Maritime Adventures – Father Pimen Vlad

Watch an episode in which Father Pimen tells of his memories at sea – something novel for most of us Romanians, who do not have experience of the sea.

Enjoy!

Christ is risen, my dears!

Here we go again! We have enjoyed the Holy Resurrection, the Holy Week, the Sunday of Thomas has passed and we move on.

What did I want to say now? I’ll try to pick up where I left off. You know, about St. Artemie’s chapel, that we took a break now, for Easter, for St. Resurrection, let’s enjoy a little this beautiful feast! And so important for us!

Before I begin, I ask forgiveness from those who come here and cannot find me. Because sometimes groups come, even today – a group of 20 came and I was tired, we have had a vigil, when a father came knocking at the door, I was in no mood to talk. And nah, I know, that maybe they left angry, that I couldn’t go out, so I can’t always, because I’m alone and I, I mean, I mean people are many, groups, that come and some and others and all of them would like me to talk a little bit to them but I don’t always succeed. For that, forgive me, those I can’t get out to! As God ordains.

Because we have our services, we have our jobs, as they say, that I have to deal with, that are part of our life, these, you can’t give them up, and the other free time – when I can, with great pleasure! But you see, first of all, what I have to say I try to say through these videos. To reach as many people as possible. Otherwise, as I can to those who come. To those I can, with great pleasure, to those I can’t, I ask them to understand and we move on. Yes?

What can I tell you about St. Artemie? It was also during that early period that I got a boat! I don’t know if in the first year or the second, but I know I found it at a Greek – very cheap. A small boat with a 12-HP motor, or even smaller, I don’t know how much the motor had, but in any case, either 7 HP or something like that; which the man, a Greek father, wanted to get rid of, because he had to leave, he needed I don’t know what…

And we bought it! And we had our little boat. We still went fishing, a bit at sea, but we also went where we needed to go. Sometimes, even from here, we used to keep it at Morphonou, somewhere by the sea: we found one of those little houses that had a boathouse there, some huts or monasteries, like a little port, where you can keep the boat and have a room on top.

And a father, who didn’t have a boat anymore, he was an old father and he had another father a little younger than him like that – and they had that place. We asked them to allow us and they allowed us there. Well, it didn’t have doors, we repaired it, we made it there, as far as possible, to protect it, we took it out of the sea, we pulled it in there…

In the room upstairs we made ourselves a little room there and we managed. We could have stayed the night, if we wanted, we could have gone out, we could have put some of those night hooks for the fish. We used to go out with the boat, behind the boat like this, we were catching something, as much as we needed.

I know we once wanted to go – I don’t remember – towards Iviru Monastery, that way. And we’re off. And there was a bit of a storm at sea. And nah, as usual, we know from the Gospel: There’s a storm at sea. So here too, the sea is quite big, it’s not like the Sea of Galilee; much bigger and we set out with a father, slowly, with the boat, well, where we were there was a little cove. It was quieter there, I said: “Well, come on, let’s go…” (as far as we wanted.)

Well, and going in the boat, I saw the waves getting bigger and bigger, they were like mountains, they were coming. And we kept trying to cut them so they wouldn’t take us away, because we have a boat the size of a walnut shell, as they say, for two people, three at the most, as they say. And as we were walking, we saw how wood was starting to be brought in from the sea, one barrel at a time, so we kept avoiding it, and the storm was already getting worse.

And at one point, we see someone shouting from the shore: when we look, it was a small fishing boat. When I say, it was pretty big, at least 10 times bigger than our boat or bigger and already moored at the shore and screaming from there: “Run as fast as you can, a big storm is forecast, you won’t make it out alive.”

Well, that’s when we saw that the joke got a bit thick. I say: “Let’s go back!” And backing slowly, still cutting the waves; tossing the waves this way, from one to the other and slowly we pulled ashore!

Hey! We were beginners too, not very skilled. I mean, you’d be in a sway of fear, let’s say, when you saw the waves taking you and throwing you from side to side. Or some other time, since I’m talking about the boat, I’ll try more in this video, about that.

