PAISIJ, VELIČKOVSJ. — Ukrainian monk, b. at Poltava in 1722, d. at Nijamez in 1794. Having become a monk, he visited Mount Athos and finally settled at Nijamez in Moldavia.
His disciples founded three monasteries in the vicinity, established on the basis of cenobitic life. P. succeeded in instilling there the spirit and characteristic spiritual direction of hesychast monasticism through an “elder” (starez; v.). With his “hesychasm” he definitively influenced Russian monasticism. The “Jesus Prayer” made its entry, and P. translated the Philokalia into Russian; it appeared in 1793 at St. Petersburg under the title Добротолюбие. Thus P. had many friends and adherents even among the Eastern Slavs, who accepted his ideas and the special character of his spiritual direction. P. was the promoter of a great movement of restoration, originating from within the Russian state Church.