"Border Guard"
The future elder Paisios the Svyatogorets was born in the Akritan village of Faras (or Varasio), located approximately two hundred kilometers south of the main city of Cappadocia - Caesarea. Now this is the territory of Turkey. Akrites (from ακρoν - extreme point, limit) - in the Byzantine Empire these were residents of border areas who guarded the borders of the Empire from enemy invasion, something like our Cossacks. However, the main thing, as in the case of our Russian Empire, was not only armed defense, but also the preservation of the purity of faith, which crystallizes especially clearly in the entire way of life of these “border guards.”
There were fifty churches and many holy springs in Faras. Some of them have existed since the Byzantine era. Heirs to the tradition of the great Cappadocian fathers, local residents loved the Church, retained reverence for the shrine and an ascetic spirit. All year on fast days, most Pharasiotes ate food and drank water once a day - at nine o’clock in Byzantine time (at three o’clock in our opinion).
“Parents gathered their children in the fortress, left them toys to play with, and at three o’clock in the afternoon, when the church bell rang for the Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts, they went to church and received communion,” Elder Paisiy Svyatogorets recalled the Lenten days. The Farasiots were famous for their courage: the Turks could not gain the upper hand in the Cappadocian villages, which remained free islands of Hellas. These were prosperous Greek settlements, a stronghold of the Orthodox faith, Greek language and culture. The Akrits stood guard over the sacred borders of the Motherland.
The future ascetic was born into a pious family. His grandmother Hadji-Christina owned a small temple of Archangel Michael - Archangel of the Apocalypse. According to the testimony of St. Barsanuphius of Optina, those saints or Heavenly Powers whom our ancestors or we ourselves pleased in our lives, whose churches, for example, we decorated, will certainly take part in our life - the future and even here. Every stroke of even the “children’s” biography of the future elder and the background of his birth will be reflected in his life, which fits into the seventy years allotted to a person on earth (Ps. 89:10).
From time to time, his grandmother retired to the Church of the Archangel Michael, remaining in silence, prayer and fasting. One winter, the church was covered with snow, and Hadji Christina, trapped in the snow, found hot bread every morning on the church windowsill. This miracle would later be repeated many times in the life of her grandson.
In her home in Adana, Hadji Christina hosted the once-every-ten-year pilgrimage to the Holy Land of Saint Arsenios of Cappadocia. The mother of the future ascetic Eulogia was a relative of Saint Arsenius. The monks have no relatives, which Elder Paisios will repeatedly emphasize later. However, when on July 25, 1924, Eulogia gave birth to a boy, and his father wanted to name his son Christos in honor of his grandfather, Saint Arseny, by God’s revelation, saw a relative-monk in the newborn and baptized him with his name, explaining: “Okay, so you want to leave someone -someone who would follow in his grandfather's footsteps. Don’t I want to leave a monk who would follow in my footsteps?” That is, monasticism as a borderline existence - in this world “not of this world” - was predicted for the future elder Paisius from infancy.
Seeking martyrdom
When the baby Arseny was not yet 40 days old, the forced resettlement of Greeks from the populated territories of Asia Minor began. Greece was defeated in the Greco-Turkish War, one of the main national motives for the start of which for the Greeks was the restoration of the Byzantine Empire. In Greek historiography, this idea of restoring a single power with its capital in Constantinople is called the “Great Idea”. We can say that the future Elder Paisios was born in the year of her collapse, which largely determined the trajectory of his spiritual path and the prophecies that he expressed in life or words.
Then, at the beginning of the 20th century, the Empire, having never resurrected from its ruins in physical time and space, began to collapse demographically: about 1.5 million Greeks were expelled from the former Byzantine territories of Asia Minor in the 1920s. Many of them never reached the shores of Hellas. This resettlement in the history of Greece was called the “Asia Minor catastrophe.” Baby Arseny almost died in the crush and crush when someone stepped on him. If at Baptism he was destined for monasticism, then in this trauma - martyrdom, at least for the rest of his life, Arseniy Eznepidis, and then the monk Averky and Elder Paisiy consciously sought martyrdom.
Once, already in Greece, in the village of Konitsa, where his family settled, when Arseny himself was still too young, and his older brothers were working in the fields, he volunteered to take them lunch. “But how do you know the way?” - Mom asked. And he, as he later said, took the cross in his hand, like the holy martyrs, as he saw them on the icons, and went.
Later, when he himself began to help on the field, the brothers said that, on their way home, they often noticed how Arseny deliberately lags behind. Once they looked at why, they were amazed: the younger brother took off his shoes and ran barefoot through a field with mown clover, which was very prickly - like thin nails. The sharp edges of the mown grass pierced the skin of his feet and the boy's legs were covered in blood. Thus, from childhood, Arseny imitated the martyrs, about whom he read a lot in their lives.
At the end of his life, he begged God for a disease - cancer, perhaps in return for those many cancer patients for whose recovery he prayed, and they actually got better. And the elder himself rested with the words: “Martyrdom, real martyrdom...” He was sure: in suffering for Christ our heart expands. Apparently, this is why he said about his senile service that he “donates spiritual blood.”
Paisiy Svyatorets - life in brief
First, a few facts. Just to understand in general terms when and where Paisiy Svyatogorets lived.
- Saint Paisios was born in Turkey - in Cappadocia - in 1924. (In recent centuries, Cappadocia has been part of the Muslim states, but Christian buildings and monasteries from the earliest times have been preserved on it).
- Immediately after his birth, he and his parents moved to Greece as part of a massive exchange of residents between the two countries.
- Paisiy Svyatogorets served in the army.
- Elder Paisios spent almost his entire monastic life on Holy Mount Athos. He labored there from the age of 26.
- During his life, the saint changed several monasteries, cells and monasteries. The most famous cell is Panaguda. He lived there for more than ten years, when he became an old man known throughout Greece and pilgrims flocked to him in an endless stream.
- Elder Paisios left the Holy Mountain several times. For example, for several years in his youth he lived on Mount Sinai in Egypt - next to the monastery of St. Catherine.
- The Monk Paisios died in 1994 - in Greece, in Thessaloniki, where he arrived a few months before his death. He is buried there. The grave of Elder Paisius became a place of mass pilgrimage.
To the humble one everything that is humble is to his liking
But martyrdom without humility is meaningless and impossible. The future Elder Paisius was taught humility as a child. When he was little, in Konitsa, because he ran fast and always won competitions, the children teased him as a “refugee” and did not allow him to run with the other kids. He went to complain to his mother and said:
“Mom, the other guys hurt me and don’t let me run!”
