Hatziflourentzos Patsias

Pappou Hatziflourentzos, Flourentzos Michael Patsias, also called Hatzimounas, was a spiritual elder of Milia in the Famagusta district of Cyprus, born in 1901 and fallen asleep on 10 October 1969. He is honoured by the faithful as a man of prayer, fasting and foresight, sometimes regarded as a fool, without synodal canonization.

He was born at Milia to Michael Patsias and Tzyrka, devout farmers, the third of six children. He never went to school and for a long time could not read. At first he lived an ordinary worldly life. What began to change him was a small incident: one day he was working alongside his future father-⁠in-⁠law, quickly and self-⁠assuredly, and the father-⁠in-⁠law rebuked him severely for the proud way he worked. Hatziflourentzos lowered his head and said nothing, but understood that something in his life had to change. This was the beginning of his repentance. Around forty, he began to study the sacred books of the Church and learned to read. He worked in farming and animal husbandry, then as a mason and a farrier. He married Annezu, a quiet woman of Milia, and had with her five sons and one daughter.

In 1945 he made a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, from which he received the name Hatzis. After marrying off three of his six children, longing for God led him to the Monastery of the Apostle Barnabas near Varosha, and then to Stavrovouni, where he wished to become a monk. The abbots refused to receive him because he was married and had unmarried children. He stayed in the world and lived ascetically, in fasting and prayer. Each day he ate only a few wild greens and bread; on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays he took no food or drink; he ate no cooked food, not even food with oil, but fruit. He slept on the floor and washed the hands of those who visited him. At night he kept vigil in prayer; his children often saw and heard him weeping as he prayed. He received Holy Communion very often. He helped the needy in the fields without pay and at the end gathered them to read Compline. He went daily to the churches of the village and the area, helped the priests and cared for the order of the church. He spoke of Christ to his fellow villagers and those of neighbouring villages, and his own life was the best sermon. To warn people he travelled many miles on an old Ralie 18 bicycle, through rain, wind and heat.

God gave him the gift of foresight. Many years before, he foretold the Turkish invasion and occupation of Cyprus and urged his fellow villagers to repent. He had an experience of the uncreated light. Through his tearful prayer, it is said, calamities were averted. He foretold his own death and prepared for it by an absolute fast of fifteen days. He endured much mockery, many of his fellow villagers thinking him mad. He reposed peacefully at the Monastery of the Panagia of Avgasida on 10 October 1969, after receiving the Body and Blood of the Lord and the Holy Unction.