Joseph the Hesychast

Elder Joseph the Hesychast

Elder Joseph the Hesychast was a monk and elder on Mount Athos. He reposed in 1959, and he has wide acclaim for being the spiritual father or grandfather of Elders Ephrem of Philotheou, Joseph of Vatopedi, Charalampus of Dionysiou and others, who are directly credited for revitalising six of the twenty monasteries on Mount Athos, as well as Met. Angelos (Anastasiou) of the GOC-A. Elder Joseph was an Old Calendar zealot of great renown. Due to his fame, many new calendarists contend that he repented of his zealotry and finished his life as a commemorator of the Ecumenical Patriarch. Many Greek Old Calendarists, on the other hand, insist that this claim is specious, is an effort of the new calendarists to co-opt the reputation of the elder, and that Elder Joseph reposed as a true confessor of the faith.

Biography

Early life

Francis Kottis was born in the island of Paros to George and Maria on February 12, 1897 (in other sources: in 1898). In his teens, he went to work in Piraeus. At twenty-three he began to read the lives of the Fathers, a spiritual turning point for him. These lives, particularly those of the strict ascetics, and a dream he had, gave him the desire to enter into monasticism. He responded to this desire by fasting and praying in the nearby countryside, which was uninhabited, and then going to Mount Athos.

Mount Athos

The future Elder yearned to pray unceasingly, but had great troubles - he could not find a spiritual father, and the indifference of many monks towards unceasing prayer.

I was inconsolable because I was longing so ardently to find what I had set out for in search of God; and not only was I not finding it, but people would not even being helpful.

In the midst of this experience, however, he was granted a vision of the uncreated light, and the gift of ceaseless prayer was given to him.

At once I was completely changed and forgot myself. I was filled with light in my heart and outside and everywhere, not being aware that I even had a body. The prayer began to say itself within me...

During this time, he spent time in remote places to recite the Jesus Prayer. Eventually he met Fr Arsenios, who was to become his co-struggler, and found that they shared a common desire for hesychasm, and decided to find an experienced elder. They found Elder Ephraim the Barrel-Maker, and they arranged their lives to provide the maximum silence for praying the Jesus Prayer. In addition to his work and his prayer rule, Fr Joseph went to a cave at sunset to recite the Jesus Prayer for six hours.

After Elder Ephraim the Barrel-Maker's repose, Frs Joseph and Arsenios spent summers moving from place to place around the peak of Mount Athos, so as to be unknown and to find and learn from spiritual monks. In winter, however, they returned to their hut in the wilderness at St Basil's. They possessed only their tattered monastic garments, and Fr Joseph ate three ounces of rusks (dried bread) a day, sometimes with an amount of boiled wild greens. They spoke little so that they could pray more. Fr Joseph was assailed by the demon of fornication around this time, and he would battle this great temptation for eight years, using as weapons extended vigils and using, instead of a bed, a chair to sleep on. Finally, Frs Joseph and Arsenios discovered an experienced ascetic and spiritual father, Elder Daniel.

Little St Anne's

Time passed, and the fame of Elder Joseph began to spread. After Fr Arsenios ceded the eldership that was his right by length of time in monasticism, Elder Joseph accepted three brothers to live with them, with others living with them for short periods of time. In 1938, seeking solitude from the increasing number of monks who sought his advice, he went to a cave at Little St Anne's, where the brotherhood grew to seven monks.

After approximately 13 years, the large amount of physical labour required to live there became too much, making most of the fathers ill. Elder Joseph moved the community further down the mountain, nearer the sea, to New Skete. Archimandrite Sophrony (+1993) knew Elder Joseph well and in his book about Saint Silouan the Athonite, Elder Joseph is one of the monks mentioned who was granted the gift of the 'Uncreated Light'.

Elder Joseph reposed on August 15, 1959.

Controversy over Old Calendarist Bonafides

In recent times, it has become common to cite Elder Joseph against the Old Calendarists, and in particular to note the following account: While I was praying, I saw a brilliant, beautiful church. It had a small exit on the side, and everyone was coming out of the church. In the courtyard, they were arguing. One person shouted, ‘I am right!’ Another person shouted, ‘I am more right!’ And a third person, ‘I am the true church!’ This reveals that although they were arguing, they all belonged to a single church. They have dogmas in common, and they have grace, but they were arguing because they don’t have an open mind and haven’t achieved sainthood. So how could I say now that the official Church of Greece is heretical and lack’s God grace. Should I call it heretical only because of the Calendar? And should I say that their bishops are damned? I am with the Old Calendar, but I think differently from the Old Calendarists.

Do you see, my child, that you are not sinning by commemorating the Patriarch, no matter what he said or did, since he has not been deposed?

It should be noted that among the many surviving writings of Elder Joseph himself, no similar sentiments have been found in his first hand expressions. Even the editions published by Elder Ephraim have no such accounts. Moreover, it is notable that the proponent of this story is the Elder Ephraim who submitted himself to the new calendarist Ecumenical Patriarch for a blessing to establish monastic communities in North America. Hence, the unique account of his elder's story becomes a justification for the path he chose and all of the financial benefits which have flowed as a result. Further, we have the example of Elder Ieronymos of Aegina, who was an Old Calendarist elder and saint but have been embraced and claimed by the new calendarists because of the broad acceptance of his holiness by the people who knew him. Old Calendarists who venerate Elder Joseph claim that his canonization by new calendarists is a similar attempt to associate themselves with one widely acclaimed for his holiness.

Canonization by New Calendarists

Elder Joseph has been 'locally' canonized in several places, including the Holy Mountain, Greece and Romania. In October 2019, the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople recognized Elder Joseph and four other holy monks, Elder Hieronymus of Simonopetra, Elder Daniel and Ephraim of Katounakia, and Elder Sophrony of Essex, as saints of the Holy Orthodox Church.

Relics

The relic of the Elder's head is kept in St. Anthony's monastery, in Arizona (USA), while the rest or his relics are kept in the Vatopedi monastery. Many visitors to Athos report that his relics give off a divine fragrance. The abbot of Vatopedi monastery, Fr. Ephraim, spoke publicly in Athens about miracles performed through the intercession of Elder Joseph the Hesychast, and even about miraculous appearances of him.

Writings

• Monastic Wisdom: The Letters of Elder Joseph the Hesychast, by Elder Joseph the Hesychast, 1998. Published by St. Anthony's Greek Orthodox Monastery, Arizona. ISBN 0-9667000-0-7 (HB), ISBN 0-9667000-1-5 (PB)
• Elder Joseph the Hesychast: Struggles, Experiences, Teachings, by Elder Joseph, 1999. Published by the Holy Monastery of Vatopaidi, Mount Athos. ISBN 960-7735-12-9 (SB).
• My Elder Joseph the Hesychast, by Elder Ephraim, 2013. Published by St. Anthony's Greek Orthodox Monastery, Arizona.

Other sources

• Book Review of Monastic Wisdom
• Elder Arsenios the Cave-Dweller, by Monk Joseph Dionysiatis.
• Modern Orthodox Saints Vol. 14 (Blesser Elder Iakovos of Epiros, Elder Joseph the Hesychast, and Mother Stavritsa the Missionary), by Constantine Cavarnos

Notes

• [1]

• [2]

• [3]