- Son, we have a lot of space here, run! Why do you want to be looked at? To be proud? To be the first? You need to be humble in your life, the mother instructed.
“And then I thought that my mother was right,” the elder later recalled. “And little by little I stopped wanting to run and play ball so that people could see me, because I realized that there was pride in this. “Really,” I thought, “what nonsense all this is! Mom is right.” And then, seeing how other children were running around, hitting the ball and bragging about it, I wasn’t very worried. I laughed and said: “Well, what are they doing?” - and I was little then: I went to the third grade of elementary school. Then I lived a natural life. And now, if they ask me: “What will you choose: to climb barefoot over the thorns to the top of Mount Athos in August, or to go to some celebration where you will be dressed in a mantle and showered with honors?” – then I will say that I prefer to climb Mount Athos barefoot. Not out of humility, but because I like it.”
The elder will love the very word “humility”: as indicated in his life, he always liked to use it in everyday expressions, for example: “make the world a little more humble”, “a humble bench”, “this tree should be made a little more humble” ( that is, cut off its branches), etc.
“Read to come to terms, not to understand”
Arseniy Eznepidis completed only three classes of secondary school. However, as his student, Metropolitan Nikolai (Hadzhinikolaou) of Mesogeia and Laureotica, says: “In America I had five professors - Nobel Prize winners. And I wouldn’t put any of them even close to this man who graduated from only three years of secondary school. The luminaries of world science at his level of understanding of the universe would be too poor in knowledge. A wise person is not someone who has received many diplomas and awards. Not someone who is erudite and very smart, knows a lot and strives to show this knowledge. A wise person is a humble person who, in his humility, has received the Grace of the Lord, and it shines through him into the world. Sanctifies those who come into contact with this person. In his presence everything becomes clear.
When I arrived on Athos, I asked Elder Paisios:
– What should I read?
“Nothing,” he replied.
Now is the time when we know many prayers, but we pray little. We eat lean food, but we don’t fast. We accumulate information about spiritual life, but have no experience of it. We confess our sins, but do not repent. We go to churches and stand at services, but the soul does not humble itself before the Creator. All this is because the heart is closed. It must open to let Christ in. Elder Paisios, when he forbade me to read, consoled me: “Don’t worry! I haven’t read anything either.” Then he thought and said: “Nothing except St. Simeon the New Theologian.” Then he added: “A little bit of John Chrysostom.” And finally he admitted: “I’m still reading Abba Dorotheus. But not in order to understand, but in order to come to terms.” When you read in order to humble yourself, you can understand much more than when you read in order to understand.”
Little Arseny read the Holy Gospel every day since childhood. Somewhere I got hold of the lives of the saints and read them avidly. Then, already as an old man, he will somehow say: “Since my youth I have read a lot of lives of saints, but now reading the lives of saints no longer helps me so much - because I no longer read them, but live.” As a child, he was just learning to apply what he read in the lives of people to himself.
And yet, Elder Paisius attached great importance to the patristic erudition of Christians, especially monks, despite the recommendations just given to the child prodigy. He once complained to another student: “You’ll see, they will soon begin to prohibit patristic reading in monasteries, because it will expose them.” Although it should be noted that in the instructions of Elder Paisios there are also examples of blessed simplicity: Elder Paisios did not make humility dependent on the level of education. So, he's o.
How to cleanse yourself of internal dirt?
Elder Paisios will advise young people who come to him to decide before the age of 30 exactly who you are: a family man or a monk? He himself entered the monastery at the age of 29. Although he had already gone to Athos before, he, having wandered around the monasteries and kalivas there and undecided, returned back. The next time he went straight to Konstamonit, as he decided to choose a more severe place for his feat. But on the day of his arrival on Athos, a storm broke out on the southern side of the peninsula. And Arseny, thirsty for asceticism, ended up on the northern side of Athos in the Esphigmen monastery.
He perceived this intervention of bad weather as an instruction from God. In the end, the Mother of God ended up on Mount Athos precisely because of the storm. Arriving at the Esphigmen monastery, the newcomer Arseny, however, warned the abbot that he was looking for a silent life and, over time, intended to find himself a more secluded place. Under this condition, Arseny was accepted into the brotherhood. He thought that he was starting his monastic path too late. Therefore, I tried my best to make up for lost time with the intensity of the feat.
“When my batteries completely ran out, that is, when my bodily strength was exhausted,” the elder said about the time of his novitiate in Esphigmen, “I experienced one extraordinary event. One night I stood and prayed... Suddenly I felt something descending from above and washing me all over. I felt extraordinary joy, and my eyes became like two springs from which tears flowed in a stream. Before this, I had experienced tenderness and similar things many times, but this was the first time such a visit. This event had such spiritual power... that it strengthened me and stayed with me for about ten years, until later, at Sinai, I experienced something greater in a slightly different way.” And “constant tenderness,” according to the words of the holy fathers, “keeps the soul in constant humility.”
Although, on the other hand, there is such a pattern: “Humility before the elder and before all the brethren will immediately begin to bring tenderness to the heart and keep it tender.” And for what it’s worth, the newcomer Arseny had a chance to humble himself in the brotherhood... There was one brother, a carpenter I. (his name is not even mentioned anywhere), he not only treated him rudely, but also deliberately, as if trying to cause pain, trampled all the rules of the craft , and carpentry, which Arseny learned while still in the world, he reverently honored the Lord Himself as a craft. None of the brethren with this arrogant brother could withstand even a week, but Arseny, tonsured a year later into the ryassophore with the name Averky, carried out his martyrdom with him for 2.5 years. “He beat me like one beats a caught octopus,” the elder later recalled, “but he cleansed me of all inner impurity!”
God has His own plan and His judgment for each of us
Having taken monastic tonsure with the name Paisios in another special, more secluded monastery of Philotheus, the future elder still sought complete silence. But the Lord protected him, and the elder himself later admitted that if he had been left alone, “he would have rushed into asceticism without any brakes.” What would the devil do to me? In the Philotheus monastery, the following story happened to Father Paisius: “Although asceticism made me look like a skeleton, one night I felt the tempter—like a woman’s breath right above my ear. I immediately got up, began a church chant and lit a candle. When I confessed what had happened to my confessor, he said: “You must have secret pride. If a person commits such asceticism, then there is no justification for such temptations.” And indeed, having examined myself, I became convinced that sometimes my thoughts told me that I was something and seemed to be doing - how can I say this? - well, supposedly I’m doing something significant. Wow, what bullshit is this!..”
