Did she personally do something for you with a therapeutic effect?
Continuously! Let me tell you two incidents. When she became bedridden, I had an acute problem in my right shoulder. A bone spur appeared, which hurt the flesh all around and I had unbearable pains and internal bleeding.
I was punctured twice to get the blood out, my arm was immobilized; I was taking medication but nothing. I was disappointed. She could no longer hear and understand. But she understood in another way.
One morning she called for me and said: "Here, take the wooden cross I am wearing and put it on you. Do not wear it until the evil is out of your hand. Then you will give it to me again."
I was in awe that she understood my problem and put the cross on. I was immediately relieved. In a week I had nothing.
But I did not dare take the cross off me. She suddenly said to me, after a long time: "Always wear it! I will put on another cross." So, I was left with her cross.
Recently I had a damaged right knee. Unbearable pains. One of our children, George Kakoulakis, brought me the results of the last exams from PAGNI. The results said "immediate surgery".
I was afraid of the operation but I could not walk. One day I was sitting by her bed. She pulls out her hand like lightning, crosses my knee and then pulled something from my knee and threw it ... she made such movements.
I inform you that since then, my left knee, which was strong, hurts more than my right one. My problem has been fixed, thank God.
Did the villagers there understand her spiritual greatness?
The whole village loved her because no one could say anything against her in the slightest! Of course, they could not understand the depth she had. They did not live what we lived and saw every day.
People are justified. Few spoke badly of her. She understood when she was in bed the moods of some and said: "But what did I do to some and they malign me and call me a false saint? Am I a saint? When did I make myself out to be a saint? As if I make myself out to be a saint! I'm not a saint! I'm wild! I'm the worst of all!"
Have you ever seen the Eldress in sacred moments of prayerful exaltation and rapture?
Every day! Every morning with much reverence I had to wait for her to go through all the icons. She would venerate and chat with the Saints. Then she would take a double-folded icon and pass it over the walker she was holding from top to bottom so that the demons would not touch it.
She could see that they were mocking her and wanted to throw her down. She crossed her bed with her grandfather's cross and all the key points of the house. She rested her head on the table in the middle room and listened with many tears to the Epistle and the Gospel on the ecclesiastical radio station.
Especially when she talked about the Protomartyr Stephen, she burst into tears: "My Stephen, my Stephen, my Stephen." She had seen many of the ecclesiastical events live.
She was shocked by the stoning of Stephen and described every detail to us with tears.
Her sister, the late Lilika, who used to come from somewhere in Heraklion and live with her, told us that every now and then, even at night, she would climb "like a sparrow" on a chair, while she had terrible musculoskeletal problems, and kissed a specific icon of Christ. Eight times, said Lilika, she kissed Him and said: "My love, my desire, my light, my breath ..." etc.
She loved an icon of the Venerable Methodios of Nivritos. He is our local Saint. What kisses she gave it every morning, it cannot be said. I once counted them. She kissed him 120 times and I missed some kisses that I did not manage to count. I asked her why she loves him so much. She answered me: "Because he told me that he is from Rethymno"! This icon, venerated a thousand times and soaked by her tears, is now held by the Bishop of Morphou.
Every afternoon she made her own wonderful prayer of doxology to God. There is a recording. It says a lot.
Before eating, she would go and venerate the many icons that were stuck on her fridge. There she usually conversed with Saint George. She saw the Saints and described them in every detail.
Especially in the last years of her life when she was completely like a little girl at heart and she did not understand that we admired her. She especially posed as being on the horse of Saint George.
"I go up on it," she said, "and it takes me around, but there is no way to transfer images and photos from the mysterious worlds that it takes me to ...."
Did she tell you anything about her fight with the demons?
For this reason alone should a book be written. Terrifying things. Their hair stands up like pins, as young people do now. When she saw a young man with with hair up like pins, she would take him to the sink and wash him. She would ruin it because that's how demons appeared.
They had earrings on their nose, on their tongue, on their navel and paintings everywhere (tattoos). Whatever fashion is going on today or is about to come, she saw it on them.
Their fingers were as long and narrow as the door handle. That's why she never touched the handle. I will not describe the rest so that those who hear this are not afraid.
Did they ever touch her?
Only one night when she got up, they put her under the bed. It was 3 a.m. She pulled the telephone cord and the device fell from a side chair. She remembered my phone number and called me. I went immediately, unlocked the door and picked her up.
