Personal Background
Elder Paisios was born in Cappadocia on July 25, 1924. Almost immediately his family was forced to flee with the general exodus of Greek refugees from Asia Minor. They settled in Eperos in Northwestern Greece. He first visited Mt. Athos in 1949 after his time in the army.
He returned in 1950 and, after a short time in the neighborhood of Karyes, settled in the Monastery of Esphigmenou. In 1954 he was tonsured there as rasophoros monk with the name Averkios. That same year he moved to the Monastery of Philotheou, which at that time was still idiorhythmic. The elder observed in later years that one could even live a more ordered and stricter ascetic life in an idiorhythmic monastery than in a cenobium if one was under close supervision of a good spiritual father. After two years he was tonsured to the small schema in Philotheou and given the name Paisios.
In 1958 Fr. Paisios left the Mountain and went to the Stomio Monastery of Konitsas north of Ioaninna. He stayed there four four years and in 1962 went to Mt. Sinai where he lived in the Skete of St. Epistime on Gebel Mugufa. In the two years that he stayed there he gave himself to strict physical asceticism which he later said was the breaking of his health. In 1964 he returned to Mt. Athos and lived in the Cell of the Archangels in Iveron Skete. He was hospitalized in 1966 and while on the mainland became acquainted with the nuns of the Hesychastirion of St. John the Theologian, whom he helped greatly in years to come and where he died and was buried.
In 1968 he went to Stavronikita Monastery and was tonsured to the great and angelic schema by Papa-Tychon of the Kelli of the Holy Cross. After Papa-Tychon’s passing he left the kelli to Geron Paisios and the elder remained there from 1968 to 1979.
In 1979 he moved to the kathisma of Koutloumousiou Monastery known as Panagouda near Karyes. At his request the kathisma was made a kelli and the elder was given an omologo/ life-lease. Many of his monastic spiritual sons settled nearby in kellia or in kalyvia of Koutloumousiou Skete, but the elder lived alone. Many, many pilgrims came to visit him there. He finally died and was gathered to the Lord on July 12, 1994. Within a year two books about him and recording his teaching had been published in Greek.
Sayings
Concerning the Spiritual Life
Father Paisios said: As a person becomes more spiritual, so much fewer rights does he has in this life. It is obligatory to be patient, to accept injustice, to accept evil words from others. A crooked stick (perverted person) who is distant from God has many rights: to strike and shout and act unrighteously. Our rights God keeps for the other life. Out of ignorance however we often seek our rights here. Let us not damage things at all. If they say anything to us, immediately we give them the right. And later we think we trust in God. That is a big joke. Human justice doesn’t mean anything to a spiritual person. But it is a great concern for the perverted person.
The elder said: I often see a strange thing that occurs with religious people, reminding one of a vegetable market. There everybody shouts. One says, take oranges; another says take beets, and so forth, each in order to sell their own stuff. Something similar happens with Christians. Some say if you enter this association you’ll be saved. If you go there you’ll be saved. However, many people are not for here or there but for somewhere else. , . A man of God can help. Help but not strangle. Now, let’s imagine, I go to some army base to tell them various things about monasticism. I won’t tell them lies. I’ll tell them as it is. So what happens? Are all to become monks. That way naturally I cause trouble, because perhaps some of them will undertake monasticism and later will suffer and fail. I have to find the pure one to help him choose.
The elder spoke again on the same theme: Someone want to paint icons, has decide to become an icon painter, to make icons which will perform miracles; may it be. Another wants to become a married priest; it is my joy. One wants to be unmarried; let him be unmarried. One wants to be a monk? He should be helped accordingly. All do not fit in one basket. Some set the people to do things contrary to whatever they can do.
The elder said: It is not good for one to change spiritual fathers. Imagine a building which continually changes engineer and builder. It’s not likely to turn out right.
The elder said: The spiritual father should be free and act accordingly. He should not follow somebody elses party line. (follow some line placed by others)
Father Paisios said: I don’t give prescriptions at a distance. There is no long distance doctor. Only I give prayers.
The elder said: So much higher you throw a thing, with analogous power it will fall down and break in pieces. Often we see someone with a great fantasy of himself, but outwardly he doesn’t suffer anything to be humbled. This is dangerous. He has arrived at interior pride and gives grades. May God protect him, he’s one with Satan.
They asked the elder if there exist on the Holy Mountain those who have arrive at the love that sees all people as brothers, and he answered: There would have been many. Unfortunately there are few, few souls. We Athonites have suffered a great evil with the Calendar. This will destroy the Holy Mountain. It has destroyed the whole world. It has created the whole situation.
The elder said again: The world now is concerned with all the other matters except itself. I think that if one is concerned with oneself everything will fall in its canonical rhythm. And this we must do. The devil, you see, opens work, gives handiwork to each.
