Wall Street Journal
Gordon Fairclough
Elder Paisios
Expected Travails; A Skeptical Facebook Page Draws Ire
December 3, 2012
SOUROTI,
Greece—Legend has it that nearly three decades ago, a bearded Orthodox
Christian mystic visiting here made an unsettling prediction: Greece in the
future would experience a "great disruption and confusion," followed
by hunger and political turmoil.
Believers say this
grim vision of Elder Paisios, an ascetic monk who died in 1994, was actually a
prescient glimpse of the upheaval now gripping this debt-racked country—helping
fuel a surge of interest in the Orthodox holy man by Greeks struggling to make
sense of a brutal financial crisis.
Elder Paisios, who
spent much of his adult life as a hermit on the monastic peninsula of Mount
Athos in northeastern Greece, has become a popular sensation—with tales of his
prognostications and miracles he is said to have performed posted online and
recounted in popular books.
On Saturdays,
hundreds of pilgrims line up at Elder Paisios's gravesite here, waiting their
turn to kneel, pray and kiss the wooden cross that marks his final resting
place. They ask for help finding jobs, paying bills and surviving a downturn
that has upended their lives.
"Paisios
predicted many things, and his prophecies are now coming true," said
Costas Katsaounis, a 41-year-old military officer on a visit to the shrine.
"He foresaw the crisis. But he also said it would get better, that we will
overcome and prosperity will return. He's helped a lot of people."
Elder Paisios's
fame in some ways echoes that of Michel de Notredame, better known as
Nostradamus, a 16th-century French apothecary who believers say foretold
everything from the rise of Hitler to the terror attacks of Sept. 11.
"Figures like
Paisios represent the shaman, the magician of the tribe," said Alexandra
Koronaiou, a sociologist at Panteion University of Social and Political
Sciences in Athens. "They are the incarnation of a transcendental,
invisible power."
With Greece's
economy in the fifth year of a grinding recession that is expected to deepen
further in 2013, unemployment above 25% and even middle-class families
struggling to feed their children, many Greeks feel like their society is
teetering on the brink of collapse, and they are seeking solace.
"When there is
an event that brings an entire country to its knees, people look for a
religious explanation," said Vasilios Makrides, a religious-studies
professor and specialist on Orthodox Christianity at the University of Erfurt
in Germany. "They are seeking support from the supernatural."
That is driving a
fresh boom in all things Paisios. The elder's wizened and bearded face, peering
out from below a black cap, adorns devotional banners and cards inscribed with
inspirational messages.
Bookstores stock
dozens of Paisios-related titles, from books detailing his spiritual teachings
to volumes filled with his commentary on everything from the coming of the
apocalypse to Greece's retaking of Constantinople, once the seat of Byzantine
emperors and now Istanbul.
A woman prayed at
the mystic's grave in Souroti.
"They sell
like crazy," said Ionnis Aivaliotis, who works at the Zoe religious
bookstore in downtown Athens. "Even nonbelievers are starting to read
them. It gives people courage to withstand what's coming."
There is a Paisios
diet guide—he was very thin—and a kids' book, "Once Upon a Time, Children,
There Was Elder Paisios."
Over the past two
years, conservative newspaper Dimokratia has sold 350,000 copies of
Paisios-related titles—from compilations of his prophecies to his views on
education. Other newspapers carry accounts of his reputed miracles.
Elder Paisios, born
Arsenios Eznepedis in central Anatolia in 1924, is part of a long tradition of
monastic spirituality that believers say confers a power of divination—to see
things others cannot, to interpret signs and predict the course of events.
Even before his
death in 1994, he was well known in religious circles, drawing the faithful to
Mount Athos for spiritual guidance and advice. Many expect that he will
eventually be canonized. (A church spokesman declined to comment.)
But the recent
increase in attention has prompted a backlash from skeptics and drawn cautions
from some in the Greek Orthodox Church hierarchy.
"People are
looking for somewhere to turn," said the Rev. Vasilios Havatzas, head of
the church's charitable operations in Athens. "But some are overreacting.
They are making him into some kind of prophet," he said, adding:
"That doesn't mean everything he said is right."
But in a sign of
the broad support for Elder Paisios, Greek police arrested 27-year-old
Phillipos Loizos for creating a Facebook page that poked fun at Greeks' belief
in the miracles and prognostications of the late monk. He was charged with
blasphemy and insulting religion. The blasphemy charge was later withdrawn.
Police received
thousands of complaints about the page on the social-networking site for Elder
Pastitsios, a play on the monk's name. Pastitsio is a traditional baked pasta
dish similar to lasagna. An ultranationalist lawmaker condemned the page in
Parliament.
Mr. Loizos said he
was using satire to criticize the commercialization of the monk and his
message.
Many of Elder
Paisios's purported prophecies resonate. "The people will be so
disappointed by the politicians of the two big parties, that they will get sick
of them," is one that rings true in an era when voter support for the
country's two mainstream parties, blamed for the crisis, has dropped sharply.
Some of the elder's
reported remarks hint at dark conspiracies—among them that the world is ruled
secretly by a cabal of five people. He also predicted national triumphs for
Greece, saying that Greeks would defeat Turkey, rule Constantinople and take
part of Albania.
"Holy people
like Elder Paisios are born once in a thousand years," said Nikolaos
Zournatzoglou, who has compiled three books of the elder's pronouncements.
"He was a gift from God and the Virgin Mary for humanity."
In Souroti, about
20 miles from the northeastern Greek city of Thessaloniki, busloads of pilgrims
arrived one Saturday recently to see the elder's grave. Young and old, they
prayed and took pictures. Some plucked a leaf of basil from a plant growing
near the simple cross at his head.
Afterward in a gift
shop in the basement of the rough-hewn stone church, visitors bought postcards,
plaques with images of Elder Paisios and books by and about him, along with
icons, crosses and other religious paraphernalia.
"There's a lot
of uncertainty now. We don't know what is going to happen," said Anastasia
Constantinou, a waitress visiting the shrine who said her family has had to cut
back on meat, on driving their car and on other normal activities as their
income has fallen amid the downturn.
"People find
consolation in faith," Ms. Constantinou, 32, said. "Even though
everyday life is difficult, Paisios gives strength to people. He helps them
hold on."
Write to Gordon
Fairclough at gordon.fairclough@wsj.com
A version of
this article appeared December 3, 2012, on page A1 in the U.S. edition of The
Wall Street Journal, with the headline: Greeks Seek Strength in the Powers of a
Revered Monk.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324469304578143271912956476.html?KEYWORDS=paisios
