Shortly before the year 2000, my mother came over to my house and said, “Son, a few blocks away there is a distressed family with two elementary school girls. They need to live with their grandmother because they are going through a terrible ordeal. Their father, who is about your age, is a drug addict. I know his mother. Please drop by to see what you can do, because his wife and his mother told me that he is in his last days.”
“And what do you think I can do, mom? I can hardly keep up with my own dirty messes, and now all of a sudden you think I can help others?”
“Come on, my boy, you need to go; please, don’t upset me.”
The next day, I complied with my mother’s wish. With the blessing of my mother and my spiritual father, I prayed briefly and said, “My Panaghia, I will go, but you lead and I will follow.” When I arrived at the home, his mother welcomed me with a hug and a kiss. Then she drew me aside, and while she wept, she explained her Golgotha and the heavy cross the entire family had had to bear. As she was unfolding their very painful family drama to me, occasionally, she would use her apron to wipe her eyes. The poor woman had suffered so much all these years. She had gone to various neighborhoods and local businesses to borrow money to help her son get his drugs. What pain this mother had endured! What a Golgotha! What crises families in similar situations must be going through! I couldn't endure so much pain. I hugged her, and told her to have her hope and faith in Christ. When I went to the other room, and I saw her son lying in bed, the truth is that I wasn’t prepared for it; I was shocked. I went to give him my hand, but he couldn’t even exchange a handshake, because his fingers had become deformed. I grabbed him from the wrist and attempted to speak to him, but he would fade in and out of consciousness. With a little patience, however, we became acquainted and shared a few words.
“My brother, I am your neighbor,” I told him “I don’t know you, of course, but you don't know me either. So, since we have become acquainted now, what do you say, can we help one another?”
“It’s too late for me, Thanasi,” he told me in a whispering voice, “I am in the last stage. There is no recovery for me. The doctors can't do anything.”
“Humanly, yes, we agree, but don’t forget the power and grace of our God; what is impossible for man is possible for God” (cf. Luke 18:27).
“I believe in God, Thanasi, but I have fallen into a snake pit. I have made repeated efforts to detoxify myself for many years now but all in vain. I know that I upset my mother, my wife and especially my children. What can I do? I’m not to blame. It’s the deprivation of heroin.”
“So fine, since you believe that you are in a pit with snakes, stretch out your hand and ask the help of Christ. He is the only one who is able to take you out of this pit.”
“What must I do; and how?”
And he faded out again. I needed to wait a few minutes, for him to regain consciousness. In the meantime, I prayed and said, “My Christ, is he listening to what I’m telling him? Can he even think, understand, or remember? Please Lord, only You are able to help us, especially me.” A few moments later, he opened his eyes, and we spoke a bit more. In the end I told him, “I need to leave you now, my brother. The next time I come, if you like, I can bring a priest to read some prayers over you. I think this will do you much good.”
“Yes, Thanasi, I will wait for you. Bring the priest also. I don’t have a problem with that.”
When I came out of the room, there in the hall, I met his wife and their two charming little girls for the first time. They had red swollen eyes. As soon as they saw me they lowered their heads, probably out of shame for the condition of their father. I don’t know, but my heart went out to these little innocent girls; I shared their pain and loved them very much from the first moment. I talked for quite a while with his wife. We said many things, and the poor woman was constantly crying. I left in shambles.
Two days later, I went to his home with a priest, and he read some prayers of Saint Basil over him. I will not forget that I needed to hold him from the shoulder, so he wouldn’t fall down. At the end, we told him what his next steps were. He needed to go confess with sincere repentance, to be able to commune, to take Christ in him so that he could be strengthened.
By the grace of God, my friends, he accepted all this joyfully. Not only he, but his entire family, even his little girls came and confessed to Father , filled with joy and hope for a new beginning. When everyone was finished, Father pulled me aside and told me, “Thanasi, this man needs all the help he can get; do as much as you can for him, because he is in dire straits, he is not at all well. He needs to recover for the sake of his family. Under the circumstances, he has my blessing to receive Holy Communion whenever he is able.”
“Yes father, he’s going down fast, but please let me share a thought with you.”
“Go ahead, speak up.”
“This coming Sunday, I am thinking of going to church as a family to the monastery of Saint Nicodemos at Goumenissa. I will go with Glykeria, and the young man and his wife. Allow me also to take my friend Savvas, the paralytic, with me, so he can envelop us in prayer. On Monday, with your blessing, I'd like for all three of us to venture to the Monastery of Vatopedi, Mount Athos, for all of us to venerate the Precious Belt of our Panaghia. I will make all the necessary arrangements with the fathers.”
