On the day of Pascha in 1935 the abbot of Saint Paul's Monastery [Mount Athos], Archimandrite Seraphim, and all sixty fathers of the cenobium came out into the courtyard to celebrate the Liturgy of the Resurrection.
In a joyful mood and full of enthusiasm after the "Christ is risen!" was proclaimed, the abbot said to one of the simple fathers, "Elder Thomas, go where the relics of the fathers are kept and tell them that Christ is risen."
"Let it be blessed, Geronda," he replied, and without a second thought quickly went to the crypt where the bones were kept.
"Fathers, I was sent by the abbot to say to you 'Christ is risen!'" he cried out in a loud voice.
Then something awesome happened. The bones creaked and jumped. One skull rose up a metre high and answered Father Thomas' proclamation:
"Indeed He is risen!"
There was dead silence after that. The elder rushed back to tell all that he had seen and heard. For the fathers of the monastery that was truly a unique Pascha, and praising the risen Lord and Master of life, they chanted with joy:
"Angels are praising your Resurrection in heaven, O Lord! Make us who live on earth to praise you with cleansed hearts!"
The ever memorable elder Theodosios, the monastery's late librarian, would often tell the story of this event.
From the Athonite Gerontikon.