“Humility has great power,” Elder Paisius later instructed. – Out of humility, the devil crumbles to dust. It is the most powerful shock blow to the devil. Where there is humility, there is no place for the devil. And if there is no place for the devil, therefore, there are no temptations.” Until the interview with the evil one is terminated, it is dangerous to set out on a heroic deed alone. The elder later wrote in a letter: “When a tangalashka sits in a proud soul (as the elder, following the instructions of his mother, allegorically called demons - O.O.), then the flesh, even if it is like a skeleton, will constantly kick. How mad donkeys, skinny as skeletons, constantly kick, even though they are driven almost to the point of starvation to calm them down. Therefore, the beginner needs to get an x-ray from his spiritual doctor, so that he can first see what the patient is suffering from, and so that the doctor prescribes medicine and diet for him.”
Monk Paisius was honored to receive the recipe from the Mother of God Herself. She exacted from him the fulfillment of his vow to Her. “While still a soldier,” the elder recalled, “I made a vow to the Mother of God: if Her grace preserves me in the war, then I will work for three years to restore Her burnt monastery. I thought that since I had become a monk, the Mother of God would not require me to fulfill this vow. But apparently She didn’t want it.” It happened like this: “I was praying in my cell, and suddenly my arms and legs completely gave out. I couldn’t not only get up, but even move; I was pinned down by some invisible force. I realized that something extraordinary was happening. I stayed in this state - as if I was screwed to the floor - for more than two hours. Suddenly, as if on TV, I saw Katunaki on one side, and the Stomion Monastery in Konitsa on the other. With ardent desire I turned my gaze to Katunaki and heard a voice (it was the voice of the Most Holy Theotokos) clearly saying to me:
– You will not go to Katunaki, but you will go to the Stomion Monastery.
“Mother of God,” I said, “I asked You for desert, and You send me into the world?”
And again I heard the same voice sternly telling me:
- You will go to Konitsa and meet such and such a person who will help you a lot.
At the same time, during this event, as if on TV, I saw answers to many perplexities that worried me. Then I was suddenly freed from invisible bonds and my heart was filled with Divine Grace. I went to my confessor and told him about what had happened.
“This is the will of God,” said the confessor, “but do not tell anyone about this vision.” Say that for health reasons (and I was actually coughing up blood at that time) you need to leave the Holy Mountain, and go to Konitsa.
I wanted one thing, but God had His own plan. However, it later turned out that I moved to Stomion mainly in order to help eighty families who had turned to Protestantism return to Orthodoxy.”
No. 19 (244) / May 15 '03
Spiritual flower garden
Worldly success brings worldly anxiety to the soul
The more people move away from a natural, simple life and succeed in luxury, the more human anxiety increases in their souls. And due to the fact that they move further and further away from God, they find peace nowhere. That's why people spin around restlessly, like the drive belt of a machine. They are already circling around the Moon, because the entire earthly planet cannot accommodate their great anxiety.
A worldly easy life, worldly success bring worldly anxiety to the soul. External education, combined with mental anxiety, daily leads hundreds of people (even small children who have lost their peace of mind) to psychoanalysis and psychiatrists, builds more and more psychiatric hospitals, opens advanced training courses for psychiatrists, while many of the psychiatrists are not in God. They believe, nor do they recognize the existence of the soul. Therefore, how can these people, themselves filled with spiritual anxiety, help other souls? How can a person who does not believe in God and true, eternal life after death be truly consoled? If a person comprehends the deepest meaning of true life, then all anxiety disappears from his soul, divine consolation comes to him and he is healed. If Abba Isaac the Syrian was read aloud to patients in a psychiatric hospital, then the patients who believe in God would become healthy, because the deepest meaning of life would be revealed to them.
At any cost - with the help of sedatives and various teachings such as yoga - people strive to find peace, but they do not strive only for real peace, which comes to a humble person and brings him divine consolation. Think about how all these tourists who come here from other countries suffer, under the scorching sun, in the heat and dust, wandering through the streets amid the noise and din! What a burden, what inner unrest oppresses and torments their souls if they consider everything that they have to endure as rest! How the souls of these people must be crushed by their own “I”, since they think that they are resting, experiencing such torment!
If we see a person suffering from severe mental anxiety, grief and sadness, despite the fact that he has everything his soul desires, then we need to know that he does not have God. In the end, people also suffer from wealth. After all, material wealth leaves them internally empty, and they suffer doubly. I know such people - who have everything, but do not have children and experience torment. It is a burden for them to sleep, it is a burden for them to walk, everything they take is torment for them. “Well, okay,” I said to one of them, “since you have free time, take up spiritual life. Keep the Hours, read the Gospel.”
- "I can not". - “Well, then do something good - go to the hospital, visit some patient.” “Why am I going there,” he says, “and what will it give?” - “Then go help some poor person in the neighborhood.” - “No, I don’t like that either.”
Have free time, several houses, all the benefits and at the same time suffer! Do you know how many people are like him? So they suffer - until they go crazy. How scary it is! And the most exhausted and unhappy of all are those who do not work, but live off income from property. It’s still easier for those who at least work.
Today's life, with its non-stop race, is hellish torment.
People are always in a hurry and rushing somewhere. At such and such an hour they need to be in one place, at such and such an hour - in another, then in a third... In order not to forget what things need to be done, people are forced to write them down. It’s good that amid all the running around they didn’t forget their names! They don't even know themselves. And how can they recognize themselves? Is it possible to see oneself in muddy water, as in a mirror? May God forgive me, but the world has turned into a real madhouse. People don’t think about a different life - they just look for more and more material wealth. And that’s why they find no peace and are constantly rushing somewhere.
Fortunately, there is a different life. People have made their earthly life such that if they lived here forever, greater hellish torment would not exist. If they lived with this anxiety in their souls for eight hundred, nine hundred years - as in the era of Noah, then their life would be one long hellish torment. In those days people lived simply. And their lives were so long in order for the Tradition to be preserved. And now what is written about in the Psalter is happening: “The days of our years are seventy years, and even if we can be eighty years, we multiply their labor and illness.” And seventy years is enough time to just have time to get your children back on their feet - you can do it right.
One day, a doctor from America came to my kaliva. He told me about life there. People there have already turned into machines - they devote whole days to work. Each family member should have their own car. In addition, at home, for everyone to feel comfortable, there should be four televisions. So come on - work, exhaust yourself, earn a lot of money, so that you can say later that you are comfortable and happy. But what does all this have to do with happiness? Such a life filled with mental anxiety with its non-stop race is not happiness, but hellish torment. Why do you need it - life with such mental anxiety? I wouldn’t want such a life, even if the whole world had to live like that. If God said to these people: “I will not punish you for the life you live, but I will leave you to live like this forever,” then this would be great torment for me.
