An interview with an Athonite abbot, conducted by Hieromonk Dionysius of Ostrov Monastery, explores essential themes of the Orthodox spiritual life: gratitude towards God as the key to the mysteries revealed to Saint Joseph the Hesychast, the role of spiritual fatherhood, asceticism, fear, the contemporary crisis and the failure to manifest virtues, illustrated by recollections of Saints Paisios of Mount Athos, Ephrem of Katounakia and Joseph of Vatopedi.