Do you know how many years I have sometimes suffered pain and sometimes unbearable?

Do you know how many years I have sometimes suffered pain and sometimes unbearable? The suffering is a permanent condition.

How much I endured, first from the bronchiectasis and then with the surgery I had.

Then problems started with the intestines

Then, I spent half a year with disc disease and it hurt a lot. I could not do prostrations, but I had a hard time being served, while I also needed to serve the people who came.

Then something hard appeared in my abdomen. I was told it was a hernia. When I was tired, it hurt and it was very swollen. One day, on the eve of St. Panteleimon, it was swollen and painful. But I had to go to the Skete, overnight. I said:

"I will go and let whatever happens happen ", because I had to go.

During the vigil I thought of sitting for a while. But I said, "If I lower the stall to sit down, everyone will lower it." So I chose not to sit at all. After twelve hours of vigil I guessed it would get much worse. When I returned to my cell, I did not have time to get inside, the bell rang.

"Father, open please!" I hear someone shouting. I laughed.

Okay, I said, now we're going to keep going.

And indeed soon others came ... The night I finished with the people, I saw that the hernia had completely disappeared !!

The next day, while I was resting, it showed up again. Then it stopped me and hurt me, but also the archer. After Christ knew it, He knew that He was helping me, and that is why He left it !!

This lasted for five years. Do you know what difficulty? That passed, then the bleeding started. "Ulcerative colitis," they told me. Another story ... Seven years go by with bleeding, with pains ...

I am glad that God honored me and gave me this gift, and I do not want Him to deprive me of it. Thank God!! God allows me to be helped in this way. This is how we give tests to patience !!

St. Paisios the Athonite (1924-1994).