Continuously! Let me tell you two incidents. When she became bedridden, I had an acute problem in my right shoulder. A bone spur appeared, which hurt the flesh all around and I had unbearable pains and internal bleeding.
I was punctured twice to get the blood out, my arm was immobilized; I was taking medication but nothing. I was disappointed. She could no longer hear and understand. But she understood in another way.
One morning she called for me and said: "Here, take the wooden cross I am wearing and put it on you. Do not wear it until the evil is out of your hand. Then you will give it to me again."
I was in awe that she understood my problem and put the cross on. I was immediately relieved. In a week I had nothing.
But I did not dare take the cross off me. She suddenly said to me, after a long time: "Always wear it! I will put on another cross." So, I was left with her cross.
Recently I had a damaged right knee. Unbearable pains. One of our children, George Kakoulakis, brought me the results of the last exams from PAGNI. The results said "immediate surgery".
I was afraid of the operation but I could not walk. One day I was sitting by her bed. She pulls out her hand like lightning, crosses my knee and then pulled something from my knee and threw it ... she made such movements.
I inform you that since then, my left knee, which was strong, hurts more than my right one. My problem has been fixed, thank God.
Did the villagers there understand her spiritual greatness?
The whole village loved her because no one could say anything against her in the slightest! Of course, they could not understand the depth she had. They did not live what we lived and saw every day.
People are justified. Few spoke badly of her. She understood when she was in bed the moods of some and said: "But what did I do to some and they malign me and call me a false saint? Am I a saint? When did I make myself out to be a saint? As if I make myself out to be a saint! I'm not a saint! I'm wild! I'm the worst of all!"
Have you ever seen the Eldress in sacred moments of prayerful exaltation and rapture?
Every day! Every morning with much reverence I had to wait for her to go through all the icons. She would venerate and chat with the Saints. Then she would take a double-folded icon and pass it over the walker she was holding from top to bottom so that the demons would not touch it.
She could see that they were mocking her and wanted to throw her down. She crossed her bed with her grandfather's cross and all the key points of the house. She rested her head on the table in the middle room and listened with many tears to the Epistle and the Gospel on the ecclesiastical radio station.
Especially when she talked about the Protomartyr Stephen, she burst into tears: "My Stephen, my Stephen, my Stephen." She had seen many of the ecclesiastical events live.
She was shocked by the stoning of Stephen and described every detail to us with tears.
Her sister, the late Lilika, who used to come from somewhere in Heraklion and live with her, told us that every now and then, even at night, she would climb "like a sparrow" on a chair, while she had terrible musculoskeletal problems, and kissed a specific icon of Christ. Eight times, said Lilika, she kissed Him and said: "My love, my desire, my light, my breath ..." etc.
She loved an icon of the Venerable Methodios of Nivritos. He is our local Saint. What kisses she gave it every morning, it cannot be said. I once counted them. She kissed him 120 times and I missed some kisses that I did not manage to count. I asked her why she loves him so much. She answered me: "Because he told me that he is from Rethymno"! This icon, venerated a thousand times and soaked by her tears, is now held by the Bishop of Morphou.
Every afternoon she made her own wonderful prayer of doxology to God. There is a recording. It says a lot.
Before eating, she would go and venerate the many icons that were stuck on her fridge. There she usually conversed with Saint George. She saw the Saints and described them in every detail.
Especially in the last years of her life when she was completely like a little girl at heart and she did not understand that we admired her. She especially posed as being on the horse of Saint George.
"I go up on it," she said, "and it takes me around, but there is no way to transfer images and photos from the mysterious worlds that it takes me to ...."
Did she tell you anything about her fight with the demons?
For this reason alone should a book be written. Terrifying things. Their hair stands up like pins, as young people do now. When she saw a young man with with hair up like pins, she would take him to the sink and wash him. She would ruin it because that's how demons appeared.
They had earrings on their nose, on their tongue, on their navel and paintings everywhere (tattoos). Whatever fashion is going on today or is about to come, she saw it on them.
Their fingers were as long and narrow as the door handle. That's why she never touched the handle. I will not describe the rest so that those who hear this are not afraid.
Did they ever touch her?
Only one night when she got up, they put her under the bed. It was 3 a.m. She pulled the telephone cord and the device fell from a side chair. She remembered my phone number and called me. I went immediately, unlocked the door and picked her up.
