Saint Paisios of Mount Athos was credited for many miracles and prophecies, being proclaimed a Saint of the Orthodox Church in 2015. Arsenios Eznepidis, as his secular name was, was born in Farasa, Cappadocia, on July 25, 1924.
On August 7, 1924, a week before the Christian Pharisees left for Greece due to the exchange of populations between Greece and Turkey, he was baptised by the priest of the parish of Arsenios, whom the Orthodox Church recognised as a saint in 1988.
In 1945, Arsenios enlisted in the army and served as a radio operator during the Civil War. He was discharged from the army in 1949 and the following year entered Mount Athos to be a monk. There he met Father Cyril of the Koutloumousiou Monastery and followed him faithfully.
Arsenios left the Koutloumousiou Monastery and travelled across Mount Athos, later joining the Monastery of Esfigmenos, the Monastery of Filotheos, and the Holy Monastery of the Nativity of the Virgin.
In 1962 Paisios went to Mount Sinai and in 1964 he returned to Mount Athos, from where he never left again.
In 1979 he joined the fraternity of the Koutloumousiou Monastery and settled in the hermitage of Panagouda. From then on, he became known to the faithful who visited him and was asked advice on people’s personal matters. Despite his busy schedule, he continued his intense ascetic life.
In 1993, his health deteriorated and doctors diagnosed him with colon cancer. In the last days of his life he decided not to take drugs or painkillers, despite the horrible pain he felt. Finally, he slept on July 12, 1994 and was buried in the Holy Hermitage of Agios Ioannis the Theologian in Souroti, Thessaloniki.
On January 13, 2015, the Holy Synod of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople decided to classify the monk Paisios of Mount Athos in the Hagiology of the Orthodox Church.
Sourced By: San Simera
