A Gift for Saint Nicholas: A True Story

Saint Nicholas is primarily known in the West as the inspiration behind the gift-giving Santa Claus, who on Christmas Eve brings presents to good boys and girls, and in return an offering of cookies and milk is given to him as a gift for himself and his reindeer. This gift exchange is likewise inspired by the real life miracles of Saint Nicholas, which the faithful in return offer to him in thanksgiving for the gift of the particular miracle performed. Below is one real life example from the life of Saint George Karslides, a holy priest from Drama of Northern Greece who passed away in 1959. It concerns the true story of a young girl who promised Saint Nicholas a gift, but forgot her secret promise until another Saint years later reminded her.

Saint George Karslides and the Oil Lamp of Saint Nicholas

"My father," said a woman from Sipsa, "who loved very much and ministered to the Elder and reverently reposed, at first he did not believe, he was an unbeliever. It went from bad to worse. His first children didn't live, they died.

It was during this time that the holy Elder who was also my godfather first came here to the village. He was almost paralyzed and lived in a house of Mr. Spyridopoulos. The whole village went to him, to get his blessing.

My father also went, holding a lamp and some oil, to light it where he lived. But when he went back, he saw the extinguished extinguished and asked the Elder why he did not light it. Then he told him the dream he had seen:

Translation of the Sacred Relics of our Venerable Father George Karslides

 On the 9th of this month [February], we commemorate the translation of the relics of Venerable George Karslides.

Verses

The fragrance of your relics George,
Proves that grace dwells within you.

Below is the testimony of a nun who witnessed the translation of the relics of Saint George take place on February 9, 2006:

"It was nine o'clock in the morning. We had been standing on our feet since nightime. As much as they could they alternated between diggers. We were chanting, said the prayer, the Salutations to the Panagia, in the icy landscape that reminded us of Russia where he came from. There was silence, in order to hear the shovels and the pickaxes and the murmuring of the prayer and the supplications to the Lady Theotokos and the name. The weather was hazy, cloudy, frosty, and the whole surrounding atmosphere had the semblance of the resurrection. Within the ice one could smell the spring, our thoughts had been purified, our inner man had become unburdened, the passions had become hidden.

Saint George Karslides and his Wondrous Meeting With the Three Hierarchs

 By Monk Moses the Athonite

When Saint George Karslides was a young child, he met in a wondrous vision the Three Hierarchs - Basil the Great, Gregory the Theologian and John Chrysostom. This is how he described it to his spiritual children many years later:

I was home alone, in my brother's house, after my parents died.

A beggar came that day, I took a plate, I went to the barn, I took some flour and I gave it to him.

The Parable of the Plucked Chicken (St. George Karslides)

St. George Karslides said the following parable:

 

One time someone went and confessed to a spiritual father and he gave a penance for him to take a chicken and come and find him.

On the way he would pluck the chicken until he took out all the feathers.

Indeed, this is what he did.

One of the Last Living Spiritual Children of Saint George Karslides, Fr. Haralambos Anastasiades, Has Reposed

St. George Karslides with two spiritual children that would one day become priests; Fr. Haralambos is on the right.

 

 

On the feast of Theophany, 6 January 2022, Protopresbyter Fr. Haralambos Anastasiades departed to the Lord, and his funeral took place the next day in the Church of Saint John in Argyroupoli of Drama.

The late Fr. Haralambos Anastasiades was born in Argyroupoli, Drama. He had Saint George Karslides as a spiritual father from the time he was in high school. When he asked Saint George about what he should become in the future, since he couldn't decide, he recommended to him to become a teacher. This is why he studied at the Zarifio Pedagogical Academy of Alexandroupolis. After some years of service in Primary Education, he no longer felt satisfied as a teacher, so he sought the advice of Saint George again, who planted the seed in his head to become a priest, though he told him to wait till the right time until he was fully ready. Meanwhile Saint George reposed, and he approached another charismatic spiritual father about becoming a priest, who also told him that when he is fully decided then he will be ready. When that priest also reposed, he knew he wanted to be a priest and take over for the priest that had reposed. So after ten years as a teacher, he went and studied at the Higher Priestly Center of Tinos and then joined the ranks of the clergy.

