www.byzcath.org Forums Faith & Christian Life The Christian East & West Stigmata and Saints of the East

Dear Dr Eric,

Yes, I had the pleasure of having my grandparents with us since 1966 when they escaped E. Europe.

My grandfather loved people and talking with people.

I remember him pacing the hallways at home as he prayed for people's intentions and also his Horologion. It was so frayed that the pages were disconnected from the binding and he kept them all together with an elastic band!

He was a chaplain for the anti-Soviet underground in Eastern Europe. When I once received a beautiful embroidered cloth from there, he told me that it was from "a village where 200 insurgent fighters are buried." When I asked him how he knew, it was because he buried them . . .

He was a priest for 70 years and had 7 children with two others who died soon after childbirth - he was ordained by Metropolitan Andrew Sheptytsky.

He always taught me to pray always. When I confessed before him a weak prayer life - he never let that go by and treated it very seriously.

He said, "Without prayer - what can you hope to do as a Christian?" He then prescribed a very long penance, usually lasting several weeks, with morning and evening prayers daily . . .

He gave me his final blessing in the nursing home before he lost the power to speak.

After his death, when people around him asked who he was and were told he was a priest - they were astounded and a number asked for the Sacraments and ordered Masses . . . for themselves - these were people who hadn't been to Church for years, as the nurses told us!

I inherited his Orthodox pectoral Cross he received from a Russian Archbishop when he finished building a church under the Soviets. He knew it meant a great deal to me.

I will never forget him and look forward to seeing him again in the next life.

Alex

Alex,
You were so blessed by having a grandfather like him.
Shalom
Stephanos I
Through his intercession oh Savior save our souls.

Dear Alex,
Those little stories you told were amazing!!! I love hearing about the things that our ancestors (distant and not so distant) went through to be where and who they are. If there was a book about your grandfather (and all your grandparents) I'd buy it. I was fascinated by those little comments!

Not meaning to hijack the thread, but what do you mean that the "gift of tears" is an Eastern phenomenon? By this, do you mean that it is emphasised in the East, though common to the whole Church?

I realize these extraordinary mystical phenomene edify a lot of people; and I hate to rain on anybody's parade and be a "nay-sayer" on Holy Saturday, but...stigmata, bilocation etc. leave me perplexed and rather disconcerted. If my reaction is due to my hardened heart then please pray I undergo a change in attitude...no, better yet: just pray that my attitude toward A LOT of things may improve...however,I'm put in mind of the adage that when it comes to mysticism one has to be cautious as there can be a lot of MIST and a lot of SCHISM in it....

They are tears of repentance,
might I suggest to you to read St Simeon the New Theologian he was one who had the gift of tears.
If we truly come into the divine presence and experience the Holiness of God then our eyes would stream down with tears night and day. We would sob and be truly sorry for all of our sins.
Stephanos I
May that many would be granted these tears in our day.

These mystical phenomena *do* happen happen to saints...Why? we don't know....

Perplexing?--perhaps, but like everything mystical concerning God, they are a matter of faith...

Ofcourse, we don't need to really spend much time believing in them, and we don't need to spend much time thinking about them if they make us uncomfortable, as they are not necessary for our salvation, but they do seem to happen to very holy persons, never the less.

Since I am Eastern, I can only speak for the Eastern phenomenon of bi-location...often, such occurence happens to protect someone. For instance, someone gets saved from being buried under rubble by a holy saint from Mt. Athos, though the saint has never left the monastery, or someone gets taken to a warm place though he has been confined to a freezing cell to die with a saint, though their bodies have never actually moved; etc...

Usually the person on the other end of the holy bilocating saint's assistance ends up serving God in a very special way. There is a reason for it.

Alice

I am having trouble finding more detailed information on St. Pavel Goydicz. Do you or anyone else have any links that could help me learn more about St. Pavel?

Try Bishop Paul Gojdich (one and the same).

Dostoevskian:

Father Stephanos sums it up well. It's about finally attaining that intimate relationship lost by our first parents and realizing what the cost to Jesus to repair and bridge the awful chasm caused by sin between us and the Infinitely Holy God. I personally theorize that upon meeting Jesus face-to-face and seeing His Wounds beaming with the Divine and Uncreated Light that shines in eternity from the wounds of Him and of the martyrs it would reduce us to tears. The gift of tears on this side of eternity is a real gift in that we are given some fuzzy insight into the terrible nature of sin and the horrible affront to God that it actually is. We sometimes get the idea that we can whisk into confession and get a clean slate--which we can--but we don't really understand the nature of what we have done.

I pray for two last things before I commit myself each night. Even though I am unworthy to ask for anything, I ask for five minutes of the tears of true and perfect final repentance--one minute for each of the five principle wounds I've cause Jesus to endure in coming her to save me (and not longer lest I offend His command to come for judgment) and a merciful judgment--because all mercy arises from and is His Person, without which I'm lost.

If you want a better insight into what the tears of perfect repentance are about, go to the thread about the shroud (The Face of Christ in the Shroud) where the scholars have concluded that "they beat the . . . out of Him." He absorbed all the hatred, sin, cruelty, and every other negative action and emotion of the human race from the time they scourged Him to the time they nailed Him to the Cross. It might also help to remember that nails were reserved for torturing those they wanted to really maim. Most were, according to archeologists and historians simply tied to the cross so they could be up there as a spectacle longer. There's a book written by a patholgist--can't remember the title off-hand--that describes the torture of crucifixion. It's really graphic and gives anyone with a heart all the reason in the world to cry over their sins.

Bob

I tend to think that the stigmata is more common in the West because of the focus on the Passion of Christ, and on sharing in His Passion... three examples of Saints I can think of are St Francis of Assisi, St Padre Pio, and St Gemma Galgani. :)

Blessed Bishop Pavel Gojdic, OSBM, Martyr, was Eparch of Presov. He reposed in 1960, as a consequence of a decade of imprisonment and torture under the Communists, and was buried in an unmarked grave in the prison. His body was exhumed in 1968 and reinterred in the Cathedral of Presov. Pope John Paul II beatified him in 2001. He was accorded the title of 'Righteous Among the Nations' by Yad Vashem in 2008 as a result of his work in WWII to save Slovak Jews from deportation to the death camps.

Many years,

Neil

Sometimes he is also referred to as "Pavol Petr Gojdič".
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pavol_Peter_Gojdi%C4%8D

When I was in Athens, Greece, on february this year, I met a taxidriver, who started talking devotionally about spiritual things. I realized he was a devoted christian, which means that among orthodox believers he had to be part of a zelous group. Therefore I asked him. Than he made me know his spiritual guide was a woman in Athens, about whom I, despite living couple of years there, had not heard of.
More interesingly, this woman seems to have a stigmatine experience within the orthodox church, or, at least, since she doesnt seem to be in a good relation with the official church, within an orthodox society and enviroment.

The only online info source I could find is this webpage

http://ellinaenamilo2.blogspot.com/2011/11/blog-post_30.html?m=1

I believe that you are thinking of a book entitled "A Doctor on Calvary" by Dr. Zoghby. It is truly an amazing book; easy to read as far as readability but very detailed and moves one very, very deeply to understand better just what the Lord suffered for us physically. You WILL shed tears!
Old monk Silouan

There is a Discalced Carmelite Blessed, Blessed Mary of Jesus Crucified (Bouardy) who was a Melkite Stigmatic who also had the Gift of BiLocation and levitation.She founded the Carmel in Bethlehem where her relics also repose.
Old Silouan, monk