Emilianos (Vafidis)

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Emilianos as abbot of the Simonos Petras monastery

Emiliano (Vafidis) ( Greek Αιμιλιανός Βαφείδης ), whose real name is Alexandros Vafidis ( Αλέξανδρος Βαφείδης ) (* 5. October 1934 in Nikea at Piraeus ; † 9. May 2019 in Ormylia ) was abbot of Athosklosters simonopetra , founder of a convent in Ormylia on the Greek peninsula of Chalkidiki and several Orthodox monasteries in France . Many of his sermons and speeches have been recorded and appear in books in various languages.

Live and act

Childhood and youth

Even as a child and adolescent, Alexandros took an active part in church life by organizing camps and catechesis in the greater Athens area . In 1959 he graduated from the University of Athens with a degree in theology . His plan was to become a missionary. To achieve this goal, Alexandros began the monastic life.

The Great Meteora Monastery
Simonos Petras Monastery on Athos

Beginning of monastic life

On December 9, 1960, he was ordained a monk with the name Emilianos , on December 11, he was ordained a deacon and on August 15, 1961, he was ordained a priest . After staying in various monasteries in the Meteora region, he was transferred to the monastery of St. Vissarion at the foot of the Pindus Mountains . There he had a profound religious experience, which he reported in 1983 in the third person as the story of a certain monk . In it he describes how suddenly everything was bathed in light during the night, the whole of creation prayed the Jesus prayer and his heart was increasingly moved by it: “In his rapture he saw that heaven and earth were singing the Jesus prayer without ceasing and that the monk only truly lives when he is inspired by this very thing. For that to happen, he just has to stop living for himself. ”Shortly after this experience, Metropolitan Dionysius appointed him abbot of the largest Meteora monastery,“ Metamórphosis ”, and he was also given the service of diocesan preacher and confessor. While Emilianos lived alone in the abandoned monastery at the beginning, more and more interested people joined him. On August 6, 1966 he received the Great Shima from Metropolitan Dionysius . The growing monastic community was increasingly exposed to the pressure of growing tourism.

On the Athos

In 1973 Emilianos and his monks received an invitation from the Board of Directors of Athos to revitalize the Simonos Petras monastery. Thereupon Emilianos moved with all his monks to Athos. In May 1974 Emilianos founded a convent "of the Annunciation of the All Saints Theotokos" in Ormylia for nuns who had Emilianos as their spiritual father. Initially around 40 nuns lived in the monastery, there were around 120 in 2013. Not far from the monastery, Emilianos also founded a foundation in 1981 that primarily performs social tasks.

Monastery of St. Anthony in the French Alps

On June 19, 1977 Abbot Emilianos accepted a community of French Trappists led by Placide Deseille into the Orthodox Church in the monastery of Simonos Petros . The community had previously celebrated services in Aubazine en Corrèze in the Byzantine rite . As a result, three monasteries dependent on Simonos Petras came into being in France: the monastery of Anthony the Great in Saint-Laurent-en-Royans in the French Alps, the nunnery of "the Transfiguration" at Terrasson-Lavilledieu in southwest France and the nunnery of "the protection of the Our Lady ”at La Bastide-d'Engras in the south of France.

Since the beginning of 1995 Emilianos had suffered from an incurable disease. Gradually he had to withdraw from his obligations. In 2000 he resigned from the office of abbot of Simonos Petras. Emilianos last lived in seclusion in the monastery of Ormylia. His catechesis, speeches and sermons have been recorded many times and have appeared in print, mostly in Greek. There are also translations into English, Arabic, Bulgarian, French, Serbian, Romanian, Russian and German.

Works

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Αρχ. Αιμιλιανοσ Σιμωνοπετριτησ. In: indiktos.gr. Archived from the original on November 26, 2014 ; Retrieved May 10, 2019 (Greek).
  2. ↑ John Sanidopoulos: Elder Aimilianos of Simonopetra has reposed. In: Mystagogy Resource Center. May 9, 2019, accessed May 9, 2019 .
  3. ↑ Arch. Aimilianos of Simonopetra: Spiritual life . Indiktos, Athens 2013, ISBN 978-960-518-421-6 , pp. 26 .
  4. ↑ Archimandrite Placide (Deseille): Etapes d'un pèlerinage: Le Mont Athos (1977-1978). In: pagesorthodoxes.net. June 4, 2010, accessed November 26, 2014 (French).
personal data
SURNAME Emilianos
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Vafidis, Alexandros (former name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Greek monk and founder of a monastery
DATE OF BIRTH October 5, 1934
PLACE OF BIRTH Nikea near Piraeus
DATE OF DEATH May 9, 2019
Place of death Ormylia