So, since "the student is deep and the Imams did not draw it," that is, our spiritual strength is not enough to show the spiritual greatness of the Elder, we limited ourselves to a simple and accurate presentation of information about him, trying to be only reliable witnesses and nothing more.

But despite this, even through the clumsy pages we have written, the image of Elder Paisios appears – a man who moves with slight simplicity in the space between earth and Heaven, mocks the devil – at the same time compassionate about his fall – and communicates with a multitude of Saints. The Elder appears before the reader as a complete beggar, but at the same time with his prayer he brings down the richest blessings from Heaven to earth. He looks physically weak and feeble, but at the same time he is so powerful and filled with the fire of Divine Grace that even the laws of nature recede before him. He lives in the wilderness, but at the same time he is very close to the needs of people; a strict ascetic in relation to himself, he is philanthropic to the point of self-sacrifice in relation to the poor, suffering and unjustly offended.

It would be impossible to place all the information about the Elder in one volume. Therefore, from the many cases described, the most characteristic and instructive ones have been selected. The book does not include the teaching of the Elder (in the volume of several volumes), many letters and more than two hundred testimonies about the miracles performed by him. But we did not set ourselves the goal of presenting the reader with just a "list of miracles". It is quite natural that in a person who has ascended to the pinnacle of virtues and has acquired Divine Grace, grace-filled gifts are effectively revealed and he works miracles. However, the question is how to reach this peak, how to follow and how to struggle against passions and temptations. Therefore, even more than the miracles of the Elder, we were and are touched by his great self-denial, his loving feats for the sake of love for Christ, his monastic acrivia and subtle sense of spiritual life, his rare prudence, sacrificial love for each person and the wisdom of the Holy Fathers, capable of bringing peace to every heart.

The book "The Life of Elder Paisios of the Holy Mountain" consists of two parts. In the first part, the reader is offered the "Extensive Life" of the Elder. We tried to show as simply as possible, but also in the most holistic form, the ascetic path of the Elder from birth to death, following the chronology and external flow of his life. The basis of each of the fourteen thematic blocks of the first part is the geographical place where the Elder lived in certain years. The chapters contain biographical information about the Elder, descriptions of his feats, testimonies about miracles, diverse gifts and help to people.

The second part of the book, entitled "The Virtues, Gifts, and Offering of the Elder to the World," is a necessary addition and explanation to the first part. Acquaintance with its content will allow the reader to get to know the Elder more deeply and understand him more fully. Each of the two parts of the book is independent of the other—they could have been published as two separate volumes—but they are still connected by a deep inner unity. The second part is also a biography, but it does not follow a chronological outline, but contains biographical information divided into various topics.1The central concept of the second part is Divine Grace. In order to acquire it, the Elder first took up the struggle against passions and sin, and later appeared as "a good builder of the various Grace of God"2

In the thematic block "Virtues", various incidents from the life of the Elder are described in such a way that the reader can derive practical benefit for himself. They are divided into chapters, the main content of which is virtue, put in the title of each chapter. The Elder's teaching on this or that virtue is not included in the chapters – with the exception of a few concise and most characteristic passages. However, where it was necessary to emphasize something in order to better show the spirit of the Elder, more excerpts from his teachings are given.

The manifestations of the Elder's gifts – diverse and supernatural – are vividly testified to by other people and the actions of Father Paisius himself. From the multitude of evidences, a few were selected - the most revealing. These testimonies, also divided into thematic chapters, are given without comment, except where clarification was necessary.

The scale, depth and dignity of the Elder's Offering to the world would be impossible to describe and objectively assess in a few pages of this book. Having within himself a variety of Divine gifts, the Elder naturally and naturally, without human efforts and tearful efforts, passed on the wealth of Divine Grace to souls perishing from hunger. Our book mentions only some of the aspects of his Offering – something in which he especially helped people.

Wishing to avoid inaccuracies and mistakes, we presented what we had written for the judgment and verification of the spiritual children of Elder Paisios and other fathers. We express much gratitude and appreciation to our spiritual brothers for the corrections and additions they have made. Their help in working on the book came from the bottom of their hearts and was substantial. Without it, the "Life" of the Elder would have come out very imperfect and would have contained many errors.

We are grateful to the brothers and sisters who contributed to the book and provided us with various information, as well as to all those who reviewed and corrected the text, spending a great deal of time and labor to complete this work. We also express our gratitude to those who tried to make the publication better and contributed to its publication ten years after the death of the Elder.

We express our special gratitude to our esteemed Elder Gregory, tonsured by Elder Paisios and spiritual father of the Convent of the Venerable Forerunner in the village of Metamorfosi in Chalkidiki, for supporting us in every possible way during the work on the book and for covering the costs associated with printing and other expenses for the Greek edition of this "Life".

We consider it necessary to make some remarks that make it easier for the reader to get acquainted with the book.

Many of the actions and words of the Elder become clear from the general context of his life. One should not unwisely generalize everything that the Elder said. Some of his words were uttered on a specific occasion and were not intended for everyone. As the Elder himself said: "One and the same medicine can bring both benefit and harm, depending on the human body."

The book speaks of the Elder's attitude to various church-wide, national, monastic, and other problems. It should be emphasized that the position of the Elder was completely spiritual and dispassionate. Therefore, these issues are covered in the book without the slightest desire to offend or compromise anyone.