Pious Paisios the Athonite was a man of prayer and due to this a great theologian. Usually we call theologians only those with theological studies.
But Pious Paisios is a theologian in the patristic meaning, because he was a man of prayer. Father Paul Floresky said that many things are and were written but only a few reach the souls of men. All the books left by Pious Paisios reached the souls of the faithful. His books are not books to be read only now and only one time. The books of Pious Paisios are books to be read and reread. Pious Paisios was a simple man, but in the same time a charismatic one, a man who gathered within himself the image of an apostle, of a theologian, of a spiritual man, he gathered within himself the image of a spiritual father
He said that his greatest enemy was his name. Once when someone came and tried to tell him how great he was in the world and how appreciated by people, he said: Coming to my hut you passed by a pile of trash. There you saw some empty tins. When you went closer you saw they glittered in the sunlight. Well, know that I am nothing more than those tins.
