Liturgical Experiences from Hieromonk Joachim (Spetsieris)
- The Orthodox Ethos Team
- 4 hours ago
- 2 min read
From Miracles and Revelations During the Divine Liturgy:
Hieromonk Joachim Spetsieris (1858-1943) narrates the following experiences from his time at the monastery of St. Sabbas in Jerusalem:
“On the fourth Sunday of Great Lent in 1888, Hieromonk Germanos was celebrating the liturgy in the katholikon. He was a model of a true monk, simple, innocent, guileless, gentle, and humble.
“After the Great Entrance, when he came out to the royal doors to bless the congregation, his face appeared to me like a fiery flame.
“‘What happened to Father Germanos?’ I asked Fr. Cyril, thinking that something unpleasant had happened to him.
“‘Be quiet,’ he tells me, ‘he is elevated by divine grace. Spiritually, he no longer lives in the world, he is in heaven. Don’t you see that he moves mechanically, as if he’s absent-minded? This happens every time he celebrates the liturgy.’
“When I became a priest, one day I asked Father Germanos:
“‘Father Germanos, I have read that in earlier times many priests, when they performed the Great Entrance carrying the precious Gifts, did not touch the ground. Are there such priests today?’
“‘Do not doubt,’ he told me, ‘lest something like this might happen to you too!’
“Indeed, the following Sunday I was the celebrant. So when I came out for the Great Entrance carrying the Holy Gifts, I was lifting my feet because I couldn’t find solid ground to step on. Later, Father Germanos visited me in my cell and asked me:
“‘Why today, at the time of the Great Entrance, were you lifting your feet?’
“‘I don’t know what happened to me, I couldn’t find solid ground to step on.’
“‘Exactly. You were in the air, because divine angels were holding you. So believe and do not investigate, because the Mystery of the Divine Eucharist is great.’
“‘Only during the Great Entrance do the divine angels hold the celebrant in the air?’
“‘Yes, because then he carries the precious Gifts upon himself. When he sets them down, then grace works on his spirit, which elevates it to the luminous and heavenly world.’”
SOURCE:
Holy Monastery of the Paraclete, Miracles and Revelations During the Divine Liturgy, 2nd edition, translated and edited by Uncut Mountain Press (Florence, AZ: Uncut Mountain Press, 2025), pp. 92-94.
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