KLITOS IOANNIDIS

ELDER PORPHYRIOS

Testimonies and Experiences

PUBLICATIONS

THE TRANSFIGURATION OF THE SAVIOR

MILESSI 2013

Copyright 2013: THE HOLY CONVENT OF THE TRANSFIGURATION  OF THE SAVIOR

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email: info@porphyrios.gr

www.porphyrios.gr & www.porphyrios.net

Translation: +Fr. Constantine (Charles) J. Simones

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Acknowledgements

We are deeply indebted to the esteemed Fr. C.J. Simones who first had the inspiration and the initiative to translate this book. We offer him our heartfelt thanks for all his love and hard work. The final version was completed by Miss Marina M. Robb, whom we also thank. We owe thanks to the author Mr. Klitos Ioannides, and to the contributors to this book who gave their permission for its translation into the English language. We are especially grateful to all those who read the manuscript and benefited us with their helpful criticism and advice.

Vartholomew, Archbishop of Constantinople,

the New Rome and Oecumenical Patriarch

To the Most Reverend Mother Porphyria, Abbess of the Convent of the Transfiguration, beloved daughter in Christ, of Our Mediocrity, grace be to you and peace from God.

We have received with pleasure the publications of your Holy Convent obligingly sent to us by Your Reverend Motherhood under the titles “Elder Porphyries”, (4th edition) and “With Elder Porphyrios” that we have read with devout consideration and necessary care and which we are treasuring in our Patriarchal Library, towards wider benefit.

In reply, we go forth to thank Your Reverend Motherhood for the sending of these very commendable publications of your own Holy Tabernacle, intended to comfort and uphold in faith the pious people of God. We bestow on you and the sisters around you, our paternal and Patriarchal blessing, calling upon you the grace and infinite mercy of God, through the intercession of Our Lady of Angels and the prayers of your Elder and guardian, Elder Porphyrios.

31st August 1995

Archbishop of Constantinople,

and fervent supplicant to God Vartholomew

The righteous shall live forever and their reward is with the Lord; they are cared for by the Most High. Therefore they shall receive a glorious crown and a beautiful diadem from the hand of the Lord.

(Wisdom of Solomon 5:15)

Introductory note

The first volume, dedicated to Elder Porphyrios, sold out within a few weeks in Cyprus. This led us to the production of this second edition in co-operation with the Convent of the Transfiguration, the founder of which was that great elder of Greek Orthodoxy, Porphyrios.

The immediate and general response of the faithful of the Cypriot Church when the book was published was truly a blessing from the Lord and gave us a feeling of inexpressible joy. We are moved and touched in the same way again with the publication of this second enlarged, revised and improved edition. Now the whole of Greek Orthodoxy will hear about the miracles and wonders for which Elder Porphyrios was ordained by the Lord during his earthly life, ministry and witness.

We are sure that the spiritual benefits of this book, first felt by tried and suffering Cyprus, will now be experienced throughout the length and breadth of the planet by the whole Orthodox Church. May God be merciful to us!

We wish to thank the Convent of the Transfiguration from the bottom of our hearts for their exceptional advice and help in the completion and publication of this volume. We also thank all the other contributors to the production of this book.

Through the prayers of Elder Porphyrios we present this edition to the faithful people of God. We are sure that it will become a spiritual rock and edification in Christ for all of us.

Elder Porphyrios was worthy of Christ, a truly choice instrument of His. It would be the Elder’s greatest pleasure if we also became, as St. Paul writes, “Worthy of the Gospel of Christ.”

“The Kingdom of heaven suffers violence and the violent take it by force”. Furthermore, St. John Chrysostom admonishes us, “Become violent there, become an abductor. That which is taken by force does not lessen in value”.

Klitos Ioannides

Nicosia, November 1992

A Few words about the third edition

The people of God received the second edition of this book with such great love that the significant number of copies printed were sold out within two and a half months. It is a touching example of the thirst people of our time have for men who are alive to God and filled with the Holy Spirit. It shows just how much a personality such as that of Elder Porphyrios, with his great abundance of spiritual gifts from God, with his humility and with his love, can move and comfort souls. Having seen the spiritual aid of this book, we are issuing this third edition for our brothers and sisters who were unable to acquire it the first time. It does not differ greatly from the second. We have corrected some typographical errors and made some minor alterations together with subsequent page changes. Thus we are publishing this book for the spiritual benefit of our fellow souls and for the glory of God, without whose blessing no good thing can proceed.

Elder Porphyrios revealed to each person that which was best for their own salvation. Therefore we should not be surprised or misunderstand that contributors sometimes differ in their presentation of the advice and instructions given to them by Elder Porphyrios. He spoke to each person under different circumstances. Naturally, the advice given to one person may differ from that given to another concerning the same or a similar matter. Besides, each contributor who conveys the Elder’s words through his own personality and viewpoint may emphasize or diminish the importance of certain things differently from the Elder. In view of Man’s limitations, this is unavoidable. However this doesn’t stop us from drawing great benefit from this book, gathering it up like a honey-bee.

The Holy Convent of the

Transfiguration of the Savior.

June 1993

Prologue to the Second Edition

The first edition of this book sold out almost immediately. Therefore, in response to the requests of many people, our Convent has taken upon itself the publication of this second edition. We also took the opportunity to enhance and improve the book. The following significant changes were made.

a) The text was changed to follow the traditional system of Greek spelling (polytonic), as requested by most contributors.

b) Except for the few we were unable to contact, all the contributors had a chance to see the text. Some of them gave us new texts which replaced those in the first edition.

c) Some names were omitted to avoid embarrassment or invasion of privacy.

d) We re-wrote the short biography of the Elder.

e) The text was enhanced with some new contributions. However, we didn’t add too much, in order not to make the book too large or difficult to handle.

Thus, we deliver this book into your hands with the hope that it will satisfy your desire to learn even more about the ever-memorable Elder Porphyrios. He was given to our generation through God’s love. Elder Porphyrios, who often stressed that Christ is Everything, will help you to love Christ even more.

Everything that is written in this book and everything that ever will be written about Elder Porphyrios, from people who knew him, does not and will not show us the depth of his spirituality. This is because they, like all of us, do not have the Elder’s holiness and spiritual way of life. We are merely presented with his external appearance, the outward reality of his spiritual life, certain fruits of the spirit, certain things he said and did. We are not shown his true inner life about which we, the uninitiated, can only conjecture.

Here, as a confirmation of the above, are some excerpts from a particular telephone call made by Elder Porphyrios in 1989 (and tape-recorded). He says:

“Really, to understand these things, one must go through them. Otherwise it can’t be understood. That’s why you think the way you do, but it’s not like that.”

“Nobody can explain this state. Only he who lives through it, really lives through it, feels it, but he can’t write it down himself. Do you hear me?”

“Maybe if he was a novelist, he could write it down. That doesn’t tell us anything. Do you hear?”

It is obvious that the Elder was speaking from his own experience. Whoever wishes to speak about the inner spiritual life of a saint, must be a saint himself.

We, the writers of this book, are not saints. We are confined to what we saw and what we heard. We are amongst those many others, who, as St. Luke the Evangelist says, have “taken in hand to set in order a narrative.” We are not trying, with our poor and futile speech, to describe the life of a contemporary saint, but rather we are falteringly trying to express our joy in having met a saint; our joy that Christ lives yesterday, today and forever; our joy that holiness is not a thing of the past, that grace can be felt next to us, that our hands touched a “little father” who really lived the expression “I no longer live, for Christ lives in me.”

Until the Lord reveals the servant who was Elder Porphyrios’ eye-witness, who observed him throughout his life and in all his works and will write about his life accurately and fully, we are forgiven. For we have only seen “in part.” We describe, write about and speak of the miraculous things that  God did for us through His servant, Porphyrios. We are in danger of making mistakes through ignorance, for which we ask forgiveness from our long-suffering Lord, our Friend and Brother, to whom we offer our poor words as a sacrifice of praise.

We would like to express publicly our gratitude to Klitos Ioannides who took the initiative and gathered together the many parts that make up this book. We also wish to thank all those who allowed us to publish their conversations or their notes, and all those unseen contributors who helped make this edition a reality. We ask all of you to pray for us.

The Holy Convent of the Transfiguration of the Savior

October 1992

Preface to the First Edition

“When saints go to sleep we have an obligation to write down and tell as much as we know about them.” These were the words of encouragement given during a telephone conversation, three days after the departure of Elder Porphyrios, by hieromonk Athanasios of the Holy Monastery of Vatopedi. This statement gave us the greatest impetus and was the determining factor in the compilation of the initial material for this edition.

Our initial aim and intention was to offer the faithful of Cyprus some testimonies, both from the spiritual children of the great Elder, and from those people who knew him quite well. This was to be done through the radio program “Orthodoxy Today,” relayed by the First Program of the Cyprus Broadcasting Corporation (CBC.)

We soon realized however, that the great number of testimonies being sent to us could not possibly fit into the time-requirements of a radio program. So through the prayers of Elder Porphyrios and at the instigation of his many spiritual children, both in Cyprus and Greece, we started to collect more material. This led to the preparation of this present edition as a “sweet smelling spiritual fragrance.”

Neither the making of nor the realization of such a decision was easy. May God, who allowed this edition to be completed, grant even unto us, the least of all people, his boundless mercy.

Certainly nobody can really write about the life and works of a spiritual figure of the standing of Elder Porphyrios, however much one saw him and heard him, however close one lived to him. In this present edition we simply offer some testimonies from people who knew the Elder. However, that great chapter called Elder Porphyrios is only now starting to begin.

We would like to make it clear that this book is not a biography of Elder Porphyrios. That will be left to other people. This volume exclusively contains some noteworthy testimonies and experiences as they were given to us by our brothers and sisters in Christ who had the great blessing of having known Elder Porphyrios. I personally accept responsibility for everything that is written in this book.

If there are any objections from atheists, rationalists, people who are spiritually cold or lukewarm, there is only one answer. The realm of the sacred and the transcendent, as expressed by that child of God and true man, Elder Porphyrios, belongs to the category of the unbelievable. It can however become believable because, “sin does not prevail where grace abounds”. Elder Porphyrios was a person filled with grace, a bearer of the power of the Holy Spirit, a child of the Kingdom, a genuine and true tree of paradise.

Maybe there are those who either through ignorance, misinformation or intent, would like to give their own interpretation of what is contained in this current edition. This neither grieves nor disheartens us. The Lord is the only Truth. As Elder Porphyrios often told us, he never spoke on his own authority but always spoke from the Gospels; his words were Christ’s words.

May Elder Porphyrios, the spiritual beacon and guide for thousands of people, allow us, from the heights of heaven, where he can be found, to convey some conversations that were held with him:

“Elder, where can we find the solution to our problems?”

“Only holiness will solve your problems.”

When we asked if it was difficult for anyone to become a saint, he smiled and said, “It’s the easiest thing to do. You just have to think of God constantly.”

Sometime afterwards, replying to our request for a beneficial word, he just quoted the Apostle Paul saying: “It is no longer I that live, for Christ lives in me.”

Another time, when we asked him if our relationship with Christ was one of love (eros), he reminded us of St. Maximos the Confessor, who speaks of “love of the mind” (eros nou). That divine love of the soul, which yearns after the heavenly Bridegroom, and which is acquired after long and sustained practice of the remembrance of death is a kind of contemplation which is equal to contemplation of God.

Since he was aware of my poetic ability, he explained to me that Christ does not want roughly hewn people, but sensitive people. He added “The saints are poets. Look at how much poetry there is in the scene of the Lord there by Lake Tiberias, together with his disciples. There, where he taught, ministered and healed the people.”

Elder Porphyrios was a true Father of the Church. He performed his pastoral duties with a warm heart and a wise discretion, which he disposed of in such a unique way.

We also had the blessing and joy of seeing his gift of discernment (diakrisis). By simply checking my pulse he discovered the extreme tiredness from overwork that I had whilst a student in Paris. This was eleven years before I even met the Elder.

With every encounter with Elder Porphyrios we had a new opportunity to see the innerworkings of heaven. For a little while he would open heaven up for us. In some way he had acquired the keys to the Kingdom. We would look for a short while and then, sinners that we are, we would return to our old ways. The sacred memory of Elder Porphyrios is connected with those heavenly scenes, with that taste of paradise.

This volume contains the testimonies and experiences of Elder Porphyrios’ spiritual children, both in Greece and Cyprus. Besides these, there are testimonies from others who had the blessing of speaking with him. Each one of these people desired for their own reasons, which we respect, to remain anonymous. All of them witnessed the words and acts of the Elder, expressing the words of St. John the Evangelist in his First Catholic Epistle, “that which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon and our hands have handled...”

The pictures of Elder Porphyrios on pages 72 and 385 were received under the following circumstances.

Almost from the very beginning of my acquaintance with the Elder a desire arose within me to have a photograph of him. Living in Cyprus, I felt that during difficult times in my life just having his holy face before me would give me strength, even if it was only a paper picture.

I told some spiritual children of the Elder about this. They discouraged me, saying that the Elder would be upset if we asked permission to photograph him.

The years went by until three years before the Elder passed away. I crossed myself and asked God to make me worthy of this gift. The Lord heard my prayer. Elder Porphyrios immediately accepted my request to photograph him. What humility he had! Lying in his bed, as was usual during the last years of his life, he put on his cross. While I was getting the camera ready he closed his eyes and repeatedly said the prayer, “Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy upon me.”

True to the promise I gave him, I didn’t tell anybody anything about it and I didn’t show the photographs to anybody while he was still alive.

The Holy Authorities of Mt. Athos sent us all the photographs of the Holy Skete of Kavsokalyvia, Elder Porphyrios’ hut and the bed in which he died. We thank them warmly for this gift for this edition.

We are greatly indebted to hieromonk Athanasios of the Holy Monastery of Vatopedi, the Principal of Mt. Athos from 1 June 1991 to 31 May 1992. He encouraged us with much love in this effort of ours. He helped us and supported us in various ways.

We thank from the bottom of our hearts all the contributors to this edition for their complete confidence in us. We owe the same debt of thanks to the Holy Convent the “Transfiguration of the Savior” for the help they gave us in sending us the short biography of the Elder. They also introduced us to individuals who knew the Elder very well, and could speak to us about him.

We thank our brothers and sisters in Christ from Greece through whom we got to know the Elder, and those who also made it possible to meet him many times, despite the unfavorable conditions.

We are indebted to the Holy Convent of St. Marina and St. Raphael in Xylotimpou and the protopresbyter Kyriakos Panagiotou, a theologian and the priest of Xylotimpou, who is responsible for the Convent. He took upon himself the financial outlay incurred in production of this book by the Convent.

Finally, we would like to thank CBC for the opportunity it has given us to convey to the faithful of Cyprus the testimonies and experiences of distinguished Greeks and Cypriote who knew Elder Porphyrios. Almost immediately after his passing away these testimonies were broadcast during the weekly editions of “Orthodoxy Today,” on ABC’s 1st Program. These radio-programs were produced by Mary Kontogianni Ioannidou.

We thank God for this great gift that has been given to us, that we have known and can write about a holy man of our time. We pray that the Lord’s mercy will also come upon us, here in Cyprus, the island for which the Elder always expressed a special love. He expressed particular concern for its troubles and prayed for Cyprus continuously.

With fear of God we offer this book to His people, with the hope that it will give Christ’s nourishment to those souls who hunger for God. Blessed is the God of our Fathers!

Klitos loannides

Nicosia, 21 March, 1992.

What is an Elder?

[Taken, with grateful acknowledgment, from Bishop Kallistos Ware’s book “The Orthodox Way”. Rev. ED. St. Vladimir’s Seminary Press, 1995, CP. 95-99.]

The elder or “old man”, known in Greek as geron and in Russian as starets, need not necessarily be old in years, but he is wise in his experience of divine truth, and blessed with the grace of “fatherhood in the spirit”, with the charisma of guiding others on the Way. What he offers to his spiritual children is not primarily moral instruction or a rule of life, but a personal relationship. “A starets,” says Dostoevsky, “is one who takes your soul, your will, into his soul and his will.” Fr. Zachariah’s disciples used to say about him, “It is as though he bore our hearts in his hands.”

The starets is the man of inward peace, at whose side thousands can find salvation. The Holy Spirit has given him as the fruit of his prayer and self-denial, the gift of discernment or discrimination, enabling him to read the secrets of men’s hearts; and so he answers, not only the questions that others put to him, but often the questions - often much more fundamental - which they have not even thought of asking. Combined with the gift of discernment he possesses the gift of spiritual healing-the power to restore men’s souls, and sometimes also their bodies. This spiritual healing he provides not only through his words of counsel but through his silence and his very presence. Important though the advice may be, far more important is his intercessory prayer. He makes his children whole by praying constantly for them, by identifying himself with them, by accepting their joys and sorrows as his own, by taking on his shoulders the burden of their guilt or anxiety. No one can be a starets if he does not pray insistently for others.

If the starets is a priest, usually his ministry of spiritual direction is closely linked with the sacrament of confession. But a starets in the full sense, as described by Dostoevsky or exemplified by Fr. Zachariah, is more than just a priest- confessor. A starets in the full sense of the word cannot be appointed such by any superior authority. What happens is that the Holy Spirit speaking directly to the hearts of the Christian people, makes it plain that this or that person has been blessed by God with the grace to guide and heal others. The true starets is in this sense a prophetic figure, not an institutional official. While most commonly a priest-monk, he may also be a married parish priest, or else a lay monk not ordained to the priesthood, or even-but this is less frequent a nun, or a lay man or woman living in the outside world. If the starets is not himself a priest, after listening to people’s problems and offering counsel, he will frequently send them to a priest for sacramental confession and absolution.

The relation between child and spiritual father varies widely. Some visit a starets perhaps only once or twice in a lifetime, at a moment of special crisis, while others are in regular contact with their starets, seeing him monthly or even daily. No rules can be laid down in advance; the association grows of itself under the immediate guidance of the Spirit.

Always the relationship is personal. The starets does not apply abstract rules learnt from a book -as in the “casuistry” of Counter-Reformation Catholicism- but he sees on each particular occasion this man or woman who is before him; and illumined by the Spirit, he seeks to transmit the unique will of God specifically for this one person. Because of this the true starets understands and respects the distinctive character of each one, he does not suppress their inward freedom but reinforces it. He does not aim at eliciting mechanical obedience, but leads his children to the point of spiritual maturity where they can decide for themselves. To each one he shows his or her true face, which before was largely hidden from that person; and his word is creative and life-giving, enabling the other to accomplish tasks which previously seemed impossible. But all this the starets can achieve only because he loves each one personally. Moreover, the relationship is mutual; the starets cannot help another unless the other seriously desires to change his way of life and opens his heart in loving trust to the starets. He who goes to see a starets in a spirit of spiritual curiosity is likely to return with empty hands, unimpressed.

Because the relationship is always personal, a particular starets cannot help everyone equally. He can help only those who are specifically sent to him by the Spirit. Likewise the disciple should not say, “My starets is better than all the others.” He should say only, “My starets is the best for me.”

In guiding others, the spiritual father waits upon the will and the voice of the Holy Spirit. “I will give only what God tells me to give,” said St. Seraphim. “I believe the first word that comes to me inspired by the Holy Spirit.” Obviously no-one has the right to act in this manner unless, through ascetic effort and prayer, he has attained an exceptionally intense awareness of God’s presence. For anyone who has not reached this level, such behavior would be presumptuous and irresponsible.

Fr. Zachariah speaks in the same terms as St. Seraphim:

Sometimes a man does not know himself what he will say. The Lord himself speaks through his lips. One must pray like this: “Ο Lord, may you live in me, may you speak through me, may you act through me.” When the lord speaks through a man’s lips, then all the words of that man are effective and all that is spoken by him is fulfilled. The man who is speaking is himself surprised at this... Only one must not rely on wisdom.

The relationship between spiritual father and child extends beyond death to the Last Judgment. Fr. Zachariah reassured his followers, “After death I shall be much more alive than I am now, so don’t grieve when I die... On the day of judgment the elder will say: Here am I and my children.” St. Seraphim asked for these remarkable words to be inscribed on his tombstone:

When I am dead, come to me at my grave, and the more often the better. Whatever is in your soul, whatever may have happened to you come, to me as when I was alive, and kneeling on the ground, cast all your bitterness upon my grave. Tell me everything and I shall listen to you, and all the bitterness will fly away from you. And as you spoke to me when I was alive , do so now. For I am living and I shall be for ever.

By no means all Orthodox have a spiritual father of their own. What are we to do if we search for a guide and cannot find one? It is of course possible to learn from books; whether or not we have a starets, we look to the Bible for constant guidance. But the difficulty with books is to know precisely what is applicable to me personally, at this specific point on my journey. As well as books, as well as spiritual fatherhood, there is also spiritual brotherhood or sisterhood- the help given us that is, not by teachers in God, but by our fellow disciples. We are not to neglect the opportunities offered us in this form. But those who seriously commit themselves to the Way should in addition make every effort to find a father in the Holy Spirit. If they seek humbly they will undoubtedly be given the guidance that they require. Not that they will often find a starets such as St. Seraphim or Fr. Zachariah. We should take care lest, in our expectation of something outwardly more spectacular, we overlook the help which God is actually offering us. Someone who in others’ eyes is unremarkable will perhaps turn out to be the one spiritual father who is able to speak to me, personally, the words of fire that I above all else need to hear.

A SHORT BIOGRAPHY OF ELDER PORPHYRIOS

His family

Elder Porphyrios was born on the 7th of February 1906, in the village of St. John Karystia, near Aliveri, in the province of Evia. His parents were poor but pious farmers. His father’s name was Leonidas Bairaktaris and his mother’s was Eleni, the daughter of Antonios Lambrou.

At baptism he was given the name Evangel’s. He was the fourth of five children, and the third child of the four that survived. His oldest sister, Vassiliki, passed away when she was a year old. Today, only his youngest sister, who is a nun, is still alive.

His father had a monastic calling but obviously did not become a monk. He was, however, the village cantor, and St. Nectarios called upon his services during his journeys through the area, but poverty forced him to emigrate to America to work on the construction of the Panama canal.

His childhood years

The Elder attended the school in his village for only two years. The teacher was sick most of the time and the children didn’t learn much. Seeing the way things were, Evangelos left school, worked on the family farm and tended the few animals that they owned. He started working from the age of eight. Even though he was still very young, in order to make more money, he went to work in a coal mine. He later worked in a grocer’s store in Halkhida and in Piraeus.

His father had taught him the Supplicatory Canon (Paraklisis) to the Mother of God (Panagia); and whatever else of our faith he could. As a child he developed quickly. He himself told us that he was eight years old when he first started shaving. He looked much older than he actually was. From his childhood he was very serious, industrious and diligent.

Monastic calling

While he was looking after the sheep, and even when working in the grocer’s store, he slowly read the life story of St. John the Hut-dweller. He wanted to follow the example of the saint. So he set off for Mt. Athos many times, but for various reasons he never made it and returned home. Finally, when he was about fourteen or fifteen years of age, he again left for Mt. Athos. This time he was determined to make it and this time he did.

The Lord, who watches over the destinies of us all. brought about things in such a way that Evangelos met his future spiritual father, the hieromonk Panteleimon, while he was on the boat between Thessaloniki and the Holy Mountain[1] Father Panteleimon immediately took the young boy under his wing. Evangelos was not yet an adult, and so should not have been allowed on the Holy Mountain. Fr. Panteleimon said he was his nephew and his entrance was assured.

[1]   Mt. Athos.

The monastic life

His elder, Fr. Panteleimon, took him to Kavsokalyvia to the Hut[1] of St. George. Fr. Panteleimon lived there with his half- brother Fr. Ioannikios. The well-known monk, the blessed Hatzigeorgios had once lived there too.

In this way, Elder Porphyrios acquired two spiritual fathers at the same time. He gladly gave absolute obedience to both of them. He embraced the monastic life with great zeal. His only complaint was that his elders didn’t demand enough of him. He told us very little about his ascetic struggles and we have few details. From what he very rarely said to his spiritual children about it, we can conclude that he happily and continuously struggled hard. He would walk barefoot among the rocky and snowy paths of the Holy Mountain. He slept very little, and then with only one blanket nd on the floor of the hut, even keeping the window open when it was snowing. During the night he would make many prostrations, stripping himself to the waist so that sleep would not overcome him. He worked; wood-carving or outside cutting down trees, gathering snails or carrying sacks of earth on his back for long distances, so that a garden could be created on the rocky terrain near the Hut of St. George.

He also immersed himself in the prayers, services and hymns of the Church, learning them by heart while working with his hands. Eventually from the continual repetition of the Gospel and from learning it by heart the same way, he was unable to have thoughts that were not good or that were idle. He characterized himself, in those years, as being “forever on the move.”

However, the distinguishing mark of his ascetic struggle was not the physical effort he made, but rather, his total obedience to his elder. He was completely dependent upon him. His will disappeared into his elder’s will. He had total love, faith and devotion for his elder. He identified himself completely with him, making his elder’s conduct in life his own conduct. It is here that we find the essence of it all. It is here, in his obedience that we discover the secret, the key to his life.

This uneducated boy from the second grade, using the Holy Scriptures as his dictionary, was able to educate himself. By reading about his beloved Christ he managed in only a few years to learn as much as, if not more than, we ever did with all our comforts. We had schools and universities, teachers and books, but we did not have the fiery enthusiasm of this young novice.

We do not know exactly when but certainly not long after reaching the Holy Mountain, he was tonsured as a monk and given the name Nikitas.

[1]   A hut or kalyvi is the term used on Mt. Athos for each of the small monastic dwellings.

The visitation of divine grace

We should not find it strange that divine grace should rest upon this young monk who was filled with fire for Christ and gave everything for His love. He never once considered all his labors and struggles.

It was still dawn, and the main church of Kavsokalyvia was locked. Nikitas, however, was standing in the corner of the church entrance waiting for the bells to ring and the doors to be opened.

He was followed by the old monk Dimas, a former Russian officer, over ninety years old, an ascetic and a secret saint. Fr. Dimas looked around and made sure that nobody was there. He didn’t notice young Nikitas waiting in the entrance. He started making full prostrations and praying before the closed church doors.

Divine grace spilled over from holy Fr. Dimas and cascaded down upon the young monk Nikitas who was then ready to receive it. His feelings were indescribable. On his way back to the hut, after receiving Holy Communion in the Divine Liturgy that morning, his feelings were so intense that he stopped, stretched out his hands and shouted loudly “Glory to You, Ο God! Glory to You, Ο God! Glory to You, Ο God!”

The change wrought by the Holy Spirit.

Following the visitation of the Holy Spirit, a fundamental change took place in the psychosomatic makeup of young Monk Nikitas. It was the change that comes directly from the right hand of God. He acquired supernatural gifts and was vested with power from on high.

The first sign of these gifts[1] was when his elders were returning from a far-away journey, he was able to “see” them at a great distance. He “saw” them there, where they were, even though they were not within human sight. He confessed this to Fr. Panteleimon who advised him to be very cautious about his gift and to tell no-one. Advice which he followed very carefully until he was told to do otherwise.

More followed. His sensitivity to things around him became very acute and his human capacities developed to their fullest. He listened to and recognized bird and animal voices to the extent that he knew not just where they came from, but what they were saying. His sense of smell was developed to such a degree that he could recognize fragrances at a great distance. He knew the different types of aroma and their makeup. After humble prayer he was able to “see” the depths of the earth and the far reaches of space. He could see through water and through rock formations. He could see petroleum deposits, radioactivity, ancient and buried monuments, hidden graves, crevices in the depths of the earth, subterranean springs, lost icons, scenes of events that had taken place centuries before, prayers that had been lifted up in the past, good and evil spirits, the human soul itself, just about everything. He tasted the quality of water in the depths of the earth. He would question the rocks and they would tell him about the spiritual struggles of ascetics who went before him. He looked at people and was able to heal. He touched people and he made them well. He prayed and his prayer became reality. However, he never knowingly tried to use these gifts from God to benefit himself. He never asked for his own ailments to be healed. He never tried to get personal gain from the knowledge extended to him by divine grace.

Everytime he used his gift of discernment, (diakrisis) the hidden thoughts of the human mind were revealed to him. He was able, through the grace of God, to see the past, the present and the future all at the same time. He confirmed that God is all-knowing and all-powerful. He was able to observe and touch all creation, from the edges of the Universe to the depth of the human soul and history. St. Paul’s phrase One and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually as He wills” (1. Cor. 12:11) certainly held true for Elder Porphyrios. Naturally, he was a human being, and received divine grace, which comes from God. This God who for reasons of His own sometimes did not reveal everything. Life lived in grace is an unknown mystery for us. Any more talk on the matter would be a rude invasion into matters we don’t understand. The Elder always pointed this out to all those who attributed his abilities to something other than grace. He underlined this fact, again and again, saying “It’s not something that’s learnt. It’s not a skill. It is GRACE.”

[1]  charismata - refers to specific gifts of the Holy Spirit towards Man. In this book referred to simply as “gift.” Not to be confused with the common meaning of the English word “charisma”.

Return to the world

Even after being overshadowed by divine grace, this young disciple of the Lord continued in his ascetic struggles as before, with humility, godly zeal and unprecedented love of learning. The Lord now wanted to make him a teacher and shepherd of His rational sheep. He tried him out, measured him up, and found him adequate.

Monk Nikitas never but never thought of leaving the Holy Mountain and returning to the world. His divine all- consuming love for our Savior drove him to wish and to dream of finding himself in the open desert and, except for his sweet Jesus, completely alone.

However, severe pleurisy, finding him worn down from his superhuman ascetic struggles, caught hold of him while he was gathering snails on the rocky cliffs. This forced his elders to order him to take up residence in a monastery in the world, so that he could become well again. He obeyed and returned to the world, but as soon as he recovered he went back to the place of his repentance. He again fell ill; this time his elders, with a great deal of sadness, sent him back into the world for good.

Thus, at nineteen years of age, we find him living as a monk at the Monastery Lefkon of St. Charalambos, close to his birthplace. Nevertheless he continued with the regime he had learnt on the Holy Mountain, his psalms and the like. He was, however, forced to scale down his fasting until his health got better.

Ordination to the Priesthood

It was in this monastery that he met the Archbishop of Sinai, Porphyrios III, a visiting guest there. From his conversation with Nikitas, he noticed the virtue and the divine gifts that he possessed. He was so impressed that on the 26th of July 1927, the feast of St. Paraskevi, he ordained him a deacon. The very next day, the feast of St. Panteleimon, he promoted him to the priesthood, as a member of the Sinaite Monastery. He was given the name Porphyrios. The ordination took place in the Chapel of the Holy Metropolis of Karystia, in the Diocese of Kymi. The Metropolitan of Karystia, Panteleimon Phostinis also took part in the service. Elder Porphyrios was only twenty-one years old.

The Spiritual Father

After this the resident Metropolitan of Karystia, Panteleimon appointed him with an official letter of warrant to be a father confessor. He carried out this new “talent” that was given him with humanity and hard work. He studied the “Confessor’s Handbook.” However, when he tried to follow to the letter what it said regarding penance, he was troubled. He realized that he had to handle each of the faithful individually. He found the answer in the writings of St. Basil, who advised, “We write all these things so that you can taste the fruits of repentance. We do not consider the time it takes, but we take note of the manner of repentance.” (Ep. 217 no. 84) He took this advice to heart and put it into practice. Even in his ripe old age he reminded young father confessors of this advice.

Having matured in this way the young hieromonk Porphyrios, by God’s grace, applied himself successfully, to the work of spiritual father in Evia until 1940. He would receive large numbers of the faithful for confession, every day. On many occasions he would hear confession for hours without a break. His reputation as a spiritual father, knower of souls, and sure guide, quickly spread throughout the neighboring area. This meant that many people flocked to his confessional at the Holy Monastery of Lefkon, close to Avlonarion, Evia.

Sometimes whole days and nights would pass by with no letup and no rest, as he fulfilled this godly work, this sacrament. He would help those who came to him with his gift of discernment, guiding them to self-knowledge, truthful confession and the life in Christ. With this same gift he uncovered snares of the devil, saving souls from his evil traps and devices.

Archimandrite

In 1938 he was awarded the office of Archimandrite from the Metropolitan of Karystia, “in honor of the service that you have given to the Church as a Spiritual Father until now, and for the virtuous hopes our Holy Church cherishes for you” (protocol no. 92/10-2-1938) as written by the Metropolitan. The hopes of whom, by the grace of God, were realized.

Priest, for a short time to the parish of Tsakayi, Evia and to the Monastery of St. Nicholas of Ano Vathia

He was assigned by the resident Metropolitan as a priest to the village of Tsakayi, Evia. Some of the older villagers, to this day, cherish fond memories of his presence there. He had left the Holy Monastery of St. Charalambos because it had been turned into a convent. So, around 1938 we find him living in the ruined and abandoned Holy Monastery of St. Nicholas, Ano Vathia, Evia, in the jurisdiction of the Metropolitan of Halkhida.

In the desert of the city

When the turmoil of the Second World War approached Greece, the Lord enlisted His obedient servant, Porphyrios, assigning him to a new post, closer to his embattled people. On the 12th of October 1940 he was given the duty of temporary priest to the Chapel of St. Gerasimos in the Athens Polyclinic, which can be found on the corner of Socrates and Pireaus Street, close to Omonia Square. He himself requested the position out of the compassionate love had for his fellows who were suffering. He wanted to be them during the most difficult times in their lives, when illness, pain and the shadow of death showed the hopelessness of all other hope except for hope in Christ.

There were other applicants with excellent credentials who were also interested in the post, but the Lord enlightened the director of the Polyclinic. Humble and charming, Porphyrios, who was uneducated according to the standards of the world but wise according to God, was chosen. The person who made this choice later expressed his amazement and joy in finding a true priest saying, “I found a perfect father, just like Christ wants.”

He served the Polyclinic as its employed chaplain, for thirty whole years and then in order to be of service to his spiritual children who sought him there, voluntarily, for a further three years.

Here as well as the role of chaplain, which he carried out with complete love and devotion, celebrating the services with wonderful devotion; confessing, admonishing, healing souls and many times bodily ailments too, he also acted as spiritual father to as many of those that came to him.

“Yes, you yourselves know that these hands were provided for my necessities and for those who were with me.” (Acts 20:34)

Elder Porphyrios, with his lack of academic qualifications, agreed to be chaplain of the Polyclinic for a salary of next to nothing. It was not enough to support himself, his parents and the few other close relatives who relied on him. He had to work for a living. He organized in succession, a poultry farm and then a weaving-shop. In his zeal for services to be celebrated in the most uplifting manner, he applied himself to the composition of aromatic substances which could then be used in the preparation of the incense used in divine worship. In fact in the 1970’s he made an original discovery. He combined charcoal with aromatic essences, now censing the church with his own slow-burning charcoal that gave off a sweet fragrance of spirituality. He never, it seems, revealed the details of this discovery.

From 1955 he leased the small monastery of St. Nicholas, Kallisia, which belongs to the Holy Monastery of Pendeli. He systematically cultivated the land around it. putting in a lot of hard work. It was here that he wanted to establish the convent, which he eventually built elsewhere. He improved the wells, built an irrigation system, planted trees, and tilled the soil with a digging machine that he worked himself. All this together with duty, twenty-four hours a day, as chaplain and confessor.

He valued work highly and would allow himself no rest. He learnt from experience the words of abba Isaac the Syrian, “God and his angels find joy in necessity; the devil and his workers find joy in idleness.”

Departure from the Polyclinic

On the 16th March 1970, having completed thirty-five years of service as a priest, he received a small pension from the Hellenic Clerical Insurance Fund and left his duties at the Polyclinic. In essence, however, he remained until his replacement arrived. Even after that he continued to visit the Polyclinic to meet his great number of spiritual children. Finally, around 1973, he minimized his visits to the Polyclinic and instead received his spiritual children at St. Nicholas’ in Kallisia, Pendeli, where he celebrated the liturgy and heard confession.

My strength is made perfect in weakness

Elder Porphyrios. in addition to the illness that forced him to leave Mt. Athos, and that kept his left side especially sensitive, suffered with many other ailments, at various times.

Towards the end of his service at the Polyclinic he became ill with kidney trouble. However, he was operated on  only when his sickness was in its advanced stages. This was because he worked tirelessly despite his illness. He had become used to being obedient “unto death.” He was obedient even to the director of the Polyclinic, who told him to put off the operation, so that he could celebrate the services for Holy Week. This delay resulted in him slipping into a coma. The doctors told his relatives to prepare for his funeral. However, by divine will, and despite all medical expectations, the Elder returned to earthly life to continue his service to the members of the Church.

Some time before that, he had fractured his leg. Related to which is a miraculous instance of St Gerasimos’ (whose Polyclinic chapel he served) concern for him.

In addition to this his hernia, from which he suffered until his death, worsened, because of the heavy loads he used to carry to his home, in Turkovounia, where he lived for many years.