A priest from the country, Father Gheorghe Iordan, came from Bucharest and he asked us: “Come on, I want to get…” There weren’t many cars around then. One parent had one, and he had a leg problem, he took him out to the sea. I mean: “Come on, take me to the other side of Athos…” It was quite a long way, I don’t know where he wanted, to take him by boat to a monastery. But still, that part, especially in the spring, fall, it’s stormy all the time. I don’t remember what time it was but there were pretty big waves. And I said:

– Father, there are waves! It’s a bit of a risk! And there are three of us. (That I was going with a father who’s from here too.) The boat’s already on the edge.

– Let it go! Let me bless the sea.

– Father, as you wish…

We got in the boat, the boat started, that’s how it did…He kept blessing the sea, it was at the limit for us, the water was splashing, we were wet. We went, I don’t know how far we went, but we didn’t go as far as we needed, because the waves were too big. We got to a point and we left him at a monastery somewhere where the father wanted to go. And we came back. But still on the edge, like this, we had more of these.

Once, even with the father I used to go with, I mean: “Let’s go around Athos, around the end of it on the other side, let’s go all the way to that side…” We wanted somewhere at St. Pavel, to Dionysius, to I don’t know where to go. And there, in order to cross to the end of Athos, you have to have, as they say, smooth sea, because there are almost always waves there.

From the Prodromu Hermitage to Kapsokalivia, there is an area there only when it is too quiet like this, there are no waves. Well, it was quiet around here. We left: – It works! We always took another tank, a can of petrol, to have it with us, because on long journeys we ran out of petrol. And we’re off!

We went, we passed around the Prodromul Hermitage, so it was quiet. Well, after a while, when we got to a place, the waves started. But there were sort of long waves, pushing us forward at speed and at one point when the wave pulled back, it pulled us back too.

And the poor little engine, he was moaning so much when we pulled him back, that he was turning the propeller to go forward and the wave was pulling him back. It kept going like this, it seemed to be mooing… Going forward, then backward and the waves were coming to the limit, there were only two fingers to keep the boat out of the water! And still praying, still watching the wheel, it was something!

On that side it was about two hours of sailing like that in the boat, we went slowly and slowly and we reached the other side. After that, we didn’t come back so soon, we stayed until we were sure that the sea was really calm; so we could come back another day.

Yes! That’s the story about the boat. And now let me tell you how we ended up without it:

One time, I left. Then I went alone to the hermitage, to Prodromu, where I also went to Father Iulian, to my confessor. I saw how the sea was calm, when I was alone, I used to put a jerry can full of water right in the nose of the boat there for balance; that if I was only sitting in the back and there was also the engine risen a bit, especially at the waves. To balance.

Well, and I went slowly, slowly, I got to Prodromu, I pulled it out where they have the port, as they say, where they also have the boat, you pull it out and then you do so to the right, where it was closed, where they had the boat. But I just pulled it out, as they say, from the sea and pulled it up as high as I could and anchored it with two ropes there, because I could see the sea starting to get stormy.

Well, I went to Prodromu, I stayed there, I went to confession, I talked some more and I saw that the waves started to get a bit big. And I say: “I can’t go back to it, I’ll leave it there and walk home and when it’s quiet, I’ll go get it.” But I thought to myself: what if the waves get bigger? I knew that there the waves get inside. I had anchored it with two ropes, but I think it’s not enough.

So I asked one of the fathers from Prodromu who I knew better: “Please, when you can, see how you do, take the keys from where you have the boat and make room for mine and put it in.” They had a bigger place: it was a big room, I think: “For I see the waves begin.” He says: “Never mind, I’ll take care of it.”

Well, I left in peace. In the meantime, what happened? Father had his obedience jobs too, he got busy and forgot about the boat. Of course at night, a big storm came up. When he saw the wind he remembered about the boat. Then at night he ran there, but there was no boat left, only the ropes left. So the boat, together with the motor, was gone!

Of course, there were big waves now and they rose up to the top, slammed it so hard until it ripped it all off and carried it away and broke it up… All that was left were the ropes like that, which were tied to the land, as they were. And of course, the poor father knew that I had asked him to take care about the boat and now he was…Eh, a few days passed, about a week, everything calmed down and I went again.

I say: “Eh, I’ll go to the confessor and come back by boat.” I go to Father Iulian there and when I go I see him looking at me like this… Eh, I went there cheerfully: “Father…” one thing, another, I told him, I confessed, but he kept looking at me like that! And he asks me:

– How are you?

– Na, what can I do, father, as usual…

– What about that boat?

