Words of the Heart

Words of the Heart Gerondissa Makrina Vassopoulou Words of the Heart is a book that introduces the reader to the life and wisdom of Gerondissa Makrina (1921-95), abbess of the Holy Monastery of the Mother of God Odigitria (Directress) in Volos, Northern Greece. The book contains both her biography and a collection of her homilies arranged in chronological order. These consist of talks which Gerondissa gave to the sisterhood during their gatherings between the years of 1971 to 1992, for the purpose of guiding those under her care towards salvation. Distinguishing virtues of Gerondissa Makrina are the purity of her life, the humility she showed despite the many struggles she encountered, and her love for prayer and stillness (hesychia). The high spiritual state attained through her virtues inspired her words to be like priceless nuggets of gold for those that strive to live in accordance with the will of God. The spiritual life that Gerondissa cultivated in the monastery bore many fruits, not least that sisters from the monastery helped establish many other monasteries in Greece as well as in America and Canada. Gerondissa Makrina was born to devout and God-fearing parents Photios and Anastasia. She was baptised Maria and lived in a village known as Hadjileri in Asia Minor.

With the Asia Minor catastrophe of 1922, her family, like that of many others, was uprooted and ended up in Volos, Greece. From a young age Maria showed an inclination towards the angelic life of monasticism, and her virtuous parents cultivated this spiritual calling. However, the happy and carefree years of her childhood were very short lived. When she was eight her father passed away and a year later so too her mother. So it was that Maria and her younger brother George were left as orphans during the harsh and bitter years of the German Occupation. In later years, Gerondissa would recall that often they did not even have a piece of bread to eat, and starvation loomed before their eyes. Despite the numerous difficulties in her life, divine providence carved out the path of her spiritual journey in a wondrous way. While still in the world, Maria met and became a spiritual child of Father Ephraim Karagiannis. Through Father Ephraim, Gerondissa had the great blessing of meeting and having frequent correspondence with Father (now Saint) Joseph the Hesychast. It is through her contact with St Joseph the Hesychast that Gerondissa learnt the gift of stillness and prayer. She also had the great blessing of having a special spiritual relationship with Gerondissa Theophano (Victoria Moraitou) the mother of Elder Ephraim of Arizona. It was Gerondissa Makrina’s continual concern and fervent desire that all people would be saved. In order to carry out this ministry most effectively she prayed to the Lord to be granted experiences so that she would not be teaching only from books but also from personal experience, words from the heart, as these words would have greater effect. She would often say “Lord... just as I ask You to heal my great wounds, likewise, help and heal the soul of my sister”, or she would echo the words learnt from her father “...for the worst thing that somebody does to you, you will in turn do the best for him. Show your love to everybody and God will repay you abundantly”. And so, through experiences gained from bitter struggles, the counsels of Gerondissa Makrina provide the reader challenging but practical guidance on how to come closer to God by living more harmoniously with oneself and those around us. ORTHODOX MISSION BOOKSTORE www.orthodoxbookstore.org.au 217 Bexley Rd, Kingsgrove, Sydney NSW Phone: (02) 9787 9779