The elder said: When I put myself in order, I put in order a bit of the Church, whenever we can be of one mind. The Holy Spirit is One. Now people make many spirits. I can not understand.
The elder said: A person give flesh to his child. God gives the soul. When the child grows the parents cease to have authority. God gives to each person the guardian angel. He helps him throughout his whole life. Shouldn’t we trust ourselves to God?
Someone asked if the elder all the people who came everyday with questions tired him. He answered: I’ll tell you. When the discussion is spiritual it doesn’t weary. It’s bad when people ask altogether unreasonable questions. If they are illiterate and ask such things it will be alright. But there are “smart” people, students, and they ask you what relation the time has with the conscience of the person. In such cases I say, ‘Here I have coffee and one or two aspirins. Sit a little and little by little we’ll clear up your theme.
Concerning Prayer
The elder said: In order for you to have time for prayer you must not concern yourself with things that other people can do. Let’s take an example. A doctor should not be concerned with gauzes and bandages. A nurse can do that. The doctor will take care of the serious matters. He’ll do the examinations and operations, etc. If he sit to put gauze he won’t get to the serious work and then many who have need won’t benefit. The same with you. Pray for your suffering parishioners (applied to the correspondent and two other priests) remember their names and note those who have greater need. It’s better for you to know what pains each one. That way the prayer is better.
The elder said: Whether we pray for ourselves or for others, the prayer must be from the heart. The problems of others should become our problems. You have to prepare for prayer. Read a bit of the Gospel or the Gerontiko and then pray. It requires an attempt to take the mind to the divine space. Study is like a gift which God gives us to direct us to greater spirituality. With study the soul is warmed.
The elder said: Seek the ladder of discerning doxology and thanksgiving/ rejoicing of God. The great sin is joylessness.
With regard to the recollection of the mind at the time of prayer, Father Paisios wrote to me:
Holy Cross, 3-5-72
Dear brother Dionysios,
Rejoice. I received your letter with much joy for the interior change which has happened in you. I will pray God to do what ever is for the benefit of your soul and His glory.
Concerning the matter of the recollection of the mind which is made difficult by temptations, it will help a great deal to study patristic books which will lead to prayer. The Sayings of the Fathers will help a lot because just a couple lines from them cover all concerns. The Sayings of the Fathers will transport you to the holy soil of the Thebaid and Nitria and you’ll go up praying mentally with the holy father beside you.
Naturally it is not easy now to undertake many things now while you are in the army. Whatever you do is an achievement and has great worth. As to monasteries near you, I don’t know of any men’s monasteries. Women’s I know of but I don’t want to send men there. Be patient and your enlistment will pass without your noticing. I’ll pray that God give you patience. May Christ and the Virgin be with you.
With the love of Christ,
Monk Paisios
The elder said: Some say that when a person prays he should have his mind on the icon or the words. No. Not on icon nor letters. Let him have his mind in his sinfulness, but with discernment. Many times the devil can cause trouble there too. He’ll tell you that you are sinful, to make you despair. You should answer him abruptly: saying “What’s that to you? When I want to say that I am a sinner I will and not when the devil wishes; because when the devil wishes he’ll bring me to despair.
The elder said: The person should experience his sinfulness and have trust and hope in the mercy of God, because that way he’ll be saved. That way the mind is recollected and experiences the prayer as a need. That way he begins to say: Lord Jesus Christ, come…”, and the heart gains rest.
The elder said: Stillness and freedom from worry help to recollect the person in prayer. On the other hand, distraction does not help because it scatters the mind.
God will not require the same of everybody. But you should know that the one who prays arrives at a condition in which he says the prayer even in sleep; not as in a dream but in reality.
Hearing the above saying of the elder someone said that those in the world don’t have the possibility to reach such a state. And Father Paisios answered, “Do you suppose that I’ve attained it? Only I know people who have attained it.”
Addressing some people who lived in the world, Fr. Paisios said: You don’t know much about mental prayer, except for that which you have read. Women should be attentive because they have sensitivity and love, whereas men love Christ with the reason. Women love with the heart and have demonstrated it when they crucified the Lord. Men apply the reason, noting how many Jews, Scribes and Pharisees, were at the crucifixion, how many soldiers, etc. and therefore locked themselves in the house, set the bolt firmly and waited to see what would happen. The women have the sensitivity and it’s easy for their tears to come in the time when they pray and to think that they have arrived at the state which the fathers describe. It requires attention and caution.