“Very well, but are you sure you can manage all this?”
“I cannot without God’s grace and your blessing and prayers.”
“Do accordingly, however God enlightens you. As far as I am concerned I bless you with all my heart.”
Then I proceeded to relay to the lad and his wife my ideas, to see if they would agree. They joyfully accepted my suggestions, especially his wife who responded with tears of joy, perhaps because a gleam of hope was finally on the horizon. I then turned to her husband and firmly told him, “My brother, I ask you, and I beg you. Between now and Sunday, while preparing yourself for Holy Communion at St. Nicodemos monastery and during the days of our pilgrimage to Mount Athos, don’t even think about using heroin.”
“Listen, Thanasi, I will speak to you with all sincerity, especially since I just confessed. I give you my word, here and in the presence of my wife, that I will not use heroin. I will take some kind of opiate substitute, so that I can stand on my feet. If I don’t do this, my bones will be creaking. My temple blood vessels will begin to burst; I will scream uncontrollably, because the pain is excruciating at the final stage of heroin addiction.”
“What are these substitutes?”
“They come in the form of pills[1], and they help me to stand on my feet.”
“Mr. Thanasi, don’t worry. I will be very careful, and I will not let him leave from my sight. I promise you,” his wife told me.
So, early Sunday morning, we all headed out. Savvas, my paralytic friend, was sitting in the front seat, and I asked him to pray unceasingly. The young man in the back however was sweating profusely and nonstop. The sweating continued and several times during the Divine Liturgy we had to exit the Church so he could catch his breath. I made sure always to be at his side to console him and help him as needed.
Soon enough, the voice of the priest was heard, “With the fear of God, with faith and love, draw near”; I held him by the arm and we waited for all others to commune first. Then as we slowly walked towards the chalice, I turned to the large icon of the Virgin Mary and silently asked her, “My Virgin Mary, please, help us to commune today and be with us as we travel to your perivoli[2] tomorrow." It seems that my prayer was heard.
That morning, everything went well at the monastery, thank God. The Abbot, who sensed the gravity of the situation, and learned that we would be leaving the next day for the Holy Mountain, was quite moved. Upon our departure, he walked towards the lad and prayed and said in a loud voice, “May Angels accompany you." His poor wife couldn’t control her tears all day long.
The next morning, we took a taxi, and all three of us arrived at the bus station[3]. I helped the young man onto the bus, and guided him to the open seats toward the back. I then lifted Savva the paralytic on my back, carried him onto the bus and placed him next to the young man. I reminded Savva to continue with unceasing prayer.
While on the bus and later on the ferry boat, we were able to discuss various nice things. The lad was listening to me carefully although he was sweating quite a bit due to acute withdrawal symptoms. He was constantly wiping his sweat, and he struggled to stay on his feet. In less than two hours we disembarked and continued on a minibus towards Vatopedi. The driver dropped us off a few hundred yards outside of the monastery. I looked around for some help but there was no one in sight. It was very difficult to roll the wheelchair on an uphill gravel road. I remember holding the lad with one hand, and pushing the wheelchair with the other. I will not be ashamed to tell you that my tears were running, while I was pleading to the Virgin Mary, silently saying to her, “My dear Mother, help me first, and then my brethren because I am the sickest one of all." When we entered inside the gates of monastery, it was noon, and everyone was resting. There were many stairs for us to climb. I first helped the lad up the stairs and then I lifted up the paralytic on my shoulders since there was no other solution at the moment. Finally I went back down once more to bring up the wheelchair.
When we found the Archondari[4], he received us with much love. We had notified the fathers about the purpose of our visit a few days prior. They were happy to see us because Savvas and I had visited Vatopedi before.
When we got settled in a room, another monk came and told me, “Thanasi, the Geronta (Abbot) wants to see you." I immediately went to him, did a prostration and received his blessing. We talked for quite a while, about the condition of the lad. The Abbot was very moved, asked that we write down our names, and promised to commemorate us during forty successive liturgies[5]. He asked us to come to one of the chapels in the afternoon, to venerate the Holy Relics and the Precious Belt (of the Virgin Mary). Upon entering the church, the father told the lad to kneel so that he could place the Precious Belt on his head, and to pray over him. I sat back and savored every second of this most beautiful hour. These were truly heavenly moments. When the priest finished with the young man he asked the paralytic to bow and receive the Precious Belt on his head as well. Then the father took the Belt, and went to leave. While he was preparing to depart, I asked him, “Father, please, don’t deprive me of this blessing, because I am the sickest one in the group. My body is healthy, but my soul is paralyzed." The father turned back, looked at me with a blank stare, and asked, “What’s your name, my son?”
