Iosif Isihastul
Gheron Iosif Isihastul, cunoscut şi ca Iosif al Peşterilor, a fost monah şi stareţ în Muntele Athos. A murit în 1959, şi a fost mult-lăudatul părinte duhovnicesc sau naş de călugărie al Stareţilor Efrem Filotheitul, Iosif Vatopedinul, Haralambie Dionisiatul şi a altora, ce sunt direct răspunzători de revitalizarea a şase din cele douăzeci de mănăstiri ale Sfântului Munte.
Biografie
Anii de început
Francisc s-a născut în Paros, din părinţii Gheorghios şi Maria, în 1898. Adolescent fiind, a mers să muncească în Pireu. La douăzeci şi trei de ani, a început să citească vieţile Sfinţilor, un moment de cotitură duhovnicească pentru el. Aceste vieţi, îndeosebi cele ale nevoitorilor aspri, precum şi un vis al său, i-au stârnit dorinţa de a intra în monahism. A răspuns la această dorinţă postind şi rugându-se într-un ţinut de ţară pustiu din apropiere, şi plecând apoi la Muntele Athos.
Athonit
Viitorul Stareţ tânjea după rugăciunea neîncetată, însă avea mari necazuri - din pricină că nu putea găsi un părinte duhovnicesc şi că mulţi monahi erau nepăsători faţă de rugăciunea neîncetată.
- Eram nemângâiat pentru că îmi doream atât de fierbinte să aflu ce trebuie să fac pentru a-L afla pe Dumnezeu; şi nu numai că nu-l găseam, ci nimeni nu mă ajuta câtuşi de puţin.
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.
Elder Joseph reposed on 15 August 1959.
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), 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).
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
