Joseph of Vatopedi

Elder Joseph of Vatopedi (or Joseph of Vatopaidi, , also known as Joseph the Younger; Paphos District, Cyprus, 1 July 1921 – Vatopedi, Mount Athos, 1 July 2009) was a Greek Cypriot Orthodox Christian monk and elder. He was one of the primary disciples of St. Joseph the Hesychast at Mount Athos. Joseph was also known as the spiritual father of Ephraim of Vatopedi, the current abbot of Vatopedi Monastery. and grew up in Drousia (also spelled Dhrousha), Paphos District, Cyprus, where he lived until the age or 15. In 1937, he became a novice monk at Stavrovouni Monastery and was tonsured there, where he received the monastic name Sophronios. There, he lived under the spiritual guidance of Elder Kyprianos until 1946.

In 1946, at the age of 25, the monk Sophronios moved to Little Saint Anne's Skete, Mount Athos to join Elder Joseph the Hesychast as an ascetic in his brotherhood. He received the name Joseph on 11 April 1948; as a result, he is also sometimes known as Joseph the Younger to distinguish him from his spiritual father, Elder Joseph the Hesychast. In 1951, he moved along with the brotherhood of Joseph the Hesychast to New Skete closer to the coast, due to their spiritual father's age. One of his disciples, Ephraim of Vatopedi, went on to become the spiritual head of Vatopedi Monastery. His remains were posthumously exhumed on 8 October 2021.

Publications Joseph of Vatopedi wrote 16 books.

Elder Joseph of Vatopaidi (1999). Elder Joseph the Hesychast: Struggles, Experiences, Teachings (1898-1959). Mount Athos: The Great and Holy Monastery of Vatopaidi. 236 p. . (English translation of the original Greek by Elizabeth Theokritoff)