"Bowing down to an angel" by Sofia Kioroglou

Stone carving above the entrance of the Onuphrius monastery in Akeldama, Jerusalem (Potter's field). The image shows Onuphrius bowing down to an angel

"Bowing down to an angel" by Sofia Kioroglou

An old hermit has come to the door to greet me
In long hair and a loincloth of leaves, he beckons me in
"Seventy years in the desert and the only visitor an angel
Delivering communion bread every Sunday" he says

Entering the monastery in Akaldema, he invites me to his cell
To talk until sunset and burn incense before praying to God
before I tell him I am starving to death, like manna from heaven
Bread and water appear miraculously, him now bowing down to an angel

At the far end of Gai Ben Hinnom, where Judas Iscariot hanged himself
A hermit bids the pilgrims goodbye, with a crown at his feet
wearing a loincloth of leaves, blesses the travelers and prays
the wild figure standing at the porch invisible to the naked eye.