Icon print mounted on wood. Large size ~ 8 x 10 inches

How Christ Appeared to St. Paisios the Athonite in His Cell

It was the evening of the feast of the Finding of the head of St. John the Forerunner, the eve of the feast day of the Holy Apostle Carpus. I felt very inspired that evening. I did not want to sleep at all and I thought, “Well, let me write something about Fr. Tikhon and send it to the sisters in Souroti”. By 8:30AM I had written about 30 pages and still I did not want to sleep but decided to lie down for a while because my legs were weak.

Sunrise came and at 9AM I was still not sleeping but suddenly I saw that one of the walls of my cell (the one near which my bed stood) just disappeared. I saw Christ – He was in light, just about 15 feet from me. I saw Him from His side. His hair was blonde and His eyes were blue. He did not say a word to me, but only looked – not right at me, but a bit more to the side.

I saw everything with the spiritual eyes. In such case, it does not matter whether your bodily eyes are closed or not. I saw that with my spiritual eyes.

When I saw Him, I thought, “How could they all spit in that Face? How could they – the people without any fear of God – hit that Face? How could they slam the nails into that Body? Oh God…”

I was struck by that. How pleased I felt at that moment! What a joy I felt! I cannot express that beauty with words. It was the very beauty about which is was said: “You are fairer than the sons of men; grace is poured upon Your lips” (Psalm 45:2). This is what that beauty was. I have never seen something like that on any of His images. There was only one – I do not remember where I have seen it – which looked a bit alike.

It would be worth it to struggle for a thousand years just to gaze upon such beauty for only a moment. What great and indescribable things that can be granted to people, and with what insignificant things do we occupy ourselves”

From the book “The Life of St. Paisios the Hagiorite”

By Hieromonk Isaac (+1998)