The ascetics are laymen. T. 1
He married a girl named Daphne, the daughter of George Pappas. Her father owned a hotel in Ierissos and headed the local community. Konstantin himself was a good family man. His wife was also pious. She was a good wife, a tender mother, a good Christian. She was happy to help people. Constantine and Daphne had six children. The first two children died in infancy. An atmosphere of friendship and love has always reigned in their family. Due to problems with transport, Athonite monks often found shelter in their house. Abbot Paul of Caracalla and Father Basil enjoyed the hospitality of this family.
During the earthquake of 1932, Ierissos suffered great destruction. To free the family from the rubble, Konstantin lifted a heavy weight and broke down. He could not operate on the hernia and suffered from it until the end of his life. Despite this, with his hard work, he was able to build two new houses for his large family.
Another accident happened to him on Mount Athos. His legs were broken by a fallen barrel. He was transported to his native village for treatment. But the broken leg healed incorrectly, a protrusion formed on his shin, which prevented him from making prostrations.
Saint Nicholas continued to visit Constantine in difficult moments of his life. One night, his son was caught in a violent storm at sea, and St. Nicholas woke Constantine: "Wake up, your son is on the verge of death, and you are asleep. Get up to pray." Opening his eyes, Constantine saw how the lamp in front of the icon of the saint swayed violently from side to side. He woke up his wife, and together they began to pray for their son. And he was saved, although (as they found out later) he was really on the verge of death at that moment.
In 1944, after a long illness, Constantine's wife Daphne died at the age of fifty-five. Before her death, she blessed all her household. Constantine (who was 64 years old) remained faithful to his wife and did not marry again. He married off three daughters and began to live with his son's family.
Konstantin continued to work as a cooper. He was a master in the manufacture of grape presses and large barrels. The son was engaged in trade. Together they produced many different varieties of wine and chypuro. The workers who helped them in the grape harvest loved "Grandpa Konstantin" very much, because he treated them like his own children. Their faces lit up with joy whenever he met them in the courtyard of his house and greeted them with love and kindness.
Constantine worked with special zeal in the fields and vineyards, located quite far from the village where they lived. He carried water for irrigation himself. He was very tired. His perseverance in exorbitant work greatly puzzled his relatives. He was asked and even insisted to stop this exhausting work and rest, but he was adamant.
"Now you can't really work. Why do you go there?
- Why do I go... then... there I pray (I had to trust him and reveal the secret to my loved ones).
- And what, do you have to go so far to pray?
"Yes, because that's the only place I can be all alone."
His relatives stopped interfering with him and even hired a man to work there, and his grandfather only looked after him.
He spent endless hours in these fields and vineyards. Nearby, on one of the rocks, there was a small cave that could hardly accommodate one person. There he waited out the bad weather.
He slept only a couple of hours a day, and the rest of the time, even when he was in his room, he never went to bed. He was often seen sitting on the bed with his head down. It seemed that he was humbly bowing his head to someone whom he greatly respected, as if giving him an account of his actions. As it turned out, he constantly said the Jesus Prayer. But he never told anyone about it.