Elder Proclu: That’s What the Mother of God Told Me
“Why do you think the Mother of God told me to give this money to you? What good deed did you do?”
Testimony by Archim. Nectarie Clinci, Abbott of Sihăstria Putnei Monastery, Romania
Saint Paisios the Athonite said: “God performs miracles when someone participates in another person’s pain with his heart.” That’s how Elder Proclu was: he had a large heart that burned with yearning for God and love for others.
Those of us at Sihăstria Putnei Monastery are greatly indebted to Elder Proclu. Why do I say this? In the first place, for the prayers and advice that we received from him over a long period of time, when we visited him at Mitocu Bălan [village] or when he stayed at our monastery for a period. Then, for the fact that he laid an extremely important brick for what we accomplished here in the past two years.
A year before he fell asleep in the Lord, in 2016, he asked me to come see him because he had something important to tell me. I went, surprised at being called specifically, yet at the same time happy, knowing that every encounter with the Elder is spiritually beneficial. When I arrived at his home, he was with Mother Filoteia [his sister]. We had a conversation that shows the tight-knit relationship Elder Proclu had with the Mother of God, whom he called on in prayer so much.
“Father Nectarie,” he said, “I’ve collected some money from prayer lists people gave me over time. I don’t have anything to do with it, so I prayed to the Mother of God to tell me where to take this money. And the Mother of God told me to give the money to you. Do you realize what a big deal this is, father!? Do you realize how many abbots and abbesses I know? I could have given them anywhere else, but I am being obedient to the Mother of God. And please know that it is clean money, and I did a paraklesis and many prayers for these lists of names.”
“Father, there’s no need. Your blessing and prayers are sufficient for me.”
“Please take them, Father Nectarie! If the Mother of God told me to…”
Elder Proclu was silent for a moment, then continued.
“I’ll ask you a question: why do you think the Mother of God told me to give this money to you? What good deed did you do?”
“Father, I don’t have any good deeds,” I responded.
However, I remember this event. One night in winter, I left the monastery for Bucharest [a more than 7 hour drive]. It was very cold outside. On the way, before leaving Putna [the nearby town], I saw a man waving me down, gesturing for me to give him a ride. I stopped and he said he wanted to go to Rădăuți [a nearby town]. He was poor, hungry, and very cold. We took him back to the Monastery and took care of him. After he took a bath and ate, we left again for Bucharest, leaving the man in Rădăuți.
When I recounted this story to Elder Proclu, his face lit up and he said:
“Father, you did a great thing! I think this is why the Mother of God is rewarding you.”
In this way, I received a consolation from the Mother of God through Elder Proclu. For us at Sihăstria Putnei Monastery, the greatest blessing is the fact that we have Elder Proclu here, in the monastery’s cemetery, and we can run and tell him what is bothering us at any time. In fact, there are monks who have testified about the way in which Elder Proclu healed them when they knelt at his grave, and asked for his help. We read his teachings, commemorate him in church services and prayers in our cells, and thus, we feel that Father is close to us.
And by his prayers, we hope to also experience the joy of meeting the Saviour, about whom Father spoke so beautifully: “This is what the Holy Spirit does, when He overtakes you, you forget your body, and when He gives you that joy, if He allowed you, you’d remain in that joy eternally. And if you want to describe that joy to someone, you can’t, because it doesn’t resemble earthly joy. If it resembled it, you’d speak about it. And who can understand you when you speak about this joy? He who has experienced it; he can understand you. And the good God is so good…”
Source:
File de Pateric II: Părintele Proclu (Editura Mănăstirea. Sihăstria Puntei: 2019) p.92-94.
Thank you for this story .
🙏🌍