Bishop Emilianos (Koutouzis) was a disciple of Elder Aimilianos of Simonopetra for ten years until the latter’s departure from the Holy Mountain because of illness. Elder Aimilianos was one of the Elders who revitalized the Holy Mountain in the latter part of the twentieth century, along with St. Ephraim of Katounakia, St. Paisios, and others.
Having been tonsured into the Great Schema by Elder Aimilianos, he also received his blessing to start a monastery in Australia, which he did in the early 2000s after spending fourteen years in Simonopetra in total. After being abbot for fifteen years, he was consecrated a bishop in 2019. Below are some selected writings from the tradition of Elder Aimilianos.
Bishop Emilianos of Meloa. Photo: adologala.gr
On Love (from an address to his assembled clergy):
We have our precious clergy from Southeast Queensland [in Australia] with us here today, not because their Bishop’s authority forced them to be here, but because their love for their Bishop compelled them to. Love is a force. Love can inspire us to do things which authorities cannot make us do. But, my dearest fathers, if I have any deeper authority over your hearts, it is only because I allowed you from the start to have authority over mine. And what do I mean by this? I mean that if we wish to be loved, we need to love others first. To put ourselves last and love others first. Very simple. People will give up their hearts’ authority to you if you love them first…
Elder Aimilianos of Simonopetra Why do I always talk about my Elder Aimilianos? Not because he was my Abbot who had authority over me when I was a simple monk in his monastery. It is because he loved me first, and in this way, he allowed me to love him too. And man…I loved him! I gave up my life for him. But, this love for my Elder taught me how to give up my life now for the Church, for my spiritual children. There was no political authority game. It was the dedication of my heart. I gave him full authority over my heart, and I received in return his spirit. The spiritual authority he had.
My brothers and sisters do not say like the pharisees, “We do not know” why people do not love us. We clearly did not love them first. If you want to be loved, be love!
On Balance, Stability, Discernment, and Limits
Stability is not about achieving impressive things. It is about knowing my limits. Knowing my physical, emotional, psychological and spiritual limits, and consciously pushing myself to stop just before meeting these limits (from Journey to the Resurrection: Holy Week Reflections).
Surprisingly, the Church Fathers consider discernment to be the greatest virtue, not love or humility. Discernment taking precedence suggests that the most important aspect of our spiritual life, for salvation and deification, is balance. Perhaps this is because God does everything through us in any case. So, are extreme struggles meaningless? Is it possibly because attempting more than what our given strength permits, demonstrates a lack of self-awareness? Are we trying to use powers which do not exist within us? Could we call this a delusion? Could it be considered theft, trying to steal extra powers that are not ours? Maybe simply blindness? Overzealous and overly strict people may not just be over-enthusiastic, they can easily be delusional, dishonest with themselves and the people they make promises to, and very blind. We need to be realistic and grounded in God’s Reality, rather than our own. It is essential to be stable utilizing God’s Strength, rather than our own. And we definitely must be understanding, using God’s Vision and Understanding, rather than our own (from Conversations with Christ).
[Elder Aimilianos] once told me: “Being comfortable is a royal virtue.” By this, he did not mean living a loose life. The Holy Gospel teaches us that the Kingdom of God is taken by force, but this doesn’t mean suffocating ourselves spiritually.
We must recognize our spiritual, psychological, and physical limits. If we push ourselves beyond what we can handle we risk burnout, losing our connection with God, or leading a double life—appearing pious toward our spiritual father while struggling internally. God knows what we can offer and He never asks for what we don’t have. To have an honest and proper relationship with Him, we must know and respect our limits. In this lies the foundation for spiritual growth, performing miracles, and protection against despair—the devil’s most powerful weapon (from Walking on the Waves, Volume II).
On Inner Healing
Understanding why we behave the way we do and what needs amending, may be beneficial. It usually comes down to not being loved enough or being loved in an unhealthy way while growing up. Sadly, many adults carry delusive ideas about love, leading their children to navigate life emotionally limping. Instead of themselves seeking substitutes for emotional support, they should be the ones emerging into society as individuals whom others can comfortably and securely depend upon, much like the example of Christ. So, what’s the solution for our limping society, misguided attractions and character gaps? It is simple: God. God is our spiritual answer to all things non-spiritual, be it psychological (I am not referring to severe clinical cases here), emotional or attractional gaps.
The spiritual (not psychological) approach to life is straightforward: focus on God. Focus on God, not on your psychological gaps, acknowledged or not. Focus on God, not your emotional gaps, known or yet to be discovered. Focus on God, not your attractional gaps, whether you are fully responsible for them or not. In essence, it doesn’t really matter whether we know ourselves or not. Even if we discover all our gaps, what truly matters is that we focus on God. Vigilance [or watchfulness], believe it or not, is all that matters in life. Vigilance will help us cultivate prayer. It will also protect our prayer along the way so we can safely, quickly, and permanently connect with God, Who can empower us to face ourselves without any fig leaves, and mend or fill any gaps we might have, whether known or unknown to us (from Conversations with Christ).
On Spiritual Fathers
St. John the Forerunner’s example shows the proper approach to spiritual guidance. He didn’t try to keep his disciples for himself. When he recognized Christ, he said, “This is the Lamb of God, don’t worry about me, follow Him.” He pointed them toward Christ and let them go. Similarly, Christ didn’t keep His Disciples to Himself. He passed them onto the Holy Spirit. The Disciples received the Holy Spirit, became Christ-like, then went on to make more Disciples who continue to spread His Message to this very day.
Sadly though, not all spiritual fathers take this approach. Some keep their spiritual children in a state of dependency, stunting their spiritual growth. This isn’t true spiritual fatherhood. Keeping someone as a child forever is a crime. Genuine spiritual guidance should lead to maturity, helping disciples grow into spiritual fathers and mothers themselves. This is how the Holy Spirit and the Kingdom of God spread throughout the world (from Walking on the Waves, Volume II).
A Christ and Church-like spiritual father does not pass on his spirit to his Church and to his spiritual children through authoritative force. He makes them feel loved and taken care of. He fosters an atmosphere in which they are comfortable and natural around him. Spiritual children need to know that his living love allows them to feel safe, to feel secure, to be protected, and to be unjudged. When they freely and fully give themselves to him, then and only then is he able to pass on his spirit (from Conversations with Christ).
On Vigilance
What is the difference between vigilance and the Jesus Prayer? Vigilance means denying every thought to present our inner self, vacant and available, to God. However, you cannot leave this space empty—it must be filled with something. We fill it with prayer, specifically the Jesus Prayer in the practice we are discussing. These two work together. They are distinct and yet they work together. We cannot practice vigilance alone and leave the intellect blank. If we do, the devil will quickly occupy it with something “interesting” to deceive us, as he has done since the time of Adam and Eve…
According to Elder Aimilianos’ explanation of St. Hesychios [of the Philokalia], the stages [of vigilance] are as follows:
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We begin practicing vigilance.
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Over time, it becomes a good habit.
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With the Grace of God, vigilance grows to be more frequent and consistent.
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We reach a stage where we can peacefully observe the inner spiritual war within our intellect.
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This leads to prayer deepening and developing into a sweet, peaceful state of mind.
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Finally, we arrive at a Christ-like condition—union with Christ.
While catharsis [or purification] may not be a specific step, it develops naturally through this process (from Walking on the Waves, Volume II).
You can find a complete list of the works of Bishop Emilianos’s talks on the teaching of Elder Aimilianos here.
