By Fr. George Dorbarakis
We came to know Saint Arsenios the Cappadocian, called Hatzefentis, mainly from the book written about him by another Saint of our time, Elder Paisios the Athonite. He was the one who “charmed” Saint Paisios from a young age, already by their place of common origin, Farasa in Cappadocia, and for this reason he wanted to follow in his footsteps in life and become a monk, fully dedicated to God. And perhaps this turn of Elder Paisios towards the monastic life, apart from his own inclination, was due to a certain extent to the power of the prayer of Saint Arsenios, who saw in the person of the little Farasiotes (later Saint Paisios, son of the then President of the people of Farasa, Prodromos Eznepides), his own successor, as he even expressed this at the time of the child's baptism - it is known that at the time of naming, he "forced" the godfather to say his own name, Arsenios, instead of the name Christos. Saint Paisios' desire to write the life of Saint Arsenios was embedded in him for many years before this became a reality. And when he had already collected enough evidence, which over time increased after his own research and that of other acquaintances, and had somehow completed the book, Saint Arsenios after a miraculous appearance “applauded” the work of his disciple and “successor.”
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