Elder Philotheos Zervakos of Longovarda 56 p

Elder Philotheos Zervakos of Longovarda 56 p

Filotheos Zervakos was born in May 1884 in the village of Pakia in the province of Epidaurus Limira, Laconia.

His secular name was Constantine.

On December 29, 1907, he became a monk and took the name Philotheos.

In 1906 he served his military service in the 2nd Cavalry Regiment in Athens as a non-commissioned officer.

He frequented the parish church of Agios Elissaios where he met Alexandros Papadiamantis and Alexandros Moraitidis, while Agios Nektarios urged him to go to the Monastery of Longovarda to become a monk.

Philotheos Zervakos was ordained a priest on April 22, 1912.

In 1913 he was promoted to Archimandrite. In 1930, after the death of the abbot of the Longovarda Monastery, Hierotheos, he became a professor of the monastery.

Initially, the institution of the Elder was associated with the lonely life.

Every probationary monk, as a submissive, had his Elder, that is, an experienced and wise older monk who guided him in the ascetic life.

He owed absolute obedience to him.

In recent decades, the term Elder is used in a different sense from the above.

Because it was given to monks and monks, whose spiritual influence extended to Christians outside their Monasteries and sanctuaries.

Even married elders, whose inner life, action and gifts were welcomed and admired by their flock.

In the present series, the life of such a person is summarized in a few pages of each issue.

So that the reader knows what is ultimately what classifies him in the dances of Modern Elders

Archimandrite

Abbot