Nikodemos the Cretan

Saint Nikodemos the Cretan, a venerable monk, was the spiritual father of Saint Paisios the Athonite. He was a very patient and simple man, a hieromonk of much prayer and great virtue. He began services after midnight and ended them late in the afternoon. He read all the diptychs, leaving none out; he had five notebooks full of names, which he had received over time, and commemorated them every day at the proskomedia. The commemoration of the names took him about five hours. Before he came to the Holy Mountain he had been abbot of the Koudoumas Monastery in Crete. The shepherds of the region came to give him an account of their flocks, and he told them to leave before the Panagia whatever they thought right for the monastery. Coming to the Garden of the Mother of God, he lived in the Skete of Saint Panteleimon of Koutloumousiou, of which he was the head. Then, for greater quiet, he went to the Cell of the Panagia at Bourazeri, further up. Our sources do not give his years. He is honoured by the faithful, without synodal canonization.