“Thanasi.”
“Kneel, Athanasios[6], and may you have all the blessings of our Virgin Mary.”
The very Belt of the Virgin Mary was now resting on my head! What an indescribable feeling this was. I have no words even to begin to tell you what this felt like. Even if I did, you would not be able to understand it.
This was such an uplifting and truly beneficial pilgrimage. When we returned home, I went to find Father, to inform him how things went. He was very pleased and said, “Thanasi, don’t worry, the Virgin Mary will do her miracle." After this the recovering young man, stayed close to Fr. Triantafyllos[7] and continued to go to holy Confession, with his entire family.
Now, I am sure you are probably anxious to find out what happened to this young man and his family. Well, he is well, very well. The same man who could hardly even exchange a handshake, nor stand on his feet without being held, now returned to his old job of hard physical labor, and even works overtime. The smile returned to his family, especially to his charming little girls. They were no longer ashamed of their father at school. More importantly, he returned to our Christ. For this we are ever so grateful to the blessing of our Virgin Mary, to the supplications of the fathers, and to the prayer of the paralytic.
[1] The irony is that most people come to this sad position because of these prescribed painkillers. Dentists and doctors often overprescribe opium derivatives such as oxycodone (Oxycontin, Percocet), hydrocodone (Vicodin, Norco), codeine, morphine, etc., for pain management. These are usually highly addictive and when these prescriptions expire, a high percentage of their victims turn to heroin which is rather inexpensive in its beginning stages but later becomes very costly and deadly as its addictive qualities totally enslave the human organism. Overdosing is now the leading cause of accidental death in the United States, accounting for more deaths than traffic fatalities or gun homicides and suicides. Fatal overdoses from opiate medications such as oxycodone, hydrocodone, and methadone have quadrupled since 1999, accounting for an estimated 16,651 deaths in 2010.
[2] According to tradition the Virgin Mary and St. John the Evangelist were on a ship to visit Lazarus who was serving as a Bishop in Cyprus. Along the way, the weather became severe, and the swollen waves carried the boat north to the present location of the monastery of Iveron, on the Athonite peninsula. The Virgin Mary was truly enchanted by the paradisiacal beauty of this location so she asked her Son to gift it to her. This is why, to this day, the Holy Mountain is the exclusive “Garden of the Panaghia” and no other female-human or animal-is permitted to set foot on it.
[3] Mt. Athos is not accessible by land so visitors and pilgrims must travel to Ouranoupolis (150 km from Thessaloniki), the last seaport with frequent ferry boat rides to Dafne, the central access point to the one-thousand year-old monastic community with twenty major monasteries and their dependencies. At present there are approximately 2000 monks on the Holy Mountain.
[4] The monk in charge of guest accommodation.
[5] The most important of all Orthodox services, also called Holy Eucharist.
[6] Thanasi, the nickname for Athanasios (immortal), changes the meaning of this dogmatic Christian name from immortal to mortal. This is precisely why the Father used Athanasi’s baptismal name.
[7] Triantafyllo (thirty petals), is the Greek word for rose.
CZ
During a morning shift, a few months ago, I was driving back and forth on a central road, looking for my next customer, as taxi drivers often do. It was 11am, and for some reason work was surprisingly slow. I kept circling the neighborhood, but to my dismay there wasn’t a customer in sight. I made one final effort without any success, so feeling a bit disheartened, I moved over to a new neighborhood. As I was driving down the central road, a lady jumped in front of me shouting “Taxi, taxi, please, stop! I want you to help my parents.”
When I heard the word “help”, my mind went to either very heavy suitcases, or to some very elderly people with special needs. I was wrong on both accounts, even though, they were elderly. The father, I found out after they entered my taxi, was eighty-five years old. He sat in the front seat. The eighty-year-old mother, along with the daughter, sat in the back.
I was waited for them to give me their destination address, but no one was speaking, so I turned around and asked, “Excuse me, where are we going?” The daughter answered with, “My mother wants to tell you something.”
I looked to the elderly lady and asked, “Tell me where you want me to take you.”
