Father Simon Arvanitis (1901-1988)   Father Simon was born in 1901 in Koukouvaounes, Attica, Greece. At the age of 16 he went to Mount Athos with friends in order to receive the blessing of Metropolitan Nectarios (St Nectarios). The Saint took his hands and told him prophetically: “You will become a Spiritual Father and save souls”. Simon’s love for God grew, and at age 24 he secretly left his family to be tonsured a monk at the monastery of St Haralambos. However he longed to be a cave-dwelling hermit, and continually begged this from the Monastery elders. The elders prayed [...]

Gerontissa Makaria Desipri (1911-1999)   Referred to by her spiritual children as “Mother of the afflicted”, Gerontissa Makaria was the vessel chosen by God to discover the relics of St Ephraim “the Newly-Revealed” of Nea Makri, north-east of Athens, in 1950. On this same site, she founded the current monastery dedicated to the Annunciation of the Mother of God and remained Abbess for almost 50 years. Makaria born in 1911 in Tinos, to God-fearing parents. From a young age, she grew to love God and the Church, leading to her monastic tonsure in 1932. In 1945 she visited the ruins [...]

St Tikhon, Patriarch of Moscow (1865-1925)   Born Vasily Ivanovich Belavin in the Pskov region of Russia in 1865, St Tikhon from his youth displayed fervour for the Orthodox Faith. He entered the Pskov seminary at the age of thirteen, and went on to graduate from the St Petersburg Theological Academy at the age of 23. He took monastic vows at the age of 26, taking the name of Tikhon in honour of St Tikhon of Zadonsk. Made an Archimandrite in 1892, he became Bishop of Lublin in 1897. The next year, he was made Bishop of the Aleutians and [...]

Elder Arsenios the Cave-Dweller (1886-1983) A paragon of Orthodox monasticism and an icon of humility, Elder Arsenios the Cave-Dweller is best known as the dedicated spiritual child of the ever-memorable Elder Joseph the Hesychast. The two met as zealous youths at the summit of the Holy Mountain and remained inseparable until the repose of Elder Joseph. At that time, the future Elder Joseph was still a layman, but the young monk Arsenios perceived such great spiritual gifts in him that he said: ‘From now on, you are the eye and I am the ear’. He said this, despite being 10 [...]

Elder Tychon the Athonite (1884-1968)   Father Tychon was born in 1884 in the Russian town of Novaya, Mikhalovka. His God-fearing parents, Paul and Helen, taught him from a young age to love God with all his heart. Such was his longing to devote his whole life to God that from childhood, he wanted to become a monk. Due to his young age however, his parents hesitated to give their son a blessing to join a monastery. He made endless pilgrimages to many monasteries in Russia, where he often refused to accept hospitality, both to cultivate his own asceticism and [...]