This is the first volume of the series 'Spiritual Counsels of the Elder Paisios of Mount Athos'. It is divided into four thematic parts. Each part is subdivided into chapters and every chapter into sections with the approprite subheadings; Part 1 Sin and the Devil Part 2 Modern Civilization Part 3 The Spirit of God and the Spirit of the World Part 4 The Church in our Times The Blessed Elder Paisios was born on 25th July 1924. From the time that he was a child, Elder Paisios lived an ascetic life, and was nourished by the lives of the Saints, whose feats he sought to imitate with great zeal and admirable precision. He practised unceasing prayer, cultivating all along the virtues of humility and love. He led an ascetic life on Mount Athos, in the Holy Monastery of Stomion in Konitsa, and on Mount Sinai in Egypt. He lived in obscurity, giving himself completely to God, and God in turn revealed him and gave him to the whole world. He guided, consoled, healed and granted peace to multitudes of people who sought him. His sanctified soul overflowed with divine love and his saintly face radiated the divine Grace. All day long, he tirelessly gathered the human pain and imparted divine consolation. He is the founder of the Holy Monastery of Saint John the Theologian in Souroti of Thessalonik, Greece, which he also guided spiritually for twenty-eight years (1967-1994). After suffering excruciating pains, which, as he used to say, benefited him more than the ascetic struggles of his entire life, he fell asleep in the Lord on 12 July 1994.