 As a young boy, Arsenije came to live in the Patriarchal Monastery of Peć, the seat of the Serbian Patriarchate of Peć, at the time led by Serbian Patriarch Maksim I.There, as he grew older, he was tonsured and ordained a deacon and then a priest, thanks to the good graces of his mentor Maksim whom Arsenije later described as "my father and teacher".In 1665, Arsenije became the abbot (archimandrite) of the Peć Monastery.