Reverend Paisios the Athonite and Traditions of Russian Athos

– Father Cyrion, today is the memory day of Reverend Paisios the Athonite. Is this Greek hermit respected in a Russian monastery on Athos?

– Sure, he is respected in our St. Panteleimon's Monastery, just as many other hermits of Athos. In addition to this, our monastery is related to him in a special way. Monk Paisios is very close to our cell. I can say that he played a significant role in spiritual recovery of our fraternity.

– How did Paisios meet them? What did he advice? What did he focus on?

– Father Paisios received us with love and told, that he was “repaying” to Russians, because one of his first spiritual advisors was famous Russian monk Tikhon (Golenkov) from Athos. He tried to transfer the experience, which he gained from monk Tikhon, to us, Russian monks, who came to him to get a piece of advice. Divine Providence restored connection between the new generation of Russian monks and previous generations of the monks of Athos with the help of reverend Paisios and it is a very important fact in our history. Spiritual succession, which was saved in the monastery, received a great support of such a reputable hermit of Athos as Paisios.

Reverend Paisios told about devotion to the hegumen, who is a spiritual father of all the monks of the cell. It is the guarantee of the monastery’s spiritual revival. Paisios told that he heard about father Hierom a lot. This is what he told about our hegumen: “He is a powerful monk. He, who relies on him, has found a kind helmsman”. Without trust in your mentor, there is no true obedience – this is what father Paisios said. And only true obedience leads to true prayer, as a will to come to the God with a clear mind.   

– How did father Paisios feel about the St. Panteleimon's Monastery? Did he advice on changing anything?

– Father Paisios showed great respect to the Russian cell. We were young monks then and admired everything Greek, we wanted to invite the Greeks to the monastery, to have them as our teachers and to adopt Greek consuetudinaries. But father Paisios, being a Greek, did not approve this: “Russian monastery has its own wonderful tradition, that were created by your great fathers and monks – their heritage is enough for redemption; do not look at the Greeks – we have lost many of our traditions ourselves”, - he used to say.

Father Paisios used to say, that the Greeks someday came to the Russian monastery to see how the Russian monks live, how they work together and followed the example of the Russian monks; they came to listen for the Russian bass singers; all the Athos gathered in the St. Panteleimon's Monastery.

Father Paisios always gave us Russian monks as an example, not the Greek ones: monk Tikhon (Golenkov), which was his mentor, and reverend Silouan of Athos. He said: “Revive your statutes and traditions – they lead to the birth of monk Silouan; his works are the finished works on redemption and it is your heritage, it is the experience of several generations of the fathers of St. Panteleimon's Monastery, interpreted by a simple monk, who is now respected by the whole Athos Mountain.”

“Do not forget that reverend Silouan’s spiritual might made another monk of Athos Iosif Isikhast leave desert and descent to the St. Panteleimon's Monastery to have a spiritual discussion with father Silouan”. Iosif was young then and was searching for a companion, who had experience in communication with God.  

– Did Iosif Isikhast come to the St. Panteleimon's Cell to talk to reverend Silouan?

– He came down here with his companion and spiritual friend monk Arseniy Peschernikov to discuss the secrets of prayer with reverend Silouan. At the time, they had already lived on Athos for 15 years and were looking for a companion in order to share experience, correct them and to consult about mistakes. Unfortunately, their meeting failed to succeed. The fathers came up to the mill and, having bowed to the Monastery from the hill with a view to it, decided to return back not to disturb father Silouan out of modesty. Soon, father Silouan went to the Lord. At some point, young monk Paisios also did not make it to father Iosif Isikhast and turned back.  

– Did father Paisios tell anything about his father Tikhon?

– Father Paisios told that the deed of monk Tikhon (Golenkov) would not be possible in the Greek environment; his distinctive feature was his exclusive love to divine service; and it was the service, which contributed to his consecration. According to father Paisios, exclusive love to divine service is a distinctive feature of Russians, which defines their tradition and experience from other Athos traditions. “Such an attitude to service, as Russians have, is rare among other Athos cells”, - he used to say.  

One can say without a doubt, that it was precisely reverend Paisios, who taught newly arrived monks on Athos to love their Russian monastery and who forced us to look for and to renew our own traditions, experience and practices of great monks Arseniy, Hierom and Macarius. Then we just suspected, how rich this heritage was.