==Biography==
===Early life===
The future Elder Francis was born in Paros to the George and Maria Spilaiotis familyin 1898. In his teens, he went to work in Piraeus. At twenty-three he began to read the lives of the Fathers, a spiritual turning point for him. These lives, particularly those of the strict ascetics, and a dream he had, gave him the desire to enter into monasticism. He responded to this desire by fasting and praying in the nearby countryside, which was uninhabited, and then go to Mount Athos.
===Athonite===
