Famous French Photojournalist Becomes Orthodox Monk! by Sophia Chatzi

Famous French Photojournalist Becomes Orthodox Monk!

"I became a monk in order to penetrate the meaning of life, to learn the world!"

In his passage from Greece, the French Monk Jean accepted to meet and talk about his personal association with the Orthodox faith. Before becoming a monk, his gaze was focused mainly on an artistic surface of life, since he was a world-renowned photographer. But it all took a different form, when a series of unforeseen events prompted him to meet with the poetic nature of God and recognized him as a true artist. Nikolaos Douligerer, a father with whom Monk Jean has been a friend for many years after their first acquaintance on Mount Athos, helped translate the interview.

The Monk Jean, formerly Gérard Gascuel, was born in 1947 in Seven, France. He studied photography in Paris (École Louis Lumière) and then worked as an art photographer in famous fashion magazines and newspapers, as well as in the advertising field. Personal photo exhibitions have been hosted in Paris, at museums (Museum of Photography) and at Art Festivals Abroad (Japan, Canada, USA etc.)

In 1983, during a journalist mission to Greece, Fr Jean discovers Orthodox monasticism. Shortly thereafter he becomes a monk on Mt. Athos.

At the beginning of the discussion, he tells us with a look of excitement that he will never forget his first days on Mount Athos, when he went with his camera to capture the nature and monasticism, for a Japanese newspaper he had worked for:

“Before I became a monk, I was a journalist. I went to Mount Athos, Greece, to write an article for a Japanese newspaper in which I kept artistic reporting. One day, walking in the woods, I found myself in front of a ruined church. I came in, and in her crypt I discovered an ossuary. This random meeting was the decisive turning point for me. I was 30 years old then. At this age, one only thinks of devouring life, seeking immediate pleasure, power, knowledge. Suddenly, I was faced with my own reality. One day I'll be there, on the other side without having lived. I realized that I was not living for myself, but for the impression I wanted to give to others.

Deep emotion

Coming out of the church, agitated by the view of the ossuary, I see an old monk - I've never met him before. Many times Divine Providence sends us the person we need, when we need it. I asked him to tell me about the spiritual meaning of the picture, but he didn't speak any of the languages ​​I spoke. So, to explain to me, the meaning of the image he began to chant in Greek. I didn't understand a word, but listening to it caused a new uproar: it was a new one for me. The emotion was not cerebral or aesthetic; it had touched the bottom of the heart. Chanting a hymn, he interpreted the mystery of the image of the Crucifixion. Overcoming the language with the words unseen one who died as a slave and was glorified as God. From a simple hymn, I discovered a new "language", the language of the heart. I died and was reborn into a new reality. My life soon turned to Orthodoxy. Once, after two years, I decided to go meet him, but no matter how much I searched, I couldn't find the man, nor his hut. I asked at Stavronikita monastery which I thought was close but in vain, no one had heard of it. I had been looking for a whole year, but I was assured that such a hut never existed. I firmly believe that I have experienced a personal miracle.

Everything in me found an appeal!
He says: "Returning to Paris, all I thought about was learning the language of the heart. The Divine Providence still guided me: in the subway, I confused the exit and went out, "by chance", in front of an Orthodox church.

I entered the temple. Everything resonated within me: the gold of the images, the incense, the solemn function, the chilling atmosphere of the congregation of the faithful… I said to myself: I must get on this road for the good. And so I became a pilgrim to the sanctuaries. "

When I asked him "how he made the decision to become Orthodox and how he finally accomplished it", he smiled with the feeling that it should be explained in such a way that his listener, who has not gone through such a stage, would understand him:

“When you make a decision, you are given the power to make it. As soon as the desire got flesh and bones, the place to root was to be found. In the Orthodox tradition, the search for a place is the same as the search for spiritual paternity. You need a Father to keep you alert so that you can understand this "language" - not speech or education - a Father who will wake you up to feel the crunch of the Divine Presence within you. I was not seeking intellectual understanding, I did not want to learn a new technique; I wanted to embrace my living and lived Tradition. This means working in the fields, that is, manual labor, learning to pray, learning to respect, learning to live under the guidance of an elder, learning to talk in secret with the living Christ. I wanted to know in depth the Word, that is, the Divine Names, the life-giving Power of the Spirit, and not the letter that stones the Spirit. The fact that I didn't speak Greek didn't stop me at all. I left for Mount Athos and then went to the Judean desert, where I stayed for some years. I needed in my new faith God to be everything to me. I know that God speaks in a "pure heart", but before the heart is at peace, in the wilderness all our passions, all our weaknesses, all our dreams and infirmities, what we have not fulfilled, what we have not done right: it takes a lot of work to cleanse and care for oneself before entering, by the grace of God, into the inner Silence. "

Being an Orthodox is a struggle, but deciding to turn to charisma shows that this man wants to practice at a championship level. It also shows a need to move away from the mundane. I told him, and he clearly replied:
"I became a monk not to avoid the world, but to penetrate the meaning of life, to know the world deeper and in a more personal dimension.

