An Athonite Gerontikon

An Athonite Gerontikon: Sayings and Stories of the Holy Fathers of Mount Athos was first published in Greek in 1991. The latest edition was published in both Greek and English in 2003.

Editions

• First published in Greek, 1991
• Second Greek edition, 1992
• Third Greek edition, 1999
• Fourth Greek edition, 2003
• First English edition, 1997
• Second English edition, 2003

Author and publisher

• Author: Priestmonk loannikios Kotsonis
• Publisher: Holy Monastery of St. Gregory Palamas, Koufalia-Thessaloniki, Greece 57100

Contents

Chapter	Title of chapter	Page
1.	On Christ-like love	29
2.	On purity of the senses and the heart	49
3.	On unknown saints and hermits	55
4.	On vigil	67
5.	On heresy and other religions	75
6.	On voluntary poverty and on being possessionless	85
7.	On raising children	105
8.	On despair	109
9.	On simplicity	113
10.	On renunciation and voluntary exile	123
11.	On ascesis	135
12.	On a woman’s temperament, jealousy and on self love	179
13.	On the virtue of discernment of thoughts and spiritual states	183
14.	On Christ-like almsgiving which draws divine compassion for the forgiveness of sins	227
15.	On various virtuous monks	235
16.	On the activity of Divine Grace	241
17.	On the activity of evil spirits	249
18.	On the final days	269
19.	On piety, order, on faithfully keeping the orders of one’s geronda and on respect towards the venerable fathers	273
20.	On eucharistic and sacramental life	281
21.	On the fragrance of holy relics and the flowing of unguent	291
22.	On stillness which cleanses the mind and heart	303
23.	On wondrous interventions of Divine Providence and of the Almighty Right Hand of the Most High	313
24.	On not judging and on accursed criticism	347
25.	On compunction and tears	353
26.	On studying God’s word through the counsels of the fathers	367
27.	On soul-saving repentance	371
28.	On remembrance of death	381
29.	On the mind and thoughts	385
30.	On divine visions and appearances	393
31.	On saintly death	405
32.	On disobedience to our spiritual fathers and directors and its bitter outcomes	419
33.	On spiritual guidance and on how powerful the mediation of our spiritual father is and on how secure a true monk in obedience is	423
34.	On faith	437
35.	On delusion and warfare from the right	443
36.	On Christ-like meekness and being free from all wickedness	459
37.	On the deifying virtue of prayer which contains all the virtues	471
38.	On the blessed state of being a fool for Christ which gives birth to extreme humility and draws upon oneself the Divine Spirit and heavenly grace	423
39.	On exalting humility	507
40.	On “tolls” and judgement at the time of death	537
41.	On obedience	541
42.	On pride and vainglory	577
43.	On patience during trials and temptations and on struggling	583
44.	On avarice and on the fathers’ non-avaricious way of life	599
45.	On hospitality as a soul saving criterion on the day of judgement	603
46.	On the virtuous gifts of the Holy Spirit	609
47.	An excerpt from the encomiastic discourse on the Holy Fathers of Mount Athos written by St. Nicodemus the Hagiorite	639