![\"Lessons](\"https:\/\/catalog.obitel-minsk.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/result_001-2-1.jpg\")
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Where would you expect to encounter a saint? In a monastery, perhaps? On an icon? Certainly\u2014in church, in quiet prayer, in places hallowed by faith. But during times of great trial, saints have also been found in the trenches.<\/p>\n
In the 1940s, amidst the chaos of the Greek Civil War, a young radio operator named Arsenios Eznepeidis was serving in the Greek army. Few knew then that he would one day become one of the most beloved saints of modern Orthodoxy\u2014Saint Paisios of Mount Athos.<\/p>\n
During a fierce battle near the town of Nafpaktos, Arsenios\u2019s unit was forced to retreat under pressure from a far larger enemy force. In the confusion, one soldier, Pantelis Dzekos, was struck down\u2014injured by his own radio equipment\u2014and left behind.<\/p>\n
His comrades made it back to the reserve trenches and quickly realised Pantelis was missing. Just then, they saw something astonishing. Arsenios, the radio operator, dropped his gear and ran back\u2014straight into enemy fire.<\/p>\n
\u201cLeave him! He\u2019s gone!\u201d officers and soldiers shouted after him. But Arsenios didn\u2019t stop.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe ran up to me,\u201d Pantelis later recalled, \u201choisted me onto his shoulders, and dragged me back to safety.\u201d<\/p>\n
Their captain looked on in disbelief. \u201cIt seems some saint must love you very much,\u201d he said to Pantelis, \u201cto have helped you\u2014and sent this man to save you.\u201d<\/p>\n
That brave young rescuer was indeed beloved by God. Years later, he would be known to the whole Orthodox world as Elder Paisios the Athonite.<\/p>\n
Few today are aware that before entering monastic life, Elder Paisios spent nearly three and a half years in military service as a radio operator. He served during the Greco-Italian War, through the trials of the Second World War, and into the Greek Civil War.<\/p>\n
Though his role spared him from direct combat\u2014radio operators were generally not required to fire upon the enemy\u2014he endured the full weight of war\u2019s suffering.<\/p>\n
\u201cOnce, when our food supplies ran out, we survived by eating snow,\u201d he later recalled. \u201cAnother time, we went thirteen days without rations and lived off nothing but wild chestnuts. We were often tormented by thirst, drinking from puddles formed in horse tracks.<\/p>\n
The cold was a fierce enemy. We would wake up buried in snowdrifts. One morning, I dug twenty-six of my fellow soldiers out of the snow with a mattock\u2014they had all suffered frostbite.<\/p>\n
On another occasion, we were buried under snow for three whole days. I kept sending distress signals to headquarters. My own feet were so badly frostbitten that strips of flesh peeled away like bark from a tree. Only God\u2019s mercy spared me from amputation.\u201d<\/p>\n
Yet even in the midst of these harrowing circumstances, young Arsenios held fast to his childhood dream of becoming a monk. He ate only half his portion in the mess hall and spent nights in prayer, climbing to the roof of the barracks after lights out.<\/p>\n
This is not a tale of how hardship builds resilience. It is a story of a soul yearning for heaven while walking through the valley of death\u2014and feeling the spiritual toll such an environment exacts.<\/p>\n
Once, he had gone five months without attending a single liturgy. There were no churches or priests near his station. When the army convoy passed by a village church where the Akathist Hymn was being chanted to the Mother of God, Arsenios wept.<\/p>\n
\u201cI crossed myself and kissed the icons,\u201d he said. \u201cThen I whispered, \u2018My Most Holy Theotokos\u2026 what have I become?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
Reflecting on those years, he would later say:<\/p>\n
\u201cIf I had undertaken the same ascetic struggle as a monk that I endured as a soldier, I would have become a saint.\u201d<\/p>\n
During his time at war, Arsenios consistently volunteered for the most dangerous assignments\u2014not out of bravado, but out of a deep desire to spare others, especially those who had families waiting for them at home.<\/p>\n
On one occasion, he dug himself a narrow trench for cover. Another soldier crawled over and asked if he might share it.<\/p>\n
\u201cI squeezed in and made room,\u201d Arsenios recalled. \u201cIt was tight, but we both fit.\u201d<\/p>\n
Then a second soldier arrived, desperate for shelter.<\/p>\n
\u201cI climbed out and let him take my place.\u201d<\/p>\n
Moments later, a piece of shrapnel grazed Arsenios\u2019s head. He was wearing only a hood\u2014not a helmet.<\/p>\n
\u201cI reached up to feel the wound\u2014but there was no blood. I checked again\u2014still nothing. The shrapnel had shaved a six-centimetre-wide strip of hair clean off my scalp without leaving so much as a scratch.\u201d<\/p>\n
He had given up his spot in the trench without hesitation. \u201cI did it from the heart,\u201d he said. \u201cI thought, Better to be killed once now than to spend the rest of my life tormented by the thought that I could have saved someone and didn\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cGod greatly helps those who are willing to give of themselves for the sake of others.\u201d<\/p>\n
Once, during a particularly perilous campaign, Arsenios\u2019s unit became surrounded. Their half-battalion was trapped in a mountain pass by over 1,600 insurgents.<\/p>\n
They managed to fortify themselves behind a series of jagged rock formations\u2014natural strongholds that offered some degree of protection. Ammunition was quickly brought forward, and the commanding officer, fearing an imminent assault, ordered every man to help haul supplies.<\/p>\n
He turned to Arsenios and barked:
\n\u201cLeave the radio and get to work!\u201d<\/p>\n
Suspecting that Arsenios was simply trying to avoid danger, the commander even drew his pistol and threatened to shoot.<\/p>\n
Arsenios obeyed, helping to carry crates of ammunition\u2014but between runs, he kept sprinting back to the radio, desperately trying to establish contact with central command.<\/p>\n
Finally, after repeated attempts, he made a connection.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re surrounded,\u201d he reported. \u201cWe need help urgently.\u201d<\/p>\n
The next day, as the enemy closed in so tightly that the soldiers could hear their voices echoing through the rocks, air support arrived. A fleet of Greek attack aircraft roared overhead and scattered the enemy ranks.<\/p>\n
Years later, as a monk, Elder Paisios often returned to this memory when speaking about the power of prayer.<\/p>\n
\u201cMonks are the radio operators of the Church.
