A brief overview of the ever-remembered Sheikh Germanos Stavrovouni

Elder Germanos was born in the village of Ogorou, in the diocese of Ammochostos (Cyprus) in 1906 to pious parents, Nicholas and Margaret, from the Hadji Giorgi family. As a boy, having read the life of Saint John of Kokhi, he was enthusiastically and determinedly led to live the monastic life.

At the age of sixteen he entered the monastery of Stavrovouni, showing exemplary zeal and remarkable obedience as a novice. He was tonsured into the schema at the age of twenty-four and his name, which had been George, was changed to Germanus. He was ordained a deacon the following year. He was invested with the great schema at the age of twenty-nine and ordained an archimandrite at the age of thirty-eight.

His apparent wisdom, purity of conduct and administrative abilities were the main reasons for his election as abbot in 1952, when the ever-memorable Elder Dionysius II passed away. He was an exemplary leader: first, in his innocence, tolerance, meekness, patience, service, toil, calmness and participation in the sacred services. He worked hard to cultivate in himself unceasing prayer.

Conscientious humility was one of his chief virtues. He avoided any projection of his heart towards the outside world, as well as towards the people around him. He strove to conceal his virtues with all his might. Therefore, as a rule, few could discern the hidden treasure concealed in his conspicuous appearance. His unceasing prayer with tears, his angelic posture before the awesome temple of God during the Divine Liturgy, and the unique and distinctive example that was his life, all announced a rich spiritual fruitfulness, not only in his monastery, but also in the women’s monasteries of Cyprus which flourished and owed thanks mainly to his efforts. He was a spiritual father and confessor of the highest rank, who led many people to repentance and genuine spiritual transformation to the Lord. His whole life is a true living witness to the living Christ. His earthly life ended with a martyr’s end. On the afternoon of August 31, 1982, which was the last day of the church year and also a day dedicated par excellence to the Most Holy Mother of God, whom the venerable elder venerated, while returning from a tiring day’s work in the olive groves, driving the monastery’s agricultural tractor, he fell into a deep valley where he met his martyrdom without receiving any assistance. Thus the blessed elder passed away at the end of the church year. This authentic personality whose life was one of continuous sacrifice and uninterrupted service.

He was undoubtedly taken to the heavenly temple where the praise never ends. The monks who spent the entire afternoon searching for him found him the next day dead and in a position of prayer with his hands and feet in the form of a cross, a visible sign of his spiritual work even in those last moments filled with pain and suffering of his martyrdom-like death that brought him into eternal life.

Sheikh Germanos's advice and guidance

About faith in God

• He who overcomes his desires will gain great faith.
• Great faith is a grace from the Holy Spirit. It is given richly only to those whose hearts are purified from passions.
• We must believe in Christ with all our hearts, so that the mind is enlightened, sins are overcome, passions vanish, our souls are calm, and our whole being is full of life.
• There is true faith and there is false faith. True faith emerges in times of trial. False faith flourishes only in times of comfort and withers in times of testing. Do you pray in faith? You will be heard. Do you repent in faith? You will receive mercy. Do you confess in faith? Your sins will be forgiven. Do you endure in faith? You will be sanctified. “I believe in Christ” means that I trust Him in everything. I will not change even a jot or a tittle of His teachings and commandments, otherwise I will be a heretic. A heretic is outside the ark of salvation. The flood will drown him.
• Our faith is shown in our actions, in our words and in our thoughts.
• What makes true faith is clearly demonstrated in the lives of the righteous martyrs, the ascetics, the confessors who practice self-control and all the works of the saints.
• By faith in the true God and humility we overcome our passions, and the demons who strive to harm us will flee and in a secret and supernatural way will be disarmed.
• “I believe in Christ” does not just mean that I have to wait and ask God to hear me and fulfill my desire. “I believe in Christ” means that I offer my obedience to God and fulfill His desire, whether it pleases me or not. That is why in the prayer “Our Father who…” we say to God: “Thy will be done…” and not: “My will be done.”

About Divine Providence

• How can people hurt us when God loves us and provides for us? If you understand the love and care your family has for you, then think that God’s love and care for you are incomparably greater. Keep that in mind and do not despair.
• The illness that befalls you under the providence of God is a medicine that heals your soul from passions, evils and sin. One accepts illness as an opportunity for prayer and repentance as well.
• In your present suffering from your illness it is difficult for you to sin, nor to indulge your passions as when you are healthy. You should see your affliction as “the narrow gate and the hard way” (Matthew 14:7) that leads to eternal life. Magnify God who in His providence and love has allowed this temporary suffering to open the way to eternity for you.

In hope in God

• With constant prayer, sincere confession, and constant study of the Bible and the lives of the saints, Christian hope is formed in our souls, firm and strong.
• The saints put all their hope in God and were not disappointed. Let this be an example for us to follow.
• Do not give up even if your passions or sinful thoughts fight you. Always start anew, and say: “God lives, so I will not despair.”
• He who relies on God will not reach a dead end.
• He who does not trust in God seeks deceptive consolations in vague philosophies and in deviations that lead to sin, harmful drinks and even drugs.
• Prayer without hope is like a ship without a compass.
• What kind of Christians are we if we live “like all who have no hope” (1 Thessalonians 4:13)?
• Whoever acts according to God’s commandments hopes for a reward, because the Lord says: “Your reward is great in heaven” (Matthew 12:5). So he turns to Christ and says: “Let your mercy, O Lord, be upon us, according to our hope in you” (Psalm 22:32).

In love

• He who strives to have perfect love for God as well as for his neighbor will be able to confess that Jesus Christ is Lord “by the Holy Spirit.”
• You must trust that God loves you even if everyone rejects you and abandons you.
• If you strive to love God to a greater extent, He will reveal Himself to you to a greater extent.
• Divine love exists but so does satanic love. Just as there is divine hatred, there is also satanic hatred.
• Divine love grows by keeping God’s commandments. Satanic love is evil, hedonistic, and lustful. Divine hatred is hatred of sin. Satanic hatred is against every human being of our kind, even our enemies.
• The wicked tastes death, while the lover tastes eternal life. There is no place in the kingdom of heaven for those who have no place in their souls for the love of their enemies.

Translated into Arabic by Father Athanasius Barakat