ELDER PAISIOS “Finding the way leading to Jesus Christ”

ELDER PAISIOS
“Finding the way leading to Jesus Christ”

Elder Paisios was asked, “What should I do to find the way leading to Jesus Christ?  He answered: “Christ wants us to eliminate our own will to zero.  If you obtain a single one of the following virtues; purification, divine justice, love, obedience, and voluntary poverty, bear in mind that all of these virtues may be found in just one of these virtues.  The same thing applies to our passions; one passion includes all our other passions.  Purification requires the soul to be pure and clean through our own will; divine justice is the abandonment of our own will to the will of God; humility is to humble our will and elevate God’s will.  Obedience means not to have our own will so that we are able obey other people.  Prayer means to take our mind off our own wishes and desires and concentrate on the will of God.  So you see whichever virtue you apply, you are led to the same result, that is to the elimination of your own will and this lead to the purification of our own will.  A person progresses spiritually and is benefitted only when he manages to eliminate his own will to zero.”

This is the spiritual Cross that we must bear in life, that is, to eliminate our own will, desires and wishes.  If we do not control our desires then we are led to the sin of pride and a sense of self-sufficiency.  When our will is not brought to the point of zero then we become our own god.  What the Elder is describing here is the essence of humility.  This is our challenge as Christians, to bring our self-will to the point of zero.  This is the example that Jesus Christ showed us during His early ministry.  He was fully human as well as fully divine but He was able to submit His human will totally and completely to the will of God, the Father.  It is in this way that we can follow His commandments and learn to love God with our whole heart, mind and soul and to love others as ourselves.

A SHOCKING VISION OF THE ELDER MARCELLOS OF THE
KARAKALOU MONASTERY ON MT. ATHOS SHOWING THE 
VIRGIN IN ACTION AT THE SECOND COMING OF JESUS

A monk was asked to reveal to the pilgrim what the monastic community of Mount Athos has in connection with the Holy Mother.  His response was: “that Mount Athos is known as the Garden of the Virgin; this is Her Garden and we are Her children.”  In order to clarify this relationship of the monks with the Holy Mother, we share with the following story. Once there was a monk from Mount Athos who was sick.  In seeking to find divine intervention for his healing, he decided to go to the miracle-working icon of the Virgin Mary on the Island of Tinos. Once he arrived at this holy place, he bedded down for the night in the Church.  He truly expected to have an encounter with the Virgin Mary.  While asleep in the Church on Tinos, she appeared to him.  The monk saw the Holy Mother approach him while  asleep and proceeded to give him a motherly slap and then asked him: “What are you doing here?” He responded: “Blessed Mother, I have come here to seek my healing from you.” She answered: “That is fine, but couldn’t you have called upon me in my Garden on Mount Athos?  I am present there every day with all of you.  Was it therefore necessary for you to come here to seek me?”  On hearing this, the bewildered monk lost it and woke up thinking to himself: “My, my, what a fool I have been.  What am I doing here?”  

“This is the relationship the Holy Mother has for all of us monks on Mount Athos.  When we live a life that is pleasing to her, according to her promises, she provides us with everything we need.”  The Elder Ephraim of blessed memory from the Monastery of Katounakia said to a pilgrim: “If you have temptations, tug at the helm of the Holy Mother’s dress and call upon her for help.  She is our Mother and she listens to your requests.”  He said this with a sense of joy believing in this reality very much for whatever he had ever asked for of the Holy Mother he received.

The following story is another shocking vision about the relationship between the Holy Fathers of Mount Athos and the Holy Mother of God.  The Holy Mother is often described as appearing before them as the Abbess of their monastic communities.  She appears as the Eldress of Mount Athos holding her staff and dressed in her mantle.  She is depicted as being in charge, to being the protector caring for her children.  One of the Elders once saw this socking vision of the Holy Mother on Mount Athos.  He saw the Holy Mother during the Second Coming of Jesus Christ; during the Second Judgment.  During this vision the monk saw the Holy Mother walking through the cemeteries of the various Monasteries, the sketes, and the hermitages throughout the length and breadth of Mount Athos.  As she was passing by the cemeteries, she tapped the graves of the monks and they would come alive.

