SAINT PAISIOS OF MOUNT ATHOS

A burning silence in the heart of Athos

He never left Mount Athos.

And yet, thousands of people from all over the world marched to his cell.

Not to hear speeches, but to find peace in the presence of a man who had chosen to disappear from the tumult.

A life offered to God

Saint Paisios was born in 1924 in Cappadocia, shortly before his family was moved to Greece during the population exchange with Turkey.

Baptized Arsenios , in honor of Saint Arsenios of Cappadocia, he grew up in a deeply pious family. From childhood, he fasted, prayed, and read the lives of the saints.

After serving as a radio operator during the Greek Civil War, he heard the call of the desert.

At the age of 23, he wrote a final letter to his mother. Then he set off on foot for Mount Athos .

It was there that he became a monk. Then an ascetic. Then a spiritual guide.

But above all: a man who chose to disappear from the eyes of the world,

to live in God's eyes.

He sleeps little. He speaks little. He eats little.

But he consoles. He listens. He prays all night for strangers.

He offers his physical suffering for others.

He lives hidden, but fully.

The letter to his mother

Before leaving the world, he addressed these words to his mother:

“My mother, I say goodbye to you, I am going to become a monk.
In the solitude of the desert I will spend my youth.
For the love of Christ, I will sacrifice everything.
And in the heavenly Jerusalem, I hope we will meet again.”

It is not a goodbye, but a passage.

That of a man who does not flee, but who advances, towards what he believes to be the only true life.

A Desert Father in the 20th Century

He lived without noise, without title, without comfort.

And that is precisely why thousands of people knocked on the door of his cabin in the woods of Athos.

He welcomed everyone with humility. Sometimes in silence. Sometimes with a sharp word.

Always with love.

Saint Paisios is proof that asceticism is not a relic.

That we can still, today, say no to the noise of the world, and yes to the voice of God.

He is a watchman for our distracted, hurried, wounded times.

An invisible brother in our own deserts.

To go further

Movie : Saint Paisios: The Saint of Our Days (2022)

A drama series produced in Greece, which soberly and respectfully retraces the life of Saint Paisios, from his childhood to his death. Subtitled in English.

Book : Saint Paisios of Mount Athos – Spiritual Counsels, Vol. 1: With Pain and Love for Contemporary Man

Collection of his teachings, testimonies, letters and spiritual words compiled by the Souroti Monastery.