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Athonite Fathers and Athonite Matters
Poursuivant, avec l'aide de Dieu, la traduction en français des œuvres du Bienheureux Païssios l'Athonite (1924-1994), nous présentons ici aux Chrétiens francophones un troisième livre: Fleurs du Jardin de la Mère de Dieu.
Le Jardin de la Mère de Dieu, c'est la Sainte Montagne de l'Athos, et les fleurs, ce sont de saints moines! Il s'agit donc d'un recueil de récits sur des Pères du Mont Athos qui vécurent entre 1840 et 1980. Ces récits relatent la vie ou seulement certains faits de la vie de ces moines, remplis de la Grâce divine.
De plus, en conclusion du livre, sous Je titre, De la terre au Ciel: le retour vers Dieu, l'auteur nous offre des sentences, a l'image des Apophtegmes, suc distillé de son expérience et de la sagesse de Dieu.
Lorsqu'il était jeune moine, et même plus tard, le Père Païssios eut la grande bénédiction de rencontrer des ascètes, comblés de vertus, véritables «athlètes» du Christ, ou encore d'entendre parler d'eux. Il fut profondément impressionné par leur sainte simplicité alliée à une foi inébranlable et par leur combat spirituel mené avec générosité. Emerveillé devant leur abnégation allant jusqu'à la mort et leur zèle pour l'ascèse, il goûta au doux miel de leurs vertus. Animé du même zèle pour le combat spirituel, il s'efforça d'imiter leurs divins exploits.
En 1980, par piété et par devoir sacré en vers ces Saints Moines, mais aussi par amour envers ses semblables, j] entreprit d'écrire tout ce que sa mémoire et son coeur avaient retenu. Il avait constaté avec douleur que, de nos jours, c'est malheureusement la raison, et non la foi, qui domine le plus souvent la relation de l'homme avec Dieu - que celui-ci soit moine ou laïc.
La vie des moines athonites, telle qu'elle est dépeinte en ces pages, nous aide à comprendre combien nous nous sommes éloignés de la voie des Pères et nous indique comment y revenir pour trouver ainsi le vrai sens de notre vie.
Le Jardin de la Mère de Dieu, c'est la Sainte Montagne de l'Athos, et les fleurs, ce sont de saints moines! Il s'agit donc d'un recueil de récits sur des Pères du Mont Athos qui vécurent entre 1840 et 1980. Ces récits relatent la vie ou seulement certains faits de la vie de ces moines, remplis de la Grâce divine.
De plus, en conclusion du livre, sous Je titre, De la terre au Ciel: le retour vers Dieu, l'auteur nous offre des sentences, a l'image des Apophtegmes, suc distillé de son expérience et de la sagesse de Dieu.
Lorsqu'il était jeune moine, et même plus tard, le Père Païssios eut la grande bénédiction de rencontrer des ascètes, comblés de vertus, véritables «athlètes» du Christ, ou encore d'entendre parler d'eux. Il fut profondément impressionné par leur sainte simplicité alliée à une foi inébranlable et par leur combat spirituel mené avec générosité. Emerveillé devant leur abnégation allant jusqu'à la mort et leur zèle pour l'ascèse, il goûta au doux miel de leurs vertus. Animé du même zèle pour le combat spirituel, il s'efforça d'imiter leurs divins exploits.
En 1980, par piété et par devoir sacré en vers ces Saints Moines, mais aussi par amour envers ses semblables, j] entreprit d'écrire tout ce que sa mémoire et son coeur avaient retenu. Il avait constaté avec douleur que, de nos jours, c'est malheureusement la raison, et non la foi, qui domine le plus souvent la relation de l'homme avec Dieu - que celui-ci soit moine ou laïc.
La vie des moines athonites, telle qu'elle est dépeinte en ces pages, nous aide à comprendre combien nous nous sommes éloignés de la voie des Pères et nous indique comment y revenir pour trouver ainsi le vrai sens de notre vie.
- GenresReligion
214 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1993
9 people are currently reading
94 people want to read
About the author
Paisios of Mount Athos
19 books67 followersElder Paisios of Mount Athos (Greek: Γέροντας Παΐσιος ο Αγιορείτης), born Arsenios Eznepidis, was a well-known Eastern Orthodox monk from Farasa, Cappadocia. He is famous for his spiritual teachings. Many people worldwide, especially in Greece and in Russia, highly venerated Elder Paisios, even before his formal canonization as a saint, which took place on January 13th 2015.
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
July 14, 2016
Great collection of narratives but The Epistles of Elder Paisios is a better place to start with the writings of Paisios.
May 30, 2022
An excellent little book about the exceptional, recent fathers from Mount Athos, their virtues, their faithful simplicity, their struggles and miracles, told by their contemporary - Saint Paisios. May we have their prayers!
February 6, 2025
-One of Hieromonk Anthimos’ great virtues was the gift he had in the matter of fasting: he could fast for days on end! He went once to the Russian monastery before the Holy Apostles' fast, utterly exhausted. The monk on duty received him with great joy and prepared something for him to eat. The Elder began to eat, while the monk who was waiting on table went in and out. He looked at the Elder, who was munching away all the time, and passed judgement on him: "Such a withered up, weak monk, yet he can eat so much!" Upset by those thoughts of condemnation, the monk went to his cell. When Father Anthimos had finished his food, he went and sat at the door of the monk's cell. Seeing his friend troubled by those thoughts, he took pity on him. In order to help him, he was compelled to tell him why he had eaten so much, so that he would be more careful about judging other people. (We can also learn from this and avoid judging people) Taking him by the hand, he asked him:
"Brother, do you perhaps know what humblemindedness is?"