Therefore, many, unable to withstand life in such conditions, leave the cities, go without direction and purpose - just to leave. They gather in groups, live in nature - some are engaged in their physical development, others - something else. I was told that some of them go jogging, others go to the mountains and climb to a height of 6000 meters. First they hold their breath, then breathe normally for a while, then take a deep breath again... They do such nonsense! This indicates that they have a heavy burden of anxiety on their hearts and their hearts are looking for some way out. I said to one such person: “You dig a hole, you dig it deeper and deeper, then you admire this hole and its depth, and then... you fall into it and fly down. Whereas we [not just dig a hole, but] develop a mine and find minerals. Our asceticism has meaning because it is done for the sake of something higher.”
Mental anxiety comes from the devil
- Geronda, lay people living a spiritual life get tired at work and, returning home in the evening, do not have the strength to celebrate Compline. And this makes them worry.
“If they return home late at night and are tired, then they never need to force themselves with mental anxiety. We must always say to ourselves with curiosity: “If you cannot read Compline in full, then read half or a third.” And next time we should try not to get too tired during the day. We must strive as much as possible with curiosity and rely on God in everything. And God will do His work. the mind should always be close to God. This is the best thing of all.
- Geronda, what value does excessive asceticism have in the eyes of God?
“If it is done out of curiosity, then both the person himself and God rejoice over His curious child. If a person oppresses himself out of love, then this exudes honey in his heart. If he oppresses himself out of egoism, then this brings him torment. One man, who struggled with selfishness and oppressed himself with spiritual restlessness, once said: “Oh, my Christ! The gate that You have made is too narrow! I can’t get through them.” But if he had labored humbly, then these gates would not have been narrow for him. Those who selfishly strive in fasts, vigils and other labors torture themselves without spiritual benefit, because they are beating the air, not the demons. Instead of driving away demonic temptations from themselves, they accept them in ever-increasing quantities, and - as a result - in their asceticism they encounter many difficulties and feel how they are strangled by inner anxiety. While those people who struggle vigorously with much humility and much trust in God, their hearts rejoice and their souls are inspired.
Spiritual life requires attention. Doing anything out of vanity, spiritual people are left with emptiness in their souls. Their heart is not filled, does not become inspired. The more they increase their vanity, the more their inner emptiness increases, and the more they suffer. Where there is spiritual anxiety and despair, there is a demonic spiritual life. Do not be disturbed in your soul for any reason. Mental anxiety comes from the devil. Seeing the emotional anxiety, know that the tangalashka has twisted his tail there. The devil does not cross us. If a person is inclined towards something, then the devil pushes him in the same direction in order to wear him down and deceive him. For example, it makes a sensitive person overly sensitive. If an ascetic is inclined to bow, then the devil also pushes him to bow beyond his strength. And if your strength is limited, then at first a certain nervousness develops, because you see that your strength is not enough. Then the devil brings you into a state of mental anxiety, with a slight - at first - feeling of despair, then he aggravates this state more and more... I remember the beginning of my monasticism. At one time, as soon as I went to bed, the tempter said to me: “Are you sleeping? Get up! So many people are suffering, so many need help!...” I stood up and bowed as much as I could. As soon as I lay down again, he began again: “People are suffering, but are you sleeping? Get up!” - and I got up again. I got to the point where I once said: “Oh, how nice it would be if I could lose my legs! Then I would have a good reason not to bow.” I barely endured one Great Lent, being in such a temptation, because I wanted to oppress myself beyond my strength.
If, while struggling, we feel spiritual anxiety, then we should know that we are not struggling in God’s way. God is not a tyrant to strangle us. Everyone should strive with curiosity, according to his own strength. We must cultivate curiosity in ourselves in order for our love for God to increase. Then a person will be pushed to the feat by curiosity, and his very asceticism, that is, bowing, fasting and the like, will be nothing more than an overflow of his love. And then he will move forward with spiritual courage.
Consequently, there is no need to struggle with painful scholasticism, so that later, fighting off your thoughts, you suffocate from spiritual anxiety; no, you need to simplify your struggle and trust in Christ, and not in yourself. Christ is all love, all kindness, all consolation. He never strangles a person. He has spiritual oxygen in abundance - divine consolation. Subtle spiritual work is one thing, but painful scholasticism, which, from unreasonably forcing oneself to external achievement, suffocates a person with spiritual anxiety and tears his head with pain, is completely different.
- Geronda, if a person by nature thinks too much and his head is filled with many thoughts, then how should he approach this or that problem so as not to become exhausted?
- If a person behaves simply, then he does not get exhausted. But if even a little egoism is mixed in, then, afraid of making some mistake, he strains himself and becomes exhausted. Yes, even if he made some mistake - well, they will scold him a little, there is nothing wrong with that. This state of affairs that you are asking about can be justified, for example, for a judge who, constantly faced with complicated cases, is afraid of committing an unjust trial and causing the punishment of innocent people. In spiritual life, a headache appears when a person, occupying some responsible place, does not know what to do, because he needs to make a decision that will harm someone in some way, and if he does not make it , then it will be unfair to other people. The conscience of such a person is in constant tension. That's it, sister. And be careful to work spiritually - not with your mind, but with your heart. And do not perform spiritual work without humble trust in God. Otherwise, you will worry, tire your head and feel bad in your soul. Mental anxiety usually conceals disbelief, but one can also experience such a state due to pride.
Luxury seduces monks too
— Geronda, to what extent can a temple be decorated?
- In our time, the simpler everything is - even in a temple - the more benefit, because we do not live in Byzantium now.
- Well, for example, the iconostasis - what ornament should we choose for it?
- Of course, monastic! What else? Let everything be as modest and simple as possible. The Monk Pachomius bent a column in the temple so that people would not admire his handiwork. Remember this incident? In his monastery, the monk built a temple with brick columns with great care. Seeing how beautiful the temple turned out, the monk rejoiced, but then he thought that rejoicing at the beautiful creation of one’s own hands was not according to God. Then he tied ropes around the columns and, after praying, ordered the brethren to lean in and pull so that the columns would bend.
Every year in my cell on Mount Athos I cut tin and patch the roof and windows. Both are leaky, and the wind is blowing through the cracks. So I put up more and more new patches - from tin, boards, polyethylene. You ask me: “So why don’t you install double windows?” Do you think I myself don’t realize that this can be done? I am a carpenter, and if I wanted, I could make windows with three frames. But after this the monastic spirit leaves. The wall of the cell is in disrepair. I could ask someone to help me with the renovation, but I'm happy with what I have. How dare I spend that kind of money on repairing a wall when other people are in such need? It won't do me any good. If I have an extra five hundred drachmas, I’d rather buy crosses and icons with them and give them to some sufferer so that he can get help from it. I feel happy when I give. And even if I need this money, I won’t spend it on myself.