The elder said: It’s not only that we become accustomed to saying the prayer. The purpose is for the person to know himself and sense his sinfulness. If he only slapped someone, he’s a sinner because he shouldn’t have done it. We are all sinners. Consider what God did for us and what we do for God. After thinking of that, even if the heart is granite it will soften. Let’s think a little logically. God could have made me a mule and given me into an undiscerning hand which would load me with 150 kilos of wood and beat me. Finally I would fall into a pit and the dogs would open my belly and those who pass by would cover their noses for the stink on the road. Just for that should I give thanks to God? I don’t thank Him. God could have made me a snake or a scorpion. But His love made me a human being. God was sacrificed for me. With one drop of divine blood He washes away all the sins of the world. If a person thinks of all this; on one side the good work of God and on the other his own sinfulness and ingratitude, even if the heart were granite it would soften. And then he senses the mercy of God. The heart must gain rest with “Lord Jesus Christ have mercy on me”. The prayer refreshes, not wearies. When we do not proceed in this manner, we acquire only the habit although the elder, the old self, remains within and we follow the way of delusion.
Concerning Stillness
The elder said: When we have stillness there is a desert. The place is not a desert. In the desert I must make myself deserted of all my passions. When I adjust the desert to myself, I do not live in the desert. I must adjust myself to the desert. And in the world one can accomplish a lot. It’s enough to try to do away with mistakes. If you have, for example, a faucet that leaks continually: drip, drip, drip – or an alarm clock that continually tick, tick, ticks, – you’ll change it. One can do a lot.
The elder wrote concerning stillness. Outer stillness, with discerning asceticism, very quickly brings also interior stillness (the peace of the soul), which an essential preparation for delicate spiritual activity. For as much as one distances oneself from the world so much more is the world distanced from within you and worldly thoughts leave and the mind of a person is purified and he become a man of God.
The elder said: And by itself stillness is a mystical prayer and aids greatly in prayer, like the unceasing breath of a person.
The elder said: Stillness (far from the world) very quickly brings also interior stillness in the soul with ascesis and continual prayer. Then the person is not disturbed by exterior disquiet, because in essence only the body is found on earth but the mind is found in Heaven.
Concerning Humility
The elder said: Humility is acquired after struggles. When you know yourself you acquire humility, which become a (permanent) condition. Otherwise one can become humble for a moment, but your thought will say to you that you are something although in reality you’re nothing. and you’ll be deluded like that to the moment of death. If death finds you with the thought that you are nothing, then God will speak. If however your thought says at the hour of death that you are something and you don’t understand it, all your effort goes to waste.
Concerning Freedom
The elder said: It is not freedom when we say to people that everything is permitted. That is slavery. To improve one must have difficulties. Let’s take an example. We have a little tree. We take care of it. We place a stake and tie it with a rope. Naturally we don’t tie it with wire because that way we would injure it. With their method they would not constrain the tree; and it doesn’t develop properly otherwise. And look at the child. We limit his freedom from the beginning. When he is first conceived the poor thing is limited in his mother’s womb and remains there nine whole months. Later he is born and immediately they swaddle him in a blanket, they tie him up, as soon as he begins to grow they set a railing, etc. All of this is necessary for him to grow. It appears to take away freedom, but without these protective measures the child will die in the first moment.
The elder said: Freedom is good when the person can use it appropriately. Otherwise it is a disaster.
Concerning the Priesthood
The elder said: A certain monk known to me happened to go with a group on an excursion. One of them didn’t believe at all in God. Since he was a friend the others had brought him for all that he confessed that he didn’t believe. When the others began to chat among themselves, the monk joined the unbeliever and with his own method cast out from within him the matter of unbelief – without the others noticing. The man himself did understand what had happened. A change took place in him and everyone appeared like rainbows. That person believed in God through the intercession on the monk.
The elder said: Often we see a person and we say a couple spiritual words to him and he takes a turn. Later we say, “Ah, I save someone.” I believe that the person who has the disposition and goodness within him, if he doesn’t take the turn from us will take it from a bear or a fox or from anything else. Let us watch out for false evangelization.
The elder said concerning papa-Tychon: There was a little elder who had simplified his life. He had no housework. He was free from every convenience, because that which we call today convenience is in fact inconvenience. Convenience is for one to simplify one’s life and to limit its to the essentials. Then the person is liberated.
The elder said: We much not compel others to follow the spiritual struggle. You can not compel him if he does not have the disposition. It is like what happens with food. If one is not disposed to eat and we give him food under compulsion, he will vomit it up.
The elder said: The world today has need of good confessors. Good spiritual fathers are few today and the few that remain have to do their work in a hurry because of the many who go to them. Like a good surgeon who does many interventions and is wearied by the results so as to not give all as he should. If there were good spiritual fathers, there would not be so many psychiatrists.
