SAINT PAISIOS at ST. CATHERINE'S MONASTERY - Hermit on the God-Trodden Mount Sinai - a Journey towards Theosis .

SAINT PAISIOS at ST. CATHERINE'S MONASTERY - Hermit on the God-Trodden Mount Sinai - a Journey towards Theosis 

-- St. Paisios' Feast Day is celebrated by the Church on July 12th. --

 *From a book by Theoni Lalioti 

Following in the footsteps of Saint Paisios, we arrive at the God-trodden Mount Sinai. As we said, his decision was determined by the answer he received in prayer from the Virgin Mary. So, when Father Kosmas, later the Abbot of Stomiou Monastery, asked him later how he left, he answered: 'Well, I asked the Virgin Mary to show me where she wanted me to go, and she told me to go to Sinai.' Then he communicated by correspondence with the then Archbishop Porphyrios and asked him if they would accept him in Sinai so he could stay somewhere outside the monastery. After receiving a positive reply, Elder Paisios set out for his new monastic refuge.

At the Monastery of Saint Catherine, from this moment, the testimony of Mr. Stavros Baltogiannis is very important. He is a resident of Athens. As an art conservator, he had undertaken work at the Monastery of Sinai in the fall of 1962. He narrates: 'In Cairo, at the monastery's dependency, one afternoon during lunch, I met the monk Paisios, who was also about to move to Sinai. He was extremely thin, ate very little, and usually remained silent. A persistent cough indicated a health problem… he systematically avoided the food offered to us, and when he did eat, it was because he felt he had to obey.'

After a tiring and long journey, they arrived at Farah, and in the morning, they set off for Sinai. Paisios was taken to his cell while Mr. Baltogiannis, together with another art and painting conservator, Tasos Margaritof, stayed to coordinate their collaboration on the maintenance of the monastery's icons. Paisios, entering his cell, removed the mattress from the bed as well as the electric lamp that lit the space. 'The simplicity, the ascetic ethos, the innocence of the man, and the absolute devotion to God did not take long to become evident there. 

Soon other abilities and knowledge of his also became known, such as his skill in woodworking and its applications. This last skill even gave us the idea to ask the Monastery to have the new monk help us with the carpentry work, which usually arises in the maintenance of the icons.

He worked particularly successfully on the construction of a second wooden frame where the image of Christ, which had long been worn and was split into two boards, was placed. Skillfully and creatively, he made a second wooden base with a recessed space matching the original dimensions of the icon, into which the two parts of the image were inserted, leaving the gap we had calculated would have formed there, which, as often happens, would be filled in by the viewer’s gaze. 

In this way, Paisios stayed working close to us, handling the carpentry needs of the conservation work with care and responsibility. During this entire period, he worked quietly and efficiently, while radiating both modesty and holiness. His abstention from the regular midday meal, his striking frailty, and his persistent cough made us worry about his health, and we often tried to dissuade him from his very strict asceticism. 

I will never forget his enlightened expression when one time he was forced to respond to similar advice of mine. ‘Stavros,’ he said, ‘leave those for us monks.’ About forty days later, the work was finished and the conservators left. Mr. Stavros Baltogiannis, leaving the monastery, mentioned that he was certain he was leaving behind a Saint. 

Not long after their farewell, Saint Paisios left far from the monastery to a rock on Mount Sinai, to live completely ascetically, like the old hermits, only descending to the monastery a few days. The Saint, however, was also very concerned about the locals of the Sinai area and helped them through his holy powers. 

When he first went to Sinai, there was a severe drought. Under normal conditions, it rains very rarely in this area. That year, the lack of water was particularly noticeable because it hadn’t rained for three and a half years. A caravan was prepared to go and bring water from afar. The elder told them: 'Wait, don't go tonight.' During the night, he prayed and it rained heavily. The elder once mentioned: 'I prayed back then, but God had mercy on the inhabitants of the area who were suffering, and it rained, and water collected in the pits of Sinai for about two years.' 

The elder asked for a blessing to stay alone in the desert, in the hermitage of Saints Galaktion and Epistimi, which consists of the chapel and a very small adjoining cell. It is located directly opposite the Holy Peak, less than an hour's distance from the Monastery of Sinai. Two hundred meters above is the cave of Saint Galaktion, and a little further back is the Skete where Saint Epistimi lived with the other female ascetics. In the hermitage where Saint Paisios stayed, there was a small spring. From this, he collected two to three liters of water every twenty-four hours. ...

*Based on Hieromonk Isaac, Life of Elder Paisios of Mount Athos, Holy Mountain 2008

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-  You can also watch a Video (with English subtitles) about St. Paisios' time in Sinai at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vm-Cf-DZzp0

- The full documentary about the life of St. Paisios (in four parts) you can find here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xd35W6lp3GQ