CHRISTIAN ASKESIS: A FOOL FOR CHRIST IN GEORGIA

The following is a video hagiography of Fr. Gabriel in the Republic of Georgia,
from his childhood making toy churches in his back yard
through burning a large photograph of Lenin at a state parade,
to his repose and burial and beyond.

This is a remarkable story,
and illustrates the truth of the descriptive of Christians in the Bible
as a 'Peculiar People"... ( Titus 2:14 et al.)
And shows what this CAN end up looking like...

I especially love the brightness of the eyes
and the joy of the countenance
of the people interviewed who knew him,
and especially his sister...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KBJH9So9j_I


Arsenios

One thing I forgot to mention is that
the Republic of Georgia is one of the oldest Christian countries on earth,
and has perhaps the most mystical and haunting Christian Ekklesiastical music anywhere...

A friend of mine taught English there for a year,
and said that whenever he went to visit anyone in their home,
he was greeted as if he were Christ Himself...

The Georgia culture is utterly saturated in the Christian Faith...

This video is a Georgian rendition of the Lord's Prayer sung in the language spoken by Christ Himself - Aramaic.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=locW-9S00VU


Arsenios

In the EOC, being a "Fool for Christ" is one of the most taxing forms of askesis, one of the most difficult... They exist in every era, and are often missed, or better, from their point of view, DISmissed, as simply insane, suffering from mental illness, or suffering from cognitive dysfunction...

In ancient time, a son sneaked away from his father and the whole (rich) family at 18 to avoid marriage and enter into a monastery... And after some 15 years, was given the blessing by his Elder to return to his father's house as a beggar, which he did... And he came dirty and in rags and begged food from the kitchen in his father's house while living outside in the courtyard, summer and winter... The household servants scorned him, and frequently struck him, and beat him more than once... And when he had but a few more days to live, he revealed himself to his father, and died in the room they had kept for his return a few days later... His father then went to the monastery where he had lived, and received the blessing from the Abbot to take the room his son had struggled in, and remained there until his repose...

Christians are a peculiar people indeed...


Arsenios