Life
Saint Paisios the Athonite, one of the most beloved Orthodox saints of the twentieth century, was born on July 25, 1924, in Farassa of Cappadocia, on the very day when the Karamanlis (Greek-speaking Christians of Asia Minor) were being expelled from Turkey after the compulsory population exchange. His father named him Arsenios in honor of the local saint Arsenios of Cappadocia, who personally baptized the infant boy before the family’s departure for Greece.
The family settled in Epirus in northern Greece, and young Arsenios grew up in poverty but in a deeply believing atmosphere. From childhood he was drawn to the monastic life — he read the lives of the saints, spent hours in prayer, practiced fasting on his own initiative, and kept asking his parents when he could go to the monastery. In the Second World War and the Civil War that followed, Arsenios served in the Greek army as a radio operator, bearing witness to his faith even in the most difficult circumstances.
After returning from military service, Arsenios attempted several times to begin a life in a monastery, but every time circumstances intervened. He finally received the monastic tonsure in 1954 on the Holy Mountain of Athos, where he received the name Averkios. Later he moved to a small cell near the monastery of Esphigmenou, where he received the great angelic schema with the name Paisios. In subsequent years he lived in different places on Athos — at Iveron, at Katounakia, at the Skete of Saint Panteleimon — seeking ever greater solitude and deepening his prayer life.
He also spent several years on Sinai (1962–1964) at the request of the abbot of the Monastery of Saint Catherine, whose hermitage he renewed. It was there that the reputation of Father Paisios as a man of God and a spiritual guide began to grow across the Orthodox world. He was known as a saint who prayed for the whole world and who spent most of the night in standing prayer. His cell was lit only by the light of a small icon lamp.
In the last years of his life, from 1978, Paisios lived in a cell called Panagouda (Little All-Holy) near the Koutloumousiou Monastery, where he received spiritual children who came to him from Greece and across the Orthodox world. Hundreds of thousands of people visited him — bishops, priests, monks, ordinary families with children, politicians, students, the sick, those in despair. He received them all, addressed each one according to his own need, offering advice, consolation, and prayer. His words were simple, direct, and filled with wisdom and love; they were recorded and have been published in six volumes of “Spiritual Counsels” which have become spiritual bestsellers in the Orthodox world.
Paisios reposed on July 12, 1994, in the Monastery of Saint John the Theologian in Souroti near Thessaloniki, where his relics rest to this day. He was canonized by the Ecumenical Patriarchate on January 13, 2015. People come to his grave in the thousands, testifying to countless healings and spiritual conversions.
In Serbia he is venerated in all monasteries and among devout lay faithful. His books have been translated into Serbian and published in large editions. His image — a thin, smiling elder with a prayer rope — has become recognizable in Orthodox homes as an icon of a contemporary saint close to every man.
Tropar (Tone 8)
O fervent prayer and guardian of the Mount of Athos, heavenly adornment of the Church of Christ, vessel of divine grace — O blessed Elder Paisios — with godly love and prayer thou didst embrace the world. Intercede that our souls may be saved.
Kontakion (Tone 2)
Having received the gift of discernment and love of God, thou didst open thy heart to all who came to thee, O holy Elder Paisios. Now, standing before the throne of God, remember us who love thee, that we too may attain salvation.