Αuthors
Elder Iosif Vatopaidinos
Older articles
19/8/2023:
The way
Elder Iosif Vatopaidinos
13/8/2023:
That’s how things are
Elder Iosif Vatopaidinos
04/6/2023:
Sunday of Pentecost
Elder Iosif Vatopaidinos
12/12/2022:
The Achievement of Faith (11th Sunday of Luke- of the Forefathers) [3]
Elder Iosif Vatopaidinos
11/12/2022:
The Achievement of Faith (11th Sunday of Luke- of the Forefathers) [2]
Elder Iosif Vatopaidinos
10/12/2022:
The Achievement of Faith (11th Sunday of Luke- of the Forefathers)
Elder Iosif Vatopaidinos
14/11/2022:
What do we mean when we say ‘deification’?
Elder Iosif Vatopaidinos
19/9/2022:
How to cure the tendency to judge others
Elder Iosif Vatopaidinos
03/8/2022:
Directly and indirectly
Elder Iosif Vatopaidinos
28/5/2022:
The aim and purpose of life
Elder Iosif Vatopaidinos
27/12/2021:
They belong to each of us
Elder Iosif Vatopaidinos
20/10/2021:
You reference your pain
Elder Iosif Vatopaidinos
13/10/2021:
How can people be cured of being accusatory?
Elder Iosif Vatopaidinos
14/9/2021:
It downgrades
Elder Iosif Vatopaidinos
27/8/2021:
Why did God give the command to the forefathers?
Elder Iosif Vatopaidinos
15/8/2021:
A necessary duty
Elder Iosif Vatopaidinos
08/8/2021:
The way
Elder Iosif Vatopaidinos
04/8/2021:
Who is the devil and how does he act?
Elder Iosif Vatopaidinos
01/8/2021:
That’s the way things are
Elder Iosif Vatopaidinos
25/7/2021:
Let’s go back
Elder Iosif Vatopaidinos
16/7/2021:
Saint Paul describes and analyzes love
Elder Iosif Vatopaidinos
09/7/2021:
Depending on the case
Elder Iosif Vatopaidinos
12/6/2021:
It would be enough
Elder Iosif Vatopaidinos
24/5/2021:
Certain and catastrophic
Elder Iosif Vatopaidinos
11/4/2021:
We’re talking about debasement
Elder Iosif Vatopaidinos
19/3/2021:
Letter on fasting, moderation and diet
Elder Iosif Vatopaidinos
09/2/2021:
They weep and lament
Elder Iosif Vatopaidinos
07/2/2021:
Why did God create the universe and man?
Elder Iosif Vatopaidinos
04/2/2021:
The presence of an inexpressible mystery
Elder Iosif Vatopaidinos
23/1/2021:
Ηumans: after God, the most mysterious and enigmatic beings!
Elder Iosif Vatopaidinos
22/1/2021:
Christianity and Humanism
Elder Iosif Vatopaidinos
20/1/2021:
Own will and obedience (On the feast day of St Euthymios)
Elder Iosif Vatopaidinos
01/1/2021:
Spiritual sickness
Elder Iosif Vatopaidinos
07/12/2020:
Unfair to ourselves
Elder Iosif Vatopaidinos
22/7/2020:
What are the pleasures? Which are blameworthy and which are innocent?
Elder Iosif Vatopaidinos
20/7/2020:
What is goodness and evil and when do they operate?
Elder Iosif Vatopaidinos
18/7/2020:
Legitimate Exercise
Elder Iosif Vatopaidinos
17/7/2020:
No, son. Where did you get that from?
Elder Iosif Vatopaidinos
12/11/2019:
The two poles of the spiritual life (Memory of Saint John the Charitable)
Elder Iosif Vatopaidinos
15/10/2019:
What is the forefathers’ sin and what are its consequences?
Elder Iosif Vatopaidinos
01/10/2019:
Why Did God not prevent Adam’s fall, since He had foreseen it?
Elder Iosif Vatopaidinos
28/9/2019:
On Perspicacity
Elder Iosif Vatopaidinos
25/9/2019:
What was the reason for man’s fall?
Elder Iosif Vatopaidinos
18/9/2019:
'My child, wake up and don’t waste your time on stupid things!'
Elder Iosif Vatopaidinos
04/7/2019:
The practical expression of Love towards the Lord
Elder Iosif Vatopaidinos
29/4/2019:
The winner of the trophy of love (In memory of the great Martyr, St George, the Trophy bearer)
Elder Iosif Vatopaidinos
11/3/2019:
On Humility and the Humble Outlook – 3
Elder Iosif Vatopaidinos
08/3/2019:
On Humility and the Humble Outlook – 2
Elder Iosif Vatopaidinos
05/3/2019:
On Humility and the Humble Outlook – 1
Elder Iosif Vatopaidinos
11/2/2019:
Wrapped sin
Elder Iosif Vatopaidinos
23/1/2019:
The three great giants
Elder Iosif Vatopaidinos
02/1/2019:
He tolerates transgressors
Elder Iosif Vatopaidinos
12/12/2018:
In four forms
Elder Iosif Vatopaidinos
20/11/2018:
It’s false and unjust
Elder Iosif Vatopaidinos
14/11/2018:
He weighs up our impulses
Elder Iosif Vatopaidinos
19/9/2018:
The power of the soul
Elder Iosif Vatopaidinos
01/9/2018:
Complete affection
Elder Iosif Vatopaidinos
07/8/2018:
They’re not worth crying over
Elder Iosif Vatopaidinos
01/8/2018:
It feels its betrayal
Elder Iosif Vatopaidinos
24/7/2018:
It releases us
Elder Iosif Vatopaidinos
16/7/2018:
Practical instruction
Elder Iosif Vatopaidinos
09/7/2018:
It gives us courage
Elder Iosif Vatopaidinos
25/6/2018:
No infallible people
Elder Iosif Vatopaidinos
06/6/2018:
There’s a dichotomy
Elder Iosif Vatopaidinos
23/5/2018:
Inner darkness
Elder Iosif Vatopaidinos
14/5/2018:
Without wanting to
Elder Iosif Vatopaidinos
31/3/2018:
A being without a will
Elder Iosif Vatopaidinos
11/3/2018:
They wither and die
Elder Iosif Vatopaidinos
17/2/2018:
Depending on the zeal
Elder Iosif Vatopaidinos
16/2/2018:
Practical repentance and its fruits
Elder Iosif Vatopaidinos
05/2/2018:
The proper intention - Feast day of St Agatha
Elder Iosif Vatopaidinos
27/1/2018:
It has no other way
Elder Iosif Vatopaidinos
06/1/2018:
They’re not worth our tears
Elder Iosif Vatopaidinos
16/12/2017:
It feels the betrayal
Elder Iosif Vatopaidinos
25/11/2017:
It releases us
Elder Iosif Vatopaidinos
02/11/2017:
Practical lessons
Elder Iosif Vatopaidinos
12/10/2017:
It inspires us with courage
Elder Iosif Vatopaidinos
26/9/2017:
The meeting point
Elder Iosif Vatopaidinos
05/9/2017:
The root of every tragedy
Elder Iosif Vatopaidinos
15/8/2017:
There’s a dichotomy
Elder Iosif Vatopaidinos
22/7/2017:
Inner darkness
Elder Iosif Vatopaidinos
01/7/2017:
In its former place
Elder Iosif Vatopaidinos
08/6/2017:
It’s two-sided
Elder Iosif Vatopaidinos
25/5/2017:
The benevolent will of God
