Elder Paisios the Hagiorite was the greatest Saint of the 20th century, and July 25, 2024 was his 100 year Birthday! I wish the GOA would make it a festival day. In 1994 as he lay dying in hospital, people witnessed seeing this beloved monk floating above the church in Souroti, Greece blessing the faithful down below!

Can you imagine?

Of course, Geronda Paisios was always a showman. As one monk told me regarding Paisios’ death: “Yes, dropping the body is when the fun begins!”

On celebrating birthdays: I’m aware not everyone does, and some get cranky over being another year older, but what they don’t know, spiritually, is that their ‘glorified body of light’ – one’s true body – resides within and remains forever young…

If after death, an old deceased soul appears on Earth to a loved one, they appear in their glorified body of light – looking young again.

Truth is, unlike us, the illumined sages always operate from their body of light while still on Earth. They have the power to even rearrange time and space…which Geronda Paisios did for a group of nuns visiting him.

Also, the day you surrender to the Godhead/the Christ Logos – that day becomes your ‘Spiritual Birthday’.

St. John of Kronstadt said: “In truth a man’s birthday and name day are his personal Pascha and those that love him rejoice.”

I personally view birthdays as milestones – look on your birthday as a spiritual renewal, ‘Know Thyself’ better – serve valiantly.

But a bigger reason is that the birth date is the day God granted you ‘sentience’… out of your free will, you came all the way down to Earth, from high above, out of the Mind of God – by consent of the 24 Elders in Heaven, to enter the sphere of matter, to manifest light or manifest darkness.

In other words, to achieve divinity – Theosis – it must happen on terra firma!

The entire earthly sphere is a battlefield of duality… one we have to conquer… but for advanced souls like Geronda Paisios, a true Master – to incarnate is very auspicious and the Angels rejoice.

Birthdays … yes, but one’s day of death is even greater, because we graduate from this Earth school and take all we’ve learned back to Heaven – Home.

It’s a custom in Greek Orthodoxy to say “Many years!” but St. Paisios said: “I wish you many years – but not to be too happy, because happiness in the world isn’t really so healthy. When a man is too happy in this world, he forgets God and forgets death.”

The Ancient Greek mathematician Pythagoras

invested numbers with mystical meanings; blessed Elder Paisios’ birthday numbers are intensely meaningful for those who understand – his destiny number is 3 – destined to be seen and heard, speaking his truth. Unlike his comrade St. Porphyrios’ number 7 – much more stoic, yet the two were united noetically. (Plato saw number 3 symbolic of the cosmos built from triangles; his philosophy was influenced by Pythagoras – most notably in Plato’s Republic.) In other words, our ‘somatikos’ bodily coming into being is ruled by time – numbers. Numbers are all over holy scripture.

So, celebrating moments in time is just mathematically logical … we celebrate birth of Christ, His Mother, John the Baptist, Apostles, Saints, etc.

Orthodox men visiting Athos tell me there’s a motto at the entrance house for pilgrims outside each monastery on Athos: “If you can die before you die, you will not die when you die.”

Those aligned with their exalted spiritual body know this mystery. Geronda Paisios and all saints teach remembrance of death. The very monastic ethos IS death.

By revering illumined ones, you begin to lose the dragon of ego, like St. George in slays the dragon in his icon – we slay our ego because it’s only thing impeding us from Theosis.

One of most exciting facets of Elder Paisios, unlike other holy monastics, was his adventurous spirit, going off alone to live as hermit in the Mt. Sinai desert and sojourning throughout the holy mountain, and meeting up with one of the seven legendary, ‘Invisible Ascetics of Athos’… AKA the naked Athonites.

So who are these invisible monks?

I intuitively grasp it : these are superlatively advanced beings … their food is light and prayer…

But in my research, truth is, even Geronda Paisios could make himself invisible to certain pilgrims – some came to see him out of curiosity, not for spiritual truth, and who can blame him for turning invisible on them? He had no peace from the daily endless crowds seeking his counsel; still he continued to give his all from agape, but he often lamented: “My name is worst thing to happen to me” and he yearned to be a hermit alone, as he begged his beloved Theotokos, who often appeared to him.

The story goes, in 1950 monk Paisios being new to the Holy Mountain lost his way looking for the Skete of St. Ann’s and ended up going toward the peak of Athos; he implored Mother of God to help him when suddenly an anchorite with a radiant face appeared before him saying: “My child this is not the way to St. Ann’s” and pointed in the right direction… his face was glowing in light!

Later he related the incident to some experienced elders who said: “That would’ve been one of the righteous anchorites who live invisibly at the peak of Athos!”

In 1974, a monk on Athos, Fr. Athanasios of Simonopetra monastery, had conversed with Elder Paisios about these invisible ascetics living on the Holy Mountain today… Elder Paisios told him that there are fifty monastics on Athos who have reached an extremely high level of spirituality.

When asked why they’ve not been revealed to the world, Elder Paisios replied: “because God has not determined the time is right to reveal them to the world… and they don’t want the glory of Earth, they want only to be known in Heaven.”

Then blessed Paisios said something beyond belief: “And you should know there’s examples of holiness on Mt. Athos at a much higher level than the invisible naked ascetics!”

Phantasmagorical

Now, if only wealthy unbelievers could ponder this… they’d end their fascination with the world, amassing more money, getting awards, and finally enter their ‘Inner World’… humble down, and go on a spiritual quest… because in truth, the

‘holy grail’ everyone’s looking for is the experiential, the beatific vision of the Godhead – Theosis.

Awards? St. Paisios has asked the boasters: “But did you get a Purity Award?”

Let’s end here with some salient quotes from Blessed Paisios of holy mountain:

“What I see around me would drive me insane if I did not know that no matter what happens God will have the last word.”

“Do not judge with the logical mind… it hinders the grace of God and miracles are beyond logic.”

Bless us St. Paisios – Happy 100 Year Birthday!

May It Be Blessed.