July 12, 2022

The Keys of Saint Paisios the Athonite


A pilgrim went to visit Saint Paisios the Athonite at his hut, and narrates for us what he witnessed:
 
I went to the hut of Elder Paisios in the middle of October 1993. There were twelve of us. We all sat on the logs and on the pavement. In order not to have my back to the others I took a log and put it next to the door.

The holy Elder was giving us advice and asked the group how the town of Drama is doing. At some point he gets up, and looks in his pockets. This door required a key to open it. The door of the main entrance of the hut was opened with a handle. He did not find the key in his pockets, so he turns his back to the other eleven pilgrims and in front of me (only I could see) he does the sign of the cross over the door and a click is heard and the door opens by itself. This door had a handle, a piece of metal that goes up and down. I marveled.

After a while, the Saint comes out with a handful of prayer ropes. "Let's see," he says, "did I succeed?" He counts us and says: "There are 12 of you. Let's see." Then he gives them to us and there were exactly twelve!