I became a monk to get to know in depth this language, the language of the heart, which is revealed to you only by experience, by experiencing, and experiencing a relationship of trust with eternity at all times. This language does not deny the world, instead, it listens to it, marries it, transforms it, calls it by its name, lives with it the miracle of everyday life. The monk does not reject the world, which would mean rejecting himself. Instead, it is at the heart of the world and the monk's relationship with the world is refined and meaningful. "

At first Father Jean goes to Mount Athos and then goes to the Monastery of Saint Savva in the Judean Desert, where he resides next to his Elder, Father Seraphim, a man who chose him for his spiritual guide and inspired him into spiritual life . Seraphim will masterfully remove his European rationality. I asked him to detail this meeting:

“A monk who had come to Mount Athos spoke to my father Seraphim, who lived in the monastery of Saint Savva in the Judean desert near the Dead Sea. After many difficulties, I went to meet him. I immediately realized that this was the guide I was looking for. It had a luminous beauty. A luminosity that does not mislead you, but illuminates you, transforms you, pacifies you with true words, with a distillation of simplicity. This Elder made the Presence of God manifest to me. I decided that I would become a monk and that this man would obey. But things were not easy with him and I quickly learned my first lesson. Imagine, please ∙ a young man of thirty-three years, arrives in the desert of Judea, having abandoned everything and a very good life in Paris, and asking to join the congregation. They put me in the kitchen - can you imagine it? Me, a Frenchman! I was taught to wipe the floor, to wash dishes… Of course, washing dishes in the desert is not a simple affair, because water is scarce. I learned again, as a toddler, everyday things and how they relate to the Spirit. It was not learning practice. It was an initiation. There is so much beauty in simple movement, beauty that can become doxology, testimony, embodiment of Presence."

The weight we all carry and the incident with the Turkish delight, which made him realize a lot 
Father Jean goes on to describe: On the first day in front of every monk's dish I put a dessert, a Turkish delight. Back then there were twelve monks, so I put twelve delights. When I came back, my Turkish delight had disappeared. My place was next to Father Seraphim, so the job was his. If the Spiritual Father steals my Turkish delight from day one, what will happen after fifteen days? Abuse of power, terrible! Think about it well! And in Paris someone may steal from you, understandably; but in a monastery, the first day the abbot steals from you! Another thing! I had repented and promised obedience! I started to think negatively, which was affecting my prayer.

Repentance
After dinner, I went to see Father Seraphim. I repented and asked him, "Father, why did you take my Turkish delight?" He let me talk without answering. After five minutes I had nothing else to say. He said to me: "Did you say everything?" "No" I replied "but I don't understand anything". "I wanted to see if you would criticize me; if you had done so, I would have told you: Set the door, you can leave." For me, this was an unusual, paradoxical lesson. I really didn't go to the desert to judge thieves and liars. Of course I could also preach to him a little bit: you know, that was not good, it wasn't nice ... I could get up and leave the monastery and report to Father Seraphim in the press on charges such as: abuse of power or theft,a scandal ...

If I came to the monastery carrying the burdens of the world with me, I would have no job in the desert. Father Seraphim taught me ∙ “You are not here to judge, you are here for you. If you see a brother doing something wrong, it doesn't matter to you. But if this is a problem for you, then come and see me. But when you see a brother make a mistake, whatever his mistake is, pray for him, don't start judging him, filling him with guilt, making him a moral lesson. " One of the first lessons in the desert was that I was there for myself. And how, without being isolated, I was alone before God.

In his life in the Judean wilderness, he learned many lessons. I beg him to take us to part of his spiritual apprenticeship. Without thinking too much, he responded as a person experiencing this doctrine he was taught:

"One day I felt flooded by Divine Grace. I went to Elder: "Father, angels have visited me, I understand the meaning of the Gospel ..." Elder didn't even look at me. "Come sweep the toilets and see if the angels are still with you." Father Seraphim did not rule out the existence of Intangible Forces, but his concern was to eradicate any trace of spiritual pride. Father Seraphim, tenderly overbearing, threw the covers off, purified my eyes, pursued my illusions and ignorance, to give me the grace of the light. He offered me freedom with love, let me wash up, clean myself, let me be rehabilitated. He didn't kill me, he didn't reject me, he removed all the unnecessary."

With Spiritual Desire He Founded the Skete of St. Foy in Seven
He spent three years in the Judean wilderness, and then, with the wish of his spiritual father, in 1996 he settled in Seven, southern France, where e founded the Skete of St. Foy, a place of prayer and seclusion. Saint Foy was a 15-year-old girl who was martyred in the early Christian years. From the Skete of St. Foy, today is published the journal Art sacré, while P. Ioannis is the author of many works: Hommes de Lumière, Fils de lumière, Pèlerinage au Mont Athos, J'ai soif d'une eau de vie, L ' amour in question, Insaisissable fraternité, Le jardin de la foi.Today, he is performing with another monk and gathering with him French pilgrims, old friends from the arts, Christians and seekers of God who study in Orthodoxy. From our discussion, I have come to realize that today, slowly but surely, a few, perhaps few citizens of France are tasting the truth of Orthodox faith. Getting an External Mission in France today by an Orthodox Frenchman in a monastery in the mountains of France is a fact that assures us that God's grace fills people's shortcomings and turns us into Resurrected Surprise.

Sophia Chatzis
Published in the Greek newspaper
ORTHODOXI ALITHIA, 06.02.2019