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Gerontas Filimon's parable of the sleeping town and the watchful driver
The post shares a video from the YouTube channel of the Holy Church of St. Demetrios titled "The beauty of the end (2nd part)" in memory of Gerontas Filimon, a righteous monk of the Holy Coenobitic Pantokratoros Skete of Prophet Elias on Mount Athos. The video presents an allegory told by Gerontas Filimon: a driver describes a strange place where inhabitants sleep all year in their beds, waking only before festivals to repair roads, roofs, and prepare the choir.
During festivals they celebrate with tables, wine, love, kisses, songs, bells, and fireworks, but afterward numbness returns and they go back to sleep. The driver's role is to pass through keeping watch so no one oversleeps, no fountain stays open, and no fire starts. He is headed to Athens to deliver a load; his home is the national highway, not a house, and his friends are those he chooses to pick up along the way.
The driver also says he has swallowed his tongue but something eats at him. The post includes links to two YouTube videos: the full talk on the church's channel, and another video on the "Nectar of the Soul" channel titled "Fr. Filimon bids farewell to Dionysis Savvopoulos."
Key moments
- 0:00 The driver explains that the people in this place sleep all year in their beds and wake only before festivals to fix roads, roofs, and prepare the choir.
- 0:35 The driver describes the festival as a time of tables set with wine, love, kisses, songs, bells, fireworks, and organs, after which the people fall back into numbness and sleep.
- 1:06 The driver says his role is to pass through and watch that no one oversleeps, no fountain is left open, and no fire starts, and he must reach Athens to deliver a load.
- 1:06 The driver reveals he has swallowed his tongue but something eats at him, and when asked about family, home, and friends, he answers that his home is the national highway.
- 1:36 The driver says his family is the national highway, his friends make him τοστοπ, but he chooses who to pick up, and tells the passenger to stop at Rapsani where they sell μούστο if he needs anything.