Saint Paisios the Athonite

To see the gospel in action one only needs to look to the lives of the saints.  We benefit spiritually when reading and learning about the holy men and women who followed Christ and His commandments, were sanctified, and healed and saved many others through their prayers.  Some will say that there are no saints or miracles these days, certainly not like in the Church’s early centuries.  Yet that is to neglect the witness of a good number of saints who lived even in our modern times.  These modern saints are connected to the saints of the past and, as St. Symeon describes it, form a golden chain:

“The Saints — those who appear from generation to generation, from time to time, following the Saints who preceded them — become linked with their predecessors through obedience to the divine commandments, and endowed with divine grace, become filled with the same light. In such a   sequence all of them together form a kind of golden chain, each Saint being a separate link in this chain, joined to the first by faith, right actions and love; a chain which has its strength in God and can hardly be broken.”

We commemorate one such modern saint today in Saint Paisios the Athonite.  Saint Paisios is contemporary saint of the Orthodox Church who lived most of his life as a monk and ascetic on Mount Athos. His life stands as a stark testimony against those who don’t believe in God, much less in miracles. More importantly, he continues to be a guiding light to the faithful through his intercessions, the witness of his life, and the writings and teachings that he shared.  We offer two videos on Saint Paisios today.  The first is a short interview from Pemptousia. The video that follows thereafter is the first video about Saint Paisios produced in English.  Although forty-five minutes in length the story of his life is captivating and worth a view.