Arsenios of Paros
Our Venerable Father Arsenios the New, of Paros
Venerable · Wonderworker · b. 1800, Ioannina — d. 1877, Paros
Commemorated 31 January — Repose on the island of Paros, 1877, 18 August — Uncovering of his relics
Arsenios of Paros (1800–1877) was one of the great spiritual fathers and wonderworkers of nineteenth-century Greece. Born at Ioannina in Epirus and orphaned young, he was tonsured on Mount Athos under the elder Daniel, laboured as a teacher and confessor in the newly independent Greek kingdom, and from 1840 until his death dwelt on the Cycladic island of Paros, where he served as abbot of the monastery of Saint George at Longovarda and spiritual guide of the convent of the Transfiguration. Renowned for his ascetic severity, his gift of discernment, and the miracles and healings worked through his prayers, he became in his lifetime the counsellor of a whole region. He reposed on January 31, 1877, and was glorified by the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople in 1967.
Origins and formation
The saint was born in 1800 at Ioannina in Epirus, and named Athanasios, of the family Sergiades. Orphaned as a young child, he was taken at about the age of nine to Kydonies (Ayvalık) on the Asia-Minor coast, then a flourishing centre of Greek learning, where he studied for some years under the Archimandrite Gregory. There he met the noted elder Daniel, whom he followed to Mount Athos; and on the Holy Mountain he was tonsured a monk with the name Arsenios. He was formed in the Athonite tradition of watchfulness and prayer, and ordained to the diaconate and the priesthood.
Teacher and confessor
Following his elder Daniel, Arsenios left Athos to labour in the world of the newly liberated Greek nation, where the Church's life had to be rebuilt after the long Ottoman centuries and the war of independence. He served as a schoolteacher and catechist in several places — the Cyclades and the mainland — combining the instruction of the young with the ministry of a confessor and spiritual father, and enduring the hardships and the suspicion that often met a zealous monk in those unsettled years. His reputation for holiness and for wise, severe direction of souls grew wherever he went.
Paros
From 1840 Arsenios settled on Paros, and there he passed the second half of his life. He became a monk of the monastery of Saint George at Longovarda, and on the repose of its abbot Elias was chosen abbot in his place, while also serving as spiritual father to the nuns of the convent of Christ the Saviour (the Transfiguration) at Paros. As his fame for sanctity spread, the press of pilgrims and penitents grew so great that he laid down the burden of administration to give himself wholly to the cure of souls — to confession, counsel, and prayer. To this period belong the many accounts of his gift of discernment, his reading of hearts, and the miracles and healings worked through his intercession, for which the people of Paros and the surrounding islands venerated him as a living saint.
Repose
Arsenios foresaw his end. On the 30th of January, 1877, having served the Divine Liturgy, he told his spiritual children, "My children, this is the last Liturgy I shall serve"; and on the 31st of January he reposed in peace. His grave on Paros at once became a place of pilgrimage. He was glorified by the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople in 1967, and his relics — uncovered and enshrined at the convent of the Transfiguration on Paros — are venerated there. He is one of the most beloved of the modern Greek saints, ranked with the spiritual fathers of the Cycladic and Athonite revival.
Feast and commemoration
Arsenios is kept on January 31 (church date; Old Calendar civil February 13), the day of his repose. The uncovering of his relics is commemorated on August 18 (Old Calendar civil August 31). His cult is Greek, centred on Paros and the Cyclades, and has spread widely since his glorification in 1967.
Hymns
Troparion — Tone 1
O offspring of Ioannina and adornment of Paros, thou who in these latter days didst shine as a lamp of discernment and a healer of souls, O righteous father Arsenios: entreat Christ God that our souls be saved.
Original translation from the Greek
Iconography
Arsenios is depicted in the manner of a modern Greek monastic saint: an aged, white-bearded elder in the monastic schema and mantle, often holding a scroll of counsel or a blessing cross, his face drawn with ascetic severity. As a saint of the nineteenth century glorified only in 1967, his images are the work of living or recent iconographers and are under copyright; no public-domain or free-licensed icon has been identified, and none is stored here. (Wanted: a free-licensed or public-domain icon of Arsenios of Paros.)