St. Methodia

St. Methodia

She prayed virtually around the clock, and kept strict fast every day but Saturday and Sunday, on which days she would leave her cell to partake of the Holy Mysteries at Liturgy. She received no visitors at all during Lent; at other times, she would receive only women. She became known throughout her region as a counselor and healer. She reposed in peace at the age of forty-two, in 1908. Her advice on ‘humility’ as found in this letter to her sister is timeless and most enlightening.

From a letter of Saint Methodia of Kimolos to her sister Anna on Humility.

“So, Anna, I pray that you not worry, because this world is like a dream. Do not say that you are tired of life, because it is a great sin, my child. I always pray to God to keep you in good health so that you may work, and that His grace might illumine you to do what is good, just as, my Anna, almighty God also illumined me, a sinner, and did not turn away from me in aversion.

When I was a girl, Anna, I used to say in my mind that God would help me fare well, because I felt my conscience pure, not knowing the judgments of God, which are an abyss. But now, when His grace has illumined me, I hate the corruptible things of this world and its pleasures, and follow my Creator, for I was like the prodigal son. Have you seen, Anna, what God says in the holy Book of the Gospels? He says that whoever follows Him will not be allowed by Him ever to become unhappy, but will receive His grace abundantly. As I see things today in my case, Anna, especially now that I am living in confinement, it is best to have steadfastness, patience, love and humility. Without humility no man is saved, no matter how many good deeds he performs. Humility leads one to salvation.”