Paisij Velyckovs’ky (1722 -1792) was Ukrainian/ Moldovan/Romanian saint and an important figure in the Greek Orthodox monastic and mystical tradition. His autobiography was recentely translated from Ukrainian. He writes there that his maternal great – grandfather was “a famous and wealthy merchant of Jewish origins called Manja, who baptized in Poltava with his entire household.” Paisij Velyckovs’ky spent his formative years in Mount Athos, the independent monastic state in the Northern Greece. Paisij Velyckovs’ky is attributed with the revival of Greek Orthodox mystical tradition. And although women are not allowed to enter Mount Athos, the monks definitely had contacts with the Theesalonica Jews, just few decades after the Shabbatai Zevi. There is a footnote in the autobiography on page 106: “Through the 16th and 17th centuries the monasteries had to borrow money from the Jews of Theesalonica [to pay Turkish taxes]…” The church elders in Ukraine asked Paisij Velyckovs’ky to come back, to strengthen the monastic life there. I find it rather astonishing that Paisij Velyckovs’ky translated Philokalia into Russian simultaneously with the Chassidik eruption. The Saint Paisij Velyckovs’ky overlapped with both Baal Shem Tov and the Mezeritcher Maggid in terms of years and the direct geographic proximity.
Climbing Mount Athos with Paisij Velyckovs’kyj
Previous post: How Everyone Became “Crazy” in America
Next post: Billy Preston – Nothing from Nothing