The Last Fight of Elder Theodore-Neilos with the Devil | Podcast

Few knew his name. Fewer understood the weight of his life. Elder Theodore-Neilos Agiofaragitis (1941–2016) spent decades as a desert ascetic in the gorge of Agiofarago, Crete — praying, fasting, and fighting invisible battles. Before his death, he gave a prophecy that stunned the Orthodox world: Israel would strike Iran’s nuclear program. On Holy Tuesday 2016, Archimandrite Antonios Fragakis visited him on his deathbed — and witnessed something few are called to see. This is the account of the Elder’s last, greatest spiritual battle.

This English translation of selected Greek articles from romfea.gr and iconandlight.wordpress.com—edited with help from the Holy Resurrection of Christ YouTube channel—was presented on otelders.org by Porphyrios.

Original source of the Greek article: https://www.romfea.gr/pneumatika/14579-i-teleutaia-maxi-me-ton-diabolo-tou-gerontos-neilou-tou-agiofaraggitou

All brackets are added by translator to facilitate understanding. They don’t exist in the original text. All parentheses exist in the original text.

Information included in Part 4: iconandlight.wordpress.com https://iconandlight.wordpress.com/2024/05/01/προσευχόμουν-με-κλάμα-στον-θεό-βρες-μ/

Part 1. The Prophecy

“My children, you’ll be drinking your coffee when you hear that Israel has struck the nuclear program of Persia [i.e. Iran]. Around the same time, Erdogan will fall. These will be the two signs for you to know that ‘the Big Events’ are coming.”

This is the prophecy of Elder Theodore-Neilos Agiofaragitis (1941-2016) which has made him famous among Orthodox Christians around the world. The fall of Erdogan was also prophesied by the Holy Gerondissa Galaktia of Crete as documented in the book on her life, The Holy Gerondissa Galaktia of Crete, (4th ed., 2024), p. 192. His Eminence Metropolitan Neophytos of Morphou has relayed this prophecy publicly to the faithful as early as 2018. From that time on, he has kept repeating it time and again to prepare the faithful around the world.

On the morning of Friday, June 13th, 2025 many Greeks and Greek-Cypriots were drinking their morning coffee when they turned on the news to learn that the state of Israel had struck Iran’s nuclear program in the early hours of the day. An event that marked the fulfilment of the first part of the prophecy given to Elder Theodore-Neilos by the Holy Spirit.

Of course, acquiring the prophetic gift from the Holy Spirit demands a life-long spiritual struggle. The following article illustrates one of these struggles — his last one, and perhaps the greatest, he was called to endure. It was preserved and documented by Archimandrite Antonios Fragakis, who was with Elder Theodore Neilos during his final days.

Part 2. Biographical Note

A few words on Elder Theodore-Neilos’ life, selected from a biographical text published in the Journal of the Church of Piraeus, July-August 2017 edition, available online. He was born in 1941 in Manolates, on the island of Samos. He was the fifth child of Kostas Kioulafa and Mary Dialeti. His grandfather, the father of his mother Mary, was a priest, Father George, and the Hieromonk Fr. Hyacinth the Agiotafitis was his mother’s brother.

After finishing elementary school, he left his village for Athens to live with his uncle, Archimandrite Hyacinth. Upon reaching adulthood, he entered married life — despite his personal unwillingness to marry — with his wife, Maria. They had three children: Kostas, Stavroula, and Mary. Stavroula is also mentioned further in the article, in an account of a heavenly visit.

He was ordained a priest by the Metropolitan of Samos, Panteleimon. In Samos, he met with Saint Leontios, an elderly priest and fool-for-Christ. Later he went and lived on the Holy Mountain where he met Saint Paisios the Athonite, from whom he received spiritual counsel. On one occasion, while in Thessaloniki, while visiting a family of friends, he watched a documentary by the renowned author and journalist Nikos Psilakis titled: “The Faragi [Greek for “gorge”] of the Saints” — a reference to Agiofarago in Crete. Instantly, the desire and divine love to visit these places and live as a struggling desert ascetic was born within him. A great decision and tough choice.

Around Christmas of 1997, with the blessing of his elder, he traveled to Crete, arriving first at Kaloi Limenes. From there, he proceeded to Agiofarago, known as “the Faragi [gorge] of the Saints.” There, among the many caves, he found one and lived in seclusion for a long time. Life was harsh and conditions were exceedingly difficult. The place was very difficult to live in. He was battered relentlessly by rain, wind, and storms. He endured the winter cold without heat and the intense heat of summer. He labored intensely, carrying all the materials used for the small structures he would build by hand. One day, he made the climb up and down the mountain seven times.