“Look my son, we were told that in this neighborhood there is a very good sorcerer, and we want you to help us find him.”
“A sorcerer? And what do we wish to accomplish with the sorcerer, yiayia?”[1]
The daughter suddenly intervened, broke down in tears, asking, “Forgive me my good man; what’s your name?”
“My name is Thanasi.”
“Look, Mr. Thanasi, and please forgive me for crying, but for some time now our household has been going through a terrible drama because my mother believes that someone cast a spell on her. From dawn until dusk, she accuses, swears, and curses at my father because she believes that he may have angered these people who cast the spell on her. This unjust Mr. Thanasi because my father, as you can easily see, is a blameless lamb. He is meek, humble, full of love, and he bears the curses and the daily humiliation of my mother, not only now, but for as long as I can remember. Never once did I hear him rendering back the slightest recompense against my mother. He bears them all, and for many years now.”
I turned to look at the papou, and I was sincerely impressed by his demeanor. He hadn’t opened his mouth to say one word or to offer even the slightest complain. The poor fellow seemed sullen, his hands were crossed, and his face was downcast. He reminded me a bit of my reposed father.
“This morning,” the daughter continued, “was the worst. My mother started again at dawn with her usual refrain: ‘Unless you take me to a sorcerer I will lose my mind, I will go crazy. I can’t take it anymore. Don’t you understand that only a sorcerer can free me from these terrible spells? Now take me to him! Take me to him!’
Unable to help her, in the end, my father and I gave in to her demands. We took to the streets to find a cab driver to lead us to the door of a sorcerer, but instead he dropped us off at the spot where you picked us up. The last driver was clueless. I don’t know what else to do to help my mother. I am truly desperate. Is there anything you can do to help us?”
After the daughter unfolded the tale of her family’s drama, I asked her to give me some time to talk to her mother, without intervening and interrupting.
I pulled the car off to the side, turned off the engine, and said a quick little prayer and said, “My Christ please give me a few words to say to these souls because I am very weak, and this is well beyond my capabilities.” I then turned to see for myself if she was in her right mind, taking into account all that was said. To my surprise, not only was she well, but this yiayia was sharp as a tack. She also seemed to be fairly well educated.
“My yiayia, please tell me, what do you think is the main cause of your troubles?”
“Look, my dear Thanasi, my daughter has already told you. We heard that somewhere in this vicinity, there is a very good sorcerer. We asked across the street, at the café, but no one knows a thing about this. We thought you, being a taxi driver, might know where he is located. So please take us to him and we will pay you extra. I need to put a stop to this torture inside of me; I can’t take it anymore.” She began crying.
“My dear yiayia, you are asking me to take you to a sorcerer? It is a good thing I don’t know where any of those charlatans may be. Even if I did know, I would be committing the greatest of crime if I were to take you. I would be doing you the greatest of evils. Then, you would see what real torture means. May God forbid such evil! Now, please tell me, what exactly makes you think that you may be a victim of sorcery.
“Look here on my arm,” she pleaded. “My whole body is the same way. I am a hundred percent sure that they have cast a spell on me. That’s why I want you to hurry and take us to the local sorcerer- so he can remove it.”
“I don’t see anything on your hand, but since you insist so much, I’ll take you. Now, answer me this before we go, if you don’t mind, how is your standing with the church?”
“Good, very good. I am a Christian Orthodox woman, I believe in God; although, I haven’t gone to church for a long time.”
“Since you claim that you are in very good standing with the church, and you say that you believe in God, how do you reconcile the church with sorcery? I don’t get it, these two are diametrically opposite. Haven’t you ever heard my good yiayia ‘No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other (Matthew 6:24)?’ ”
“We cannot have two bosses. Either we are with the church, or with the sorcerers. Either we are with Christ, or with the devil. There is no middle ground. On the Day of Judgment, my yiayia, each person will be compensated by his own boss. Are we working for Christ? We will be rewarded with eternal life, eternal joy, inexpressible joy, and glory. Or are we working for the devil? We would be paid with eternal hell. As Revelation tells us, 'And in those days men will seek death and will not find it; they will long to die and death will fly from them’ (Rev. 9:6). In other words, the damned people will seek death to be liberated from their torture, but there will be no such thing. They will be living this torture eternally, without being able to be delivered, because they themselves selected it. They stubbornly maintained their pride and their thick egotism, refusing to repent. No one will be damned, because he is sinful, but because he chose not to repent. I remember a priest telling me, ‘My Thanasi, I pray that no one ends up in hell, not even the rocks, let alone people.’ So do you understand, my yiayia, what dangerous doors you are about to enter?”