On the 20th August 1978, while at St. Nicholas, Kallisia, he had a heart attack (myocardial infarction). He was rushed to the “Hygeia” hospital, where he remained for twenty days. When he left the infirmary, he continued his convalescence in Athens, in the homes of some of his spiritual children. This was for three reasons. Firstly, he couldn’t go to St. Nicholas, Kallisia, as there was no road, and he would have to walk a long way on foot. Furthermore, his house in Turkovounia did not even have the most basic comforts. Finally, he had to be near to doctors.

Later, when he had settled into a temporary shelter in Milessi, the site of the convent he founded, he had an operation on his left eye. The doctor made a mistake, destroying the sight in that eye. After a few years the Elder became completely blind. During the operation, without Elder Porphyrios’ permission, the doctor gave him a strong dose of cortisone. The Elder was particularly sensitive to medication, and especially to cortisone. The result of this injection was continuous stomach-haemorraghing which lasted for three months or so. Because of his constantly bleeding stomach he couldn’t eat regular food. He sustained himself with a few spoonfuls of milk and water each day. This resulted in him becoming so physically exhausted that he reached the point where he could not even sit up straight. He received twelve blood transfusions, all of them in his accommodation at Milessi. In the end, although he was again at Death’s door, by the grace of God he survived.

From that time on, his physical health was terribly compromised. However, he continued, his ministry as a spiritual father as much as he could, all the time confessing for shorter periods and often suffering from various other health problems and in the most frightful pain. Indeed, he steadily lost his sight until in 1987 he became completely blind.

He steadily decreased the words of advice he gave to people, and increased the prayers he said to God for them. He silently prayed with great love and humility for all those who sought his prayer and help from God. With spiritual joy he saw divine grace acting upon them. Thus, Elder Porphyrios became a clear example of St. Paul the Apostle words, “My strength is made perfect in weakness.”

He builds a new convent

It was a long held desire of the Elder’s to found a holy convent of his own, to build a monastic foundation in which certain devout women, who were spiritual daughters of his, could live. He had vowed to God that he would not abandon these women when he left the world because they had been faithful helpers of his for many years. As time went on it would be possible for other women who wanted to devote themselves to the Lord to settle down there.

His first thought was to build the Convent at the place in Kallisia, Pendeli, which he had leased in 1955 from the Holy Monastery of Pendeli. He tried to persuade the owners many times either to donate or sell him the land required. It was to no avail. It now seemed that the Lord, the wise regulator and provider of all, destined another place for this particular undertaking. So the Elder turned his sights to another area in his search for real estate.

In the meantime, however, with the co-operation of his spiritual children, he put together the legal charter for the foundation of the Convent and submitted it to the proper church authorities. Since he had not yet chosen the specific lace where his convent would be built, he identified Turkovounia in Athens as the place where it would be founded. Here he had a humble little stone house, which, without even the basic comforts, had been his impoverished abode since 1948.

Elder Porphyrios did not do anything without the blessing of the Church. Thus, in this instance, he sought and received the canonical approval both, of His Eminence, the Archbishop of Athens and of the Holy Synod. Although the relevant procedures had started in 1978, it was only in 1981, after overcoming much procedural bureaucracy and other difficulties, that he was privileged enough to see the “Holy Convent of the Transfiguration of the Savior” recognized by a Presidential decree and published in the governmental gazette.

The search for a suitable site to establish the Convent had been started by the Elder long before his heart attack, when he was more than certain that it wouldn’t be at Kallisia. With extreme care and great zeal, he searched tirelessly for a site, which would have the most advantages. When his strength had moderately recovered after his heart attack and when he felt he could, he continued the intense search for the place he wanted. He spared no effort. He traveled around the whole of Attica, Evia and Viotia in the cars of various spiritual children of his. He looked into the possibility of building his convent on Crete or some other island. He worked unbelievably hard. He inquired about hundreds of properties, and visited most of them. He consulted many people. He traveled for thousands of kilometers. He made countless calculations. He weighed up all the factors; and, finally he selected and purchased some property on the site of Hagia Sotira, Milessi by Malakasa, Attica, near Oropos.

Early in 1979 he took up residence on this property at Milessi, which had been bought for the construction of a convent. For more than a year, at the start, he lived in a mobile home under very difficult conditions, especially in winter. Afterwards he settled into a small and shabby house, in which he suffered all the hardship of three-months of continuous stomach-haemorraghing and where he also received numerous blood transfusions. The blood was donated with much love by his spiritual children.

The construction work, which the Elder followed closely, also began in 1980. He paid for the work from savings that he, his friends and his relatives had made over the years with this aim in mind. He was also helped by various spiritual children.

The building of the Church of the Transfiguration

His great love for his fellow man was centered upon guiding them to the joy of transfiguration according to Christ. Together with St. Paul the Apostle, he implored us, his brothers and sisters, through God’s compassion “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God.” (Rom. 12:2). He wanted to guide us to the state in which he lived, according to which, “We all with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.” (2 Cor.3:18)

This is why he also called his Convent the “Transfiguration” and why he wanted the church to be dedicated to the Transfiguration. Finally, through his prayers, he influenced his fellow workers in this venture and succeeded in his aim. After much consultation and hard work on the part of the Elder, a simple, pleasing and perfect design was arrived at.

In the meantime, through the canonical intervention of His Eminence, the Archbishop of Athens, (as the Convent falls within the Athenian Archdiocese) the local Metropolitan, gave permission for the church to be built within his jurisdiction at the Convent’s annexe, at Milessi.

The laying of the foundations took place at midnight between the 25th and the 26th February, 1990 during an all night vigil in honor of St. Porphyrios, Bishop of Gaza, the Wonderworker. Elder Porphyrios, sick and unable to climb the eleven meters down to the ground where the cornerstone was to be laid, with great emotion, offered his cross for the cornerstone. From his bed he prayed, using these words: “O Cross of Christ, make firm this house. Ο Cross of Christ, save us by Your strength. Remember, Ο Lord, Your humble servant Porphyrios and his companions...” Having prayed for all those who worked with him, he directed that their names to be placed in a special position in the church, for their eternal commemoration.

The work of building the Church (out of re-enforced concrete) began immediately. Accompanied by the Elder’s prayers, it progressed without interruption. He was able to see with his spiritual eyes - for he had lost his natural sight many years before -, the church reaching the final stages of that phase of its construction. That is to say, at the base of the central dome. It actually reached this point on the day of the Elder’s final departure.

He prepares his return to the Holy Mountain

Elder Porphyrios had never emotionally left Mt. Athos. There was no other subject that interested him more than the Holy Mountain, and especially Kavsokalyvia. For many years he had a hut there, in the name of a disciple of his who he visited on occasion. When he heard in 1984 that the last resident of St. George’s hut had left for good and taken up residence in another monastery, he hastened to the Holy Great Lavra of St. Athanasios, to whom it belonged and asked that it be given to him. It was at St. George’s that he had first taken his monastic vows. He had always wanted to return, to keep the vow made at his tonsure some sixty years earlier, to remain in his monastery until his last breath. He was now getting ready for his final journey.

The hut was given to him according to the customs of Mt. Athos, with the monastery’s sealed pledge, dated 21st September 1984. Elder Porphyrios settled different disciples of his there in succession. In the summer of 1991 there were five. This is the number, that he had mentioned to a spiritual child of his some three years before as the total that indicated the year of his death.

Return to his Repentance

During the last two years of his earthly life he would frequently talk about his preparation for his defense before the dread judgment seat of God. He gave strict orders that if he should die here, his body should be transported without fanfare and buried at Kavsokalyvia. In the end, he decided to go there whilst he was still alive. He spoke about a certain story in the Sayings of the Fathers:

A certain elder, who had prepared his grave when he felt his end was near, said to his disciple, “My son, the rocks are slippery and steep and you will endanger your life if you alone take me to my grave. Come, let us go now that I am alive.” And surely his disciple took him by the hand and the elder lay down in the grave and gave up his soul in peace.

On the eve of the Feast of the Holy Trinity, 1991, having gone to Athens to confess to his very old and sickly spiritual father, he received absolution and left for his hut on Mt. Athos. He settled in and waited for the end, prepared to give a good defense before God.

Then, when they had dug a deep grave for him, according to his instructions, he dictated a farewell letter of advice and forgiveness to all his spiritual children, through a spiritual child of his. This letter, dated June 4 (Old Calendar) and June 17 (New Calendar), was found amongst the monastic clothes that were laid out for his funeral on the day of his death. It is published in full on pages 61-62 of this book and is just one more proof of his boundless humility.

“Through my coming to you again”

Elder Porphyrios left Attica for Mt. Athos with the hidden intention of never returning here again. He had spoken to enough of his spiritual children in such a way that they knew they were seeing him for the last time. To others he just hinted. It was only after his death that they realized what he meant. Naturally, to those who would not be able to stand the news of his departure, he told them that he would be coming back. He said so many things about his death, either clearly or in a cryptic way, so much so, that only the certainty of those around him that he would survive like all the other times (a hope born of desire), can possibly explain the suddenness of the announcement of his death.

Maybe he himself hesitated like St. Paul the Apostle, who wrote to the Phillipians, “For I am hard pressed between the two, having a desire to part and be with Christ, which is far better. Nevertheless, to remain in the flesh is more needful for you.” (Phil. 1:23-24) Maybe...

His spiritual children in Athens were constantly calling upon him and he was twice forced to return to the Convent against his will. Here, he gave consolation to all those who needed it. On each occasion he stayed only for a few days, “that our rejoicing for him would be more abundant in Jesus Christ by his coming to us.” (Paraphrasing the words of the Apostle, Phil. 1:26) He would then hurry back to Mt. Athos as quickly as possible. He ardently desired to die there and to be quietly buried in the midst of prayer and repentance.

Towards the end of his physical life he became uneasy over the possibility of his spiritual children’s love affecting his wish to die alone. He was used to being obedient and submitting to others. Therefore he told one of his monks. “If I tell you to take me back to Athens, prevent me, it will be from temptation.” Indeed, many friends of his had made different plans to bring him back to Athens, since winter was approaching and his health was getting worse.

He sleeps in the Lord

God, who is All-good, and who fulfills the desires of those who feared him, fulfilled Elder Porphyrios’ wish. He made him worthy of having a blessed end in extreme humbleness and obscurity. He was surrounded only by his disciples on Mt. Athos who prayed with him. On the last night of his earthly life he went to confession and prayed noetically[1]. His disciples read the Fiftieth[2] and other psalms and the service for the dying. They said the short prayer, “Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy upon me,” until they had completed the rule of a great schema monk.

With great love his disciples offered him what he needed, a little bodily and lot of spiritual comfort. For a long time they could hear his holy lips whispering the last words that came from his venerable mouth. These were the same words Christ prayed on the eve of his crucifixion “that we may be one.”

After this they heard him repeat only one word. The word that is found at the end of the New Testament, at the conclusion of the Divine Apocalypse (Revelation) of St. John. “Come” (“Yes, come, Lord Jesus”).

The Lord, his sweet Jesus came. The saintly soul of Elder Porphyrios left his body at 4:31 on the morning of the 2nd of December, 1991 and journeyed towards heaven.

His venerable body, dressed in the monastic manner, was placed in the main church of Kavsokalyvia. According to custom, the fathers there read the Gospel all day, and during the night they held an all-night vigil. Everything was done in agreement with the detailed verbal instructions of Elder Porphyrios. They had been written down to avoid any mistake.

At dawn, on the 3rd of December 1991, the earth covered the venerable remains of the holy Elder in the presence of the few monks of the holy skete of Kavsokalyvia. It was only then, in accordance with his wishes, that his repose was announced.

It was that time of day when the sky becomes rose- colored, reflecting the brightness of the new day that is approaching. A symbol for many souls of the Elder’s transition from death to light and life.

[1]  i.e. the Jesus Prayer.

[2]  The 51st psalm in most English translations (from Hebrew), “Have mercy upon me ο God, according to the great mercy”.

A brief sketch

The chief characteristic of Elder Porphyrios throughout his whole life was his complete humbleness. This was accompanied by his absolute obedience, his warm love and his unmurmuring patience with unbearable pain. He was noted for his wise discretion, his inconceivable discernment; his boundless love of learning, his extraordinary knowledge (a gift very much from God and not form his non-existent schooling in the world); his inexhaustible love of hard work, and his continuous, humble, (and for that reason successful) prayer. In addition to this, his pure Orthodox convictions, without any kind of fanaticism; his lively, but for the most part unseen and unknown, interest in the affairs of our Holy Church; his effective advice; the many sides of his teaching; his long-suffering spirit; his profound devotion; the seemly manner of the holy services, that he celebrated with great care to keep his lengthy offering hidden, unto the end.

As an Epilogue

a) “The one who comes to me I will by no means cast out.” (Jn. 3:37)

Elder Porphyrios throughout his whole life received all those who came to him; becoming, like St. Paul, “All things to all people in order to save them.”

All kinds passed by his humble cell; both holy ascetics and sinful thieves, Orthodox Christians and people of other denominations and religions, insignificant people and famous personalities, rich and poor, illiterate and literate, lay people and clergy of all ranks. To each one he offered the love of Christ for their salvation.

This does not mean that all those who went to the Elder or who knew him, for however long, adopted his message or acquired his virtue, and thus are worthy of our complete trust, as he was. A great deal of care, vigilance and good sense is required, because, as the Elder becomes well known, the temptation will come to some people to claim some type of attachment or connection with him. They will want to boast or to create the false impression that they are speaking for him. Apart from pure devotion and true love, apart from humble approach and honest learning, there is also conceit and personal gain. Naivety exists, but so does guile. Ignorance exists but so does error and deception.

In his final years Elder Porphyrios grieved about this a lot. That is to say, many people passed themselves off as his spiritual children and let it be hinted that they did what they did with the Elder’s blessing or approval. However, the Elder neither knew them nor sanctioned their activities. In fact he twice requested that relevant notices to be written for the briefing of Christians. On both occasions he revoked the order for their publication.

Here is one example. The Elder had taken a certain stance regarding various ecclesiastical issues that were dividing the faithful. This was known to very few people, who should have kept it confidential. Sometimes, however, people came who followed or expressed the opinion of one side or the other. It is not right to suppose that because a certain person saw the Elder, the opinion which that person held was then blessed by the Elder. If only we were obedient to the Elder! If only those of us who approached him had embraced his advice and in general his spirit!

His spirit generally speaking was one of absolute submission to the “official” Church. He did absolutely nothing without her approval. He knew from experience in the Holy Spirit that the bishops are bearers of divine grace quite independent of their personal virtue. He perceptibly felt divine grace and he saw where it was acting and where it wasn’t acting. He graphically emphasized that grace is opposed to the proud, but not to sinners, however humble.

For this reason, he didn’t agree with actions that provoked disputes and conflicts within the Church or verbal attacks on bishops. He always advised that the solution to all the Church’s problems should be found in the Church and by the Church with prayer, humility and repentance. It is better, he said, for us to make mistakes within the Church than to act correctly outside it.

b) “Stand fast in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the Gospel.” (Phil. 1:27)

The Elder taught that the basic element of the Spiritual life in Christ, the great mystery of our faith, is unity in Christ. It is that sense of identifying with our brother, of carrying the burdens of one another, of living for others as we live for ourselves, of saying “Lord Jesus Christ have mercy upon ME” and for that “ME” to contain and to become for ourselves the pain and the problems of the other, of suffering like they suffer, of rejoicing like they rejoice, their fall becoming our fall and their getting up again becoming our getting up again.

This is why his last words, his last entreaty to God, his last prayer, his greatest desire was that we “become one.” That was what he ached, wished and longed for.

In this wonderful and simple way, how many problems were solved and how many sins were avoided. Did my brother fall? I fell. How can I blame him since I am at fault? Did my brother succeed? I succeed. How can I envy him since I am the winner?

The Elder knew that because it’s our weakest point, it is here that the evil one does greatest battle. We put our own interests first. We separate ourselves. We want to flee the consequences of our actions for ourselves only. However when such a spirit prevails, there is no salvation for us. We must want to be saved along with everyone else. We should, together with God’s saint, say, “If you don’t save all of these people, Lord, then erase my name from the book of Life.” Or. like Christ’s apostle, wish to become accursed from Christ, for the sake of my fellow man, my brothers and my sisters.

This is love. This is the power of Christ. This is the essence of God. This is the royal way of spiritual life. We should love Christ who is EVERYTHING, by loving His brothers and sisters, for whom the least of which Christ died.

G. A.

A text that Elder Porphyrios loved

Elder Porphyrios persistently taught that our love for our fellow man should be such that we look upon them as we look upon ourselves. At one time he had asked one of his spiritual children to photocopy the following article of St. Symeon, the New Theologian, which was handed out to his visitors:

We should look upon all the faithful as one person and consider that Christ is in each one of them. We should have such love for them that we are ready to sacrifice our very lives for them. For it is incumbent upon us neither to say, nor think of any person as evil, but we must look upon everyone as good. If you see a brother afflicted with a passion, do not hate him. Hate the passion that makes war upon him. And if you see him being terrorized by the habits and desires of previous sins, have compassion on him. Maybe you too will be afflicted by temptation, since you are also made from matter that easily turns from good to evil. Love towards your brother prepares you to love God even more. The secret, therefore, of love towards God is love towards your brother. For if you don’t love your brother who you see, how is it possible to love God who you do not see? “For he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot love God Whom he has not seen?” (1 Jn. 4:20)

Announcement from the Elder

My brothers and sisters,

The Elder is talking to you. My children, do not misunderstand me. I cannot speak with you, but be assured that by the grace of God, my humble self sees each one of you who comes to greet me and prays noetically[1] for your problems. I wish you many years and good repentance.

Whoever is in a rush and cannot wait, let them leave and God’s grace will help them with whatever they are hoping for. I am not always well enough to receive people. Even the nuns here cannot be of service as long as I am not well.

The above announcement was posted at the request of Elder Porphyrios on the outer door of the Convent “The Transfiguration of the Savior” at the beginning of 1990.

[1]   i.e. with the Jesus Prayer.

A teaching from Elder Porphyrios,

as originally recorded on tape

Elder Porphyrios during the last years of his earthly life, frequently left the Convent where he was convalescing and went to a remote area in Evia, near the Aegean Sea. He was escorted by one or two people who took care of him for he was feeble and blind. Every time he went there he stayed for two or three days but seldom more than that. Since there was no lodging there he would spend the night in an isolated country chapel or in an automobile. He often spoke to the people who were with him about the spiritual life in Christ. These people recorded his words on tape, out of love for him. The beginning and end of these taped messages are often missing because the tape recorder was not always handy. One of the best pieces that was saved was produced by the Convent on cassette with the Elder’s voice. The transcription of the tape is published here.

The conversation that follows took place in July, 1988, at three in the morning in a remote country chapel.

The Elder:

He is everywhere. Now you explain that. I can’t explain it. I’m just telling you, wherever you’re thinking about St. Anthony and we could now be thinking about him here, others could think about him in Thebaid, others in Egypt, others in Jerusalem, others on Sinai. At this hour he is here, and there, and there, and there! What do you say?

Somebody: He’s everywhere because he’s in divine grace.

The Elder: Yes, he is in the spiritual world. And although we are Christians, we know nothing, children, nothing we don’t know anything about Christ!

Somebody: That’s true.

The Elder: And we live, poor old things, and we read the merest word and it’s beautiful. We say This Father spoke well and that Father spoke well. What’s his name? So-and-so. Beautiful! Beautiful! it’s all Beautiful! But, in spite of this, we remain in our indolence and foolishness and we live without Christ.

Christ is something else. When Christ comes to Man, when he comes to our soul, when Christ goes to Man, when he enters into the soul, the soul becomes different. He lives everywhere, he lives in the stars, he lives in the spiritual world, he lives in the emptiness of space, in the universe, he lives... They speak to him by “telephone” from South Africa, from the Indian Ocean and he speaks to them and talks about their houses, their daughters, their family even though he is here. Do you understand?

Now, you’ll think that by telling you these things I’m something special. I’m nothing. But I try. And from what I’m telling you it’s a bit like experiencing it, just a little bit. I make an effort... I want to be... I love to be in love with Christ. I don’t want to get there by rushing myself. But I often live through it with God’s grace, without saying anything. I’m not allowed to say it. Well, whatever I am allowed to say, I say, but I can’t speak about all these things. Well then, life without Christ isn’t life. That’s that. If you don’t see Christ in all the things you do and think, then you are without Christ.

How did we say it? Do you understand? There’s a song that goes:

“With Christ everywhere, fear is nowhere.”

Have you ever heard it? Eh? It’s sung by children, I don’t remember it all.

Well then, really this is the way we should see Christ. He is our friend, our brother; he is whatever is good and beautiful. He is Everything. Yet, he is still a friend, and he shouts it out, “You’re my friends, don’t you understand that. We’re brothers. I’m not.... I don’t hold hell in my hand. I’m not threatening you. I love you. I want you to enjoy life together with me.” Do you understand?

With Christ it’s like that. One is not downcast, has no sadness, no internalizing of problems, which Man thinks about or is tormented by the different idle thoughts and afflictions, that have wounded him from time to time, in his life.

Christ is new life. How can I say it? Christ is everything. He is joy, he is life, he is light. He is the true light who makes Man joyful, makes him soar with happiness; makes him see everything, everybody; makes him feel for everyone, to want everyone with him, everyone with Christ.

When we find some treasure or whatever else, we don’t want to tell anybody. The Christian, on the other hand, when he finds Christ, when he knows Christ, when Christ dwells within his own little soul and he feels Him, he wants to shout and tell it everywhere; he wants to talk about Christ, to say what Christ is, he wants to say- love Christ and put nothing before His Love. Christ is Everything, He is the source of life, the ultimate desire, he is everything. Everything beautiful is in Christ.

And afar from Christ: sadness, sorrow, worry, nervous tension, recollections of life’s wounds, its pressures, its anxieties, such times. When we are far away from Christ, we live through all these things. We wander around, going from here to there, for nothing, we stand still nowhere. Wherever we find Christ, even if it is in a cave, we stay there and are afraid to leave, afraid of losing Christ. Read about it and see. Ascetics, who knew Christ, didn’t want to leave their caves, not even for a little fresh air. They wanted to be there, where they felt Christ was with them. Christ is Everything. Christ is the fountain of life, of joy. He is Everything. How do you see it, Nick?

Someone: Those things that you said, Elder, are golden words. That’s the way things are, just like you put it.

The Elder: Yes, but that is the way we’re called to live, when we say we’re Christians, when we say we are Christ’s. Do you understand? Whatever it is, in our moments of weakness too, as soon as we see Christ, our attitude changes and we want to be with Christ. Because Christ is our friend, he is our brother. He shouts it out, “You are my friends; I don’t want you to look at me differently. I don’t want you to look at me in that way, that I am God, I am the Word of God, I am an Hypostasis[1] of the Holy Trinity. I want you to see me as one of your own, as your friend. I want you to embrace me. I want you to feel me in your souls. ME, your friend, who, in truth, is the fountain of life.

That, however, is the truth of the matter. Now, we’ve said that Satan exists, hell exists, and death exists. All of these things exist, they really do. It’s the other part, it’s evil, it’s darkness, it all belongs to darkness.

Somebody who is Christ’s must love Christ, and when he loves Christ he is delivered from the Devil, from hell and from death. You’ll say to me, have you reached that point yet? I haven’t reached it, it’s what I want, what I’m looking for. In my silence and always, I try to live like that. I don’t live like that. But, eh... I try. That is to say... how can I tell you about it? I haven’t gone to a certain place, that is... or rather I went there once, I saw it, now I’m not there, but I remember it, I long for it, I want it. There, even now, this moment, tomorrow, the day after tomorrow, every moment it comes to me, and I want it, I seek it. I want to go there. I am not there now though. I can’t explain it to you. Do you understand?

Yes, but I live within this effort. Tell me I’m silly. Tell me that these things aren’t spoken about, Elder, whoever tries, doesn’t speak, but calls upon divine grace to help him. Well, yes, but if someone has gone crazy he’ll speak. Craziness also exists

(Praying: “Lord...”) Hmm, I told you....

(He Changes the tone) Where, he left?

Someone: Yes, he went outside.

The Elder: What, now you went over there to catch it? Why did you record that? It’s just some foolishness.

Someone: Ah, Elder, ninety percent of Christians, either we’re not true Christians or we simply remain in wonder and admiration. And we say that it was well said by St. Ephraim or St. Isaac the Syrian, it was well said by Saint..., by St. John of the Ladder. We at least remain there. But beyond that nothing, no effort is made, eh... that’s why all of us have been tormented by anguish, anxiety and worry.

The Elder: Eh, yes, but you say, how? That’s it. How can I be there if I’m here? The problem exists only until Christ comes to live with you. Then you’re everywhere, with Christ. That’s our trouble, we don’t have Christ.

Regarding these things... make an effort and in this way (a few words, that can’t be made out) we may feel them, live through them and make them become a reality.

Our friend! our brother! How he shouts it out though! And how much!... What depth is hidden in it! Great depth. In other words it’s courage. Christ does not want fear. He doesn’t want fear.

Eh? The Apostles -how gently!- He didn’t force them, he left them alone... up until the end, poor souls! They were frightened, they locked themselves in. They did... eeh, What’s the matter with us? Eh, the Spirit, that went, that made them perfect. Grace made them perfect. Eh, what do you say? Isn’t that right?

Somebody: Yes, Elder.

[1]  Person.

Announcement

“Elder Porphyrios is ill and in spite of all his love and his strong desire to see and listen to all his visitors, he is unable to do so. He does not have the strength to talk and speak with people. However, he humbly prays to the Lord to help every person who seeks His mercy.

If you want to greet him, without him speaking to you, you can wait. He will pray silently for your request and if you have faith, God may enlighten you and solve your problem.

We cannot tell you at what hour he will receive people. When he is able, he himself will tell us to open up so that you can come in.

Some have come from a long distance away or have left their work, and they are exasperated by the delay. Then all their trouble was for nothing. The Elder is very sorry about the upset his illness has caused.

It would be best for whoever is in a hurry, to leave, so that he won’t miss his work. Rather than waiting, thinking that the Elder will speak to him, and then getting upset when after waiting so long, he finally finds out will not be able to speak with him.

The Elder is unable to talk, but shows his love and fulfills his obligations by silently praying for everyone.”

The above announcement was prepared at the Elder’s request and placed on the outer door of The Convent “The Transfiguration of the Savior”, during the years 1990-1991.

CONVERSATIONS

WITH GREEK AND CYPRIOT FRIENDS

Hieromonk Athanasios,

of the Holy Monastery of Vatopedi. Principal of Mt. Athos (1/6/91-31/5/92). Now Abbot of the Holy Convent of Panagia Machaira-Cyprus.

One of the most significant elders of our day, Elder Porphyrios, passed away on Mt. Athos, at Kavsokalyvia, where he began his monastic life. I would like to ask you, Father Athanasios, to tell us a few words about the last hours of the holy Elder’s earthly life.[1]

Fr. A: The Holy Skete of Kavsokalyvia is one of the most distant and remote Sketes of Mt. Athos, and Elder Porphyrios received the monastic schema there.

Having distinguished himself with his great gifts of grace, he also foresaw his death. This is why he returned to the Holy Mountain, so his life could end there.

Truly, on the evening of Sunday, 1st December 1991, his health started to worsen. He therefore called together his company of fathers and urged them to pray in order to help his life come to end and for him to surrender his soul to God.

All the fathers gathered together at one o’clock in the morning and began to read and pray the Service of the Departure of the Soul, as Elder Porphyrios had requested. Afterwards, he himself, as the fathers who were present told me, made a public confession before all of them. When the priest read him the prayer of forgiveness, at 4.31 on the morning of 2nd December 1991, he gave up his soul to God.

On that same day, he received Holy Communion and so was totally ready. Two days earlier, knowing that he was leaving the world, he asked not to be disturbed by anyone.

He no longer received visitors or telephone calls. The only ones present were the fathers who ministered to his needs.

K.I.: You said, Fr. Athanasios, that he knew about his death. How do we know that?

Fr. Α.: He would say to all the fathers who went to Kavsokalyvia to visit him that he was preparing to depart from the world. He asked them to pray that he might have a “good defense before the dread judgment seat of Christ.” This was the phrase he specifically used. He bade farewell to all the fathers who visited him. He told them he was leaving this life and he sought their prayers. “Pray, pray”, he kept saying to them. What concerned him was his appearance before God.

K.I.: We’ll now talk about the great gifts that Elder Porphyrios received from God.

Fr. A.: Elder Porphyrios, apart from everything else, had to a great degree both the gift of discernment as well as the gift of foresight. He could see into the soul of every person and what concerned them, the problems they faced and the specific purpose why they had gone to see him in order to get his advice. He also saw events that would happen in the future or that had happened in the past.

Just as he himself would say, God’s grace would show him places, buildings, faces, things and events. He would see them all as if they were present. During the last years of his life, he was blind. He could not see with his physical eyes. He could only see with the eyes of his soul.

K.I.: I had the great blessing to have known Elder Porphyrios. I personally felt from my very first encounter with him, that this holy man really lived in two worlds, while still here in this life. So, when I was informed about his death, I knew he simply withdrew.

Fr. Α.: Elder Porphyrios like every grace filled person, had reached such a high degree of intimacy with God that he could die at any moment he wanted, just as they said about St. Basil.

I believe that the same thing happened with Elder Porphyrios. This is the impression he gave to anyone who approached him. It even happened to me. Every time I met him, I would say that I saw a physically dead man before me. Still, here was a man of amazing clarity and with a surprising ability for prophecy and foresight.

One gets this kind of gift after much spiritual struggle and after a cleansing of one’s life. One gets it after extreme humility and complete love towards God. Man then becomes an instrument in the hands of God. That person no longer has anything that would remind us of the fallen condition of Man.

K.I.: Is it possible for us to say, Fr. Athanasios, that Elder Porphyrios, having reached such a level of holiness, is now amongst the “cloud of saints”?

Fr. A: We certainly are able to say this because the catholic conscience of the Church has already said it. All those who knew him witness and confess to the holiness of the man. The abundance of miracles performed by him proclaim that he is a saint, one of the saints of our Church.

For every person who approached him, Elder Porphyrios was a revelation. This also happened with the non- Orthodox. I would like to tell you a very characteristic story.

Once, when we were at New Skete, we were hosting a Catholic monk who had come to Mt. Athos to learn more about how the monks live, the ascetic life and the general polity of Mt. Athos. We told him about Elder Porphyrios and when he went to Athens he went to meet him.

When Elder Porphyrios saw him, without asking him anything, he began to describe this monk’s monastery in Italy and their way of life there. He even described a neighboring convent. He saw all the monks and nuns there and mentioned each one of them in specific detail.

The monk was literally dumbfounded because it was the first time in his life that he had met such a man. When he returned to Mt. Athos, he told us, “If someone had told me about these things; that he had seen and heard these things, I would never believe it. How is it possible for this person who lives in Greece to describe our monastery in Northern Italy in detail, to tell me all those details, to tell me about the monks, to tell me about the nuns, each one of them individually?” As this monk told us, when he asked Elder Porphyrios how he was able to see all these things, he answered him: “God’s grace reveals the mysteries to us, the Orthodox.”

K.I.: “Wondrous is God in His saints.”

Fr. Α.: I had, as I told you, God’s great blessing to meet him many times and to see events of his miraculous life up close. I’ll tell you just one, as an example.

One day we went by boat to see the Elder at Kavsokalyvia. He was sick, so we only visited him for a short while. We hardly spoke, and then he asked us to leave. Since we had only come for his blessing, we decided to leave Kavsokalyvia immediately.

As we left his cell and walked down towards the main church (about a ten minute walk), we were joined by one of his monks. He thought that we were upset because the Elder had asked us to leave. At one point he said “Stay a little longer. It is morning, and usually the Elder does not feel very well in the morning. He feels much better in the afternoon. I believe that he’ll be able to see you in the afternoon so that you won’t have come for nothing.”

As soon as he said this, the phone rang there where we were by the Church. The administrator[2] answered it, and called for the Elder’s disciple, who had, as I told you, joined us. Elder Porphyrios wanted him on the telephone. So, really, he went to the telephone and answered it. He heard Elder Porphyrios say, “Why are you telling the visitors to stay until the afternoon when I’ll feel better and will be able to speak with them, since I’ve told them to leave? The sea will be stormy this afternoon and they won’t be able to leave.” We naturally obeyed and left immediately. And, indeed, a little while afterwards the sea was so rough that had we been in the boat we would have been in great danger.

K.I.: This is one incident that shows the heights which Elder Porphyrios had reached. All this, so we can see how faith talks. “I believed that which I said.”

[1]  This conversation, between K.I. and Fr. A., was recorded five days after Elder Porphyrios went to sleep.

[2]   Ὁ δικαῖος.

Protopresbyter George Metallinos

Professor of the Theological School,

The University of Athens.

Father George, it is with great pleasure, that we’ll hear you speak about, first, the personality of Elder Porphyrios, and then place that holy man, theologically and ecclesiastically.

Fr. G.M.: I would like to thank both you, Mr. Ioannides and the Cyprus Broadcasting Corporation, for giving me this opportunity to speak to your fellow Cypriots about this great man.

I will share some personal experiences with you that I can say were completely spontaneous. I must confess that although you informed me in plenty of time about this discussion, I avoided making any preparation, so that I could allow my heart to speak at this sacred moment.

Elder Porphyrios was truly a great Church figure, characterized mainly by his genuineness. His fame, that is, was not simply the fame of some of us, who are referred to as spiritual fathers, without, however, living up to the meaning of the word. I’m speaking in total seriousness.

When our Church says that someone is spiritual, it does not mean the intellectual, the person who has intellectual qualities or is very knowledgeable. In the language of Orthodoxy, it is a person who has the experience of the Holy Spirit within his heart. This is why I previously spoke about genuineness. Elder Porphyrios was truly foresighted because he had the grace of the Holy Spirit within him.

As far as Elder Porphyrios’ ecclesiastical significance, I hasten to say that from the start, persons such as the holy Elder with the obvious gifts from the Holy Spirit which they Possess (real gifts and not hypothetical ones), show us the continuity of our Orthodox Tradition. Orthodoxy is sustained by the presence of the Holy Spirit. Just as that great Father of our Church, St. Irenaeus, Bishop of Lyons, said, “Wherever the grace of the Holy Spirit is seen and felt, there also is the Church.”

This, then, is what Elder Porphyrios also proved, that the Orthodox Church continues. He proved the continuity of our tradition and that divine gifts are not only actions of God during the apostolic era, as some heretics believe, but they are a permanent vitality, a permanent movement within the historical evolution and tradition of Orthodoxy.

I’ll give you three examples, that prove what I’m saying. To begin with, I’ll put forth the case of a Czech clergyman whose name I don’t wish to reveal without his approval.

When he came to Greece, he had two basic problems, one personal and one of an ecclesiastical nature. He spoke only German and asked me to accompany him to Elder Porphyrios. However, for reasons of, let us say, discretion, I had one of my German students go with him.

After the introductions, Elder Porphyrios took his hand and with that well-known friendly and disarming smile he said to him, “My dear father, you have two problems which are troubling you.” He continued to talk in Greek and the student translated. He showed him how to deal with one problem and how to solve the other. When the Czech returned to my house, he said to me: “I immediately felt the joints of my legs giving way and I was ready to kneel down, since it was the first time I understood what Orthodoxy means.” This Czech priest was from a non-Orthodox background and he converted to Orthodoxy later. He thought that whatever he read in the sacred books of the Church was complete theory and somewhat mythical. “Now,” he told me, “I have found the truth, God gives grace and that grace is in the Orthodox Church.”

Thus, this action of Elder Porphyrios, through the grace of the Holy Spirit, was strengthening for this brother of ours, in a troubled country, such as Czechoslovakia (because of the Unia[1] and the threats of the papist Church[2]) today.

K.I.: Very Correct.

Fr. G.M.: The second case that I’ll mention is clearly personal.

I had the blessing to meet Elder Porphyrios twice. Unfortunately in hindsight I realized what I missed, and now I’m sorry. I would have liked to have had many similar experiences, but maybe God allowed me to have only two experiences, that, on the other hand, will remain indelible in my life.

The first time I met him he was in bed, because he was sick. I approached him and asked for his blessing. He spoke to me with such sweetness and such humility, and with this I recognized his spirituality and his fatherliness.

His humbleness revealed itself mainly in the fact that he continuously presented my scholarly work, let us put it like that, in such a flattering way as if he wanted to strengthen me, to support me. In fact, he told me “I recommend (to others) your such-and-such work.” Or, “You’ve also written about that subject.” I found out that nobody had informed him about these works of mine. Yet, he knew everything that I had done.

He then continued in a very natural way to refer to events in my life. He spoke about my family and he suggested ways of dealing with my children, of which the two oldest were then adolescents.

He specifically said to me, “Your first child, your daughter needs to be dealt with in this way while your second child needs to be dealt with in that way. Your youngest child, your young son, is still small and does not have problems.” He had before him a picture of my whole family.

