It had to have been during the late 1980's when I had first heard of this man. He just showed up one day, and moved into a couple of run down buildings that were inhabited by wild goats and birds. He first cleaned them out, closed the doors, and the windows. If he needed something, he looked for it, sometimes at the local dumping grounds. "You will be amazed at the things that you can find if you will only look", he has often said to me. He had no money or other luxuries. His earthly belongings were the few necessities of life. His bed was a short piece of furniture that almost resembled a storage bin. There was a small pillow on one end, and a neatly folded blanket on the other. There was plenty of wood around for the fireplace in order to keep warm, to cook, and to read. The air was clean, and the surroundings serene. He would pray, read, clean, eat, sleep, and get up the next morning only to do it all over again. The citizens of the surrounding villages took notice.
They supported his quest any way that they could. Mostly, they returned his kindness, and welcomed his presence with open arms. "Here take these books", my aunt told him, "they belonged to my great grandfather, but they will be much more useful here with you!" My great great grandfather was a priest, and those were his most prized possessions! My aunt had refused to throw them away, and was happy to have finally found them their appropriate resting place! A few donations followed enabling the return of electricity. He would conduct mass every monday evening, a tribute to the Virgin Mary. The attendance was slim at first, but that was about to change. As the attendance grew, so did the donations, which he used in his restoration of the facility. His name was Nathaniel. He was a monk assigned to the island of Karpathos, a place in "desperate need of spiritual guidance", he was told. I visited with him for the first time in 1995.
It was a tuesday afternoon on a beautiful summer day. The run down place that he had inhabited was the monastery complex of St George, once the spiritual center of the island! It was a church, an orphanage, a place of refuge for the locals during the dark years of Ottoman Turkish occupation. It was the center of learning, the underground school if you will for the Greek population. The priests, and monks would teach children religion, and the Greek language. Through the years, as people migrated away, especially after WWII, the monastery was abandoned, and eventually became the permanent home of the wild animals and birds. His mission was to try, and restore some semblance of what was!
I remember ringing the bell at the entrance. The closed iron gate was part of the self imposed isolation of every monastic community, rather than an attempt to keep people out. He came smiling, and welcomed me, and my sister into his world. I remember the walkway toward the compound. It was swept clean, and everything was immaculate. The vases lining the walkway had blooming flowers, and the orchard just beyond the flower vases was tilled and manicured. The trees were being irrigated, and looked very healthy. Just beyond the walkway, the buildings came into view. The church of St George was straight ahead. There were two houses, one to the left, and another which was off to the right of the church itself. We visited those buildings first. I was amazed at what I saw. The floors were spotless. In both buildings, the filing cabinets, and shelves were full of artifacts, mementos, and magazines. The library was fully restored. The history of the entire complex was visible in both pictures, and in print. In the 10 years that he had been there, to my eye at least, the restoration was complete. It appeared as if everything had been there for centuries! "We still have a lot of work to do", he would tell me. He made us Greek coffee, and offered some pastries. We signed the guestbook.
We went to the church last. The air inside was cool, and it felt good to escape the heat of the day. The smell of insense was everywhere. We walked in, looked around, and marveled at the shear beauty of our surroundings. Frescoes of religious significance covered the walls. The condition of the icons in front of the altar, suggested that they had been there for a long long time. He then offered a prayer, and a blessing. I looked around and noticed that the tile on the floor had eroded, but under it, in a roped off area, was what appeared to be a floor design made of smooth pebbles in a decorative configuration. This was unique in that I had never seen anything like it before, and I had visited many of the churches on the island. "This is the original floor", he said.
Through a donation shortly thereafter, the floor, and the icon station were restored to their original form. Today, the place is absolutely breathtaking. It is once again the spiritual center of Karpathos. Monday evening mass is so well attended that some of the faithful have to stand outside. The trees that were planted more than 20 years ago have now grown. The "Olive Tree", that is more than 2000 years old, still supports the church bell. Father Nathaniel has now moved on to a more important mission. Less than a year ago, he was appointed by Bartholomew, the Patriarch of the Orthodox Faith to become the new "Bishop of the Islands of Kos and Nisiros." A very high honor! He now must tend to a much larger flock.
Although he will be sorely missed by those of us who have come to know him as a brother, and friend in Christ, we certainly will never forget him, his spirit, or his message!
31 "So don't worry. Don't say, 'What will we eat?' Or, 'What will we drink?' Or, 'What will we wear?' 32 People who are ungodly run after all of those things. Your Father who is in heaven knows that you need them.
33 "But put God's kingdom first. Do what he wants you to do. Then all of those things will also be given to you.
Matthew 6:31-33.