– Well, how can it be father, look, I left it here, now I’m going to get it. That I left it in the care of a father to pull it inside the port, that it was stormy at the time and I saw it start up and to get it in, I think he must have put it in.

– Hey, let me tell you what it’s like! (the old man didn’t know how to begin) You know, the father, poor thing, he didn’t have time, he couldn’t find the boat…

And the old man looked like this, to see:

– I burst, what will I do, like nah! It was the boat, it was the motor, he knew we were poor then, we had nothing. And I look at him and say:

– What happened?

– Well, nah, he only found the ropes. He went after that, after the sea had calmed down, he searched the water, he went into the water, he looked – he found nothing.

– No problem! Thank God! The Mother of God took it away from me, perhaps because it was of no use to me or she will give me a better one!

The old man looked at me:

– You don’t mind?

– But why should I be upset, father? Thank God!

– Not at all?

– Not at all! If the Mother of God knew I could use it, she’d let me have it. No, it’s not the father’s fault. He didn’t have to. He forgot, because the Mother of God allowed it.

And he kept asking me, he was looking, to see! I think that father asked him: “See, father, you put in a word, nah father, he entrusted it to me etc…”

– No father, don’t even think about it.

Eh, of course, after that I came out from him, I met the father, poor thing, he was trying to explain.

– Don’t worry, it’s not a problem, as if this is a damage? It wasn’t useful, that’s all it was, maybe it was an extra worry.

Well, of course, as time went on, after that, when we settled in, we were more fathers, a bit like that, we got a little bit better, we got a bit better boat , bigger – it could hold four people. I could go faster, I could go fishing, I could set night nets, I even went at night once, but when I saw how tiring it was to stay up all night setting nets, pulling out nets… only then did I understand what a hard job the Apostles had.

He says: They were fishermen. Stay up at night fishing. The next day you sit and patch the nets where they are broken, or so, after you take the fish out. I mean, it’s hard work, you know, because that fish we eat is not so easy to catch! You stay half the night there, set nets; then you stay all night and take the fish out of the nets after you take them out of the sea. Then during the day, he mends the nets, if they break and so on, so it’s hard work there too.

Yes! And that was with the little boat that I lost. And of course now we have another one. So like I said, then another one came along, a better one – we have it, every now and then we go out like this and fish a bit with it. Yes.

What else can I tell you?

That I’m starting to get closer to the end of St. Artemie to move on to the other Chapel, where I am now.

Yes, I know I told you once, when I was at St. Pavel, about five shoots ago, I was having trouble with my eyes. I mean, pretty big. Because of my carelessness, not resting, overtired, my eyes got ill. And they’ve been bothering me up badly for a few years now, it was like sand in my eyes. My eyes were red, especially in the sun I couldn’t resist, without sunglasses it was out of the question. All the time, I’d put some kind of ointment on my eyes, they’d sting, so for a few years I was like that and wore some kind of No. 1 glasses with plus and heliomatics. To close, to resist the sun.

They and I got tired of glasses at one point. A few years, not much I wore. But in those years I had come from the Prodromu Hermitage, I had been to the old man for confession. And I was coming and sweating; as there was dust on the road, everything, and I got to the holy water. I took off my glasses, washed with holy water and said: “Mother of God, from today on, I don’t wear glasses. I don’t know how you do it, if you want to, if you don’t, please, but do something with my eyes because I’m sick of it! Too much of stinging me, for me like that..”

And from that moment, I took off my glasses, washed myself with plenty of holy water, I put my head in the holy water there, he says, how the holy water flows which is also called Holy water of Saint Athanasie. And for the record, I haven’t had any eye problems since then, so it’s been all these years. Nearly twenty years, neither in the sun, even wearing or not wearing sunglasses – nothing!

But of course, whenever I had the opportunity and I passed by, there was no question of not stopping to give plenty of holy water on my eyes. I mean it was like that, because that’s where the gift comes from: it helped me, it restored my sight. Until recently, when nah! It’s also the age, after fifty, when you start to lose a little the sight. And-now only in very small writing, I have +1 glasses. Only if it’s very small, otherwise I have no trouble reading, but the small stuff, already… age, as they say, is taking its toll. But in the sun, I don’t have any more problems, that’s to have something like that. Yes, thank God!

