St. Arsenios of Cappadocia: Reference Guide

A structured reference guide to St. Arsenios of Cappadocia (baptized Theodoros; c. 1840–1924), the Greek-speaking priest-monk and schoolmaster of Farasa in Ottoman Cappadocia — the “Hadjiefendis” whose gift of healing prayer was sought by Orthodox Christians and Muslims alike, who in 1924 led his uprooted flock out of Anatolia in the compulsory population exchange and reposed on Corfu forty days after reaching Greece exactly as he had foretold, and who was glorified by the Ecumenical Patriarchate in 1986. His single most consequential act was to baptize, in that same year of 1924, the infant Arsenios Eznepidis — the future St. Paisios the Athonite — giving the child his own name “to leave a monk behind him”; and it is St. Paisios who, gathering the living Farasiot memory, wrote his Life and became the guardian of his relics, so that almost everything known of St. Arsenios reaches us through his godson’s pen.

Tradition: Greek Orthodox (Cappadocian)

Purpose

This collection serves as both:

A human-readable study guide — organized by topic for systematic engagement with the life, ministry, wonders, repose, and veneration of St. Arsenios of Cappadocia.
A machine-loadable knowledge base — each file is self-contained enough to be loaded independently for context on a single topic.

It is distinctively a study in a life known through a single devoted biographer. Unlike a saint with a documentary archive, almost everything recorded of St. Arsenios comes from one book — St. Paisios the Athonite’s Saint Arsenios the Cappadocian — compiled a half-century after the events from the oral testimony of the Farasiot refugees among whom St. Paisios grew up. Per the repository methodology (§3.5), the wonders, the clairvoyance, and the forty-day prophecy are therefore reported here as St. Paisios and the Farasiot tradition attest them, pinned to that source and named as its testimony, not certified as adjudicated historical fact. The Christian-and-Muslim healing accounts are handled soberly, without polemic in any direction.

Section	Description
01 — Foundations	Cappadocia and Farasa: the orphaned Theodoros of a Greek-speaking Christian village under Ottoman rule; his schooling and his tonsure as the monk Arsenios — theodoros-of-farasa.md, formation-and-monastic-tonsure.md
02 — The Priest of Farasa	The priest-monk and schoolteacher of Farasa; his asceticism and the title “Hadjiefendis” after his Jerusalem pilgrimages; his pastoral care of a threatened flock — hadjiefendis-of-farasa.md, pastor-of-a-threatened-flock.md
03 — The Wonderworker	The renowned gift of healing prayer sought by Christians and Muslims alike; his discernment and his use of the Psalter for every need — reported as St. Paisios and the tradition attest — healings-among-christians-and-muslims.md, clairvoyance-and-the-gift-of-prayer.md
04 — The Baptizer of St. Paisios	The baptism of the infant Arsenios Eznepidis in 1924 and the giving of his own name “to leave a monk”; the bond across the generations and St. Paisios as guardian of his memory — i-want-to-leave-a-little-monk.md, the-two-arsenioi.md
05 — The Population Exchange	The compulsory Greco-Turkish exchange of 1923–24 and the uprooting of the Farasiots; Arsenios leading his people to Greece and his foretelling that he would live only forty days after arriving — the-uprooting-of-1924.md, the-prophecy-of-forty-days.md
06 — Repose and Relics	His death on Corfu on 10 November 1924, forty days after arrival as foretold; the later translation of his relics to St. Paisios’ convent at Souroti — repose-on-corfu-1924.md, the-translation-of-the-relics.md
07 — Sources	St. Paisios’ Saint Arsenios the Cappadocian as the principal source and its devotional character; what is firmly attested versus what rests on pious memory — saint-paisios-as-biographer.md, attestation-and-tradition.md
08 — Glorification and Veneration	The Ecumenical Patriarchate’s glorification in 1986 and the feast of 10 November; his place among the modern Greek saints and the Cappadocian Greek heritage — glorification-1986.md, a-cappadocian-wonderworker.md
09 — Legacy and Assessment	The Farasiot saint, the bond with St. Paisios, and the witness of holiness in a vanishing world; a sober assessment — legacy.md, assessment.md

How to Use This Guide

For study: Begin with Section 01 for Cappadocia, Farasa, and the making of the monk Arsenios, then Section 02 for his life as priest and teacher. Section 03 treats the wonders (read with its source-critical framing); Section 04 is the hinge of the whole collection — the baptism of St. Paisios. Section 05 is the uprooting and the prophecy; Section 06 the repose and relics; Section 07 the sources; Sections 08–09 the veneration and a sober assessment.
For reference: Use the section READMEs to locate the specific topic you need.
For AI loading: Each file is self-contained with a summary, inline citations, and a references section. Load only the files relevant to your query.
Cross-reference: This guide connects to the broader Orthodoxy Reference Guide — especially Monasticism and Spiritual Direction — and, above all, to the collection on his godson and biographer, St. Paisios of Mount Athos.

File Format

Each content file follows a consistent structure:

# Title
> Brief 2-3 sentence summary
**Tradition**: Greek Orthodox (Cappadocian)

[Content with inline citations]

## See Also
- Links to related files

## References
- Sources cited

Primary and Anchor Sources

Elder Paisios the Athonite (Hieromonk Paisios), Saint Arsenios the Cappadocian (Souroti, Thessaloniki: Holy Hesychasterion “Evangelist John the Theologian,” Greek 1st ed. 1975; English translation, Souroti) — the principal and near-sole narrative source, compiled by St. Arsenios’ godson from the oral testimony of the Farasiot refugees.
Hieromonk Isaac, Elder Paisios of Mount Athos (Greek original 2004; English trans., Holy Monastery of Saint Arsenios the Cappadocian, Chalkidiki, 2012) — the authorized biography of St. Paisios; the source for the baptism, the naming, and the translation of the relics.
The Ecumenical Patriarchate, the synodal act glorifying Arsenios of Cappadocia (1986, under Patriarch Demetrios I) — the ecclesial act of recognition; the feast fixed on 10 November.

Sourcing & Methodology

This collection is governed by the repository METHODOLOGY.md, and is shaped by three facts about its subject:

A single devotional source (METHODOLOGY §3.5). The narrative of St. Arsenios’ life descends almost entirely from one book by one author — his godson, writing fifty years later from the memory of surviving Farasiots. The wonders, the discernment, and the prophecy are pinned to that source and reported as its testimony, with ranges given for uncertain dates and no legendary detail asserted as documented fact.
A saint venerated across confessional lines, handled soberly. That both Orthodox Christians and Muslims sought his prayer is a repeated feature of the tradition; it is reported without triumphalism and without anti-Muslim framing, as a fact of a shared Anatolian world (per METHODOLOGY §4 on sensitive topics).
A disambiguation. This is not St. Arsenius the Great, the fourth-century Egyptian desert father; see St. Arsenius the Great for that different person. Where “Arsenios” is used here without qualification it means the Cappadocian.

Important Caveats

AI-generated content: This guide was generated by an AI assistant. While care has been taken to cite real sources accurately, all content should be verified against the primary source — St. Paisios’ Saint Arsenios the Cappadocian — before being relied upon for catechetical or academic purposes.
Born-verified: Files in this collection are born compliant with METHODOLOGY.md §2–3: dates, names, and events were researched and given a disposition during composition; contested points (the birth year, the birth name, specific miracles, exact dates) carry structured [Disputed: ...] notes; the wonders and the prophecy are pinned to St. Paisios’ account under §3.5 rather than asserted as fact.
Not a substitute: This reference is no substitute for reading the primary source directly, nor for catechesis under a priest and life in the Church.