which the doctors proposed to amputate.
Battling against death over the next few years, the elder never interrupted his
pastoral service of receiving a never-ending stream of people. In 1992, for his
service to the Church, Fr. Eumenios was awarded the rank of archimandrite. In
1999 the elder was hospitalized in the “Evangelismos” hospital in Athens, where
on May 23 he gave his soul into the hand of God. The blessed elder’s body was
buried in his native village of Efia. In our days, at the prayers and
intercession of the blessed elder Eumenios, the Lord works a multitude of
miracles of healings and spiritual consolation for the sick and suffering.
Gevorg Kazaryan
Translation by Nun Cornelia (Rees)
Translation by Nun Cornelia (Rees)
7/5/2018
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