In Defense of St. Anthony’s Monastery in Florence, AZ

To the Editor:

In his letter to TNH (Jan. 5), A. P. Cromidas, apparently omnisciently and omnipotently, was sputtering comments left and right about the saintly and venerable Elder Ephraim, the past Abbot of the Monastery of Philotheou on Mount Athos, who within the last 20 years or so came to America and established 18 or so monasteries, particularly the Monastery of Saint Anthony in Florence, Arizona. I live in Phoenix, about 85 miles west of there.

I retired to Phoenix in 1996, around that time the idea of establishing a monastery in the Sonoran Desert was developing. I, being an unbelieving sinner, laughed at this notion. But the miracle, the spiritual oasis in the desert, has appeared before my very eyes. After the Grand Canyon and Sedona, this monastery is the most visited by tourists and particularly by Arizona snowbirds. I have seen it grow and develop. Above all, it has become an oasis of Orthodox spirituality and a haven for psychic healing and meditation and Orthodox, yes, Greek Orthodox, enlightenment.

It is a place where probably several hundred thousand Orthodox men, women, and children, from all over the world have come to find refuge. I go about seven or eight times myself throughout the year, for one or several days at a time. It is good to get away from the Internet and from television, where inevitably one learns about the monstrous acts and deeds that happen in our country and throughout the world. There I find peace, meditation, prayer, fasting, introspection, and confession. I try to approach the objective of my Orthodox faith: sanctity, keeping in mind the great saying of the American philosopher, Dewey: ”While saints indulge in introspection, burly sinners rule the earth.” But above all, I have met a variety of Orthodox human beings with whom I would arise at 12:30AM or 1AM for the three or four or five hours of services, standing at attention before Christ and His Saints, only to leave at the crack of dawn, or still in the dark, silent night and to gaze at the starlit Arizona heavens.

Have I met with the venerable Elder Ephraim? Yes. Three or four times. He is much in demand, and he is in his eighties, a frail, weak, but always smiling old man, ”a geronta.” He was my father’s spiritual father. My father was a good number of years older, a priest of sixty-three years, who passed away in 1996 in Phoenix, six months after I retired. In the 1970s and 80s when he would visit Greece, he would go to the Monastery of Philotheou, where Ephraim was the Abbot, and he established a long and lasting friendship with this holy man. As the story goes, my father would pester Abbot Ephraim with the plea that the Greek people in America, the Orthodox people, are thirsting for spirituality and something must be done by the monks of Greece and the Church of Greece to quench this thirst. How true this is I cannot say.

Why are the monasteries in America flourishing? Unfortunately, the Greek Orthodox Church (and other Orthodox Churches as well) is not doing its job. They cater to all sorts of irrelevant activities that have nothing to do with Orthodox spirituality: dancing, golfing, goofy Sunday schooling, festivals, chanting in hideous English translations that sound like ”miaulings of delirious cats” (a phrase taken from Algernon Swinburne’s poetry) and nasal howlings that are enough to drive anyone away from the Church. One is constantly pestered to contribute to the building of Taj Mahals, to spend, spend, spend for ridiculous projects and fruitless endeavors. Above all, most priests are hirelings who expect 12, 13, 15, 17, or even 20 thousand dollars per month. Of course, this does not sit well with many people who struggle to make ends meet.

When I go to the monastery, I am never asked for a single dime, and yet they offer me a bed and a decent healthy meal. It is not The Ritz-Carlton, and if I stay longer than a day, the monks can put me and all other pilgrims there to work. So I do bring some old clothing. Now that I’ve gotten old, they don’t bother me. How do I repay them? I’m very generous in lighting candles, and I put a nice check in the box with the names of my beloved departed. And if other rich monasteries in Greece can be generous and can help the Church and the faithful in America – so be it! God bless them!

As to the poor Abbot Ephraim from the Monastery of Vatopaidi on Mount Athos, who has been imprisoned on false premises, who has been a scapegoat by a corrupt, criminal government that has brought Greece to its knees where millions of our fellow Greeks live in despair and misery, please, Mr. Cromidas, do read the article published in the October 1, 2010 issue of Vanity Fair, where the monks of Vatopaidi are vindicated and presented as shrewd businessmen that honestly work for the good of their order.

Mr. Cromidas, and even Mr. [Theodore] Kalmoukos, do come and visit the monastery. Just let me know, and if my health permits me and suitable arrangements can be made, I’ll be happy to pick you up at Sky Harbor Airport and we can all go together to Florence, where I will report more and more about what you want to know. Make sure though that you bring some old clothing for working and a kenosis (emptying) of one’s self. If we are full of ourselves, we’ll never make contact with God and our Savior Christ.

Andreas K. Poulakidas,
MTh, MA, PhD
Phoenix, AZ