When she sat down especially at night to read something, they would go and grab the chair and turn it around. She laughed and made fun of them. She told them: "Since you do not have the authority to throw me down, you black wretches wear yourselves out." They could not stand it and left immediately.
Apart from the wonderful things you told us, what else do you remember about the period when she was bedridden?
While she could not hear anything and could not contain anything in her mind, as soon as we said something that was reproachful or something praiseworthy about her, she immediately interrupted us with great sternness.
Recently, Christos Lenidakis was talking about her in another room. She neither saw him nor heard anything. But she shouted: "He who is speaking about me should stop immediately."
Even in the last days that she was in the pathology department of Venizelios, two of our girls who accompanied her said something that she did not like.
While she was lethargic, she immediately opened her eyes, looked at them sternly, and motioned for them to be silent. Immediately after, she went under again. She never had an appetite for reproach.
What is it that you will never forget?
Everything, but especially when an Archimandrite-Preacher brought a demon-possessed girl from upper Greece. The demon squealed in a hoarse male voice. What happened is indescribable!
I went with the incense burner behind the girl, and without seeing me she kicked me and almost killed me. There was panic in all those who were in the house.
She also shouted the name of a religious person from our area who hates the Eldress and enters the internet with fake names and constantly uploads against her a circular about the prophecies!
How did the girl from Patras know what the demon was saying? The Eldress answered the demon: "Do not shout at me, you dumb monkey, because I will turn my hand and give you a slap and you will see the world upside down!"
I will not forget the girl's eyes. They had no color. They were crimson red. When the demon stopped troubling her, the Eldress said to the girl: "Let me tell you, my child, how the monkey entered you ...."
She started telling her that an envious neighbor, when she was a child, enchanted a doll and gave it to her to play with, and she told her many other things about her life.
The girl left healthy. I will not forget her eyes. Then she was a calm, good-natured and very kind girl.
Did she prophesy about the future?
Much of what she has said has come out. Things like the coronavirus, the agreement of the Turks with Libya, etc. She had said very little. She did not want to scare us. Lately, I have heard shocking details. But Father Antonios does not want us to talk about them.
What moved you most about all the incidents you experienced there?
Everything was moving and instructive. I will not forget the case of a grieving mother who suddenly lost her 30-year-old son. Unbearable pain. She came with nuns from Kaliviani the first year she was bedridden.
As soon as she saw her, she made a sign to approach her. She hugged her, kissed her and said: "Do not cry my child! Your beautiful one is alive in the beauties of God! And you, whatever you owed in this world, you paid for it."
She told her more. It cannot be said how light and happy the woman left. After a few months she came back.
She said out loud in her ear because then she heard little: "Eldress, I know that my beautiful one lives in the beauty of God! But I miss him a lot! I'm looking for him. Help me."
The Eldress, who could not remember anyone from one second to the next, answered her seriously: "I will bring him to you, my child, to see him."
The woman left without taking the words of the Eldress seriously. That same afternoon she lay down to rest. While she had turned to the side and had not fallen asleep, she felt someone hugging her.
She thought it was one of her little grandchildren at home. She shouted but found out they were in their room. She then turned sideways and what did she see! Her son!
Even more beautiful, alive, smiling! "Is it you, my child?" she said in a voice that did not come out. He answered her in another way, in the soul with "Galaktia" and left.
Imagine what strength, what consolation that mother received. The people who got the most affection and interest from her were all kinds of marked people, the suffering and the children!
She was best friends with the children. I need to spend many hours presenting stories and incidents with little girls. And they were crazy about her. And the most lively ones approached her, fell into her arms, became lambs near her.
How was the last period of her life?
She was anxious to leave. To go to her house. She kept telling me: "Give me my shoes, my child, to leave. I go to all the houses. Should I not finally go to mine?"
She usually had her eyes fixed on the sky and raised her hands as much as she could in a prayer position. She said in awe: "My Panagia, protect the world! Fear and terror...!"
We did not know what she meant. The rest of the last period has been written by Fr. Antonios.
Do you feel her near you now?
Continuously! More than before! I feel calmness, serenity, strength. Sometimes, many times a day, I smell an instant fragrance. I know it's her. I know what I'm telling you. I have no illusions, I do not lie. I say what I feel with confidence.
Will you tell us one last word?
