I’ll tell you about another difficult situation. I wasn’t intending to go to the monastery, but I went because of one man. This was on the Exaltation of the Lord’s Holy Cross. It was noon. Elder Iakovos was resting in his cell; in fact, Fr. Iakovos was reading one canon after another.
Elder Iakovos
Fr. Kirillos, the abbot of the monastery, made us some coffee and I went to keep him company. The abbot turned to me and said:
“Fr. Paul, I’ve been waiting for you.”
I told him:
“Geronda, I wasn’t planning to come see you, but I came because of one man.”
He told me:
“When we were eating lunch, Fr. Iakovos turned to me and said: ‘Fr. Paul isn’t here yet, but he’s coming.’”
How did he know? Through grace, through “God’s eyes”…
One day, Elder Iakovos’ nephew, or rather, his niece’s husband, was out on a ship. Fr. Iakovos called her and asked:
“How’s your husband?”
“Everything’s fine, Geronda! He’s out on a ship.”
“Good, good, my child.”
She was surprised, and when her husband called her, she asked him:
“How are you?”
“Everything’s all right.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes, my love, everything’s fine!”
“For sure, everything’s good?”
“Yes. But why are you asking me that?”
“Because Fr. Iakovos called me today and asked how you were.”
Then her husband confessed that they had run aground, but the captain managed to get the ship off the shoal without a hitch, and they continued on.
When this family’s first child was about to be born, on the evening before, at 9:00 PM, someone knocked on the door. They wondered who had come at such a late hour. They opened the door, and on the threshold stood Elder Iakovos with a reliquary with the holy hand of St. David. He crossed the pregnant woman’s stomach. When the Elder was left alone with her husband, he told him:
“You’ll have some small difficulties tomorrow, but don’t worry!”
The next day, the young family went to the maternity hospital. There were some complications during childbirth, and at one point, the doctor from the operating room asked the husband:
“Whom should I save: the child or the mother?”
The husband was enraged and yelled at the doctor:
“God forbid anything should happen to my wife—you’ll be in trouble!”
The doctor went back into the operating room. Later, the same doctor came back out into the hallway, weeping: “And I was ready to attack the doctor,” the husband said, “but he said through the tears: ‘I’ve been working in the operating room for many years, but that’s the first time I’ve felt God’s hand so clearly! The baby was entangled in its umbilical cord, but it moved in such a way that its little body got free. I couldn’t understand how it happened…’”
Today, this child is a real blessing.
Fr. Iakovos’ life was full of such cases, which for him were simple in the sense of trust and prayer to God, through which miracles happened. It would require many books to describe these interventions and miracles.
The day of his dormition had come. After the feast of the Entrance of the Most Holy Theotokos, he departed for the Kingdom of God. We all gathered in the monastery, and then people started telling stories. A teacher told me:
“I have a niece who wanted to come see the Elder. She saw Fr. Iakovos in a dream and told him: ‘Geronda, I really want to come talk to you!’
“But he told her: ‘You’ll come, but you won’t find me, because I’ve left this world.’”
And indeed, Elder Iakovos died that day.
The day after his funeral, when the Divine Liturgy was over, a doctor and her husband came to the monastery. The monks told them where the Elder’s grave was. I thought it must be his friends who weren’t able to make it to the funeral, but this was the first time these people had come to the holy monastery. The doctor later told me:
“I wanted to meet with Fr. Iakovos about a serious health problem my sister’s having. But despite our efforts, we couldn’t come to the monastery. But yesterday at noon, during a break at the hospital where I work, I was drinking coffee with my colleagues and I heard someone talking on the radio. His words made an impression on us, and I called the station to ask who was speaking. They told us it was Fr. Iakovos from the Monastery of St. David, who had died and whose funeral was taking place that day.”
The funeral of Elder Iakovos
But what happened the day before? The doctor saw Elder Iakovos (in a vision), who answered her sister’s problems, and in the morning the woman told her husband: “Whatever happens, we’re going to the monastery on Saturday!” They went to the holy monastery, but Fr. Iakovos was no longer among the living. But he still answered her.
Here’s another story. On the fortieth day after his repose, there was a lot of snow in the monastery. And a sailor came for a visit. As soon as he came ashore, I heard a monk tell him:
“Let’s go, he’s waiting for you behind the church.”
Walking around the monastery, I saw that this man was crying. I walked past him tactfully. Later I met him in the kitchen. The monks had invited him to have some coffee, and he told us he’d just gotten off a boat. When we were having lunch, his little daughter told him:
“Papa, the grandpa we came to see died.”
He turned to his wife and asked:
“Who died?”
She said:
“Fr. Iakovos. We didn’t tell you so you wouldn’t get upset.”
The sailor got up, got into the car, and drove to the monastery. Why? Because while in India, his ship had broken down, and they couldn’t figure out what caused the damage to the ship. That day, Fr. Iakovos died, and that night, not knowing that the Elder had departed this world, the sailor saw him in a dream, and Fr. Iakovos told him:
“Niko, the ship is damaged here. You need to change this part, and you’ll continue your voyage.”
Indeed, everything was just as the Elder said. I remember that one woman who heard this crossed herself and said:
“This is a holy man!”
And one of the brothers jokingly told her:
“What holy man? He’s a trickster! He told us he’d never gone anywhere, but he’s even been to India!”
“If you ever have any serious problems, call Fr. Iakovos”
There are a lot of people who could tell you about Elder Iakovos. Before continuing my story about that, I’ll tell you about another incident that occurred after his death.
There was a man who was admitted to the hospital with serious health problems. He had surgery and was in a coma for ten days. But during the time he was in a comatose state he saw on the opposite wall the face of an elder, very similar to St. Nicholas. But he had no bishop’s mitre on his head, only a monastic kamilavka. The man told the doctor, and the doctor said:
“I can tell you one thing. When you were brought here, there was a three percent chance you’d live, and a ninety-seven percent chance you’d die. When I graduated from college, my professor gave me some advice: ‘My child, if you ever have any serious problems, call Fr. Iakovos from the Monastery of St. David.’ I’d never been to that monastery, never knew Fr. Iakovos, although I really respect and honor my professor, and when I saw the state you were in, I turned to Fr. Iakovos in prayer. I don’t know, maybe that will mean something to you.”
The patient, who then quickly recovered and went home, told his relatives about it. One day, one of his relatives asked him:
“I was passing by a bookstore, and I saw in the window display a book about Elder Iakovos, about whom the doctor had spoken, and I bought it for you.”
As soon as the man saw the photo on the book cover, he burst into tears—it was the same Elder whose face he’d seen on the wall for ten days; it was the same monk the doctor had prayed to and thanks to whom the patient was healed. Then this man came to the holy monastery and told what had happened to him.
The Lord our God lives!
What can we say? What he said one time when some celebrities came to see him from Athens. They didn’t know Elder Iakovos before that. They came and met him. One of the women said to him as they were leaving:
“Geronda, we’re returning to the secular world, and there are so many problems and difficulties there. What can we tell people?”
He turned around with a magnificent expression on his face, looked at them all, and said:
“My children, the Lord our God lives! Tell them that!”
He himself lived the Living God, and that was his message.
Elder Iakovos showed great love for everyone and everything. He never felt any antipathy for anyone. And if anyone harassed Fr. Iakovos, he forgave him. He took care of everyone in need and often told me:
“My father, I have a bag in my cell. Whatever money someone gives me, I put it in the bag and give it out from there.”
Elder Iakovos helped many people.
“I give ten drachmas, and God gives me fifty back”
I’ll tell you about two cases that happened to me personally. A young man from a family that Elder Iakovos knew, died. One day I went to the monastery.
“How’s this family doing?” he asked me.
“Geronda, they’re struggling…”
He took a some money out of the pocket of his cassock and handed it to me.
“My child, give this money to the family to buy shoes for their children.”
I took the money from Fr. Iakovos and gave it to the young man’s family.
Ten days later, I went to the monastery again. The Elder asked me about the family again and gave me money to give them again. I told him:
“Geronda, you just gave them money not long ago.”
“I give ten drachmas, and God gives me fifty back.”
In the morning, we were celebrating the divine service, standing behind the altar, when Fr. Iakovos asked me about another person and gave me money again. I told him he already gave me money for that person two days ago, and the Elder said:
“Don’t worry, my child, I give ten drachmas, and God gives me fifty back!”
He used to test this family sometimes. They asked him for holy water, and the Elder asked them:
“My children, what do you need holy water for?”
“To sprinkle the fields, Geronda.”
“And you believe that by sprinkling the fields with holy water you’ll get a good harvest?”
“Yes, Geronda!”
And then he gave them holy water.
It hailed in the area where the family lived, but not a single hailstone fell on their fields. Since then, they’ve always brought the first fruits of their harvest to the monastery for a blessing.
One day, a man came, kissed the Elder’s hand, and he greeted the pilgrim and said:
“My child, can I treat you to some coffee and loukoumi?”
“Geronda, we’re in a big hurry. We just stopped at the monastery along the way. The monks already treated us! Don’t worry! We just want to ask your blessing!”
Bending down to kiss his hand, the man handed him an envelope.
Fr. Iakovos first opened the envelope in front of me. There were 50,000 drachmas inside. He said:
“You see, my child, what did I tell you?! I give ten drachmas, and God gives me fifty back.”
“Don’t scream, my love! A miracle is happening!”
Fr. Iakovos with the stole, staff, and censer of St. David of Evia I’ll also never forget a man who came from London with a cancer diagnosis. His tumor was visible to the naked eye.
Elder Iakovos asked him:
“My child, you left the doctor and came here, to the mountains? Why did you come here? Do you believe that our saint can heal you?”
“Yes, Geronda, I do!”
The next day, the man was supposed to receive Communion. He was in his cell with his wife and two other relatives when he saw the door open, and in came St. David. The saint pressed on the man’s tumor, and he felt pain; the saint began to rub the tumor. His wife got scared and started screaming because she thought her husband was dying. But overcoming the pain, her husband told her:
“Don’t scream, my love! A miracle is happening!”
The next morning, the tumor disappeared.