Out of constraint, the Brother answered:
"No, I don't."Then the Elder said to him:
"Humblemindedness constitutes this: in not judging anybody, but in thinking yourself worse than everybody. See, just now you went astray and judged me because I was eating so much. But what you don't know is how many days I have gone without eating at all. Do you remember the last time I was here and had something to eat?"
The Brother replied:
"I remember, Father. You were here with us on Sunday of Thomas and you ate. But I haven't seen you since."
The Elder said to him:
"Well, now you see how many days I spent without eating.” In other words, he had not eaten from Sunday of Thomas until the beginning of the Apostle’s fast-about 7 weeks!
-Father Tychon paid no attention to the cleaning of his cell, for a bed he had three wood planks with a ragged blanket spread over them for a mattress. On top, he had an old cover with the cotton coming out in places. The mice used to take the cotton to make their nests. On his poor imitation of a pillow, he had the Gospel and a book of homilies by Saint John Chrysostom. The floor of his cell was actually made of planks, though it seemed to have been plastered over, because he never swept it and, over the years, the mud he had brought in from outside together with the hairs from his head and beard had formed a proper plaster.
The Elder had reached a very high state of spirituality! His soul had become extremely sensitive, but he had also achieved bodily insensitivity in order to have his mind constantly on God; he was not at all troubled by the flies, the mosquitoes and the fleas, which he had by the thousands. His body was punctured all over, and his clothes were covered in red spots. The thought occurs to me that even if the insects had drawn his blood with syringes, he still would not have felt it. In his cell, everything moved freely, from insects to mice. A monk once said to him, when he saw the mice at play:
"Elder, would you like me to bring you a cat?" Father Tychon replied:
"No, my child. I have a cat, one and a half times as big as a cat. It comes here; I feed it; I stroke it; and then off it goes to its den down in the hollow and relaxes." It was a fox, which used to visit the Elder regularly, like a good neighbour.
He also had a wild sow which used to bear a litter every year next to his garden fence, so that he would protect her. Whenever he saw hunters moving about in the neighbourhood, Father Tychon would tell them:
"My children, there aren't any big boar around here. Best be on your way."
The hunters would think there were no wild boar in the area and go away.
The holy Elder, like a good father, would feed men spiritually, while feeding the large wild animals from the little food he had and filling them even more with his great love. He would also allow the small insects to suck the little blood he had.
"Brother, do you perhaps know what humblemindedness is?"
Out of constraint, the Brother answered:
"No, I don't."Then the Elder said to him:
"Humblemindedness constitutes this: in not judging anybody, but in thinking yourself worse than everybody. See, just now you went astray and judged me because I was eating so much. But what you don't know is how many days I have gone without eating at all. Do you remember the last time I was here and had something to eat?"
The Brother replied:
"I remember, Father. You were here with us on Sunday of Thomas and you ate. But I haven't seen you since."
The Elder said to him:
"Well, now you see how many days I spent without eating.” In other words, he had not eaten from Sunday of Thomas until the beginning of the Apostle’s fast-about 7 weeks!
-Father Tychon paid no attention to the cleaning of his cell, for a bed he had three wood planks with a ragged blanket spread over them for a mattress. On top, he had an old cover with the cotton coming out in places. The mice used to take the cotton to make their nests. On his poor imitation of a pillow, he had the Gospel and a book of homilies by Saint John Chrysostom. The floor of his cell was actually made of planks, though it seemed to have been plastered over, because he never swept it and, over the years, the mud he had brought in from outside together with the hairs from his head and beard had formed a proper plaster.
The Elder had reached a very high state of spirituality! His soul had become extremely sensitive, but he had also achieved bodily insensitivity in order to have his mind constantly on God; he was not at all troubled by the flies, the mosquitoes and the fleas, which he had by the thousands. His body was punctured all over, and his clothes were covered in red spots. The thought occurs to me that even if the insects had drawn his blood with syringes, he still would not have felt it. In his cell, everything moved freely, from insects to mice. A monk once said to him, when he saw the mice at play:
"Elder, would you like me to bring you a cat?" Father Tychon replied:
"No, my child. I have a cat, one and a half times as big as a cat. It comes here; I feed it; I stroke it; and then off it goes to its den down in the hollow and relaxes." It was a fox, which used to visit the Elder regularly, like a good neighbour.
He also had a wild sow which used to bear a litter every year next to his garden fence, so that he would protect her. Whenever he saw hunters moving about in the neighbourhood, Father Tychon would tell them:
"My children, there aren't any big boar around here. Best be on your way."
The hunters would think there were no wild boar in the area and go away.
The holy Elder, like a good father, would feed men spiritually, while feeding the large wild animals from the little food he had and filling them even more with his great love. He would also allow the small insects to suck the little blood he had.
October 14, 2022
Πολύ όμορφο βιβλίο, γραμμένο με απλότητα που σου αγγίζει την ψυχή.
January 28, 2023
Words of Holy Wisdom of one of many recent Saints
Saint Paisos pray for us
Saint Paisos pray for us
June 29, 2024
Stories about some of the holy elders of Mount Athos. There is also some advice and counsels but this section is quite short. The stories are very touching & inspiring.
April 19, 2025
Athonite Fathers and Athonite Matters is a spiritual window into the ascetic lives on Mount Athos.
September 5, 2025
Amust-read for all Orthodox Christians. Books that'll change your lives
March 27, 2022
Fairly interesting and St. Paisios is a great saint and holy man, but this seems to be one of his weaker fruits, I much prefer his Spiritual Counsels where he specifically gives advice to the believers
In his humility and modesty, he applauded the elders of his time, but it really would have been more interesting to just read St Paisios himself
In his humility and modesty, he applauded the elders of his time, but it really would have been more interesting to just read St Paisios himself
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews