Πατήρ Αιμιλιανός
Father Emilianos




Elder Emilianos Demosthenous (1932-2016)

The Elder who had Love, patience and advanced discernment. (Characterization from a psychiatrist who was a spiritual child of the Elder.)
Humble, lively and tireless, with a particular love for children. (As described by a pediatrician who was a spiritual child of the Elder.)

The righteous shall be in everlasting remembrance.
The Prophet David says: "Men will always remember the just man and his teachings." "Blessed is the man who fears the Lord, who delights greatly in His commandments. His descendants will be mighty on earth; The generation of the upright will be blessed. (Psalm 112)

Elder Emilianos Demosthenous was ordained a Deacon of the Church on the day of the feast of St. Eleftherios (Dec.15). During his lifetime as a priest, he often asked God to release him from the earthly cares that bound him. Years before falling asleep in the Lord he had decided what was to be engraved on his tombstone:
"If you die before you die, you will not die when you die." Meaning that only when a man manages to put to death his earthly passions and evil desires, with the help of the Sacraments of the Church, before his earthly body dies, will he be resurrected in the Lord. Otherwise, he will go with the “Dead” to where there is eternal sorrow and no prospect of the Divine presence, according to the New Testament.
And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. (John 11:26)
But Jesus said unto him, Follow me; and let the dead bury their dead. (Matt 8:22)

He became a Father Confessor on the day of Pentecost and would always ask the Holy Spirit to enlighten us.
He characteristically used to say: "Without the Holy Spirit we can do nothing." When asked to what extent did we have the Holy Spirit with us, he would respond with an anthropomorphic illustration: "The Holy Spirit is like a little bird which is frightened of sin. As soon as we sin, it flies far away from us. Go try bringing it back...
For all the time we live in a sinful state we need twice as much time to rid ourselves of the temptation and bad habit."
As a man he was simple and humble. When University educated people visited him, he would tell them:

You come to me, an uneducated man who only completed elementary school. He would stress that "we owe no man anything but love to one another." (Romans 13:8)

As a man of faith he was a model of trusting in God. Before we began any sort of undertaking, he would advise us to pray and wait for God to reveal his will. Another thing he would say to us was: Before you do something my child, ask yourself: If God were here standing in front of me, would you do this thing you want to do?
Nevertheless, he would stress that it was unnecessary to fall into the temptation of sorrow as God surely would never abandon us.

As a Spiritual father, Elder Emilianos would spend all day comforting the endless stream of people who came to him for advice at St. George Church in Kellaki.
He was tireless. He would often say: Better to be tired than rusted.
He used to stress the importance of not adding to someone's distress by negative criticism:
We must take care not to traumatize others but also not to inflict trauma on ourselves.

Regarding the family, Elder Emilianos used to say that those with many children and living according to God's law are like people who are not living in a simple home but rather in a big apartment block which they have to clean and look after. Nonetheless, we are not alone in this daily struggle. The Lord helps.

Youth need a supporting pole like a young sapling does. You can be sure it will benefit them.

Women, if you come to Church immodestly dressed, wearing lipstick, you do not receive blessing. The Virgin Mary was modest.

As a married priest, he honoured his wife and called her "The Administrator." He helped her with the housework, and she would clean the church and make the bread offering as well as help with keeping the order of the confessions.
They prayed together, at least 10 minutes in the morning and evening, no matter how busy they were with household chores.
Elder Emilianos would often say: 'If I do not find time to pray with Presvytera Electra, how will God find time to take pity on us?"

He urged those whose profession fulfilled an important societal role, for example priests, teachers, doctors, parents etc. to take care not to promote themselves, but to revolve their lives around Christ. All those who met him can testify to the fact that Elder Emilianos never said: "I tell you to do this or that." On the contrary, he used to preface his counsels with "The late Principal of the Priest's School, Elder Constantinos Lefkosiatis, used to tell us to clean our souls like we clean our homes."
He was so humble that he referred to others when giving advice; he never claimed any wisdom as exclusively his own.

As regards Church attendance he stressed that it was an essential requirement: "How could we like Heaven if. we dislike being inside a Church?
We receive divine protection through the Divine Liturgy and the mysteries of the Church. Without Church attendance there is no protection.

Regarding sorrows he would tell us to ask for God's help and He would surely hear us. I call on the LORD in my distress, and he answers me. (Psalm 118:5)

He would stress that without sorrows we could not enter Paradise. The family is the Church in the home, he would say.
What is found in the Church? The crucified Christ. In married life we crucify our ego and passions.

He lived frugally. "Whatever we spend today, we will not have when we are in need of it." He prayed that all those who could do so, to support those who were in difficult economic circumstances. He would remind us that God would not allow the charitable person to come to harm. He would make frequent visits to those in prison, comforting them and speaking to them about God.

He was also experienced on the topic of longevity. When visiting the elderly, he would joke "I am getting old" making a reference to the verse in the Old Testament (Psalm 90:10): The days of our years are threescore years and ten; and if by reason of strength they be fourscore years, yet is their strength labour and sorrow; for it is soon cut off, and we fly away.
We must prepare for our Heavenly journey through forgiveness, confession, humility and holy communion. At the age of 80 exactly he became ill!

He would urge us to fast and not give in to anger. He himself did not eat meat so as not to get angry. We should be strict with ourselves and lenient with others, he would say. A few days before he passed away, he pointed to some cooked meat and dairy dishes that were on the table and said, "There will come a time when people do not eat these!"

He always celebrated the Feast Day of saint Hypomone, the mother of Constantine Paleologos, in order that she would grant him patience. Υπομονή means patience. It is with patience that we will go forward in our spiritual as well as our daily struggle.

You Tube entries:
Elder Emilianos Demosthenous (speech)
Elder Emilianos Demosthenous. Holy Liturgy.
Elder Emilianos Demosthenous. Akathist Hymn.
Peace in the World! Jesus on Earth. Elder Emilianos Demosthenous.

Honouring Ceremony on the occasion of 50 years Spiritual Service of Elder Emilianos Demosthenous,
Kellaki (in which he gave an address) under the auspices of President of State Demetri Christofias.
A visit to Kellaki, the village of Elder Emilianos Demosthenous.
Funeral service of Elder Emilianos Demosthenous (It includes highlights from his life.)

MAY HIS MEMORY BE ETERNAL
(Group of Spiritual children of Elder Emilianos.)

Copyright 2023
Areti Demosthenous
dareti@cytanet.com.cy