\nIf they keep the lines open with God through prayer, then God rushes to help.<\/p>\n
One extra rifle shot won\u2019t change the outcome of a battle.
\nBut when the aircraft arrive\u2014that changes everything.\u201d<\/p>\n
Later in life, Elder Paisios often spoke of his wartime experiences\u2014not to glorify violence or heroism, but to draw spiritual lessons from the battlefield. He would compare the physical struggle of war with the deeper, invisible struggle of the spiritual life.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn our time, courage has become a rare thing,\u201d he once said.
\n\u201cPeople are made of water.
\nSo if\u2014God forbid\u2014a war were to break out, some would die from fear alone, while others would collapse in despair.
\nThey\u2019ve grown too accustomed to comfort.\u201d<\/p>\n
Yet he also distinguished between two kinds of fear. One, he said, was useful: the fear that leads a person to turn to God. The other\u2014fear rooted in a lack of faith\u2014was deadly.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat kind of fear is defeated only by courage.
\nThe more a person fears, the more room he gives the enemy to attack.\u201d<\/p>\n
And how does one acquire courage?<\/p>\n
\u201cCultivate self-sacrifice. Love your brother.
\nStrive to live in a spiritual state.
\nBecause without spiritual grounding, a man is a coward. He loves himself too much.
\nSuch a man may even deny Christ or betray Him.\u201d<\/p>\n
To the Elder, the truly courageous soldier was the one who laid down his life\u2014not for glory, but so that others might live.<\/p>\n
\u201cA soldier should rejoice to die so that others don\u2019t have to.
\nIf you approach life that way, you have nothing to fear.
\nCourage is born of love\u2014of kindness, of self-offering.
\nBut today people don\u2019t even want to hear the word \u2018death.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
Yet he insisted that only those who remember death can truly live.<\/p>\n
\u201cThose who fear death and cling to the vanity of life fall into spiritual stagnation.
\nBut the brave\u2014those who fix their eyes on death and think of it constantly\u2014they overcome this vanity.
\nAlready in this life, they begin to taste eternity and the joy of paradise.\u201d<\/p>\n
And to those who go to war for the sake of faith and fatherland, he offered this final word:<\/p>\n
\u201cLet him make the sign of the Cross and go forth without fear.
\nFor God is with him.
\nAnd it is God\u2014not man\u2014who will determine whether he lives or dies.
\nWe must place our trust in God, not in ourselves.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Translated by the Catalogue of Good Deeds<\/em> Where would you expect to encounter a saint? In a monastery, perhaps? On an icon? Certainly\u2014in church, in quiet prayer, in places hallowed by…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":41652,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[57],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-41651","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-orthodox-christian-saints"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/catalog.obitel-minsk.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/result_001-2-1.jpg","views":{"total":777,"cached_at":"","cached_date":1768401928},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paPyw9-aPN","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/catalog.obitel-minsk.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41651","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/catalog.obitel-minsk.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/catalog.obitel-minsk.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/catalog.obitel-minsk.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/catalog.obitel-minsk.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=41651"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/catalog.obitel-minsk.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41651\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":41661,"href":"https:\/\/catalog.obitel-minsk.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41651\/revisions\/41661"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/catalog.obitel-minsk.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/41652"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/catalog.obitel-minsk.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41651"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/catalog.obitel-minsk.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=41651"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/catalog.obitel-minsk.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=41651"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nSource: https:\/\/foma.ru\/molitva-tvoya-pvo-okopnye-uroki-starcza-paisiya-svyatogorcza.html<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"