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Saint Paisios of Mount Athos
Athonite monk and spiritual elder
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Life and witness
Paisios lived from 1924 to 1994. Born in Pharasa in Cappadocia, he grew up in Konitsa after his family moved to Greece. His monastic life included Mount Athos, Stomio, and Sinai. He died on July 12, 1994 and was buried at the monastery of Saint John the Theologian in Souroti. The Ecumenical Patriarchate formally recognized him as a saint in 2015.
Historical setting
Born Arsenios Eznepidis in Pharasa in 1924, Paisios was baptized by Saint Arsenios of Cappadocia before his family moved to Greece. He grew up in Konitsa and worked as a carpenter. After military service as a radio operator, he entered monastic life on Mount Athos in 1953. His later years also included the monastery of Stomio near Konitsa and a period of ascetic life at Sinai before returning to Athos.
Legacy and remembrance
At his Panagouda cell near Karyes, Paisios received many visitors seeking spiritual counsel. His remembrance emphasizes prayer, humility, and love for those in distress. He died in 1994 and was buried at Souroti, near Thessaloniki. The Ecumenical Patriarchate recognized him as a saint on January 13, 2015; his fixed commemoration is July 12. Reports of miracles belong to the Church’s devotional testimony, not promises of a medical outcome.
More about the life
Paisios’s monastic formation passed through Esphigmenou and Philotheou before his later hermit cells. The church biography records the earlier monastic name Averkios and then the name Paisios. At Stomio he helped restore the monastery; at Sinai he made wooden crosses and used the proceeds to help local Bedouins and children. After serious illness and lung surgery, he also helped women establish their convent at Souroti. These episodes connect his spiritual counsel with manual labor, material help, and care received from others.
Documented connections
These links distinguish personal discipleship, monastery dedications, and spiritual encounters reported in Church lives. They do not imply that every connected saint personally met Paisios.
- Saint Euphemia the All-praised
Paisios’s Church life reports an appearance of Saint Euphemia and a conversation about Church matters. This is a reported spiritual encounter, not a meeting between historical contemporaries.
https://www.oca.org/saints/lives/2026/07/12/100401-venerable-paisios-of-the-holy-mountain
- Saint John the Theologian
Paisios was buried at the monastery dedicated to Saint John the Theologian in Souroti. This is a connection through the monastery’s dedication, not a personal meeting with the apostle.
https://www.oca.org/saints/lives/2026/07/12/100401-venerable-paisios-of-the-holy-mountain
Quotes
A sourced selection, not a popularity ranking. Quote wording stays in the cited language; context notes are editorial.
No quotations have been approved for this collection yet. This does not mean that no authentic words survive. See the readings and sources below.
Readings
Selected reading
Spiritual Counsels of Elder Paisios, vol. 2: Spiritual Awakening (SVS Press excerpt)
Whoever has faith in God and a sacrificial spirit does not consider himself. When someone does not cultivate the spirit of sacrifice, he thinks only of himself and wants everybody to sacrifice themselves for him. But whoever thinks only of himself is isolated from others as well as God—a double isolation—in which case he cannot receive divine Grace. He becomes a useless person. One can readily see that he who thinks constantly of himself, his difficulties and troubles, and so on, will not find even some human assistance when a need arises…. On the contrary, someone who does not think of himself but thinks constantly of others, in the good sense, will be thought of constantly by God, and then others will also think of him.
English: cited historical translation. Modern Greek, Russian and Macedonian: LogosPharos translations through English, not direct translations from ancient Greek.
Editorial context
From the chapter Spiritual Awakening in the second volume of the Elder's Spiritual Counsels. The argument runs both ways: self-focus isolates a person from others and from God, while the habit of thinking of others returns as God's care and the care of others. It is counsel toward sacrificial love, not a dismissal of legitimate need.
View source text
Source text and edition
Whoever has faith in God and a sacrificial spirit does not consider himself. When someone does not cultivate the spirit of sacrifice, he thinks only of himself and wants everybody to sacrifice themselves for him. But whoever thinks only of himself is isolated from others as well as God—a double isolation—in which case he cannot receive divine Grace. He becomes a useless person. One can readily see that he who thinks constantly of himself, his difficulties and troubles, and so on, will not find even some human assistance when a need arises…. On the contrary, someone who does not think of himself but thinks constantly of others, in the good sense, will be thought of constantly by God, and then others will also think of him.
Excerpt from the English edition published by St Vladimir's Seminary Press. Greek, Russian and Macedonian below are relay translations from this English edition, not the original.
https://svspress.com/spiritual-counsels-of-the-elder-paisios-spiritual-awakening/
Words recorded in the sources
Each quotation is reproduced from the cited source without changing its wording; its translation basis is stated in its source panel.
Thoughts are like airplanes flying in the air. If you ignore them, there is no problem. If you pay attention to them, you create an airport inside your head and permit them to land!
His saying on thoughts, cited to Priestmonk Christodoulos Aggeloglou, Elder Paisios of the Holy Mountain (Mount Athos, 1998), pp. 29-30, 48
English: cited historical translation. Modern Greek, Russian and Macedonian: LogosPharos translations through English, not direct translations from ancient Greek.
View source text
Source text and edition
Thoughts are like airplanes flying in the air. If you ignore them, there is no problem. If you pay attention to them, you create an airport inside your head and permit them to land!
English text as published by fatheralexander.org with its cited attribution. Greek, Russian and Macedonian below are relay translations from this English edition, not the original.
https://www.fatheralexander.org/booklets/english/elder_paisios_mount_athos.htm
Dogmas don’t enter the European Union
Archimandrite Georgios Kapsanis, tribute to St Paisios (Pemptousia, 22 April 2016): the Elder's written note
English: cited historical translation. Modern Greek, Russian and Macedonian: LogosPharos translations through English, not direct translations from ancient Greek.
View source text
Source text and edition
Dogmas don’t enter the European Union
English text as published by Pemptousia. Greek, Russian and Macedonian below are relay translations through English, not direct translations from the source language.
https://pemptousia.com/2016/04/saint-paisios-the-athonite-teaches-spiritual-dignity-and-generous-pride/
Translations and context are AI-assisted and editorially reviewed, not independently certified by a scholar. Compare the displayed source text; short selections are not complete works.
Writings and works
Checked against Eastern Orthodox sources. Written works, recorded teaching, and works about the saint are distinguished.
Paisios’s Epistles are written letters. Spiritual Counsels is an edited collection of his teaching, not six books individually written by him. Modern editions are not reproduced here.
Epistles
Written work
Attribution source: Greek Orthodox Christian Society
Spiritual Counsels (six volumes)
Recorded teaching
Attribution source: Holy Cross Monastery
Church life and commemoration
Work about the saint
Attribution source: Eastern Orthodox Church account
External sources may be in another language. Modern editions and translations can be copyrighted; full books are not copied here.
Miracles and testimony
These summaries distinguish Scripture, hagiographical accounts and later testimony. A source establishes that an event was reported, not independent proof of its supernatural cause. Miracles are attributed to God, not autonomous powers of saints. Reports of healing are not medical advice or a promise of recovery.
Hagiographical account
Life of Paisios, Katounakia period
The Church Life recounts Paisios being visited by Saint Euphemia and discussing Church matters with her. This is testimony to a reported spiritual encounter, not a transcript independently authenticated here.
Read the sourcePublished testimony
Father Johannes L. Jacobse, A Miracle by Elder Paisios, account dated December 18, 2013
Father Johannes L. Jacobse describes Jeremiah’s recovery after a serious car accident on April 2, 2013. His family prayed for Paisios’s intercession while Jeremiah received intensive hospital care, including an induced coma and later rehabilitation. The priest reports that Jeremiah was fishing with friends by December 18, 2013, but describes his recovery as almost complete, not complete. This is the priest’s published testimony; the article does not supply independent clinical records or establish which part of the recovery had a supernatural cause.
Read the sourcePublished testimony
Father Christos Tsandalis, testimony reproduced by St Elisabeth Convent
Father Christos Tsandalis reports that his six-year-old son fell into a shaft extending four floors below the roof of their house and was found unharmed. He says a hospital examination found no injury. The child later pointed to a photograph of Paisios to identify the person he associated with his rescue. The convent article reproduces the father’s testimony, not the hospital records; the child’s identification is reported through his father.
Read the sourcePublished testimony
Nicholas Xinaris of Paphos, testimony reproduced by St Elisabeth Convent
Nicholas Xinaris, a plumber in Paphos, recounts a wire catching in his eye in July 1997. He says a monk in a black cassock appeared, lifted his head and freed the wire. He subsequently received emergency medical care and recognised Paisios in a photograph the following day. This is Xinaris’s published account; it does not supply independent examination records or establish an apparition as a clinical finding.
Read the sourcePublished testimony
Nondas Skopeteas, A Tear to Ego, testimony transcript published by Orthodox Teaching of the Elders
Nondas Skopeteas recounts Konstantinos (Kostas) Melitsos standing and walking with Paisios at Karyes despite longstanding paralysis. The account names Father Timotheos among those present. Crucially, it says Kostas returned to his wheelchair and his paralysis returned: it does not report a lasting cure. Skopeteas met Kostas later, not at the reported event. This transmitted testimony is not medical advice, a reason to refuse treatment or a measure of a disabled person’s faith.
Read the sourceHagiographical account
Life of Paisios, vision of Christ in his youth
The Church Life reports that the young Arsenios, later Paisios, saw Christ at the age of fifteen after resisting a temptation toward unbelief. The narrator links the experience with his growing love for God and desire for monastic life. This is a reported spiritual vision, distinct from a medically documented healing or an externally measured event.
Read the sourceResearch and reading notes
These are original editorial biographies, not copied source translations. Scripture, historical writing, and hagiographical tradition are distinguished in the text. This page is a study introduction, not an exhaustive critical edition or a personal spiritual rule.
The saints listed here are commemorated by Eastern Orthodox churches. These summaries and translations are independent editorial work, not official Church publications or Church-approved translations.
Church sources
https://www.oca.org/saints/lives/2026/07/12/100401-venerable-paisios-of-the-holy-mountain