He divided his time between prayer and manual labor. He prayed extensively, slept very little, and ate very little. He also counseled others not to eat too much nor to sleep too much. Carrying on the tradition of the noetic prayer, he had replaced the church services with the Jesus prayer, which he performed with the prayer rope, at the same place [i.e. Agiofarago] where Saint Greogry of Sinai learned it from Saint Arsenios Agiofaragitis. From time to time, the hieromonk Eutuxianos from the Holy Monastery of Panagia Odigitria, would visit and serve the Liturgy with him.

Elder Theodore-Neilos fell asleep in the Lord on Holy Thursday, 28 April 2016, around 11:00pm. He had warned his contemporaries with the prophecy that was given to him by the Holy Spirit. “My children, you’ll be drinking your coffee when you hear that Israel has struck the nuclear program of Persia [i.e. Iran]. Around the same time, Erdogan will fall. These will be the two signs for you to know that ‘the Big Events’ are coming.”

Part 3. The Last Fight with the Devil

What follows is a translation of an article written by Archimandrite Antonios Fragakis and published on <www.romfea.gr> with the title: “The Last Fight of Elder Theodore-Neilos Agiofaragitis with The Devil”

[BEGINNING OF THE ARTICLE]

It was noon on Holy Tuesday, 2016. Due to the busy work schedule imposed by the rhythm of the Holy Days, we visited the bedridden veteran desert struggler, Elder Neilos (Theodoros) Agiofarangitis. We found him physically exhausted, almost breathless, worn out by the severe and painful illness that afflicted his frail, earthen vessel made of dust [i.e. his body], but had completely matured his brave and Christ-filled soul. Despite his physical ordeal, he was mentally vibrant, in a state of militant readiness, and possessed his usual soaring heart and spiritual vigor.

The comfort afforded us by the close spiritual bond that had developed between us over many years, now gave us, once again, the opportunity to draw something from the nectar of the desert, now settled and complete, being poured from the crater of asceticism and pain into the resplendent reservoir of eternity. At one point, I noticed that the Elder, — his face completely flushed and with a certain agonizing persistence — was spitting through his oxygen mask and whispering something. The love between us gave me the comfort to ask:

[The following dialogue takes place between Fr. Antonios Fragakis and Elder Theodoros Neilos]

Elder, why do you keep trying to spit through your oxygen mask?

I’m spitting at the invisible one… If you only knew what he’s doing to me! I haven’t slept for five days and nights…

What is he doing to you, Elder?

He is constantly in front of me. He curses me and threatens me… His form is so hideous that unless God gives strength, no human being can bear the ferocity of his presence…

What is he like, Elder?

Like a boar with thick, coarse hair (that’s how Elder Anastasios saw him too). He smells horrible … He changes faces … You can’t describe him … He sticks out his tongue, which is enormous … reddish flames come out of his mouth…

Does he talk to you, Elder?

Does he talk to me? He tries to discourage me … And all the things he says to me… I — he says — ate your flesh… I wounded your lungs … I was the one who had them persecute you your whole life. I did this and that to you … I brought you to this state. Whoever I get in my nets, I take good care of them … You ’re mine… Mine! You hear me?

How do you react, Elder?

I respond with Chrysostom’s words: “Christ is risen, and the demons have fallen.” And I keep spitting at him …

He says to me: “I took good care of your little Chrysostom too, who went against me and wrote those things (he meant St. John Chrysostom). I treated him worse than you. I put my people on him and they destroyed him in exile… Masters and Bishops … You hear me? I’m the one directing you all even now … I will change everything in your blah blah (in your teaching) … Anyone who goes against me, I treat him well… Come now, let me … refresh you … .” He sticks out his hideous tongue, stretching it even though he is several meters away, making it like an elephant’s trunk, touching various parts of my face and burning me unbearably …

And he continues sarcastically: “This is a gift from my tongue because you burned me with his tongue … Tell me why did you keep teaching [people]? Since I kept coming and telling you that it wasn’t your job to teach and give [spiritual] directions to people. Let the theologians teach, let the bishops, let them … But not you, beating me … The real boor!” Other times he becomes a huge snake, wrapping itself around my body and squeezing me, and I endure unbearable torment. I persist with “Christ is risen and demons are fallen” and with spitting… I had these [attacks] in the desert too, but they were less frequent and more victorious … They started more intensely these last few days… He persists and does not go away …

