Saint Paisios was born in Farasa of Cappadocia in Asia Minor on July 25th 1924.
On August 7, 1924, a week before the people of Farasa left for Greece during the population exchange, the Elder was baptized by Saint Arsenios the Cappadocian, who insisted on giving the child his own name "to leave a monk at his feet," as he had characteristically said.
Five weeks after the baptism of the then little Arsenios Eznepides, on September 14th 1924, the Eznepides family, along with the refugee caravans, arrived at Agios Georgios in Piraeus and then went to Kerkyra, where they temporarily settled in Kastro. His family stayed in Kerkyra for a year and a half. Then they moved to Igoumenitsa and ended up in Konitsa.
Arsenios finished elementary school in Konitsa. From a young age, he always had a piece of paper with him, on which he noted the miracles of the late Saint Arsenios.
As a monk on Mount Athos, Arsenios took the name of Paisios.
In his family home in Konitsa, there are books Saint Paisios read (most of them were about the lives of the Saints), wood carvings he made, family photographs, many personal items, handicrafts, wooden objects made with a lathe, manuscripts, and an iconostasis made by his own hands which stands in the same spot where he himself had placed it.
Also at his home is the first photo he sent to his mother when he was ordained a monk on Mount Athos, which he accompanied with a poem, writing to her that he would now have the Panagia as his mother.
See also: Saint Paisios the Athonite Resource Page
On August 7, 1924, a week before the people of Farasa left for Greece during the population exchange, the Elder was baptized by Saint Arsenios the Cappadocian, who insisted on giving the child his own name "to leave a monk at his feet," as he had characteristically said.
Five weeks after the baptism of the then little Arsenios Eznepides, on September 14th 1924, the Eznepides family, along with the refugee caravans, arrived at Agios Georgios in Piraeus and then went to Kerkyra, where they temporarily settled in Kastro. His family stayed in Kerkyra for a year and a half. Then they moved to Igoumenitsa and ended up in Konitsa.
Arsenios finished elementary school in Konitsa. From a young age, he always had a piece of paper with him, on which he noted the miracles of the late Saint Arsenios.
As a monk on Mount Athos, Arsenios took the name of Paisios.
In his family home in Konitsa, there are books Saint Paisios read (most of them were about the lives of the Saints), wood carvings he made, family photographs, many personal items, handicrafts, wooden objects made with a lathe, manuscripts, and an iconostasis made by his own hands which stands in the same spot where he himself had placed it.
Also at his home is the first photo he sent to his mother when he was ordained a monk on Mount Athos, which he accompanied with a poem, writing to her that he would now have the Panagia as his mother.
See also: Saint Paisios the Athonite Resource Page
See more photos below:
