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Our good God so arranged that on Sunday, May 28, 2023, during his pastoral visit to America, Father Abbot Melchisedec (F.M.), accompanied by a group of fathers, was able to meet with Elder Zacharias Zacharou (E.Z.) from the Monastery of St. John the Baptist in Essex, England. The meeting took place at St. Tikhon’s Monastery in South Canaan, PA, where Elder Zacharias had been invited to host several spiritual conferences. Elder Zacharias was accompanied, to everyone’s great joy, by the abbot of the monastery at Essex, Father Archimandrite Peter Vryzas (F.P.). We recount the most important moments from the dialogue.

E.Z.: How do you find the New World?

F.M.: … [sighs]

E.Z.: I think it’s a world of many and great challenges. There are some hopeful signs.

F.M.: There are many good Christians.

E.Z.: Yes, yes. And some communities which do good work. Here, they’re progressing. The hegumen, though he is young, he is only 38, but he is very good and now he has got quite a number of young people. The Americans are very direct. When people come to them, immediately they tell them, “Are you really desiring to be the friend of God?” And they start directly to evangelize.

F.M.: Our most merciful God arranged so that we could meet.

E.Z.: It’s been twelve years since we met.

F.M.: Yes, in October of 2011, when you came to Putna.

E.Z.: I was very happy when I heard you were coming, because I cannot forget my visit to your monastery. It has a wonderful presence, the monastery at Putna.

F.M.: We also cannot forget you. Nor can we forget the words and love that you have for monks and monasticism.

E.Z.: When I am outside the monastery, I keep chattering with people from morning until evening.

F.M.: I have a sin. I’ve read your books, the books of Saint Sophrony, the life of Saint Silouan – absolutely all of them. And now when I cite them, I don’t remember who they were from, so I say that all of them are from Saint Sophrony. Don’t be upset with me.

E.Z.: You aren’t making a mistake!

F.M.: You also should come to Suceava, to our monasteries. I have this desire to see you once again at Putna.

E.Z.: Are there flights to Suceava?

F.M.: Yes, there are! There is a direct flight from London.

E.Z.: I’ll come next week! [laughter]

F.M.: At home at Putna, when I go back, what should I tell them? I will tell the fathers that I spoke with Elder Zacharias.

E.Z.: Tell them that I keep the best memories of the monastery and of my communication with them, since my visit. And if God gives to become a bit younger, I’ll come again.

F.P.: But next time he will come to Putna, he will take also Părintele Petru who has never been there.

F.M.: Done, you’re both invited!

E.Z.: He’s hegumen, but he wants to be a son. And by trying to be a good son, he became a good mother to me. He takes care of me.

F.P.: For us, the greatest school is to sit by the feet of the father [Zacharias] who lived for 27 years with Fr. Sophrony and he carries him within him.

E.Z.: It’s not very modest to speak about ourselves, but it’s the only way to speak concretely about life.

F.M.: Saint Paul also wrote to the Corinthians about himself. And at the end, he says: „You compelled me!”

E.Z.: It was incredible living next to Fr. Sophrony. You could never get used to him. He was so accessible for us, but at the same time you couldn’t lose the sense that he was other. He had such an experience that nothing could surprise him in the spiritual life. And every word of his would open a horizon of the spiritual life. I have not met such a phenomenon, though I’m sure the Church has many, and I met almost all the saints that were canonized recently in Greece.

F.M.: Saint Sophrony impressed me greatly because he was intelligent and cultured. He was incredibly cultivated. And he submitted with such great humility to Saint Silouan, who was a simple monk.

E.Z.: When he spoke with the philosophers, he would speak in their language. When he spoke with the old Cypriot ladies, he would speak very simply to them. I remember a Russian lady, who was professor at the university in Leuven, Belgium. And she wanted to write a book about the history of Russian philosophy. And I remember Fr. Sophrony sat with her, I was present, for two hours speaking to her, giving her the outline and explaining/philosophizing all of the events of the Russian history. And her husband, who knew stenography, was recording everything. And in a few months, she brought out the book. He was intelligent, it was incredible.

Once, when I was very young, before even I was a priest, the head of the religious department of a great school in a city not far from us, Chanceford, came to the monastery with his students. And I was asked to give them a tour around the monastery. And I asked Fr. Sophrony’s blessing and he sat down for one hour and was telling me, “They will ask you this question, they will ask you that, you say this, you say that,” and I go, and I was the whole day in that school, speaking to seven departments, in each one of the seven departments. And I had all the questions that Fr. Sophrony warned me I would have, with the answers. It was incredible that day. When I returned home, I was exhausted, but blissfully exhausted. And I was leaving, I asked the lecturer there, “How did it go? How do you assess the day today?” And he said to me, “It was very good, but you always spoke above the level of the students.” You know, in every department I went, there were 10, 15, 20 teachers, and I had to speak for them as well, not only for the kids. And they were 16-18 years old. I was so amazed, he told me exactly. It was so easy. And if they asked me something new, my mind was in that perspective and the answers were coming. It was incredible that day.

F.M.: Obedience and blessing.

E.Z.: And the same happened with our former hegumen, Fr. Kyrill. They invited him to speak in London at a very important conference, and Fr. Kyrill, though he is a very good theologian and very wise, but he doesn’t like to go out. And Fr. Sophrony especially liked him because he was a man of the house. And Fr. Sophrony dictated to him what he should say, and he went there and gave a beautiful talk.

F.P.: Yes, at Sourozh for the yearly assembly organized by Metropolitan Anthony.

E.Z.: The beauty of monasticism, really, is in the practice of obedience. Because through obedience, you don’t just learn things, you inherit the life of the elders. If your heart is really united with the heart of your elder, not only you absorb what he is saying, but when he says one word, immediately you anticipate and you know what the next word will be. It’s an incredible mystery, obedience. With Fr. Sophrony, that’s how it was.

F.M.: That was it. Now we can go. I was waiting, waiting, waiting. Now we have nourishment for the fathers back home.

E.Z.: Anyways, it’s nice to speak about our fathers, but I’m afraid I will hear the word of St. John of the Ladder: “Such a holy man gave rise to such a thorn like me!”

F.M.: We from Putna are thieves. We stole your words, they were recorded, and we will publish them in our magazine, which comes out on July 2, the commemoration of Saint Stephen the Great.

E.Z.: You are reliable people. I am happy.

F.M.: We thank you for the words for monks which you give us.

E.Z.: We thank you for coming to see us.

F.M.: The joy is ours.

P.Z: May God give us to meet again.