Greg the byzantine
14th November 2006, 06:57 PM
Bear with me cause this is probably going to sound wierd to a lot of you. So I was reading a story on the circle about Hadzi Fr. Spiridon Efimov.
On oct 31st/ nov 13th in the year of 1902 a child was born to Mr.Vasily Pavlovitch Efimov and Evgenia Alexyevna Efimov in the city of Kronstadt, and according to Orthodox Christian tradition was given the name of who`s Saint was commemorated that day, which was -SS Nikodim and Spyridon the Prosphora makers of the Kiev caves... the young infant was named Nikodim...
The years passed and the Efimov`s would often be visited by Fr.John of Kronstadt(the now St.John of Kronstadt) as he was a good friend of the Efimov family...
Nika as he was nicknamed, had a sister 4 years older named maria vasilievna and was St.John of Kronstadt`s God-Daughter, she talked later in the years of how St.John of Kronstadt`s Blessing`s were always upon the young Nika...its not a miracle that the young nika would also develop a close relationship with the then Archbishop John Maximovitch, and in 1951 with the blessing of ArhcBishop John Maximovitch, he asked his vicar Bishop Leonty bartoshevitch of geneva to tonsure his good friend Nika to simple monk, then deacon, and finally the Priesthood - Bishop Leonty tonsured him a monk gave young Nika the other Saints name that was also commemorated when young Nika was born- St.Spyridon the other Prosphora maker... as the years passed Hadji Fr.Spiridon Efimov was assigned to a couple of places and one was a parish in beirut,lebanon where he was Vicar for 4 years and being so close to the holy land would often visit the tomb of the Lord and other Holy places- thus he signed his name HADJI( Hadji being an arabic word used to denote a pilgrim to the tomb of Christ) Hadji Fr.Spiridon continued his relationship with the ArchBishop John Maximovitch and they became each others SOTAINIK (slavonic word that could mean co-mystic, or sharer). Blessed Hadgi Fr.Spiridon Efimov reposed in the Lord on august 19th /sept.1, 1984 in the southbay of the san francisco bay area, and is buried not far from his SOTAINIK St.John of Shanghai and San Francisco
an unworthy servant -
spiridon
http://my.orthodoxcircle.com/_bulletin/index.php?bulletinid=6569
The thing that struck me was that the title Hatzi in Greek is also given to people who have made a pilgrimage to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.
It's such an interesting word since it was borrowed from the word Muslims use to describe a person who has made the Hajj pilgrimage to Mecca. Christians apparently borrowed the title and gave it a new meaning.
So I was wondering if anybody knows any other cultures that use the title Haji, Hatzi or other derivation to denote a person having made the trip to Jerusalem?
On oct 31st/ nov 13th in the year of 1902 a child was born to Mr.Vasily Pavlovitch Efimov and Evgenia Alexyevna Efimov in the city of Kronstadt, and according to Orthodox Christian tradition was given the name of who`s Saint was commemorated that day, which was -SS Nikodim and Spyridon the Prosphora makers of the Kiev caves... the young infant was named Nikodim...
The years passed and the Efimov`s would often be visited by Fr.John of Kronstadt(the now St.John of Kronstadt) as he was a good friend of the Efimov family...
Nika as he was nicknamed, had a sister 4 years older named maria vasilievna and was St.John of Kronstadt`s God-Daughter, she talked later in the years of how St.John of Kronstadt`s Blessing`s were always upon the young Nika...its not a miracle that the young nika would also develop a close relationship with the then Archbishop John Maximovitch, and in 1951 with the blessing of ArhcBishop John Maximovitch, he asked his vicar Bishop Leonty bartoshevitch of geneva to tonsure his good friend Nika to simple monk, then deacon, and finally the Priesthood - Bishop Leonty tonsured him a monk gave young Nika the other Saints name that was also commemorated when young Nika was born- St.Spyridon the other Prosphora maker... as the years passed Hadji Fr.Spiridon Efimov was assigned to a couple of places and one was a parish in beirut,lebanon where he was Vicar for 4 years and being so close to the holy land would often visit the tomb of the Lord and other Holy places- thus he signed his name HADJI( Hadji being an arabic word used to denote a pilgrim to the tomb of Christ) Hadji Fr.Spiridon continued his relationship with the ArchBishop John Maximovitch and they became each others SOTAINIK (slavonic word that could mean co-mystic, or sharer). Blessed Hadgi Fr.Spiridon Efimov reposed in the Lord on august 19th /sept.1, 1984 in the southbay of the san francisco bay area, and is buried not far from his SOTAINIK St.John of Shanghai and San Francisco
an unworthy servant -
spiridon
http://my.orthodoxcircle.com/_bulletin/index.php?bulletinid=6569
The thing that struck me was that the title Hatzi in Greek is also given to people who have made a pilgrimage to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.
It's such an interesting word since it was borrowed from the word Muslims use to describe a person who has made the Hajj pilgrimage to Mecca. Christians apparently borrowed the title and gave it a new meaning.
So I was wondering if anybody knows any other cultures that use the title Haji, Hatzi or other derivation to denote a person having made the trip to Jerusalem?