MCMLXIX - MMIX

HIS FATHERS WITNESS

1969

G R E AT M E T E O R A

19 74

SIMONOS PETRA

PETRA 2009

After His Tonsure to the Great Schema, October 3, 1977

Holy Monastery of Simonos Petra, Holy Mountain of Athos

THE VERY REVEREND ARCHIMANDRITE AEMILIANOS

Tel.: 697.8118604 * Fax: 244.1080716 *

E-mail: MoniPetras@fhc.org * Web Site: www.MoniPetras.org

o ly M o n a s t e ry

of

Petra

GR 431 00 K a r d i t s a

Reg. No. 59
July 22, 2009

INVITATION
The Monastic Path and Fruition of

Elder Dionysios

Abbot of the Holy Monastery of Petra

1969-2009

The Elders Council of the Holy Monastery of Petra has the honor

of asking Your prayers and the blessings of Your heart upon the celebration
of the 40th anniversary of the Monastic Tonsure at Great Meteoron, and the
35th anniversary of the Ordination to the Priesthood at Simonos Petras, of
our very reverend Elder Archimandrite DIONYSIOS, on Monday, August 17th,
2009, 7:00-10:00 a.m., at our Holy Monastery.

Your presence, involvement, and cross-reference is significant,

definitive in the life of our Reverend Geronta and all of us.

Always we await Your testimony concerning Geronta, anticipating

Your unique personal witness.

With honor and gratitude in the Lord.

FOR THE HOLY MONASTERY OF PETRA, KATAPHYGION

THE ELDERS COUNCIL

THE VERY REVEREND ARCHIMANDRITE DIONYSIOS

HOMILY
OF THE VERY REVEREND ARCHIMANDRITE

AEMILIANOS

ABBOT, SACRED MONASTERY OF SIMONOS PETRAS

HOLY MOUNTAIN OF ATHOS
UPON THE TONSURE TO THE GREAT SCHEMA
OF THE SIMONOPETRITE HIEROMONK

DIONYSIOS

+ St. Dionysios the Areopagite

3 October 1977

open my eyes, my beloved child, in order to trace

out something of those things that are hidden
within your mind and your heart. But how is it
possible for me to succeed in this, since I cant follow
even the flight of an arrow in the material heights, nor
measure the depth of the mortal earth upon which I
tread?

ow can I check the interior chambers of your

soul? Neither are you yourself in the position to
comprehend them; all are mystically hidden. As a father,
I rejoice. The lips of all these around you, your brothers,
rest upon yours; a mystical embrace now unites all of us;
an intangible mystical thrill passes through us all.

hat can we say, my child, about the angelic

watchman who brought you here? What can we
say about the fatherly embrace which hastens to open
and encompass you, in order that you also be a jar
bearing manna1 on high, at that throne of the Triune God
which has been prepared, and before this Royal Door,
which the Cherubim always guard, why? Why especially
today? Because today, Gods hand will consitute you a
crowned king, a son of lightning2, a perfect vision! Is this
supposedly the first time that you go through this Door?
I seek to comprehend the mystery. I want gradually to
touch this.

n order to see ... I will look first at myself. I myself,

what am I looking for here and now? It seems to me
that something is drawing me. A sensation sweeter to the
throat than honey 3. For the reason is worthy of God, and
the commandment is royal4, the superior mouth of the
holy Father would say. And what is there greater than
such an event? All these things are for God, he says. God
knows, God ordered, and who can stand against Him?5

herefore, you, too, I surmise, ran unhindered;

that is why you, too, fully conscious, apprehended
the Masters voice. So, you tell me; I ask you with the

very words of Holy Scripture: What do you keep, my

child? What are you doing, child of my own womb?
What is happening to you? What are you suffering, child
of my blessings? 6 How is that you stopped, bound and
motionless? You appear as a conquered lion. Werent you
running wherever you wanted? Leave now, if you can!