Elder Porphyrios didn’t do all these things to show off. They came to him spontaneously. These are the workings of saints in our Church. God contributed so that I could acquire this experience of grace that exists in these people.

Along with his humbleness, something that everyone established, was the love he projected. Humility and love are genuine signs of holy fathers.

K.I.: “He who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him,” the Lord says in St. John’s Gospel.

Fr. G.M.: Exactly.

K.I.: You spoke, Fr. George, about the educational advice that Fr. Porphyrios gave you with regard to raising your children. Can you tell us in more detail how Elder Porphyrios confronted the issue of raising children?

Fr. G.M.: In principle it was this that I emphasized so much in my courses at the University as well as in my spiritual talks. It is not academic knowledge that makes a person an educator. It is first and foremost the grace of the Holy Spirit that strengthens and consolidates the knowledge we acquire with education.

Many people have the impression that the contemporary priest must be educationally equipped. Our saints, like Elder Porphyrios, who had elements of holiness, come to show us that grace comes first and then education. For education to exist, it is not abolished by, but must be preceded by grace. An illiterate priest or monk who has the grace of the Holy Spirit is a thousand times better than a literate teacher who does not have grace.

Elder Porphyrios, during the time of our meeting, described both the character of my daughter and that of my eldest son. I felt myself falling from the clouds, because it was as if he had lived the life of my children as many years as I had lived it.

He told me that I must deal with one of my children by praying a lot more. He specifically said to me about that child, “Whatever you would say to this child of yours, because of his reactionary character, say it to God. Kneel before God and through the grace of God, your words will be conveyed to your child.”

About my other child, he said to me: “This child of yours listens to what you say, but be careful, he listens, but he easily forgets. Therefore, you will kneel and you will ask for God’s grace again, so that your fatherly words will fall upon good soil and will be able to bear fruit.”

K.I.: This is a striking educational method, Fr. George.

Fr. G.M.: Mr. Ioannides, you’re a superb academic and you move easily in those circles. That is why I realize that you’ve quite correctly understood what Elder Porphyrios told me. Because in truth, what teacher could better grasp the pulse of things?

And something else. The important thing, in both cases - and I can humbly ask this of every parent who’s listening at this moment - is that he asked me to appeal to God. Both times for different things. That is, for one child to accept those things I tell him and for the other to remember my words and to keep them. This is wonderful.

And there is one more experience, Mr. Ioannides.

One of my colleagues, a professor at Athens University Medical School, an exceptional friend, most spiritual and devout, came to me one day smiling, and said, “Fr. Porphyrios told me that you should not talk about him so much in your classes.” Because, Mr. Ioannides, we also need to support our students and especially the students of the Theological School. This is why I frequently referred to Fr. Porphyrios’ spiritual gifts.

Elder Porphyrios had inside information as I saw it, about these things, I said, and he requested that I should not talk about him.

K.I.: From humbleness, that is.

Fr. G.M.: Yes.

K.I.: If you’ll allow me Fr. George, what exactly do you say in your classes about the Elder Porphyrios?

Fr. G.M.: I will explain.

The basic lesson that Ι teach at the University is, as you know, the interconnection of the various ideological currents of the East and West in the area of the Orthodox Church. I start from Scholasticism, and I conclude with Marxism, which is now becoming Marxism past. It may still exist as a disposition, but in reality socialism has dissolved.

Studying the interplay of the ideological currents, I confront based on the texts, based on the sources, the Orthodox presence in the historical time-frame. I want to basically show, of course, that which is natural and well- understood, the continuation of the Orthodox tradition, which is seen in the continuation of spirituality. We refer to the gifts of the Spirit that are presupposed by the cleansing of the man’s heart from passions and from the thoughts of the intellect (nous). God sends His grace into the heart of man This is why we have miracles, that continue even today.

The question that the students ask is this, “Fine, gifts of the Spirit exist. Do we see them? Do we have any specific examples?” Then our of necessity, I take refuge in Fr. Porphyrios, in Fr. Paisius, who is still living amongst us, and to a few monks, Athonite or not, who have these gifts.

I’m not promoting these people, but using an example that is known to everyone. Since everyone who has met them has experienced their divine gifts.

Elder Porphyrios therefore said I could mention any one else only not to mention him. This is the admirable thing. He wanted to remain in the shadows, unknown.

Because of my liturgical ministry I constantly have contact with people who have met Elder Porphyrios. This is why I have many examples regarding the grace that dwelt within him. I can say that in many instances they are quite typical. That is, by simply touching the hand of his visitor, Elder Porphyrios immediately received a revelation. He brought to light that particular person’s problem and gave suitable guidance.

Certainly, no-one should think that this holy person was a soothsayer or whatever else people who are not in Christ think. The grace of God informed him, just as it can me, you, and everyone else. The grace of God is directed at all of us. God is not partial[3] - except for one presupposition; the cleansing (catharsis) of the heart, so that this grace can dwell within it. If God’s grace is unable to touch our heart, we can’t have these manifestations, that we observe in people like Fr. Porphyrios.

K.I.: Taking for a moment the opposing position, I would like to ask you, Fr. George, what you have to say to the possible objections; to those, that is, who would maintain that these are all “fairy-tales” and the excesses of the faithful?

Fr. G.M.: I confess that I have encountered these situations. We must be honest and realistic.

Two or three people came to me motivated, as I saw it, by personal and self-seeking reasons. One of them told me that this was magic. The other one said it was satanic, while yet another one said that it was all phony.

I answered them by saying that Elder Porphyrios’ gifts were experienced by me personally. I always emphasize in situations like that, those things that have the greatest importance. Which is that these divine gifts come to Elder Porphyrios naturally and spontaneously, without any attempt at self-projection.

There is, you know, a text from the second century A.D. Well, in that text we read that miracles from God are those which do not come from self-projection, but from God’s grace. And as you know, it is clearly spontaneous and unaffected and, at the same time, is related to the salvation and aiding of a particular person. It is not related to their complete domination, which is what the false faquirs and all the others like them do.

Objections therefore do exist.

Let me also say this. Some Old Calendarists spoke against Fr. Porphyrios, because they wanted him to be on their side in respect to the old calendar. He advised that I give them my book “The Church.” : a simple book that he however found significant. God gave me the blessing to have on this occasion the experience of a wonderful event that has a connection with Elder Porphyrios.

In Athens recently I met a certain monk from Mt. Sinai, who is the classic ascetic figure.

Well, this ascetic, with the simplicity of a small child and holiness that he had, I asked him about it. He explained to me that this happens for purely pastoral reasons, so that we will not lose our simple faithful.

He went on to defend the position that we must find ourselves within the unified Orthodox tradition again. He impressed upon me that it is a matter of pastoral policy and action and not a negative stance or the rejection of one side or the other.

K.I.: What else did he say to you about Elder Porphyrios?

Fr. G.M.: He expressed his wonder, his respect and his appreciation, and characterized Elder Porphyrios as one of the holiest figures of this past century in Greece.

K.I.: Fr. George, you’re an expert theologian, and know many things.

Fr. G.M: That’s what you say, but I thank you for your kindness, Mr. Ioannides.

K.I.: Since, you are, Fr. George, as I said an expert theologian, I would like to ask you what criteria does our Church use to determine the holiness of a man?

Fr. G.M.: I believe in the gifts that Elder Porphyrios acquired from God’s grace, from our Holy Trinity, and for which I have offered my humble testimony. Without this meaning that my testimony has value. I’ll explain why I say that.

The spiritual Christian determines and sees sanctity. He, in other words, who also has the gifts of the Holy Spirit. In the second chapter of the First Epistle of St. Paul to the Corinthians, he writes, “But he who is spiritual judges all things, yet he himself his rightly judged by no-one.” (1 Cor. 2:15) That is to say, I do not know if another person has the gifts of the Holy Spirit in his heart. He, through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, sees what I have in my heart.

Spiritual people will, therefore, come, who truly have the grace of the Holy Spirit, and they will tell us what the truth is about Elder Porphyrios. Personally, I believe that it won’t be different from what we have said up to now.

It is not the opinions of the learned, the intellectuals that hold weight on the subject of sanctity. Worldly knowledge cannot verify sanctity, only the grace of the Holy Spirit.

God does not allow sanctity to go unwitnessed. This is how it will be revealed to us in the case of Fr. Porphyrios, with wonderful evidence. As it’s always revealed, if a particular person is a dwelling-place of the Holy Spirit, and worthy of the honors of sainthood. This happened with St. Spyridon, St Gerasimos, St. Dionysios and with all the other saints.

Uncorrupted relics, fragrant relics, even if they are not uncorrupted, are adequate proofs from our Triune God, of the sanctity of a church figure. This all comes about as God desires and as God ordains.

These elements of holiness are given to us even from the period of the Turkish Occupation[4] great writers like Nectarios, the Patriarch of Jerusalem, Evgenios Voulgaris, St. Nicodemus the Athonite, all the Kollyvades[5] and others.

We, in Orthodoxy, do not have something like that which exists amongst the papists, where the Pope together with a court, gives his opinion. No, we don’t have such scholastic monstrosities. God reveals, indicates the holiness of a person, and all of us, as an ecclesiastical body, with the preeminence of the Synod of the Oecumenical Patriarchate, recognize this sanctity that God has revealed to us.

At this point, I have to recommend a book written by the Patrology professor at the Theological School of Athens University, Mr. Stylianos Papadopoulos, which deals with the subject of the proclamation of saints in the Orthodox Church. Also, I would like to, if I may, to mention my work “Holiness Witnessed.” The sole reason for suggesting it is because it has been published in the Church of Cyprus periodical. “The Apostle Barnabas,” and therefore is more accessible to your fellow Cypriots.

K.I.: Fr. George, we hear on occasion certain whisperings from lay-people and even from the clergy against, as they call it, the phenomenon of “Elder-worship.” How do you respond to that?

Fr. G.M.: Firstly, I do not even like the term. We worship only one God in Trinity, and we honor his saints. “Wondrous is God in His saints.” Our Church has proven saints, god-bearers, those, that is, who have reached theosis.[6]

I would like to briefly mention the witness of that great Cephallonian fighter for 19th Century Orthodoxy, Cosmas Flamiatos. He was a great spiritual man.

This great lay theologian emphasizes quite properly a great danger, the danger of losing the essence of the truly spiritual man, the true elder. An elder is that person who has the grace of the Holy Spirit and can direct us in the will of God so that we too can achieve the cleansing (catharsis) of the heart and the illumination of the Holy Spirit, which leads to theosis.

Unfortunately, we are people, I use the first person plural with all honesty, who accept the title of elder or we present ourselves as elders without having spiritual gifts; without having the actual experience of spiritual life. Quite often we become murderers of souls.

You’ll most likely ask me “Don’t criteria exist? Do you terrify all the faithful, Fr. George?”

No. I believe that there are many Elders with the grace of the Holy Spirit. In the humbleness and in the love which they have, the grace that they bear is visible and perceptible. What, if you’ll allow me, is the criterion of a true Elder?

The criterion is that they do not project their own will but the will of God: this appears in the Holy Scriptures, in the Fathers, in the councils, and in the unique and living tradition of the Church. For this reason I stress and say many times that I’m not a spiritual father because I have not reached that state of illumination.

On the other hand, since I have the grace of God in the priesthood, I’m obliged to become a spiritual father for those who seek my guidance. How? Teaching - this is why I studied and I continue to study -the tradition of the Church.

Because whoever puts forth the tradition of our saints, even if they have not reached the state of spiritual illumination, even being incomplete and unworthy through the grace of God, becomes a spiritual father. This happens through reflection and participation, since he doesn’t teach his own things but the teaching of the saints of our tradition.

The person who is not a true spiritual father is that person who occupies himself with things that project his own sinful will.

K.I.: From my personal experience with Elder Porphyrios, the Apostle Paul’s saying, “But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put shame to the wise...” (1 Cor. 1:27) was confirmed for me. I always felt that Elder Porphyrios was a child, an infant of God. In addition to his holiness I felt his child-likeness overwhelming me, just like I felt with Elder Sophrony in Essex.

Fr. G.M.: Bravo!

Κ.Ι.: What can we say about these children of the Kingdom?

Fr. G.M.: That simplicity, that child-like innocence is the return to the paradisal state and constitutes evidence of sanctity in those who are indeed spiritual.

It is exactly this end to which the whole monastic state looks, “reforming the ancient beauty.” As our Lord said, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you are converted and become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven.” (Mt. 18:32)

You will be moved when I tell you about both older and younger spiritual fathers of known holiness, who say that when holiness ceases in the world, the world will be destroyed because it will be worthless.

Our world was created in order to guide us to sanctification and theosis. For non-rational nature to be led to sanctification. For rational nature, which is Man, to be led to theosis. Since the theosis of Man and the sanctification of Nature is the purpose of the world’s existence, if this world ceases to have saints, and if the tradition of holiness stops and the realization of holiness doesn’t exist, then as our saints say, the world will be worthless.

These people, then, like Elder Porphyrios, who return to the pre-fallen state, to the paradisal condition and have the ability again through the grace of God, to advance towards theosis, are an indication of the continuation of the tradition of holiness and of the purity of our Church.

Elder Porphyrios comes to prove to us the reality of life in the Church. He proves to us that Man acquires holiness with God’s grace and personal struggle.

If we think then that the sole purpose of our life, the reason for which we exist, is to be directed to the illumination of the Holy Spirit and theosis, then we will understand how vivid Elder Porphyrios’ example should be in our memory.

Let us pray to God to place him in the land of the living, in a land of saints. An event of which we’re certain. Let us ask for Elder Porphyrios’ prayer in our own spiritual struggle so that we walk along the same road, the road of the saints, the road of Orthodoxy.

[1]  Unia= Christians who accept the authority of the Pope but keep the liturgical customs of the Orthodox Church. A covert form of proselytism of the Orthodox faithful.

[2]  Papist=Roman Catholic.

[3]   “Α respector of persons”.

[4]   1453-1821.

[5]   Movement of 19th Century Greek Orthodoxy, upholders of Church Tradition. Their name comes from the word “kollyva” i.e. the boiled wheat offered at memorial services. They were so named because, amongst other things, they argued against memorial services being held on Sunday.

[6]   The “deification” of Man. The mystical union between God and Man. Man becomes by grace. He participates in the energies of God, in His life, power, grace and and His glory but not in the essence. Even though in union with God. God remains God and Man remains Man. The saints of our Church have reached Theosis. “It is no longer I that live, but Christ who lives in me”.

Presbyter George C. Evthimiou

Research Assistant at the Theological School

of the University of Athens (B.D., B.Phil)

Elder Porphyrios as you well know, Father George, happened to be one of the most radiant personalities of contemporary Orthodoxy. You lived by the Elder for many years, and the fact that you are with us today to talk about this holy man of our times gives us great pleasure.

Fr. G.E.: I thank you very much Mr. Ioannides for giving me this opportunity to talk about Elder Porphyrios, who for many years I was made worthy to have as spiritual father and guide during a decisive period in my life.

The Elder truly played an important role in the development of my personality. I owe much of what I have today to him. Because of that I keep him as a guide in my pastoral ministry which God has made me fortunate to practice for the past five years.

Elder Porphyrios was a genuine human being created in the image of God. As we know from what he himself told us, burning with the love of God, he secretly left his home in Evia and went to Mt. Athos to the area of Kavsokalyvia. There he became the disciple of two elders, to whom, as he himself told us, he gave absolute obedience. He really was very obedient; whatever the fathers told him to do, he immediately hurried to fulfill the request.

His obedience was an act of freedom, an exceptionally powerful act, that actually frees a man from the passions, faults and weaknesses that dominate him. Through this he was in Christ and lived the freedom of God’s children. You could see concentrated in Elder Porphyrios all the personality characteristics which we see in the saints of our Church; love, humility, simplicity and discernment (diakrisis).

Precisely because of his complete devotion to God, he was made worthy to receive great spiritual gifts, such as foresight and discernment. As a result of this, he became an outstanding spiritual father, who literally guided the lives of many.

Even in the twilight of his life, in pain, in bed, and suffering from various illnesses, even then, he continued his pastoral duties by phone. Day and night, literally twenty-four hours a day, thousands of people, from the length and breadth of the planet, phoned him for his help, advice and prayers.

Elder Porphyrios had all those features, that made him lovable, desirable and able to attract people like a magnet. This didn’t happen in a magical way, but because he had all those characteristics that everyone longs for. He had all those reminders of our divinely created image and of the purpose for which we were created.

Let us recall here the teaching of our Church. God, out of His love, and only out of His love, created man for one sole purpose; to make him a partaker of his own happiness. God creates man to make him happy, whole and to live in the fullness of the communion of God.

Elder Porphyrios, like the whole of humanity, received a calling from God. Everyone is called to salvation since this is the very purpose of our existence. The distinguishing mark of the Elder, as with all the saints of the Church, was that he responded to this calling. He made his choice early on and said, “I want to be with Christ and to live according to Christ.” Then he followed Christ; as the Lord says, “Whoever desires to come after Me, let him deny himself take up his cross and follow Me.” (Mark 8:34) He denied the old man who is subjected to passion and sins, in the dominion of the devil, and he took up his cross and followed Christ for life.

His life was full of turmoil and upset, like all the saints of the Church, in the words of the Lord, “Narrow is the gate and difficult is the way” (Matt.7:14) that leads to the kingdom of God. Elder Porphyrios also had a life full of ups and downs, with many trials, temptations and thorns in the flesh, He went through the furnace of suffering and sorrow, by which Man is purified of all the passions within him and is offered to God clean and whole.

Elder Porphyrios battled throughout his whole life against that evil serpent the devil, who is “like a roaring lion seeking his prey.” (1.Peter 5:8) He also struggled against that other enemy, the old Adam and the world subject to sin. His weapons were vigil, fasting and prayer, through which he was deemed worthy of heavenly gifts.

He was also made a spiritual father by the Metropolitan of Karystia, Panteleimon, at the very young age of twenty-one. Large numbers of people flocked to the monastery of St. Charalambos in Evia, where he was then living. They sought release from their sins, unburdening them upon him. They told him their problems and received answers and solutions to them

K.I.: How were these special characteristics of Elder Porphyrios expressed?

Fr. G.E.: We see in Elder Porphyrios’ life all the characteristics of a saint of the Church. At the same time we can see certain distinct characteristics, which bring to mind the consistent teaching of our Church, that the grace of God overshadows Man, enlightens him and directs him, but it does not overwhelm him. That is to say, each saint of the Church retains the unique characteristics of his personality.

I can attest to the love that Elder Porphyrios had, both towards God and towards people, from my own personal experience. His love towards God was wholehearted. He loved Him with all his being and he truly devoted his whole life to him.

This love of his towards God, a love that had wounded his heart, sprang forth towards his fellow man. I often witnessed this touching love of his. I remember with how much love and affection he understood and sympathized with our problems when we were in difficult situations. He took these problems upon himself, prayed considerably and struggled alongside us to find the solution.

I will never forget some of the typical phone calls that he made during really critical and difficult moments for me. As I already mentioned, he carried out his pastoral work by phone. He would phone me up at the most unusual hours - once it was six in the morning! I hadn’t even told him my trouble, and yet, he would ask me about that particular problem and give me meaningful advice. His words were truly like soothing balm, but at the same time acted as a catalyst for the solution of my particular problem.

Another attribute of Elder Porphyrios was his extreme humility. So, although he had that wisdom which comes from above, he would always say to us, “You have diplomas, you know things. I am illiterate.”

He was both self-abasing and self-reproachful, characteristics of a humble man. Something which we come across in the saints of our Church.

Yet another attribute of Elder Porphyrios, of which one was always aware, was his simplicity. He lived extremely frugally in humble surroundings. He was very simple in his dealings with people. He received everyone and refused no one. This was an attribute of his that truly broke the ice and created just the right atmosphere so that people could get close to him, could confess their sins, could tell him their problems and receive answers to them.

Another of his main attributes was his discernment, which according to the Fathers is “the greatest of all virtues.” Discernment is connected to the principle of individualization. Thus, for Elder Porphyrios, each person as a child of God had absolute worth. He saw each individual as a unique and unrepeatable personality. He confronted each problem of theirs, with its own particular characteristics.

That is why, Elder Porphyrios said different things to different people who may have appeared, at first sight, to have had the same problem. There were different presuppositions in each case, and each person needed different medicine to overcome his problem. It was for this reason that he often said to us “Don’t tell other people what I am now telling you. This is suitable medicine for you, for your situation. Another person, even if his external symptoms are the same, won’t get the same beneficial results. I was often amazed, despite his heavenly wisdom, at the answers of unmarried Elder Porphyrios on matters of marriage, marital relations and childbearing etc. His answers weren’t ‘cliche,’ inflexible, harsh, rigid and ‘objective.’ They were answers full of truth, love, affection and discernment, corresponding to the situation, the need and the receptiveness of each person, at that particular time. Looking to people’s salvation, he didn’t try to put them into a single mold to create identical individuals. As a man full of the Holy Spirit he guided each person according to the will of Christ, giving to “each according to his measure.” (Eph. 4:7) for the welfare of the soul.

At this point I would like to mention an incident which testifies to both the discerning and individual way in which Elder Porphyrios did his pastoral work and the freedom and breadth of his spirit. One day, when he was living at St. Nicholas’, Kallisia, he had gone for a walk in the adjoining forest with one of his spiritual children. In the meantime, a young couple wearing shorts had entered the church to pray. When the Elder returned from the forest he met them just as they were leaving by the metal courtyard door. He greeted them and stood there for a long while, talking lovingly and affectionately with them. I didn’t hear what he said to them, but the respectful way in which they kissed his hand was a persuasive testimony of the impact he had on them with his words and his demeanor.

K.I.: You referred, at some point in our conversation, to the Elder’s gift of discernment. Fr. George, may we have your testimony about this gift of his, which you have naturally already mentioned when talking about certain telephone calls he made?

Fr. G.E.: This gift of his was very apparent. You could see it with the naked eye. Elder Porphyrios always surprised us telling us things even before we had a chance to confess them.

In order to avoid misunderstanding I would like to point out the following. Elder Porphyrios, like all the saints of the Church, was rendered worthy of these gifts by God. Our saints are not illumined in themselves but reflect divine light. God possesses everything and it is God who adorns and favors his elected servants with these gifts. These gifts are revocable and at the same time a cross. The retention of these spiritual gifts requires a life of permanent vigilance and intense spiritual struggle, with lots of trials and temptations. There is always a danger of falling from favor, falling because of arrogance and pride.

Elder Porphyrios never used all those gifts that God gave him to impress people or to draw particular benefits from them. On the contrary, he used them with discrimination and according to the particular circumstances. He only had one end in mind, people’s salvation and the glory of God.

Elder Porphyrios, as a genuine man of God, was an Orthodox Christian, and bore no relationship to the well-known Manichaeism[1] of the materialists, or to dissolute spiritualists. He was a man who lived the truth of the Church. He clearly knew that a human is a psychosomatic being with both spiritual and material needs. He always helped people in this way - neither underestimating one thing nor the other.

This fact has great significance because it is an area where most people have conflict. If many so-called “spiritual” people don’t fall into the trap of materialism, it is because it is visible to the naked eye and easily avoided. Many however fall into the trap of dissolute spiritualism, a kind of Manichaeism, a teaching that has no connection with the teaching of the Church. Therefore, they devalue an individual’s material or bodily needs, resulting in terrifying problems for the entire person.

We know that all people are composed of both body and soul. We know of the mutual influence, that they have on one another and we know that bodily problems affect the soul and vice-versa. Thus, Elder Porphyrios, with characteristic discernment, confronted the entire person and his problems. He devalued no one but gave appropriate advice to everyone.

K.I.: Could you give us, Fr. George, some of the typical examples about him that you describe so well?

Fr. G.E.: Well, he would advise us, for example, where to build our house, in which direction it should face, so that it would have sunlight all day, how to regulate the heating etc. He also advised us on diet and nutrition. Extremely characteristic was the way in which he dealt with people who suffered from various illnesses and sought his help. At first, he would “X-ray” them with his gift of discernment. After making the diagnosis, he would advise them accordingly. To others he would say, “Eh, you’ve got nothing physically wrong, its psychological.” and recommended the spiritual regimen needed to heal the problem. When he diagnosed physical health problems he usually directed that person to the proper doctors. Finally, in the interests of the sufferer, he would make them well, as often as it was necessary, with his gift of healing.

K.I.: As you told us, you had Elder Porphyrios as a spiritual father and guide for many years.

Fr. G.E.: This was really the area in which he shined. Primarily, with his simplicity and with his affability, he created a climate of ease and trust for each person that approached him. This is indispensable for the sacrament of Repentance and Confession.

Here I must mention that many people who found it difficult to confess certain sins to other priests felt at ease in the presence of the Elder and confessed.

Elder Porphyrios listened very carefully to what each person said to him, as he was gifted with pastoral attentiveness. He listened to people carefully first, and spoke afterwards. His words were always few and to the point, based, as we said, on the principle of individualization. Each individual who met the Elder was for him, a unique and unrepeatable personality, of boundless worth.

He confronted the problems that were put to him with particular care, with a feeling of responsibility and plenty of prayer. It was usual to see him silent during confession and you felt that he was praying and seeking enlightenment from God.

It was also quite usual for him not to give quick answers in order to form some more impressions. Sometimes he said to us, “I don’t have any information at the moment, I can’t answer you now.” We would return a second and a third time for the same problem.

He prayed day and night for people and for the solution to their problems. All the people who were honored to have contact with him and to become his spiritual children, acknowledge the fruits of his prayer, which really solved their problems.

The astounding thing was that during our confessions with the late Elder, what he often underlined as the root of the problem was quite irrelevant to the problem. He very often said that the root of our problems was egotism, which he considered to be the basis of all sin and of Man’s various problems.

There are many things which we could say relating to this. What I would like to mention as indicative of this, is some pieces of advice that the Elder gave, and the methods he used to confront various problems that have a general validity and meaning for people.

K.I.: We would very much like to hear about it, Fr. George?

Fr. G.E.: We often spoke to him about our children and the problems they face. He answered us in his characteristic way, “You become saints and your children will turn out well.” That was something that he constantly repeated.

Concerning the subject of raising children he stressed that we should not pressure them; that is to say, that their upbringing should not be oppressive, as that brings the opposite results. This advice was priceless and helped many parents to change their course, and many children who were literally being mistreated by the oppressive good intentions of their parents, calmed down and found their way in life.

Something which when I heard it made a moving impression on me, was regarding the subject of fasting.

It concerns a couple of newlyweds. The husband was used to keeping the fasts. The wife on the other hand, didn’t keep the fasts, as that was the way she was brought up. She didn’t object to fasting, it’s just that she wasn’t used to it.

When they put their problem to Elder Porphyrios he advised the husband as follows, “You shall fast as you always have, but you won’t talk about fasting to your wife. During times of fasting you’ll always keep your refrigerator full of food. Let your wife eat; you can keep your fasts.”

Truly the time came, as the couple themselves later admitted, that through following the advice of the Elder, the wife also started to fast. It seems she was a well-intentioned woman and wanted to agree and go along with her husband on the issue of fasting.

He often mentioned and advised people about so called “compulsion”: the psychological condition where a person compels himself to do different things which he does not believe in and that do not represent him. This is a strange condition, a great inner muddle, which makes a person find himself disturbed inside and in terrible disarray.

Elder Porphyrios helped those people who had this problem to admit it. He then told them how to overcome it, by dedication to God, prayer, and life according to God’s will.

There is something else that I would like to say, because it has great importance and concerns everyone, especially Christians. It is the subject of confronting naughty thoughts.

We all know about the war the devil makes on us through our thoughts. Personally, I know from my own experience as a spiritual father, which God has made me worthy to become, how many people are confused and really troubled at this point.

When we asked Elder Porphyrios about this problem, he said, “You’re continuing along your way. When the devil comes along and tugs at your shirt sleeve to put you off course, don’t turn around to start a conversation or dispute with him. You continue on your way. He’ll tug at your shirt sleeve, but you continue on your way and somewhere he’ll get fed up and he’ll leave you alone.” Although, “time would fail me” (Heb. 11:32), I wish to refer to something which has to do with teachers. It concerns advice the Elder gave to a high-school teacher who had just been appointed and was about to take up her position. He told her, “When you’re on your way to school say the prayer ‘Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me.’ When you go into the classroom feel as if you’re entering a church. Face the children with love and firmness. They’ll feel your love and understand your strictness. And if a particular child presents certain problems and creates unpleasant situations, give his name to the priest to remember him during the proskomide.”

Κ.Ι.: You know so many things about Elder Porphyrios, Fr. George. What a blessing it is for us to have you tell us them!

Fr. G.E.: I tried to the best of my ability to describe this great figure who truly was a gift from God to the twentieth-century, an exceptional blessing.

The Elder had received in the eyes of the world very little education. However he was truly the wise man, who has wisdom from on high. Correspondingly he had a natural love of learning; that’s why he always read knowledgeably. He asked for and read books on all subjects, apart from theology, which he naturally studied. He read medical books, books on physics, astronomy, etc..

He spoke with scientists and academics. With each one he spoke at a high level about the specific areas of their subject. I will mention just two incidents and then end my talk.

The first incident concerns an astronomy professor of international fame, who visited the Elder and discussed subjects of astronomy with him. This professor told me, “The thing that made an impression on me during my discussions with Elder Porphyrios, was that he really knew what he was talking about. He never, but never, made a mistake.”

I was present at the second incident. We were with a surgeon, a director of a large hospital in Athens, and Elder Porphyrios started to describe to him how a particular operation is done. The surgeon, amazed at what the Elder said, simply agreed with him.

K.I.: We thank you warmly Fr. George, for all of the testimony you have given us. It has helped us visualize yet another side of divine reality, as expressed by Elder Porphyrios.

[1]  Religious system, originally of the third to fifth centuries AD. Dualist theory that there are two principles governing the World, Good and Evil. Thus, representing Satan as in everlasting conflict with God.

Archimandrite Daniel Gouvalis

Theologian, writer.

Fr. Daniel, you had God’s great blessing to have known Elder Porphyrios very well for many years. I would like to ask you first to give us an outline of his personality, and then we shall see manifestations of God’s grace within his person.

Fr. D.G.: Elder Porphyrios was a gift from God towards the Church. He sent us great light within the darkness in which we live, through Elder Porphyrios. We thank the Lord for giving us such a great gift in our times, indeed, keeping him in life for eighty-six whole years.

You felt comfortable next to Elder Porphyrios. He pressured no-one. He wanted whoever came to him to do it out of their own free will. He always told confessors that when we as spiritual fathers guide the life-journey of those who confess to us, we must always respect their freedom. He always stressed that Christianity is freedom.

He often referred to the event according to which Christ once said something that scandalized many people. The result was they all started to leave until only the disciples remained. In which case the Lord told them that if they too would like to leave, they were free to do so. He quoted the Gospel of St. John, word for word, “From that time many of his disciples went back and walked with Him no more. Then Jesus said to the twelve, ‘Do you also want to go away?’” (Jn. 6:66-7)

Elder Porphyrios had a highly cultivated ecclesiastical awareness. He respected Church people and the Church hierarchy. He said “If I fall out with the bishop, if the bishop is angry with me, my prayer won’t rise up to heaven.”

He loved hymnography very much. He studied and paid attention to the Canons for the great feasts, both of the Master and of the Mother of God. He carefully studied the meaning of each and every word of the Canon.

He frequently liked to talk about love. He said, characteristically, that hate soils the soul. He also said that when our brother has a problem we should gather many of us together and say a common prayer about it.

He constantly spoke about love towards Christ. “When we love Christ” he said, “our soul is freed from fear.” He frequently used the words of St. John the Divine “Love casts out fear.”

Elder Porphyrios never allowed himself to be occupied with negative things; he wanted everything to be bright and positive. He typically told us, “You find yourself in a dark room and you wave your arms, trying, in that way, to drive away the darkness. The darkness doesn’t leave like that though. Open the window so that the light can come in, and the darkness will leave by itself. The light will drive away the darkness. We should study Holy Scripture, the lives of the saints, the Fathers; that’s the light that’ll drive away the darkness.” He used the image very often.

K.I.: Is there something Fr. Daniel that has moved you particularly?

Fr. D.G.: One day, during the German Occupation, Elder Porphyrios was walking towards the vicinity of Lykavittos. As he was walking along he came across an unpleasant scene. A German soldier had intentionally driven a young girl into a corner, by the basement of some house, and wanted to dishonor her. She looked like a little bird that had fallen into the claws of a hawk. You could see the horror etched on her face. She let off some weak cries of struggle and pain from her mouth. The German tried to calm her down with sweet words.

The whole neighborhood had heard the commotion, and were now looking out of their windows and doorways to see what would happen. They saw a priest walking towards the scene.

When Elder Porphyrios found himself facing this scene he felt great internal anguish. He had to find a way of saving the girl. Ignoring the danger he was in from the brutal German, the Elder directed his footsteps towards him. He prayed silently and intensely for divine strength to manifest itself. As soon as he got close enough he raised his hands up high. It looked like he was either appealing to the German or that he was asking God to show His mercy.

The sight of a priest with his hands raised high, the bright countenance of his face, and what’s more the divine strength that he had hidden within him, worked its miracle.

The German softened abandoned his intentions and let the girl free. As Fr. Porphyrios continued on his way the people who had followed events from their houses demonstrated their applause for him. They cheered as much as they could for as long as they could in those difficult times.

K.I.: What do you have to tell us about his gifts of discernment and foresight?

Fr. D.G.: Both of these gifts of his would always leave us speechless. There are countless incidences. We’ll talk about just a few examples.

At the time when Elder Porphyrios was at the Polyclinic, he asked someone, who had gone there for confession, where he came from. He told him he was from a village in Eleia[1]. He then asked him if he had a house out in the fields. When the man said yes, Elder Porphyrios told him that a river flowed underneath the property, where that house could be found. The man was lost for words, he never suspected anything of the like.

Many years afterwards a foreign company went to that area with the aim of drilling to find oil. When the drilling had reached four hundred meters deep, a huge river of water shot up. If they hadn’t caught it in time, the whole area would have been flooded.

K.I.: So much.

Fr. D.G.: Yes.

I’ ll also tell you this story. A student who did his military service at a base near here where I live, asked me to take him to see the Elder.

As soon as we got there the Elder asked him where he came from. The student replied that he came from a village in the Western Peloponnesus. Then the Elder said to him “What strong winds blow in those mountains by your village!” And the student said “Do you know what the villagers call those mountains? They call them the Wind Mountains.”

K.I.: That’s wonderful.

Fr. D.G.: Once I went to his cell. It was the 19th of October, late in the afternoon, I interrupted him without wanting to, because at that hour he could be “found” in Cephallonia, at vespers for the feast of St. Gerasimos. He saw, as he told me, the priests, the bishops, countless people and heard the chanting. He described to me in exact detail what was taking place at that hour at St. Gerasimos on Cephallonia.

Once he telephoned Brussels where a spiritual child was serving in the navy there on a NATO submarine. He told him that there was a shoal-reef there where the submarine was circulating under the sea, and that they ought to be careful. The officer checked the spot that the Elder had pointed out, located the reef, and gave orders for the submarine to avoid that spot.

Κ.Ι.: The gifts of Elder Porphyrios are really so many and so surprising that one doesn’t know what to mention first and which are the most wonderful!

Fr. D.G.: On the 15th July 1974 he was traveling with some spiritual children of his to Macedonia, Northern Greece. On the car radio they heard that a coup d’etat had taken place in Cyprus and that Archbishop Makarios had been murdered. He turned around and said to his spiritual children “That is a mistake. Archbishop Makarios has not been murdered.” And in truth, with the next newscast they learnt that Archbishop Makarios was still alive.

K.I.: That’s astonishing.

Fr. D.G.: The incidents that demonstrate his gifts of foresight and discernment could fill whole volumes, alone.

When I first met him on Mt. Athos he told me that in my village of Panourgia in the Phokhidos Parnassian mountains near Amfissa there are some caves where people lived during the Turkish Occupation. He also told me that in my village there are three country churches. He saw my village in its past, present, and future phases, because when he spoke to me there were only two churches; today there are three. On the other hand, he saw that in the past, during the the Turkish Occupation, men-of-arms and klephtes[2] had lived in the caves near my village.

He often happened to tell me something which at the time appeared puzzling and I couldn’t understand it or interpret it. One day, as we were walking, he said, “Many People will listen to you.” I thought that we would have some kind of festival, we would put up some loudspeakers, and lots of people would hear me. When, however, years later, two church radio stations went on the air with a large audience, only then, having taken on some of the programs, did I understand what the Elder meant.

Personally, I had the feeling that I had a prophet before me, like the prophets in the Old Testament, and that he had the Holy Spirit within him.

Whatever he heard, whatever was said to him, he was always completely calm. Just like the calmness of St. Anthony.

When people who were facing difficult problems came to me, I took them to the Elder and he gave them perfect advice. His advice was always faultless and perfect. I’ll give you one such example.

