Arsenios the Cappadocian
| Saint Arsenios the Cappadocian | |
|---|---|
| Ὅσιος Ἀρσένιος ὁ Καππαδόκης | |
.jpg) | |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
1840 Pharasa, Cappadocia, Ottoman Empire |
| Died |
10 November 1924 (aged 84) Kerkyra, Greece |
| Sainthood | |
| Feast day | November 10 (ns) / October 28 (os) |
| Canonized | 1986 |
Arsenios the Cappadocian (Greek: Ὅσιος Ἀρσένιος ὁ Καππαδόκης 1840–1924) was born around 1840 in Kephalochori, one of the six Christian villages of the region of Pharasa of Cappadocia an early center of the Eastern Christianity. He had a brother wearing the name Vlasios.[1]
His name before his ordination as monk has been Theodore. When he was about 20 years old he went to the Monastery of the Holy Forerunner of Phlavianai, and later he was tonsured a monk and took the name Arsenios. In 1870, when he was thirty years old, he was consecrated in Caesarea as Archimandrite. Under Metropolitan Paisios II he was sent to Pharasa and the neighbouring villages as priest, while he was also teaching secretly the Greek language to the children of the region, at that time belonging to the Ottoman empire. After visiting the Holy Land he took the honorable title "Hatzis" and was called "The Chatziafentis". He was the respected spiritual guide of the villagers and helped the people a lot together with the mayor of Pharasa, at that time the father of Saint Paisios of Mount Athos. He healed sick people who came to him, Christians and Turks. Later he became the spiritual father of Elder Paisios of Mount Athos and gave him at the baptism without permission of Paisios' parents his own name. After leading his flock at the time of the population exchange between Greece and Turkey to Corfu he died after three months as he had foreseen. Both Father Arsenios and Elder Paisios were recognised by the Ecumenical Patriarchate, namely by the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I of Constantinople as Orthodox Saints.[2]
Works by and about Arsenios
- A collection of Psalms as has been given by the Saint ordered after the type of their specific use (Greek)
- «Λόγοι και Νουθεσίες», Κελεκίδης, Λ., Μαΐστρος 2015 (Teachings of the Saint brought to Greece as a manuscript written in the books of the mother church in Pharasa. Translated from the Cappadocian Greek into Standard Modern Greek and published.
- Γέροντος Παΐσιου (Εζνεπίδη), «Ο Πατήρ Αρσένιος ο Καππαδόκης», εκδ. Ι. Ησυχαστηρίου «ΕΥΑΓΓΕΛΙΣΤΗΣ ΙΩΑΝΝΗΣ Ο ΘΕΟΛΟΓΟΣ», Σουρωτή, 1979.
Weblinks
- About the Saint on the website of the Monastery of Ypseni
- About the Saint on the website of the Monastery of Maria Pantanassa