Demetrios of Grigoriou

Demetrios of Grigoriou, sacristan at the church of the Protaton, had his first demonic experience at only five, as he himself told. He remained all his life a graceful child. Approaching him was pleasant, peaceful and cheerful. He gave rest. He did not say much. He usually had his head bowed. When he spoke a little, he smiled sweetly. He prayed. Such was the monk Demetrios of Grigoriou. He came to the monastery in 1953 and was tonsured a monk the next year.

He loved Christ, the monastic schema and the prayer rope exceedingly. He communed and felt Christ within him. Illness bound him even more to Christ. "My mind," he said, "does not run here and there, but stays always near Christ." The sudden illness pained and tormented him considerably. It was hard for him to walk and speak, eat and work. But he was not distressed. He found something to occupy himself with. He called Christ "the little child" and Saint Anastasia, the protector of the monastery, "little sister." If you spoke to him of paradise, his serene face filled with joy.

A monk who served him in his illness writes of him: "He was lovable, deeply faithful, devout, silent, obedient, easy in everything, exact in everything, with a formidable memory. At first he did not speak easily about his life, but under pressure he revealed a few things for benefit. When serving in church, he twice saw a light above the Holy Table at 'Thine own of Thine own.' It was at the great feasts of the Annunciation and Palm Sunday. Another time he saw a white dove above the Holy Table." At another time he confided: "When the Angel comes to the soul, I have joy... When the Mother of God comes, with the joy comes sweetness..." He had great devotion to the Mother of God and to Saints Nicholas, Haralambos, Demetrios and Anastasia. He spoke with the icons of the saints. When his brother came to see him in his illness, he said that from childhood he had made five hundred prostrations daily. In the long war against the demons he came out the victor. When a monk asked him what to do to be saved, he answered "Obedience." When he said "And what else?", he said: "Prayer." When he wished to ask about vainglory, he said with his characteristic simplicity: "I don't know what that is, ask the Elder." He was a perfect disciple, exact, regular, patient, willing, honourable. "Bless" and "May it be blessed" he said often and meant. Though gravely ill, he prayed for the whole world. The prayer rope he did not let go from his hand.

With the prayer rope in his hand he ended his life in the monastery's hospital, where he stayed patiently for eight months. He foresaw his end. He communed in the holy mysteries. He reposed on the evening of 4 November 1976. He had 23 years in the monastery. He was 46, exactly half of them in the beloved cassock. A calm spread over his blessed face. His body, according to the Mother of God's promise, was flexible. A holy end. He is venerated by the faithful, without synodal canonization.