A gentleman once visited us who came from a village in Corinth. He had a large property and was in a dilemma as to whether to plant olive trees or lemon trees. He didn’t know which was best and he couldn’t arrive at a decision. We took him to the Elder; note that this took place at the end of the 1970’s.

The Elder told him about the needs the countries of the EEC would have regarding such produce in the future: that a method would be found for the quick harvesting of olives and so there would be an overproduction of olives. He advised him to plant lemon trees; lemons would always be in demand in those countries and in the countries of the north. That, as events proved, is what actually happened.

K.I.: The impressive thing is that Elder Porphyrios was interested in everything, in all kind of problems that concerned people.

Fr. D.G.: Very true.

K.I.: How did he himself deal with those gifts of his?

Fr. D.G.: First, we must mention that he acquired his gift of discernment at Kavsokalyvia when he was only seventeen years old. It is a surprising case because these gifts as a rule are only acquired after many decades of ascetic practice.

Elder Porphyrios, speaking about the gifts that God had given him, said that for the Church to function, God gives different gifts to some people at times for the good of the Church. He felt that his gifts were an ecclesiastical function.

He kept these gifts until the end of his life. Others have also at times been given various gifts. Afterwards however, they were found unworthy and deprived of them.

Figures like Elder Porphyrios appear within the Church once every hundred or two hundred years. The things that we read about in the lives of the saints that amaze us, happened next to us because the Elder was a living saint. And now we’re informed about miracles that he performed after death.

K.I.: Fr. Daniel, from what I know, you have many direct experiences of Elder Porphyrios’ healing gift. Could you give us a few indicative examples?

Fr. D.G.: Personally, I knew different people that had cancer and were cured after a prayer and blessing from the Elder.

One high-school teacher had a breast tumor and was scheduled for surgery. She went to the Elder, who blessed her, and the tumor disappeared without needing an operation.

One other young girl in the Athenian district of St. Paraskevi had decided to commit suicide because she was severely reprimanded at home. She had bought some strong weed-killer and was going to drink it. Suddenly, Elder Porphyrios appeared before her, took the weed-killer from her hands, and said to her, “Don’t be afraid. Everything will be all right. You’ll marry, you’ll have children and you’ll be fine.” That’s just what happened.

Κ.Ι.: “Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God”

Fr. D.G.: Occasionally the Elder used to visit stores where business was not going too well. He gave a blessing and customers started to arrive immediately, one after the other, and indeed, to shop for things in bulk.

K.I.: What did he say about politics?

Fr. D.G.: I’ll tell you this one characteristic thing, as we shouldn’t get into details. He said, “When a country is in a lot of sin, then its political life, instead of being straightforward, will be crooked.”

K.I.: Elder Porphyrios, from what I understand, had a concern for married couples, Fr. Daniel?

Fr. D.G.: Very much so. He helped countless couples whose problems were so great that their marriages had started to dissolve. He helped them with his gifts and he restored their relationship.

I remember one moving incident when he was traveling in a taxi. He had the following conversation with the driver:

“Do you have a wife?”

“Yes, I do.”

“How many years have you lived apart?”

“Five.”

The conversation continued and the ending was a happy one. The taxi-driver was so impressed with what this unknown priest had said to him that he immediately went and found his wife and re-established their marriage.

With his gifts the Elder knew what each situation required. For example, he said to one married lady, “When your husband finds himself in a difficult situation, do not say a word. Pray and ask others to pray. Because otherwise you’ll make things unpleasant for him. He won’t find warmth and happiness near you, and he’ll start looking around.” He would, each time make recommendations according to the situation which contributed to the peace of that particular family.

He talked about “mixed-up” children; children who have psychological problems because their parents have a bad relationship with one another so there isn’t a good atmosphere in the home.

He talked about “mixed-up” children of “mixed-up” parents. Indeed, it happened that I myself took some of these parents of children with problems to see the Elder. He said that these children already had problems, this “mix-up”, from the womb. When the child’s mother was pregnant she didn’t try to put her life in order, to be calm, peaceful, to pray and to partake of the Sacraments of the Church.

I remember that he once advised a mother of five children to stay away from her house for a month. Her behavior was such that her children would fight amongst themselves every day. They couldn’t reason with their mother so they would take their anger out on one another.

Because of his great discernment he would treat each situation accordingly. He didn’t deal with people uniformly; the Elder knew what advice each person could bear. Ten people could ask him about the same matter, and he would give them ten different answers. This is called pastoral individualization.

K.I.: He carried out his pastoral work with discernment because he had exactly that manner about him.

Fr. D.G.: Elder Porphyrios used the word “mixed-up” which I mentioned earlier, a lot, when he wanted to say that someone had internal[3] problems. Indeed, he used that word when the subject of heresies was brought up. He said that all the “mixed-up” people join heresies.

K.I.: How did he deal with peoples external appearance, the way they dressed?

Fr. D.G.: Elder Porphyrios didn’t concern himself with people’s external appearances. This was confirmed by all the people who went to see him without, let us say, the proper attire. He would look to the deeper cause within the soul. He knew that if man is sorted out on the inside then the outside will sort itself out automatically.

K.I.: What other features of his personality would you like to tell us about Fr. Daniel?

Fr. D.G.: Something fundamental, that characterized Elder Porphyrios is that whatever passed through his hands he wanted it to be perfect. Just to give you one example - when he was about to build the convent at Milessi. He was concerned about the passage of the sun, so that in winter those who lived there would not have sunless rooms. He also looked into the matter of dampness, wind direction etc., so that everything would be perfect. He wanted, as much as possible, completeness and perfection.

He spoke about the work of St. Gregory of Nyssa, “Whatever St. Gregory has written is very well constructed; his words, his concepts, his paragraphs.” He added, “Just like a builder who puts down strong foundations, he lays the bricks evenly, he builds the ground floor first and then goes on to the second floor. St. Gregory of Nyssa, having taken care of those things that belong to the first paragraph, then goes on to the second paragraph and then the following one.”

K.I.: Personally, I have a passion for studying the works of that great Father of our Church, who, in the words of that distinguished poet of Byzantium, George Pisidis, was the “the most mystical.”

Fr. D.G.: Elder Porphyrios advised me to study St. Gregory of Nyssa’s works a great deal.

K.I.: Your words have filled me with enthusiasm Fr. Daniel.

Fr. D.G.: Something especially impressive about Elder Porphyrios was that he admired and exploited technological inventions. He was amazed by the fact that God had given Man the ability to make such discoveries, and he advised his spiritual children to make use of technology. “Should it be allowed,” he asked “for God to help Man make so many discoveries, then for the devil to use them and us Christians not to use them?”

K.I.: That’s very good.

Fr. D.G.: He made use of the telephone a lot. He spoke to his spiritual children and others by phone on a twenty-four hour basis. Not only in Greece, but also abroad, on all the continents. He helped untold numbers of people through the telephone.

K.I.: The telephone, in the hands of Elder Porphyrios, really was a gift for all those who needed it.

Fr. D.G.: He loved the Church radio. He said that through it the wish and prophecy of St. John Chrysostomos was fulfilled, “I will rise up high to speak about Christ and all the world will hear me.”

K.I.: Truth will be shouted from the rooftops.

Fr. D.G: Elder Porphyrios was very hard-working. He loved hard work and always spoke out against indolence. He characteristically said, “He can’t even pick his feet up off the ground, and he comes to me for advice on how to be lifted to the heights of spiritual life.” He always stressed that when we pray we ought to also pray with our body making full prostration[4].

Studying both the Old and the New Testament we see that each time the Lord called a prophet or an apostle, he called them while they were working. One was called while he was shepherding sheep, another while plowing, another while threshing, yet another while mending nets etc.

He wanted people to be busy, to be constantly using all the limbs of their body, not to be idle. He would in no way accept indolence and laziness.

K.I.: We would like you to tell us, Fr. Daniel, about the Elder as priest?

Fr. D.G.: He liked his work at the Polyclinic. He comforted the sick. He heard their confessions. He gave them communion. He did serve as a consoling, guardian angel.

The liturgical life of the St. Gerasimos’ Church also developed beautifully. The church had a choir, and the voice of the priest had to correspond with the singing of the choir and to avoid being musically offensive. This is why he went to a school of music where he made notable progress. He completed a course of studies. He also learnt to play the piano. However, as a musical instrument, he loved the organ the most.

Later, the place of the choir was taken in the church by the official cantor, Spyridon Peristeris, who was destined to become the chief cantor in Athens as First Cantor[5] at the Metropolitan Church. Their harmony was excellent. If on occasion somebody at the lectern[6] made a mistake, or said something irregular, the Elder didn’t speak and didn’t ruin the atmosphere of the Divine Liturgy. Once when a visiting priest took his place a great confusion was created. He started to say to the cantors “Not that apolytikion[7], the other one. Look for the other one.” They looked for it and couldn’t find it. What a commotion! This unfortunate incident made that the cantor and his helpers appreciate the politeness and tact of Elder Porphyrios.

The Alevizatos brothers were university professors. There were many university people in their circle. All of them went to church at St. Gerasimos’. Professors from the Theological School also went there, like that great religious expert Leonidas Philippides, who revered the Elder immensely. A whole University congregated in the church of St. Gerasimos. The Liturgy was truly uplifting. The Elder delivered the Gospel reading with special grace and life. Indeed, during Holy Week, at the Service of the Passion, the reading of the Twelve Gospels had that special something that remains unparalleled. Fr. Porphyrios, with the grace that he had, saw Christ suffering and was shaken. Filled with emotion, his voice would often break and he had difficulty in continuing the reading. Once he couldn’t bear anymore, and he stopped reading. Then he wiped his face that was washed in tears, sought forgiveness from the congregation and making a great effort, he continued. It is needless to say what moving emotions were conveyed to the Christians present. It was like they found themselves at Gethsemane, at the Praetorium, at Golgotha, they followed the divine drama with bated breath. One certain time, he had a priest of his own with him at the Service of the Passion. He was a spiritual child of his and he had told him to be ready. If he was forced to stop reading the Gospel, then the other priest should take over.

When the time came for St. John Chrysostom’s Catechetical Homily, during the Paschal Liturgy, unprecedented emotion and pious enthusiasm were created.

He recited the text from memory, slowly, solemnly, and most beautifully. He loved all of St. John Chrysostom’s sermons, but he especially loved this one. He said it quietly, elegantly, little by little, without holding a book, holding only the paschal candle. The height of this grandeur was when he said, “Hades was embittered when below he met You face to face. He was embittered, for he was set at naught...” and the people repeated, “He was embittered.” Unrepeatable spiritual emotions.

He adored every Church prayer, every reading from a sacred text. They had to be said in the most suitable way. Throughout his life he helped countless priests, monks, cantors and lectors to chant and to read in the best possible way, in a way worthy of God.

K.I.: One could talk with you, Fr. Daniel, for hours on end about Elder Porphyrios. Unfortunately, a radio program, as you well know, has its time limit. Of the great number of stories and examples that you didn’t manage to tell us, which one would you like to end with?

Fr. D.G: At the end of his life, he asked me to bring him Holy Communion after the Divine Liturgy. During the time when he was preparing to receive the divine gifts a heavenly state prevailed; such was his love and his longing for the Immaculate Mysteries. Once he spoke to me about the aroma of Holy Communion; I understood it to mean that he sensed a fragrance in the Holy Communion.

He always urged Christians to participate actively in the sacraments of the Church.

He said that with the sacrament of Confession, whatever has fallen down is raised up again. He told us the moving story of a monk who had gone to the Holy Mountain in his youth. He had so many gifts that he felt like he lived in Paradise. One day he was disobedient to his elder. All that gracious state left him. When his elder returned, he heard his confession and read the prayer of forgiveness. The gracious state that he had lost returned to him immediately.

Elder Porphyrios always stressed that when we are within the Church, when we participate in the sacraments of the Church, then we are in Paradise. Also, as much as we participate in the sacraments, we are that much more in eternal life. That is why he always reminded us of the Lord’s saying, “He who believes in the Son has life eternal.”

K.I.: What did he say about our departed brethren who can now be found in the Church Triumphant?

Fr. D.G.: He said that we are all one and we should pray as much for the living as we do for the departed. He stressed that we shouldn’t say, “Lord Jesus Christ have mercy on so-and-so” or “have mercy on us.” but that we should say “Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy upon me.” As he explained, since the Christ’s Church is one body, within the “have mercy on me” are included all the living and the dead. And if prayer is not extended to all people, then it is not ecclesial.

He told us that whenever he went to holy places, to Mount Sinai, to the Cave of the Apocalypse on the isle of Patmos or to Jerusalem he had indescribable life experiences. He always stressed the sanctity of the places, that the places can sanctify, that they are saturated with God’s grace.

He characteristically told us that when he struggled at a certain place in order to reach a certain spiritual state through prayer, he needed a quarter to a half of an hour of struggle. But when this happened at a sanctified place things were different. “I enter, for example, a holy cave,” he said, “like the caves of St. Niphon or St. Neilos on the Holy Mountain, or the Cave of the Apocalypse, and I don’t even begin to pray and immediately that sanctified place lifts me up.”

He said again and again that, “God is everything” and he stressed that without praying to God nothing is accomplished. “Prayer,” he said “is the mother of all good things, provided that it is always done with humility, without any egotism, and with love towards Christ.”

K.I.: We thank you very much, Fr., Daniel, for all the manna from heaven, that you’ve had the goodness to share with us.

Fr. D.G.: May we have the blessing of Elder Porphyrios and let us give thanks to God, Who sent us such a gift in the twentieth century.

[1]   W. Peloponnesus.

[2]  Freedom fighters.

[3]  Not bodily, but psychological, emotional, spiritual problems.

[4]   In Greek, gonyklisies - literally, genuflections or “knee-benders”.

[5]  Protopsaltis.

[6]  Analogion -music-stand.

[7]  Short hymn of the feast or the saint of the day, sung before the dismissal.

Archimandrite Ioannikios Kotsonis

Theologian, writer.

The gifts that the Holy Spirit gave to Elder Porphyrios and through him to contemporary Hellenism and Orthodoxy worldwide were limitless. And you Fr. Ioannikios, a monk of Mt. Athos, are included amongst those who had the blessing to get to know Elder Porphyrios.

Fr.I.: Elder Porphyrios was a contemporary starets of Greek Orthodoxy. He was a charismatic figure. He had received the gifts of the Holy Spirit very early on in his life.

As he himself told me the two factors that helped him very much in his life and that gave him spiritual grace, were firstly, to use his words, “the cheerful obedience which I gave to my Elders.”

K.I.: That’s a wonderful characterization of obedience, “cheerful obedience.”

Fr.I.: Yes, that’s what he himself told me and he went on to explain, “For example, they said to me, ‘Nikita’ (for that was my name as a monk at Kavsokalyvia, Mt. Athos) ‘run down to the pier and fetch that sack of flour’. And even before my Elder had finished giving me the order I had already started to run towards the pier, to load up the sack, and, with cheerful obedience, to return.”

This cheerful obedience of his was the first factor. The other factor was his unceasing noetic prayer, “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me.” He practiced the noetic prayer constantly and unceasingly.

He left the Holy Mountain because of illness with the blessing of his Elders, and he followed the well-known course, until in the end, for peace and quiet, he went to Milessi, Malakasa, where he built his well-known convent. Once when I visited him there he said to me, “I’m amazed and astonished at why all these people come to me. I don’t believe that I say anything outstanding. I just tell them whatever God enlightens me to say at that moment.

These words alone are enough to prove what great humility Elder Porphyrios had. He didn’t have the feeling that he was anything outstanding. That’s why he wrote in his final letter, “The world, however, received me well, and everyone shouts that I’m a saint. I, however, feel that I am the most sinful person in the world.”

The element of humility is, as you know, the true criterion of a really holy man.

K.I.: With regard to his gifts of discernment and foresight, which experience would you like to tell us about, Fr. Ioannikios?

Fr.I.: I’ll tell you one of those ones which I remember.

I hadn’t seen him for years. I had gone to Macedonia[1], where God made me worthy, the poor and needy person that I am, to lay the foundations of the Holy Convent[2] of St. Gregory Palamas which was built afterwards.

K.I.: At Koufalia, Thessaloniki, where you are spiritual father to the brotherhood of St. Gregory Palamas.

Fr.I.: Exactly.

I went to receive his blessing, to find for my troubled mind a little peace, consolation and hope, which Elder Porphyrios always gave to those who visited him. Primarily he had the great gift of love which he manifested by consoling all those people. Elder Porphyrios was, we could say, a comforter.

K.I.: That’s very good, what you said, “a comforter.”

Fr.I.: When I had received his blessing and we talked a little, suddenly he looked up at me and said, smiling, “Tell me, outside the monastery you’re building, what have you put out front there, before we enter the monastery?”

“What have I put there, Elder?” I asked.

“I see..., I see...,” he replied.

“What do you see, Elder?”

“I see a large cross.”

We really had placed a large wooden cross in that spot. I was astonished by the grace he had. I took his hand and kissed it with respect, but also with joy, because I found myself next to a grace-filled Elder and because even in our times the Church gives birth to people with such grace and so many gifts of the Holy Spirit.

He had the gift of being able to see far away, for distances of kilometers, places that he had never been to and had never read about. He could see geographic length, width and depth, where he even discovered the existence or nonexistence of underground water beds. At the same time he had the gift of Holy Spirit to penetrate and reveal, with wonderful ease, the depths of people’s souls, and to discover their hidden secrets. For us this was something supernatural, for him it was natural, like he was seeing things with his Physical eyes. Fr. Porphyrios was an eye of the spirit.

ΚΙ.: Which beneficial words of Elder Porphyrios do you most remember?

Fr.I.: He said that we should love Christ as much as we could. “Whoever loves Christ,” he said, “avoids sin.” He stressed the importance of love for God very much.

And rightly so, because, as you know, someone can live carefully and with virtue in order to avoid hell. That is the first category of people. In the second category are the people who try not to sin in order to get their reward from God, to enter Paradise. The third and highest category, as Elder Porphyrios taught, is this: for a person to live with virtue, because he loves God, because he doesn’t want to grieve the Lord, Who “first loved us.” This love creates a heavenly state within the soul and is the beginning of paradise.

Elder Porphyrios also stressed that, he had been greatly helped by study and diligence, that stillness - according to the expression, “Be still and know that I am the Lord God.”- generally found in the hymnography of our Church. He very much loved the hymns of our Church. He also liked to read, recite and sing them.

The hymns, the spiritual treasure of Orthodoxy, give a commentary, in the best possible way, of the Holy Scriptures, our Orthodox Tradition, the Patristic texts, the doctrines of the Church and the whole of Theology.

I believe that Elder Porphyrios had within himself and expressed a mystical theology which is predominantly found in St. Maximos the Confessor and in St. Isaac the Syrian.

K.I.: Could you tell us something else, Fr. Ioannikios. something related to the stance of Elder Porphyrios towards some particular problem, out of all the problems that torment people?

Fr.I.: I will tell you one particular story, which shows the grandeur of Elder Porphyrios’ soul.

Many, many years ago, on the eve of Theophany[3], he went according to custom to bless houses with holy water. As he was entering the houses, one after the other, he entered, without realizing it, a house of ill-repute. At the moment when he began to chant “O Lord, save Thy people ...” and to bless, the manageress said to him, “Don’t, don’t, it’s not right for them to kiss the cross.” Then, Elder Porphyrios replied, “I don’t know whether it’s not right for them or for you to kiss the cross.”

Those women kissed the cross and Elder Porphyrios spoke with them a little. He told them about love towards God, that was his favorite subject.

Seeing the saintly figure of Elder Porphyrios, these women changed inside. Especially when he told them, “Love Christ Who loves you and you’ll see how happy you’ll be. If only you knew how much Christ loves you. Make an effort to love Him, too.”

Elder Porphyrios knew that if those women got to know Christ and to love Him, because knowing leads to loving, then they would abandon the miserable profession that they practiced.

The following addition was sent to us by Fr. Ioannikios Kotsonis, for the second edition. We thank him.

I remember that whenever the holy Elder spoke about the Skete of Kavsokalyvia on the Holy Mountain, he typically felt a sense of joy, a sense of comfort and of spiritual pleasure. It was a subject which he held dear. The tranquil location, the struggling fathers of his day, the huts, the caves of the saints, the main Church, the Divine Services, asceticism, nature, nostalgic memories of his adolescence (he entered the Monastic Commonwealth at a very young age). All this and much, much more, both indescribable and inexpressible of the hidden life in Christ and of his mystical ascent, had created for the Elder a Paradise before Paradise. And justly so, since it was from thence that his holiness sprung forth, from thence his asceticism and obedience, from thence his holy humility (as they said), from thence noetic prayer and uncreated energy, from thence his discernment and gifts, from thence the basis of his future direction.

He told me many times about a supernatural event that amazes, which happened when he was at Kavsokalyvia, a short time before he left the Holy Mountain for good. One time Fr. Ioannikios, the old man and spiritual brother of Fr. Porphyrios, sent him to collect snails. This lenten food of the ascetics is usually found on craggy rocks and in ravines. Elder Porphyrios, then only a young monk, filled his haversack with snails in order to please his elder. In doing this he clambered up a dangerously inaccessible rocky slope. On his way back he passed through a gorge filled with stones, which started to roll down and to sweep him away.

He cried out, “My sweet Panagia!” and he told us, “Without realizing what was happening at that moment, in the wink of an eye, a power took hold of me and transported me on to a rock at the other side of the ravine. From here, when I had recovered, I took the path with led back to the Skete.”

He caught a cold from this incident and became seriously ill. Then with the blessing of his elders he went to his village and then to Athens.

When Fr. Porphyrios speaks to us about Man, about God, about the world, about love, about prayer, about the whole of Creation, he spoke with theological criteria (being a graduate of... the second grade of Elementary School!). He really had the gift of Theology that flows from the Living Spring of the Holy Spirit. And, indeed, of mystical Theology, which blossoms from philosophy according to Christ. He was a mystical theologian without worldly education. He only had the education of asceticism, of quietness, and of noetic effort. He said, “May we all enter the earthly uncreated Church, because if we don’t enter it, then we will not enter heaven.” “We can unite, if we live a mystical life...” “Divine grace comes richly, but gently like a ‘murmur’,” as the Old Testament says. “Become saints...”

I once spoke to the Elder about certain difficulties, anomalies and disharmony that had appeared in the relations between the nuns, caused by the passion of jealousy. The Elder told me that this passion was one of the greatest; in women it is so strong that it is only uprooted with great difficulty. Love must prevail, so that great evil, jealousy, will flee.

All these and many other stories (that I don’t remember, as we didn’t have the foresight to write them down) demonstrate the mystical life and the mystical vision so keenly disposed of by that holy abba.

[1]  Northern Greece.

[2]  Ἱερὸ Ἡσυχαστήριο.

[3]   The Feast of Theophany, celebrating amongst other things Christ’s baptism in the Jordan, falls on the 6th of January.

Monk Moses

of the Holy Skete of St. Panteleimon, of Mt. Athos, writer.

Fr. Moses, as one can ascertain from reading your books, the question of suffering is a subject that has occupied you a great deal, and you have seriously thought about this important topic?

Elder Porphyrios, whom you knew, was a man who suffered much and loved much.

Br. M.: I thank you for giving me this opportunity to speak about an Elder, truly, of suffering and love. I also thank you for putting it like that, because we sometimes talk about some wonderful events in the life of some virtuous figure and we’re either impressed or we’re filled with enthusiasm or even with ecstasy. We forget that in order to get there they had a long, humble, and determined ascetic struggle.

This asceticism is certainly not an aim in itself but it’s a means of achieving the end, which is holiness, theosis, participation of man, by grace, in God. So that this poor little person can become like iron that falls into the fire and itself becomes fire.

As the patristic texts tell us, you must give blood to receive spirit. Spiritual life is not salon-talk, a philosophical conversation about God without having felt God. In order for us to become free and to attain God’s blessing as his children in the grace and joy of His beloved, a long and determined struggle of obedience within the Church is needed.

Fr. Porphyrios really was a man of virtue. With great modesty and thrift we must talk about the events that adorn his life without exaggeration, without falsification, but with a sense of responsibility and sobriety, citing those things we know well.

We first need to realize that saints live in our century, that saints are next to us, that holiness is attainable and is accomplished after a discreet, humble and ascetic struggle.

Fr. Porphyrios reached a high level of virtue. He reached it because he maintained great purity in his life. He reached it because he was very humble. He reached it because he was very obedient. He lived with demanding elders at Kavsokalyvia on the Holy Mountain. Until serious illness separated him from his dear Holy Mountain and brought him near the world, to become a healer of people, not only from their spiritual sickness and sin (because he was a good spiritual father) but also from their bodily ailments.

He had a lot of love that first flowed from his love towards God. Christian love always has two natures: you can’t love Man, if you don’t love God and you can’t love God without loving Man.

Thus, Elder Porphyrios, especially towards the end of his life, was devoted completely to people. They came to him in tens and hundreds to be comforted by his advice and by his gift of foresight which God gives to the pure and worthy. It is a gift of God, which He gives to the humble and to those who know how to guard it well. God doesn’t grant this gift to the unworthy, for then it will become a murder weapon.

Fr. Elder shows us in the strongest way that holiness exists in our century. If the world lacks saints, then the world lacks meaning. The saints uphold the world and the world’s greatest need is holiness. We are sustained by holiness, we are sustained by saints. Do you see what power and what wealth a holy person like Elder Porphyrios constitutes for the Church and for the world?

I’ll say something about my meetings with Elder Porphyrios.

Κ.Ι.: We’ll listen to whatever you have to tell us about Elder Porphyrios with great pleasure. I am really moved, Fr. Moses, by what you’ve told us about Elder Porphyrios.

Br.M.: My encounters with Elder Porphyrios left me with those things that I’ve just mentioned.

Once, when I was unwell, I went to visit him and to receive his blessing. He told me exactly what I was suffering from, even though the doctors for many years had great difficulty in making a definite diagnosis. When, having returned from the doctors, I visited Elder Porphyrios again, he said to me, “The gift, my child, is not my own, it’s God’s. I say that which God says to me, and not what my mind, my imagination, my opinion, or my other capabilities say.”

Afterwards he told about the following incident, “Many days ago a university professor visited me and complained about some problem that he had. I said to him, ‘Professor, those problems are from your mother’s womb.’ The professor started to cry. I said to him,

‘You, a university professor, crying?’

‘You’re right, Elder,’ he replied ‘but those words of yours have a deep meaning for me. My mother told me that when I was in her womb, my father kicked her there so that she would miscarry.’” Then Elder Porphyrios added, “Was I, my child, in the womb of the mother of that professor? God enlightened me to say that which I say.”

There are so many things to say about Elder Porphyrios that we could talk for hours on end.

I would like to reiterate that Fr. Porphyrios was a humble man. His humility was so great that when he foresaw his end he removed himself from the world so that he wouldn’t be honored upon his death, returning to the place where he started his spiritual struggle at the Skete of Kavsokalyvia. This is one more proof of his richness of heart, which attracted God’s grace and gave him rich blessings.

God’s grace is necessary but our own personal struggle is also necessary. We need to take one step and God will then take ten steps. We need to work, but not to believe in our own good works, for as St. Mark the Ascetic also says. Man is not justified by his works.

Co-operation[1] is needed; Man’s co-operation with God. We need to make our desire known and God will give Himself completely to us. He will give us everything, since we follow him kindly and faithfully.

K.I.: “Therefore as we have opportunity, let us do good to all, especially to those who are of the household of the faith.”[2]

[1]  Synergy.

[2]  Gal. 6:10.

Monk Nicodemus Bilalis

brother of the Holy Monastery Pantocrator resident at the Holy Skete of Kapsalas, Mt. Athos Theologian, philologist.

Fr. Nicodemus, as I was told by our mutual friend Mr. Panagiotis Sotirchos, you have a lot of interesting incidents connected with Elder Porphyrios to tell us. I thank you very much for receiving me, even though we have never met before. In any event, we know plenty about your social work and action carried out in the field of large families.

Br.N: Thank you, Mr. Ioannides, for including me amongst the witnesses to the personality and holiness of Elder Porphyrios. I met him once twenty years ago, in 1972. I had heard a lot about Elder Porphyrios but I hadn’t had the opportunity until then to meet him.

One day I returned on foot to Holy New Skete, where I was then living, via Kerasia, from the Holy Monastery Great Lavra on the Holy Mountain, where I had gone to study. The distance is about four hours walk altogether, if not more. It had just rained and I was soaked from head to toe by the bushes and trees in the forest along the way.

When I arrived at the first cell at Kerasia, I knocked on the door and asked to warm myself. They gave me clothes, I changed and put my own clothes out to dry. Without my knowing it, Elder Porphyrios was staying there at the time. So, I had the great blessing of spending some four hours with him and to discuss many subjects with him. Out of the many things I heard, I would like to mention the following story which the Elder brought up, prompted by the subject hotly discussed in the newspapers at the time; the subject of the cloth, the clergyman’s cassock.

It was a short time after he had received his priest’s pension. As you know, he served as chaplain at St. Gerasimos’ chapel, within the Athens Polyclinic, by Omonia, on Piraeus St. One day he passed by St. Constantine’s Church, Omonia, and entered the church to pray. The moment he left the church he was approached by a young couple with their little girl. They asked him if they could trouble him for few minutes. Elder Porphyrios explained that he was not the priest in charge of that particular church. “It doesn’t matter,” they said to him. “We just want to ask you one question. We won’t take up too much of your time.”

“This is our little girl,” the husband said to him, “and my wife insists on dressing her in trousers. I can’t accept that. It’s not what I want. And so we’ve come to a terrible disagreement. We decided, therefore, to go to a priest, any priest at all, to put our problem to him. Whatever he tells us to us we’ll do it. We’ll be bound to do whatever he tells us.”

First, Elder Porphyrios told them that the subject wasn’t simple. He then went on to tell them that the issue is resolved both in the Holy Scriptures and in the Holy Canons. It is also resolved naturally by nature, given the fact that the woman doesn’t have the same nature as a man; she differs from him bodily and spiritually. This difference is emphasized by dress, since a man’s body is formed differently from a woman’s. He quoted Deuteronomy[1], which forbids men to wear women’s clothing and women to wear men’s clothing.

He then told them about the following amazing incident, that I’m telling for the very first time, knowing that it will be publicized.

K.I.: We thank you very much, Fr. Nicodemus.

Br.N: When Elder Porphyrios served as chaplain to the Athens Polyclinic, many doctors there had noticed that he had certain outstanding gifts from God. They respected him immensely and they often asked him to pray during difficult operations or they called him to doctor’s councils, when they were trying to make a difficult diagnosis.

One day the hospital doctors invited the Elder to give them his opinion on an unusual case that they were facing. A young woman had given birth to an ugly child, who had a black growth like an egg-plant on his cheek. They wanted to hear his own interpretation of why such a child was born. The Elder asked to see the young mother. He discovered by talking to her that a youth who had the same monstrous face as her child lived in her neighborhood of Omonia The young woman often came across this youth, and naturally felt sorry for him. When, however, she married and became pregnant, the sight of that youth started to become a nightmare. Every time she saw him she thought, “How terrible for his mother, to have such a child! If I was in her position how would I put up with it? How would I bear it?”

It was exactly this nightmarish thought that affected this young woman during her pregnancy, so that the child in her womb grew correspondingly. So much so, that when she gave birth to the baby it had a monstrous face just like that youth. Elder Porphyrios gave this interpretation to the doctors, and both they and the mother accepted it.

We must, however, return to the couple who had approached the Elder and sought his advice as to whether or not their daughter should wear trousers. Elder Porphyrios referred to the previous incident to show them that male dress psychologically influences woman’s nature to the point where she will start behaving like a man, something against her nature. Naturally the same thing occurs when men wear women’s clothes.

Of course, Elder Porphyrios examined the subject more deeply for them, with all its psychological and pedagogical consequences, in order to stress that women are not allowed to wear men’s clothes and men are not allowed to wear women’s. The couple agreed with this conclusion, and left, greatly helped by this chance encounter with the Elder.

K.I.: That’s a really amazing story that you tell, Fr. Nicodemus.

Br.N.: I’ll now tell you about another time when I met Elder Porphyrios.

As a theologian, I’m engaged in research on the subject of birth control. We know that the holy texts of our Church strictly forbid the use of birth control. I wanted the advice of Elder Porphyrios on different aspects of this enormous issue, bearing in mind that the Pan-Hellenic Society of Friends of Large Families is based here. I’m in daily contact with large families. When they see me wearing a cassock, before I can explain that I’m not a priest or a confessor, they bring up all kinds of related topics, such as abortion, contraception, and generally about childbearing and birth control. They, even bring up the same topics in their letters and ask for answers.

This meeting with Elder Porphyrios took place here in Athens, in Thision, at the home of my cousin, who was a spiritual daughter of the Elder. Elder Porphyrios went to my cousin’s house from time to time, to confess a group of young girls who practiced chastity and wanted to become nuns. I told my cousin to ask Elder Porphyrios to receive me there for a little while. I had some questions and I wanted his advice. So I went to my cousin’s house, and there, amongst other things, I asked his opinion on how to develop arguments against birth control, and how he as a spiritual father dealt with the subject.

I won’t bring up all the details of the discussion now. I’ll only mention that Elder Porphyrios upheld the strict line, which I also hold: i.e. birth control is not allowable while there are marital relations, therefore the use of contraceptive methods is not allowable, etc..

The same day, after I had left, an acquaintance of my cousin’s went to her house, a certain P., from Corinth, a close associate of ours at the Pan-Hellenic Society of Friends of Large Families. As he himself explained, his meeting with the Elder took place under the following circumstances:

When I had seen Elder Porphyrios and left, my cousin went out to buy something she needed. On the way she met Mr. P., whom she knew and whose daughter lived on the same road as she did. They exchanged a few pleasantries, and then my cousin apologized, explaining that she was in a hurry because Elder Porphyrios was then at her home. When P. heard that, he became enthusiastic and asked if he too could go to her house for a little while to see the Elder and receive his blessing. That’s what happened.

Then, as soon as Elder Porphyrios saw him, without having seen him before, and without my cousin telling him anything about him, not even his name, the Elder said, “Welcome P.” That is to say, he greeted him with his name. Then he carried on, “Listen here, my blessed chap, those differences you have with your bishop, forget them. They were presented to him differently. You must behave lovingly to one another.”

We have here another specific event where Elder Porphyrios without having previously met a person, not only knew, with enlightenment from God, his name, but also knew his own particular problems.

I’ll tell you about another incident of which I also have direct personal knowledge.

K.I.: Thank you, Fr. Nicodemus

Br.N.: A member of the Executive Committee of the “Pan-Hellenic Society of Friends of Large Families” regularly went to confess to Elder Porphyrios. One of his daughters, who is today married with children, as a student had a lot of anxiety about the University Exams. Her father took her to Kallisia, Penteli, where Elder Porphyrios lived before he went to Oropos. The girl went in first, without her father having ever said anything about her exams. As soon as she entered Elder Porphyrios said to her “Welcome. Listen, don’t worry yourself about the delay that you’ve got. It’s because of your anxiety about the exams. Tell me what else is the matter?”

That girl really had an unnatural delay in her monthly cycle, which worried her. She had never even thought about talking to Elder Porphyrios about it. So, as soon as she heard him bring up the subject without her even touching upon it, she was so moved that when she left confession she ran into her father’s arms shouting in front of everyone “He’s a saint. He’s a prophet.” This same event was told to me by the girl’s father, a close associate of mine.

There is a third incident, which I also know from first hand.

An Athonite monk, a friend and neighbor of mine at Kapsala, Elder Martinianos, had come to Athens from the Holy Mountain especially to meet the Elder. He was from Kyparissia by descent, and at the start of his life as a monk had lived in the historic Monastery of St. Savva, outside Jerusalem. He later left there and went to live on Mt. Athos at the Holy Monastery of Docheiarios and afterwards to the Skete of Kapsala.

When he arrived at Oropos, where Elder Porphyrios lived, it was day-break, so without knocking on the door or doing anything else, he sat down and waited. At some moment a window opened and one of the women there asked him, “Excuse me, but are you an Athonite monk?”

“Yes, I am” he said.

“The Elder said you’re to come up.”

The monk was astonished. He hadn’t told anybody anything and he hadn’t seen anyone from the time that he had arrived. He stood up and went to Elder Porphyrios. Then the following conversation took place between them:

“Welcome. Where have you come from?”

“From the Holy Mountain, Elder.”

“But aren’t you a monk of St. Savva’s,”

“No, I’m from Mt. Athos.”

“Didn’t you become a monk at St. Savva?”

“Yes, Elder.”

Then Elder Porphyrios revealed that in the Monastery of St. Savva there was a cave (he described the area exactly and the spot in which the cave was located), which contained the relics of the monastery’s fathers. It hadn’t been discovered until that moment. He told him about such circumstances of his life, that he was stunned by the surprise of Elder Porphyrios knowing so many things about his life, even though they had never met before.

I have recorded the testimony of that monk on cassette, as he himself narrates it.

I’m confining myself, Mr. Ioannides, to accounts which I know from first hand, so that we can be sure of their authenticity.

K.I.: Those are exactly the events that interest us, so that they can stand up to criticism and so that we can be, as far as it is possible, more sure about the genuiness of the accounts.

Br.N.: The following incident, is connected with a relative of mine, from Xerokambos, Eleia, I’m telling you it, just like he told me it.

K.I.: We’re indebted to you, Fr. Nicodemus, for everything that you’ve told us and we can’t wait to hear the rest.

Br.N.: This relative of mine had become so close to the Elder that they would talk for hours together in the forest. He told me about two incidents which I consider astounding, considering the revelations he had. The first is as follows:

This relative of mine wanted to build a farming unit in his village. He had sought the Elder’s advice beforehand, and the Elder agreed with him. He wanted to do some drilling on his property and went to the Elder to get his advice. Then Elder Porphyrios, who had never visited his village, started to give him a complete and detailed description of the property, telling him the specific spot where the drilling ought to take place. He even told him how many meters under the ground he would find water. When this relative hired expert geologists who went to his property, they found the water just where Elder Porphyrios had indicated to him, right down to the last detail.

This same relative also gave me the following account:

Once, while riding a large motorbike he had an accident. He hit something and was flung several meters away from his bike. However, as if by miracle, he survived without getting hurt. When he returned home after the accident late that night, he had just put his foot in the door when the phone rang. He answered it and heard Elder Porphyrios speaking to him at the other end of the line, “You escaped, you escaped. Thank God.” My relative remained speechless.

K.I.: How many people were helped by Father Porphyrios? What a great blessing it is for our days.

Br.N: The last time that I saw Elder Porphyrios was about a year before he died. I had to visit the military prison at Avlona, which is about half an hour away from the convent which Elder Porphyrios built in Oropos. I was with a associate of mine in the car of the Society. After our visit to the prison I said to her, “Since we’re near to Elder Porphyrios, why don’t we go and get his blessing?”

We went and we found twenty or so people there who had been waiting for quite a long while. Among them was a certain well-known theologian. Almost as soon as we had arrived, we heard, “The monks and clergy first.” It happened that I was the only monk there; there were no clergy, so I went in first, “Your blessing only, Elder, pray for us.”

I received the Elder’s blessing and explained that we were just passing and that his blessing was enough.

“Sit down, sit down,” he said. He took hold of my hand. “How are you doing? Are you well?” he asked. “Thank God, with your blessing, Elder, I’m very well.” Then, he immediately started to say to me, “Tell them not to avoid having children. It’s a great sin to avoid having children. It’s a good thing that you’re involved in that work. You continue, and tell them that avoiding childbearing is not allowed. It’s a great sin.” Those were the last words he ever said to me. He said them of his own accord without me asking him or bringing anything up about the subject.

Elder Porphyrios must have been very pure for God to give him so many great gifts. As St. Basil the Great says, the gift of foresight only shines upon pure and cleansed hearts.

The previous interview was taped by Mr. Klitos Ioannides in the offices of the Pan-Hellenic Society of Friends of Large Families (78d Academies St.-Athens GR106 78), where the interviews of Mr. P. Sotirchos and of Mr. N.N. for this book had just been held. The offices had been sought with this in mind as convenient for just our two friends mentioned above. Then suddenly, without previous notice and preparation, the above speaker was asked to present his own testimony about Elder Porphyrios. It was something he couldn’t refuse, even though he would have preferred to have been prepared. During the publication of the book, when asked if he would like to make any corrections, he was content with a few alterations to some phrases. On the other hand the text that follows is his addition, written especially for the present edition.

[1]  Deut. 22:5 “A woman shall not wear anything that pertains to a man. nor shall a man put on a woman’s garment, for all those who do so are an abomination to the Lord our God.” The 62nd holy Canon of the Sixth Holy Ecumenical Council directs. “. ..No man shall wear women’s clothing nor woman men’s clothing “ See commentary of St. Nicodemus the Athonite, in the Pedalion (the Rudder) (publ. by “Astir” in Greek 1990. pp. 275-276).

Elder Porphyrios Prophet of our time

In the second part of my “testimony” about the late Elder Porphyrios, we must explain that apart from the above, we collected quite a bit of further information, looking to publish them in our quarterly magazine Polytekne Oikogeneia. (We made a simple reference, in edition no.53 and 55, promising a more complete and detailed account in no. 56, December 1992 edition, in the obituary column.) This was because Elder Porphyrios really was the child of a large family, while as a spiritual father he was the father of a “superlarge” family of thousands of spiritual children!

Of course, the investigation and collection of material for information about child development and the family, as well as about issues of childbearing and abortion, etc., is for a “specialist” magazine on the subject of the Family and family development. However, since other information about Elder Porphyrios was discovered during our inquiry, unknown and different from what had already been published, we recorded it all as accurately as possible. The substantial material remaining will be given to the Holy Convent of the Transfiguration for future use.

Perhaps we should at this point anticipate possible objections from many about the great number of similar incidents (revelations, healings, etc.), while the presentation of just a few examples would better serve our purpose in a book about Elder Porphyrios. God really had given him such great gifts, the gifts of discernment, of foresight-prophecy and of healing, to such a degree that human denial can only be from ignorance or from lack of faith. The phenomenon of “Elder Porphyrios, Prophet of Our Time,” was generally known, even during his lifetime, by thousands of people of all social classes, from patriarchs, archbishops and university lecturers to the most simple and illiterate people (but truly faithful and earnest).

The representative examples of information about Elder Porphyrios are sufficient witness to and proof of his holiness and his divine spiritual gifts. However, this should not rule out the search for, and collection of, all the relative information from his thousands of spiritual children throughout Greece and in all the world could give.

Every incident of divine grace moving through a grace-filled person like Elder Porphyrios is a personal event. It will remain personal and unique regardless of the fact that it might be the same or similar to other incidents, since all have the same divine spiritual source, “Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same spirit... one and the same spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually as He wills.” (1 Cor. 12:4,11)

Equally, and maybe more so, we would like to stress here the need for the investigation and collection of material to be directed towards the Elder Porphyrios’ “Teachings”; specific advice, suggestions and solutions. Usually, in similar investigations, the reports of “revelations” and miracles can be found in great number, since they are sensational and attract people’s curiosity. For this reason the teachings are usually not emphasized or kept silent about, despite the fact that numerically they are greater.

Therefore, as a result of our “special” investigation and collection of information about Elder Porphyrios, we can now insert this addition to our previous “testimony” in the first half. This is without any review or criticism from me, except where it was occasionally necessary, since this present book is probably full of introductory and concluding thoughts and critiques, and also holds within its pages some fifty collective or personal testimonies.

The testimony of P.P.

We begin with the testimony of P.P., because, as we shall see, he had put to the Elder the question asked by many; the one regarding his gifts. The Elder had a clear conscience and did not avoid answering similar questions. This question, put in the words of a well-known proverb, was not a personal one. He wanted to know Elder Porphyrios’ answer so that he could answer the questions of friends and acquaintances with clarity.

a. “Elder, what answer do you give to those who ask about the gifts which God gave you and seek some kind of explanation? Because others ask us and put forward the well- known proverb, “after Christ nobody is prophet.”

Instead of giving a straight answer, Elder Porphyrios directed the questioner to the seventh chapter of the Old Testament book, Wisdom of Solomon[1], to the twenty-seventh verse, which says the following about the grace and energy of the Holy Spirit, “...in every generation she passes into holy souls and makes them friends of God and prophets.” In fact, verses 15-27 are especially enlightening on this interesting subject of the Holy Spirit acting through certain grace-filled people. The verses say the following:

“May God grant me to speak with judgment and have thoughts worthy of what I have received, for he is the guide even of wisdom and the corrector of the wise. For both we and our words are in his hands, as are all understanding and skill in crafts. For it is He who gave me unerring knowledge of what exists, to know the structure of the world and the activity of the elements; the beginning, the end and the middle of times, the alternations of the solstices and the changes of the seasons, the cycles of the year and the constellations of the stars, the nature of animals and the tempers of wild beasts, the power of spirits and the reasoning of men, the varieties of plants and the virtues of roots; I learned both what is secret and what is manifest, for wisdom the fashioner of all things taught me.”

“There is in her a spirit that is intelligent, holy, unique, manifold, subtle, agile, clear, immaculate, distinct, invulnerable, devoted to goodness, keen, irresistible, beneficent, humane, steadfast, sure, carefree, all-powerful, overseeing all and passing through spirits that are altogether intelligent, pure, and subtle. For wisdom is more mobile than any motion, she pervades and passes through all things by her pureness. For she is a breath of the power of God, a pure emanation of the glory of the Almighty; therefore nothing defiled gains entrance into her. For she is a reflection of eternal light, a spotless mirror of the working of God and an image of his goodness. Although she is one she can do all things, and whilst remaining in herself, she renews all things; in every generation she passes into holy souls and makes them friends of Gods and prophets.”

b. P.P. also guided the late A.G. to Elder Porphyrios, who confessed to the Elder. The first time she met him, she visited him for two hours and when she left, she not only kissed his hand but knelt down and kissed his feet.

When A.G. was suffering from cancer and wanted to have surgery, Elder Porphyrios advised her not to be operated on, without her paying any special attention to his advice. However, during the operation she was in danger and her husband phoned Elder Porphyrios from London. He was afraid that she might not wake up from the operation. Elder Porphyrios assured him that she would wake up and that she wouldn’t come to any harm from cancer. But he added, “She’ll suffer from another illness.” She later died from heart trouble.

c. Once a group of rebels on motorbikes went to Oropos. They left their bikes outside the Convent, at a distance and in a place where they could not be seen. They approached the Elder Porphyrios’ cell and went straight in, without waiting their turn in line. One of them turned to the Elder and said, “Tell us something, pappouli.[2]” Elder, “What shall I tell you, Dimitri? That your motorbike is make such-and-such?” The revelation of Dimitri’s name and the make of his motorbike meant that he and his friends trusted the Elder and started to visit him, benefiting from his presence and advice. In fact, the Elder said to P.P. about those “rebels”: “Those boys are the purest and most innocent souls that visit here.”

d. Finally, through P.P. we got to know a friend of his, an Athens lawyer who knew Elder Porphyrios and had frequent contact with him over ten years. When we sought his own testimony, he was kind enough to present it to us in letter form on the 4th of November 1992. Here he summarizes his experience as follows: “In the ten years that I knew him, I had the absolute certainty that whatever I did or whatever I even thought, my elder knew about it. I have the same feeling now after his death.”

He continues his letter, “At our first meeting, although the other visitors had simply received his blessing and left, he kept me by him for about three-quarters of an hour. He asked me all kinds of questions about my work and my life in general. Three things shall always remain unforgettable about that meeting. First is the feeling of well-being and unknown joy that I felt from the moment I found myself near him. I had felt this joy and lightness only one other time in my life, when I made a pilgrimage to the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem. Second, was that he recalled my childhood for me, events which I had forgotten altogether. Finally, when I kissed his hand to leave, he grabbed both of my hands, kissed them and said he was pleased to have met me and that our meeting was the will of God.

I always felt the same great internal spiritual delight in the meetings and long conversations I had with him until his death. I was also completely convinced that he had divine grace and that he could see me and was informed about everything to do with me, wherever I could be found in the world.

From the many proofs of this I will just mention one example:

I visited him about seven years ago at the end of January in his cell and said, “Elder, I’m sorry that I didn’t come during the holidays and give you my best wishes. I was in London with a serious court case.” He thought for a while then said, “Doesn’t the insurance company pay for the ship that sank?” That was, in fact, the whole subject of the case in London. I had told him nothing about it beforehand.

In another meeting with him, he asked me about a female client of mine who I had introduced to him previously. “Did you finally find the safe?” he said. I was surprised and said, “Did she visit you or phone you?” He answered, “Why? Did she have to tell me herself? Don’t you know, you blessed fellow, that I can see you whenever I want, even if you are at the ends of the earth, I see what you’re doing.”

One final thing: It was February or March of 1988, it was half past one in the morning, I was in my study at home. I had spread out a lot of papers before me. I was examining a really serious and painful personal matter. The telephone rang and it was Elder Porphyrios, “Sorry for phoning so late,” he said “but I can see that you’re drowning in paperwork, and are very upset.”

“My dear Elder,” I answered, “thank you for calling, but how can I not be upset, when apart from financial problems my own moral standing is in danger?”

He said “Calm down and don’t worry, otherwise you’ll ruin your health. You’ll be troubled by all the paperwork that you’ve got but in the end everything will be all right.”

In fact the judicial part of this painful adventure came to an end only in February 1992, after being freed from all accusations at all levels of justice.

I composed this letter at the request of his spiritual child and my friend P.P., with the hope that Elder Porphyrios will forgive me for not holding to his lifelong wish for us not to talk about him.”

Here, in the hope that we don’t offend the letter writer’s wishes, we must add that Elder Porphyrios had also told him the outcome of his illness and the resultant operation.

Testimony of Fr. George Hiotakis

(from Elder Porphyrios’ visit to Sphakia)

Elder Porphyrios visited Crete for the first time during Great Lent 1977. He was a guest in Hania of his spiritual child, the late Fr. Eleftherios Kapsomenos. Here in the home of Fr. Eleftherios, he met the priest of Sphakia, Fr.George Hiotakis, who is the father of a very large family of twelve children. He also managed to get Elder Porphyrios’ promise to visit Sphakia. We won’t refer here to this, his first visit to Hania[3], but to his visit to Sphakia. His ‘secrecy’ was assured and he visited for a fortnight. So Elder Porphyrios went alone from Hania airport to the house of Fr. George Hiotakis’ brother in Hania town. He had a revelation of its whereabouts. He was collected from there by Fr. George and taken to Sphakia, where he stayed in Fr. George’s house in the village of Nomikiana, and a further eleven days in the cell of a deserted neighboring monastery. There he associated almost exclusively with priests from Sphakia. The days that they had near him were unique and revelatory. Afterwards Fr. George kept in contact with Elder Porphyrios, visiting and phoning him often. We will mention, somewhat briefly, only those things Fr. George actually told us from that important visit.

On the way to Sphakia from Hania, in the village of Imvros, to the right of the road, is a church dedicated to SS. Helen and Constantine. At this point Elder Porphyrios suddenly turned left, as if he were searching for something. Then, Fr. George realized that he was searching for the church. “Elder, it’s on the right.” Then the Elder said, “Hmm how come I’m looking for it towards the left, then.” Fr. George,

George, realizing what Elder Porphyrios meant, explained, “In fact, Elder, before we built it on the right-hand side of the road, we were looking for a place on the left because, according to living local tradition, there once was a church there of the same name.” The Elder looked for it on the left because he ‘saw’ with his mystical vision from the Holy Spirit, even though all physical evidence was wiped away by time.

In Sphakia there is a beautiful area, which is the accessible to the southern shore of Crete, the area of Frankokastello. This area, especially, captured Elder Porphyrios’ attention, because, as he revealed, “the place was sacred, as it was a place where ascetics had lived.” This fact was unknown to the priests of Sphakia and nobody had spoken to him about the history of the place, which he noetically ‘saw’ through the Holy Spirit. In fact, when the priests of Sphakia did some research into the matter they learnt that once there were ascetics’ cells there. The Elder also suggested that the location was suitable for the foundation of a “Conference Center for Youth” for world-wide use.

In the same area, beyond Frankokastello, in the village of St. Nectarios, Elder Porphyrios had another revelation about some distant village. They made a stop at the house of a relative of Fr. George. While the lady of the house made coffee, Elder Porphyrios suddenly turned towards the wall and started counting with the fingers of his right hand saying, “St. John, St. George, the Master Christ, St. Anthony, the Virgin Mary, St. Nicholas.” Then Fr. George asked him, “Elder, what are you counting on the wall?”

“My child,” answered the Elder, “I’m counting the churches in the other village.” In the direction which the wall faced there really was another village, at least forty kilometers distance away. The Elder had never visited it, and Fr. George had never told the Elder about it or its churches, but it was these that he ‘saw’ and named correctly.

On the way to Father George’s parish in Hagia Roumeli, Elder Porphyrios pointed towards the distant seashore and said, “A river flows there and a church also exists.” The church and river actually were in that place but they could not be seen and nobody had told the Elder about it.

In the Church of the Holy Trinity, in Hagia Roumeli, Elder Porphyrios noticed an icon of the Holy Trinity and said to Father George, “Look after that icon, otherwise it will be stolen. There is no other icon like it. And do you know what’s so special about it?” Father George didn’t know. Then, Elder Porphyrios pointed it out to him, “Do you see? The Father and the Son are pictured as being the same age!” After Elder Porphyrios had left Fr. George called together the Parish Council and recommended that the holy icon should be kept somewhere safe. However, the chairman objected and said, “If you move the icon from its place, then you must also leave.” So the icon stayed where it was. A year later however, it was stolen and it has not been found to this day.

Again, in Hagia Roumeli, as Elder Porphyrios was chatting with Father George, the Elder asked him to retire so that he might be allowed to pray. Father George departed, but became tired and fell asleep there in the place where he had gone to rest. He was soon awakened by the sudden clatter of feet from a large group of touring European Scouts who were passing nearby. As he woke up, he saw the Elder standing by the beach and blessing the young people who were passing by. Once they had passed, he turned to Father George and said, “Do you know what good children they are, Father George? But they are like ‘sheep without a shepherd.’”

Finally, Elder Porphyrios again ‘explored and visited’ Hagia Roumeli. This time from Athens, while talking with his visitor Father George in the house in Nea Ionia where they met. They had stumbled upon many obstacles when trying to build the proposed “Youth Conference Center” in the area of Frankokastello. Therefore, Father George suggested that they look for a similar place in Hagia Roumeli. “Where Father George? East or West?” Father George replied, “To the East, Elder?”

“Ah, hold on,” continued the Elder, “I can see that place. It has lots of water and two churches. It also has a cemetery and a church on top of the hill.” They were exactly as he ‘saw’ and described them. However, as Father George confessed, he ‘saw’ them from Athens, without ever having seen or visited them with Father George during his stay in Sphakia.

One afternoon when Elder Porphyrios was talking with the priests of Sphakia he said to them, “Let’s stop for a moment because I want to pray together with my fellow ascetics in the Balkans.” Another time, again when they were talking, he cried out, “Oh, tonight I forgot the mutual prayer.” meaning his mutual prayer with his fellow ascetics in the Balkans. From similar references to other spiritual children we know that he meant, Fr. Justin Popovich (from Serbia), Elder Sophrony (from Russia) at the Holy Monastery of St. John the Baptist in Essex, England, certain elders from Mt. Athos and the hieromonks and ascetics of Mt. Sinai.

While walking through the courtyard of the Church of the Panagia, in the village of Loutro, Father George, within himself, marveled at how the Elder thought and prayed. Elder Porphyrios suddenly turned towards him and said, “Mystical prayer is not taught.” He had read his thoughts.

The Testimony of Th.A., Theologian

In 1982 Th.A. directed a friend of his to Elder Porphyrios. He was forty years old and ‘mixed up,’ to use the Elder’s expression, with Hinduism and different gurus. He had even traveled to India. Th.A. had introduced him to the Elder simply as a friend who was ‘mixed-up’ with Hinduism and he wanted the Elder to help him. He had not told the Elder his name or anything else about him, yet Elder Porphyrios called this ‘mixed-up’ man by his name and asked him how his wife and two children were.

It was this revelation from the Elder that truly shook him. He made an honest confession and returned to Orthodoxy with sincerity.

When he had left Elder Porphyrios he said to Th.A., “I really am married with two children, but I’ve never told you. I had indeed abandoned them and the Elder knew it!”

Other people, most of them young, ‘mixed-up’ with Eastern religions and other cults sought refuge and help in Elder Porphyrios. They themselves confessed that after his advice and blessing (with the sign of the cross) they were healed, not only from their spiritual illness, but from bodily illnesses too. Before that many of them had turned to psychiatrists without gaining any therapy or relief, something which they eventually found with Elder Porphyrios.

In 1989-90 Th.A. visited the states of Virginia and North Carolina in America, where he gave religious talks. In the audience was a Greek woman, who was about to visit Greece. She asked him to recommend a spiritual father to her. Th.A. told her about Elder Porphyrios. She later met him and was greatly enriched.

When the lady returned to the States and saw Th.A. she naturally said that she had met Elder Porphyrios and thanked him for recommending him. Amongst other things, she was greatly impressed by the fact that he described her home in America, her shop and her children in detail. He also told her that one of her children had a distinguishing mark on his body. At the time she didn’t find it very important and said nothing to the Elder. With respect and admiration, she told her son, that out of all the things Elder Porphyrios had said and revealed to her, he had only made one mistake; he bad said that her son had a mark on his body. Her son was shaken and confessed that he really did have that mark on his body. He had never told his mother about it; because of his age she hadn’t seen him naked since his childhood when this mark, (probably a mole) appeared.

Until then this particular young man was indifferent towards his faith; afterwards, because of this incident, his faith warmed and he became active within the Church.

Testimony of I.D., retired policeman

During the summer of 1989, I.D. visited Elder Porphyrios and asked him to pray especially for a relative of his who was ill. The Elder, however told him, “He won’t become well” and the relative did not become well. Then I.D. begged the Elder, saying, “Holy Elder, say a ‘kyrie eleison,’ God is great.” Then the Elder blessed him with his right hand and said, “Yes, my child, God is great!”

A year later, I.D. visited the Elder again and he planned to beg him with the warmest faith and with humility, even on his knees. When his turn came, he approached the Elder, with this plan in mind. He kissed his right hand without saying anything. Before he even managed to kneel down Elder Porphyrios said to him, “Kneel, kneel. What’s happening with your relative X?

“Holy Elder that’s why I’ve come.”

“Well, he is so-so” said the Elder, and then went on to describe the case exactly. I.D. then asked him, “Now what happens?”

“Pray, pray!” replied Elder Porphyrios.

Testimony of A.T.,

doctor, pathologist, from Xanthi

The testimony of A.T. was given in his letter dated 28th July 1992. It reads as follows:

“...We learnt about Fr. Porphyrios from the then layman and university assistant and now priest and professor of Physics at the University of Thrace, Fr. George Anagnostopoulos. It was 1980, and on the 4th October 1980 we visited the holy Elder in his humble brick cell at Oropos. My wife and I visited him for forty-five minutes. We were impressed by the fact that before we could mention some personal problem of ours, he referred to events involving different (anonymous) Christians. Our problems were the same as these incidents and through them we found the answers and solutions that we were looking for.

When we got up to leave, the Elder, with a cheerful, holy, caring, and fatherly smile took hold of my wife’s hand exactly in the spot where it ached. We had not told him about it nor had we even thought about telling him about it as we were treating it medically with drugs. Her condition was called tenosynovitis and she had cortisone injections, and took strong anti-inflammatory pills. When Elder Porphyrios took her hand, she felt warmth throughout her body and started to feel queasy. This feeling calmed down immediately afterwards, and the pain left suddenly. Then my wife, moved to tears, said to him, “Father, you know about that too?” Naturally, after that day she threw away the medicine and no longer went to the orthopaedic doctor.

We thank our Holy God, who granted us god-bearing Fathers in our lifetime. We thank Fr. George, who introduced us to Father Porphyrios. We thank Elder Porphyrios who. with paternal affection, when leaving the world promised us, “I will pray for you and your children.” May we have his blessing.

[1]  In most English versions, which are not Orthodox, but Protestant, it can be found in the so-called “Apocrypha”.

[2]  An affectionate term for a priest or a grandfather.

[3]  The impressions from this visit can be found on pages 243-258.

Stavros Kalkandes

Retired squadron leader

How did you get to know Elder Porphyrios?

A: I had gotten to know Father Philotheos Zervakos, a great personality of spiritual stature. He spoke about God and I couldn’t understand him. It was like taking a child from the first grade of elementary school and putting him in high school. 1 couldn’t understand those things he was telling me then, but in recent years I’ve understood everything. Even when he said to me that yesterday God told me this and that, and I said, “What is he telling me? What is he telling me?”

One day he came to me after the Divine Liturgy, (we had built a chapel in Palaeo Psychiko, at the National Foundation for the Resettlement of the Disabled) and said, “Let’s go and say good-bye to Fr. Athanasios in Balla because last night the Lord told me that He would take him.”

“What’s he telling me now?” I thought. “All right, Elder,” I said to him “I’ll come.”

At that time I was paralyzed from the neck down. The military had given me two personnel, one was a driver, the other a nurse. They got me ready, picked me up, put me in the wheel chair, and we left!

He prayed continuously throughout the whole trip. We were going to visit the Elder Athanasios Hamakiotes, another great figure. When we arrived we found him walking in the yard. “Oh, my brother,” he said, “welcome. I thank God who sent you so that I can confess.” Father Philotheos said to him, “I bring you a joyful message, an angelic message, a message from the Lord. Get ready, my brother, because the Lord is coming to take you.” Then I saw the expression on the face of Fr. Athanasios, just like a little child who has just been given a shiny new bicycle! He was so jubilant he said, “What can I do, my brother, to thank the Lord for the news of the fortunate event that you have brought me?”

When we went inside what a conversation they had? I said to myself, “Where am I, in heaven or on earth?” I remember it very well, vividly, because I’m experiencing it at this moment. I vividly remember when he said to him, “Be careful, Athanasios, at the last moment.” I was still in spiritual infancy and I said, “Hmm Father Philotheos! What can he do to him? He’s an old man, so to speak.” He replied, “He will bring him scenes of fornication, he will suggest evil thoughts and so many other things. It’s there that the first come last and the last come first.” Fr. Athanasios said to him, “I’m scared of the Evil One. I’m scared of him. I’m trembling. Trembling, my brother,” he said to him, “I’m trembling.”

Now I have lived through those difficult moments of sickness and when I was close to death, I thought about, I tried to think about God. I tried to think about a lot of things but the devil didn’t let me. My mind wandered far away from where I wanted it to go. Then I remembered the words, “Be careful of the Evil One at your final moment.”

Let’s now come to Elder Porphyrios. One day I said to the Elder, Fr. Philotheos, “Now that you’re leaving this life (he was 98 years old), where shall I go for confession?” (I met him in 1962. In 1970 when I got up I was, let’s see, 48 years old, now I’m 70. He died in 1980, I was 60....)

“Well,” he said, “go to Fr. Porphyrios.” I didn’t know Fr. Porphyrios and I said to him, “Where can I find him?” He said to me, “Go and ask and you’ll find him. I don’t know where he is, to tell you.” I said, “Do you know him?”

“No.” he said, “I don’t need to know him. God knows him.” (Elder Porphyrios hadn’t yet gone to visit him.)

I asked a lawyer friend of mine and he said “Let’s go together.” He then lived in Tourkovounia, by the Church of the Panagitsa and held confession there. My turn also came, it must have been about eight o’ clock in the evening. He introduced me and the Elder suddenly said to me, “Eh! What can I say to you, Stavros, I’m tired. We must talk about things somewhat differently. Do you know what joy it gives me when I meet kindred souls! I’m very pleased. Leave it... I’ll phone you up when I can.” I left, but I was not too pleased when I left, because I had waited a long time for my turn.

I didn’t get the chance to reach my house, when I heard the phone ringing. “You’re back? It’s Fr. Porphyrios speaking. I need you tomorrow, as I thought we should go on a mission. Are you ready to come?”

“Sure, I am.” I said to him, “Where shall me meet?”

“Here at the church.”

I went to pick him up in the morning, and he said to me, “Drive towards Corinth.”

“To Corinth?”

“Yes, I’ll tell you on the way.”

We continued, and he says to me “I’m going to pick up a founding charter from a monk who has a monastery. He is a literature teacher, and they tell me that he has a very good charter.”

“Do you know him?”

“No.”

“How will we go there?”

“Is that what’s bothering you? It doesn’t bother me, it bothers you?”

“But I’m the driver. How will we get there?”

“Oh you, step on it and I’ll tell you on the way. You just move the car. I’ll do the talking. Some spiritual children come to me and say that I am a good person, but I say to myself that I’m not good. However, because they insist on me building a monastery. ‘Fine,’ I said, ‘I’ll take care of it.’...”

“Great,” I said, “Tell me where to turn off in time because I’m traveling very fast, and won’t be able to turn off if you tell me at the last minute.”

“Don’t let that bother you...” he said. “You’ll stop at the last gas station on the way to Corinth.”

“And how will I know which one is the last gas station?”

“I’ll find it.” he said

“Do you know it?”

“No,” he said, “we’ll find it on the way...”

It was the first time I really met him and I didn’t understand what he meant... I was astonished. I said, “What are you telling me now? Do you know it? Have you gone there?”

“No.”

“Do you know where it is?”

“No.”

“How will you get there?”

“What do you care?” he said. “Look, stop at this gas station.” I wasn’t thinking properly, and thought that he would want to fill up the car. So I said, “Pappouli, it’s not right for you to put in gas for me... there is another gas station further on.”

“Ah!” he said to me, “You’re not obedient. You’ll have to turn back as you won’t find another gas station.” We, therefore, continued, only to see that there wasn’t another gas station all the way to the Corinthian Isthmus. I turned back, we go to the gas station and Fr. Porphyrios asked the people there. “Is there a small monastery here with a high-school teacher? Where does he live?”

“He died... Yesterday.” they told him. “And where is the monastery?” he said to them. “There, on that dirt road...” they told him. “Step on it.” he said to me.

I got into the car, and continued, in ten minutes we came across three roads. “Now,” I said to him, “which one do we follow?” He closed his eyes and said, “We’ll keep towards the left.” We entered the Geraneia Mountains. There was no going forward and no going back. The road was terrible! Really terrible! After half an hour there I started to fume and fret. I said, “But Elder, is this really the road? Will we find it?”

“Oh you! We’ll find it.” he said, “Look! Don’t worry, at the next turning you take, we’ll find it in front of us.”

“So you know what you’re saying then?”

“I told you I’ve never been there. How do I know?”

“Eh? Then how come you’re telling me?”

“Oh, that’s something else. You’ll learn, little by little.” So, we turned and saw the monastery on the road in front of us.

His sister was there, an aged nun, and he said to her, “Where’s the Elder?”

“There, that’s him.” she said, pointing to his grave. Elder Porphyrios got out, went down to the grave and said a Trisagion for him. Afterwards he said to her, “Do you know where he has the founding charter of the monastery?”

“It’s no use talking to me about those things,” said the nun, “I don’t know anything. You should go to the notary in Corinth who prepared the papers.” she said, “He’s studied both Literature and Theology.”

He said, “Hit the gas pedal for Corinth...” We left and I said to him, “Where are we going to find the notary now? I don’t know Corinth...”

“You’ll enter by a main road.” he said.

“I don’t even know that much.” I said

“I’ll tell you,” he said, “which road to take. Carry on, turn left... this is the main road.”

We enter the main road. “What happens now?” I asked him. “Carry on driving slowly, close to the sidewalk,” he replied, “and I’ll tell you which man to ask.” As we crawled along he said to me, “Not him, not the second man, not the third man, him, the man wearing the pullover. Do you see him? We’ll ask him.”

I stopped, opened the door and shouted, “Mister, mister..., please come here so I can ask you something... Tell me. is there a notary’s office near here?”

“There”, he said, “that building is full of notaries.” I stopped the car there. I took hold of the Elder and we went. I said to him, “Now there are twenty notaries... Where shall we start?”

“Follow me,” he told me, “follow me and I’ll take you.” He proceeded to the office of a notary public and went straight in. “An Elder came here and drew up his papers. Would you be so kind as to give me a photocopy of his founding charter? He has died, the Lord took him yesterday.”

“I’ll give it to you, Elder...” He made a photocopy. “Take it.” It took five minutes... “Ah,” I said, “pappouli you’re not normal.”

“Why?”he said to me

“Oh come on,” I said, “you knew the place and you went in...”

“Ah!” he said, “You’re also distrusting... I told you, I’ve never come here before.”

“Eh, how did you come in then?”

“Don’t ask me. You’ll find that out later, you’ll learn about it...”

“What do you want now?” I told him, “What shall I do?”

“Do you know what I want? I fancy something to eat at a first class restaurant...”

“What do you want to eat?” I said.

“A tomato.” he replied.

“A tomato in a first class restaurant! How’s that going to happen?”

I drove along the coast, everything was closed, they only open in the evening... “What shall we do?” I said to him, “Where are we going to find a restaurant? Why do you want it to be first class? Isn’t it enough to find a small diner to eat in?”

“I want to see the people who are coming and going,” he said, “I want to say to you, ‘Do you see him? He’s so-and- so... Do you see him? He’s so-and-so.’” I thought, “What’s that he’s telling me now?” I couldn’t understand because I didn’t know him at all, I knew nothing. I said to him, “I’ll take you to a first class restaurant. Let’s see now...”

At Megara I turned right and went down to Pachi and we sat at a small taverna by the sea. The Elder ordered a tomato and I ordered some octopus. I remembered that it was Wednesday. We ate. He said to me, “Do you want me to tell you where you were born?”

“Do you know the place?”

“I know it.”

“Have you gone there?”

“No.”

“How can you tell me then?”

“Don’t ask me such things” he said.

“Yes,” I said, “I want you to tell me.”

He starts, “We’re in a boat, in the middle of the sea and we’re looking out to shore. I see a large church in the center. It’s the Cathedral. Isn’t the village there? It’s a small country town, your town. On the right you built St. Nectarios’, about twenty-five meters from the sea, isn’t it?”

“Yes.” I reply.

“On the left hand side, my, my, what can I see? my, my, my! Something archaeological. The sea is full”, he said, “what was over there? It looks like something sank, some town...”

“That’s what it is.” I said. I didn’t know about that though. I didn’t know about the archaeological site.(My village is called Neapolis or Vatica, in Laconia, opposite Kythera.) He said to me, “So, we’ll have confession on the way back... You’ll stop under an olive-tree and we’ll talk. You won’t say anything. I’ll tell you it all.”

“But how do you know about it,” I say, “and you’re going to tell me?”

“Eh, be patient,” he said.

We stopped under an olive tree and he put on his stole. He gave a complete diagnosis of my sickness. No-one could ever have done that for me, not even in America. Absolutely no-one. He said, ‘here you have feeling, there you don’t have feeling, here you’re in pain, your hands are numb here, there they’re paralyzed, here it is, turn over... My, my! What’s this I see on the back of your neck! Blood blood... blood, blood. What’s the matter with you?’ He tells me that my circulation is not functioning properly after all I’ve been through. Everything is upside down under the nape of my neck. “Your problem is your circulation,” he said “Something’s wrong with your circulation.”

We also talked about other things. He said that he was very happy about our acquaintance and that now he would be able to continue (with the convent). He was looking for a location. ‘We’ll probably end up in Oropos,’ he said. He hadn’t bought anything yet. He looked at the charter and said to me, “We will make progress...” He told me a lot more and then we left. I dropped him off and went home.

That’s how our relationship began; before he built those buildings (in 1981) he lived in a shack out there in Oropos. We went there and had conversations. Other people also went there.

Q: What do you remember about the Elder?

A: I remember one day, when the weather was fine, we were sitting outside. An archimandrite came along. They greeted one another and then as soon as the archimandrite sat in his chair, the Elder made the sign of the cross over his knee. “How do you know about it, Elder?” he asked. (From childhood his knees had the tendency to slip out of joint.) “I’ve had it since childhood (now he is an abbot in Cyprus). I went to America for my theology doctorate. I received a scholarship to write about Mystical Theology while on Mt. Athos. That’s the subject of my doctorate. Mystical theology says that the intellect has the lead over the heart. Tell me, what does your practical theology say?”

“No,” he said to him, “I don’t agree. It’s the heart that has the lead.”

“Could you please explain, pappouli, how it’s the heart that has it?”

“The intellect,” he said, “wakes up and thinks about what lie it will say to dupe the customer; if he’s a businessman, how he should act there, what he should say to this person, what he should do to that person, how he’ll get hold of more money. The heart on the other hand, sees a small child and pampers it... He puts his hand in his pocket and gives some money to a disabled person. He runs to the hospital and visits someone who is sick... He willingly offers his services or he gives money. When the heart speaks the hand goes into the pocket. When the intellect speaks, the hand stays out of the pocket. Therefore, for me the heart comes first.”

Fr. Porphyrios told the archimandrite from Cyprus, that the intellect is not interested in prayer, in what the heart pursues. They have different interests. The intellect rests in cunningness, whereas the heart tries to communicate with the divine. “What, therefore, must happen?” he says to him. “Do you know that there are chances to communicate with God? When? In extreme spiritual or bodily pain the intellect surrenders, restrained by the desire of the heart. By speaking of the heart we don’t mean the flesh of the heart. The heart is further in, more internal. Then, since the intellect is restrained we have a self-denying comedown. Then what happens? Immediately it becomes brilliant, it becomes light. That’s why God says knock on my door, and I will open it. Ask me for anything you want and I will give it to you. When? When our voices reaches Him. You know that on the on the street unless you shout, “Hey! John, John...” he won’t turn around to look at you. God must hear our voice. Each time we say that we’re praying, is our voice heard by God? That’s the question. No, because how many times have you gone to pray and you start yawning. You go to pray, and you remember what this person or that person did to you, how you’ll get your own back, what you’ll do... It’s not possible for you to say that you’ve prayed tonight. That is why, only, when a person suffers bodily and spiritually, only then can he open the door to Christ.” I found this out myself during my own ordeal.

