Father Paul Tsouknidas testified as follows to the fact that Saint Iakovos Tsalikes had the ability to fly:
A hieromonk introduced me to Elder Iakovos Tsalikes in 1987, I made him my spiritual father, and I would go see him as a layman at the time, in my car from Karditsa to the Monastery of Venerable David, because I found much rest going to confession to the blessed Elder.
One day when I went with the hieromonk to the Sacred Monastery to stay for a few days and to confess, on the way while we were traveling, before we reached Rovies after Lake Evia, the hieromonk who was in the passenger seat told me:
"The Abbot, Fr. Iakovos, I learned that he flies. I know an incident and it is true, I heard it from spiritual people, but also other similar ones from the monks of the Monastery.
One day Elder Iakovos was walking to the Monastery, and on the way a taxi stopped to pick him up that was taking a family to the Monastery to worship; the family and the taxi driver told the Elder they could take him to the Monastery, and the Elder told them: "You go, I will come on foot slowly."
The taxi driver and the family repeatedly begged the Elder to take him to the Monastery, but he, despite being about 12 kilometers away, told them again: "You go, I will come too." They all left saddened that they could not persuade Elder Iakovos to take him with them to the Monastery.
To the surprise of all of them, however, when they arrived outside the gate of the Monastery, the Elder was waiting for them at the door! The taxi driver and the pilgrims were speechless when they saw him.
Do you see how great a figure the Lord brought us, my child Paul," the hieromonk told me, "so that we may receive his blessing and confess?"
But I had doubts inside me, and I did not believe what the hieromonk told me, and I said to myself, "How is it possible that he flew from so far away? Is the Elder a bird?"
In the evening I was talking to a monk, Fr. Nikodemos, and he assured me that he saw himself, as well as other brothers of the Monastery, Elder Iakovos, a cubit above the ground when he was liturgizing.
Again, I with my lack of faith said to myself: "Alright, the monks who see the Elder so closely, in the church they see him not stepping on the ground, but from Rovies that he flew so far, perhaps they are overstating things?"
However, this question was answered by the following event:
One day, after the church service in the Monastery where Elder Iakovos was a liturgist, when he finished the Divine Liturgy, the Elder was speaking in the courtyard of the Monastery with four or five pilgrims. I sat there in good faith to listen to what they were saying, to benefit spiritually. At that moment a man says to him:
"Do you remember, Fr. Iakovos, the last time I came to the Monastery by taxi, we said to pick you up from Rovies where we found you on the street on foot and you did not come with us, but when we arrived at the Monastery, you were waiting for us outside the door?"
And that blessed Elder put the palm of his hand over his mouth and said to him:
"Please do not say it, do not say it my child, let's have a little humility."
When I heard this to be a fact, I stepped aside and cried for my lack of faith!
A hieromonk introduced me to Elder Iakovos Tsalikes in 1987, I made him my spiritual father, and I would go see him as a layman at the time, in my car from Karditsa to the Monastery of Venerable David, because I found much rest going to confession to the blessed Elder.
One day when I went with the hieromonk to the Sacred Monastery to stay for a few days and to confess, on the way while we were traveling, before we reached Rovies after Lake Evia, the hieromonk who was in the passenger seat told me:
"The Abbot, Fr. Iakovos, I learned that he flies. I know an incident and it is true, I heard it from spiritual people, but also other similar ones from the monks of the Monastery.
One day Elder Iakovos was walking to the Monastery, and on the way a taxi stopped to pick him up that was taking a family to the Monastery to worship; the family and the taxi driver told the Elder they could take him to the Monastery, and the Elder told them: "You go, I will come on foot slowly."
The taxi driver and the family repeatedly begged the Elder to take him to the Monastery, but he, despite being about 12 kilometers away, told them again: "You go, I will come too." They all left saddened that they could not persuade Elder Iakovos to take him with them to the Monastery.
To the surprise of all of them, however, when they arrived outside the gate of the Monastery, the Elder was waiting for them at the door! The taxi driver and the pilgrims were speechless when they saw him.
Do you see how great a figure the Lord brought us, my child Paul," the hieromonk told me, "so that we may receive his blessing and confess?"
But I had doubts inside me, and I did not believe what the hieromonk told me, and I said to myself, "How is it possible that he flew from so far away? Is the Elder a bird?"
In the evening I was talking to a monk, Fr. Nikodemos, and he assured me that he saw himself, as well as other brothers of the Monastery, Elder Iakovos, a cubit above the ground when he was liturgizing.
Again, I with my lack of faith said to myself: "Alright, the monks who see the Elder so closely, in the church they see him not stepping on the ground, but from Rovies that he flew so far, perhaps they are overstating things?"
However, this question was answered by the following event:
One day, after the church service in the Monastery where Elder Iakovos was a liturgist, when he finished the Divine Liturgy, the Elder was speaking in the courtyard of the Monastery with four or five pilgrims. I sat there in good faith to listen to what they were saying, to benefit spiritually. At that moment a man says to him:
"Do you remember, Fr. Iakovos, the last time I came to the Monastery by taxi, we said to pick you up from Rovies where we found you on the street on foot and you did not come with us, but when we arrived at the Monastery, you were waiting for us outside the door?"
And that blessed Elder put the palm of his hand over his mouth and said to him:
"Please do not say it, do not say it my child, let's have a little humility."
When I heard this to be a fact, I stepped aside and cried for my lack of faith!
Source: From the book Ο Γέρων Ιάκωβος (Διηγήσεις – Νουθεσίες – Μαρτυρίες). Translation by John Sanidopoulos.
