God's Providence watches over the world. He watches over the fate of each individual person, He watches – incomprehensibly for us – and over the existence of His Church, His Body and His Bride. Periods (and not small ones) are allowed in which impoverishment seems extreme, more irreparable, as if the breath of life in the building of the Church of Christ is already ending. But the word of Christ is not false, and the gates of hell, which already seem to be open, do not prevail against the Church of Christ. Events of a global or national scale take place, and the Church of Christ emerges victorious from an extreme, seemingly terrible situation: the gates of hell have no power over her. In other circumstances, when great world shifts are not needed for the salvation of the Church, the Lord sets events of a smaller scope, puts forward individual people to whom Divine Providence is given an enviable lot – salvation, the restoration of the Church's heritage.

A similar lot in Russia was prepared for St. Sergius of Radonezh, the abba of the host of the Radonezh Fathers and all subsequent Russian monasticism, and in him – the leadership of the elders. The eighteenth century required other paths and other personalities to restore monastic life in Russia. The collapsed Byzantium could no longer be a stronghold of Orthodoxy and spiritual teaching for Russia, as it was in the time of St. Sergius. Even the teaching of the hesychasts was not as accessible to Russia as it was at that time. Living sources of the spiritual foundations of Orthodoxy and monastic life now had to be sought, also outside of Russia, somewhere on Athos and in the surrounding lands. And in order to attain what was sought, a man endowed with salvific striving and firmness was needed. Such a person, capable in his search to make a sacrifice, to cross the boundaries of his homeland, to strive to find the spiritual treasures that he had previously had, but had been lost, was revealed by the Lord, His incomprehensible Providence in the person of the Monk Paisius, as he is called in his life, "the native of Poltava."

Peter, the son of Archpriest John Velichkovsky of Poltava, early discovered in his heart the call to the living God, overcame many obstacles, external and internal, before he reached the desired monastic monastery. But even having found this monastery, having gone into various deeds and obediences, "washing," in the words of his life, "the brother's shroud," he could not calm his spirit, without finding genuine spiritual guidance, which would explain to him all the perplexities, questions, and ambiguities that arose on the monastic path. A long and arduous search for young Peter (in Plato's monasticism) begins; the search for that teacher and those basic spiritual guides, the writings of the Holy Fathers, which show the path of man to God.

Father Platon came to Moldavia, then reached Athos, seeking and seeking this word of the Fathers of past centuries. A heavy disappointment awaits him, a great spiritual temptation, since he does not find what he is looking for. But the young ascetic does not lose faith in the truth of his search. After many difficult wanderings and illnesses, the Lord vouchsafed him in Moldavia to meet with the true bearers of the spirit, redeeming the monastic path in accordance with the teaching of the Holy Fathers.

Elders Vasily and Michael Polyanomerulsky acquaint Father Platon with translations of the Philokalia62 – and the zealous ascetic falls down to the living spring. On Athos, he understands that the translations of the writings of the Holy Fathers are inaccurate, imperfect, and therefore he considers it necessary to study the Greek language in order to delve into the details of the spiritual life taught by the holy ascetic elders.

Elder Basil Polyanomerulsky came to Athos and tonsured the young ascetic into the mantle with the name Paisius. The Monk Paisius lived on Mount Athos, leading a strict ascetic and contemplative life, studying the writings of the venerable ascetic Fathers and, delving into the very essence of the inner life they depicted, began to make all possible corrections in the previous translations and himself translated the main fathers of the Philokalia.

People flock to Father Paisios, seeking salvation, its authenticity and foundations, and, despite his relative youth, call him their father and teacher. When a small brotherhood gathers, Father Paisius considers it necessary to return to his homeland and after 17 years of staying on Athos, he settles in Moldavia in the Dragomir Monastery provided to him. Here is, as it were, the peak and flowering of the entire life of Paisiev and his spiritual flock. Here is genuine monastic work with the statutory divine services. Here is the work of the elder himself and his brethren on the book. Here, on the basis of the acquired treasures of the word of the Holy Fathers, there also grows the true guidance of the elders, the art of leading souls to God, which rests on the authentic knowledge of God established by the Fathers. Here is a revelation of those subtle movements of the soul, which, when affirmed, commit sin, and when revealed, mourned many times, are rejected by the ascetic. Their very revelation makes the disciple grow to his spiritual father with an unflattering, strong, spiritual love.

The podvig of St. Paisius Velichkovsky can be defined in different ways. Undoubtedly, he was great in that he thirsted for a genuine teaching about spiritual life and inner work. It is very important that he made translations in which he tried to get to the bottom of the phenomena of the spiritual path expounded by the Holy Fathers – the movements of the soul and spirit. Those who speak of the high creative nature of all the Paisievs' affairs are also right. We see the main of the actions of the monk in the fact that, having found an unflattering source of genuine spiritual understanding in the writings of the Holy Fathers, he grew from this knowledge a spiritual flock, the souls of people, whom he led along an unflattering path to God in the work of elderly nourishment.

We must see the guidance of the Holy Spirit in the fact that Elder Paisios returned from Athos to his homeland. It was here that he had to bring the living teaching, the life that he had found in God, it was he who was given the gift of restoring spiritual life in the fading and almost extinct Russian monasticism. It was here, in his homeland, that the treasure he had acquired was strengthened and established, giving birth to many followers and disciples, who brought it to the Russian monasteries.

In connection with the hostilities, Paisius' disciples, together with their elder, had to move after 12 peaceful years of life in the Dragomir Monastery to the Sekul Monastery, and then to the larger Neamt Monastery. Here the living conditions of the brotherhood were more difficult than in Dragomirna, the worldly came closer, but again the Paisiev family continued their divinely wise life, full of labor. Again, a great deal of book work was carried out, and here Elder Paisius finally decided to publish the translations of the Philokalia made by him and his brotherhood.63 Here, foreseeing his death, Elder Paisius began to write an "autobiography."

Great were the feats of the elder. His cell, according to the words of his life, did not close until evening. Everyone could come and reveal their sadness, bewilderment, ask a question. And the elder's word was always patient, loving, and spiritual. And the night found him, exhausted and sick, translating the Holy Fathers. A collection of teachings "Enthusiastic Classes" was also compiled. The brotherhood was large in number; there were Russians and Moldavians, and the life of the monks went on as before, even the Turkish army did not disturb their lives.

The elder died in the last decade of the XVIII century, at the age of 72, quietly, peacefully, as if he had fallen asleep. But the sorrow of the brethren was great; At the same time, his disciples composed a service to him, since they revered their father as a saint. A spirit of deep sorrow imprints the content of the service, and the main thing that the disciple who composed the service wishes to note is the elderly work of the abba. Therefore, although the service is permeated with thoughts about the death of their unforgettable father, the kontakion speaks of the joy of the elder who is fulfilling the main work of his life – the guidance of the elders and the salvation of the souls of their neighbors. "Thou wast joyful in form," the disciple writes in the kontakion, "and thou didst bow the ears of those who asked thee for help, and thou didst stretch out thy hands to lift them up."64 Thus, joy, sinless joy and salvation of souls – this is the main thing that remains as a commandment to subsequent generations from the work of Paisius. Therefore, it is hardly possible to agree with those authors who interpret monasticism, and in particular the monastic path of Elder Paisius, as suffering. Yes, the elder endured a lot of suffering from his earliest years, from the time he went in search of God and the salvation of his soul. He endured much in monasteries, traveled a lot, and was a stranger in search of true spiritual guidance, but he also acquired spiritual joy and joy. His eldership was perceived by certain people as heresy, and Schema-Archimandrite Paisius passed by this sorrow, enduring everything in God, leading from sorrow to the fullness of spiritual blessings and unfading joy.

The translations of the Holy Fathers, especially of St. Isaac the Syrian, show at what height of spiritual progress the monk translator was when he delved into the almost indescribable mysteries of spiritual life, expounded by the Syrian ascetic. Excerpts from the words of St. Isaac, translated by Elder Paisius, are given here as the conclusion of this chapter, as its spiritual conclusion. Some passages in the translations are obscure and little understood, but the labor of delving into their inner meaning brings great spiritual consolation to the heart that seeks this consolation.

Here are these excerpts.