When starting to live spiritually, a person is never satisfied. Likewise, a person is never satisfied if he begins to pursue beauty. Do you know how we should live now? You must leave worries about beautiful buildings, limit yourself to what is necessary and give yourself to the misfortune of people - helping them with prayer if you have nothing to give, and alms if you have the opportunity to help them financially. Engage in prayer, and only the most necessary work. Everything we do here has a short lifespan. And is it worth giving your life to all this, knowing that others are barely making ends meet and are dying of hunger? Simple buildings and humble things mentally transport the monks to the caves and unpretentious ascitiriums of the holy fathers, from this the monks receive spiritual benefits. Whereas everything worldly reminds monks of the world and makes them worldly in soul. Recently, excavations were made in Nitria and the first monastic cells were found - truly ascetic ones. Then monastic cells of a later era were found - their appearance was already a little worldly. Finally, the latest monastic dwellings were found, similar to the salons of rich people of that time - on the walls there were various framed paintings, patterns, etc. All this brought the wrath of God upon the monks, and their dwellings were plundered and destroyed by the villains.
Christ was born in a manger. If worldly things give us comfort, then Christ, who rejects no one, will easily reject us. He will say: “I had nothing. Does the Gospel anywhere talk about all these [worldly things]? Have you seen anything like this with Me? You are neither laymen nor monks. What should I do with you, where should I place you?...”
Things that are beautiful and perfect are worldly. They do not give consolation to spiritual people. After all, all the walls will crumble to dust. But the soul... One soul is worth more than the whole world. What do we do for the soul? Let us begin spiritual work and become kindly concerned. Christ will hold us accountable for how we have spiritually helped people and what spiritual work we have done. He won’t even ask about what kind of walls we built. We will be required to answer for our spiritual progress.
I want you to understand my spirit: I am not saying that you should not do construction and the like, or that buildings should be built somehow. No. But first the spiritual must come, and after, with spiritual reasoning, everything else.
Simplify your life
“How lucky are those who live in palaces and enjoy all the blessings,” say the people of this world. However, blessed are those who have succeeded in simplifying their lives, freeing themselves from the stranglehold of this worldly improvement - from the many comforts equal to many difficulties, and getting rid of the terrible mental anxiety of the present era. If a person does not simplify his life, he will suffer. Then, by simplifying it, he will get rid of this mental anxiety.
Once in Sinai, a visiting German said to one very smart Bedouin boy: “You are a smart child and capable of achieving education.” - “So what then?” - he asks him. “Then you will be an engineer.” - "And then?" - “Then I opened a car repair shop.” - "After?" - “Then you will increase it.” - “And then what?” “Then he hired other craftsmen to staff a large workforce.” “So what,” the boy tells him, “at first I will have one headache, then I will add another one to it, and then another? Isn’t it better, like now, to have a calm head?” Headaches, for the most part, come from just such thoughts: “Let's do one thing, let's do another.” And if thoughts were spiritual, then a person would experience spiritual consolation and would not suffer from headaches.
Now, in conversations with worldly people, I also emphasize the importance of simplicity. Because most of what they do is not necessary, and they are consumed by mental anxiety. I tell people about artlessness and asceticism, I never stop crying: “Simplify your life so that mental anxiety disappears.” And most divorces start just like this. People have a lot of work, they have so many things to do that their heads are spinning. Both father and mother work, and the children are left without a caretaker. Fatigue, nerves - even a small trifle leads to a big scandal, and then divorce automatically follows. People are already getting to this point. However, by simplifying their lives, they will be both full of strength and joyful. Yes, mental anxiety is sheer destruction.
Once I happened to find myself in a most luxurious house. During the conversation, the owners told me: “We really live in paradise, but other people are in such need.” “You live in hell,” I answered them. “Madness, this night they will take your soul from you,” said the Lord to the crazy rich man. If Christ had asked me: “Where should I give you a place - in some dungeon or in a house like this,” then I would have answered: “In some dark dungeon.” Because a dungeon would be good for me. She would remind me of Christ, of the holy martyrs, of the ascetics hiding in the “abyss of the earth,” she would remind me of monastic life. The prison would be a little like my cell, and I would be happy about it. What would your home remind me of and what benefits would I get from it? Therefore, dungeons console me much more than just some secular salon, but also a beautifully decorated monastic cell. It’s a thousand times better to live in prison than in a house like this.”
Another time I stayed with a friend in Athens, and he asked me to meet with a father of many children, but only before dawn, because he had no time at other times. This man came, joyful and constantly praising God. He had a lot of humility and simplicity, and he asked me to pray for his family. This brother was thirty-eight years old and had seven children. Children, he and his wife, plus his parents - eleven souls in total. They all huddled in one room. With his characteristic simplicity, he said: “When standing, we all fit in the room, but when we go to bed, there is not enough space - it’s cramped. But now, thank God, they made a canopy for the kitchen and things have become easier. After all, we, dear ones, have a roof over our heads - others live in the open air.” He worked as an ironer in Piraeus, but lived in Athens, and in order to be at work on time, he left the house after dark. From standing for long periods of time and working overtime, he developed varicose veins, which caused discomfort to his legs. But his great love for his family made this man forget about his illnesses and illnesses. In addition, he constantly reproached himself, said that he had no love, that he did not do good deeds befitting a Christian, and could not praise his wife enough for doing good deeds, caring not only about the children, but also about father-in-law and mother-in-law, washes the elderly people living in the neighborhood, cleans their houses and even “cooks soup for them!” The face of this kind family man shone with the Grace of God. He had Christ in him and was filled with joy. And the little room in which they huddled was also filled with heavenly joy. Those who do not have Christ in them will be filled with spiritual anxiety. They wouldn’t fit in eleven rooms even together, whereas here eleven souls with Christ fit in one.
No matter how much space people have - even spiritual people - they will still not have enough space, because they themselves did not have enough room for Christ, because He did not fit into them completely. If the women who lived in Faras had looked at the luxury that is present today even in many monasteries, they would have exclaimed: “God will cast fire from heaven and burn us! God has abandoned us!” The Farasiots coped with the work in no time. Early in the morning they drove out the goats, then put the house in order, then went to the chapel or gathered somewhere in the caves, and the one who could read a little read the life of the daily Saint. Then they began to bow with the Jesus Prayer. But besides this, they were still working and tired. A woman had to be able to sheathe the entire house. And they sewed by hand. Hand sewing machines were rare in the city, and even less so in the village. It would be good if all Faras had one sewing machine. And they sewed clothes for men - very comfortable ones, and knitted socks. They did everything with taste, with love, but at the same time they still had time, because everything was simple for them. The Pharasiots did not care about secondary matters. They experienced monastic joy. And if, say, you noticed that the blanket was lying unevenly on the bed and told them: “Straighten the blanket,” then in response you heard: “Is this stopping you from praying?”
