0078 - ELDER HARALAMBOS KOMBOSKOINAS - ΓΕΡΩΝ ΧΑΡΑΛΑΜΠΟΣ ΚΟΜΠΟΣΧΟΙΝΑΣ Father Charalambos, the komboskoinas —the monk who made prayer ropes—used to tell us that he had been blessed to behold many things: the Panagia (the Most Holy Theotokos), holy angels, and that many miracles had happened to him. One day, we were going down to Stavronikita Monastery with other students, and we saw him lying in a ditch where the water ran alongside the road. Vehicles were constantly passing by and raising clouds of dust, while he was sitting there making a prayer rope. His clothes—old and worn-out as they were—looked as though they were shining, as if they were made of silk; not a speck of dust seemed to touch him. He had a field where he grew broad beans. I remember one day when we went there, he had climbed into a hole in the field, put some grass inside it, and, because the poor man’s legs hurt, he had raised them slightly. He was constantly making prayer ropes and continually saying the J...