I continued, “I will ask you one more thing, because I truly care about you. “Have you ever been to holy Confession?”
“Yes, I have, but it was a long time ago.”
“May I ask, how long?”
“It has been about four or five years for me and for papou[2], from what I can remember, it has been about a year and a half.”
When I heard, my friends, that this woman was once going to church, and that she had her spiritual father, I immediately realized that the devil had set up shop here. How can we get rid of the devil, now when he had the yiayia hooked. As you also may know, my friends, when we make a stand, and I mean a spiritual stand, the devil doesn’t lose any opportunity to rush back in, enraged, to claim the rights we once gave him. He will not only bite us but devour us, and even then he will not be satiated. He is so hateful, that he cannot be evicted without two things: the sincere repentance of the person, followed by confession to a priest. The devil doesn't bother those who are indifferent, and even less those in heresies, such as the false witnesses of Jehovah, the Pentecostals, the Evangelicals, the Mormons; and the Seventh Day Adventists, Muslims, Buddhists, and the Hindus. The devil does not trouble them because they are his. He already has them under his wing, so why would he bother with them? The devil dictates, and they listen.
You, however, the Orthodox Christian, baptized in the name of the Holy Trinity, and struggling for the cleansing of passions and development of virtues, you are a target. In other words, you are struggling for your salvation, and he wants to prevent it. Orthodox Christians are like live fish that are going against the current of the river. The devil isn’t interested in dead fish. He’s not concerned about them, because they belong to him. He wants to catch the live ones.”
I tried to use various examples to help the elderly lady to understand, that it was the devil who planted in her mind these thoughts of being victimized by sorcery, and it was so he could take her under his control.
In spite of all my words and examples, and her daughter’s disapproval, the yiayia was adamant, refusing to listen to anything or anyone.
As Greek Orthodox taxi drivers, hang a Crucifix from our rear-view mirrors. It caught my attention and, enlightened by Him at that moment, I took the Crucified One in my fist and I shouted from the top of my lungs, “Listen Christ, You are you so weak, so small and insignificant that we have come to the conclusion that you can no longer help us. Since you are not able to do anything, we have decided to abandon you and go to the sorcerers to solve our problems, since you are not able to do anything. Good bye Lord; we are leaving You!"
These words given to me by the enlightenment of the All Holy Spirit at that very crucial moment acted like sticks of dynamite. This dynamite blew up whatever sinful construction the devil was attempting to build in this soul. The devil begins such construction whenever we give him the right of way and distance ourselves from Christ, His Church, and the power of His mysteries.
How I wish that I had a video camera to record this most beautiful scene in the taxi! Words cannot capture such moments. The daughter began crying profusely and thanking God, her head in her hands. The yiayia raised her little arms towards heaven and shouted, “My God, my God! What man did you send us?” The papou lifted up his hand to wipe tears of joy from his eyes. I wonder how many years he had been waiting for this very moment!
Now that the yiayia seemed to recover a bit from her daze and the delusion of the devil, I took hold of her hand and told her, “Do you understand now, my dear one, what you were setting out to do? You were on your way to pay the sorcerer to tie a time bomb around your waste.”
“I know it, I know it, my dear Thanasi; and I thank God that He sent you before us. May I also tell you something strange that happened before you pulled over for us?”
“Yes, please, tell me.”
“Before you stopped for us, four empty taxis passed us by.”
“Yes, yes, Mr. Thanasi, my mother is telling you the truth.”
“I was assured even more when the papou spoke and said, “Yes, my lad, believe me, four vacant taxis passed in front of us, and not a single one stopped as if we were totally invisible! What a strange phenomenon!”
When I heard these words, I was truly shaken. Then it became clear to me why I exhausted myself going up and down the streets of the previous neighborhood, unable to find a customer. The hand of God was in this. Oh, my friends, these are indescribable moments; such moments will stay with me for the rest of my life.
Overtaken by love and joy, I turned to them and said, “The first thing we need to do now is to retrace our footsteps back to the spiritual father.”
“Yes, my dear Thanasi, you are right; we will go next week.”
“No, my yiayia, we should not wait until next week. By next week the devil and his demons will run circles around us, and have us tangled up all over again with his crafty techniques of procrastination and self justification. He will whisper to you that everything is normal, and what you did isn’t even significant. The devil will use every possible craft to keep us disconnected from the mysteries of the Church. My suggestion is that I take you back to your home, so all of you can rest and relax for a few hours. In the afternoon, after I finish my work, God willing, I will return so we can all go together to your spiritual father. Are we all in agreement?”
“You will do this great favor for us, my dear Thanasi?”
“It will be my honor to accompany you as if you were my own beloved mother.”
“Yes, but our spiritual father, from what I remember, has moved to a village outside of the city.”
“Don’t worry my dear; we will go and the ride is on me for the love of our Christ.”
At the end of my last sentence the entire family was once again moved to tears. As the daughter was crying, she explained that she had not been to confession since her childhood, and that was only once; but she vowed to be the first one to open her heart to the father confessor.
So we headed back to their home with the understanding that in the afternoon we would all go to meet the spiritual father. They gave me the priest's telephone number, so that I could make the arrangements. I called him, and said, “Father John, your blessing. My name is Thanasi and I’m a taxi driver. Earlier in the day, I picked up some spiritual children of yours [and I mentioned the family name]. Do you remember them?”
“Yes of course, I remember them, but I haven’t seen them in a long time.”
“Please, I hope and pray that you can meet with us this afternoon. Something disastrous was about to happen, but the grace of God intervened and protected us just in the nick of time. Now they’d like to come to you for confession.”
“I will be pleased to see them; I will wait for you this afternoon in the village.”
After a few hours, when I returned the taxi to the station, I took my personal car, and we all set out together for the priest’s village. Along the way, we discussed beautiful and soul benefiting things about how a Christian must confess, above all, with sincere repentance. At one point I turned to the daughter and said, “The time has come for you, my dear. This is your special time, so don’t lose this opportunity.”
“No, Mr. Thanasi, no,” she replied. “From the moment we met, it has been the only thing on my mind. I know that our meeting is not by chance. This not only concerns my parents, but me as well. Apparently, my own hour is also before me: I feel eager to go to confession.”
When we arrived, the presvytera received us with much love. Then, the priest came to greet us and we hastened to receive his blessing. Afterwards, we sat together on the veranda, and had a general conversation concerning the traps of sorcery.
The spiritual father offered us beautiful words of wisdom. He spoke to us about the many interspersed traps of the devil, not excluding the one that he set to plague this family. He reprimanded the elderly lady in a spiritual and loving way. He made her understand that the great evil that she was about to bring upon her entire family, by seeking the services of a sorcerer, was due to apostasy: the distancing from the mystery of repentance and confession. After this brief and edifying sermon, all three took their turn in the confessional, exiting with joy and peace painted on their faces, and with promises that they would now do this more often. At the end, we received a final blessing from the priest, thanked his wife for her love and care, and headed back home.
When we arrived outside their home, I parked and got out to assist the elderly. Then, when the time of my departure came, the papou broke down crying. He cried hysterically, opened his arms, and hugged me, saying, “My dear Thanasi, let me kiss you, let me kiss you, my boy, please.” While we hugged each other, I told him, “I need to kiss you, my father, because I love you very much and I am so happy that I have met you." The papou didn’t want to let go of me. He was crying like a little child. Then, it was the yiayia’s turn. She also came crying to hug me, saying, “My dear Thanasi, I thank you, I thank you from the bottom of my heart. If you only knew how much joy you have given us!”
“Not I, my sweet yiayia,” I said, “Not I, but the grace of God.”
She hugged me, kissed me, and heaped upon me a thousand blessings. I thanked her kindly, and told her that I also wanted to ask her a favor.
“Whatever you want, my dear Thanasi, whatever you want!”
“I would like to ask only one thing: I would like you to stop insulting and abusing papou. He is such an angel. Why are you hurting him? You grew old on the same pillow. It is a shame now for you to lose the crown in your golden years.”
“You are right, my son, I give you my word, I will not distress him again.”
Finally the daughter’s turn came. Her eyes running with tears, she squeezed my hand and said, “Mr. Thanasi, I don’t have the words to thank you. What can I say?”
“There is no need to say anything, other than ‘Glory to Thee, Oh God,’ nothing else.”
