Saint Paisios the Athonite became acquainted with Father Paisios the Mathematician when the latter was a young monk and teacher of mathematics at the Athoniada School, which is under Vatopaidi Monastery. The Saint asked the young monk to be ordained a priest and become a hieromonk in order for him to have a priest serve in the chapel of his hut on Sundays and Feast Days. As is well known, Saint Paisios considered himself unworthy of the priesthood, and this left him without a priest to help him in his liturgical obligations. Thus Father Paisios, who took on the name of the Saint, was ordained a hieromonk and became among the closest disciples of Saint Paisios, living by his side for 24 years and making sure the Saint was an active participant in the Mysteries of the Church. After the Saint reposed in 1994, Father Paisios served as a spiritual father to the nuns of the Hesychasterion of Saint John the Theologian in Souroti, and then went on to serve as the spiritual father to the nuns of the Monastery of Saint Hilarion in Aridaia of Pella at the request of Metropolitan Joel of Edessa, Pella and Almopia.
Of his first meeting with Saint Paisios, Father Paisios recalls the following:
"I was very impressed by his presence. As I had heard I imagined I would see a venerable elder with a long beard who was old, stern and ascetic. Instead I saw a man of God who was really adorable. He looked like a little kid to me.
And I asked him then: 'Are you Father Paisios?' and he said to me: 'Sit, my child.'
The first thing I remember is that I was very impressed that I was seeing a man like a small child. As Christ says in the Gospel, if you do not become like little children you will not enter the kingdom of God. At the same time he had the wisdom and grace of God to a great extent, yet he also looked like a little child.
He was a small child. Innocent, adorable and dispassionate... All the good things of God I sensed in Father Paisios... With those advanced in age he became advanced in age, but with the young he became like he was young child.
I found rest at his side. My soul was always flying."
Hieromonk Paisios the Mathematician has written two books on Saint Paisios the Athonite:
1. Α ΕΩΡΑΚΑΜΕΝ ΚΑΙ ΑΚΗΚΟΑΜΕΝ: ΟΙ ΑΝΑΜΝΗΣΕΙΣ ΜΟΥ ΑΠΟ ΤΟΝ ΑΓΙΟ ΠΑΙΣΙΟ (2018) - (What We Have Seen and Heard: What I Remember About Saint Paisos)
2. ΜΥΡΟΝ ΕΚΚΕΝΩΘΕΝ: ΕΛΚΥΟΜΕΝΟΙ ΑΠΟ ΤΟ ΑΡΩΜΑ ΤΟΥ ΑΓΙΟΥ ΠΑΙΣΙΟΥ (2019) - (Myrrh Poured Forth: Attracted to the Aroma of Saint Paisios)
"I was very impressed by his presence. As I had heard I imagined I would see a venerable elder with a long beard who was old, stern and ascetic. Instead I saw a man of God who was really adorable. He looked like a little kid to me.
And I asked him then: 'Are you Father Paisios?' and he said to me: 'Sit, my child.'
The first thing I remember is that I was very impressed that I was seeing a man like a small child. As Christ says in the Gospel, if you do not become like little children you will not enter the kingdom of God. At the same time he had the wisdom and grace of God to a great extent, yet he also looked like a little child.
He was a small child. Innocent, adorable and dispassionate... All the good things of God I sensed in Father Paisios... With those advanced in age he became advanced in age, but with the young he became like he was young child.
I found rest at his side. My soul was always flying."
Hieromonk Paisios the Mathematician has written two books on Saint Paisios the Athonite:
1. Α ΕΩΡΑΚΑΜΕΝ ΚΑΙ ΑΚΗΚΟΑΜΕΝ: ΟΙ ΑΝΑΜΝΗΣΕΙΣ ΜΟΥ ΑΠΟ ΤΟΝ ΑΓΙΟ ΠΑΙΣΙΟ (2018) - (What We Have Seen and Heard: What I Remember About Saint Paisos)
2. ΜΥΡΟΝ ΕΚΚΕΝΩΘΕΝ: ΕΛΚΥΟΜΕΝΟΙ ΑΠΟ ΤΟ ΑΡΩΜΑ ΤΟΥ ΑΓΙΟΥ ΠΑΙΣΙΟΥ (2019) - (Myrrh Poured Forth: Attracted to the Aroma of Saint Paisios)
Anecdotes and Teachings
- One visitor to the Monastery of Saint Hilarion wrote:
"We visited today in the Sacred Monastery of Saint Hilarion, in Aridaia, the Elder Paisios, the mathematician, the direct student of Saint Paisios, as the Bishop of Edessa Joel describes him! On this pilgrimage we had the blessing of talking with the Elder Paisios and our conversation was about the obedience we should do as Christians! Father Paisios therefore told us that the Saint's legacy on this matter is that we the faithful should obey the Holy Synod of the Church of Greece, for all matters that have been decided by the Hierarchy! In fact, he emphasized to us what the Saint said, that even if the decisions of the Synod are contrary to what he himself has said or written from time to time on important issues, we must obey the decisions of the Synod! Saint Paisios always wanted the Church to be united and not divided!"
