 |
| Hermitage of Venerable David |
Someone from our village had a son who was an officer and one summer we had gone to the Monastery of Venerable David, for the feast of Saint Kosmas Aitolos [August 24]. We had stayed, as a group, there in the Monastery and he and his son were in another group who had gone on foot to the hermitage of Venerable David.
This fellow villager of ours was old.
They explained to him, when they went to the hermitage, that Elder Iakovos [Tsalikis] stayed here in the evenings where he read the Supplicatory Canon, and he hung his cassock there on a nail. There was still a nail from the old nails in the stones of the cave.
And they explained that like Elder Iakovos, Elder David hung his cassock here and did his prostrations and his various vigils.
Then Nikos, the fellow villager, said to us:
"Come on, do you expect us to believe Venerable David put this here? That it's been here for so many years and no one has touched it? The monks put it here in order to say that Venerable David had put it there."
He grabbed the nail to wiggle it out.
Suddenly his hand stuck on the nail. With great difficulty they pulled his hand, which he now could not move at all.
They came to the Monastery, saw him in this condition, they ran to Elder Iakovos, and told him this and that.
Nikos then fell at the Elder's feet and begged him, saying:
"I was in great disbelief, I didn't believe that this nail was from Venerable David and I tried to take it out."
"Why, my child," said the Elder, "did you have this mistrust? As many years as you have been coming to the Monastery, you still haven't understood how we should behave and we don't play with sacred things and all that."
He begged the Elder to read a prayer and indeed the Elder prayed, he entreated Venerable David and after crossing him with the relic of the hand of Venerable David, immediately his hand started to come back to normal, move and come back to its place.
From then until the day he left this world, he always honored the Saint, always talked about the miracles of the Saint and always said about the Elder Iakovos that he is a truly holy man.
Testimony of the Protopresbyter Fr. John Markos, Priest of the Church of Saint John the Theologian in Mantoudi of Evia, as published in the book, Όσιος Ιάκωβος (Τσαλίκης), Ηγούμενος της Ιεράς Μονής οσίου Δαυίδ Γέροντος, Ένας σύγχρονος άγιος, 2018.
This fellow villager of ours was old.
They explained to him, when they went to the hermitage, that Elder Iakovos [Tsalikis] stayed here in the evenings where he read the Supplicatory Canon, and he hung his cassock there on a nail. There was still a nail from the old nails in the stones of the cave.
And they explained that like Elder Iakovos, Elder David hung his cassock here and did his prostrations and his various vigils.
Then Nikos, the fellow villager, said to us:
"Come on, do you expect us to believe Venerable David put this here? That it's been here for so many years and no one has touched it? The monks put it here in order to say that Venerable David had put it there."
He grabbed the nail to wiggle it out.
Suddenly his hand stuck on the nail. With great difficulty they pulled his hand, which he now could not move at all.
They came to the Monastery, saw him in this condition, they ran to Elder Iakovos, and told him this and that.
Nikos then fell at the Elder's feet and begged him, saying:
"I was in great disbelief, I didn't believe that this nail was from Venerable David and I tried to take it out."
"Why, my child," said the Elder, "did you have this mistrust? As many years as you have been coming to the Monastery, you still haven't understood how we should behave and we don't play with sacred things and all that."
He begged the Elder to read a prayer and indeed the Elder prayed, he entreated Venerable David and after crossing him with the relic of the hand of Venerable David, immediately his hand started to come back to normal, move and come back to its place.
From then until the day he left this world, he always honored the Saint, always talked about the miracles of the Saint and always said about the Elder Iakovos that he is a truly holy man.
Testimony of the Protopresbyter Fr. John Markos, Priest of the Church of Saint John the Theologian in Mantoudi of Evia, as published in the book, Όσιος Ιάκωβος (Τσαλίκης), Ηγούμενος της Ιεράς Μονής οσίου Δαυίδ Γέροντος, Ένας σύγχρονος άγιος, 2018.