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In 1840, Panagiotis Arellas was born in the village of Elatia on the Island of Chios in the Aegean Sea. A seventeen year old young man from a farming family, he traveled to Constantinople to work. There, he became involved in an incident that resulted in his imprisonment in a Turkish prison that was virtually a death sentence, especially for a Christian. Panagiotis' deep religious faith and subsequent miraculous events in his life resulted in his gaining his freedom after which he traveled to the [[Holy Land]].
In the Holy Land, Panagiotis entered the Holy [[Holy Lavra of St. Savas (Jerusalem)|Monastery of St. Savas]] where he was [[tonsure]]d a [[monk]] with the name Pachomios, after the great desert ascetic [[Pachomius the Great|Pachomio]]. He was twenty-two years old. He returned to Chios in 1865 and founded the Monastery of the Holy Fathers on the site of an earlier monastic community of [[asceticism|ascetics]].
Through the years, the Elder Pachomios served as an inspiration to the brethren of the [[monastery]]. Two of his [[disciple]]s would themselves followed the example of their Elder and win [[glorification]] as saints: Ss. [[Anthimus of Chios]] and [[Nectarios of Pentapolis|Nectarios of Aegina]].