- Hieromonk Paisios writes in Myrrh Poured Forth about Saint Paisios and his love for the Greek language:
"He was also very careful in the vocabulary he used, even though he had little education. His language was modest, his terminology gentle. He loved the Greek language very much. He was very upset with some educated people, who, translating ecclesiastical texts, used words unacceptable in the spiritual realm. At no point, for example, did he ever want Άρτος and Οίνος to be translated as ψωμί and κρασί."
- In Myrrh Poured Forth he devotes a short chapter to Politics. We read the Saint's answer to the question of whether Christians should actively participate in the political affairs of Greece:
"'Why, if some good Christians do not enter into politics, who shall rule, the atheists? Should we leave Greece, such a Motherland, this Orthodox state in the hands of the atheists?' And the Elder used to say that the criterion for voting for someone is first and foremost that he has the fear of God and loves the Motherland. And thank God, there are such people in our Homeland. Someone, in fact, well-known and dear to me, he particularly valued and called him Maccabeus. Therefore, those who think that everyone is the same are wrong."
- But the Saint was strict towards the left parties. The author writes:
- One visitor to the Monastery of Saint Hilarion wrote:
"We visited today in the Sacred Monastery of Saint Hilarion, in Aridaia, the Elder Paisios, the mathematician, the direct student of Saint Paisios, as the Bishop of Edessa Joel describes him! On this pilgrimage we had the blessing of talking with the Elder Paisios and our conversation was about the obedience we should do as Christians! Father Paisios therefore told us that the Saint's legacy on this matter is that we the faithful should obey the Holy Synod of the Church of Greece, for all matters that have been decided by the Hierarchy! In fact, he emphasized to us what the Saint said, that even if the decisions of the Synod are contrary to what he himself has said or written from time to time on important issues, we must obey the decisions of the Synod! Saint Paisios always wanted the Church to be united and not divided!"
- Hieromonk Paisios writes in Myrrh Poured Forth about Saint Paisios and his love for the Greek language:
"He was also very careful in the vocabulary he used, even though he had little education. His language was modest, his terminology gentle. He loved the Greek language very much. He was very upset with some educated people, who, translating ecclesiastical texts, used words unacceptable in the spiritual realm. At no point, for example, did he ever want Άρτος and Οίνος to be translated as ψωμί and κρασί."
- In Myrrh Poured Forth he devotes a short chapter to Politics. We read the Saint's answer to the question of whether Christians should actively participate in the political affairs of Greece:
"'Why, if some good Christians do not enter into politics, who shall rule, the atheists? Should we leave Greece, such a Motherland, this Orthodox state in the hands of the atheists?' And the Elder used to say that the criterion for voting for someone is first and foremost that he has the fear of God and loves the Motherland. And thank God, there are such people in our Homeland. Someone, in fact, well-known and dear to me, he particularly valued and called him Maccabeus. Therefore, those who think that everyone is the same are wrong."
- But the Saint was strict towards the left parties. The author writes:
“The wife of a relative of mine was politically left-leaning. Father Paisios, when he was informed of this, was greatly distressed. 'It is not fitting, it is not allowed,' he said, 'for Christians to support atheists.'"
- The Saint was very sensitive to National Issues. He was particularly moved by the Macedonian issue, which was rekindled with the establishment of the state of Skopje in 1991, three years before his repose. The author writes about it:
"The Father was very happy with the faithful politicians who put the Fatherland above everything. He was particularly moved by the former Minister Nikolaos Martis with his book The Falsification of the History of Macedonia. He then wrote him a letter of congratulations and sent his blessing in the form of a poem (I quote it in a photocopy below). Later they also met on Mount Athos, shortly before he reposed. In fact, the Elder was handing out Mr. Martis's book so that people would be informed about it. That's how important he was to the size of the problem."
- In the chapter "Adorable Things" the author records how the Saint used humor for spiritual purposes:
"Once a young man influenced by Patristic books he had read asked the Elder:
- The Saint was very sensitive to National Issues. He was particularly moved by the Macedonian issue, which was rekindled with the establishment of the state of Skopje in 1991, three years before his repose. The author writes about it:
"The Father was very happy with the faithful politicians who put the Fatherland above everything. He was particularly moved by the former Minister Nikolaos Martis with his book The Falsification of the History of Macedonia. He then wrote him a letter of congratulations and sent his blessing in the form of a poem (I quote it in a photocopy below). Later they also met on Mount Athos, shortly before he reposed. In fact, the Elder was handing out Mr. Martis's book so that people would be informed about it. That's how important he was to the size of the problem."
- In the chapter "Adorable Things" the author records how the Saint used humor for spiritual purposes:
"Once a young man influenced by Patristic books he had read asked the Elder:
'Are we allowed, Elder, to tell jokes?'
'My lad, now most people are taking medication, they are depressed... A pleasant word opens their heart, they come to their senses, and then we talk about the spiritual.'"
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