To a question of how a spiritual father should apply the canons in confession the elder answered: The spiritual father must see each person separately and act accordingly. for me the spiritual father who applies the canons without examining each situation individually is a criminal.
For the monastics
The elder said: The monk will be unjustified if he does not move in the realm of general love. He struggles to go out from his small family and enters into the great family. God does not demand that the head of a household attain to this situation/ measure.
The elder said. Let us not bring the world and its customs, comforts and luxury, into the monastery,
The elder said: Let obedience not be with misery and like forced labor. The elder or eldress is not a Diokletianos who says no and don’t. We owe them gratitude since they protect us. Not complaints and disobedience.
The elder said: As soon as the monk renounces and gives over his own to God and forgets them, then God must help them. Thus the monk leaves the small family and enters into the great family of Adam. He doesn’t remember his own, nor prays particularly for them. I see in all people my parents, my brothers, my relations. I have ceased all communication. When I don’t think of my own, then God will think of them.
The elder said: My greatest enemy is my name. Woe to the monk who gets a name, because he’ll not have quiet, but the people will begin to shape various things, which are not the reality.
The elder said: Once two Catholics came here. They seemed to be good boys, architects. And they said to me that Orthodox monasticism doesn’t produce anything, whereas theirs undertake great ministries. I explained to them that the mission of the monk is something else, different from the mission of the clergy in the world. I said, “If we destroy the lighthouse on the rocks, what will become of the ships? But the monks are the lighthouses.”
(c)1996 St. Gregory Palamas Monastery. May be reproduced in its entirety for non-commercial purposes without prior permission.
By protopresbyter GEORGIOS CHR. EFTHYMIOS
Text for Elder Paisios the Hagiorite
In the summer of 1975, I was blessed with going for the first time to the Garden of the Mother of God, Mount Athos (Agion Oros). I visited various age-long monasteries; I paid my respects to many of the priceless treasures of the Holy place, that is, holy remnants of martyrs and saints of our faith as well as holy icons. I participated in the daily all-night long masses which are concluded with the Divine Service early in the morning. I sat at the simple monastery table, where everything reminds you that you eat in order to survive and fight for your salvation and you do not live in order to eat, where the reading of the devout patristic text aims at transporting the minds of the table companions to heaven. I associated with conscientious monks who, inspired by the divine love and obeying the urging of Basil the Great, “take care of thy self”, have denied the world, but not man for whom they pray unfailingly with love and “with many tears” (Act. 20:19) in their cells and the church during the sacred vigils.
During my visit, I did not succeed, despite my wish, to meet Elder Paisios who was then an ascetic at the Stavronikita cell of the Holy Cross. This came later, “when the time was mature” (Gal. 4:4). What I realized about this full-of-grace person during my first pilgrimage to Mount Athos were the characteristic words of another co-pilgrim, today an assistant professor at the Medical School of the University of Thessaloniki, who had met him and told me that “his love breaks you apart”, something I verified myself later on.
I will deal with this genuine man of God briefly, as I had the opportunity to do in the past with my dear spiritual fathers, Elder Porfyrios and Elder Iakovos.
On Tuesday, July 12, 1994 , the late Elder Paisios, the Hagiorite, rested in the Lord, at the Holy Cemetery of St. John the Theologian, in Souroti of Thessaloniki.
This genuine man of God, whose secular name was Arsenios Eznepides, was born to pious parents, Prodromos and Eulabia, at Farasa, Cappadocia on the 25 th of July, 1924.
Due to the extraordinary and harsh conditions, he was baptized a few days later at Farasa, on the 7 th of August, by St. Arsenios Chatziefentis and was given the name “Arsenios”.
Barely a month after his birth, he was driven along with his parents, relatives and other citizens of Farasa away from his paternal home and became a refugee.
The boat with the refugees arrived in metropolitan Greece on September 14. The Elder’s family lived for a little while first in Piraeus , then in Castro of Corfu and in a small village near Igoumenitsa prior to settling down in Konitsa in 1926.
He finished the Konitsa Elementary School and, then, he worked as a carpenter until 1945 when he was enlisted in the army. His military service, during those unlucky years of the civil war, lasted for approximately four years, until 1949, when Arsenios Eznepides, the radio operator, received his discharge certificate marked with “excellent” conduct.
In 1950, he went to Mt. Athos aiming at realizing the dream of his life; that is to receive the angelic schema.
In 1954, he was tonsured at the Monastery of Esphigmenou where he was serving as a novice as a rasophoros monk with the name of Averkios.
In 1956, he was tonsured to the “Small Schema” in Philotheou Monastery taking the name “Paisios”.
In 1958, after being asked by the people of Konitsa who were spiritually in danger by a “raid” of Protestants who had managed to proselytize eighty poor families, he went to the Monastery of the Theotokos Birthday, at Stomio, next to the Aos River . He stayed there for four years and greatly helped the inhabitants of the area who visited the Monastery.