While driving back to my home, three things stood out in my mind. First, it became clear to me why I went up and down on that road so many times without finding a customer. Second, the warm embrace of this elderly gentleman reminded me of my deceased father who reposed when I served in the military[3]. It has been thirty years since I felt such a warm fatherly hug. The third thing that impressed me was the patience, meekness, and love of this elderly fellow. He acted in a loving, Christ like manner by putting up with the daily abuse, curses, and insults of his wife without any grumbling or thoughts of retribution. Needless to say, my friends, I benefited greatly from this blessed meeting!
[1] Grandmother.
[2] Grandfather
[3] Military service in Greece is mandatory and men must appear on their 18th birthday unless they enter a university at which point they will enlist after graduation.
One morning, a lady, who was quite irate got into my taxi. She was mumbling to herself and cursing the previous taxi driver who forced her out of the vehicle. The poor thing was literally trembling, and in her confusion she even forgot to say good morning.
I asked her, “What’s the matter mam?”
“What’s the matter? I just took a cab from Delphi and asked the driver to take me to the AHEPA Hospital. After I sat down, we hardly traveled a block down the road when he suddenly stopped and told me, “I cannot take you; get out and take another taxi.” When I asked him for an explanation, he gave me a thousand excuses.
“Please” I said, “it is hard to find a taxi at this time, and it is very urgent. I have my mother sick at the AHEPA.” “No,” he told me. “I cannot take you. I have my reasons.”
“We argued for a while, and then he forced me to get out, so here I am? He did all he could to stress me out first thing in the morning, but I am not done with him yet! I recorded his license number and he will see me in court. When my attorney is done with him, I promise you that he will never forget me as long as he lives.
“Do whatever God enlightens you to do. After a few minutes and when she seemed to calm down a bit I said, “Now if you don’t mind I would like to take a moment of your time to offer you my humble opinion and I promise to be brief”.
“I will listen to you, as long as you don’t try to justify him.”
“No. But please hear me out, I think it is worth the trouble.”
“I’m still very upset, but I will listen to you."
“One thing I try to do every morning before I venture out in my field of work is that I kneel and ask God to grant me the virtue of patience and forbearance. This is necessary for everyone of course, but especially for cab drivers, since we have to deal with so with so many different types of people. So, in the morning at the start of my day’s work, the first customer who enters the cab typically, makes my life unbearable. He begins grumbling, treating me unjustly, accusing me and insulting me for no reason at all. Instinctively, I soon find myself becoming angry, enraged, and ready to explode. At that very moment however, I hear Christ mystically telling me, “Hey, Thanasi, why are you so upset? Didn’t you ask me this morning to grant you forbearance? So here, I allowed this customer to enter into your taxi to serve as your spiritual mirror. Thanks to him you have a full diagnosis of your inner state, and the type of serpents that reside there, my Thanasi. These creepy things [passions] don’t go away with sweet talk and praises, but by patiently enduring hardships, afflictions and insults.
Based on this, the miserable customer who entered my taxi this morning became my best benefactor. Without realizing it, he did the greatest service to me. He brought my old evil and deeply rooted passions to the surface. For this reason, I must not forget to sincerely thank God during my evening prayer and tell him, “My God, I thank you for this man because without meaning to, he acted as a spiritual mirror to help me see the filth that harbors inside me.
It would be nice if you and I could go the nearest grocery store and order ten pounds of love, fifteen pounds of humility, and forty pounds of patience. Unfortunately, these virtues are not available at stores or on Amazon or e-bay. If they were, I would be the first one to purchase them. All these virtues are fruits of the Holy Spirit. They are gained through experiential knowledge; the more a person humbles himself, the more he or she draws the grace of God. All of us are eager for our prayers to be heard by God, when it comes to the healing and well- being of our relatives. However, we usually forget to pray for the well being of our enemies. How can our prayer ascend to heaven when it is lacking the wings of forgiveness and love?” Suddenly, my friends, I heard a noise in the back seat. The lady had just ripped up the paper with the number of my fellow taxi driver. With lips trembling with emotion and tears on her cheeks she asked me, “Do you know what the strange thing is, Mr. Thanasi?
“What?”
“I am a teacher of theology.”
Throughout my career, I have given thousands of hours of religious lessons, but today, I received the most beautiful lesson ever. This is a lesson that I have never given to my students.[1] What a shame! Thank you.”
“Not me, thank God my dear, but, now that we have arrived, I want to ask you for a small favor.”
“Whatever you want, Mr. Thanasi, whatever you want.”
“Before you go to see your mother, as you enter the hospital, at your left hand you will find the hospital chapel.”
“Yes, I know it, I go frequently.”
