In the early hours of Saturday, December 7, 2024, a great Struggler for our Orthodoxy, Elder Meletios Kapsaliotis, in the world Zacharias Kyralakis, passed away.

He was born in saint-producing Crete, on November 14, 1931, in the suffering Magarikari, of the Municipality of Phaistos, in Heraklion, which was desecrated and completely destroyed by both the Turks and the Germans.

He was raised with the ethos and the spirit of the much-admired Crete, participating in its living Orthodox liturgical tradition.

However, the desire for absolute isolation and complete devotion to Christ led him, when he completed his military obligations, to secretly abandon his village and go up to the famous Mount of Grace, the Holy Mountain, leaving behind him “the vain life of the world.”

His family had lost track of the Anchorite and were worried. However, he was located by an acquaintance of their priest on the Holy Mountain and thus his family was informed that he was alive and living in a monastery.

From then on, he would go down to his village and see his own people, influencing and spiritually guiding relatives and fellow villagers. There are countless testimonies of his gifts and spiritual assistance in his birthplace.

… Read the rest at Mystagogy Resource Center.