A Truly Worthy "Glory to Thee, O God!"

Fifty years of lying prostrate on his bed of pain

Some forty years ago, I would often visit the Hospice for Neuro-disablility located on Agias Zonis Street in Kypseli, Athens.

In order to visit the hospice’s (at the time) frightful basement, you truly had to brace yourself, hold your breath,  and ready your nerves for what you might encounter. It was in that basement that I experienced the following astounding incident.

As I was getting ready to leave after visiting some invalid friends, I clearly heard a voice, which seemed to come from the depths of the earth, repeatedly calling out:"Glory to Thee, O God! Glory to Thee, O God! Glory to Thee, O God!"  

Drawn by that voice, I felt an irresistible urge to go down into the basement. Going down the stairs, I literally held my breath and at the same time tried to focus on the place from which that voice of thanksgiving came.

I assure you that it was extremely difficult, since the terrible sight of what I saw from all the sides of the basement could not escape my notice.

In any case, I stopped in the middle of a room with around thirty beds, since it was from that spot that the cries of doxology, which drew me with unspeakable force, came forth.

What I saw truly shocked me; yet it was what I heard that really astonished me.

In the middle of the room, then, there was a bed on which a man lay on his stomach. He was no more than eighty centimeters long, though he did not possess the distinctive characteristics of dwarfism.

I approached timidly and asked him, "Is it you who are saying 'Glory to Thee, O God?' I was bowled over by his response, since I was not expecting it: 

"Yes, I am the one saying it. I feel it and take joy in it from the bottom of my heart!”

Stunned, I mumbled in awe: "And what is it that makes you say that?"

The following words that I heard from him were engraved on my heart for life:

"Listen, my friend. I was born without a vertebral column, apart from a sort of underdeveloped 'tube' holding the spinal marrow. I never met my parents. I have no relatives, friends, or family acquaintances. Τhe only home I ever knew is this room in the basement of this hospice, and my only friends and acquaintances are the invalids around  me. I do not know what the ceiling of this room looks like, since I am unable to turn and lie on my back, since my ribs would press into my internal vital organs and I would die.  The only thing I see are these pillows, on which I lie face down, and which are lit by the strong light of this lamp above me.  Nevertheless, I feel indescribable joy within me and I continually feel the need to glorify God. This is why I cannot restrain myself from repeating my sole prayer: 'Glory to Thee, o God!' I call it out, except at night, so as not to disturb the other patients. This is, in short, my humble story, and  I am now [in 1978-79] about fifty years old"!

I left in astonishment, and, as I said, this unique experience was engraved brightly and indelibly within me.

I am sharing this story with you and I pray that it will have a truly beneficial effect on all of us for the rest of our earthly lives.

Source: https://www.dromokirix.gr/2019/04/blog-post_8.html.