Philotheos Zervakos and Iakovos Tsalikis

Description

Elder Filotheos Zervakos is a modern elder who was born in May 1884 in the village of Pakia, in the province of Epidaurus Limira, near Molaus in Laconia. His parents were Panagiotis and Aikaterini Zervakou. He took the name Konstantinos. From his childhood he loved the Church, he liked to sing and read the holy books.
He finished school in his hometown and his parents sent him to a Didaskalium and at the age of 17, in 1901, he became a teacher. So he served this profession for three years (1901-1904) in the village of Finikio, near his own village. They then asked him to go and work as a teacher in America, but it was not God’s will and obstacles were found.He often read the lives of Saints. He was inspired by the lives of Saints Anthony, John of Damascus, Saint Barbara and others. During this study he felt – as he himself confesses – the visit of the sweet Divine Grace! Then he also imagined himself in the desert and the desire to live in the “solitary state” came to him.
Saint Iakovos was born on November 5, 1920 AD. Little Iakovos didn’t go out to play in the street at all, he couldn’t listen to the village children and with them refugee children saying bad words, even if he didn’t understand them.He preferred to go every evening with his grandmother and mother to light the candles and have his grandmother tell him about the lives of the saints and the Hieromonks of their family.
His feast day is November 22.