ll day you were raising your glance up, to find where

God is, as if you were saying to Him: I am Thy
servant, Thou art my God.7 I am Thy slave. Thou art my
Lord. And this caused you to divide up and distribute
yourself, to melt yourself, to disappear, becoming all
things to all men.8

erent you the couch to which everyone resorted

and found repose? Wasnt it you to whom everyone
ran for whatever they needed? Werent you the one from
whom they asked whatever they wanted? Most especially,
certainly, your Elder could bear witness that constantly
you belonged to him, constantly you gave yourself to
him, for him you were like his slave, totally his, you
became his own flesh.

nd now? Now we all lose you? Oh, no. You were

conceived as a wild animal. And now you surely
resemble an angel-formed victim. Didnt you seek the
wholly unspeakable, untold lightning flashes of the divine
beauty?9 Werent you imitating the words that Basil the
Great was always saying, in his life, asking to look at
nothing else?

ut, what else could give you the right to live in

this Monastery? What does the brother of that

great father, Gods mystic of things veiled, have to say?

Whoever revels in the vision and yearning for God, is
trained by Him, he says;
By Him he is strengthened

and made greater than himself, returning to his kin,

communicating the miracles to them.10

uch a one becomes
simple.
The
monk understands

all space. He becomes

a catholic
person, belonging to

God and all the

saints;
becomes a participant with all
he

of them in the divine goods. Our struggle in the Church

is, really, a common theophany.

herefore, my brother, the holy Church grants you

of

today+the
fullness
the Monastic
Schema, desiring
to see you now and henceforth
wholly
compounded with

. .

the Divinity11, as that excellent paradigm of the monastic

politic, Gregory the Theologian, would express it.
, ,

The
Church

nd
now, behold!
wants
you always
to

with

. Because

be
united
the
entire
Divinity.
then

and

you will
be achurchman.
Then you
will belong
truly

Then
you

dynamically to thecommunity
of the
one Body.
,



will be, O
treasure
of my
field, a treasure-house
given

. of the saints, the Church, which is

for
the
sustenance

nothing other than the very body of Christ, of which He

;
is the head. Your Jesus, Who is my Jesus, too; our Jesus,.

the God of us all.
. .

ow do
you
understand
what
you are doing
today? I
.

, you
of

that

shall
remind
the verses
belong to the
Saint

we are
celebrating,
the foundation
of
monastic
theology:
Severing

your
head, .
how awesome, O Dionysios, and
taking it up, you run.12

and
awesome,
,
,
reat
he says:
you
cut
off your
head,

it

Dionysios,
and ;
holding
in your
hands,
of your own
free will, you
place
it in the
of your Brotherhood,

hands
,

1
which
is our
Church
Exactly
as that

gathered
together.

Areopagite
and
martyr,
holding
head,
walked
two

.his
own

miles, until
found
that woman
and placedhis,
head in

,he

13
her hands
, in;
order that
it become
possession,
;

,a unique


2
God-given
and
God-delivered,
that
is, a
chalice dripping

,
,
with God.
!
;
. nd you also walked so many years, in order to
.
arrive at this moment, in which you would be
. ...
capable
carrying
your
head in-
your hands. Our
of

beloved

Dionysios:
from
the time
that
you
were
a small
child,
. ,

;
,

3
God was
pleased
to call
to make
known to
.

you,

Himself

.
you, that you
love
Him.
You didnt
need to 4weep

might

,
for
any
former
life,
passed
in
vanities,
and
to
say,
Alas!
.
14
the time
that I;
didnt love
You ,
always
loved
Him.

You!
,
.

He Who
is the expectation
of
the
nations,
was
ever the

,
,

expectation
of your own heart. Keep thyself, therefore,
5

;
15
for Christ. The Lords word ordered His angels to guard
.
,
, for
,

you as,
a sheep
for
Him,
this
hour. So the
prophet

he

.
says,
and
really,
speaks the
truth.
Therefore
bow this
.

