Paisius Velichkovsky

Life events

1. Born — 1722

   Pyotr Velichkovsky was born on December 21, 1722, in Poltava, the eleventh of twelve children; his father Ivan served as a priest at the city cathedral, and his grandfather was the poet Ivan Velichkovsky.

2. Educated — 1735

   In 1735 he was sent to study at the Kiev Theological Academy, his first formal theological education.

3. Tonsured — 1750

   In 1750 on Mount Athos, his former starets Basil of Poiana Marului tonsured him as a lesser-schema monk with the name Paisius, after four years of solitary life in the Kiparis Skete of the Pantocrator monastery.

4. Ordained — 1758

   In 1758 Paisius was ordained to the priesthood by Bishop Gregory Rasca on Mount Athos; the rapid growth of his hesychastic skete, drawing Romanian and Slavonic disciples, necessitated a move to the larger Skete of St. Elias.

5. Wrote

   Beginning with his move to Dragomirna monastery in Moldavia in 1764 and continuing at Neamt Monastery, Paisius translated the Philokalia from Greek into Church Slavonic; the translation was printed in Russia in 1793 and became a foundational text of the Slavic hesychast revival.

6. Other — 1764

   In 1764, at the invitation of Prince Grigore III Ghica of Moldavia, Paisius relocated with 64 disciples to the Dragomirna monastery in Bucovina to lead a monastic revival; after Bucovina's annexation by the Austrian Empire the community moved to Neamt Monastery in 1779, where it eventually numbered 700 monks.

7. Consecrated — 1790

   In 1790 Paisius received the Great Schema and was elevated to the rank of Archimandrite by Bishop Ambrose of Poltava, who visited Neamt Monastery; he also served as vicar to the Metropolitan of Moldavia.

8. Died — 1794

   Paisius died on November 15, 1794, at Neamt Monastery, at the age of seventy-two.

Relationships

Documented claims

• Paisius spent a total of seventeen years on Mount Athos (1746–1764), copying Greek patristic books and translating them into Church Slavonic, before relocating to Moldavia. (likely)
• Paisius's Slavonic Philokalia was among the favourite books of Seraphim of Sarov; Seraphim received permission to go to Sarov from Paisius's disciple Dosifei of Kiev. (likely)
• Paisius exerted direct influence on the startsy of Optina Monastery through his translations and through personal disciples such as Feodor Ushakov, establishing the spiritual lineage that shaped 19th-century Russian Orthodox monasticism. (likely)
• Under Paisius's leadership, Neamt Monastery in Moldavia grew to 700 monks and became a centre of both pilgrimage and refugee movement in the late 18th century. (likely)
• Paisius is venerated for reviving the ancient teaching on the Jesus Prayer (*hesychia*), a practice that had been nearly forgotten in the Russian church following the monastic reforms of Peter I and Catherine II. (likely)