Saint
Paisios Velichkovsky
Venerable Paisios Velichkovsky
New Calendar November 15 Old Calendar November 28
Why they are a saint
Saint Paisios (Paϊsios) Velichkovsky was born in Poltava in Little Russia on December 21, 1722, and was the eleventh of twelve children. The Orthodox Church commemorates Paisios Velichkovsky on November 15.
Life
Saint Paisios Velichkovsky was born on December 21, 1722, in Poltava, the son of a priest, and named Peter. He studied at the Kiev Mohyla Academy and at seventeen left to seek a monastery and a spiritual father. In 1746 he went to Mount Athos, where he was ordained priest in 1754 and for seventeen years copied Greek patristic books and translated them into Slavonic.
In 1763 he went to Moldavia with sixty-four disciples, to Dragomirna Monastery, and later to Secu. On August 14, 1779, he moved to Neamţ Monastery, where he spent his last fifteen years translating the Holy Fathers and introduced the Athonite rule; about a thousand monks gathered around him. Through his spiritual heirs his influence reached as far as Saint Herman of Alaska, who brought the Slavonic Philokalia (1794) to America.
Sources: OCA Lives of the Saints. Retold in our own words.
Traditional patronage
The cited source names no specific patronage.
Patronage / why chosen as patron
Orthodox Christians usually take Paisios Velichkovsky as a patron when they bear the name Paisios at baptism, or were born or baptized near the feast on November 15. Those who share his calling as a monastic, translator also ask his prayers.
Prayer
O holy Paisios Velichkovsky, pray to God for us.
A short general prayer to a saint, not a liturgical text. No public-domain troparion for this saint is included.