Thursday, July 11, 2019

"Blessed are you, O God-bearer Paisios..."

Icon of Jesus Christ as he was described by St. Paisios to the Nuns of Souroti Monastery after his divine visions of the Lord (source)
  
Blessed are you, O God-bearer Paisios, for you were made worthy to behold the comely beauty of Christ God, He Who is all light, all sweetness, all inexpressible beauty. Therefore in ecstasy you cried out, saying: How could men dare to spit upon Your radiant face, O Lover of mankind? How could I the wretched one be made worthy to behold this sight, of which only some of all of the struggles of the ascetics from the ages were made worthy to behold? Now, therefore, O all-blessed and Venerable One, as you ceaselessly behold Christ the Savior face-to-face, we entreat that you intercede for us on the Day of Judgment that we be made worthy, with an unhindered conscience, to behold His face.
-from the Litia of the Great Vespers for St. Paisios the Athonite

(source)
  
St. Paisios in prayer (source)
  
Through the prayers of our Holy Fathers, Lord Jesus Christ our God, have mercy on us and save us! Amen!

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