Arsenius of Agiofarango

Venerable Arsenius of Agiofarango is known from the life of Venerable Gregory the Sinaite, as preserved in Greek and Slavonic manuscripts. He introduced Gregory to the ascetic work of the prayer of the mind, that is, the prayer of the heart, which Gregory then carried to Mount Athos.

According to the account, Gregory the Sinaite, with his disciple Gerasimos, a native of Euboea, went to Jerusalem to venerate the Holy Sepulchre and the Holy Places, then sailed for the island of Crete and landed at a place called Kaloi Limenes. There they found some caves and lived in them. Gregory was seeking a guide to lead him to stillness and prayer, and God revealed one to him in Arsenius, an ascetic of the region who loved stillness more than anyone. Arsenius went to Gregory's cell and taught him about guarding the mind, pure sobriety and undefiled prayer: through the work of the commandments the mind is purified, and a person who cares and thinks in this way according to God's will, being enlightened, becomes wholly like light.

He is commemorated in the Greek synaxarion on 14 July (new style).