All of these resurrected monks stood up and followed behind the Holy Mother.  As she moved along doing this, a great multitude of monks appeared following her lead.  These monks became the chosen flock of the Holy Mother.  The monks of Mount Athos have been and continue to be her children whom she leads into the Kingdom of Heaven.   It was truly an unbelievable sight to see.  But it was also shown that on occasion, as she was passing through the graves of the monks, some of them would not be resurrected.  She would leave them behind.   These were the monks that were not faithful to their monastic vows.  These monks were shown begging, entreating, and crying to the Holy Mother to take them with her.   She would not listen to their cries and they were left behind not being counted amongst the great brotherhood of the Holy Mother.  

ELDER PAISIOS AND SAINT EYPHEMIA THE GREAT MARTYR

“If I knew back then how eternal life would be and the heavenly beauty souls close to God enjoy, I honestly would have asked for my martyrdom to last forever, as it was absolutely nothing compared to God’s gifts of Grace.”

There are certain saints and holy people who have a very close relationship with other saints.  Elder Paisios of the Mount Athos had a special relationship with Saint Euphemia the Great Martyr of the fourth century.  Much like St. John Chrysostom’s relationship with Saint Paul the Apostle, Elder Paisios had a special relationship with the virgin-martyr Euphemia.  In fact, an icon of Saint Euphemia has been painted in Greece under the direction of the Elder Paisios.  He was able to tell the iconographer what the saint looked like because he had seen her many times. 

There was a time when Father Paisios was going through a very difficult at his hermitage on Mount Athos.  At that time a problem had arisen in the life of the Church of Greece and many bishops from Greece had visited Paisios seeking his advice in solving the vexing problem.  However, it was a very complicated problem and even if he wanted to at that time, he was unable to help them.  As he said himself, no matter from which angle you looked at the problem, you would come face to face with a spiritual impasse.  So, he decided to turn to prayer in order to find a solution to the problem.  Father Paisios constantly prayed for God to give solutions to the Church’s various problems.  And because of his special relationship with Saint Euphemia, he turned to her to intercede to Jesus for a solution to this great problem.  One morning, Elder Paisios prayed to Saint Euphemia; “you who miraculously gave a solution to the serious problem the Church was facing in the fourth century, I ask you once again to find a solution for the Church that it is now having!”

One morning, at nine o’clock, when Father Paisios was reading the service of the third hour, he suddenly heard someone tapping on the door of his cell.  The Elder asked: “Who is it?”  He heard a woman’s voice answering: “It is me Euphemia, Father.” “Which Euphemia?” he asked.  There was no answer.  There was a second knock on the door and again he asked: “Who is it?”  The same voice was heard saying: “It is Euphemia, Father.”  There was a third knock and then the Elder felt like someone was entering his cell and walking through the corridor.  He went to the door and there he saw St. Euphemia who had miraculously entered the cell through the locked door and then proceeded to venerate the icon of the Holy Trinity.  The Elder had placed this icon of the Holy Trinity in the corridor on the right side of the Church door.  Then the Elder said to the saint: “Say glory to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit.”  St. Euphemia clearly repeated those words and immediately Father Paisios knelt and venerated her.  

Afterwards, they sat and talked for quite a while; he could not specify for how long as he had lost all sense of time while being in the presence of the saint.  She gave Paisios the solutions for all three matters that he had been praying about.  In the end he said to her: “I would like you to tell me how you endured your martyrdom.”  The saint replied: “Father, if I knew back then how eternal life would be, and the heavenly beauty souls close to God enjoy, I honestly would have asked for my martyrdom to last forever, as it was absolutely nothing compared to God’s gift of Grace.”  

GLORIFIED IS THE NAME OF GOD IN HIS HOLY SAINTS
ΔΟΞΑ ΤΩ ΘΕΩ ΕΝ ΤΟΙΣ ΑΓΙΟΙΣ ΑΥΤΟΥ

Translated and edited by:
+Fr. Constantine J. Simones, Waterford, CT, USA, 860-460-9089, cjsimones300@gmail.com