Elder Iosif Vatopaidinos
30/4/2017:
It’s the rudder
Elder Iosif Vatopaidinos
08/4/2017:
They change their method
Elder Iosif Vatopaidinos
20/3/2017:
The purification of the Heart
Elder Iosif Vatopaidinos
15/3/2017:
Fulfilment in monasticism
Elder Iosif Vatopaidinos
08/3/2017:
The legitimate struggle
Elder Iosif Vatopaidinos
24/2/2017:
Testimony from Mount Athos, On delusion
Elder Iosif Vatopaidinos
22/2/2017:
They sell themselves short
Elder Iosif Vatopaidinos
12/2/2017:
Testimony from Mount Athos, The significance of pain
Elder Iosif Vatopaidinos
08/2/2017:
Testimony from Mount Athos, On temptations
Elder Iosif Vatopaidinos
04/2/2017:
The fragrance of the resurrection
Elder Iosif Vatopaidinos
04/2/2017:
Testimony from Mount Athos,On the state of grief
Elder Iosif Vatopaidinos
31/1/2017:
Testimony from Mount Athos: On repentance
Elder Iosif Vatopaidinos
05/1/2017:
Discourse on Mount Athos (Prologuue)
Elder Iosif Vatopaidinos
01/12/2016:
Elder Joseph of Vatopedi on the life and personality of Abbess Taisia
Elder Iosif Vatopaidinos
14/11/2016:
Variations in the Spiritual Life (Teachings from Athos)
Elder Iosif Vatopaidinos
07/10/2016:
Who is the Devil and how does he act?
Elder Iosif Vatopaidinos
30/9/2016:
The humble mindset
Elder Iosif Vatopaidinos
30/9/2016:
What is the contemplation of God?
Elder Iosif Vatopaidinos
27/9/2016:
Observing thoughts and guarding the senses. On the feast of Saint Sabbas the Sanctified
Elder Iosif Vatopaidinos
22/9/2016:
What are the characteristic attributes and the powers of human soul?
Elder Iosif Vatopaidinos
16/9/2016:
The Nativity of the Mother of God, the Consolation of Humankind (part 2)
Elder Iosif Vatopaidinos
15/9/2016:
The Nativity of the Mother of God, the Consolation of Humankind
Elder Iosif Vatopaidinos
22/8/2016:
How did man used to live in Paradise?
Elder Iosif Vatopaidinos
20/1/2016:
Self will and obedience (On the feast day of St Euthymios) - Part II
Elder Iosif Vatopaidinos
20/1/2016:
Self will and obedience (On the feast day of St Euthymios) - Part I
Elder Iosif Vatopaidinos
02/8/2015:
A living testimony
Elder Iosif Vatopaidinos
05/7/2015:
Saint Athanasios the Athonite
Elder Iosif Vatopaidinos
09/3/2015:
The 40 Martyrs of Sebaste: Confession through martyrdom
Elder Iosif Vatopaidinos
29/12/2013:
Christian Morals, as they Emerge from the Incarnation of Logos – 4
Elder Iosif Vatopaidinos
28/12/2013:
Christian Morals, as they Emerge from the Incarnation of Logos – 3
Elder Iosif Vatopaidinos
26/12/2013:
Christian Morals, as they Emerge from the Incarnation of Logos – 2
Elder Iosif Vatopaidinos
25/12/2013:
Christian Morals, as they Emerge from the Incarnation of Logos - 1
Elder Iosif Vatopaidinos
16/4/2013:
On Humility
Elder Iosif Vatopaidinos
09/1/2012:
Practical outline
Elder Iosif Vatopaidinos
Short biography
Elder Iosif Vatopaidinos

