{"id":7663,"date":"2019-12-25T12:43:00","date_gmt":"2019-12-25T17:43:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/orthodoxinsight.com\/?p=7663"},"modified":"2019-12-22T08:55:29","modified_gmt":"2019-12-22T13:55:29","slug":"archpriest-sergei-barnanov-on-elder-ephraim-of-arizona","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/orthodoxinsight.com\/?p=7663","title":{"rendered":"Archpriest Sergei Barnanov on Elder Ephraim+ of Arizona"},"content":{"rendered":"

During the service, he stands with you near the altar, but his soul is not there. That\u2019s the feeling I had. Just to look at him was all I needed. I clearly felt it and saw it at certain moments in the Liturgy\u2014he was somewhere far away in spirit\u2014not on the Earth, not with us.<\/p>\n

Such a small, thin man\u2014but, incidentally, with very strong hands, so worn out from labor. The monastery has the tradition that everyone goes up to him for a blessing in turns, and he lovingly and jokingly knocks them on the head and smiles, like a child, bringing you joy!<\/p>\n

In St. Anthony\u2019s Monastery there is a feeling that Elder Ephraim can use anything to missionize. That\u2019s why he went to America\u2014a country with very little Orthodoxy. He founded nearly twenty monasteries. The Monastery of St. Anthony the Great, in the middle of a barren desert, full of poisonous snakes and other reptiles, is simply an oasis. There\u2019re tons of water, fountains, everything is green, drowning in juicy, abundantly moist greens. There are paths everywhere; sculptures everywhere: deer, lambs, birds of some sort. It reminds of: Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the Kingdom of Heaven<\/em> (Mt. 18:3). The Elder himself didn\u2019t need all this so much as the people who would come there, sometimes breaking free from the very harsh urban environment of some American metropolis\u2014it all somehow immediately moved them and attuned them.<\/p>\n

The personality of Elder Ephraim transmitted the Spirit\u2014not just his spiritual experience, but\u2014the Spirit.<\/p>\n

The spirit of Elder Ephraim is undoubtedly there in everything and everywhere. Sometimes children even take on the gait of their parents and the finest features of their external and internal appearance\u2014not to speak of spiritual children. They so love Geronda there that everyone is called to be prepared to emulate him\u2014always and in everything, and above all in his love for God and neighbor. These are the basic features of any saint. They are very bright in Elder Ephraim. He was completely absorbed by God.<\/p>\n

\u00a0– excerpted from Orthochristian.com<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

++Since we have featured many of the Elder’s writings in the past we thought it fitting to give a final glimpse of him and what he accomplished in the Lord.\u00a0 He feel asleep on December 8, 2019.++<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

During the service, he stands with you near the altar, but his soul is not there. That\u2019s the feeling I had. Just to look at him was all I needed. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7663","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-modern-orthodox-elders","has_thumb"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/orthodoxinsight.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7663","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/orthodoxinsight.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/orthodoxinsight.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/orthodoxinsight.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/orthodoxinsight.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7663"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/orthodoxinsight.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7663\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7665,"href":"http:\/\/orthodoxinsight.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7663\/revisions\/7665"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/orthodoxinsight.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7663"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/orthodoxinsight.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7663"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/orthodoxinsight.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7663"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}