When I asked Fr. Philotheos for the first time if it was possible to communicate with God, he said to me, “What are you saying, son? The harder it seems, the easier it is. It’s enough to want it, to believe, to pray and the first step is confession and Holy Communion. Is that so difficult?”

I said to him, “If I do all that will I communicate with

God.”

“Yes” he said.

So for the first time I started to go to confession. God sent me elders of great spiritual stature because man cannot do anything alone, without the help of such spiritual people, like Elder Porphyrios and Elder Philotheos. That’s why we say, where are we going to find such spiritual people? We run to America to see doctors for our bodies, but we are indifferent about our souls. We are now orphans, and we don’t know what will happen.

Well, they talked and discussed for long enough... The archimandrite was now more aware of things and went away pleased.

Another time, a certain doctor came with his pregnant wife. The Elder blessed her belly with the sign of the cross. “What do you see, Elder?” she asked him. “Oh, my dear child, how can I tell you what I see? I see a mark on its face.” She became uneasy and said to him, “Tell me what kind of mark it is, what mark?”

“Here,” says the Elder, “his lip, it’s a little torn.” The child really was born with a torn lip.

One day an electrician was fixing something in pappoulis room. At some point he turned to the Elder and said, “Elder, I’m amazed, so many people have gathered outside, what do they expect from you?”

“Well,” said pappouli, “I tell each person a saying and then they leave.”

“Are they really so stupid, coming here just to be told a saying?” he said.

He replied, “Do you want me to tell you one of my sayings?”

“I’m listening. Elder” he said.

Then the Elder started to tell him all about his family problems, until the electrician said, “Stop, Elder, stop. How do you know about all that?” The pappouli said to him, “Eh! How do I know about all that, I can’t tell you now. Get on with your electrical work and we’ll talk about it another time...” The electrician was astounded... Then pappouli added, “Eh, those are the sayings that I tell them.”

“Forgive me, pappouli, I didn’t know.”

In the meantime in order to get there I had to make a 70 kilometer round trip. Sometimes I came and he was tired. “Come again some other time,” he told me, “because I’m tired.”

“But,” I said “I’ve come a long way.”

“It doesn’t matter.” he told me. I kissed his hand and left. I went there lots of times only to have him tell me, ‘I’m tired, not now Stavros!’ I would again kiss his hand and leave. One day, while on the way there, I said to myself, if he doesn’t receive me this time and I just kiss his hand and leave, I’ll try and force myself to improve, not to sin anymore. Then I won’t have to go anymore, I can’t, I haven’t got the strength, that is to say, I went with difficulty. I arrived and he said to me, “Oh dear, you’ve caught me again. I’m very tired.”

“Fine, pappouli, let us...”

“I want to tell you a story before you leave... A lady came and waited all day. She was the only one left and I was very tired. I said to her, ‘Oh dear, Madam, I’m tired again, what can I do? A lot of people have turned up around here... and I need to have my rest in order to talk.’ And she said, ‘This is no good, I’ll try not to sin anymore... then I won’t have to come again.’”

I said, “You’re talking about me?”

“At last you’ve understood.” he said to me laughingly.

One day I went to him and said, “I’m suffering, Elder, I’m going to America.”

“What are you going to do in America?” he said, “They won’t be able to do anything for you. Trifles.” In fact, I went and I suffered. It appeared that the cyst had grown on the spinal marrow again. I called him up and asked someone if I could speak with him. I said, “Elder, I’ve got cancer of the mouth, what shall I do?”

“I’ve got the same thing.” he said, “I’ve got the same disease. How did we both get the same disease.”

“You can overcome it.” I said, “What should I do? Will we go to America together?

“No.” he said, “I’ll go there where God tells me to go.”

“What,” I said “should I do?”

“Whatever God enlightens you,” he told me, “I can’t tell you anything.”

In fact, I went there, and they operated on me. They removed half my tongue and with the help of God I recovered and I’m here now. I brought him to my house. He made the sign of the cross over my mother who was partially paralyzed. I took him to other houses... I took him on another mission, I don’t remember it now. In any case, I would like to finish off by saying that even here I had not really understood that I was dealing with a man of God.

Q: When did you realize this Mr. Kalkandes?

A: When he died I said to myself, what did I have before me for eighteen years, and I didn’t take advantage of it spiritually? What a loss! Whatever we discussed, whatever we talked about, whatever he told me, it has remained with me. Now that he has left I have all those words before me. I’ll always remember them. I’m always returning to the events that we experienced together, because I knew him for eighteen years. Because he and I saw wonders.

God surrounded me with people of great spiritual stature, like Fr. Amphilochios, Fr. Philotheos, Fr. Athanasios and Fr. Porphyrios. Great spiritual stature. Holiness. Unfortunately, now we are orphaned and we don’t know where we’re going or we’ll end up. We run about here and there, like sheep who have lost their shepherd.

I took a lady to him for confession. One of her breasts had been removed, but she was now spiritually unwell. As she entered the Elder picked up his jacket, wrapped himself up and left for the forest. The lady turned to me and said, “Why did he leave? Where did he go? Why did he leave me?”

“Wait here,” I told her, “he’ll return.” He told me that he had gone to pray. When he returned he said, “Next to that woman’s spiritual problems, her cancer’s nothing. She has enormous problems. She is seriously ill spiritually. Eh! She is not one of those people that we can possibly help.” She did not return, of course, and she also died.

Another time pappouli said to me, “A tour bus is coming to the Convent. What will we do with them? Where shall we put them all?

“But where.” I said, “do you see the tour bus?”

“Well,” he said, in a short while you’ll see it too.” The tour bus really did arrive a short while later.

It was like I was wearing a veil over my face, which didn’t let the eyes of my soul to penetrate more deeply... When it fell then I saw all the events before me.

- “Their eyes were opened...”

- Yes. Then I understood what I had before me and I hadn’t taken advantage of it. I knew Fr. Philotheos very well for eighteen years. I also knew Fr. Amphilochios from Patmos... He told me many things. I knew and was surrounded by spiritual figures of great height... Giants.

- In our century God has given both our Church and Greece very many who were strong in spirit.

- Certainly...

- Very many... St. Nectarios, Philotheos, Porphyrios.

- We could say they were pure people. Real children, completely innocent people. They really communicated with God.

Panagiotis Sotirchos

Journalist, writer

Mr. Sotirchos, you had the good fortune to know Elder Porphyrios. We therefore ask you to talk about his personality and his holiness.

P.S.: The whole of Greece mourned the passing away of Elder Porphyrios, not just geographically, but universally, throughout the whole world.

It’s not only my personal opinion. All his spiritual children believed that. Elder Porphyrios is a holy person of great spiritual height, a true saint. All those who had the opportunity to know him well saw his sanctity in his silence, in his words and in his actions. I don’t say Elder Porphyrios is a saint because I believe it but because I feel it. I can’t help saying it. I can’t put it any other way, because he had all the characteristics of a saint.

We’ve already been honored by God with signs of Elder Porphyrios’ sanctity, not only while he was alive but immediately after his passing too.

I give the following testimony.

There was a very well educated man here in Athens who was a spiritual child of Elder Porphyrios for many years. Whenever he had a problem he would go to see the elder or simply phone him up. When Elder Porphyrios passed away this man was absent on business and so hadn’t learnt about his death.

When he returned to Athens he came across a family problem and, as always, sought the Elder’s advice. He picked up the telephone, dialed the Elder’s number and heard Elder Porphyrios himself answer the phone.

He greeted him, sought his blessing and then went on to tell him about his problem and to ask for some advice. Elder Porphyrios told him what to do and what not to do. The spiritual child was pleased and said, “I’ll come and see you, Elder, as soon as I can.” Elder Porphyrios then said, “Don’t telephone me again, because I have died.”

K.I.: That’s astonishing, Mr. Sotirchos, even to the point of being unbelievable.

P.S.: It really does appear to be unbelievable, Mr. Ioannides, but it’s not unbelievable. It’s simply a reflection of God’s love. As a well-known monk from the Holy Mountain said, if we were truly able to know God’s love for man, then, even now, we would be placed in paradise by it.

It’s God’s all-encompassing presence, even through his saints so that (please don’t think it an exaggeration, because personally I completely believe it.) as we talk, God’s grace gives Elder Porphyrios the blessing to hear what we’re saying. I’m trying to avoid saying that he’s standing in this room where we’re speaking.

Let me explain that. Whatever we say about Elder Porphyrios it’s not said to glorify him, because heaven has no need of the earth’s glory. Here on earth we are in a miserable state. These things happen to give us the chance to follow their example, “to imitate a saint is to honor a saint,” as Saint John Chrysostom says. It’s like the raft of salvation that the castaway searches for in order to be saved. I believe that this is what is needed more than anything else in our times. We must find the hand of God in the midst of the saints, one of whom, I believe, is Elder Porphyrios.

K.I.: Mr. Sotirchos you’ve known and even written about elders of Orthodoxy. Your book Mystical Ascents is one of the most important Orthodox books, that I have read in recent years.

P.S.: The experiences of the elders that they received with the help of God and with the help of an elder is the correct road for every Christian to take.

The relationship between an elder and spiritual child is both fatherly and filial. It’s part of the tradition of the Church from the very day of her foundation. It’s the principle that we ought to follow.

An elder’s existence is not the result of a personal decision. You don’t say, “I want to become an elder,” and it happens. It’s not enough to want it; you must give up your whole being. That’s what the elder does in his individual struggle.

It starts with purification (catharsis), through hard asceticism. It does not attempt to avoid matter, but primarily purifies our inner being. Purification is not something that is achieved easily. A material house is built brick by brick, the same is true of the process of purification.

After the first stage, which is purification, comes the second stage, God-given enlightenment. Elder Porphyrios was barely educated; he had only gone to elementary school. However, the whole world did not know what the Elder knew. Holiness is not a piece of knowledge. It is a condition, a power, a quality of God. The saint enters the life of God and acquires the gifts of the Holy Spirit.

At this point we must make a small departure, in order to say that grace is benevolent, but it is also painful for its bearer. Those who have grace also have pain. It’s enough for us to recall the suffering of St. Paul the Apostle and St. John Chrysostom. The same was true of Elder Porphyrios, even though he had enormous gifts he suffered from many diseases until the moment of his death.

After that comes the reward, the prize, the third stage theosis, which the Elder acquires without knowing it unknowingly. The Elder now functions like an instrument, a tool of Divine Grace.

When he has the gift of discernment, or foresight, or healing, or whatever other pastoral gift, it functions in a completely natural way. It is just like doing all the other things in life, like breathing, thinking, talking, and so on. The gifts of the Holy Spirit are imparted in this natural way, just like a mirror reflecting the light of the sun.

K.I.: Elder Porphyrios’ spiritual beam was so bright and so strong that whatever anyone says about that holy man is not enough.

P.S.: The blessed Elder was one of the greatest contemporary figures of true spiritual holiness. His chief characteristics were his immense humility, meekness, and prayer. This triptych truly showed us the figure of a saint as bequeathed to us by our Orthodox tradition.

K.I.: As you’ve quite rightly mentioned, Elder Porphyrios belongs to the great patristic tradition of our Church. The discernment that he had was striking. He helped everybody move one step forward. It was always a complete offering, service and ministry to his fellows.

P.S.: Elder Porphyrios had many gifts and each one complemented the others.

He had boundless long-suffering and spiritual mercy not only for all his spiritual children, but for all his visitors. Thousands of people went and visited him in his cell. The greater part of Greece’s spiritual elect respected him, visited him, and obeyed him.

He taught love by practical example. His basic sermon was love towards God. He wanted us to love God so that we could love people, the world, every single thing.

He was an ascetic for over seventy years. From his childhood until his extreme old age he was a man who continually exercised and struggled for himself and for his spiritual children. That’s why God gave him so many gifts. Amongst others, the gifts of discernment, foresight, prophecy, and especially his wonderworking prayer. It is well-known that he healed many people from some very serious diseases.

Many academics characteristically went to him for advice, either before making an important decision or before an academic conference, or, in the case of doctors, before a major operation.

K.I.: “The humble people cried unto the Lord and the wisemen of the world were admonished and their wisdom melted like wax.”

P.S.: Exactly.

Elder Porphyrios was a great blessing from God upon all of us.

Before we continue, however, it would be good to make some clarifications. Discernment is the gift of the Holy Spirit, where the soul of the believer can see through people and things.

The gift of foresight is when man knows the events from God before they happen. This gift is complemented by the gift of prophecy, which gives a fuller forecast of the future. That’s why many faithful instead of calling him Father Porphyrios called him Father Prophet, an example of the impact his spiritual work made.

K.I.: Elder Porphyrios’ eyes saw what we can’t see.

P.S.: Elder Porphyrios knew the details of time and space. The extent to which he saw things, people and events that happened in the past, that happen in the present, and that will happen in the future is incredible. He saw all these things without actively looking for them.

You are, I imagine, aware of the fact that he saw the Turkish invasion of Cyprus.

K.I.: Yes.

P.S.: On that terrible morning, at dawn on the 20th July 1974, he jumped up out of bed and woke up his company. “At this hour,” he told them, “the Turks are entering Cyprus.”

K.I.: He even indicated to them the exact spots where the Turks were landing at that hour. Let us proceed from this addition, as we have recorded this shocking experience from others.[1]

P.S.: Yes.

K.I.: We’re waiting with great anticipation, Mr. Sotirchos for you to tell us more.

P.S.: I would like to thank you for giving me the opportunity to share some of my astounding experiences with your fellow Cypriots.

Once, the Elder set off for a monastery with three of his spiritual children to celebrate Vespers.

At first they said they would go on foot. However, after walking some distance, Elder Porphyrios became tired, and the monastery was still quite far away. They decided to find a vehicle to take them the rest of the way.

At that moment, a taxi appeared in the distance. The Elder’s three lay companions told him that they would wave it down and ask the driver to take them to the monastery. “Don’t worry,” he told them, “the taxi-driver will stop anyway. But when we get into the cab, no-one is to speak to the driver; I’m the only one who’ll speak to him.”

That’s exactly what happened. The taxi-driver stopped without them waving him down, they got in and the Elder told the driver their destination.

When the taxi set off the driver began to put the clergy down and to blame them for a thousand and one different things. Each time that he said something he addressed it to the three laymen sitting in the back seat of the cab. “It’s like that isn’t it, you guys? What do you say?” They kept their lips tightly shut and didn’t say a word, just as the Elder had told them.

When the driver saw that the others weren’t answering him he turned to Elder Porphyrios and said, “Isn’t that the way it is, pappouli? What do you say? The things they write in the papers are true, aren’t they?”

Then Elder Porphyrios said to him, “My son, I’ll tell you a little story. I’ll tell you it only once, you won’t need to hear it a second time.

There once was a man from a certain place (he named it), who had an elderly neighbor with a large property. One night he killed him and buried him. Then using false papers he got hold of his elderly neighbor’s property and sold it. And do you know what he bought with the money that he got from selling the property? He bought a taxi.

The moment the taxi-driver heard the story, he was so shaken, that he pulled over to the side of the road, and shouted, “Don’t say anything pappouli. Only you and I know about it.”

“God also knows about it,” Elder Porphyrios answered. “He told me so that I could tell you. See to it that you change your way of life from now on.”

K.I.: You mean to say, Mr. Sotirchos, that Elder Porphyrios saw, with his gift of foresight, that the taxi-driver had committed murder.

P.S.: Exactly.

K.I.: That’s more than astonishing.

P.S.: When talking or hearing about the wonders of Elder Porphyrios’ life one really does find one thing more astonishing than the other. Elder Porphyrios was really a spiritual giant. His journey here on earth was a journey entirely towards holiness.

K.I.: Mr. Sotirchos, could we please hear about one more event. One never becomes tired of hearing stories about Elder Porphyrios.

P.S.: One day, a spiritual child of Elder Porphyrios phoned him from South Africa, where he lived, to seek his advice about some problem he had.

As they were speaking on the phone Elder Porphyrios said to him, “What’s happening there? Is it still raining or has it stopped?” Can you imagine it, the Elder in Greece knew that it was raining in South Africa that day.

The caller knew about Elder Porphyrios’ gifts of discernment and foresight. When he finished his own conversation he said, “Elder, I also have a friend of mine here who would like to speak with you, to receive your blessing.” He said it without mentioning his friend’s name, he simply said, “a friend of mine.”

The friend picked up the receiver and heard the Elder say, “Good Evening X, my child.” X was taken aback. Immediately afterwards he heard the Elder ask him, “How are your four girls?” And then, “Pay attention to your oldest daughter she has problems and could be making a big mistake.”

I must make it clear at this point that Elder Porphyrios didn’t know this man and had never met him. When he heard what Elder Porphyrios said to him he became soaked in his sweat from the shock. He had realized that he had spoken to a true saint. This incident shows that Elder Porphyrios didn’t only care about his spiritual children but about each human soul.

K.I.: That was the greatness of Elder Porphyrios’ love; it truly overwhelmed you from the first moment you saw him, spoke with him or telephoned him.

P.S.: Elder Porphyrios’ great and fundamental ascetic effort, apart from his humility, vigil and fasting, was prayer. Through his prayer he could see events in the past, in the present and in the future. When a Professor from the Polytechnic University was going to attend some European conference, he went to get the Elder’s blessing. There they spoke about astronomy. As the professor himself told us, Elder Porphyrios told him what he would encounter at the conference and what he should do.

During the conference, the professor saw that everything Elder Porphyrios had told him beforehand came true. He was so moved that, not only did he become a most humble spiritual child of Elder Porphyrios, but he visited the Elder’s Convent at Milessi regularly and humbled himself by doing manual labor there.

People didn’t only come to see him from within Greece, but they came from all over the world, even from as far away as Japan. They went and put all their problems, worries and whatever else troubled them to him, and he helped all of them with lots of love, humbleness, gentleness and prayer -most of all prayer.

In one of our conversations, (I was blessed enough to see him many times), he said to me, “There are elders who can cover the whole of Greece when they stretch their arms out in prayer.” He didn’t say if it was himself or someone else that he was talking about.

K.I.: Every time I met Elder Porphyrios I felt as if our conversation was a spiritual banquet. I was greatly impressed by the freedom he allowed to the person who spoke with him. I saw all of Orthodoxy’s freedom embodied within his face.

P.S.: Elder Porphyrios never forced anyone to do anything and he never suggested anything that would infringe upon another’s freedom. He didn’t want us to lord it over others, he wanted us to respect others. The holiness within him meant that he saw the world with infinite compassion.

With the freedom, as you said, that he gave to those who spoke with him, he helped them realize in the best possible way that they were going along the wrong path. He always said that we should keep away from sects.

A basic quality of his was that he accepted everybody. He welcomed agnostics and atheists. He even welcomed gurus, without judging or criticizing anybody for their beliefs. However, to all of them he pointed out that the truth is found in Christ and in the Orthodox Christian Faith.

One of the Elder’s major attributes was to be accepting - to accept all things and all people. He was, to put it more simply, an exact copy of the way God acts towards us in order for us to become better, to be cleansed and to advance towards salvation. That was Elder Porphyrios’ practice. He never criticized anybody but captivated everybody. He had the grace of transforming people.

I’ll tell you a typical incident involving a French woman, a professor. She had heard about the Elder’s gift of discernment and wanted to test him.

This French lady had attended a conference in Japan on the subject of gurus. Anyway, she went and saw the Elder without telling him that she had taken part in the conference.

Elder Porphyrios let the conversation flow freely, as he always did. The French lady said whatever she wanted to say and at some point in the discussion they found themselves talking about gurus. He then said to her, “There was a certain gentleman sitting next to you at that conference you attended a few days ago, didn’t he tell you something about the subject of the question you’re asking me now?” He also named the gentleman, who was a Christian.

The French lady felt as if she had been struck by lightning. She really had talked about that subject with the person whom Elder Porphyrios named. She then realized that Elder Porphyrios was a person enlightened by God.

K.I.: His words were full of fatherly wisdom. What else can you tell us, Mr. Sotirchos?

P.S.: He advised us to use gentle words when we said something to someone to avoid the element of confrontation. He gave the following example. “If you need to tell someone he is lying, don’t tell him that he’s telling lies, because naturally he’ll become hurt and will react. Tell him that he is not telling the truth.”

The greatest weapon for the salvation of us all is tolerance. This compassion comes to us from God and we in turn must give it to others as a present in return.

K.I.: He was highly inoffensive, an expression of his meekness.

P.S.: That was another of the Elder’s virtues. It’s also the reason why whoever spoke with him felt that whatever we’ve done as fallen beings, God’s mercy would come to liberate us. It’s enough to just seek his mercy, to call upon it with prayer and with a clean lifestyle.

In his farewell letter he writes, “I always made the effort to pray and to read the hymns of the church, may you also do the same.” He showed us a road that we could follow and find the help and support that is so important in these trying times in which we live.

K.I.: He knew that I wrote poetry. He knew it before I had even met him. When some friends of my wife were telling him about our wedding he said, “Yes, I know, she married a poet and philosopher.” Take note that no-one, not even my wife, had managed to tell him that I studied philosophy and wrote poetry.

In one of our conversations, he told me that the saints are poets and the Christ wants refined people next to him, like the true poets.

P.S.: This evolution, this development, not in the worldly sense, but in the spiritual sense, is the subject of my latest book with the title, “The Poet and the Saint.”

In the book I put forward that in life’s river, we have the poet on one bank and the saint on the other. Both of them are reaching out to meet one another. At the point at which they meet we find the Christian writer, the Christian poet, who gives us poetry according to God, in Christ, feeling and expressing the world in another way, in a renewed way. This re-birth gives him God’s holiness, which passes into life and meets man. I gained great joy from the fact, which you mentioned, that the late Elder told you that Christ wants refined people near him, because I’ve always thought that a person is refined when he manages to throw off the passions of this world, and thus open the closed door which prevents us from approaching Christ. We thus become more accepting of God’s mercy.

Κ.Ι.: May the grace of Holy Spirit help all of us to accept this blessing from heaven, always allowing us to remember Elder Porphyrios, who bore so much witness to life according to God.

P.S.: I personally have the conviction that he is a true saint of our time. I would like to make one wish, -that this conviction, the conviction of thousands of people, is for Elder Porphyrios to become known throughout the Church and to be recognized ‘officially’ as a saint of our Church. We have a need of such examples.

I ask him to pray for all of us, as I believe that he lives in the land of the living, in the tabernacles of the saints, and that he speaks openly before God.

One more wish, that all those who have any kind of testimony from a meeting or conversation with the Elder write it down and present it to us, so that everything can be gathered together now while the memory of his passing is still fresh in our minds.

K.I.: Mr. Sotirchos I would like to give you our warmest thanks for the important things that you’ve told us and for all your advice regarding the selection of material for this current edition.

[1]  In July 1974 Elder Porphyrios traveled by car with three of his spiritual children to Mt. Athos. On the 20th of July 1974 he could be found in the village Metamorphosis Halkhidiki, where he had stopped to visit a monastery. There he heard the news of the Turkish invasion on the radio. He remained thoughtful and ‘saw’ that this situation was part of the development of a greater plan, as he told his companions. The radio had announced a call-up of reserves and one of his companions was required to report to the assembly point at Tyrnavos, all four of them took the car and headed for home. The reservist reported for duty somewhere in Tyrnavos. The Elder and the rest of the party spent the night in a hotel. The next day the Elder determined that it was unnecessary for them to remain, since the recruits name could not be found in the army directories. They went and picked him up, finally returning to Athens. One evening, during the journey, the Elder turned to one of his spiritual children and said that an important Turk was highly irritated because things were not going so well for them. He said that officers and leaders were coming and going giving orders and directions.

We were told this at the Convent founded by the Elder, by two of his spiritual children who spoke to us.

N.N.

Theologian

[Some introductory remarks, written by the Holy Convent “The Transfiguration of the Saviour,” for the reader to correctly understand the following conversation.]

“For my thoughts are not your thoughts,” says the Lord. (Is. 55:8) And the Holy Prophet inquires “Who has directed the Spirit of the Lord or as his counselor has taught him?” (Is. 40:13)

The Lord, who is all-wise and sinless, was misunderstood many times. He was the subject of gossip and the butt of rebuke. He was denounced for going into a sinners house as his guest (Lk. 19:7); because He ate with publicans and sinners (Matt.9:11); because He accepted myrrh, instead of insisting that its price be given to the poor (Mk. 14:4); because He healed on the Sabbath (Jn.9:16); because He forgave sins (Luke 5:21); because he said that he would rebuild God’s temple in three days (Mk. 15:29); because He taught that we must eat of His flesh if we want to be saved (Jn.6:48-69); because He allowed His disciples to eat with unwashed hands (Mk. 7:2); because He allowed a sinful woman to touch Him (Lk. 7:39); because He did not get down from the cross (Matt.27:40-41); because He did not fast (Matt.9:14); because... because... because.

Therefore it is not unusual if God’s friends are also misunderstood by their fellows, by people who are unable to understand the deeper meaning and ultimate purpose of their actions. Neither is it unusual for the actions of Elder Porphyrios, which are discussed later by the theologian N.N., to have been misunderstood by some of our fellows. That is to say N.N. went to Elder Porphyrios at the request of others, to show them exactly where they could find some hidden money. Let us, dear friends, look upon this in a good light and let us think about the good and hidden reasons which the Elder looked to. Let us not accept the evil thoughts, presented to us by the Evil One, supposing that he went there because he was greedy for money. Who knows if his involvement in the whole affair was not grounds for some people to get to know Christ better and to become more faithful members of the Church.

Let us remember what Paul the Apostle tells us, “Yet he who is spiritual judges all things yet he himself is rightly judged by no-one.” (1 Cor.2:15). That is to say nobody can uncover the depth of the soul and reasoning of the spiritual man who lives in the Holy Spirit. Let us put our minds at rest, accepting the fact that the Elder had a good reason for doing what he did when he did.

We should accept it, because another time he did something quite different. Once he was walking among the trees he had planted, at his Convent in Milessi, and talking to his visitors in turn. Suddenly two or three well-dressed gentlemen arrived in a great big Mercedes and went up to him. However, because he was talking to someone else they waited until he finished. Then the Elder started to tell that person the following story:

There once was a patient at the mental hospital in Daphni, who had a bucket of water and a paintbrush and “painted” some wall with water. A visitor who noticed him was puzzled and asked him what he was doing. The patient answered, “Can’t you see? I’m painting.”

The ‘healthy’ man gaped at him. The ‘mentally ill’ man then started up a conversation. He told him the following:

“Look at me, my relatives shut me up here so that they could waste my money. I had a lot of money, thousands of pounds, but I’m smarter than them, and I’ve caught them out. Do you see that little tree up there on top of the hill? Hey! I dug around the roots and buried the money. I’m waiting to get out to go and get it.”

The ‘healthy’ man’s eyes nearly popped out of his head when he looked at the hill and the tree. He nearly fainted from his desire to get hold of the hidden money, but he kept calm and acted casually.

“What’s that you’re telling me? Are you telling the truth?”

Then the ‘mentally ill’ man answered, “Of course I’m telling the truth. Why should I lie to you?”

The ‘healthy’ man left shortly afterwards. However, as he left he did not take his eyes off the hill and the little tree, so that he would not lose its location and would be able to place it again. That night he took a pick and shovel and dug all around it to find the gold sovereigns, but he didn’t find them. He couldn’t believe that all his hopes were in vain, so he went to Daphni again, the very next day. There he found the ‘mentally ill man doing the same job, painting with water. He casually started up a conversation. At one point he said, “Under what tree did you say you hid the money, yesterday?”

“There, under that one.” the patient replied, and pointed to the same tree that he had shown him the day before. Then the ‘healthy’ man said, “Hey, you didn’t make a mistake did you? There’s nothing there. I dug all night long and I didn’t find a thing.”

Then the ‘mentally ill’ man answered him with depth, saying, “Take the bucket and start painting.” (Meaning - you are the same as me, and you should also paint with water, without getting results.)

The lady who was being told this story by the Elder, could not understand what relevance it had to her. She was puzzled and asked why she was being told it. However, before the Elder could reply, he was interrupted. The well-dressed gentlemen who had arrived in the Mercedes were standing nearby and heard the story. They said, “He was talking about us. We understood.”

These men really were looking for treasure, they heard that the Elder could ‘see’ with his gift of discernment, and they went to him to get the details. They got their answer from the Elder without even asking for it. They left satisfied and persuaded that the Elder really did see their hidden thoughts.

***

K.I.: When and under what circumstances did you get to know Elder Porphyrios?

N.N.: The circumstances in which I met the Elder go back to 1956. At that time, in Thessaly, where I lived, they were making the preparations to dam up the Megdova Lake. Partisan and Allied forces had stayed in that area during the time of the German Occupation and they received a lot of money. However, since the Germans hunted down the English and the Partisans, they were often forced to bury their money, their gold sovereigns, and to leave.

After the armistice - after 1950 - people started returning to their villages. Many people from that region had left and gone to live abroad in Tashkent.

One gentleman wrote a letter to his wife saying that in some field of theirs (he stated the precise location, under a particular tree) there were two barrels of yellow corn.

His wife, of course, didn’t understand what ‘yellow corn’ meant. She showed the letter to her brother-in-law, her husband’s brother, and asked him what her husband meant. “It means,” he told her, “that there are two barrels full of sovereigns in that spot.”

Many years had passed, and nature had transformed the place, the trees had grown and they were unable to tell which tree it was that marked the spot, where the buried barrels could be found some meters away. The man’s brother started searching.

He was seized by the guards there, that is to say the Home Defense Force (M.E.A.). They arrested him because they said that he supposedly had left-wing connections and so on, and they thought that he was looking for guns.

When they went to the captain, the commanding officer, the brother told the truth and explained exactly what was going on. He even showed them the letter that his brother had sent him. The commanding officer, the captain, reprimanded him and then released him. His intentions, of course, were wholly dishonest, since he had read the letter, and now knew the location of the money.

Here I must add that there were other people who knew that money was hidden during the retreat from the Germans. Afterwards, some found money and others did not. Now that the lake was in danger of being dammed up, and of the whole area being flooded with water, everybody who could hurried in the fastest way possible and with the means then available to them to find the money.

The captain came to an understanding with some teacher, who was also a partisan, but one of Zerva’s men, along with a second cousin of mine. The teacher knew about the instances of hidden money. The three of them had gotten hold of a metal detector and looked for the exact location, but they were unsuccessful.

During that period of time, we are talking about the year 1956 now, they learnt that there was a priest at the chapel of St. Gerasimos, within the Polyclinic, who had a gift and was able to find water and even money.

Therefore, since the metal detector was no help, they contacted, and later visited, Father Porphyrios. They told him about the situation, and he saw, with his gift, (Even though he could be found in Athens, he was able to transport himself and to examine the place, that the others had described to him) that there really was money in that place, and that it ought to be found.

They told him that the money could not be found. They had tried but to no avail. I don’t know how the others managed it, but in this particular situation those three could not find the two barrels.

They met the Elder many times and the three of them pressured the Elder into going there. Then one day they actually took him and drove him up to Karditsa, because Megdova falls within the area of Karditsa, up to the village there in the area of Mesinicola. So they took the Elder to Karditsa and put him up at the hotel “Ami,” as it was called then -and is still called today. They booked a room for him for the night with the agreement that in the morning they would get up and go to Megdova to find the money.

The three friends, the captain, the teacher and my cousin, who worked here in Athens at the hotel “Kypros,” which can be found today in Kotzias Square (the offices of the Postal Service), went home. They intended to get up in the morning, to collect the Elder and to go to the area of Megdova to find the money.

However, in the morning, the Elder woke up very early, and caught the bus before the other three got there.

The three met up and went to fetch the Elder, without knowing that he had gone. When they arrived at the hotel, they were informed that the Elder had woken up very early and had left. They had no idea where he had gone. However, the bus company told them that Father Porphyrios Bairaktares had left for Athens on the first bus from Karditsa.

They were understandably upset and started asking one another why this had happened to them. In the midst of the discussion, as they later revealed to me, the notion prevailed that perhaps it was because they didn’t talk about spiritual matters with the Elder, but always about money. Maybe the Elder had become tired of the matter and wanted to find some way of avoiding their company. They thought of lots of other things. Each one of them offered his own opinion.

However, in the end the opinion prevailed that he probably left because it was impossible for him to understand them. Maybe someone who had something to do with theology would be able to communicate with and convince the Elder. Time was running out and the lake would definitely be dammed up and the water would soon cover everything.

My cousin remembered me. I was then a high-school teacher in the town of Trikala. He said to them, “I’ve got a cousin who is a theologian. I think that he’ll be able to approach the Elder and speak to him, convincing him to find us the money.”

That was the solution they ended up with. They sent me an urgent telegram, from Athens, telling me to come down there immediately.

I didn’t know the reason for my invitation, but since our families were on good terms I had to travel down to Athens after school, even though it was Saturday. (At that time schools were open on Saturdays.) I took the bus from Trikala straight after class. I went and met up with my cousin, at the Hotel Kypros where he worked, with the idea that something serious had happened.

When he saw me he said, “You know, I have, we have, great need of your presence.”

“Why, what’s up? What’s the matter?”

He then told me the whole story, just as I’ve now told it. “And now what do you want with me? How can I be useful?”

“I would like you to approach that priest, and if possible, try to convince him with your manner to come with us to find the money.”

At first I thought that it was certainly going to be a little difficult. How was I going to convince him, since the others had contacted him and talked to him about it, and he had simply gotten up and left them? Neither could I understand, young man that I was, how someone could possibly locate a place that had water, or where water could be found, or other different objects and so on. How he could point out specifically where these objects were. Or the fact that many people in Attica had invited him to different places to find water etc. and he had, as my cousin told me, helped them.

I was convinced, and the following Sunday (I don’t remember the exact date, but it was September) I went to St. Gerasimos’ very early in the morning. The Elder could be found at the credence table and was making preparations for the Divine Liturgy.

I was used to helping at the altar so I went to the altar. The Elder was completely occupied with the preparation of the Holy Gifts. I waited for the moment when the Elder would finish and I could greet him, that is to say, to kiss his hand and to come into contact with him for the first time.

Then, after a very long time, when he had covered over the credence, I also turned, bowed down to him and kissed his hand.

The Elder greeted me with these words:

“Welcome, Are you a theologian?”

“Yes, Elder.”

“Since you’re here, you’ll speak to us.”

“If I have your blessing...”

Of course, I answered like that because I was thinking craftily. I wanted to create a pleasant situation and in some way I would get the chance to approach him and bring up the matter, which I had taken in hand.

The Elder’s suggestion that I should speak was a great opportunity for me. So I thought. However, certain other thoughts and ideas came to mind. How does he know me? Has he seen me someplace before? How did I give him the impression that I’m a theologian etc. ? Was it only from my external appearance or was it because I turned up at the altar?

I was troubled and kept questioning myself. Unfortunately, however, my crafty plan was to use his suggestion as a point of contact and to talk to him. about the matter which I had undertaken. So I agreed to the suggestion and started to think about what I should say.

I hadn’t thought about the Gospel reading for that day, so after a moment’s reflection I said to him, “Elder, may I look at the Gospel reading? The sermon shouldn’t be a last minute thing. One really ought to prepare, however since you suggested it, I’ll do it.”

He gave me the Gospel, I read the passage and after I had finished he came up to me and said, “When are you going to speak? After the Gospel reading or after communion, when more people will have come, so more can benefit?”

Our conversation continued and he started to become more familiar, without even asking me what my name was.

We came to an agreement and the Divine Liturgy continued. Here, I must add, that it was the first time that I met Elder Porphyrios, and I really felt his presence in the Divine Liturgy.

He had a brilliant countenance and he made a great impression on me. Of course he always had it. He was full of light, he had a bright face, but during the Liturgy, he had something, let us say, marvelous. It was the first time I had met him and I thought that it was something quite natural.

The second thing that made an impression on me was the way he prayed. He did it in such a manner, that it appeared as if he was talking with someone he saw opposite him.

All the above helped me with my ideas and my preparation.

Finally, the time for communion came. I received his blessing and gave the sermon. At the end of the Liturgy he gave communion to the faithful and then consumed what remained. While he prepared to remove his vestments, he came to where I was sitting and without saying anything else called me by my Christian name.

“Hey Nick! How did they manage to send you here today?”

Then, when I heard that piece of information, which was known only to the other three and myself, I was completely lost. Nobody else knew about it.

I wanted to justify myself, but before I could say anything, he said to me, “Because you didn’t come to Church here on your own accord. They sent you and you came.”

I suddenly answered him at that moment, “Yes, Elder, that’s the truth.” I then told him how it all happened.

“Listen to what I’m telling you. Those people are no good.”

“I don’t think so, Elder. Why?”

