Athos: Abbot of Vatopedi returns to monastery after 3.5 months of treatment and rehabilitation (+VIDEO)

Mt. Athos, September 13, 2021

    

The brotherhood of the Athonite monastery of Vatopedi was overjoyed to welcome their abbot Archimandrite Ephraim home on Saturday following a 3.5-months absence.

Abbot Ephraim was hospitalized in Athens after testing positive for COVID on May 21. He was discharged from the hospital in mid-July and went to continue treatment in a rehabilitation center.

He was greeted with a modest but joyous ceremony at the monastery port late Saturday afternoon, reports the Orthodoxia News Agency:

The fathers of the monastery believe it was no accident that their abbot returned just before the feast of the Placing of the Cincture of the Most Holy Theotokos, which is one of the most important sacred treasures of Vatopedi Monastery.  

At the gate of the monastery, Fr. Ephraim venerated the Holy Belt, and then proceeded to the monastery catholicon, where the brethren glorified God.

    

In his words to the brethren, Abbot Ephraim noted that he was on the brink of death, which has enabled him to thank God with all his being.

Speaking with Greek media before his return home, the abbot also said that, “Doctors wonder how I came back to life. It seems God wanted to give me time to repent—to look at my life and act better.”

Recall that Fr. Ephraim has a heart condition. He suffered a heart attack in early 2019 and underwent heart surgery the next month, receiving two heart stents. Five stents had been inserted in a previous operation.

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9/13/2021

See also
VIDEO: Online discussion with Elder Ephraim of Vatopaidi and Fr. John Parker, Dean of St Tikhon’s Orthodox Theological Seminary VIDEO: Online discussion with Elder Ephraim of Vatopaidi and Fr. John Parker, Dean of St Tikhon’s Orthodox Theological Seminary VIDEO: Online discussion with Elder Ephraim of Vatopaidi and Fr. John Parker, Dean of St Tikhon’s Orthodox Theological Seminary VIDEO: Online discussion with Elder Ephraim of Vatopaidi and Fr. John Parker, Dean of St Tikhon’s Orthodox Theological Seminary
Watch the online discussion with Elder Ephraim, Abbot of the Holy and Great Monastery of Vatopaidi and Fr. John Parker, Dean of St Tikhon’s Orthodox Theological Seminary, Pennsylvania. “Where there is God, there is sorrow and the Cross”—Abbot Ephraim of Vatopedi “Where there is God, there is sorrow and the Cross”—Abbot Ephraim of Vatopedi “Where there is God, there is sorrow and the Cross”—Abbot Ephraim of Vatopedi “Where there is God, there is sorrow and the Cross”—Abbot Ephraim of Vatopedi
Following his recent acquittal in a nine-year case involving a land exchange between the Greek government and Vatopedi Monastery, Abbot Ephraim has offered an interview to the newspaper Real. Elder Joseph of Vatopaidi Elder Joseph of Vatopaidi
+ July 1, 2009 Elder Joseph of Vatopaidi Elder Joseph of Vatopaidi: Biography and Remembrances
+ July 1, 2009
Elder Joseph continued the spiritual work which he received from his Elder, and lived as a hesychast till the end of his life. He sought obscurity. He did not seek worldly praise or glory. He endured humbly, meekly and without grumbling all scorn, contempt, disgrace, criticism and slander. He had “compassionate pity” and his heart received and forgave all, because he gave room within himself for Christ.
Comments
Mikhail9/13/2021 4:49 pm
Perhaps now he will condemn the horrific and uncanonical actions of the EP in relation to the schism that was created in Ukraine?
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