I was found worthy to see how an ordinary person becomes a great Saint. May you pray that I also be found worthy of it, at least of paradise. May you have her blessing.
Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos.
Apart from the wonderful things you told us, what else do you remember about the period when she was bedridden?
While she could not hear anything and could not contain anything in her mind, as soon as we said something that was reproachful or something praiseworthy about her, she immediately interrupted us with great sternness.
Recently, Christos Lenidakis was talking about her in another room. She neither saw him nor heard anything. But she shouted: "He who is speaking about me should stop immediately."
Even in the last days that she was in the pathology department of Venizelios, two of our girls who accompanied her said something that she did not like.
While she was lethargic, she immediately opened her eyes, looked at them sternly, and motioned for them to be silent. Immediately after, she went under again. She never had an appetite for reproach.
What is it that you will never forget?
Everything, but especially when an Archimandrite-Preacher brought a demon-possessed girl from upper Greece. The demon squealed in a hoarse male voice. What happened is indescribable!
I went with the incense burner behind the girl, and without seeing me she kicked me and almost killed me. There was panic in all those who were in the house.
She also shouted the name of a religious person from our area who hates the Eldress and enters the internet with fake names and constantly uploads against her a circular about the prophecies!
How did the girl from Patras know what the demon was saying? The Eldress answered the demon: "Do not shout at me, you dumb monkey, because I will turn my hand and give you a slap and you will see the world upside down!"
I will not forget the girl's eyes. They had no color. They were crimson red. When the demon stopped troubling her, the Eldress said to the girl: "Let me tell you, my child, how the monkey entered you ...."
She started telling her that an envious neighbor, when she was a child, enchanted a doll and gave it to her to play with, and she told her many other things about her life.
The girl left healthy. I will not forget her eyes. Then she was a calm, good-natured and very kind girl.
Did she prophesy about the future?
Much of what she has said has come out. Things like the coronavirus, the agreement of the Turks with Libya, etc. She had said very little. She did not want to scare us. Lately, I have heard shocking details. But Father Antonios does not want us to talk about them.
What moved you most about all the incidents you experienced there?
Everything was moving and instructive. I will not forget the case of a grieving mother who suddenly lost her 30-year-old son. Unbearable pain. She came with nuns from Kaliviani the first year she was bedridden.
As soon as she saw her, she made a sign to approach her. She hugged her, kissed her and said: "Do not cry my child! Your beautiful one is alive in the beauties of God! And you, whatever you owed in this world, you paid for it."
She told her more. It cannot be said how light and happy the woman left. After a few months she came back.
She said out loud in her ear because then she heard little: "Eldress, I know that my beautiful one lives in the beauty of God! But I miss him a lot! I'm looking for him. Help me."
The Eldress, who could not remember anyone from one second to the next, answered her seriously: "I will bring him to you, my child, to see him."
The woman left without taking the words of the Eldress seriously. That same afternoon she lay down to rest. While she had turned to the side and had not fallen asleep, she felt someone hugging her.
She thought it was one of her little grandchildren at home. She shouted but found out they were in their room. She then turned sideways and what did she see! Her son!
Even more beautiful, alive, smiling! "Is it you, my child?" she said in a voice that did not come out. He answered her in another way, in the soul with "Galaktia" and left.
Imagine what strength, what consolation that mother received. The people who got the most affection and interest from her were all kinds of marked people, the suffering and the children!
She was best friends with the children. I need to spend many hours presenting stories and incidents with little girls. And they were crazy about her. And the most lively ones approached her, fell into her arms, became lambs near her.
How was the last period of her life?
She was anxious to leave. To go to her house. She kept telling me: "Give me my shoes, my child, to leave. I go to all the houses. Should I not finally go to mine?"
She usually had her eyes fixed on the sky and raised her hands as much as she could in a prayer position. She said in awe: "My Panagia, protect the world! Fear and terror...!"
We did not know what she meant. The rest of the last period has been written by Fr. Antonios.
Do you feel her near you now?
Continuously! More than before! I feel calmness, serenity, strength. Sometimes, many times a day, I smell an instant fragrance. I know it's her. I know what I'm telling you. I have no illusions, I do not lie. I say what I feel with confidence.
Will you tell us one last word?
I was found worthy to see how an ordinary person becomes a great Saint. May you pray that I also be found worthy of it, at least of paradise. May you have her blessing.
Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos.