THE LIFE OF THE ELDER

PAISIOS OF THE HOLY MOUNTAIN

Preface

In recent years, various books and publications about the Blessed Elder Paisios of the Holy Mountain have been published. They really did provide spiritual benefit to many and made the name of the Elder even more famous. However, they mainly deal with the teachings and miracles of Elder Paisius. Biographical information contained in these books is minimal.

Convinced of the need to compile a systematic biography of Father Paisius, one of his spiritual children, our Elder, Hieromonk Isaac, decided to take on this task. Father Isaac, together with the monks of his brotherhood, began compiling the "Life" of Elder Paisios about two years after his death (Elder Paisios reposed in the Lord on June 29/July 12, 1994). The work was nearing completion when the death of Father Isaac himself (July 3/July 16, 1998) postponed publication indefinitely.

The "Life" remained unpublished, it still needed corrections and additions. Meanwhile, because of the difficulties that arose after the death of our Elder, Father Isaac, it was impossible for us to continue working on the book. In addition, realizing our obvious unsuitability for such responsible work, we were afraid to touch the Life at all for more than three years.

We were prompted to complete the work by the desire of our Elder, Father Isaac, and the work he did so that the "Life" of Elder Paisios would see the light of day. In addition, many brothers and sisters in Christ have also encouraged us to follow through.

Sometimes we gave up. We were ready to abandon this extremely difficult and responsible work. We were seized by the fear that we would distort the image of the Elder and bring spiritual harm and temptation instead of benefit. We felt like a little child who, trying to talk about something great beyond his measure, could not find the words and could not express what he desired.

During Father Paisios' lifetime, we did not consider it necessary to write down his words, photograph him, or collect biographical information about him in order to compile a biography of him someday. We were filled with his very presence, it was enough for us to see and hear him. Perhaps someone will consider this an omission. However, our conscience is at ease that we have not done anything that could upset him.

The only exception was the few notes we made in order not to forget Father Paisios' answers to personal questions related to our daily monastic life. Answering us, the Elder gave examples from his ascetic experience, told us about the supernatural events and demonic temptations he had experienced. However, we mainly relied on what was preserved in our memory. We have heard much of what we remember from him repeatedly. And now, for the common benefit of our brothers and sisters, we are putting on paper his words that he has inscribed in our hearts.

Having learned about the compilation of the "Life", many laymen and clergy – on their own initiative or at our request – provided us with many valuable documents: letters of Elder Paisios, photographs, notes and eyewitness accounts. All this material, which brought many previously unknown pages to the "Life" of the Elder, was used with caution and responsibility. After repeated sifting and selection, only what was truly trustworthy was left. Not everything in the information provided corresponded to reality and the spirit of the Elder. Some people exaggerated something out of unreasonable reverence, while others, perhaps misunderstanding the Elder, conveyed his words distortedly. There were also those, very few, who spoke negatively about the Elder – perhaps doing so out of ignorance, and not out of malice. May God not impute this to them as a sin.

"The beginning of Thy words is truth," and therefore we also chose truth as the main principle in our work on the Life. We tried to present the Elder as we knew him, as he was, avoiding the exaggerations generated by love and enthusiasm.

A significant part of the "Life", in fact, is the autobiography of Elder Paisios, since the main source of information was himself. Most of the narratives come directly from his true lips, but in reality we have written very little. Being meager and weak, our work does not give an exhaustive picture of the spiritual wealth of the Elder. Not only do we not exalt, but, unwittingly, we belittle his image in many ways. The reasons for this are as follows.

His inner life – like the life of any saint – passed "in secret", invisible to others. In order to help us in our monastic life, the Elder revealed little, but for the most part what happened to him remained unknown. When he was alive, the human side that hid his spiritual greatness prevailed in our communication with him. But the main reason is that our heart blindness and imperfection prevented us from seeing the Elder more spiritually, which would help to recreate his image with greater authenticity. If our spiritual condition were better, this would certainly be reflected in the present work. As is known, the most correct description of the life of a Saint can be a person who has ascended to the same measure and the same state. Elder Paisios himself said that the lives of the Saints, written by the Saints, are delightful.