When Saint George Karslides Danced With 400 Angels at a Wedding

According to the testimony of C.T., whose wedding is described below, the following was said:

The Elder [Saint George Karslides] also came to the party that took place on the eve of the wedding in Karyofyto [Xanthi] and danced a little at the beginning, because he was very happy. We also had an organ player from a village in Drama.

When he left, the organ player went to the grandmother, mother Argyro, and told her the news, criticizing the monk.

Testimony of the Bright Soul of Saint George Karslides Leaving His Body When He Died

The first icon of St. George Karslides in the Hut of St. Ephraim of Katounakia.

Aikaterini Mitsou narrates the following:

"At one point, as she spoke to us, I had a feeling and I said to her:

'Why don't you go, grandma, to see what the Elder is doing?'

'I went a little while ago and he is sleeping,' she answered me.

As time passed, the mother Argyro withdrew to her room and the women lay down on the mats.

The Monastery Where Saint George Karslides Was Tonsured a Monk

 

Saint George Karslides, then known as Athanasios, left his abusive uncle as a young child and was miraculously brought by Saint George the Trophy-Bearer on his horse to a priest to take care of him. By the age of nine he was already made a novice and dressed in the cassock. He lived in asceticism at the Monastery of the Dormition of the Theotokos in Dranda of Abkhazia, which dates to the 11th-12th century (some believe it was built in the 6th century by Emperor Justinian). Though it was destroyed a few times since then by the Ottomans, it was rebuilt and took on today's appearance, which is a mixture of Byzantine and Georgian architecture.

A Photo of Saint George Karslides Disguised as a Layman When Fleeing Communist Russia

Although Saint George Karslides was ordained a Presbyter and Spiritual Father at the age of 24 in 1925, after he had escaped being executed by the communists, when he was 28 years old in 1929 he fled communist Russia, and to do so safely, he escaped the communists by disguising himself as a layman - shaved and in a suit with a hat. He arrived in Thessaloniki, after a difficult journey, on October 19, 1929, and from there went to settle in Sipsa of Drama, where he served as a priest the rest of his life.

 

 

The Engolpion That Saved the Life of Saint George Karslides

The grandmother of Saint George Karslides reposed when he was only seven years old, leaving him a valuable inheritance in an ivory icon of the Panagia in the form of an engolpion (a medallion with an icon in the center worn around the neck). This is something he always carried on him.

When he reached the age of 18 he was tonsured a monk and ordained a deacon. This was shortly after the Bolshevik revolution, which almost cost him his life. The monastery where he lived was looted and destroyed and many monks were executed for not denying their faith.

Clarification on a Photo of Saint George Karslides

This photo is said to have been taken on July 20, 1919, which depicts Saint George Karslides, who was then named Athanasios, after he was tonsured at the age of eighteen a monk with the name Symeon. This took place in Donda, Georgia at the Monastery of the Dormition of the Theotokos, and during his tonsure the bells of the monastery began to ring by themselves. Soon after this he was ordained a Hierodeacon. Not long after this, Monk Symeon would be imprisoned by the Communists, where he miraculously escaped execution. On September 8, 1925 he was ordained Hieromonk and Confessor by Metropolitan John Tsiaparaski in Sukhumi of Georgia, and was given the new name George.

Based on the above information and the details of the photo with the vestments, it seems this photo was in fact taken when Saint George was already a priest, perhaps on the day of his ordination on September 8, 1925.

 

 

Saint George Karslides and His All Night Conversation With Saint George the Trophy-Bearer

For about two years, a man called Anastasis Spyridopoulos hosted Saint George Karslides in his house, at the Saint’s request. One night, Anastasis heard the hoof beats of a horse outside in the yard.