,

of

become
:
head,
of
yours, struggle
in
a way
worthy
God,
a faithful
martyr of,the
Lord
God,
rejoice;
you fathers
,
, ;

,

6
heart, fill ,
your
brothers
gladness.
;

with

, ;
! .
hy did you approach, brother, casting yourself
; , .
down before this holy Altar...

,
***
, :
, 7. .

REFERENCES

. , ,

pot
,
,
1 ,
Heb 9:4 the golden
that had manna.
8 surnamed them Boanerges, which is, the Sons of Thunder.
2
Mark
3:17
and He

.
3

Psalm 118:103 How sweet are thy words unto my taste! yea, sweeter than honey
to
mouth!.
my

Saint
Cyril,
of Alexandria,
Commentary
on the
Gospel according
to John, 2.290.4,
;

;
,
For the word is worthy of God and royal is the command, which contains the
; , ,
release from death and the overthrow of corruption, and proof of the energy,

,
which surpasses
expression.
4

,
Who
,
,
5
Job 9:19
can stand
against His judgements?.
,

What

.
6
Proverbs 31:2
wilt thou
keep, my son, what? the words of God. My firstborn

son, I speak to thee: what? son of my womb? what? son of my vows?.

;
Psalm
115:7 O
Lord,
truly I am
thy servant;
I am!thy.
servant,
and the son of
thine
handmaid.
.
, ,

8
1 Corinthians
9: 22 I have become
all things
to all men, that
I may by all means
.

save some.
9;
9
Saint Basil the Great, Preface to the Prophet Isaiah, 5.175.21, Therefore he who

does not receive the flashes of the divine beauty with his own eye, the same says

that
good is,
evil.
10
;Saint Gregory of Nyssa, On the Life of Moses, 1.56.6.
11

Saint Gregory the Theologian, On Himself, 1017.4, From henceforth it is

,

into

necessary
for you,
who
have penetrated
the whole
of the divinity, overcome
with
to praise with incessant
joy
;hymns.

14

Saint Augustine, Confessions, book 10, chapter 27, Late have I loved Thee.

12

Distich of the Synaxarion of October 3rd.

, ;
13
The Great Synaxarion of October 3rd, A miracle both strange and excellent
,
happened to Dionysios the Great. When, that is, the Saint was beheaded, receiving
,
,

head
his holy head in,
his hands,
he walked
two miles
and did not leave his
behind,
until
he met a certain
virtuous
woman,
whose name
Katoula, and,,
by divine

,
was

10
providence,
standing,
he placed
his head as a treasure
into her hands.

Saint
Cyril of Alexandria,
on the Twelve

, Commentary

Prophets,
2.463.24,
for
the
Canaanites,
he says, will
know the sheep that
are guarded, for
it is the word
of
,
,

the Lord. For he calls the Canaanites nations, but it should be understood that

the same are the sheep that are guarded. For they are kept for Christ, for He is the
expectation
.
,
of thenations.

15

, .

Meteoron, Pascha 1970

, 1970

10

11

SECOND HOMILY
OF THE VERY REVEREND ARCHIMANDRITE

AEMILIANOS

ABBOT, SACRED MONASTERY OF SIMONOS PETRAS

HOLY MOUNTAIN OF ATHOS
UPON THE TONSURE TO THE GREAT SCHEMA
OF THE SIMONOPETRITE HIEROMONK

DIONYSIOS

+ St. Dionysios the Areopagite

3 October 1977

t was only the day before yesterday morning that

God counted us worthy to celebrate the tonsure
of a chosen brother from our monastery, who is
also one of the most recent of the brotherhood. In a few
days, we shall tonsure yet another elect man, this one
being much younger, although the well-being and the
love that he manifests in the difficulties, temptations and

12

illnesses, shows that God has chosen him for this path.
While today, we celebrated the tonsure of one of the very
first men who loved Meteora, who ascended its heights,
and who continued their lives upon this Rock of Saint
Simon.

or me, this event is not an ordinary occurrence, but

something which fills my heart with emotion, and
tells me a great many things that are, however, impossible
for me to express. There are some things which a person
can only live, and when he tries to externalize them, he
realizes that all that beauty that he had in his soul is
thereby lost. At such times, it is better to keep silent.