Today people do not know this monastic joy. People believe that they should not experience hardships and suffer. And if people thought a little like monks, if they lived simpler, then they would be calm. Now they are suffering. There is anxiety and despair in their souls: “So-and-so managed to build two multi-story buildings!” Or: “So-and-so managed to learn five foreign languages!” - or something else like that. “And I,” they say, “don’t even have my own apartment, and I don’t know a single foreign language! That’s it, I’m lost!” Or someone, having a car, begins to be tormented: “Someone else has a better car than mine. I need to buy the same one.” He buys himself a new car, but he’s not happy with it either - after all, someone else has a better one. He buys one for himself, and then finds out that others have their own planes, and he suffers again. There is no end to this. While another person, who also does not have a car, praises God and rejoices. "God bless! - he says. - Well, let me not have a car. After all, I have strong legs and I can walk. And how many people have amputated legs, and they cannot take care of themselves, cannot go for a walk, need someone’s care!... And I have my own legs!” In turn, the lame man says this: “What is it like for others who do not have both legs?” - and rejoices too.
Ingratitude and gluttony are great evils. A person enslaved by something material is always enslaved by excitement and mental anxiety, because he either trembles, fearing that his wealth will be taken away from him, or fears for his life. One day a rich man from Athens came to me and said: “Father, I have lost contact with my children. I lost my children." - “How many children do you have?” - I asked. “Two,” he answered. — I fed them on bird's milk. They had everything they wanted. I even bought them a car.” Then from the conversation it became clear that he had his own car, his wife had her own, and each of the children had their own. “You’re an eccentric man,” I told him, “instead of solving your problems, you only increased them. Now you need a large garage for your cars, you have to pay four times more for their repairs, not to mention the fact that you and your wife and your children are at risk of crashing at any moment. And if you simplified your life, the family would be united, one would understand the other, and you wouldn’t have all these problems. The blame for what happens to you does not lie with your children, but with you. It’s your fault for not raising them differently.” For one family - four cars, a garage, your own mechanic and everything else! Can't one go somewhere a little earlier, and the other a little later? All this comfort creates difficulties.
Another time, another head of the family came to my kaliva - this time of five people - and said: “Father, we have one car, but I’m thinking of buying two more. This will make it easier for us.” “Haven’t you thought about how much more difficult it will be for you?” - I asked him. — You leave one car in some gateway, but where will you park three? You'll need a garage and fuel storage. Instead of one danger, you will be exposed to three. It's better for you to make do with one car and limit your expenses. And you will have time to look after your children, and you yourself will be peaceful. Simplification is the whole point.” “Yes,” he says, “but I didn’t even think about it.”
— Geronda, one person told us how twice he could not silence the anti-theft alarm in his car. Once because a fly flew into the car, and another time he himself violated the instructions for using the anti-theft system when he got into his own car.
“These people have a martyr’s life because they don’t make their lives easier.” Most conveniences come with inconveniences. Worldly people are suffocating from many things. They have filled their life with many comforts and made it difficult. If you don’t simplify your life, then even one convenience gives rise to a bunch of problems.
As children, we cut the edges of a spool of thread, inserted a wooden stick into the middle and played a wonderful game that brought us real joy. Little children enjoy a toy car more than their father enjoys a purchased Mercedes. Ask some girl: “What should I give you - a doll or a multi-story house?” You'll see, she will answer: “A doll.” Even small children will eventually learn the vanity of the world.
- Geronda, what helps most to understand the joy that simplicity and artlessness bring?
— Awareness of the deepest meaning of life. “Seek first the Kingdom of God...” Simplicity and every correct attitude towards things begin with this.
In other rooms:
Something more
In August 1958, Father Paisiy found himself in his native land - in Konitsa, in the Stomion monastery. When later the newly installed abbot of Stomion asks Elder Paisius why he left the monastery, he will answer: “Eh, I asked the Mother of God to show me the place where to go. And She told me: “Go to Sinai.” But even there, from the monastery of St. Catherine, he soon asked to go to a separate, remote cell of St. Epistimia.
The following testimonies of Elder Paisius about this period are known: “I went down to the monastery to be at the Divine Liturgy. Having received communion, I felt the taste of Divine Communion in a special way. These were the Body and Blood of Christ,” recalled Elder Paisios. “Having received strength from this sign and looking from the monastery at the ascetic, the elder said to the devil: “If you want, come, now we’ll fight””; “What I experienced up there from the devil during these fifteen days cannot be expressed. It's impossible to imagine! I felt as if I was nailed to a cross"; “I thank the Good God for saving me - the battle was so strong... After this struggle, the Good God - since He saved me - deigned me to receive communion at the Holy Summit. All that day after Communion I felt such joy that I cannot describe. I crumbled into dust from the great love of God and felt His presence near me. That is why the enemy the devil waged such an intense battle against me - wanting to deprive me of this spiritual joy, which gave me strength for a long time...” This was “something more” that the elder experienced at Sinai in comparison with the mentioned consolation for ten years in Esphigmena - something much more that he received by refusing the blessings of this world...
Instructions of Paisius the Holy Mountain
“The laity, if they do not grumble, will receive from God the same reward as the ascetic monks.”
Little-known instructions of the Athonite elder
For the first time in Russian, the publishing house “Holy Mountain” publishes the little-known instructions of the Athonite
elder Paisius the Holy Mountain (Eznepidis), recorded by his closest associates and students.
People who are poor, needy and hungry, if they do not grumble, will receive the same reward as the hermits laboring on the slopes of the peak of Holy Mount Athos. Monks abstain from food voluntarily and this greatly facilitates their feat. For example, if I do something, I do it of my own free will and, as a result, I almost don’t feel the burden of asceticism. But these poor people are not starving of their own accord and therefore suffer much more. God can reward them with an even greater reward than the ascetic hermits.
***
Proud and enthusiastic people must be in obedience to someone (here the elder means primarily the spiritual father) in order to cut off their will.
***
Reverent parents who want their children to become monks should not push them to do so, but should themselves lead an ascetic life.
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Everyone must act in accordance with their spiritual state. You cannot take on feats for which a person is not yet ready.
