Changes

During this time, he spent time in remote places to practise recite the [[Jesus Prayer]]. Eventually he met Fr Arsenios, who was to become his co-struggler, and found that they shared a common desire for hesychasm, and decided to find an experienced elder. They found Elder Ephraim the Barrel-Maker, and they arranged their lives to provide the maximum silence for praying the Jesus Prayer. In addition to his work and his prayer rule, Fr Joseph went to a cave at sunset to practise recite the Jesus Prayer for six hours.

After Elder Ephraim the Barrel-Maker's repose, Frs Joseph and Arsenios spent summers moving from place to place around the peak of Mount Athos, so as to be unknown and to find and learn from spiritual monks. In winter, however, they returned to their hut in the wilderness at St Basil's. They possessed only their tattered monastic garments, and Fr Joseph ate three ounces of rusks (dried bread) a day, sometimes with an amount of boiled wild greens. They spoke little so that they could pray more. Fr Joseph began to be was assailed by the demon of fornication around this time, and he would battle this great temptation for eight years, using as weapons extended vigils and using, instead of a bed, a chair to sleep on. Finally, Frs Joseph and Arsenios discovered an experienced ascetic and spiritual father, Elder Daniel.