I was judging from my knowledge of my cousin; I hardly knew the teacher, hardly at all.

“No,” he said to me, “they’re not good people... You know...(he recounted all the effort they had made to convince him.) They came and asked me many times. There really is money in the area of Megdova in the exact spot that they talked about. Seeing that they had asked me, I said ‘I might as well go and help them out. The money exists and we’ve got the details in the letter from Tashkent. The money ought to be found so that it won’t go to waste.’ Because all of the money and many other things which could be found around will be lost along with the lake.

I asked him why he said they were bad. He said to me:

“They’ll have told you that I agreed to go with them. I got as far as Karditsa. That night that I stayed in the hotel, and they went home. What they won’t have told you is that one of them was thinking about killing me the following day, - after finding the money. He wanted to make sure of their share in the money and that I wouldn’t turn them into some authority who would arrest them for the money they took. That moment, I thought about whether it was right for a soul to be lost because of the money (because he would commit murder.) That’s why I decided to leave by bus first thing in the morning. That’s why I’m telling you that they’re bad people. They are not good people...”

When the Elder told me that I was stunned. I couldn’t bring up any more arguments to convince him that it really wasn’t like that, that things were somewhat different and that he really ought to agree to go and find the money. I became silent. He gave me his blessing. He also gave me some more information that I asked for, but the fact that he revealed those things to me put me in a difficult position. I was embarrassed. I received his blessing and left. However, he told me that he wanted to see me again.

I, with inner curiosity and let’s call it disbelief, was unable to imagine that one person could do good and that another person could think about doing evil to them.

I didn’t want to reveal anything to all the others. I went to the place where they were waiting for me after the liturgy and told them that under no circumstances would the Elder agree. Each one of them gave their opinions. Unfortunately, they expressed them a little improperly.

After the other two had left, my cousin persisted and said to me, “What happened? What did he tell you? Only that? Why did he leave?”

Faced with my cousin’s persistence I told him exactly what happened. I told him how the meeting went, how I got my chance, how it all sprung from the Elder with his gift, and which, of course, up until that time (I’m obliged to say) I didn’t realize he had. I saw him; I heard him; I inwardly believed; I was shaken by what I heard, but I was unable, at that moment, to comprehend Elder Porphyrios’ holiness.

However when I told my cousin he denied it and said “no way.” He was also an honest man and I swore him to secrecy, saying to him,”Promise that you’ll tell no-one. Did you think about doing such a thing?”

“No, no way.”

“Well then, out of respect towards the Elder, you’ll tell me, from the contact you had with the captain and the teacher, did either of them have those intentions.”

My cousin later told me that, many days later, during the meetings and conversations, which the three of them had about the whole matter together, the teacher said to the other two, “I was right in thinking that the priest would turn us in to the police. I also thought about slitting his throat as soon as we found the money.”

My cousin was stunned and after a long while he told me about it. So, what exactly happened between those three and the Elder was confirmed for me. It was all true and all very revealing. It helped me clear up some doubts that I had and to accept Father Porphyrios’ holy capabilities.

The truth is that the teacher continued to look for money in other areas. He was killed in an automobile accident, in the area of Amphikleia, two months later, in December. The accident shook up the other two, because only then did my cousin reveal what actually happened to the captain.

These were the circumstances under which I got to know the Elder and with the passing of time I became very close to him. He became my spiritual father and my whole family and I had the particular good fortune to receive his blessings.

K.I.: Those stunning events happened in 1956, Mr. N.

N.N.: From then on I saw the Elder often. He also always reminded me from then on about that sermon in the chapel of the Polyclinic. He would say to me, “Do you remember how we met, Nick?”

I must admit though, that during the first years of our acquaintance, I didn’t understand a lot of things. We were used to considering that saints were something that belonged to the past, even at Theological School. I was unable to imagine that there was a saint right next to me.

One day many years later, when I had finally reached the point of understanding, I asked him, “Elder, I’ve known you for so many years, you’ve told me so many things, a lot has happened, but I wasn’t able to grasp everything completely. Since you loved me so much and gave me so much advice, why didn’t you tell me about it?” His answer was this, “You couldn’t bear it then. Now that you can bear it, I can tell you.”

K.I.: Mr. N., you knew the Elder for thirty-five whole years. After knowing him for so long you must be an inexhaustible source of experiences and information about that holy man.

Ν.Ν.: I told you about my friendship with the Elder. I’ll now tell you about two further events. So many things happened between the first time and the last time that we met, that I would prefer to keep to those times.

K.I.: As you wish.

N.N.: In October 1990, I was not in a good spiritual state because of various problems, and I was tried by unbearable temptations.

I didn’t even have the strength to pray. It was a peculiar thing; for days on end instead of any other prayer. I said, “My God, I am a sinner. I don’t know how to talk to you.”

Then, I remembered what the Elder often told me, “Do you know what a great gift God gave us, Nick, when he gave us the right to talk to Him every hour, every moment, in whatever situation we found ourselves? It’s the greatest honor we have. That’s why we ought to love God.”

Finding myself in such a sad spiritual state, I went to see Elder Porphyrios with three friends of mine. The others went in first and I followed.

When I went in, he said to me, “Sit down, sinner.” When he said that, I realized that he had been following the spiritual state that I’d been reduced to.

While lying on his bed, a sickly man, with numerous illnesses, he found the strength to get up and he spoke to me, as though he was angry, “Say something else, Nick, instead of saying ‘I am a sinner, I am a sinner’ all the time.” He continued, as if he were angry, “Say something else to God. Pray. Don’t you understand that it was from temptation? Couldn’t you resist?”

Upon leaving, I told one of the three friends, who had gone with me that day, what Elder Porphyrios had said to me. My friend told me that the Elder had corrected a word in the prayer he said. He told him, “John, that word shouldn’t be said like that, but like this.”

K.I.: He was interested in everything and cared for everybody.

N.N.: Let me tell you about one more experience with that holy man.

K.I.: We’re listening with great pleasure and undivided interest.

N.N.: A young lady, a friend of mine, was engaged. At one stage, some differences between her and her fiance cropped up. Neither the girl, nor her mother, who knew about the whole affair, told the father what was happening. At one particular moment, during the course of things, it looked like the engagement was going to be broken off.

One afternoon, Elder Porphyrios called my home. I was absent at the time, he told my wife to tell me to go and see him as soon as possible.

I went to the Elder straight away, who started talking about the girl’s fiance, as soon as I went in. He started describing his character to me and telling me that he was a reliable fellow. I had no idea about the differences that the girl had with her fiance and couldn’t understand why he was telling me those things. “Elder,” I asked, “Why are you telling me this? What’s happening?”

He replied, “Her parents are a couple of egotists and they gave birth to another egotist. Instead of doing what she should do, before God, she judges everything in a worldly way. That’s why she misunderstood certain things and is now ready to break off her engagement. Her fiance may have been a little misled by his family, but he’s basically a good chap.”

When I returned home I called the girl’s mother and the girl herself. I told them what Elder Porphyrios had told me. I asked them both to go and see the Elder the next morning and to talk with him. They went; the matter was sorted out, and the girl got married. She now lives happily with her husband and children.

That was Elder Porphyrios to whom I owe so much. He has left this world. However, I firmly believe that he is always watching over us and strengthening us. Both my family and I feel that he is now even closer to us - very very close to us - even regarding solutions to our problems.

K.I.: Mr.N., Please accept our warmest thanks for everything that you had the kindness to tell us, during our discussion. What you told us once more clearly confirms the words from the Wisdom of Solomon, “Grace and mercy are found in His saints, and oversight (authority) in His elect.”

Andreas Tillyrides[1]

Theologian, Writer, Ph.D.

Mr. Andreas Tillyrides, a Cypriot, is the director of the Seminary School “Archbishop Makarios III” in Nairobi, Kenya. During the past fifteen years he had the truly great blessing of seeing Elder Porphyrios many times. He will tell us about some of those priceless experiences in our short conversation that we’ll now have.

Mr. Tillyrides, let us start with your first acquaintance with the great Elder, so that we can then see how your relationship developed.

A.T.: I was near the end of my studies in Athens. Of course, I had heard a lot about Elder Porphyrios. The Elder then lived at Kallissia. I was led there by my dear friend, Mr. Constantine Scouteris, a professor at Athens University.

The first, strong, impression that I got from that first meeting was the great love that he showed towards each person who approached him. He had an attitude of fatherly care and concern for all his visitors.

From that time on I would visit him at least two times a year without fail.

K.I.: Elder Porphyrios was an entire cosmos, a godly figure with much holiness and many gifts from the Holy Spirit.

Α.Τ.: He really was a source of spiritual repose. He was a wise teacher. Whoever met Elder Porphyrios felt that he was a man of inner prayer. He was himself captivated by divine love and wanted to pass it on to whoever visited him. He was the kind of man who loved God with his entire soul. He himself had established that only this love leads to salvation.

Conversation with the Elder had a distinct meaning for each person who talked with him. My closeness to him demonstrated that he felt our pulses -that’s the term. He had a personal prescription for everyone.

The surprising thing was that he knew absolutely everything that concerned the person he was talking with. He knew about things that you had never even told him about. He always gave the most appropriate prescription by which you found the solution yourself.

K.I.: Could you mention any particular occasions?

A.T.: I was about midway in my relationship with him when I decided to ask his opinion about various problems that troubled me regarding some doubts and questions about what I should do with my life.

I planned what I was going to say to him, classifying it in my mind and placing the questions that I would put to him in numerical order.

Well, I went there and sat by him. Before I could tell him anything, he started to enumerate my different questions in the exact order and manner that I had thought them out. Exactly like I had decided to put it to him.

I was dumbfounded, of course. In my amazement I didn’t know what to say. He knew about absolutely everything that concerned me, in the finest detail. It is due to Elder Porphyrios that I was able to overcome my difficulties and to come to the decision to remain at my post in Africa.

Κ.Ι.: And to continue your vital missionary work there.

A.T.: The whole time I spoke to him I was inspired by his hope, joy and optimism. Things that have remained undiminished within me. From that time on, (life, you know, is very difficult in Africa. It’s not just the other kinds of difficulties, it’s also the various diseases there), I felt a boundless joy within me, a kind of delight, which often seems to be unexplainable. I am positive that it is his prayer that helps me to stay and continue my work in Africa.

Elder Porphyrios tried and succeeded in imparting all his enthusiasm to the person talking with him. The prescriptions that he gave, (that’s how I took his advice, like a prescription), came from a true physician of both soul and body. They really came from God.

K.I.: All of that demonstrates that Elder Porphyrios had the Holy Spirit present within him.

A.T.: Yes. He had the grace of the Holy Spirit. It explains how he was able to help everyone, giving each person their proper direction in life. His words were words of life for each person that sought his advice. There was never a case of someone approaching him and not getting the appropriate medicine.

K.I.: You put it very well, Mr. Tillyrides. You talk about ‘a physician’, ‘prescriptions’ and ‘medicine’. Elder Porphyrios’ advice was the work of Christ, who is, we know, the physician of souls and bodies.

A.T.: Something that Elder Porphyrios insisted on, particularly for young people, was work. He could not accept inattentiveness, laziness, or indifference from anyone. He gave the matter a great deal of importance. He wanted people to be hard working and creative.

K.I.: When did you see the Elder for the last time?

A.T.: On the ninth of September 1991. He had just returned from the Holy Mountain, where he had gone, as was later seen, to prepare for his earthly end.

He was lying in bed with his cross in his hand. He received me, as always, with great pleasure. We talked for a little while; he blessed me with his cross and gave me his own personal blessing.

K.I.: Which of Elder Porphyrios’ beneficial words will

you choose to tell us? As long as the world exists, the deposition of testimonies about Elder Porphyrios will be forever endless.

A.T.: He always expounded faith and patience. He referred to them again and again for whatever problem the other person brought up. He continually spoke about the patience and faith which we, as Christians, ought to have throughout every moment of our life, however difficult it may be.

K.I.: Besides Elder Porphyrios always insisted that, “Whatever I tell you is written in the Gospel.” Consequently, “Your faith has saved you.” - “In patience build up your souls” - “He who is patient until the end is saved.” and so on.

A.T.: Elder Porphyrios’ passage through this world was a great gift from God to Mankind in the twentieth century.

K.I.: And further evidence that the way of the Elders, the way, that is, of deep faith, of the existential life in Christ, is the way of redemption from death, of inscription into the book of life.

[1]  A lay person when the conversation was recorded. Now Bishop Makarios of Riroutas (Patriarchate of Alexandria) in Kenya.

H.H.

Mrs. Η. I would like to thank you for your immediate reply to our request for this conversation about Elder Porphyrios, through whom you have had so many exceptional experiences.

H.H.: I first met Elder Porphyrios in 1981, while helping out friends and relatives who did not have cars but wanted to see the Elder.

K.I.: You continued doing that until the Elder passed away. Apart from all the other times, it was with you that I went to see the Elder the last time that I saw him on this earth.

H.H.: As you know, there were always a lot of people who wanted to see him there. I always respected the fact that he was always tired and very often ill. The first time that we were able to talk, I wanted to repeat the words of the Myrrh- bearing Women again and again, “I have seen the Lord.”

K.I.: That’s beautiful.

H.H.: He had such simplicitity, such love, such freedom and such wisdom concentrated all together in his person. Elder Porphyrios loved the whole world.

The thing that was really wonderful was the discernment he had. At any given moment he knew what he should say to each person according to how receptive they were at the time. When he saw that we were not ready to accept what he wanted to tell us, he said a lot less and added, “Well, we’ll talk about it again.”

He often told us whatever he had to say by using examples, rather than directly. He used examples a lot, “This lady, who had those problems with her children...” or “That young woman, who came across this problem...” and so on. By generalizing the issue, each of us more readily accepted what Elder Porphyrios wanted to tell us. Wisdom was really given to him by God.

K.I.: Could you tell us about some of your experiences involving the gifts of the Holy Spirit, that Elder Porphyrios had?

H.H.: When my husband died, our children, Dimitri and Constantine, were only twelve and ten years old respectively. As you can understand, they were terribly hurt.

The Elder, who saw deep into their souls said, “They’re hurt, they’re wounded.” He helped me a great deal, especially with my eldest son. The loss of his father created a deeper wound. He advised me to treat him with lots of gentleness and love. He told me, “Don’t be upset when the child is rude and reacts. He doesn’t want to be like that, but he can’t help it at that moment. He’ll feel sorry later. However, when we get angry we act with demonic will and get into its cycle.’

He always pointed out to me that, “There is only one way to avoid problems with children: holiness. Become saints and you won’t have any problems with your children.”

K.I.: Didn’t you ask him how we can become saints?

H.H.: Certainly. His answer was, “It’s very simple; when divine grace comes.” When I asked him how divine grace comes, he answered, “With humility and prayer. But our prayer must be strong, alive. We always get results when we pray with faith and trust.

“Don’t pressure your children,” he said. “Whatever you want to say to them, say it with your prayers. Children don’t listen with their ears. They’ll only listen to what we want to tell them when divine grace appears and enlightens them. When you want to say something to your child, say it to the Panagia instead and she will do all the work. Your prayer will become a spiritual hug, which embraces your children and captivates them. We, you see, often try to hug them, but they object. They never object to a spiritual hug, though”.

Let me tell you how I saw it being put into practice. The first time that I went on vacation with my children after my husband’s death, my eldest son found some friends there. He would go missing during the afternoons. I didn’t know where he went or what he did.

Well, I said to him, “Come on, son, don’t leave again. What do you get up to, disappearing like that all day?” And all those things that mothers usually say. He, however, didn’t listen to me.

One day I remembered what Elder Porphyrios had said to me. When the boy left I picked up the Paraklisis to the Panagia and started reading it. Before I was able to finish, my son came in and said, “Mom, where did you say you would like us to go this afternoon?” The Panagia’s answer was so immediate, that only then did I consciously understand that the Elder Porphyrios’ stance was the only correct one towards children.

K.I.: Those experiences of yours are very helpful and important for those of us who are parents.

H.H.: He gave me guidance and advised me about every subject that concerned my children.

My children went horseback riding. The time came for us to buy a horse. It was an important decision, so I went and sought the Elder’s advice. He encouraged me to make that decision. He called the children and told them that horseback riding is a great thing. He told them to be careful when riding, that it’s wonderful when you sit upon a horse, and to enjoy it thoroughly.

He also encouraged my children to go skiing. He said to them, “There on the mountain, where you can see the sky and the snow and all that beautiful scenery, think about who created it all.” He gently guided them to the Creator through Creation.

He also told them at the same time not to neglect their school work. He said it in such a beautiful way, “You won’t neglect your books and your studies. If you read and then get a little tired, go and ride your horse for a little while, then you’ll return to your books refreshed.”

K.I.: How beautiful that is!

H.H. When I was going to buy a house I looked at many other houses before I bought the one we live in today. I continually asked for the Elder’s advice. He insisted that the house be in a position that was in the sun and that had a horizon, meaning a view.

He told me about the monastery that he was building in Milessi. He would visit the site months before building began. He would go and see the sunrise, how it was at noon, sunset, and so on. He explained that the monastery was built in such a way that it saw the sun rising and setting, until its final rays fell upon the monastery. The house that I bought with his guidance and blessing is exactly like that.

However before I bought the house I had found another one which fulfilled all my requirements. I went to the Elder and told him about it. He wouldn’t allow me to buy the house. He said that there were high voltage electricity cables above the house, that were harmful to our health. It was something that I hadn’t noticed. I listened to his advice and I didn’t buy the house, because it’s been scientifically proven that such cables above our houses can cause cancer, especially in children.

K.I.: Elder Porphyrios knew everything and tried to protect us from everything.

Η.Η.: He had the feeling, you know, that he was the greatest sinner in the world. Whenever he saw all those beautiful and splendid things with his gift of foresight, he said, “I’m glad that we were given the chance to chat and that God chose to reveal those things to me, the worthless sinner. Then I think about how God has enlightened me and what I said, and I’m glad.”

The Elder’s ability to see water underground is very well-known. He was able to ‘descend’ to the water source under the earth without moving from his position. Indeed, with the gift that he had, he was even able to sample the water. He said that if he had a glass with him he could fill it up and bring it to the surface. However, since that miracle would be a bit too strong he never did it.

K.I.: That’s amazing.

H.H.: My husband died suddenly while he was working abroad, and it took a week before all the proper procedures were completed for the transfer of his remains to Greece. During that time I didn’t tell the children that their father had died, but that he was seriously ill.

I took my oldest son Dimitri with me to Elder Porphyrios. Before entering the cell, I told him that his father had died. Pappouli then talked to Dimitri and with very simple words he told him the Christian view of death. In words that a child could understand he told him that death is simply a change of place. Now we’re here and the next moment we’re there, in another life, which is very beautiful but on another level.

Elder Porphyrios always emphasized in front of my children that eternal life exists. “It’s much easier for me to say that the sun won’t come up tomorrow rather than for me to say that there is no life after death. We know this, we see it.”

Κ.Ι.: Elder Porphyrios had the grace of seeing both shores of existence.

H.H.: Yes, quite true. He would say to my children that the other life is beautiful and that our body which goes into the grave is ours, but as he also told me, “when they place our body in the grave it becomes like a man’s suit.” His words helped me very much during the funeral and burial of my husband.

Elder Porphyrios, who my children very much loved, revealed many theological truths to them, using only stories and fables.

My oldest son once said to me, “Fine, Mom, I know that Dad is in a good place. But, do I really have to wait for seventy or eighty years until I see him again?” I told the Elder and he told me to tell my son to ask an elderly person how long it took them to reach their eightieth year, and to listen to the answer carefully. My son asked my father, who replied, “Son, it’s like the years passed by only yesterday.”

K.I.: What did he say to you, Mrs. H., during your hours of loneliness and pain after the premature death of your husband at such a young age?

H.H.: He helped very much, especially during those moments when you’re quite naturally overwhelmed and the question, “Why, God, why so young?”, starts torturing you. I felt derelict and sank into my chair unable to get up.

“When you get that feeling,” he advised, “jump up and go for a walk on the mountain.” When I asked him how I would go out if it was nighttime he said, “If you can’t go out you’ll fill your mind full of beautiful images, like the park that you once visited with your husband and your children, or a beautiful sunset, that rests upon the sea. You’ll drive the ugly thoughts away and you’ll say, “Lord Jesus Christ have mercy on my husband, have mercy also on us.”

He instilled me with the conviction that there was communion between the Church militant and the Church triumphant.

K.I.: What you said is very lovely. Did he talk to you about your husband on the other side?

H.H.: When I went with my oldest son that time that I mentioned, he said that he had seen the soul of my husband.

K.I.: That’s very important, because it’s one more palpable proof of the other life’s existence; that a human being here on earth, Elder Porphyrios, could see the soul of a deceased brother.

H.H.: He explained to me how we can help the souls of our departed.

K.I.: What did he tell you?

H.H.: We must pray a lot, do good works, be charitable, and take part in the Divine Liturgy (by making prosphora and giving the names of the departed so that they can be remembered.) We and our children must receive communion frequently, if possible at every Liturgy.

K.I.: I am really moved by this conversation with you Mrs. H., because you are giving us the Elder’s words relating to life after death. The question of death concerns everybody and it’s really jolting, but also a great gift from God, to hear testimonies and proof of life after death from the mouth of a holy man like Elder Porphyrios.

H.H.: When my grief was just beginning I had the opportunity to confirm just how miraculous Elder Porphyrios’ prayer was. When I went to tell him about my husband’s death, (I was alone at the time. I went with my son another day), he wasn’t in his room. I saw him for a brief moment on the road outside, and since he very much shared in human pain, he said nothing; so much so that I even wondered if he had heard me at all, I could be found at home in the afternoon of that same day, when I suddenly felt all the burden leaving my soul and joy springing up within me. I crossed myself and said “My God, is my reaction logical?”

I later learnt - and I cross-checked my information - that at the exact moment when I felt like that, Elder Porphyrios had been praying for me.

K.I.: That’s really significant.

H.H. I verified the miraculous effect of his prayer with relatives concerning issues of health, especially spiritual health.

He insisted on prayer a great deal. He told doctors, myself included, “At the moment when you’re leaning over the patient in the consulting-room, pray for him and say the Jesus Prayer.”

I really put that into practice at my office. With difficult cases I say, “Lord Jesus Christ...” (now after the Elder’s departure I add “and through the prayers of Elder Porphyrios”) “...help me to make the correct diagnosis and to overcome this particular difficulty.”

Elder Porphyrios wanted us to help others by example and not by words. He wanted us to influence them and to urge them on to the way of Christ.

Someone, I remember, once sought his advice about future marriage to a young lady who had certain problems, and, in any case, that they would, like all couples, have some other problems after the wedding. In addition to that she wasn’t very faithful. The Elder told the man, “Fine, you can get married like that. When she sees you living a Christian life, full of calmness and joy, she’ll get jealous and she’ll want to come closer to Christ of her own accord.”

On the day that the Elder left for Mt. Athos, from which he never returned, I visited him with my niece who he loved very much. The following dialogue took place between them:

“Are you in pain, Elder?”

“Yes, I’m in pain.”

“Where does it hurt, pappouli?”

“All over...”

“What shall I do to find happiness in my life, Elder?”

“Read the Holy Scriptures, go to church, have a spiritual father, take communion; in other words become a good Christian. Then you’ll find the joy that you’re looking for. I’m now in pain, as you can see, but I’m happy. When you come a little closer to Christ, you’ll also find joy in your life.”

He always said that, “Let us love Christ.” Once when I visited him with my children he told us a very beautiful story.

There once was a shepherd girl who loved a young man who worked in another meadow. She would steal away at night, braving the darkness and defying the hedges full of thorns and all the other things in her way to join her beloved. “That’s the way we should love Christ,” he told us.

K.I.: That’s beautiful, very beautiful. In finishing, may I ask you how you feel now that the Elder has gone.

H.H.: Without a doubt there is a great feeling of emptiness, especially when there are major problems and serious dilemmas. However, on such occasions I always remember him telling us that there was communication between the Church militant and the Church triumphant. He told us that when we call upon a saint to help us, he or she will help us at the very moment that we ask for it. When we say for example, “St. Nicholas, help me.” St. Nicholas can help you and at the same time help all of those who call upon him, regardless of where they are.

So, I’m convinced that Elder Porphyrios is now able to help all of us together. I’ve seen wonderful things happen to his spiritual children after his passing. He helps them more now and with better results. May we all have his blessing.

George Demetriou

Cyprus Airways Regional Manager

for Central and Southern Europe

Mr Demetriou, you had many experiences from your long acquaintance with Elder Porphyrios and we are sure that your testimony will help all of us to become established in Christ.

First, could you please tell us how you got to know this holy man?

G.D.: You’re giving me the opportunity to talk about a contemporary saint of Orthodoxy, and I’m deeply moved.

I met the Elder about twelve years ago. This was because I used to go to the area where he lived quite often to visit another monastery there, the Holy Monastery of the Paraclete[1]. He then lived in a wooden hut, a shed in the forest.

The first time that I went to see him, a sister there told me that he was very tired and couldn’t see me. I left disappointed and sat in my car, which I had parked under a pine tree. Naturally, Elder Porphyrios hadn’t seen me at all.

Some time later, the sister who I had spoken with came and said to me, “Sir, the Elder said ‘The gentleman in the green car is to come and see me.’”

K.I.: Was your car really green?

G.D.: Yes, it was green.

K.I.: Were there other cars there?

G.D.: Certainly.

Well, I went and got his blessing. I told him about some problem I had and he gave the best solution possible for that problem.

He then asked me if I had children. “Yes,” I answered “I have two daughters.” He then said to me, “Let’s see what your children are like.” He started to describe both my daughters and their personalities. I was immediately aware that I had a holy man before me, full of gifts from the Holy Spirit.

I saw him quite often after that. God blessed me by allowing me to build a house in Oropos, on the hill opposite the Convent that the Elder built.

K.I.: Consequently you have a lot to tell us, Mr. Demetriou. Let’s talk about a few of them, for God’s glory.

G.D.: One evening I went to Elder Porphyrios with a well-known Cypriot who has settled in Athens. My friend was financing a movie that was about to be shot, based on the parable of the prodigal son. Despite the fact that the scenery and everything else was ready for shooting, my friend still went to get the Elder’s opinion.

I then heard Elder Porphyrios talk to us about the father who forgave the prodigal son and how a father should behave in contemporary society. He said “When you see the German,” when he said ‘German’ he meant the devil, “overpowering your son, instead of getting angry with your son because of his misbehavior, speak to God. Learn to talk to God about your children; instead of quarreling with them, speak to God about it.”

It’s sufficient to say that my friend changed the whole concept of the film because of what Elder Porphyrios told us.

K.I.: That’s a great story you’ve told us, and it’s very instructive for all of us parents.

G.D.: Elder Porphyrios was always a fountain of kindness. The love which he expressed went beyond human limitations and reached into the divine.

He was demanding of the people around him regarding two matters: he wanted everyone to be hardworking and to aim for perfection. That’s why all that massive work at the Convent succeeded.

It was built for the most part, with the voluntary labor of his spiritual children and from donations, not from rich people, but from the thousands of people who went there from six in the morning to get his blessing and to discuss their problems with him. All these people - some more so, some less so - helped the work succeed.

K.I.: One further proof of Elder Porphyrios’ holiness, thus glorifying God, who revealed to us a saint in our time.

G.D.: Elder Porphyrios once came to my house and saw the irrigation system that I had put in the garden. He asked me to help them put in a similar system in the area around the Convent.

I actually found the man who did the installation and I told him to do the work without taking money from the Elder. When I told the Elder about it, he said, “No, Mr. Demetriou. I want you to come and work, because you should take a break from your job by occupying yourself with manual labor.” Elder Porphyrios had a great love for nature and the environment, which he valued highly.

K.I.: Mr. Demetriou, after knowing Elder Porphyrios for twelve years, you must have had plenty of opportunities to confirm this holy man’s great gifts. Could you please tell some more about both his gift of discernment and his gift of foresight?

G.D.: We encountered a serious problem when my first grandchild, a lovely little boy, was born.

The baby had been born healthy, but in the evening of that same day some serious problems appeared. To this day, we don’t know why it happened. Maybe something went into his lungs during the pregnancy. It was a tragic situation.

I immediately called several doctors including my distinguished compatriot Takis Kattamis, Professor of Paediatrics at Athens University. They examined the child and alerted the intensive care unit at the Children’s Hospital in Athens. It was Sunday night.

For six days I prayed to God continuously for my little grandson’s life. On Saturday evening I left Athens and went to Elder Porphyrios. It was eleven o’clock when I arrived.

He saw me, and with typical simplicity, he asked, “What are you doing here at this time of night?”

“Elder,” I replied, “My daughter, the rebel, as you call her, has given birth to a little boy and now the baby is in danger of dying.” I then heard him say to me, “Sit down and let me X-ray the child, to see what’s the matter with him.” He then told me the following, “There is a foreign substance on the lower right side of his lung. It has almost dissolved and will soon disappear. Don’t be afraid. The child will live. You’ll take him home on Monday.”

When I left the Elder on Saturday evening, Dr. Kattamis, was leaving for Italy, where he would give a lecture. He would return to Athens on Sunday. So the next day, Sunday, I went and picked him up from the airport. We were childhood friends and fellow pupils in Kythera. I explained to him what Elder Porphyrios had said to me, and I asked for his opinion. “It’s just like the Elder told you. Now, that he’s told you, I’ll tell you the same.”

On the following day, Monday, the child was fine and we took him home.

K.I.: “Wondrous are your works, Ο Lord of hosts.”

G.D.: I’ll tell you about another event that relates to Elder Porphyrios’ gift of discernment.

One summer, the Metropolitan of Kitium, Chrysostomos, who I am close friends with, was a guest in my house for a few days. He had heard a lot about Elder Porphyrios and asked me to phone him so that we could then go and see him. However, I delayed calling since I knew that the Elder was ill.

On Saturday, I suggested to his Eminence that we go to see the Elder on Sunday. We could attend the Liturgy in Malakasa. “And after the Liturgy we’ll see what’ll happen, if we can go and see Elder Porphyrios or not.”

We entered the church and the Metropolitan of Kitium went to the altar. Once the Divine Liturgy was over and the congregation had received communion, we saw Elder Porphyrios entering the church. He was accompanied by a spiritual child and close associate of his, in the construction of the Holy Convent “The Transfiguration of the Savior.”

When I saw Elder Porphyrios entering the church I immediately gestured to the Metropolitan that it was Elder Porphyrios who was coming in. Well, Elder Porphyrios went into the sanctuary and said to the Metropolitan of Kitium, “My child, won’t you give me the Body and Blood of Christ?” Thus the Metropolitan of Kitium gave communion to Elder Porphyrios.

I was waiting at the Church entrance and when they had finished they came towards me. There I heard Elder Porphyrios saying to the Metropolitan, “Aren’t you the one who told Mr. Demetriou to call me so that we could meet?

K.I.: Startling.

G.D.: I then said, “Elder, since the Metropolitan is with us, why don’t we go to my house for a coffee?” He agreed and we set off for my house. However, on the way he said, “Let’s go to my cell instead. Besides, I don’t even drink coffee, so let’s go to my cell, and I can drink a little melon juice.”

He layed down on his bed and they brought us coffee. The Metropolitan of Kitium said, “Elder, please tell us something of benefit.” Elder Porphyrios answered him, with the utter humility that distinguished him. “My children, what can an illiterate tell you?”

God helped, and in the face of our persistence I heard the following remarkable story coming from the Elder’s mouth.

One day a couple went to see him. They had made their confessions and he placed the stole upon them. The Holy Spirit enlightened him when he was about to read the prayer of forgiveness. He saw that there was something that stopped the husband from taking Holy Communion. He told them to get up, without reading the prayer.

The Holy Spirit had enlightened the Elder and he saw the husband’s village. The Elder started to describe the village with so much detail that the couple asked him if he had been there, since he knew it so well. “No,” he said, “I have never been to that village. God enlightened me and I can now see it in front of me.

The Elder continued. He said that the husband had done something bad in his life. The husband replied that nothing troubled his conscience and that in his thirty years in Athens, where he had a shop, he had always been an honest tradesman. The man could not remember doing anything bad.

“You’ve never done anything bad while in your village?” the Elder asked him. “No,” he answered. “I’m from a rich family. My father died and he left me all his property. I’ll give you an example so that you can see that I’m an decent man. Our foreman once stole a great deal of money from us. I didn’t report him to the police, but I simply fired him, because I couldn’t allow a thief on our property.”

Elder Porphyrios then asked him, “Did you personally see him steal the money?”

“No,” he answered, “but I was sure it was him, because he was the only one who knew where the money was kept. Elder Porphyrios then said to him, “No, he didn’t steal the money and when you fired him you blackened his and his family’s name. That action is what’s now stopping you from receiving the body and blood of Christ.”

K.I.: And was it really stolen by another person?

G.D.: Undoubtedly. The real thief was someone else. He then went to his village and reinstated the unjustly accused foreman in front of all the villagers. He received communion immediately afterwards.

K.I.: Mr. Demetriou, I must admit that I’m taken aback by the story that you’ve just told us.

G.D.: Let me now tell you a delightful story.

A friend of mine visited the Elder to get his advice about a business venture. To be precise, he wanted to open a bookstore. The Elder told him to make sure that the store had plenty of room so that all the different kinds of Christian books could be displayed. My friend told him that he had found a small store. Elder Porphyrios then asked for the store’s dimensions. My friend told him them. “No,” the Elder said, “It’s not as large as you say. It’s smaller.”

My friend went and measured it the very next day. It really wasn’t as large as he thought, but exactly the size that the Elder had told him.

K.I.: That’s what surprises us each time we hear new details - witnesses to both Elder Porphyrios’ gift of discernment and to his gift of foresight. With the eyes of his soul he could see an actuality that was miles away from him, even in another country, and yet he could also deeply enter to the soul of each and every person.

G.D.: Exactly. He foresaw the end of his own earthly life. The following account relates to his death.

A few days before Elder Porphyrios’ final rest I was called by a spiritual child of his. He had given substantial financial help towards the construction of the Convent that the Elder had founded. He now wanted to hire a helicopter to pick the Elder up from Mt. Athos to take him to spend Christmas at the Convent. He even asked me to travel in the helicopter to keep the Elder company.

My first reaction was to ask if he had talked to the Elder about it. “I phoned him on Mt. Athos,” he said, “I told him about my desire and he answered me, saying, ‘I’m tired, my child. Leave me here on the Holy Mountain.”

However, my friend insisted, so Elder Porphyrios then said to him, “Call again at the beginning of December.” He died on December the second. And so, my friends desire, for me to accompany the Elder, from Mt. Athos to Oropos, wasn’t fulfilled.

Greece and worldwide Orthodoxy received a great gift from God. Through Elder Porphyrios’ conduct on earth yet another saint was established in the halls of the saints.

[1]  Comforter. The Holy Spirit.

Elder Sophrony

Founder and former Abbot of the Holy Monastery of St. John the Baptist, Essex, England. Writer.

With his gift of discernment Elder Porphyrios got to know another great Elder of our days, the Russian Starets Sophrony, founder and first abbot of the Holy Monastery of the Forerunner in Essex, England. He wrote many books, amongst them, the internationally famous, “Si. Silouan the Athonite,” hat has been translated into many languages. Elder Sophrony lived with Elder Silouan, who was proclaimed a saint in 1987, nine years ago.

In November 1990, we had the privilege of meeting Elder Sophrony in Essex and talking to him. He told me that he used to meet Elder Porphyrios in prayer every night. They each knew what the other one looked like, even though they had never seen one another with their natural eyes. Elder Porphyrios had never seen Elder Sophrony, and vice versa.

This unbelievable story was related to us by Elder Sophrony, in the presence of Archimandrite Kyrill, the abbot of the monastery in Essex, hieromonk Zacharias, the spiritual father of the monastery, and three spiritual children from Cyprus.

“And proclaim to the peoples that I have not died but I live forever and I proclaim the afflictions of the Lord Who crowned them.”

Addendum

In an effort to improve the second edition of the book we wrote to all our contributors, including Elder Sophrony who, because of age, assigned a hieromonk to write the following:

“Do they really write such glowing reports about me? How can I say that I am that kind of person? To write such things about myself would be strange. The facts are as follows: About ten years ago, at the request of Fr. Porphyrios and through the efforts of a mutual friend, a date and a time for mutual prayer was set for both of us. From that moment on, we began praying for one another.”

In fact, some of the people at the Convent remember that Elder Porphyrios had asked them not to disturb him at a certain hour because he then had a spiritual meeting in prayer with Elder Sophrony. Elder Porphyrios would also have these spiritual encounters with his spiritual children who lived far away.

Fr. Porphyrios’ initiative, as mentioned by Fr. Sophrony, was realized when the following letter was sent. A copy of which was given to us by the spiritual child who mediated:

Elder Sophrony,

I embrace you in Christ.

A certain person told me that you would like to have us meet; that you’ve invited me to come to England and if I cannot go there, you will come to Greece.