[Fr. Antonios]: You know — I told him —, Elder Ephraim of Arizona writes that great athletes endure this before the end in order to reap a martyr’s crown. He writes specifically about his holy mother, Gerondissa Theophano, that Elder [Ephraim] saw her [guardian] Angel a few days before her blessed repose, discreetly withdrawing and watching her struggle without intervening. He left her alone to struggle so that the wage [i.e. reward] for her fight and patience would be greater. She resisted unceasingly with two words: “Jesus – my Panagia.” She saw him holding a dagger and targeted her with savage intent … Now you too are at the gate … That is why these things are happening …

Doesn’t St. John of Sinai also write in The Ladder that the final temptations of the great warriors are those of unbelief and despair? Didn’t the contemporary restorer of the Holy Mountain, Saint Joseph the Hesychast, reveal to his spiritual children that he received such an attack from the evil one in the final days before the end, where he [the evil one] struggled with frenzied rage to declare all his holy-spiritual experiences as imaginary and invalid? Didn’t Saint Philotheos Zervakos, when he went to inform his close friend, Saint Athanasios Hamakiotis, of the latter’s impending end, draw his attention, telling him: “Be careful, brother, lest the most evil-one tempt you at the last moment?”

Which, of course, happened, but Elder Athanasios, with his bones now streaming of life and myrrh, emerged victorious from this final spiritual feat allowed by the agonothete [judge] God … Didn’t your inspiration and kindred spirit, the Great Anastasios Koudoumianos, shortly before his triumphant passing into eternity, reveal to us that he had a terrible battle with the demons? This is not uncommon for the experienced fighter of the ascetic arena. They dragged him to the ground, inflicting two strange burns on his back, which, of course, were miraculously erased after a very short time. Stunned and disheveled, he went out onto the balcony of his monastic residence and cried out: “Why did you let the black ones pass, the masons who climbed up? They attacked me savagely … I fought them off, but I struggled …” This happened twice that day. We have many other examples, Elder. Take courage …

The Elder, with obvious confusion written all over his face, answered me: “But I do not belong to the great athletes. I was a lifelong beggar of God’s mercy in the desert through repentance … I am a wretch … A great sinner. I constantly sought mercy … These things are not for me. I do not belong to them …”

“Elder, only God knows these things …” I replied. With a gentle smile, he nodded in agreement and closed his bright eyes from exhaustion, ending any further discussion. After all, breathing heavily and with great effort, he had been responding to the conversation almost in a whisper until that point. I wondered where he found the strength to converse with such clarity. It was clearly God’s strengthening, so that he might leave this last shocking experience of his as a legacy in the experiential Philokalia of the Church. This account was also our last conversation on earth …

By Holy Wednesday evening, the Elder had calmed down completely and was waiting peacefully for his impeding end. The last terrible battle with the demon was over. Victorious, the veteran athlete of the desert saw the old Holy Fathers of Agiofarago surrounding him and the heavenly angelic hosts visibly hovering above, attending to his bedside, taking initiatives and preparing for his exit. He remained ecstatic, gazing and glorifying God! He made the sign of the cross countless times with obvious difficulty.

On the morning of Holy Thursday, he whispered: “It’s all over. I am leaving today. The hour is at hand. Inform Antonis for my immediate transfer by ambulance to Kefali (the hermitage where he lived in southwestern Asterousia). I want to give up my soul there … I must absolutely be at my Asceterion [ascetic cell] from the evening of Holy Thursday until the morning of Holy Friday.” A little later, he said breathlessly yet clearly: “Where there is no pain, no sorrow, no sighing, but life everlasting”

A few days before, his reposed daughter Stavroula had visited him “in person” at the house in Moires where he was being taken care of. The Elder asked her, “My child, how is Paradise?” and she replied: “As you described it to me, my venerable father.” “Describe it to me more,” he insisted, and she added: “Didn’t you tell me, when I asked you before I departed, that there is ‘no pain, no sorrow, no sighing, but life everlasting?’ This is what it is, Father.”

Now the Elder, foretasting the rewards from God, the agonothete [Judge], was completing his lifelong arduous labors by repeating these words, and a subtle, imperceptible smile sealed the mysterious ecstasy of his death. He was breathing heavily and waited untroubled. The heavenly journey had now been immediately scheduled. It was Holy Thursday, just before midnight on April 28, 2016. His glorious falling asleep was “mystery of a cry, accomplished in the silence of God,” (Saint Ignatius the God-bearer), as was his entire wondrous and spirit-filled life.

