He lived prodigally with many sins of the flesh and finally got married. He had 2 boys and one day he went with his family to bathe in the sea.
On the beach,
as he was lying under the umbrella, his little boy says to him:
– Dad, what is
that cross on your chest? And the red letters on him, what do they say?
The father was
shocked by his son's revelation. He asked to go back to their house and there
he locked himself in his room and cried all night...
The next day he
confessed and his spiritual father told him:
- Christ, even
though you have repeatedly and consciously denied Him, still loves you
undiminished! As much as he loved you when you were a monk, he loves you even
more now!
These words hit
him in the philotimos. So he revealed the whole truth to his wife and they
agreed to divorce by mutual consent.
He went back to
the monastery, while his wife later became a nun, after she settled their
children first.
After 17 years,
the son of the monk who had seen the letters on his father's chest visits Mount
Athos and specifically the monastery where his father was a monk, without
knowing it.
He goes to the
abbot of the monastery and asks to confess. After the confession, he asks the
abbot:
– Father, I'm
looking to find my father. He became a monk and for so many years, I don't know
where he is. Can you help me?
The abbot
understood whose son this child was and tried diligently to hide his tears of
emotion and said to him:
- My child, sit
here today and I will be informed and I will tell you tomorrow.
The abbot went
to the monk - father of the son, to inform him and he says:
– My child,
your little son has come to the monastery and is looking for you. Would you
like to see him?
He, clearly
moved and at the same time troubled, told him:
- Elder I saw
my guardian angel and he revealed to me that in 3 days I am leaving for the
other world! Tell my child that he will see me in 3 days! And when I sleep,
then you will reveal to him, that I was his father!
Because I want
to set a rule for myself, for everything I've done in my life...
The act of the
monk, is an act of complete repentance and his refusal, not to see his child,
is superior love!
The abbot went
to the child, convinced him to stay another 3 days in the monastery. At the
funeral that took place in 3 days, the son attended and confessed to the abbot:
- Old man, this
is the first time I've seen such a funeral! This monk is a holy relic! This is
a monk!
And when they
buried him, the abbot made the great revelation to the son:
– My child,
this monk... was your father!!!
Elder Ephraim
of the Skete of Saint Andrew
