As one of the great modern spiritual and charismatic figures of Mount Athos, the civil administrator of Mount Athos, Konstantinos Dimtsas, characterizes Elder Emilianos, expressing his sorrow for his death.
As he characteristically commented, Elder Emilianos “left permanently his mark both to Mount Athos, the Monastery of Simonos Petra and its metochia within and outside Greece, as well as, more generally, to modern Orthodoxy and Hellenism.”
As an Athonite monk, he was a modern and spiritual brother of saints and great figures of Mount Athos, such as St. Paisios and many others. He was a spiritual father “of a multitude of spiritual children, monks and seculars, and his reputation spread throughout the orthodox world.”
Dimtsas finally states that “as a wise Athonite, Elder Emilianos contributed crucially to the settlement of many issues of the Holy Community and undertook important missions on behalf of Mount Athos.”
“The Hellenic State, which I have the great honour and responsibility to represent as a civil administrator of Mount Athos, owes to the late Elder Emilianos great gratitude for his contribution to both the Monastic State and our Homeland. Eternal rest grant unto him,” he concludes.
