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{{orthodoxyinaustralasiaorthodoxyinaustralia}}Father '''Guri (Demidov)''' was a solitary [[monk ]] who struggled at [[St. John the Baptist Skete (Kentlyn, New South Wales)|St. John the Baptist Skete]], Kentlyn, New South Wales, Australia between 1960 and 1992.
==Biography==
Born in 1894, Fr Guri was a [[monasticism|monastic]] in Harbin, China. Due to the cultural revolution, however, he moved to Australia, arriving on [[October 5]], 1960, as a refugee. On arrival, he took up residence at St John the Baptist Skete, having been vacated the previous year. Living in a small, one room tin hut surrounded by thick bush he became its first, and only, monastic inhabitant. Fr Guri was devoted to prayer and craved solitude, and found both in the 18 hectare grounds of the [[skete]], often attending daily services at the nearby [[Monastery of Our Lady of Kazan (Kentlyn, Australia)|Convent of Our Lady of Kazan]].
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 vigils 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]] - 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.
===The Cave===
Father Guri’s Guri's small cave, scene of his many hidden vigils and spiritual struggles, has been cleaned of the dirt and rubbish accumulated since his departure. A floor has been laid, overhanging rock walls strengthened, and icons and a burning lampada installed. Sanctified by Father Guri’s Guri's prayers and tears, this sandstone cleft, the Skete’s Skete's first ’church’'church', has become a place of pilgrimage and quiet prayer for growing numbers of visitors to the Skete.
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