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| Monastery of Saint Panteleimon at Penteli |
By Olympia Vakofaris
We often went to the Monastery of Saint Panteleimon [in Penteli, founded by the Elder Simon Arvanitis], because my husband was a builder and he helped every eight days in the construction of the Monastery; he could work one day and two or three, as needed.
Once when he was working there (I happened to be with him too), Elder Simon notified him to go next Saturday morning to work there.
But we forgot.
When Saturday morning came, there was a knock on the window of our house three times, and I went to see what that knock was.
I opened the window and saw and recognized Saint Panteleimon, and in my surprise I asked him:
"My Saint Panteleimon, what do you want?"
"I want your husband," he tells me. "We need him at the Monastery."
We both went together, and the next day on Sunday also.
It was the last time he went there, because the next week he fell asleep in the Lord.
For thirty years, perhaps more, he knew Elder Simon. My husband was called Stergios Vakofaris, and he was a builder.
Source: From the book of Monk Zosimas, Hieromonk Simon Arvanitis (1901-1988): His Life and Work. Translated by John Sanidopoulos.
