A
paralysed man named Constantine visited Mount Athos in 1981. He had been
suffering from a chronic neurological syndrome for 30 years which confined him
to a wheelchair. At the Monastery of Grigoriou, he met a rich businessman who
offered to pay for him to be operated on in America. Constantine became very
excited at the idea of being healed but he went to ask Elder Paisios for his
opinion.
He met
the Elder at Karyes and spoke to him about this situation. The Elder crossed
his head with the relics of St Arsenios of Cappadocia. The following is the
account of Constantine himself of what happened next:
“Then he
grabbed my puny, paralysed legs. Kissing them, he said, ‘These little legs –
they’re going to take you to paradise, and you don’t realise it.’ And then he
added, ‘Don’t go to America – they’ll make you a guinea pig!’ Then, he looked
me in the eye and said, ‘Get up so we can take a walk.’ I thought he was
joking. He said it again: ‘Come on – are you getting up or what?’
He took
me in his arms, helped me off the bed, and we began walking. He was praying
with tears in his eyes, saying something I couldn’t make out. I felt like I had
wings, and, seeing myself standing, I started weeping from emotion.
Finally,
he set me down in my wheelchair, sat next to me, and said, ‘Listen, my child –
God doesn’t want you to get better ever. In fact, you’ll get worse. But you
should know that the people who surround and serve you are all being saved
without realising it – they help, and they’re helped. You become a means for
the salvation of their souls. This is what God is asking from you.’”
"Elder Paisios of Mount Athos",
by Hieromonk
Isaac, pages 607 – 608.
Source: https://www.lychnos.org/elder-paisios-and-the-paralysed-man/
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