evertheless, there are two or three very simple things

that I cannot conceal, about which this tonsure gives
me occasion to think. I said that he is from among the first,
or rather the last, to take the Great Schema from among
those who first ascended the Rock of Saint Athanasios
of Meteora. And in continuation, we all arrived up here,
a second monastery was established, and then a third,
and most of us are now gathered here, united as one
true family, having been unified by our common, shall
we say, journey, which began about the time that Father
Dionysios came up to the monastery.

eeing these families of ours and how their path, as

I said, seems to complete its first phase with the
tonsure of Father Dionysios, how is it possible for us
not to realize that it is God himself who governs our
history, our family; that God is the One governing our
hearts and leading all things, not to some earthly end,
but ultimately to the Kingdom of the Heavens. because,

13

without a doubt, God works all things. Who brought us

to the Mount called Holy? Who is it that initiates us
into the hidden mysteries of God? Who is it that places
us within the beauties of the spiritual life? Who guides
us unto the Eternal Kingdom? Undoubtedly, it is God
alone.

t is God, indeed, whom one can truly see in the life of

Father Dionysios, as well as in the life of our entire
family. How beautifully the service of the Great Schema
puts it, when it says that it is God Who leads the way in
your spiritual life.1 It is the life of the Spirit, the life of
God. It is not our life it is His life, of which He makes
us partakers. And He alone can lead us up to this place,
with respect to which we ourselves can do absolutely
nothing. Whatever we might do could not possibly guide
us there, if He Himself did not open the door for us,
because, in the end, He himself is this life.

ll of us speak about the spiritual life, but what else

can it be, and what else can we think about it, if
not God alone, who opens this door, who opens His very
heart to us, his paternal embrace itself, and receives us.
How many times have we failed to feel this, and precisely
because of this, how much we have failed to love God,
to what extent are our souls devoid of trust, love, hope,
and admiration. For all things are in His hands, and all
the things of God are open.

nd, again, how beautifully the service says, Lead

your servant into your spiritual courtyard. 2 And
this courtyard into which He leads him, this Kingdom,
this monastery, is His par excellence. As a result, only He

14

can accomplish anything. Our own sweat and perspiration

would bring us to a halt at the first threshold of our
earthly steps, but could never bring us anywhere near up
there.

oday especially, therefore, I feel the presence of

the Holy God, and His bending over the life of
our family, which undertakes its struggles on the Holy
Mountain, so that this royal court might become more
and more manifest to the men of our age.

he second thought which comes to mind is this. The

monastic tonsure is never a reward. It is never a
recompense. On the contrary, the monastic tonsure is the
grace which is granted to the man who has sinned, who
falls, who has become equivalent with the dust, with the
mud; and God, in order to reveal this love of His and this
forbearance of His, graces us with the Great Schema.

ow different and how worldly is the perception of

many people, who think that monks are a kind of
aristocracy, and that only such persons, aristocrats, can
become monks. Anything but. It is precisely when a person
has this inner sense of his inferiority, that he can receive
from God the Great Schema.

nd it was this which Father Dionysios felt within

his aristocratic nature, in his height, and in his
struggles, and it seems that for this reason God has
blessed him.

s imposing as are the appearance of his gaze and

his body, so bowed down was his life and of his
heart before God, and this is why God bent down and

15

helped him, granting him this thing. It is the response of

God to his toils, the response of God to the fact that he
loved so greatly even the last brother of our monastery,
and we are all witnesses of this love of his and of his
vigils on behalf of all flesh, we would say.

od also recompensed the love of all the brethren,

who many times felt our brother as burdensome;
but afterwards they discovered that it was he who was
bearing all the weight of the brotherhood. Of course he
bore the burdens together with others, but he carried so
much upon his shoulders. Consequently, God bent down
in all these things and graced him with the Schema. He
has been central to all the affairs of the brotherhood;
and God clothed him with this angelic apparel, to which
nothing in the whole world can be compared.