As soon as his much-afflicted and ascetically-trained body touched his ascetic bed, his all-light and God-pleasing soul immediately took flight to the imperishable dwellings of Christ’s glory, whom he had loved with fervent passion and, through unceasing hesychastic focus, had gracefully acquired. It was the most holy and awesome night [of Holy Thursday] when the Divine Passion was being mystically enacted in the hearts of the faithful. And the crucified earthly journey of the martyred Elder had to find, in those overwhelming moments, its meaning and redemption from Him [i.e. Christ] who actively calls His friends to the Cross, in order to recognize them as His own and enroll them triumphantly into the ceaseless ascents of the Resurrection.

May his memory be eternal. May we have his blessing.

[END OF ARTICLE]

(Original source of the Greek article: https://www.romfea.gr/pneumatika/14579-i-teleutaia-maxi-me-ton-diabolo-tou-gerontos-neilou-tou-agiofaraggitou)

Note: All brackets are added by translator to facilitate understanding. They don’t exist in the original text. All parentheses exist in the original text.

Part.4 Some extra information on Elder Theodore-Neilos’ repose and a few sayings of his.

Some more information on his repose according to <www.iconandlight.wordpress.com> (source: https://iconandlight.wordpress.com/2024/05/01/προσευχόμουν-με-κλάμα-στον-θεό-βρες-μ/)

The Great Crucified One [Christ] just a short while ago summoned to Himself His friend, the lifelong crucified Elder Theodore-Neilos, the last cave-dwelling hesychast of Agiofarago. It was around 11:00 pm on Holy Thursday night, [28 April 2016] that Elder Theodore-Neilos fell asleep at the Asceterion (hermitage) he had built. As soon as he lay down on his bed, he closed his eyes and fell asleep…

When God thunders, it is better for men to remain silent…. This fits the case of holy Elder Theodore-Neilos, the last known ascetic of Agiofarago. He was crucified for a lifetime, a heavy, harsh crucifixion, perhaps proportionate to his endurance. His ascetic practice was uncommon. He was slandered, vilified, doubted, and persecuted. They even denied him that right of dwelling in the desert, tearing down his Hesychasterion of Prophet Elias! Perhaps what was more bothersome was the love people had for him and his way of life. His ethos, his teaching, his silent admonitions. He rarely spoke, but when he did, he brought life.

He avoided all publicity and all praise. He did not want to make a name or any kind of “spiritual marketing.” It was his cross that spoke like a powerful megaphone. Or rather, his crosses, which he bore with joy, for they were the balconies from which he enjoyed the light of the Resurrection. He once said this, and it has been recorded. He also did not comment about the labels of being “deluded,” “eccentric,” “an ecclesiastical troublemaker,” that some attached to him.

And now the Crucified One [Christ] summoned. And Elder Theodore-Neilos departed at the hour when Christ Himself ascended the Cross, to show the lifelong crucifixion of this man. Their kinship and friendship. He departed, as soon as he lay down on the bed of his hermitage. A little before 11:00 pm on Holy Thursday night, the car arrived at Kefali… at around 11:00, as soon as they laid him in his bed. He opened his eyes, looked around and recognized the place, turned his head, and delivered his spirit to God! …

Selected Saying of Elder Theodore-Neilos:

The hands of people who called themselves my brothers stuck the label “misguided” on me, but they bestowed upon me the greatest benefit. I did not come to the desert to find “followers,” but the longed-for salvation. This is what made me leave my original cave and go higher and more out of reach to St. Elias’. I wanted isolation and silence, not noise and crowds.

I prayed the most fervent prayer for my persecutors. Especially for the one who drove me out from the Prophet Elia’s [Hesychastirion], and who tore down the church and the skete, and for those who hide behind him. I beg God to forgive them, to grant them health and repentance, that no evil befalls them, and that this sin of theirs is not held against them. If I held even a trace of resentment within my heart, I would cease partaking of Holy Communion.

“If you were to ask me what I have understood all these years in the desert, I would answer you with one word: the power of the Psalter. If I were to start my life over now, there is one thing I would strive to do: to memorize the Psalter by heart. The Psalter is the parental womb of the noetic prayer. It’s the fertile soil where the seed of prayer thrives. It’s what scourges the demons.

When I would read the Psalter during my all-night vigils, the demon would come, grunting like a wild boar in my ear. Especially when I would say the verse, “Let God arise…” [Psalm 67:2] and the verse that says, “You are my Lord and my God” [Psalms 34:23]. He would rage, he would seize me by the throat, he would choke me. He would confuse my words to stop me from saying it. That much he was burning [from the reading of the Psalter] …”

 

This English translation of selected Greek articles from romfea.gr and iconandlight.wordpress.com—edited with help from the Holy Resurrection of Christ YouTube channel—was presented on otelders.org by Porphyrios.