Agios Paisios, Apo ta Farasa ston Ourano (English: Saint Paisios, From Pharasa to Heaven) is a Greek biographical television series dedicated to the life of Saint Paisios of Mount Athos, broadcast in Greece by the Mega Channel television station and in Cyprus by the Alpha TV Cyprus television station. The series premiered on 10 February 2022 and the first season concluded on 7 April 2022. The second season began on 24 January 2025 and concluded on 13 April 2025. Filming took place in places where Saint Paisios lived, such as Konitsa, Mount Sinai and Mount Athos.
Contents
Plot
The story begins with the birth of Saint Paisios, born Arsenios Eznepidis, in Farasa, Cappadocia. A few days before the people of Farasa abandoned their village, he was baptized by Saint Arsenios the Cappadocian, where he took his name “to leave a monk at his feet”. After the Treaty of Lausanne, the family of little Arsenios was uprooted and took the path of refuge to Greece. Together with his family, they temporarily settled in Corfu, but soon they would depart for Konitsa, Epirus, where little Arsenios would take his first childish steps.
His grandmother and mother transmitted their faith and love for the Lord. He grew up with stories about Saint Arsenios and the desire to follow the monastic life flared up in him from an early age. In 1945 he joined the army where he served as a radio operator. Upon his discharge, he visited Mount Athos. However, he soon returned to Konitsa for family reasons and remained there for three years. He left for Mount Athos permanently in March 1953 and ended up at the Esphigmenou Monastery. After three years, he found himself at the Philotheou Monastery, where he became a monk and took the name "Paisios". He sent a photograph of himself to his mother with which he bid her farewell and told her that he would now have the Virgin Mary as his mother.
Cast
Nikitas Tsakiroglou Saint Arsenios of Cappadocia
Smaragda Smyrnaiou as Chatzichristina
Dimitris Xanthopoulos as Prodromos Eznepidis
Dimitris Imellos as Iordanis
Christina Pavlidou as Evlogia Eznepidis
Drosos Skotis as Prodromos Kortsinoglou
Despoina Gatziou as Kyra-Despoina
Prokopis Agathokleous as Saint Paisios
Giorgos Armenis as Elder Kyrillos
Giannis Stankoglou as Theodoros
Kostas Apostolakis as Abbot Kallinikos
Rinio Kyriazi as Kyra-Giorgena
Thanasis Zeritis as Stamatis
Christos Loulis as Protosyggelos of the Metropolis Konitsis
Georgia Kouvaraki as Christina Eznepidis
Konstantinos Prassas as Rafail Eznepidis
Giannis Leakos as Charalampos Eznepidis
Tasos Palantzidis as Gero-Thymios
Manos Vakousis as Priest
Maria Philippou as Aikaterini Rousi
Christos Georgalas as Konstantinos Rousis