third thing that I am thinking about is that which

Father Dionysios exhibits generally by his demeanor.
With his glance, his manner, with his words, he shows
us that which the holy Schema says, namely, an episode
in our journey up till this point, and the starting point
of a new course, which is nothing other than a mystical
experience. How many unspoken sighs,3 as the service
says, must he have poured forth? No one knows, only he
and God alone.

hose sighs of longing for Some One, for the presence

of God, is that which make Father Dionysios an
adornment of our monastery, and which make him entirely
ours, but also make God entirely his. He is certainly not
the only one who thinks this way. His reception today of
the Great Schema shows us that this is the concept, this

16

is the mentality, this is the perception and the life of the

brotherhood. That is how I think about the monastery.
Thus, in this way, it makes the Schema, in the effort to
hood the person, lets say, with the grace of God and
with all the life experiences that God can give.

aint Maximus says somewhere: Was it necessary for

the Ascension to take place and for Christ to leave
and go far away from us? Couldnt Christ have remained
here on earth? And he says, Yes, but the angels and
the angelic powers also had need of his presence, they
too desired to see him. And because they could not have
seen him with interior eyes, but only with their own,
face to face, it was therefore necessary that he ascend to
the Heavens.

ust consider how beautiful it would have been for

Christ to have remained here and yet how much
more important it is for us to know that, if the angelic
powers themselves had need of Christ, how is it possible
for us not to have need of the sight of him, of his presence;
and how can we live for anything else, except for that
one event? Let us continually implore God, asking that
we might have Him for our very own, in our daily life,
in our days and in our nights.

nd there is one final thing that I have been thinking

about throughout our tonsure today. I said that he
is one of the first monks of our family and yet the last
from among them to become a [Great-schema] monk. This
is because God does not know before and after. But
it shows forth the simplicity, naturalness, the humility
within the brotherhood, the true mindset, according to

17

which no one desires to be first, no one desires to be

last, no one has first turn, no one has rights. Each one
is abandoned to Gods plan, and each one waits for
when Christ will look at him. No one thinks that he has
soemthing, or that he is justified in something. He, the
first one, now becomes the last, but last within the same
font, within the same royal court, within the same, as we
said, spiritual life.

t is right for all of us to give thanks to God. However,

let me say that what I feel today is just how much I
myself must thank God for the fact that he counted me
worthy to be mixed up, so to say, in the history that we
are living, in this drama that we play in human life, in
this phase of the divine dispensation, which the Lord is
actively bringing about in our monasteries. How is it that
God has made me worthy and I, too, am here, and have
served and dipped my little finger in, in case something
might be brought about?

remember when I was young, still a pupil, and every day

they made me ponder the words of one of the ancients,
that every day we must examine ourselves, asking: What
did you desire, what did you enact, what did you do,
that is, what should you have done that you neglected?
And this made me think about the criterion by which to
discern what I did - what my actions were, finally. And
then, reading Saint Gregory, whom they had given me
when just a small child, I found that passage where he
says, Toward You I have enacted nothing worthy, my
God; I have done nothing worthy. Here again there is
the miracle of divine election. We are able to do nothing
worthy for God, and yet, He makes us partakers of his
own magnificence.

18

urely I can say that I have loved all of you, from

the first to the last, and I have been present beside
you through both good moments and bad; I have felt all
the anxieties and all the upheavals of your souls. Let me
put it better, with a Biblical phrase: I loved my field, I
loved my pasture, which God had for me and has given
me. And as it says, when you love your field, then he
gives you lambs, then God gives you sheep, because you
cultivate it, you make it a meadow, and the sheep love to
come into that meadow.

t seems that God has seen this love also. And this is
why I feel that at this hour I am experiencing something
of that beauty, about which the prophet says: I slept, I
awoke, I slept again and I awoke again, so many times,
sometimes receiving oracles from God, at other times
prophesying the destruction of Jerusalem, and still other
times the resurrection of Israel out of all his enemies; but
always coming into communication with God Himself.
And he says that: I slept, I awoke, and I felt how sweet
to me sleep was.5

f this day, if the whole of this life, is but one night

with respect to the light of the heavenly life, then I
awake in the midst of this night, and my life is so sweet.
And if this day, if this life, is day until this very day6, as
long as it is called day, as the Scripture says somewhere
else7, then perhaps the night will come, a night which is
beginning to come into view; from then on, if the life in
which one does not see with eyes that are corruptible is
called night, then I must say, I awoke, I slept, and the
dream in which I experience in the midst of this night,
is so sweet, so very beautiful.

