Bartholomew of Stavronikita

Bartholomew of Stavronikita was the perfect disciple of the blessed Elder Philaretos (d. 1975), likewise Romanian. His strict and very ascetic elder sent him to work at monasteries and huts at various manual jobs. He dug gardens and vineyards, mowed grass and did any other heavy work asked of him. He was strong and capable at such work and therefore very much in demand.

In 1966, digging a vineyard one day from morning, at noon he sat down to rest a little. When he rose to continue his work, he felt a trembling in his legs. From then on things changed for Father Bartholomew, the willing worker. The trembling was not from tiredness; Parkinson's disease had begun. With his elder he lived in the Stavronikita cell of Saint Andrew the First-⁠Called. After the elder's holy repose he could not look after himself and the monastery took him in. For a whole seven years it tended and cared for him with every possible care. Bedridden all these years, he needed constantly a servant for all his needs. Day by day his body was worn more by the illness, but the inner man was renewed, flourished, shone. In his face was reflected the serene state of his soul. The Jesus Prayer was unceasing. Thanksgiving and gratitude were constantly on his lips. His patience was Job-⁠like. His hope of the promised incorruptible goods was sure and boundless.

His body became a tangle from the hard illness. He ended in the monastery cemetery to rest from his long toil, he who had dug the gardens of the Holy Mountain and of his heart. His soul flew silently to heaven, to receive there the rewards of obedience to his elder and the crowns of martyrdom for the great patience in his years of illness. He reposed on 3 November 1982. He is venerated by the faithful, without synodal canonization.