Yes! This is how the Mother of God took care of my eyes. And I know a father who was also with me and had been wearing glasses for years, so as they say, only at night he didn’t wear! Otherwise, all the time. And when he saw that, that I got well, he had once gone out through Greece and reached Tembe – there is the Spring of St. Great Martyr Paraschevi, the eye healer. And he prayed, for he had piety for her. And he said: “Saint, I want to stop wearing glasses too!” And he washed himself with the holy water from there. And from that moment on he never wore glasses, and still doesn’t, years and years later. And it turned out that I could see him reading in the dark. I say:

– But you see?

– I see!

I mean, can you imagine the vision he got, the sight! I mean holy gifts.

Yes! And I’ll tell you a few things in conclusion about the Holy Spring of Saint Athanasius, of the Mother of God, that if I have told you that the Mother of God performed the miracle and cured me of my eyes, I will also tell you a few things. The spring there, I told you before, but it doesn’t matter if I repeat myself – it’s in honor of Our Lady.

It was St. Athanasie at Lavra. He had built the Lavra monastery. And at one point, it had a lot of monks, almost 1000 monks there. And nah, it was the time of wars, with the Byzantine Empire, it was around 960 and something. And there were wars and Athos could not be supplied. That he still had, that he had been a friend of the emperor, he still sent them, you know, to so many monks he needed food, that sort of thing, apart from what they produced – olives, what they had here, but the rest…

And by then they had reached a limit, they really had nothing left at the monastery. And so they set out for Kareya from the Lavra. I mean it’s a 7-8 hour walk from Lavra to Kareya. Let it go, it was a beautiful path; let the Athos management know that if he is not helped from somewhere he can no longer cope, let the monks go anywhere they could, let each one manage that he can no longer cope. Well, and when he got to this place where the holy water is now.

Saddened as he was, the Mother of God appeared in front of him. A woman, dressed in a nice dress and says:

– Where are you going, Athanasius?

– But who are you to ask me? He was upset like that and he saw a woman, he thought it might be a temptation, the devil, something…

– Athanasius, it’s not proper for you to talk like that, you must be more gentle!

– Okay, but who are you?

– I’m the one for whose love you came here.

And then St. Athanasie looked to her and says:

– How can I know it’s you, Mother of God?

– Strike with the stick you have in the rock in front of you!

And when he struck the rock with his stick, the rock cracked in the shape of a cross and out came a rich spring, which flows to this day. And then St. Athanasius understood she was the Mother of God, fell on his knees and asked for forgiveness, and then the Mother of God told him so:

– Go back and know that from now on I will take care of your monastery so that nothing is missing. Don’t name a steward father any more in the monastery. I will be the monastery’s steward and I will take care of everything, as I take care of all Athos!

And then St. Athanasius bowed, returned back to the monastery. When he arrived at the monastery, he went to the monastery’s storerooms to see what the Mother of God had helped him with; to entrust himself to her and he couldn’t open the door, he took it off the hinges, it was full of food, bread, vegetables, he says: those big pots like they had, 200-300 liters, in which they kept the oil, were full, they were overflowing, that’s how the lids came up. There was plenty of everything.

That is to say, the Mother of God showed that she handles everything. And since then at Lavra Monastery, they no longer have a steward, they only have an assistant steward, so called the one who takes care of everything, because he knows that the steward in charge is the Mother of God. Yes!

So I wanted to tell you this too, so you can see how much care the Mother of God takes. And I know a few others, a few years ago, someone had come, an acquaintance from the country who had big knee problems. And he had water, and just before he came to Athos, he had been to the doctor again, and he had drawn water from his knee several times, and he kept doing it again. And he ended up here in Athos and it hurt him.

And when he got there to the holy water, he sat, prayed, drank, and then he took and poured it on his leg like this; he poured plenty of holy water and said: “Mother of God, help me too!” He said that by the time he got back to the country, he was fine, all the swelling had gone, the water had gone, and he hasn’t had a problem with water in his knee since. The Mother of God healed him. Yes! Know that many miracles are performed, not only with the Mother of God’s holy water – but with faith in the Mother of God!

Yes, my dears! That’s what I wanted to tell you. And when the Mother of God will ordain we will continue. God help us! May the Mother of God help us, and keep us safe!

CHRIST IS RISEN!

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