Elder Joseph, insignificant according to the world, was born in Drousia, a small village in the district of Paphos on the island of Saints [Cyprus], on July 1st 1921. His mother Evgenia gave birth to her little child when she was seven months pregnant at the Monastery of the Holy Unmerceneries in Giolou on the feastday of these Saints. The mother thought the child had died, yet he lived. The infant received the name Socrates upon being baptized.


Little Socrates was closely raised by his peasant parents living from a young age the hard life. When he succeeded in finishing the fourth grade of Elementary School, he was needed to do field work. Until he was fifteen years old he remained in his village.


In 1936 he followed a divine calling and entered the Sacred Monastery of Stavrovouni with the blessing of his parents. There he was tonsured a rasophoros monk and given the name Sophronios. He lived ten years in the Monastery and with the urging and blessing of Elder Kyprianos [Cyprian], spiritual father of the Monastery, he departed for the Holy Mountain after a brief visit to the Holy Land.


In the beginning of 1947 he entered the Skete of Saint Anna with certain compatriots who were living the monastic life there, but in the summer of the same year he met with the blessed Elder Joseph the Hesychast. Monk Sophronios understood the spirituality and holiness of Elder Joseph the Hesychast and requested to become his novice. The blessed Elder in the beginning denied his request, but after he received a “notice”, he allowed him into his brotherhood.


There in the kalyva of the Precious Forerunner of Saint Anna’s he was tonsured with the Great Schema and received the name Joseph on the Saturday of Lazarus (April 11/24) in 1948. In 1951 the brotherhood moved to the hesychastic cells of New Skete near Pyrgos. The blessed Elder Joseph the Hesychast fell asleep in holiness on the day of the Dormition of the Theotokos in 1959. Our ever-memorable Elder Joseph satisfied the deepest desires of his soul near the great Elder Joseph.


Elder Joseph lived co-ascetically with Fr. Theophylaktos in the cell of the Holy Unmerceneries of New Skete from 1951 until 1959. Afterwards they moved to the abandoned section of New Skete where he built with his own hands a wooden kalyva where he lived in asceticism another eight years; and in 1967 he moved to the neighboring kalyva of the Annunciation of the

Theotokos from which his spiritual brother Elder Ephraim (who became abbot of the Sacred Monastery of Philotheou) along with his brotherhood departed to live in the cell of Saint Artemios in Provata.


At the invitation of Ecumenical Patriarch Demetrios and the exhortation of the fathers of the Sacred Monastery of Koutloumousiou Elder Joseph left New Skete in 1975 and became spiritual father of the Monastery until 1977.


After receiving advice from the blessed Elder Paisios he moved to Cyprus and lived in the Sacred Monastery of the Precious Cross in Minthis. On March 25, 1978 he was enthroned as abbot. There he gathered into his brotherhood the now Metropolitan of Limassol Athanasios and the Abbot of Monastery Vatopaidi Elder Ephraim.


On October 26, 1981 he returned to Mount Athos with his brotherhood and lived in the Simonopetrite cell of the Annunciation of the Theotokos in Kapsala until April 23, 1982, at which time he moved again to the Sacred Monastery of Koutloumousiou. In August of 1983 he lived again in the kalyva of the Annunciation of the Theotokos at New Skete. There his brotherhood grew and on April 23, 1987 at the invitation of the Elders of the Sacred Monastery of Vatopaidi he came to the Monastery with a portion of his brotherhood. In October of 1989 the Ecumenical Patriarchate decided to move the entire brotherhood to the Monastery to receive its governance. On April 16/29, 1990 the creation of the Coenobium took place as well as the choosing and enthronement of the first abbot of the Coenobium, Archimandrite Ephraim. Elder Joseph was and remained the spiritual father of Vatopaidi Monastery until his falling asleep, which occurred on July 1, 2009.


Elder Joseph continued the spiritual work which he received from his Elder, and lived as a hesychast till the end of his life. He sought obscurity. He did not seek worldly praise or glory. He endured humbly, meekly and without grumbling all scorn, contempt, disgrace, criticism and slander. He had “compassionate pity” and his heart received and forgave all, because he gave room within himself for Christ.


In his sixteen books, which he left us as a spiritual inheritance, he wrote on and interpreted issues relating to “praxis and theoria”. He tried to lead monks and laity to Christ and inspired them in the “good fight”. He especially emphasized the infinite ocean of God’s love and compassion for mankind, who

receives the repentant and returning sinner. He uncovered the dangers and deceptions of the eternal enemy of mankind, the devil, especially hitting on the discouragement which in our days comes from him. He spoke with passion about the promises of God, about sonship and deification which those of “sure faith” desire from this present life, but the fullness of which will be given in eternity.


These heavenly goods, of which the Apostle Paul says: “Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him” (2 Cor. 2:9), we have the assurance that the blessed Elder is now a recepient.

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