***
I have met depraved men with a “carnal wisdom” who married church girls who were leading a spiritual life. They felt their spiritual purity so clearly that they did not dare to approach them and enter into carnal relations. As a result, they even thought about divorce. If simple girls had such an influence on their unchaste spouses, then how can we describe the immeasurably greater and indelible impression that our Lady, the Most Holy Theotokos, made on people?
***
The grace of the priesthood is something special. It is like an external battery from which the priests receive energy. This grace is not theirs. It is not given as a reward for some spiritual merit.
***
Today, the devil, with his great malice, unwittingly does a great benefit to the world. Pious people, seeing where the world is heading, draw closer to other pious Christians and receive incentive in their spiritual warfare with the evil one.
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If someone is discouraged, he should be encouraged and encouraged. But when he has fallen into pride and exaltation, it will be useful for him to humble himself.
***
Often we monks become hard-hearted because we do not see the pain of others. And the poor lay people are compassionate, because they see pain and sorrow all around them all the time. Therefore, we must make the pain of others ours and pray for the whole world.
***
If during prayer we do not feel Divine consolation, then something is wrong. We must repent and improve in some way. Some people incorrectly say that this is due to envy and the wiles of the devil. In fact, the Lord Himself seems to be telling us: “I don’t understand the way you are addressing Me.” Prayer, like Holy Communion, is a Sacrament. You need to prepare for it and have a clear conscience.
***
One pilgrim once came to me and told me that he had read several books about the Jesus Prayer, and tried to force himself to do it, but as a result, his heart only ached. Then I asked him: “Don’t you have material for reconciling (sins)? Humble yourself and you will feel how much you need God’s mercy. Then prayer will flow by itself, without compulsion.
***
God does not interfere in our lives, but waits for us to ask Him to help us, because He respects our freedom.
***
A spiritual person senses the intentions of others (for example, if they want to use him or rob him) but always treats them with good intentions. He does not interfere with attackers, believing that they have a greater need for what they want to take away from him.
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If there is no sincere repentance and humility - the prerequisites for a person to feel how vitally he needs the Grace of God, only external exploits and forcing himself will lead a person to delusion.
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Our mind (as far as possible) should be close to God and not think about evil.
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By sowing a handful of wheat, we will get a wheat harvest; by sowing thorns, we will grow thorns. The good done by man gives rise to new virtues, and sins entail new sins.
***
To one married man who told me that monasticism, unlike marriage, is not a sacrament, I answered that monasticism is a sacrament of the Church Triumphant, since it already experiences angelic life in earthly existence.
***
Misfortune, pain and reproach redeem us from hell.
***
We should not seek pleasure in prayer, even if it is spiritual. Otherwise, we become like children who love their father only because he gives them caramels and chocolates. What is sought in prayer is spiritual peace.
***
Many who fell into delusion, whom the devil made false prophets, did not base their spiritual warfare on repentance and self-knowledge, but strove for fasting and vigils, out of their pride wanting to achieve holiness through great deeds.
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Just as every bus has a depot, so the madness has some kind of root cause. There is no need to go to reprimand if the reason that caused the spiritual illness has not been found first.
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True humility is the person who immediately forgets the good deeds he has done, and considers any good deed done to him (even the most insignificant) to be enormous and feels gratitude for it.
***
Finding holiness does not depend on how long we strive, but depends on curiosity and our humble deed. In love there is humility, nobility, and sacrifice.
Elders Jacob of Euboea, Paisius the Holy Mountain and Porfiry Kavsokalivit
https://www.pravoslavie.ru/smi/52917.htm
“The ABC of Salvation”
Athos.
The holy Athonite fathers, like us, were people. And Athos was a wild mountain, like other mountains. But since our fathers labored with zeal, they themselves became saints and sanctified the mountain, so that it began to be called the Holy Mountain, and we now boast that we are Holy Mountain dwellers.
Grace.
Spiritual life is not pleasure. Christ connected the plug to the socket, but our own wires are rusty and do not accept Divine Grace. You need to clean the wires from rust, undertake a feat in order to know yourself, cut off your passions and acquire virtues. In this way the Grace of God will overshadow us.”
War.
If you are attacked, then you yourself are fighting. If you do not wage spiritual warfare, it means you have become a compromiser.
Pride.
In order for the soul to be spiritually resurrected, a person must be crucified so that his spiritual passions and, above all, selfishness die - the disorderly child of pride, which hinders Divine grace and breaks a person’s face.
Confessor.
A person must grasp the deepest meaning of life, must understand that this life is given to him in order to prepare for another life. Having understood this, man - just as an earthly traveler finds a guide - must find a guide for his heavenly journey. This guide is a confessor. The confessor will establish a routine for life, tell you what to read and how to pray, how to avoid reasons for sin and the worldly spirit, which is the most terrible thing. In this way the human heart will abide in Christ.
Gospel.
It is impossible to reconcile the Gospel with human common sense. At the heart of the gospel is love. Common sense is based on profit. The Gospel says: “If someone forces you to walk one mile, then walk two.” Is this common sense? In this, rather, one can see insanity. Therefore, those who want to reconcile the gospel with common sense reach a dead end.
Convent.
One day, at the nunnery of Paisius the Svyatogorets, they treated him to coffee. On the nuns’ table lay a beautiful embroidered and smoothly ironed tablecloth. Wanting to remind the nuns what monastic simplicity is, the elder poured coffee directly onto the tablecloth, and then rolled it into a ball so that it would get even more dirty. After this, he said to the abbess: “And now, mother, you will have to leave your rosary. Go wash and iron instead.”
Commandments.
Let us ask God to give the world repentance and to avoid His righteous wrath. The coming wrath of God cannot be avoided except by repentance and keeping God's commandments.
Tests.
We must approach trials with humility and patience.
Compromise.
In matters of faith and love for the Motherland, there is no room for compromise; a person must be adamant and firm.
Love.
Try to have love among yourself, otherwise your monastery will turn from a dormitory into a dog kennel. (In Greek, a play on the homonymous words κοινόβιο (dormitory) and κύνοβιο (kennel)).
Prayer.
“Before prayer, you need to prepare for it. Prayer is also communion with God, it is also Divine Communion. Through prayer, a person receives the Grace of God in a different way. Just as, when receiving communion at the Divine Liturgy, a person takes into himself the pearl of Christ’s Body and Blood, so in the sacrament of prayer the Divine flame overshadows the one praying.”
Real man.
not the one who speaks correctly, but the one who lives correctly, in the gospel.
