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→Monastic life: past tense
In his book, Elder Ephraim thanks Elder Joseph for his severe but very proficient teaching. Only after leaving the world, Ephraim understood his very strong pride. In the world, he lived a chaste and pious life and was thinking high of himself. Only with Elder Joseph he began to see it, especially when the Elder made comments about his behavior. During 12 years, Ephraim heard his name from the Elder only twice - all other times he used only abusive nicknames. But behind his back, the Elder constantly blessed him - Ephraim got to know this later from other people. Also during confession of thoughts, Elder Joseph never spoke sharply. He described in detail the origin of thoughts and mistakes, so Ephraim thought that Elder knows him better than he knows himself.
After Elder Joseph's repose in 1959, Elder Ephraim continued to live in asceticism for many years until he became the abbot of the Holy Monastery of Philotheou in 1973, where he was able to revive the spiritual life in a short time. Due to the reputation of Elder Ephraim, the monastery's brotherhood grew rapidly. Elder Ephraim was asked by the council of Mount Athos to revive and expand several other monasteries on Mount Athos which had a dwindling number of monks. These monasteries were [[Xeropotamou Monastery (Athos)|Xeropotamou]], [[Konstamonitou Monastery (Athos)|Konstamonitou]], and [[Karakalou Monastery (Athos)|Karakallou]]. He was also asked to repopulate the [[Great Lavra (Athos)|Great Lavra]] but declined. These monasteries are still were under his spiritual guidance todayuntil his blessed repose. Along with the monasteries on Mount Athos, there are were several other monasteries in Greece under Elder Ephraim's spiritual guidance, including the monastery of St. [[John the Forerunner]] in Serres, that of [[Panagia]] the Directress in Portaria (Volos), and that of the [[Archangel Michael]], a formal [[metochion]] of Philotheou on the island of Thasos.
In 1979, Elder Ephraim became ill and needed a surgery. Then his spiritual children from Canada offered to do the surgery in Canada. The Elder agreed, the operation was successful. For more than a month Elder Ephraim stayed in America and met representatives of the Greek community. He got to know that the spiritual life in the Greek circles have been disrupted, people stayed for a long time without confession and with grave sins, were taking Communion totally unprepared, did not keep the canons of the Church. They forget the pious Orthodox life, Greek national traditions and were accustomed to vicious life.
Father Ephraim decided to go to America more and more often. He first visited Canada: Toronto, Vancouver, Montreal, and then he was invited to the United States. In the end, the council of the Holy Mountain warned him that he can not continue this way and must choose: either the Holy Mountain, or America. The Elder began to pray and it was revealed that his place is was in America. He decided to move to the U.S. - for the spiritual care of his flock and the revival of spiritual life in the Greek communities of North America.
At first, the Synod of the Archdiocese of the Ecumenical Patriarchate in America resisted and Elder Ephraim had to seek help from [[Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia|ROCOR]]. As Elder Ephraim recalls: "I was received here with great love and genuine understanding". A year later, under personal patronage of the Patriarch of Constantinople, the problem of jurisdiction was resolved. Elder Ephraim honorably returned to his mother church and was given the right to establish monasteries in Canada and the United States. He then proceeded to establish 17 monasteries throughout North America, always after receiving permission from each Greek bishop of the area.
The first monastery that was established by Elder Ephraim was that of Nativity of the Mother of God in Pennsylvania, near the city of Pittsburgh. The main monastery has the name of St. Anthony the Great and is located in the middle of the Sonoran Desert in Arizona. Here Archimandrite Ephraim resides resided most of the time. He arrived to the desert in 1995 with 5 monks. There was no electricity, no water, no building materials. But the Elder was not afraid of difficulties and urged the brethren not to despair and believe in God. He said: "We came to build the temple and the monastery and, for our diligence, God will bless our work". Soon people began to donate money and materials, the main church was built in just 4 months. The whole territory was planted with olive and citrus gardens.
==Later life==