Elder Raphael, who lived near saint Ephrem’s cell, at the time of Vespers and of other church services had the habit to beat some empty squid boxes he had hung on a piece of wood instead of beating a semantron, as they use to do at monasteries.
Once, while he was beating his boxes, a monk from the neighborhood was climbing on a path near that place. But when he heard that noise he said aloud: “But what happened with this one?” “Did he lose his mind?”
Starets Ephrem, who was on a nearby terrace and was digging the land, heard these words of criticism. Later he said: “I saw in spirit that the soul of this brother had fallen.” “And I was astonished by the destructive power of damnation.”