He went to the balcony and saw a young horseman, all aglow, dismounting and going up the steps. He entered the house and was heard opening the door to the Elder’s room.

Anastasis heard them talking all night long. The next morning, after the sun was up, he asked the Elder:

‘Did you have a visitor last night, Elder?’

‘Yes’, he replied. ‘It was Saint George. Since you saw him, why didn’t you get up and light the censer, ask him for something, call upon him, and you would have received what you asked for.'

‘Unfortunately’, Anastasis now says, ‘I knew nothing of spiritual matters at that time.’

 

 

Myrrh Flows from the Icon of Saint George Karslides in Karpathos

On October 20, 2021 a video was posted on social media showing an icon of Saint George Karslides gushing myrrh on the Greek island of Karpathos. According to the commentary on the video, this was filmed on the tenth day of the icon gushing forth myrrh, for which six packages of cotton were needed to gather it up.

@ekklisiaonline Μυρο αναβλύζει εικονα του Αγιου Γεωργιου στην Κάρπαθο#εκκλησια #γεωργιος ♬ πρωτότυπος ήχος - Εκκλησία Online

 

 

How Saint George Karslides Once Celebrated the Feast of the Prophet Elijah

During the years of the Bulgarian occupation (1941-1944), mother Argyro lived in the monastery near the Elder George Karslides and took care of him. One night, around 2:20 a.m., a loud noise was heard as if the wall of the church had fallen. She was afraid that the Bulgarians might come to kill the Elder, but she saw that the church was locked. She went out into the courtyard, but the Elder was nowhere to be found. She went to the corner of the fence and there she saw approaching something flying in the air wearing black.

The Icon of Saint George That Soared in the Air and Was Bathed in Light

Symela Spyridopoulou, who took great care of the Elder [Saint George Karslides (+ 1959)] from the beginning, narrated the following:

"One day when I was at the monastery I had to go home for a bit to get something.

When I returned I entered the church. There was no one.

As I turned my head, I saw the icon of Saint George the Trophy-Bearer soaring in the air and bathed in light.

Frightened by this, I started screaming.

The Grass of the Grandmother

By St. George Karslides

 

A church was being built in a village and everyone was helping as much as they could.

Whoever had an animal had them carry stones and those who were strong worked.

There was also a very poor grandmother in the village, who had nothing to give for the church. Her soul ached for this and as the animals carrying the stones passed by, she would pick up grass and throw them so they could eat to gain strength.

When the church was finished, they consecrated it and wrote the name of the Bishop on an inscription.

Miracles in the Lives of a Pious Husband and Wife (From the Life of St. George Karslides)

 

In 1959 a husband and wife embarked on a pilgrimage from their village in Mikromilia to the Monastery of the Ascension in Sipsa, an eight hour journey, in order to visit Saint George Karslides. This couple had seven children and were expecting their eighth. On the way the wife was considering in her thoughts about not allowing the eighth child to live, feeling that she was unable to take care of another child. Very quickly however she banished this thought from her mind and repented.

The Harsh Older Brother of Saint George Karslides

 

Greek chapel in Tsalka

Two years after the death of their parents, the older brother, Kyriakos, for unknown reasons, began to treat his younger siblings Anna and Athanasios [Saint George's baptismal name] very harshly. When Athanasios was only five years old, he was sent to graze his sheep, with all the danger, labor and hardship that this entailed for such a small child.

Let's just consider that the average altitude in Tsalka is 1600 meters. In fact, because of the harsh climate, Tsalka is also called the Georgian Siberia. When Athanasios was returning from grazing, it was not uncommon for his brother to beat him and send him to sleep in the stable, for no apparent reason.
 

The Precious Wedding Gift of Saint George Karslides

 

 

At Elpida Kalaitzidou's wedding, Saint George Karslidis gave her a tablecloth as a gift, which he embroidered with his own hands. The next day, however, her fellow villagers came to see her and as soon as they saw it, they started commenting on it disapprovingly.

“How could the Elder do that? He has given such beautiful gifts to others and gave you something so poor?"