. . . in this simple respect: 'angel' means messanger, and today (Tuesday) I was to deliver a (good) message to two monks from Evangelos (no irony in that, is there?). Evangelos is a frequent pilgrim and supporter of HDM. That would make me a messanger, an angel of sorts. At Philotheou I had been asking every monk with whom I could communicate if they knew Fr. Philotheos. They all did, but no one was taking me to him. After services this morning, a monk comes up and starts asking me questions; he seems suspicious in his questioning. Finally he tells me his name is Philotheos, and he's heard that some priest from Michigan is asking about him. Oh, I rejoice, with great joy. But he doesn't understand my delight. "I bring greeting from Evangelos," I say. He pauses, thinking, and then says, "Evangelos in Michigan?" "Yes," I reply, "Evangelos in Michigan." His face lights up brightly, "I remember him every day in my prayers," is his immediate reply.
The story turns out to be that the Monk Philotheos and Evangelos met at St. Anthony's in AZ two years ago. Philotheos happens to be the beekeeper at Philotheou. You can imagine the conversation that must have ensued. So that one encounter formed a bond between them that allowed them both to carry each other in their hearts for these two years. And this is why Evangelos had asked me bring greetings to his beloved fellow beekeeper.
As I was asking Fr. Philotheos if he knew the Monk Efrem, our conversation was interrupted by the breakfast bell and that calls for immediate action--to the trapeza. But when the meal was over, Philotheos had already contacted Fr. Efrem, who lives in a Kellion "about 10 minutes from here" (these sorts of estimates have no correspondance with reality, I've come to learn), and he is able to receive me after noon--a good 3 hours after I had planned to leave for my next stop--Iviron. But it seemed worth the wait--a little bit of Athos is wearing off on me, slightly less destination minded. Philotheos offered to take me by car, and so it was that I was able to spend the morning under a shade tree writing the previous post.
Fr. Philotheos shows up a bit after noon, gifts in hand, with his beekeeper's vehicle and we were off. In route, I find out he's Romanian, from Bucharest, but he has been at Philotheou for 13 years. He learns about what I'm doing and we slowly begin to discover that Evangelos is not the only thing we have in common.
Arriving at the Kellion dedicated, as I soon discover, to the Nativity of the Mother of God, I meet Fr. Efrem. He too seems suspicious, or at least uncertain, in our opening exchanges, but quickly realizes that we both, or rather all three of us, share the same joy of knowing Evangelos. So we spend the next hour or so drinking coffee on his porch overlooking the Aegean and telling stories.
I can't possibly capture the enjoyment, and the surprises, along the way. Fr. Philotheos, for example, was quite interested in Fr. Roman, though he had never met him, and Fr. Efrem had never heard of him--so we had beautiful conversations about Fr. Roman, which was a great gift to me. Maybe the most surprising exchange, however, occurred when I found out that Fr. Philotheos had spent four years at Putna, 1997-2001. I asked if he knew Fr. Teofil. Indeed, he does, quite well. But he was delighted and surprised to hear that Fr. Teofil's sister is a monastic also, at our monastery.
My reflection on the experience of the afternoon is this: we come with a message, even a good message, but the joy only comes when those to whom the message is given are willing to receive it, and that joy is shared by all--the messanger as well as the recipient. But receiving the message so often requires that we are willing to set aside our plans and receive the angel, who so often comes to us as a stranger. These two humble monks showed me, not intentionally of course but simply by how they live each day, why it is that the angels in heaven rejoice when one responds to their good message. Their joy depends on our reception of them and their message to us--hospitality to strangers. Can you imagine how much joy the holy archangel Gabriel must have felt when the young virgin received him and replied to the good message with, "Be it done to me according to your word!"?
