St. Paisy of Neamt

St. Paisy of Neamt

4 Sermons
St. Paisy of Neamt (December 21, 1722–November 15, 1794), also known as Paisius Velichkovsky, was a Ukrainian-born Orthodox monk, preacher, and theologian who revitalized monastic spirituality in Eastern Orthodoxy, earning him a lasting legacy as a key figure in the hesychastic tradition. Born Pyotr Ivanovich Velichkovsky in Poltava, Ukraine, to Ivan, a cathedral protopriest, and Irina, he was the eleventh of twelve children in a pious family of Ukrainian nobility with Cossack ties. His father died when he was four, leaving his mother and elder brother John, also a priest, to raise him. Educated initially in the Psalms and Horologion, he attended the Kievan Theological Academy at 13 but found its scholasticism unfulfilling, departing in 1741 to pursue a monastic life, taking the name Platon as a novice. Paisy’s preaching and spiritual influence grew as he embraced hesychasm—the practice of inner stillness and the Jesus Prayer—first at Mount Athos in 1746, where he lived as a hermit in extreme poverty for four years. Tonsured as Paisius in 1750 by his starets Basil of Poiana Mărului, he led a growing community of Romanian and Slavic monks, becoming a hieromonk in 1758 and founding the Skete of St. Elias. In 1763, he relocated to Moldavia, leading monasteries at Dragomirna, Secu, and finally Neamţ in 1779, where his community swelled to over 700 monks. Renowned for translating The Philokalia into Slavonic (published 1793), he restored patristic texts to Slavic churches, sparking a spiritual renaissance. His sermons, though not widely preserved, emphasized prayer, obedience, and scriptural study, shaping disciples who spread his teachings to Russia’s Optina Monastery.
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