Florence, Arizona, December 11, 2024
December 7 marked the 5th anniversary of the repose of Elder Ephraim of Philotheou and Arizona, a great saint of our times.
Geronda Ephraim departed to the Lord at about 10:00 PM on December 7, 2019, at St. Anthony’s Monastery in Florence, Arizona, which he founded and where he spent the last several decades of his life. He is entombed in the St. Menas Chapel.
The beloved Athonite elder began his monastic life as a spiritual child of the great St. Joseph the Hesychast. He later became abbot of Philotheou Monastery and helped to repopulate a number of other Athonite monasteries, in addition to founding nearly two dozen new monasteries in Greece and North America. He had thousands of spiritual children throughout the world.
Abbot Paisios and the brotherhood of St. Anthony’s commemorated their elder on the anniversary of his repose on Saturday, beginning with Midnight Office, Orthros, and the Divine Liturgy beginning at 1:00 AM. The Liturgy was followed by a memorial service in the monastery’s main church and a trisagion at Elder Ephraim’s tomb in the St. Menas Chapel.
The services were led by Bishop Athenagoras of Nazianzos of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America. Several hundred Orthodox faithful came to prayerfully commemorate Elder Ephraim.
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Elder Ephraim in repose
On the two days before the anniversary, Uncut Mountain Press held a conference in Florence dedicated to, “Torches of Truth: The Kollyvades Fathers and Their Successors,” including St. Joseph the Hesychast and Elder Ephraim.
The Kollyvades Fathers, most notably including Sts. Makarios of Corinth, Nikodemos the Hagiorite, and Athanasios of Paros were a group of Orthodox monks and theologians who emerged in the late 18th century on Mt. Athos. They were part of a spiritual and intellectual movement aimed at revitalizing Orthodox spirituality and practice. They were responsible for the compilation of the Orthodox classic The Philokalia.
Abbot Gregorios presenting at the conference. Photo: Facebook
The conference featured talks by:
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Abbot Nikodemos (Barousis) of the Holy Monastery of the Panagia Chrysopodoritissa, Chrysopigi (Achaia), Greece on the theology and praxis of Baptism in Dorotheos Voulismas, St. Paisius Velichkovsky, and the Kollyvades Fathers
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Abbot Gregorios (Estephan) of Holy Dormition Orthodox Monastery in Bkeftine, Lebanon on fidelity to the Holy Fathers as the identifying characteristic of an Orthodox Christian
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Archpriest Peter Heers, founder and head of Uncut Mountain Press: on St. Joseph the Hesychast and Elder Ephraim of Philotheou and Arizona as modern successors to the Kollyvades Fathers
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Constantine Zalalas, founder of St. Nikodemos Publications on the heart of the Kollyvadic spirit and Its significance today
His Eminence Metropolitan Neophytos of Morphou of the Orthodox Church of Cyprus also joined remotely for a lively Q and A session with the approximately 200 participants.
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