When asked how many years he had lived on the Holy Mountain, Elder Paisios used to say:

When asked how many years he had lived on the Holy Mountain, Elder Paisios used to say: “I came here the same year as my neighbor’s mule.” (His neighbor, old Zitos, had a mule—and you know how every cell on Mount Athos has an animal, a mule, for carrying their things. That animal has a long life span; you don’t buy a mule every day—they are too expensive). “Well, the year that I came here, to the Holy Mountain, my neighbor purchased his mule in the same year. We have the same number of years on the Holy Mountain, and yet that poor beast remained a mule, but then so did I. I didn’t change at all.”