Experience
acquired thanks to the fire that the warrior of Christ calls upon himself from the demons in spiritual battle (here is a play on words that sound similar: πείρα, experience - πυρά, fire). Before the start of the battle, the enemy carries out artillery preparation with the help of thoughts. The most reliable weapon against enemy thoughts is the Jesus Prayer.
Novice,
who wants to achieve spiritual success must strive to forget everything worldly and remember what great honor the Lord showed him, who wanted to transform him from a man into an angel. Let him have curiosity, humility and an ascetic spirit - without these qualities he will be like a square wheel that must be pushed forward all the time.
Repentance.
Curiosity and selfishness have nothing in common with each other, just as repentance differs from repentance. Judas repented because of his selfishness. The Apostle Peter repented and wept bitterly because of his greed.
Sorrow.
Let us prefer sorrow and accept it with greater joy than joy. Bitter medicine is often more beneficial than sweet medicine, because bitter medicine cures illness. True joy comes from pain.
Work.
You need to love work and not look for easy ways.
Simplify your life.
We need to simplify our lives. Luxury is tiring. There are people who want to constantly change furniture and other things. Then they rush in pursuit of even more money and are thus filled with mental anxiety.
Philosopher.
Obedience helps a person a lot. Even a person who does not shine with mental abilities, by showing obedience, becomes a philosopher, a sage. Whether a person is smart or stupid, healthy or sick (spiritually or physically), if he, tormented by thoughts, obeys, then he will be freed [from the torment of thoughts]. Obedience is liberation.
Blasphemous thoughts.
They are like airplanes that disturb us with their noise regardless of our will and which we cannot stop in any way. In this case, psalmody is a strong anti-air defense, for it is both a prayer to Christ and disdain for the devil.
Church singing.
When we are upset or sad, we will sing something sacred. Psalmody drives away the devil, because it is both prayer and contempt for him. When blasphemous thoughts attack us, we do not need to fight them with the Jesus Prayer, because in this case we confront the devil head-on, and he raises even greater warfare against us. When blasphemous thoughts come, we will sing church hymns, and the devil, seeing that we despise him, will burst with anger.
Human.
A person who moves away from God does not find peace of mind either in this temporary life or in the future. For whoever does not believe in God and the future Eternal Life remains inconsolable in this life, and also condemns his soul to eternal torment.
School.
When children start going to school, parents should slowly teach them to read spiritual books and help them live spiritually. Then they will be like little Angels and in their prayer will have great boldness towards God. Such children are real spiritual capital for their families. The lives of saints especially help them in their spiritual life.
God's generosity.
Spouses must always be ready to accept the will of God into their lives. God does not abandon a person who trusts himself to Him. We don’t do anything, but how much God does for us! With how much love and generosity He gives us everything! Is there anything that God cannot do?
Exams.
Today the time has come to separate the sheep from the goats, that is, the believing people from the unbelievers. Later, the time will come for us to pass spiritual exams. We will also be persecuted for our faith, and then it will become clear where is gold and where is what just glitters.
Adolescence.
The evil one takes advantage of adolescence, at which the human flesh also rebels, and tries to corrupt the young during this difficult period that they are going through. Their minds are still immature, they are very inexperienced and have no spiritual savings at all. Therefore, a young person at this critical age must feel that he constantly needs the advice of his elders.
He needs these tips in order not to slip on the sweet slide of worldly fall, which threatens to subsequently fill his soul with anxiety and forever remove it from God.
Language.
The word of a humble person, based on his personal experience and born with pain from the depths of his heart, has a value much greater than a bunch of beautiful words that, one after another, jump off the tongue of an [educated] person, honed by teaching. This tongue does not inform the souls of people, because it is flesh, and not the fiery tongue of Holy Pentecost.
https://www.pravoslavie.ru/smi/54824.htm
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“What are you doing there anyway? Make yourselves ascetics!..”
Due to health reasons, a couple of years later the monk Paisius returned from Sinai to Athos, this time settling in the Iveron monastery - the kaliva of the holy Archangels. The following significant incident occurred here. Soon the elder, as everywhere before, requested silence. I approached one of the cathedral elders of the Iversky Monastery for a blessing so that he would be allowed to build a small secluded kalivka in his favorite ravine, and he raised a cry: “What are you doing there anyway? Make yourself into ascetics!..” That same night, the patron of the Iveron monastery, the Forerunner John, appeared to this elder and began to beat him. In horror, the elder jumped up and ran to the temple, where a service was going on at that time. He even asked to interrupt the service and, barely waiting for it to end, told the brethren what had happened to him. As a result, he not only blessed the construction of the building, but also provided mules with building materials.
Then, after the death of his Russian confessor Father Tikhon, Elder Paisius lived for 11 years in his cell of the Honorable Cross and then moved to the cell of Panaguda, where he performed his senile service and became known throughout the Orthodox world.
It is significant that all these wanderings, which contemporaries could impute to Father Paisius as pride, “the inability to get along in one place,” and even delusion, especially his requests for silence, were in fact not only the result of the ascetic zeal of the monk, but also, as we now known to be the fulfillment of the will of God. And this is the purpose of a Christian’s life on earth.
Prepared by Olga Orlova
The Lord humbles Elder Paisius the Holy Mountain
But the main lesson of humility (so to speak) for Elder Paisius was life itself—or rather, his own fame. A line of pilgrims walked towards him...
In his youth, the saint’s dream was hermitage and silence - that form of monastic activity when a monk retires to a cave or desert and devotes himself entirely to God and prayer.
However, hermitage for him turned out to be possible only, in fact, during a short stay on Mount Sinai. Then the Lord clearly directed the monk in the other direction, showing: your calling is serving people, and not the desert.
First, for health reasons, Paisius had to leave Sinai and return to Athos. Then, on Mount Athos itself, any attempts to go into seclusion were thwarted. To the point that the boatman with whom Elder Paisius had agreed on the departure did not arrive at the appointed time. Or he had unambiguous visions.
At some point, Paisiy Svyatogorets realized: there is no point in going against the Will of God - it won’t work anyway. The saint himself recalls: it was very difficult to come to terms with this.
Venerable Paisios surrounded by pilgrims
Probably, it was humility with this, and not many hours of prayerful standing and strict fasting, that was his most important feat. And this is also a reminder, as the saints so often point out: any holiness begins with humility. Deeds can come without humility, but holiness cannot.
“Do not work to acquire love, prayer and virtues. Your efforts will be fruitless, for the Lord will not help you until you have humility. But this is only because if He helps you to prosper, you will soon be damaged by pride. God expects from us only humility, and everything else is a direct result of God’s grace, which a humble person attracts with his peaceful and kind disposition,” said Elder Paisios.