19

y beloved children, this is because all of you are

present in this dream. All of you are mixed up with
me and I with you. No one can separate us; no one can
say that one of us would be what he is without the other.
For example, let us take Father Dionysios, who stands
before us. I am in his life. But maybe the holy Elder of
Xenophontos is in his life even more; it seems to me that
he was the first to be observing him, even until this latest
moment. How much each one of us owes to the other!
And so our life - concluding now, let us say, that first
beginning stage that we had initiated - how beautiful it
appears, the way God made it. If God saw the flowers, and
the thorns, and the birds, and the buzzards, the vultures,
and all things, and behold, they were wonderful, and all
were exceedingly good8, how exceedingly good is this
beauty, which God has granted us?

et us wish, therefore, to our beloved Father Dionysios,

as well as the other of the same name who is here,
Father Dionysios of Xenophontos, that God might make
them worthy to live forever within this beauty of virginity,
that is to say, of the divine and incorruptible life, and
that we may all be within this sweetness of the spiritual
throat.
***

20

REFERENCES
1

The Great Prayer Book, Service of the Great Schema, Aster Publishing Co., 1992,
p. 215.

Op. cited, p. 216.

Op. cited, p. 211; Romans 8:26.

Saint Gregory the Theologian, To Himself, 1001.6 For I have never thought
anything that is worthy of the divine.

Jeremiah 38:26 for this reason I arose and saw, and my sleep became sweet to
me.

Hebrews 3:13 but comfort one another every day, while it is still called today.

John 9:4 I must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day: the night
cometh, when no man can work.

Genesis 1:31 and God saw everything, which He created, and behold they were
exceedingly good.

21

Simonos Petra, Bright Monday, 1986

22

In H. M. S. P. Nov. 1, 1990
To the Most Honorable
Mr. George Ventouris
Peireaus

My dear Mr. Ventouris.

I have your letters of Mar. 30 and Aug. 27, 1990,
as well as the enclosed check written out for ... million
drachmae.

Now that, with joy, I have seen dear Fr. Dionyios
for quite some days, after our conversations with him,
I am answering, inasmuch as it is possible for me, and
likewise, I will make use of the check. I am very grateful to
you for the money order which, surely, will have an effect.
The delay did not mean rejection; however, I wanted to
be honest with you, as with your dearly-beloved spiritual
father.

The relationship of a spiritual father and son
is between themselves. Consequently, I understand your
confession of your complaint, but this is between us and
your spiritual father.

With great joy I thanked God for your marriage.
May your years be blessed and happy together with dear Hara
and little Costas. But I think that some misunderstanding
must have happened such that we did not meet again. I can
tell you this in person.

23

In every case, you will not have peace, if you
do not have certainty and a feeling of security toward your
spiritual father. Yet you love him filially and trust him.
Why have questions? You will listen to him and he will
listen to God. But remember: between your spiritual father
and his own father, exists a great mystery, sacred and
unspoken.

I think that it is not necessary for me to reveal
to you my humble love, but you are to be revealing to our
God and father, your confidence, love and expectation of
His presence in the yearning of your heart and in good
works.

With thanks and fatherly blessings I greet you
in Christ Jesus.

The Abbot of S. P. Monastery.