In 1962, we find him as an ascetic at the Cell of Saints Galaktionas and Episteme, in the desert of Mt. Sinai.
In 1964, he returned to Mt. Athos and took up residence at the Archangels’ cell, at the Scete of Ivira.
In 1966, he was operated on and had part of his lungs removed due to a serious illness.
In 1967, he settled down at Katounakia, at the Cell of Ypatios of Lavra, for more intense discipline.
In 1968, Papa- Tychon clothed him in the “Great and Angelic Schema”, at the Holy Cross Cell of Stavronikita Monastery. He remained in the Cell after the repose of Papa- Tychon on the 10 th of September, 1968 , and stayed there until 1979.
In 1979, he moved on to his final home, the Panagouda Cell of the Monastery of Koutloumousiou, near Karyes. He stayed there until 1993 receiving many thousands of people who visited him in order to share their pain with him and ask his advice and prayer.
I was blessed by God to manage to visit him and talk with him during that blessed and fruit-bearing period of fifteen years that he lived in the Panagouda Cell.
I remember my eagerness when I went down the path that led from Karyes, the administrative centre of the Athos State , to the Elder’s cell. The sweet expectation of my meeting with this true man of God flooded my heart and gave wings to my feet.
The waiting in front of the yard’s gate at the Cell was short or long depending on the case. The Elder took good care to “make this waiting sweeter” having always in the Cell loukoumia or other sweets and water to offer to the pilgrims. The inscription written by him “to eat is a blessing” is characteristic. Apart from all the above, there were also makeshift seats so that the waiting pilgrims could rest and various articles of clothing to be worn by them so that they would not get cold as they were sweaty. Such affection, such love, such providence for everybody!
At some point, the Cell’s door, of the old and poor building, would open and the Elder, who had been inside involved in discipline and heart prayer for the salvation of his soul and the souls of his brothers, would appear. His face was always exhilarated and his attitude cordial. He would receive us and ask us to sit in the “outdoors dorter” on seats made of pieces from tree trunks. He would shake our hands and at the same time offer us loukoumia and water according to the tradition of Mt. Athos .
There, under the trees, with the songs of the birds “as the vocal drone”, the Elder would start talking to us with “the words of eternal life” (John 6:68) either answering our questions or making comments on his own on the basis of information from “above” about the needs of each one of us. Here is the miraculous thing! The pilgrims were of various ages, professions, characters, spiritual and intellectual levels. Some of them were conscious of who was sitting in front of them and exactly what they were looking for. Some were there because they had heard something about him. Others were there with an ill-tempered and negative mood. He, guided by the Holy Spirit, offered “as every man had need” (Acts 2:45 ).
I will never forget, in relation to the above, the Elder’s behaviour towards a Spanish student of Fine Arts, follower of the Pope, who happened to be amongst us in the “outdoors dorter” at some visit. At some point, the Elder turned to him with affection and interest making use of some Italian words and phrases he remembered from the Italian occupation so that he could communicate with him. Then, he gave him many pieces of advice in the Greek language and revealed to him many truths that, as he explained to us, the Holy Spirit would help him feel regardless of the fact that the different language would not allow him to understand. More specifically, when another visitor made the comment that “the foreign student does not understand what you are saying to him in Greek”, he answered that “he will understand what he is meant to understand”.
His advice to all his visitors was to have a spiritual father. This is why after giving answers and advice to questions or problems put forward by the people, he would finally send them to their spiritual fathers to lay the burden of their sins, which were the cause of all problems, under their stoles.
Many Christians, therefore, leading autonomous lives, selfishly, as orphans, “as sheep having no shepherd” (Matthew 9:36 ) took his advice, found a spiritual father and started living according to the Church. Their lives and the lives of the ones around them changed. Here I would like to mention something that the Elder always recommended for his wedded visitors. “Have the same spiritual father with your wife. Because as the carpenter uses the same plane to work on two pieces of wood and make them fit, the same way the spiritual father will use the same “plane” to work on the character of both spouses so as to make them fit. Whereas if you have different spiritual fathers, you will face difficulties.”
I would like to mention something else extremely important that the Elder said on another occasion. I was with a group of people in the “outdoors dorter”, when another group came, amongst whom there was an assistant professor of the Medical School of the University of Athens who held the Elder in great veneration. The professor asked Fr. Paisios at some point with pain, interest and love: “There are, Elder, many colleagues of mine, doctors, who have good intentions, good feelings, “bowels of mercies” (Colossians 3:12 ) but do not believe. What can we do for them?” “Listen,” says the Elder”, “pray for them because under these circumstances they deserve God’s mercy.” He had said the same about some teachers and professors on another occasion.
The Elder, as a genuine man of God, had consolidated and immovable ideas “in the things he hast learned and hast been assured of” (2 Timothy 3:14 ). He knew and taught “by word and deed” (Romans 15:18 ) that in the issues of faith there is no swaying, negotiation or compromise. He clearly knew that there is no greater unhappiness and bigger danger for the Christian than to deny his faith and accept deceit. As we know, many deceived people, people that did not feel rest, urged by his reputation, went to meet him and discuss their existential problems. It is true that many of those people went there full of delusions and left repented, seeking then guidance in their spiritual fathers. If, therefore, someone gets involved with some of the heresies and para-religions that have flooded our country mainly in recent years as well as if someone advances in the initiations, rites and other demonic activities imposed in order to become a member, this means a conscious or unconscious negation of the faith to the Trinitarian God, Christ, the Church and the Baptism, I once asked the Elder: “What should we do with these people when they repent and want to return to the Church?” “You will say,” he said, “the Service for the One that returns to the Orthodox Church. The people that return will denounce the bad faith with libel, they will confess the faith of the Church by reciting the Symbol of Faith and then you will anoint them with the holy unction.”
All of us are very much concerned about our dear departed, their state and what we can do about them. We used to ask the Elder about this and wanted really convincing answers. He would emphatically advise us to pray a lot for them. “Prayers,” he said, “memorial services, liturgies, mercies are very much to the benefit of the departed ones.” “You should pray more,” he added, “for the departed ones than the living. Because there is nothing they can do on their own any more, but we can help them attracting God’s mercy through praying and the other means we have mentioned so that their state can be improved or even change, because they are still under judgment.” And he concluded by saying in his characteristic way: “Is it a small thing to take our departed one from a sunless basement to a sunny apartment through our prayers?” At some point, I remember, he mentioned something overwhelming as regards the departed ones and our stance for them. There was a suicide once, a person who put an end to his life by falling from a bridge into a river. This man, as the Elder said, repented while he was falling, asked for forgiveness, his repentance was accepted and his soul was received by a Lord’s angel. We must learn not to despair; and pray for our brethrens asking for God’s mercy and according to the words of St. Isidoros Pilousiotis: “do not forerun God’s judgment.” (P. G. 78, 377) and be judges of the others
It is unanimously accepted by the ecclesiastical tradition that pride is the biggest enemy of man’s salvation. This is also underlined by the Bible where, inter alias, it is said that the “Lord scorneth the scorners ” (Proverbs 3:34) and “everyone that exalteth himself shall be abased” (Luke 18:14 ). The Elder told the following story which shows that pride is not the unfortunate privilege of the officials, rich and intellectuals only but is found amongst the most insignificant, poor and illiterate people. There was a shepherd who was discussing one day with the Elder when he was an ascetic in the Stomio Monastery near Konitsa. During the discussion, the dog of the flock approached trying to eat the shepherd’s food which was in a plate near-by. The shepherd realised the dog’s intention and managed quickly and swiftly to cover the plate avoiding thus the damage. Then, he turned to the Elder and boasted: “Did you see, monk, how clever I am and how I managed to save the food?” By mentioning this incident, the Elder pointed out the danger of pride which threatens all of us and the need to be alert and show repentance and humiliation in order to avoid the temptation stemming from the right.
During one of our visits, we asked the Elder about mercy. His answer was categorical. We have to practice this great Christian virtue suggested by Christ in the Sermon on the Mount when he blesses the ones that practice it and says: “Blessed are the merciful for they shall receive mercy” (Matthew 5:7). He mainly urged us to help widows, orphans and, in general, people that are in great need. He said that upon accepting our help, they make a wish for us and our departed from the bottom of their hearts and say “May God forgive them, may their bones become holy!” and God hears the prayers that spring deep from their souls. In answer to the question that sometimes the idea crosses our mind that the ones begging can be cons or use our mercy for harmful purposes, he used to say that in these cases we should apply Christ’s order giving a small amount of money and He takes care so that the money goes where it is needed. Furthermore, he referred for long to the ways that this is done.
The bleak condition of the world that “lieth in wickedness” (1 John 5:19 ) and the difficulties that the conscientious Christian faces “because strait is the gate and narrow is the way which leadeth unto life” (Matthew 7:14 ) are very well known. The “enemies of man”, the devil that “prowls about as a roaring lion seeking someone to devour” (1 Peter 5:8), the old man, the one enslaved in the will of the flesh and the world, under the thumb of the devil who promotes his will in an attractive way, fight fiercely against the Christian who, literally, “goes in the midst of snares” (Sirach 9: 13). In answer to the agonising question raised by Christian family men about what they should do in order to face these bleak circumstances, the Elder provided the exit from the stranglehold of the daily reality talking to two different men. He said to the one that we will be saved from these if we “cling to the Church” and on a different occasion, he said to the other, as a clarification to the above: “go to the church, confess, receive the Eucharist and you will reach the average”.
The urging of Basil the Great “take care of thy self” (P. G. 31, 217B) is well known; the same holds for the unanimous advice of the Holy Fathers for continuous self- control exercised by the Christian. Elder Paisios, following this tradition, used to advise us to look into our selves and see “how many carats of Christians we are”.
I left for the end two pieces of advice given to me by the Elder when I visited him for the final confirmation of God as regards my entering the holy orders. It was the 1 st November 1986 , when the Church celebrates the memory of Hosios David the Elder. I walked down with eagerness from Karyes to the Elder’s Cell, Panagouda, in the wet autumn afternoon. A bit further down from the Monastery of Koutlomousio, two dogs became my “companions”. They were running along the path which I did not know well. When they led me to the gate of the Cell’s yard and the Elder came out to welcome me, he said to them and his words were full of meaning: “Ok, you can go now.” And the dogs, as good “subservients” left immediately upon concluding their mission. This time the Elder welcomed me inside the cell where the stove with the wood was lit. After the “traditional” treat we went to the small church of the cells. I mentioned the purpose of my visit and after his unreserved and at the same time overwhelming answer for me “of course it is God’s will”, we talked about other things. There, inter alias, he gave me the following pieces of advice which I am quoting hoping that they will help my brethrens as they have helped me. His first piece of advice was: “do not put your plans before God’s plans”. These words saved me. They freed me from stress and anxiety. They taught me to put Christ’s will always first in my life over my own will, to ask Christ always to lead the way in my life and direct me in everything. I saw, through the daily experience of so many years, that Christ knows and can assume full charge in the best way when we love Him, trust Him and ask Him to do that freely, voluntarily and unquestionably. We all understand the importance of this, especially for the shepherd’s ministration of rational sheep and for the faithful that Christ entrusted him with. His second piece of advice was: “Thank God for everything you are; everything you have and everything you achieve. By thanking God you will realise that these are not your achievements but His gifts and, thus, you will feel humble.” Without many comments, someone can understand the importance of the Elder’s precept who with a simple, but “square” way leads man to self-knowledge and balance, far away from the morbid complexes of handicap and arrogance as well as away from man’s lethal enemy, pride. The Elder’s words always remind me of what Apostle Paul writes: “what hast thou that thou didst not receive? Now if thou didst receive it, why dost thou glory, as if thou hadst not received it?” (1 Corinthians 4:7)
I know that thousands of pages have been written about Elder Paisios. And I am sure that many more will be written. My work did not aspire to add some pages to the so many others. Stating my personal experience, six years upon the repose of the blessed Elder, is a debt of honor and gratitude for the person who, with God’s providence, helped me in critical choices of my life and continues to help me in my pastoral ministration with the prayers and precepts he left me. These lines are also a debt of love for my brethrens so that they can get to know this genuine person and the holy will of God as it was formulated through his lips with the wish that it will become their own will for salvation.
SAYINGS OF ELDER PAISIOS
” We went through fire and water…”
The crosses of ordeals
• I have always on me the small cross you gave me, O Elder, and it helps me to overcome difficulties.
• Yes, these small crosses are our crosses. Like the ones we wear around our necks and protect us in our lives. What do you think? Do we bear a big cross? Only Christ’s Cross was very heavy because Christ did not want to use for Himself His divine strength out of love for us, the people. Moreover, he bears the weight of all the crosses of the world and disburdens us from the pains of the ordeals with His divine help and His sweet comfort.
Good God provides each person with a cross relevant to their strength; the idea is not suffering but the ascent from the cross to Heaven because in reality the cross is a stairway to Heaven. If we realise what treasure we are saving from the pain of ordeals, we will not groan, but praise God bearing the small cross he gave us as a gift. Thus, we will enjoy this life and we will receive pension and “gratuity” in the other one. God has secured our reward in Heaven. If we ask to be relieved from an ordeal, then He gives the reward to someone else and we lose it. Whereas, if we are patient, He will gives us interest as well.
The people who suffer here are blessed because the more they suffer in this life, the more they are helped in the other, because they are paying off sins. The crosses of ordeals are higher than the “talents”, the gifts, that God offers us. The person that bears not only one but five crosses is blessed. An ordeal or a martyrical death is also a clear reward. Thus, we should say for every ordeal: “Thank you God, because this is what was needed for my salvation.”
The ordeals help people recover
• I hear, O Elder, about the sufferings of my people. Will their hard times ever end?
• Be patient, my sister, and never lose your hope to God. As I understood from all the ordeals that your people are going through, God loves you and allows all these ordeals so that the whole family will shine spiritually. If we look into the ordeals from a secular point of view, you look unhappy. If we look into the ordeals from a spiritual point of view, you are happy and the people that are considered happy in this life will envy you in the other one. Thus, your parents are also disciplined as they do not know or do not understand the dignified, the spiritual way. There is a mystery hidden, though, in the ordeals inflicted on your family, as well as in other families, although there is so much prayer! ” Who knows the wills of God?” May God help and end the ordeals.
• Isn’t there another way, O Elder, so that people can recover? Only the ordeals?
• Before God allows the advent of an ordeal, He has used the good way, but He is not understood. This is why, afterwards, he allowed the ordeal to come. You see, when a child does not behave properly, the father in the beginning tries to approach him/ her in a good way and he does all the favours. But if the child does not change, then he treats him/ her strictly in order to recover. God does the same. When someone does not understand through the good way, God gives them an ordeal so that they can recover. If there were not a little pain, illnesses etc, people would become wild beasts. They would never approach God.
This life is short and false; its years are few. And this is good because the bitter things, which treat our souls like bitter medicines, will pass quickly. You see, the doctors give the poor ill people that are in pain bitter medicine, because they will be cured by taking the bitter one and not the sweet. What I want to say is that health springs from bitter and the salvation of the soul springs from bitter.
When in pain, Christ visits us
The man that does not wish to suffer ordeals, does not wish to hurt, to experience discomfort, does not want others to make him sad or make a remark about them, but the only thing that he wants is to have a good time lives in an unreal world. ” We went through fire and water and you led us to a place of rejoice,” says the Psalmist.
You see our Mother of God suffered, our Saints suffered and this is why we have to suffer as we follow the same path. The difference is that when we suffer a little in this life, we pay our bills and we are saved. Christ came to earth through pain. He came from Heaven, was incarnated, suffered, was crucified. The Christian now feels Christ’s visit in this way, through pain.
When pain visits man, then Christ visits man. Whereas, when man does not undergo any ordeal, it is as if God has abandoned him. There is neither payment of bills nor saving. I refer of course to the person that does not want to suffer for the love of Christ. He says: “I am healthy, I have my appetite, I eat, and I have a good time, quiet ” and does not say “Glory be to God”. If they, at least, recognise all these blessings of God, it is something. “I was not worthy of all these things,” this person must say, “but God provides for me because I am weak.” It is mentioned in the life of St. Ambrosios that the Saint was once put up along with his companions at the house of someone rich. Upon seeing the fabulous riches, the Saint asked him whether he had experienced some kind of grief. “No, never,” he answered. “My riches are on the increase, my land flourishes; I suffer no pain and I have never seen any illness.” Then the Saint said to his entourage: “Prepare the coaches to get quickly out of here. This man was never visited by God!” And when they were on the street, the house of the rich man subsided! The good time was the abandonment of God.
“For whom the Lord loveth, he reproves”
• Why does the world suffer so much today, O Elder?
• Due to God’s love! As a nun, you get up in the morning, you attend your canon, you say your rosaries, you do your prostrations etc. The difficulties the secular people suffer are their canons; they are purified through them. They do more good to them than the secular good time that helps them neither approach God nor save a heavenly reward. They must accept them, therefore, as gifts from God.
The Good God educates His children as a good Father through the ordeals because of love, divine goodness and not because of malice or secular, legal, justice. He wants them to return to Him. As He wants to save the beings He created so that they become heirs to His Heavenly Kingdom, he allows the ordeals so that man can fight and take exams in how patient he is in the ordeals. The devil cannot, therefore, tell Him: “Why do you reward him or why do you save him? He did not labour!” God is not interested in this life, but in the other. He looks after the other life first and then this.
• But why, O Elder, does God give many ordeals to some people and not to others?
• What does the Bible say? ” For whom the Lord loveth, he reproves”. Let’s say that a father has eight children. Five of them stay at home, near their father, and the other three go away and not even think about him. If the ones that stay with him get into mischief, he slaps them slightly on the face or if they are good, he caresses them, he gives them a bar of chocolate. The ones that are far away experience neither the slap nor the chocolate. This is the way of God. If the people that are near Him and the ones that have good intentions make a small mistake, He slaps them on the face slightly and this is their pay-off or if He slaps them more, they save for later. On the other hand, He gives years to the ones that are away from Him so that they can repent. This is why we see secular people who, despite their serious sins, have plenty of material goods and live for many years without suffering any ordeal. This is done on God’s sufferance so that they can repent. If they do not repent, they will be without a hearing in the other life.