The Cross, persecution, sorrow, temptation are the legacy of the Church and of a true Christian. There is not an Orthodox Church that has not experienced her own persecution; neither has a saint lived that has not gone through his own furnace of afflictions, persecutions and temptations. A moving witness to the Cross is also the figure of Saint Luke, Archbishop of Simpheropol and Crimea, physician, professor of topographic anatomy and surgery; a man with rare talents and spiritual gifts, with a stunning scientific training, who ministered to human beings as pastor and doctor, with an admirable self-denial and love. This book has attempted to delineate his stormy life, the incredible torments and adventures, as well as his multifaceted work, in the hope that the suffering and his valuable testimony will offer a plenitude of gifts to God’s people and especially to doctors, those of the souls as well as those of the bodies.

A year and a half has already passed since the 13th January 2015, the day when Elder Paisios of the Holy Mountain was declared a Saint of the Orthodox Church by the decision of the Holy Synod of the Ecumenical Patriarchate. Since then he has been venerated as a Saint, even though he was considered a Saint during his lifetime. A special service has been written for his name day, the 12th July, icons of him have been written. The appropriate honor and devotion is his. This has been a great, long awaited and joyous event; a pleasant, yet not unexpected surprise, given to us by God’s love in these evil days. The joy and jubilation of Resurrection warms our hearts, tears are streaming from our eyes, for the Holy Elder, whom we knew and loved and in whom we placed, after God, all our hopes, has been formally glorified as a Saint. So much has been written about the Elder since his blessed fall­ing asleep in 1994, by people who have known him intimately. Some of these witnesses happen to be Elder Isaac’s (of Blessed memory) Holy Synodeia from the Hermitage of the Resurrec­tion, Kapsala, on Mount Athos. We now present their book Elder Paisios of Mount Athos, a Life to the English speaking pub­lic in a second edition, since the first edition has gone out of print. This book has been very warmly received, especially in America and Australia. May the blessing of Saint Paisios be with the readers of this book. From the Preface of Second Edition by The Abbot of the Monastery “Saint Arsenios the Cappadocian” Archimandrite Theoklitos Bolkas

INTRODUCTORY NOTE.13
A FEW WORDS ABOUT THE THIRD EDITION.15
PROLOGUE TO THE SECOND EDITION.21
PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION.24
WHAT IS AN ELDER.29
SHORT BIOGRAPHY.33
THE FAREWELL LETTER OF ELDER PORPHYRIOS.55
A TEXT THAT THE ELDER LOVED.57
A TEACHING FROM ELDER PORFYRIOS.59
CONVERSATIONS WITH GREEK AND CYPRIOT FRIENDS.67
HIEROMONK ANTANASIOS.67
PROTOPRESBYTER GEORGE METALLINOS.73
PRESBYTER GEORGE C. EVTHIMIOU.87
ARCHIMANDRITE DANIEL GOUVALIS.99
ARCHIMANDRITE IOANNIKIOS KOTSONIS.115
MONK MOSES.123
MONK NIKODEMUS BILALIS.127
STAVROS KALKANDES.153
PANAGIOTIS SOTIRCHOS.167
N.N.181
ANDREAS TYLLIRIDES.197
H.H.201
GEORGE DEMETRIOU.211
ELDER SOPHRONY.219
ARCHIMANDRITE PAUL.223
TALKS ABOUT ELDER PORPHYRIOS.227
METROPOLITAN IRENAEUS.227
CONSTANTINE SCOUTERIS.243
PANAGIOTA GHIKA – DOITSINI.253
THEY WROTE ABOUT ELDER PORPHYRIOS.265
GEORGE PAPAZAHOS.265
ALEXANDER M. STAYROPOULOS.273
NIKOS ZIAS.295
CONSTANTINE GREGORIADES.295
EVANGELOS KARADEMOS ( POEM ).300
ELDER PORPHYRIOS AS I KNEW HIM.307
FR. MICHAEL MICHAEL.307
THEODORA SOLOMONIDOU.309
MARY KONTOGIANNI – IOANNIDOY.313
ACCOUNTS ABOUT ELDER PORPHYRIOS.327
ELDER PORPHYRIOS’ CONVERSATIONS WITH CYPRIOTS.339
ELDER PORPHYRIOS’ OWN ACCOUNTS.347
AN ANTHOLOGY OF ELDER PORPHYRIOS’ CONVERSATIONS WITH HIS SPIRITUAL GHILDREN.355
INSTEAD OF AN EPILOGUE.361
A FEW WORDS ABOUT THE AUTHOR.365

Note on the English Translation ix
Biographical Note x

PART ONE: THE LIFE OF ELDER PORPHYRIOS
The Path to the Holy Mountain 1
The Holy Mountain – Kavsokalyvia 10
Evia 37
The Polyclinic Hospital in Athens 49
Saint Nicholas at Kallisia 70
The Holy Monastery of the Transfiguration at Milesi 75
Kavsokalyvia – 1991 82

PART TWO: THE WISDOM OF ELDER PORPHYRIOS
On the Church 87
On Divine Eros 96
On Prayer 113
On Spiritual Struggle 134
On the Monastic Life 158
On the Mystery of Repentance 173
On Love for One’s Neighbour 180
On Divine Providence 190
On the Upbringing of Children 195
On Dispositions of the Heart 212
On Creation 218
On Illness 224
On the Gift of Clear Sight 232

APPENDIX
Saint John the Hut-dweller 249
The Skete of Kavsokalyvia 250
Map of Evia and Attiki 252
Map of Mount Athos 253

The descent of the Holy Fire at the tomb of Jesus every Holy Saturday is the only miraculous event in human history which has taken place each year on the same day for more than one and a half millennia. Covering a period of thirteen centuries (4th–16th c.), this book assembles historical accounts of the celebrated event.

Seventy authors—fourteen French, nine Englishmen, seven Byzantine Greeks, six Germans, five Armenians, five Muslim Arabs, four Italians, four Persians, three Russians, three Icelanders, two Egyptians, two Chaldeans, one Syrian, one Moldavian, one Ethiopian, one Belgian, one Austrian and one Swiss—describe the greatest miracle of the Christian world: the Holy Fire (i.e., the Light of the Resurrection of Christ) which appears every Holy Saturday at the tomb of Jesus, a few hours before the celebration of his resurrection.

Furthermore, the scientific measurements that were taken in the tomb of Jesus on Holy Saturday in 2008 by Associate Professor Antrey Volkov, confirm the descent of the Holy Fire and reveal three phenomena, which he himself characterizes as “incredible and entirely inexplicable.”

This book also includes a historical and archeological study concerning the original appearance of Jesus’ tomb and the rock of Golgotha, along with a series of reconstruction drawings of the two locations, as they looked in AD 33.