Archimandrite Aemilianos

24

Sacred Monastery of the Holy Cross, Jerusalem, 1995

25

Reception of
OUR REVEREND ELDER

VERY REVEREND ARCHIMANDRITE

A E M I L I A N O S
ABBOT OF THE HOLY MONASTERY OF SIMONOS PETRA,
HOLY MOUNTAIN OF ATHOS

In our Sacred Monastery of the Holy Cross, Jerusalem

May 23, 1995
A Portion of His Address.
His Last Word.

I know, I understand, that you love me very much. This is certain.
And I believe that, every day, every night, you enter into my heart, and
leaving there, you enter into the hearts of all those people who love.
And we rejoice; we love each other. We enter into our hearts, and you
into your own heart. But yours is greater, greater.

For this is what God wants from us - this heart. What is there?
The Holy Spirit. This is the most beautiful thing, such that we know
that I live, you live, I will, you rejoice.

To my beloved, my beloved, with this joy, that we give you, you
also give much more than we do.

Archimandrite DIONYSIOS: Thine own of thine own, my
Geronta.

Archimandrite AEMILIANOS: I believe it, because you believe,
and you want it.

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Holy Monastery of St. George Karaiskake, Sunday of St. Thomas 2009

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*
E-mail: MoniPetras@fhc.org
Web Site: www.MoniPetras.org

Tel.: 697.8118604 * Fax: 244.1080716 *

o ly M o n a s t e ry

of

Petra

*
GR 431 00 K a r d i t s a

CELEBRATION

Reg. No. 70
August 17, 2009

XVII. VIII. MCMLXIX - XVII. VIII. MMIX

40th Anniversary of the Tonsure in Great Meteora &

35th Anniversary of the Ordination in Simonos Petra, Holy Mountain of Athos

of the Abbot of the Holy Monastery of Petra

the Venerable Elder
Archimandrite DIONYSIOS
07.00: Matins, Divine Liturgy.
11.00:

Lunch.

17.00:

Vespers, at the Holy Monastery of Saint George Karaiskake.

18.00: Dinner.
19.00: Assembly.

Apolytikia: a. Transfiguration, b. Dormition, c. Holy Cross, d. Holy Apostles,

e. Saint George.

1. His Eminence CYRIL II, Metropolitan of Thessaliotis & Phanariophersala.

2. Homily of the Elder AEMILIANOS, Great Meteoron, August 17, 1969.

3. Homily of the Metropolitan of Trikke & Stagon DIONYSIOS, Great Meteoron, August
17, 1969.

4. Very Reverend Fr. AGAPION Petrite: How I got to know Geronta at Great Meteoron.

5. Archimandrite DAVID Glossiotes: Fr. Dionysios as Monk and Hieromonk,

6. Archimandrite GEORGE Makrynores: Word of God in the Holy Mountain & the

Meteoron - Simonos Petra, Holy Mountain of Athos.

Holy Land.

7. Very Reverend Fr. CHRYSOSTOM Petrite: Geronta in America.

Hymns: a. Hebrew, b. At the Tomb she sought You, c. Georgian It is Truly Meet.

8. Gerontissa DIODORA: Geronta, Sculptor of Souls.

9. Gerontissa IERONYME: Gerontas sister Maria.

10. Mr. PHILIP Demakes: My Friend.

11. Mr. CHRISTOPHER Warren, III, President of FHC: My path to Geronta.

12. Mr. GEORGE Ventouris: My Geronta.

13. Mrs. APHRODITE Tsakalakou: And yet ... he opened the latch of the door of our hearts.

14. Miss MARIANNA Kollia, Junior High Pupil: Geronta, our family.

15. Mr. LASHA Zhvania, Minister of Finance of the Republic of Georgia: Gerontas Cross.

16. The ELDERs Conclusion.

Hymns: a. My Saint George, Skyriane, b. What shall we return to Thee?.

22.00: GOD GRANT YOU MANY YEARS.

TO GOD BE THE GLORY

 Holy Monastery of Petra, 2009

GR 431 00 Kataphygion, Karditsa, Greece
Tel.: +30.697.8118604 Fax: +30.244.1080716
e-mail: MoniPetras@fhc.org, www.MoniPetras.org