Paisios of Mount Athos - By Dr. Augustin Sokolovski

The life of Paisios of Mount Athos spanned from 1924 to 1994. Only twenty years after his death, in January 2015, he was glorified as a saint. In May of the same year, his canonization was confirmed by the Russian Orthodox Church, marking pan-Orthodox veneration. The memory of Saint Paisios is celebrated on July 12.

Saint Paisios lived in the world, attended church, and worked. He then served as a monk in mainland Greece, on Mount Athos, at Sinai, then again on the Holy Mountain, and finally in the vicinity of Thessaloniki. He was deeply familiar with the lives of people today, their suffering, and their spiritual and everyday problems. During his lifetime, Saint Paisius, by the grace of God, acquired the gift of prophecy, signs, and even healing.

His biography is fully documented. From his military service in his youth until his death from a devastating cancer, numerous photographs of him have survived. In our time, his teachings are particularly relevant to everyone.

His teachings are simple. They are not theological treatises, but words based on his rich personal experience, reminiscent of the biblical books of the Wisdom of Solomon and The Son of Sirach, and, of course, Proverbs. His words are rooted in the thought of the Fathers of the Church and embody the ascetic wisdom of the ancient desert monks.

It turns out that Paisios was, not long ago, a simple man, who led a very righteous life of virtue and asceticism, but living among us, people of the 20th century, of the same age as many of grandfathers. Today, he is a saint, dwelling in the communion of saints, and interceding for the Church and the world before the God of Heaven and Earth.