By the late Metropolitan Kosmas of Aetolia and Acarnania
Forgive me, I do not wish to speak about my personal moments. But since I was asked to mention some of my personal experiences from my contact with Saint Paisios, I will simply recount a few events, solely for the benefit of us all....
As a young priest I approached the Sacred Cell of the Honorable Cross of Kapsala on Mount Athos, where Fr. Paisios was practicing asceticism before settling at Panagouda. With much fear I went to meet him, but also to lay before him my problems. Within myself I had formed an image of an imposing monk who would impress us and instruct us.
When we entered the cell and Saint Paisios received us, we encountered not an imposing monk, but a simple, humble, modest, though neatly kept, yet poorly dressed monk, who shone with the grace of God, radiated love, and whose words were seasoned and Spirit-bearing. He received us with his spiritual embrace wide open and gave us rest.
From our very first visit and contact with him, we saw confirmed all that we had heard about him. There in the courtyard of the cell we saw a place covered with rosemary. “Here is the grave of my elder, Fr. Tychon the Russian,” he told us. Indeed, Fr. Tychon was a holy hieromonk.
Later, the Saint revealed to me something about his elder, Fr. Tychon. “When Fr. Tychon served in the chapel of the cell, I would chant. When the Divine Liturgy reached the Cherubic Hymn, Fr. Tychon would tell me to go outside into the corridor. But out of curiosity I would secretly try to see what Papa-Tychon was doing. Then I would see the elder lifted above the ground, raising his hands to heaven and saying: ‘Come, Cherubim, come, Seraphim.’”
These are lofty and awe-inspiring states which we consider imaginary. And yet they are real. They reveal the grandeur of the Divine Liturgy and call all of us to love the Divine Liturgy and to attend church regularly and consciously....
Source: Excerpt from Personal Experiences from My Acquaintance with Saint Paisios the Athonite. Translation by John Sanidopoulos.