Exactly one year after becoming Ecumenical Patriarch on 2 November 1991, Bartholomew I visited Mount Athos. On 7 November 1992 he was received by the Holy Monastery of Koutloumouseiou.
The video below captures the moment when during the Doxological reception at Koutloumouseiou, Saint Paisios the Athonite came forward to receive the blessing of His All-Holiness. And although Saint Paisios was a simple monk without clerical rank, the Patriarch, out of his reverence for the Elder, gave him the kiss of peace.
It is known that during this trip the two had a chance to converse, and both later spoke very highly of each other. Among other things, Patriarch Bartholomew called him "a genuine missionary and professor of the desert" and would later, two decades after the Elder's repose, take the initiative to have him numbered among the saints of the Church, while Saint Paisios said among other things: "God gave us during these difficult times the best Patriarch."
This video is distributed by the Press Secretary of the Holy Metropolis of Edessa, Pella, and Almopia and was taken by a former student of Athoniados Academy.
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