Today marks the three-year anniversary of the canonization of the Elder Joseph the Hesychast, along with the Elders Ephraim & Daniel Katounakiotis. The trio of new saints of the Orthodox Church was taken by a decision of the Sacred and Holy Synod of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople on March 9, 2020, with the news generating spiritual joy on Mount Athos, the semi-autonomous monastic community in northern Greece, as well as among Orthodox faithful around the world.
In a pastoral visit to Mount Athos in October 2019, the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople, His All-Holiness Bartholomew I, said the Mother Church was intent on adding the reposed in the Lord Athonite Elders to its ecclesiastical calendar of saints.
Roughly a year later, in August 2020, the Abbot of the Holy Monastery of Simonos Petras, Archimandrite Elisseos, read out the Patriarchal and Synodal Act of Canonization, during the first reverent feast day of St. Joseph the Hesychast, while at the Holy and Great Monastery of Vatopedi.
The venerable Mount Athos monastery has also circulated the volume “The Elder Joseph the Hesychast: struggles – experiences – teachings” is now available online.
The Pemptousia platform has posted several features and programs this week on the occasion of the canonization of the three Athonite Elders.