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Guri (Demidov)

101 bytes removed, 08:36, May 5, 2006
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Biography
In his search for silence, and in imitation of the monastic [[hermit]]s of the Egyptian and Judean deserts, [[Mount Athos]] and the vast forests of Russia, Father Guri cleared out a natural cleft in a nearby sandstone rock face, making a small, cramped cave in which he would spend many hours reading [[prayer]]s and using his [[prayer rope]]. This was his favourite retreat after [[Communion|communing]] at the [[Divine Liturgy]]. Only God and the holy [[Angel]]s were witnesses to his prayerful [[vigil]]s and struggles.
Father Guri was reputed to have had an extensive library on the ascetic life and hesychastic prayer (the use of the [[Jesus Prayer - also called the Prayer of the Heart - ’Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner’ ]] - the foundation of Orthodox Christian ascetic prayer). He would often laboriously copy excerpts from the writings of the Holy Fathers on the ascetic and spiritual life in small school exercise books. These anthologies, the fruit of his prayerful reading and spiritual struggles, he would give away as a blessing to those whom he felt would benefit from the wisdom of the Holy Fathers.
Over the succeeding years Father Guri laboured with Michael Sorokhin, together with volunteers from the Russian Orthodox community in Sydney, to erect a small brick building containing six monastic cells surrounding a large central room that was intended to be part of a large monastic church dedicated to Saint John the Baptist. It was not to be completed. He waited alone, praying that others would join him. Old age eventually forced Father Guri to move from his beloved isolation at the Skete to a small hut in the Convent grounds, and finally to the Saint Sergius Nursing Home, Cabramatta.
==Repose and after==
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