Saint Sophrony and the Children That Visited Him

Father Paisios the Mathematician was a direct disciple of Saint Paisios the Athonite and the spiritual father of the female Monastery of Saint Hilarion near the village of Promachoi in the Municipality of Aridaia. One of his neighbors was a little girl named Chryse, and according to him she once went to visit Saint Sophrony with her mother. The Saint had never met them before, but as soon as he saw Chryse he welcomed her by name, saying: "Welcome Chrysoula! I knew a little girl would come from Greece!" And when the girl's mother asked the Saint to bless the child, he said: "Why should I bless her! I wish where this child will go, I will go too!" Shortly after this meeting and the photo taken above, Chryse passed away.

Parable of the Sparrow and Two Sisters

Two little sisters, after listening to the biblical story of the expulsion of Adam and Eve from paradise, said to their dad:

"Dad, if Lena and I were in paradise, we would never eat the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. After all, God didn’t allow for it to be touched, isn't that right, dad?

“Correct,” the father smiled and put the children to bed.

The next morning, the father got up before everyone else, caught a sparrow in the yard and put it in a saucepan. Having woken up the girls, he showed them the saucepan, placed it on the windowsill of the open window in the kitchen and said: