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Saint Paisius Velichkovsky or Wieliczkowski (''Paisie de la Neamţ'' in Romanian; Паисий Величковский in Russian; Паїсій Величковський in Ukrainian; 20 December 1722 – 15 November 1794) was an Eastern Orthodox monk and theologian who helped spread staretsdom or the concept of the spiritual elder to the Slavic world.〔 Also accessible at (http://sophiainstitutenyc.org ).〕 He is a pivotal figure in Orthodox Church history.〔("Our Spiritual Heritage", St. Symeon the New Theologian Orthodox Church )〕 ==Life== A Ukrainian by birth, Pyotr Velichkovsky was born on December 21, 1722, in Poltava, where his father, Ivan, was a priest in the city cathedral. He was the eleventh of twelve children. His grandfather was the poet Ivan Velichkovsky.〔(Shebelist,Serhii. "Paisius Velichkovsky. Returning home", ''Dehb, Kiev'', November 29, 2012 )〕 In 1735, he was sent to study at the Kiev Theological Academy.〔(Sister of St. Paisius Monastery, "St. Paisius Velichkovsky, A Brief summary of His Life" )〕 In 1741, he became a rasophore monk, taking the name of “Platon”.〔 However, his monastery was soon closed, because of the political stresses during the time, and he entered the Pechersky Lavra at Kiev. Here he was influenced by the monk Ignatii, who told him about the hesychastic fervor he had found in Romanian monasteries. During the lent of 1743, Platon travelled to the monastic environments of the Dălhăuţi, the Trăisteni, and the Carnul Sketes. The first two Moldavian communities were under the spiritual eldership of Basil of Poiana Mărului, who became an important formative influence on Platon's spiritual life, teaching him about the Prayer of the Heart. The third Skete was located in Wallachia. All of them followed the Athonite hesychast observances.〔John Anthony McGuckin, “The Making of the ''Philokalia'': A tale of Monks and Manuscripts”, according to Brock Bingaman, Bradley Nassif, „''(The Philokalia: A Classic Text of Orthodox Spirituality )''”, Oxford University Press, 2012, ISBN 0199911835, pp. 40-41〕 In 1746, at age twenty-four, in order to perfect his monastic experience, he moved on Mount Athos, where he made his way to the Pantocrator monastery, and was assigned to live in its small Kiparis Skete. He spent the next four years in solitary life and prayer, living in extreme poverty. In 1750, he was visited by his former Starets, Basil of Poiana Mărului, who came on the Holy Mountain, and tonsured him as a lesser schema monk, with the name of Paisius. Following Basil's advice, he decided to move away from the strict solitary life, and became a renowned leader of a Hesychastic skete, formed of Romanian and Slavonic disciples. In 1758 Paisius was ordained into priesthood by Bishop Gregory Rasca, and the community's rapid growth required them to move into the larger Skete of St. Elias.〔〔〔 Paisius perceived that spiritual life must be grounded in the study of the patristic ascetic texts.〔 He began to collect and painstakingly copy out the writings of the ancient Holy Fathers using them as a guide in the spiritual life. His teachings attracted a number of disciples desiring guidance in the practice of unceasing prayer.〔("In Pursuit of Wisdom - Blessed Paisius Velichkovsky", Orthodox America )〕 Paisius wrote theological epistles to his disciples and translated into Church Slavonic a large number of Greek theological writings, including the ''Philokalia''.〔 St Paisius remained on Mt Athos for a total of seventeen years, copying Greek patristic books and translating them into Slavonic.〔("Venerable Paisius Velichovsky", Orthodox Church in America )〕 In 1764, when Paisius was forty-two, Prince Grigore III Ghica of Moldavia asked him to come in his country, to preside over the revival of monastic life. Thereupon, he and 64 of his disciples moved to Moldavia, at the Dragomirna monastery, in Bucovina. Here Paisius continued his activity on transcribing and translating patristic sources. One of his disciples, the monk Raphael also translated a selection of texts from the ''Philokalia'' in Romanian. The community at Dragomirna grew quickly, gathering around 350 monks. However, after Bucovina was annexed by the Austrian Empire, Paisius and his community eventually relocated at the Neamţ Monastery, in 1779, during the vigil of the Dormition Feast. The new community grew to 700 monks, and it soon became a centre of pilgrimage, but also of refugee movement. Here he completed the Slavonic translation of the ''Philokalia'', which in 1793 was printed in Russia.〔 In 1790, St. Paisius received the Great Schema, and was elevated to the rank of Archimandrite, by Bishop Ambrose of Poltava (who visited his monastery). He was now also acting as vicar to the Metropolitan of Moldavia.〔〔 His efforts contributed to a dynamic renewal of hesychastic monastic life in 18th century Orthodoxy, and on into the present era. Many of his own disciples (several of whom became spiritual masters in their own right), took his teachings and mission to Russia, where they founded new monasteries dedicated to Hesychast traditions.〔〔John W. Morris, “(The Historic Church: An Orthodox View of Christian History )”, AuthorHouse, 2011, ISBN 1456734903, p. 521.〕 He exerted immense influence on the ''startsy'' of the Optina Monastery both through his translations and through his personal disciples, such as Feodor Ushakov. Paisius's translation of ''Philokalia'' was one of the favourite books of Seraphim of Sarov, who received blessing to go to Sarov for spiritual devotion from the Paisius' disciple Dosifei of Kiev. St Paisius died on November 15, 1794 at the age of seventy-two.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Paisius Velichkovsky」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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