VENERABLE PAISIUS THE GREAT

June 19

From the Prologue

Paisius was an Egyptian by birth and nationality. After a vision in a dream, his mother dedicated him to the service of God. As a young man, Paisius came to the Venerable Pambo who received him as his disciple and he was a co-disciple of Venerable John Kolovos [The Short] who wrote the biography of Paisius. To the joy of his spiritual father, Paisius exerted labor after labor and mortification after mortification. Many times the Prophet Jeremiah, whom he especially loved and often read, appeared to him; even the angels of God often appeared to him; even the Lord Christ Himself appeared to him. "Peace be with you my beloved chosen one!" the Lord Christ said to him. By the great grace of God, Paisius possessed the special gift of abstaining from food. Often he did not taste bread for fifteen days, more often for a week and once, in the witness of St. John the Short, he went for seventy days without partaking of anything. He waged a great struggle with the spirits of evil, who appeared to him at times exactly as they are and, at times in the form of radiant angels. But the blessed servant of God did not permit himself to be deceived and fascinated. Paisius was famous throughout Egypt as a discerner and miracle-worker. He took up habitation in eternity in the year 400 A.D. The Venerable Isidore of Pelusium translated the relics of Paisius to his monastery and honorably buried them.




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