“Go, and please light a little candle, not for me, nor for your mother, but for the taxi driver who kicked you out. He was the reason we met today. Furthermore, this is what we should do as Orthodox Christians and no one knows this better than you theologians.” With eyes wet with emotion and a trembling voice she told me, “I will do it, Mr. Thanasi. I promise you that I will do it. I thank you from the bottom of my heart because today turned out to be one of the most beautiful days of my life.” She closed the door and left for the hospital. I also rejoiced because she seemed to be quite comforted. “Do you see, my friends, how beautiful life can be? Whenever people mistreat us, instead of taking them to an attorney, let us take them to Christ!
Translator Father N.P.
Editor CZ
Assistant Editor AK
[1] In the country of Greece, Christian education is part of the public school curriculum up to the High School level, taught by lay academic theologians and occasionally by priests.
I arrived at the address and honked the horn.
After waiting a few minutes
I walked to the
Door and knocked.
. 'Just a minute', answered a
Frail, elderly voice. I could hear something
Being dragged across the floor.
After
A long pause, the door opened. A small woman in
Her 90's stood before me. She was wearing a
Print dress and a pillbox hat with a veil pinned
On it, like somebody out of a 1940's
Movie.
By her side was a small nylon
Suitcase. The apartment looked as if no one had
Lived in it for years. All the furniture was
Covered with sheets.
There were no
Clocks on the walls, no knickknacks or utensils
On the counters. In the corner was a cardboard
Box filled with photos and
Glassware.
'Would you carry my bag
Out to the car?' she said. I took the suitcase
To the cab, then returned to assist the
Woman.
She took my arm and we walked
Slowly toward the curb.
She kept
Thanking me for my kindness. 'It's nothing', I
Told her.. 'I just try to treat my passengers
The way I would want my mother
Treated.
'Oh, you're such a good
Boy, she said. When we got in the cab, she gave
Me an address and then asked, 'Could you drive
Through downtown?'
'It's not the
Shortest way,' I answered
Quickly..
'Oh, I don't mind,' she
Said. 'I'm in no hurry. I'm on my way to a
Hospice.
I looked in the rear-view
Mirror. Her eyes were glistening. 'I don't have
Any family left,' she continued in a soft
Voice.. 'The doctor says I don't have very
Long.' I quietly reached over and shut off the
Meter.
'What route would you like me
To take?' I asked.
For the next two
Hours, we drove through the city. She showed me
The building where she had once worked as an
Elevator
Operator.
We drove through the
Neighborhood where she and her husband had lived
When they were newlyweds She had me pull up in
Front of a furniture warehouse that had once
Been a ballroom where she had gone dancing as a
Girl.
Sometimes she'd ask me to slow
In front of a particular building or corner and
Would sit staring into the darkness, saying
Nothing.
As the first hint of sun was
Creasing the horizon, she suddenly said, 'I'm
Tired. Let's go now'.
We drove in
Silence to the address she had given me. It was
A low building, like a small convalescent home,
With a driveway that passed under a
Portico.
Two orderlies came out to
The cab as soon as we pulled up. They were
Solicitous and intent, watching her every move.
They must have been expecting her.
I
Opened the trunk and took the small suitcase to
The door. The woman was already seated in a
Wheelchair.
'How much do I owe you?'
She asked, reaching into her
Purse.
'Nothing,' I
Said
'You have to make a living,' she
Answered.
'There are other
Passengers,' I responded.
Almost
Without thinking, I bent and gave her a hug. She
Held onto me tightly.
'You gave an
Old woman a little moment of joy,' she
Said.
'Thank you.'
I squeezed her
Hand, and then walked into the dim morning
Light.. Behind me, a door shut. It was the sound
Of the closing of a life..
I didn't
Pick up any more passengers that shift.
I drove
Aimlessly lost in thought. For the rest of that
Day, I could hardly talk.
What if that woman had
Gotten an angry driver, or one who was impatient
To end his shift?
What
If I had refused to take the run, or had honked
Once, then driven away?
On a quick
Review, I don't think that I have done anything
More important in my life.
We're
Conditioned to think that our lives revolve
Around great moments.
But great
Moments often catch us unaware-beautifully
Wrapped in what others may consider a small
One.
PEOPLE MAY NOT REMEMBER EXACTLY
WHAT YOU DID, OR WHAT YOU SAID ~BUT~THEY WILL
ALWAYS REMEMBER HOW YOU MADE THEM
FEEL.
AMEN....