Since it is impossible for me to come, and I do not wish you to go to the great trouble of travelling here, and since Christians cannot be separated by distances, we could meet one another in prayer by saying, ‘Lord Jesus Christ have mercy on me,’ on Sunday, 31st August, 1980, from 12.00 to 12.30 after midnight (10.00- 10.30 English time).

Unless you have business which brings you here to Greece.

I embrace you in the Lord along with your brotherhood and I wish you health in soul and body.

In the love of the Lord,

Hieromonk Porphyrios Bairaktaris

Archimandrite Paul[1],

of the Holy Monastery of St.. John the Baptist, Essex. England. Archimandrite to the Ecumenical Throne

Dr. of Theology, writer. (In the world Benedict Englezakis)

Fr. Paul, what do Elders mean to you?

Fr. Paul: Elder Porphyrios is[2] a great leading light of Greece. He, Fr. Paisius, Elder Ephraim of Katounakia, and Elder Sophrony, the former Abbot of the Holy Monastery of the Forerunner in Essex, are considered by the monks on Mt. Athos, (which is the best criterion), to be the four greatest Elders of contemporary Orthodoxy.

How can we measure the value of these people? They are people who show that Christianity is true and can be lived.

It is necessary for believers to see it being lived, because we usually see ourselves and those around us having difficulty living the Christian life. In moments of great anguish or struggle, a person asks himself if it is possible to put Christ’s words into practice or not?

These people show us that beyond doubt the Gospel is livable. Since they managed it, all of us can manage it, because we all have a calling to succeed.

What do people expect from the Church? Personally, I have worked in the Church, in Cyprus and abroad, for years. People no longer hope for charity or the other forms of help that the Church gave during the Middle Ages or during the Turkish occupation.

Today people look for spirituality. How to pray, how to communicate with God? Does God exist? How can God exist if no one seems to have lived the word of God or to know Him personally and directly?

This is why the witness of those great Fathers like Elder Porphyrios and the others, that I mentioned are irreplaceable. No word can replace a lifetime.

[1]  Archimandrite Paul departed for the Lord on the 13/11/92, at the age of 45.

[2]  The above conversation was recorded before the Elder departed.

TALKS

ABOUT ELDER PORPHYRIOS

The Metropolitan of Kydonia and Apokoronos, Irenaeus and associates

In February 1977, Elder Porphyrios visited Crete for five days. After the Elder’s departure, the Metropolitan of Kydonias and Apokoronos, Irenaeus prepared two radio programs which were broadcast that same month by Hania Radio. A spiritual son of Elder Porphyrios taped the broadcasts and gave us the cassettes specifically for the second edition of this book.

We are publishing the taped material of those radio broadcasts with the permission of his Eminence Irenaeus and all those who participated. We would like to thank them all. Their names are not mentioned here because they were not mentioned in the broadcast. However, it is known that in addition to his Eminence Irenaeus and the other participants, whose names were not mentioned, was the late Fr. Eleftherios Kapsomenos.

FIRST BROADCAST

Metropolitan Irenaeus: Good evening. This program wants to have and has the ability to speak and to listen, to ask and to answer, to consider and to discuss.

So until now, this radio program has come to grips with subjects that concern contemporary humanity and young people especially, and has spoken systematically about them.

At the same time, our program, with great awareness, wishes to record events that happen in our land, to explore them and present them from its own point of view.

However, this program especially wants to note and comment upon people who passed through this place and honored it with their presence, bringing a message to our people.

Thus, in the past, we recorded the visits of different people, local and otherwise, and our listeners became participants in their thoughts and endeavors.

Today, we have the great pleasure of introducing a modest and holy clergyman, the Elder, Fr. Porphyrios Bairaktaris, to our listeners and to local people. He is a man who has nothing to do with publicity and current affairs because he lives in simplicity as an ascetic and has never sought fame and distinction.

Today we will talk about his visit to Hania, about his character and his personality.

We are not doing this for his sake but for our area and for our listeners. We want to share the puzzlement, the joy, the fullness, the wonder, and the spiritual resurrection, that we felt from our encounter with him. We believe that we don’t have the right not to talk about him.

Elder Fr. Porphyrios is a figure of contemporary monasticism in our country. He was born in Evia and went to the Holy Mountain when he was very young. He grew up and was ordained a priest of Mt. Sinai.[1]

He serves as a spiritual father in the Polyclinic in Athens and lives in a remote area of Penteli. He is a genuine ascetic and contemporary guide to thousands of souls of all kinds.

During his stay in Hania he met many people and talked to them.

A group of these people are with us today and they will talk to us about Elder Porphyrios.

Thank you very much for coming to our programme, and I would like to ask you to give us some of your impressions I would like you to tell us your opinion of the man, what impression did he make upon you and how did you feel being close to him.

First Guest: I had the great joy, the honor and the blessing to have known Fr. Porphyrios during my student days. However, I never met him again after that, until I saw him, by chance, yesterday and the day before. It was the first time I had seen him in many years. He was with a group of spiritual people and a certain holy clergyman from our town, at the Graves of the Venizelos family.

Even though it was at dusk, I had no difficulty in recognizing him dressed in his knitted, woolen hat. It would not be an exaggeration to say that his face shone with a brilliance, the little of it that showed, like the highlights on an icon of a saint. It was impossible for anyone not to notice it.

This was not the first time, as I said before, that I had this experience. This man is truly a combination of opposites. He is short in height and lean, yet while close to the ground, he can reach up to heaven with his holiness. His proud, ashen but beaming head sits humbly on weak shoulders made tired by the world. It is a head that guides, sanctifies, gives comfort, and even heals.

I remember Alevizatos, the University Professor of medicine who helped him at the altar in the chapel of the Athens Polyclinic.

This great and wise Professor, bowed and kissed his hand every time he gave him something. He kissed the hand of a small uneducated man, as the Elder calls himself. This was an admission of the spiritual stature of the man, of true wisdom, the wisdom of the saints.

How strange! From his eremitic life, faraway from publicity, emerged his reception as a saint. Wherever he found himself, lots of people, I mean lots, ran to him to hear words of life, to confess, to be reinforced and to receive holiness. He gives, gives, gives... tirelessly. I’ve compared him to St. Nectarios many times, because I saw that they were alike both bodily and in holiness and in grace.

Well, this is how I saw him, like I always saw him. He was small, yet a giant, unlettered yet wise, dressed in his black robes, yet full of light, an old man yet with the soul of a child, a vehicle of grace and holiness unlimited.

Second Guest: Fr. Porphyrios is an exceptional monastic personality of our time. He is an ascetic figure that is enveloped by the brilliance of Divine Grace.

Simple, calm, and, at the same time humble in his greetings, it makes every one feel ecstatic before such a figure. The only thing you can think about at that moment, is that within the turmoil and confusion of our lives, there are holy men like Fr. Porphyrios who make life peaceful, enliven it and lift it up to something better.

Third Guest: May I say that in the person of Fr. Porphyrios I met the virtue of humility in practice. A well- timed fact, I think, for this time of year, the period of Great Lent.

Fr. Porphyrios is the man who St. Paul the Apostle describes as “having nothing and yet possessing all things.” At least that’s the way it appears, from the outside, and that’s the way it’s presented to people. He is a man that doesn’t shout and yet attracts people to him. He does not say much and whatever he does say is taken from his own practice in life. You are ecstatic before him. You are speechless before him. You can gain a lot by just looking at him. He updates the truth expressed by a monk when he met St. Anthony the great ascetic. When St. Anthony said to him: “Why aren’t you talking? Don’t you have anything to say? Anything to ask?” The monk answered, “Father, it is enough for me to see you.” The same thing also happens with Fr. Porphyrios. Every word of his is filled with new meaning, with truth. Simple yet convincing. He doesn’t use figures of speech. He himself said, doesn’t know how to use beautiful words because he has no education.

On the other hand, whoever has the good fortune to meet or to have met Fr. Porphyrios can come to the conclusion that the Elder does not only say beautiful words but he says good words. He proclaims the truth of the Good News to those who wish to meet him.

Metropolitan Irenaeus: I saw him white, very white, simple, ethereal, down to earth, not even a hint of conceit or false piety. He is a man so full of grace but with a sense of his own transcendence. Upon seeing him, I asked myself, like one enchanted, if he was an angel incarnate. He was smiling and at the same time serious. He was very happy, yet crucified. He was approachable, and yet distant.

It is impossible for someone to describe him properly. When you are near him, you feel something else, something strange, something you’ve never felt before. It’s difficult to define what it is.

You feel that you are with a true, redeemed, free, young man, unaging in his old age, enlightened and wholesome. When you are with him, you feel the joy remaining for hours, it is like being in eternity.

His words are words of a saint and his character is sweet and true. It is the character of a man, of a clergyman, a clergyman of whom we have such great need today. In order to give rest to the soul, to uplift morale, and to be supportive during decisive moments. That’s the way I saw him and the way that I see him even in my thoughts, and I glorify God and rejoice that I met him, if only for a little while.

To continue, I would like to ask another question. From all that you heard him say, what did you especially take note of?

Second Guest: We saw him very briefly, too briefly, because he had met, spoken with and confessed many people during the morning. Thus, aware of his exhaustion, we were satisfied with simply greeting him and receiving his blessing.

Along with his blessing, he told us three things, three phrases that were more than enough for us to understand what kind of man he was and what we were capable of becoming. He told us: “My children, confess your sins often, receive Communion and love people.” Nothing else. Don’t you think that this says it all?

Metropolitan Irenaeus: You previously said that Fr. Porphyrios speaks, and when he speaks, he does it easily and adequately. He has astounding eloquence and his words are always exact. You hear the words of Fr. Porphyrios and you are easily convinced that this man is not verbose. His words are replete, weighty.

He speaks like the prophets in order to reveal things, to explain his experiences, to reveal the truth, God’s truth, which is beautiful, universal, and applied easily, without force.

Fr. Porphyrios speaks simply and unaffectedly. He knows what he is saying and he wins you over immediately. Here are a few things which came from his own mouth that I made note of with special joy:

“If the others aren’t saved, you cannot be saved alone. It is a mistake for any person to pray for himself, for his own salvation. We must love others, the world, so that no one will be lost. That has value.”

“I am not afraid of Hell and I don’t think about Paradise. I just ask God to be merciful to the entire world and to myself.”

“Our hearts must be full of love, love of God. It gives strength and grace to man. Knowledge comes after love.”

“Confession is a way for a person to come to God. It is God’s offering of love to man. Nothing and nobody can deny man that love.”

I heard him speak with love for trees, and with great concern about springs and the water upon the earth.

Third Guest: No one can completely ascertain what Fr. Porphyrios wants to say in his conversations. His words have great depth because they are words of life that are revealed constantly to each person individually. I found myself in a conversation that he had started about our way of life. He said roughly the following, from what I could understand:

“Our life depends upon our will. We can live however we want to live. Obstacles and difficulties do not exist for us who want to do what we want. There are no excuses either. We must live according to Christ. We can do it. Fasting is a true way of life. No one is endangered by fasting... Nothing happens to them. I know very well that they’ve never become sick.” He personally said that he has realized this from his own life. A person gets sick when he is attached to people and to things. He confirmed everything he told us because he had experienced it himself.

Fourth Guest: Unfortunately I didn’t hear him speak here in Hania. I didn’t hear him guide people. I didn’t have the pleasure of his fatherly words. I’m not complaining, though. His holy figure says so much by itself.

When I approached him I felt his radiance envelope my whole being. He knows how to captivate you with his speech. Silence is his rhetoric. He gives off holy words like sweet smelling fragrance, which is exactly what we need in our age and in every age.

Metropolitan Irenaeus: We could talk about a thousand and one things but as we don’t have the time I would like to ask in, conclusion, what you think a monk like him offers to the world today?

Third Guest: It is certainly difficult to define what a man like Fr. Porphyrios offers.

Fr. Porphyrios doesn’t offer us a method, neither does he keep a list of prescriptions that he gives to people so that we are able to say exactly what he offers.

When one is found near a grace-filled man like Fr. Porphyrios one experiences joy, fulfillment and human relaxation. One experiences the relaxation and abundance of life. It is a precise answer to those things that man has need of today.

Metropolitan Irenaeus: It is really impossible for someone to ascertain the contribution of a man like Fr. Porphyrios. This is a man who sees the world as one, in God’s light and the love for everyone. This is a healthy and optimistic man in spite of his age. He is a man without problems and without complexes, without concern and without fear, without anxiety and without doubts. A man who loves and is humble. He is a man who is a true human being.

How can you measure the contribution of such a man to the world today?

SECOND BROADCAST

Metropolitan Irenaeus: Good evening. The visit to our land by Fr. Porphyrios was like fresh air in the sun-basked days of February, which has now passed.

In the previous program, we heard the memories and the opinions of people who met Elder Porphyrios. Today’s broadcast does exactly the same thing with different people who are with us and who will share with all of us those things that they felt and learned from Fr. Porphyrios.

How did you see this man and what impressions did he make upon you?

Fr. Eleftherios Kapsomenos: Twenty-four years ago, a great professor of Theology, Amilkas Alivizatos, of blessed memory, said to me one day: “I’ve found a priest for the Polyclinic Chapel.” He was dazzled. “That is to say, there are perfect Fathers, just the way Christ wants them,” he explained. Later when I met him I understood why he was a saint. He had all of Christ’s gifts: the mind of Christ, the love of Christ and the joy of Christ.

He filled a lot of people, (in Athens and at his retreat in Penteli, where he still lives, as well as those who had the blessing of seeing him for the five days that he was here) with light and strength to follow the way of Christ. However, he especially filled them with joy for that great treasure, our holy faith.

I must add the following, concerning the impression he made upon me. God granted me the blessing to have studied theology, a beautiful gift, a holy branch of learning. However, without granting me the greater blessing of seeing genuine theologians, the divine gift would have been lacking. But God, as we know, only gives perfect gifts. Thus, when the time came, amongst the many genuine and good theologians, I also had the great pleasure of meeting the most genuine and most honorable father of theology. I mean a father, amongst other Fathers, that is to say our own father for those of us who knew him and placed our souls in his hands in his care with complete confidence.

Theology, incarnate in his person, radiates divine light. He is visible theology, just like God the Word who became man and thus, the God-man[2], Jesus Christ; the God who is worshipped unto the ages.

Thus Fr. Porphyrios, the faithful servant of God the Word and completely His, also becomes Christ’s visible presence for Christians. He makes us theologize, that is, he teaches us about God and fills us up with that teaching.

Fifth Guest: These past few days we were given the opportunity, or rather the favor, of meeting Fr. Porphyrios who visited our region for a little while.

I had heard about the spiritual dimensions of Fr Porphyrios a long time ago but, in spite of my desire to meet him, I never managed it until a few days ago.

When I first set eyes on him, a feeling of awe filled my being. His posture, full of grace, and the ineffable spiritual delight that radiates around him, made us bow our heads in respect, love, and veneration. I would say, towards a person who was all love, all self-sacrifice, a whole burnt offering, all God, all humbleness, prayer, exultation and mystery.

Sixth Guest: It was the first time I saw him and I thought that I was seeing a saint of our time. The beauty of his face created in me a sense of awe, respect and even love which is enveloped in his soul.

I was near Fr. Porphyrios for only a short time, but his manner made me remember him for a long time. The divine words that he showered upon us will flood my soul as long as I live. Yes, I’ll never forget such a holy father, whom I had the blessing to know.

His simplicity, his experience in spiritual matters, his humility, his total love, really engulfed me when I was near to him. I was oblivious to who I was, what work I did and so on.

I looked upon him as a vigilant father of the desert, of whom we read about in patristic books. Concerning the impression he made upon me, he spoke to me continuously about love. “Everything, my child,” he told me, “must start from love toward God.”

One truly sees in this spiritual man the totality of God’s love. You don’t want to leave his side. You constantly and unceasingly want to hear those words of direction that a father, a spiritual father, gives you.

The following also made an impression upon me. Fr. Porphyrios would take examples from nature and proceed towards higher things. I remember him bending over and cutting a flower, saying “This little flower glorifies the Lord with its fragrance.” This happened before we entered the Church of SS. Peter and Paul, at Fair Havens, and chanted their troparion.

Metropolitan Irenaeus: You had the opportunity to speak and associate with Fr. Porphyrios. From what you heard him say, what did you take special note of, what remained with you?

Seventh Guest: I knew Fr. Porphyrios in the past, so when he came to Hania, I had the good fortune of seeing him yet again. I had the potentiality to know him well and to realize the great grace that he bore, and which made him perform many wonders in the name of Christ and to theologize, saying the wisest things.

In Athens, Fr. Porphyrios visited a nun from a convent in Crete who was ill. He gave her spiritual guidance and lots of courage so that she could endure her illness. He then went on, amongst other things, to tell her in detail about her convent in Crete, without having ever visited it of course. He also told her exactly where there was a source of water near its grounds that if drilled would be more than sufficient to meet the needs of the monastery.

When the nun returned to her convent she told the abbess what Fr. Porphyrios had told her and they proceeded to dig a well. Water flooded out and continues to flow to this day.

Furthermore, some time ago, while standing outside his hut he saw a woman with a child on a donkey that were some distance away. When he apprehended them, he immediately turned to a lady who was next to him and said, “The child being held by his mother and coming toward us is deaf.”

When they approached, Fr. Porphyrios greeted the child, saying “What’s your name, son?” The child’s mother turned towards Fr. Porphyrios and said, “Don’t talk to him because he can’t hear.”

When we were in Heraklion we were guests of an institution for a short while. There by chance I offered some insignificant gift to a lady who was near us. However, since my gift was so small I faltered. Then Fr. Porphyrios said to me:

“If you only knew the value of your gift, small as it is. Bearing in mind the Gospel which says that even a cold glass of water, if offered to someone in love, has great impact with God.”

Fr. Eleftherios: He tells me, and everyone else who approaches him, that each person needs to know, chiefly for the good of the soul, what virtues and what passions he has and how they are healed. Always with good faith and fervent prayer to Christ as a basis and understanding of the situation, which is pointed out by the gift of a pure mind (nous) or through divine power, as this gift is called in our Church.

However, he doesn’t at all ignore people’s physical weaknesses. He knows about all infirmities and helps in their treatment or, when the conditions of faith are present, offers cure, (always through Christ’s power). He explains to each person that whatever supernatural things he says or does, are only done to awaken love towards Christ in that person. So that just as the faithful person is loved completely by Him, they will also be warmed to loving Him completely.

Fifth Guest: His spiritual pedestal is constructed upon supreme love for God and for man without any bias. He is always ready with the greatest eagerness to sacrifice his whole being upon that altar. That’s why the Holy Spirit dwells within him, shedding His light upon him and changing him to light and its rays also illuminating us.

In a tremendously wise way the harmonisation of all the Gospel rooted elements within him leaves you astonished.

The total theological confrontation of these issues, and especially the most powerful expression of Christian love in her almighty fullness, made us think that God, then and now, “selected the foolish of the world to shame the wise of the world.” The proofs of this are the many gifts that grace him, and especially the gift of prophecy, through which he knew a great deal about each person who visited him.

Metropolitan Irenaeus: After all you’ve said, do you believe that a man like Fr. Porphyrios really has a mission in the world in which we live today?

Fr. Eleftherios: Certainly. The importance of the contribution of a monk today is made obvious in the person of Fr. Porphyrios. It is the presence of Christ’s salvation. Monks are heralds of the Kingdom of God, which comes to the world through pure works and sanctification, invariably within the Church.

Monks are, like us, members of the Church, the same Church, by virtue of their baptism. Monks are the most virtuous members of the Church because they seek to make their whole life a continuous hymn and doxology to God. For they do not live alone in the wilderness, but they live with us, with the whole world, and they offer their all encompassing worship for the whole world. They love everyone else first, and one could say that they abandon themselves, since, day and night, they devote themselves to fasting, vigil and noetic worship at the Divine Throne.

The disciples of the great monk, St. Anthony, offer themselves up and support the Universe with their brilliant prayers.

Fifth Guest: Today, a monk with the spiritual existence, life and cultivation of Fr. Porphyrios, could still offer, as in the past, many things to the contemporary world.

He has made himself an example for his fellows by showing us how many indescribable gifts we are worthy of when we live according to divine will in this world. Gifts that are just a prelude to the great gift of eternity. He also becomes in addition to this an imitator of Christ the King. He prays for those who don’t pray. He places himself in the service of his fellow man. He embraces not only their joys, but their sorrows and their problems. He is charitable to those who have nothing. He suffers with those who are sick. He cries with those who are crying and rejoices with those who rejoice. He enslaves himself, struggling against the various passions that govern man, in order to acquire virtue according to God and His pleasure. Fr. Porphyrios who visited our town a few days ago, is this model of monasticism.

Sixth Guest: I am an ordinary citizen, a family man, but due to divine intervention I made my personal spiritual being, and that of my family, dependent upon the Church.

Since the guides and leaders of the Church most often were people totally devoted to God, that is monks, I sought their counsel for my spiritual development and direction. This, because the monk prays and struggles day and night, trying to make his life conform with the will of God. That’s why I had more faith in what I heard from a hieromonk, because he was inspired by God more, because of his way of life.

The monk, finding himself far from the world, doesn’t only struggle for his own salvation but he is moved by love to include the salvation of all people in his immediate concerns, whether they be scientists, technicians, laborers or businessmen. He accomplishes this through prayer in which he expends himself for others who rarely pray or pray very little.

Furthermore, the spiritual existence of a monk, whose main attribute is love, attracts and gives rest to other people. People are inspired by his holy example and they also try to conform themselves according to that example within their own framework.

Thus not only the great Fathers of the Church, but also God inspired Fr. Porphyrios,whose presence, with his high spiritual morale, moved and inspired us deeply.

Metropolitan Irenaeus: We thank you very much for all you told us. We especially thank God, who even today marks out people such as Elder Porphyrios.

[1]  For more information see the Elder’s biography on pages 35-60 of this book.

[2]  Theanthropos.

Constantine Scouteris

Professor at the Theological School

of the University of Athens.

Excerpts from a radio program dedicated to Elder Porphyrios broadcast by the Radio Station of the Church of Greece, on the 19/12/91. Published here with the permission of the speaker.

Before referring to certain characteristics of Elder Porphyrios’ personality, I would like to express two reservations of mine.

My first reservation is that we can’t talk about spiritual things, about spiritual figures, about the friends of God, easily. Only saints talk about other saints or the same saints talk about themselves. When we talk about people who have left their mark on the lives of many fellow humans, there is the danger that we might become garrulous. There is the danger of saying things that are completely superficial, precisely because, concerning spiritual matters, the words of St. Gregory the Theologian hold true, “Understanding is difficult, expression is even more difficult.” How can one talk about that which so many people experienced near to Elder Porphyrios? It cannot come across in a radio program. I say this, because it is necessary for our listeners.

I remember that two highly placed individuals (not Greeks) had once asked me to take them to the Elder. They spoke Greek and remained in pappouli’s cell for about an hour. Later when they had returned to Athens, one of them turned to the other, and asked:

“How do you feel?”

“Full of joy, great joy. And you, How do you feel?”

“Full of joy, great joy.”

That kind of experience doesn’t come across on a radio station. The joy which was experienced by hundreds and thousands of people when near to pappouli can’t be felt over a radio network.

Consequently we are now in some way endangering something. Instead of drawing the Elder’s image as it should be drawn, we are in danger of distorting it. Our listeners must realize that when we speak, our words pass through human mediocrity. We use conventional language. We mention a few things, whatever we saw with our blind eyes, nothing more.

This is my first reservation, that we can not talk about spiritual matters easily.

My second reservation is that the Elder didn’t want, to put it simply, publicity. He was a man who lived in his cell, in his Church. Humbly. Quietly. It is precisely this quietness, this living in absolute peace, that shows in his death. There were no strangers there, only the monks of Kavsokalyvia. A true passing of a humble hieromonk.

With these two misgivings I can now go on to say something.

In answer to the question about who the Elder was, one could say something very simple. He was a man of God. What does ‘man of God’ mean? He was not just a man of God in the everyday sense of the word. He was also a man of God in the fundamental sense of the word. What do I mean? ‘Man of God’ was the name given to a prophet in the Old Testament. ‘Man of God’ in the New Testament is the saint. Men of God were people vested with His Spirit. The complete man, as Paul puts it, the man of God.

His whole orientation was towards God. In the letter which he wrote to his spiritual children, it is typical of him to have emphasized precisely this: “I pray that my spiritual children will love God, who is everything.” His concern was God, who is everything. Nothing could come between them. Nothing could cut off this relationship, this communion. His whole being was soaked in God’s presence. God was the center of his interest. His only concern: God. His love for the study of theology was unbelievable. He hadn’t studied theology, or rather he studied theology in the desert, in the great school of the desert. He loved to read theological texts, For example, from hymnology he liked the hymns to the Trinity, or the hymns of Theoctistus the Studite from the Canon to our Lord Jesus Christ. These troparia are representative of those which he liked.

I can mention one: “All that is divine sees and foretells through the Holy Spirit. He works the highest wonders, praising One God in Trinity. For although thrice-brilliant, the Divinity rules as One.”

He read it and re-read it and his soul rejoiced. Or the other one, about Jesus, “O Sweetest Jesus, the joy and gladness of my soul...”

God was the center of his being. He would typically say, “God is the most ultimate desire, the unending end. We love many things, we want many things. God, however, is the most ultimate desire.”

The Elder had divine love (eros). The divine love that truly has spiritual meaning. Divine love doesn’t have any connection with passionate human love. It’s another order of reality, another actuality.

This divine love finally led him to, what? It led him to the glorification of God. He constantly glorified God. Indeed, I shall use one of St. Symeon the New Theologian’s terms. His glorification was maniacal.

When he received divine grace, at Kavsokalyvia, while still a young man, he knelt down in the wilderness and shouted, “Glory to You, Ο God. Glory to You, Ο God.” Maniacal, with excessive enthusiasm.

Therefore, the first attribute of his spiritual personality is love of God.

If I may mention a second attribute: The Elder was Church centered. The Church was the basis of his whole life and works. In fact I often saw him dissolve in tears, when talking about the Church. He was full of absolute respect for the official Church. The bishop was in the place and type of Christ. He was unbelievably upset when he saw people criticizing the bishops and denouncing them in writing. The bishop is the head, whatever he may be. This was a sacred matter for the Elder.

He spoke about the Church. How did he see the Church? He would characteristically say, “The Church is uncreated.” Why is it uncreated? Because the Church is theanthropic, it is God in History. And we, the faithful, are called to be uncreated, to become partakers in the divine energies of God, to enter into the mystery of Godliness, to overcome our worldliness and to become transcendent. The Church is uncreated. It’s characteristic of him that he put it into practice. He received everybody. His door was open to all. He was not biased. He received whosoever went there, regardless of where they may have belonged. He himself didn’t belong anywhere. He belonged to the Church and he accepted everyone.

Certainly, the Elder didn’t say everything to everybody. Why? Because he often felt that someone wasn’t ready for him to tell them something. He didn’t say it then, but waited for them to be prepared, before he told them something. What he said when at the end of his earthly life is impressive, remarkably impressive. What did he say? He said the prayer of the Lord, the prayer of Christ on the eve of his crucifixion, “That they may be one.” With his holy lips, he closed his life story here on earth, with the phrase, “That they may be one”.

That is to say, that the Elder’s prayer was identified with Christ’s prayer. What did the Elder mean? Did he mean that his children should be one? Did he mean that the Orthodox Church should be one? Did he mean that the world, Christianity, should be one? Whatever he meant, you can see his ecclesial, his Church centered frame of mind.

Certainly, many misunderstood him and even used his name to express their own opinions. As could possibly happen now after his death. Those of us who knew the Elder can confirm without doubt that he was faithful to the Church.

One more factor of his spiritual personality is that the Elder was an ascetic. He was vigilant. With his humble little cassock and his humble little meals! Nothing else. He was an ascetic. He started off from Kavsokalyvia and as many people have said, when he came to Athens he brought the desert with him. What the Elder did was original.

We knew about monasticism. We knew about the angelic life from ascetic works, from books. We saw it in the Elder’s face in Athens. Can I make a confession? I saw him for years and I had the impression that I had an angel before me. An incarnate angel. That’s the monastic demeanor, the angelic life. That is what the Elder brought to Athens. He brought the Jesus prayer into Omonia Square! Yes, the Jesus prayer in Omonia Square! It is characteristic that noetic prayer is not only confined to monks, but he believed that people in the world can practice it too. Somebody went to see him. He would stop for a while and say, “Lord Jesus Christ...” His whole life was an unending prayer.

Someone can certainly talk about humility, obedience, and fasting. These are the very elements of his personality that truly made him wise and sober.

I can specifically talk about his love and his obedience. Besides, it is something which he himself wrote about in the letter that he left to his spiritual children. He went to become a hermit out of love. He read the life of St. John the Hut- dweller and went to Mt. Athos out of love. He says that he was obedient to his Elders, that he gave them absolute obedience. Absolute obedience.

That ‘absolute’ means blood. It means struggle. Spiritual things don’t happen without suffering. Spiritual things don’t happen just like that. Here I must add that the Elder certainly didn’t seek after gifts. No. He sought after the love of Christ, nothing else. The goal of a monk, the goal of a Christian is not to receive gifts from God. It is love. This movement, this exodus from selfishness. This exodus and loving communion with God. That’s it and that’s what the Elder did. The gifts came later, presents from God. This is the way he saw it.

These gifts are truly the fruits of patience and suffering. He had all the illnesses you could think of. He never prayed for God to make him well. He didn’t pray for his own relief. He glorified God. Whatever God brought his way, he glorified Him. He was in a lot of pain and had many illnesses but he never asked God to take an illness away from him. This is characteristic of him. It showed us a man who had surpassed the realm of the human experience. We hurt a little and we want the pain to leave us immediately. The Elder didn’t have that mentality. He glorified God while suffering in pain, because he thoroughly believed that our life is a period of preparation. He would say that we must start from here. We must start now.

Panagiota Ghika-Doitsini

Philologist

This text was broadcast on the Radio Station “Church of Piraeus” of the Holy Metropolis of Piraeus on the program “Woman and her World.” It is published here with the permission of the speaker.

Today, I would like to remember the hieromonk, Elder Porphyrios Bairaktaris. We all know that he passed away a few days ago. It’s December the second and the news of his death is passing from mouth to mouth, from heart to heart, from house to house, like an echo, from all the people who like tired wayfarers quenched their thirst by drinking the clearest water from his well of faith. They were thirsty for truth and they came closer to him. Their pain was lessened. Their sicknesses were healed. Their fears were dissolved and Christ became a heartfelt brother and friend. Words of life came into their lives. The sweet and inspiring Elder felt their pain

Our protector, the starets of Oropos, has passed away. The news is shocking. We still feel his protective hand upon our heads, blessing us. We feel his hand in our hand, measuring our pulse. We have his image in our hearts.

Thousands of people from all over Greece, from every corner of Attica, flocked to the grounds of the Convent in Oropos in tears for his memorial service.

Elder, we heard your heavenly voice once again, your legacies and your counsel. We can’t imagine not seeing you again. We will always feel your presence because now you have become our mediator in the heavens. On behalf of thousands of us who loved you and were helped by you, we thank you.

“Blessed are the dead who from now on die in the Lord. ‘Yes’ says the Spirit, ‘they will rest from their labors, for their deeds follow them.”

How can I, the least of all, dare to express with my humble words the awe that I feel for the late Elder Porphyrios! Paul is very clear on the matter. How can I express my thankfulness for the many gifts I received from the Lord and Master through the boldness of his prayers!

“Remember your leaders, those who spoke the word of God to you; consider the outcome of their way, and imitate their faith.” Paul writes to the Hebrews.

I am convinced that it is not enough for me to talk. I don’t know how much of what I say is representative. It is however a mark of gratitude from a soul that was helped. May his love forgive me.

Twelve years ago, the need for spiritual rest near holy people brought me close to him. An old spiritual child of his introduced me to the late Elder.

“Elder,” Maria said, “I brought my principal to you.”

I objected without wanting to.

“Why did you bring up titles?” I asked her. “Here I’m simply Panagiota.”

Strange. The Elder was pleased. He turned and looked deep into my eyes, and he laughed like a little innocent child.

“What you said is correct,” he said. “Maria doesn’t understand that God doesn’t want all that. We walk with him in virtue.”

I sat next to him. I opened my heart to him and he listened. I had the feeling, although he took my pulse, he was praying at the same time. I received his holy blessing and left with tears in my eyes.

I often went to see the Elder. I hastened there to find calmness and help for all the difficulties that I came across. I always had the certainty that his prayer was so powerful that God did whatever he asked.

I received a transfer to Amaliada, while at the same time my husband was promoted to principal and was sent to another village in the Peloponnesus. My children couldn’t be moved because there were no rural schools similar to the ones they were already attending. I went to the Elder with sadness. He involved himself whole-heartedly in my problems. He made them his own.

“Don’t worry,” he said, using his characteristic foresight. “Your husband will be seconded to Athens and you will buy a pretty home near the sea,” he said laughing.

“It’s not possible,” I said thinking logically about the situation. “We don’t have money.”

“Everything will happen just as I tell you it will,” said the Elder. “You must trust in God’s love”

Everything happened just as he told me it would. He laughed again when I told him that we had bought a summer home. He saw it with the eyes of his soul and he described it just like he had seen it.

A few years went by and my daughter finished medical school. She was wondering about which specialty she should follow. My youngest daughter had studied literature.

I found the Elder standing up and in very good spirits. You supposed that he was awash with light. I had gone with my friend, Maria, again, and as soon as he saw me he became happy and he laughingly asked.

“Let’s see what she’ll ask of me today.”

I was surprised myself when I heard my lips answer “I don’t want anything, pappouli. I only want you to help me to remain always under God’s mercy and love.”

The Elder laughed broadly. What a smile that was! It was like a crack had opened in the heavens and heavenly light spilled onto the earth.

“And you think you’re not asking for much,” he said to me. “Is there, my child, anything greater than God’s mercy and love?”

He started walking in the long corridor outside his cell. One of his arms was in my arm.

He bent over a cage that was in the corridor. He opened the little door and he spoke tenderly to the bird inside.

“Come out for a while,” he told it.

He took the bird upon his hand and continued to walk without the bird leaving him. He talked to me at the same time.

I want to tell you what he said to me (without my saying anything to him, nothing at all), “Tell Magdalene to become a paediatrician. It goes along with her psychological make-up. She loves children very much. Don’t let Maria trouble you. She will soon find her way. You must become good in order to gain just what you ask from me. You must struggle very hard.”

He went back and forth in the corridor. The bird continued to remain obedient on his hand while the Elder was still taking my pulse with his other hand.

He was in a very good mood. At one point he turned to me and said:

“They come here and ask such things of me!

Different things. But only the Lord can enlighten a man tobdo whatever he should.”

He had become tired. He put the quiet bird back in the cage. He turned to Maria and asked if she wanted something in particular.

“Your blessing, pappouli,” she said.

“You have it,” he said, and put his holy hand upon our heads in turn.

We left. How happy I felt inside! How much grace was imbued in his blessing!

I loved my father very much. When he died I was inconsolable at his loss. In all sincerity the Elder told me. “Your father is close to God! God’s mercy has saved him. Pray and thank Him for His kindness.”

I went to the Elder when they operated on my mother’s kidney. All the tests indicated that things were not going well. Before I was able to bring up the subject, the Elder started to tell me in medical terms that the situation was complex, but that we would pray and everything would be fine. He also gave me some advice concerning her diet and her recovery. Everything turned out famously.

May the name of God be blessed, Who sent His mercy in abundance through Elder Porphyrios.

The Elder’s foresight and grace show us another incident that I’ll tell you about.

I set off for the Elder’s convent with my friend Maria There was something wrong with the car and my husband had objected to us using it to go as far as Oropos. However our desire to see the Elder was so great that we ignored the danger.

Things soon proved us wrong. We had just reached the beginning of the dirt road in Agrafa, for those who know the area, when we heard a thundering noise coming from the engine. There was a loud bang and the car stopped. It was stuck where it was. A water truck was coming down from the monastery. I knew the driver.

“Mr. Vangeli,” I begged, “come and take a look at my car.”

He climbed down from the driver’s seat. He lay down under my broken car and started tinkering with the engine. In the end he gave up.

“We can’t do anything,” he said.

It was beginning to get dark. We locked the car and we set off to see the Elder on foot.

The Elder beat me to it again. Without my having told him anything, he admonished me saying, “What are you going to tell me this time? Why do you let every incompetent meddle with the car’s engine?”.

He later felt sorry for me since I looked so dejected. I was thinking about the approaching night, the objections before our departure, and the distance from home.

“I’ll send you home,” he assured. “The traffic police will help you and the ELPA[1] will take your car. Don’t be afraid, everything will be fine.”

“How, pappouli?” I again said dejectedly. “There isn’t a soul around.”

The Elder bore with me, patiently.

“Someone down at the entrance is waiting to drive you to the Traffic Police,” he said.

He blessed us and we left. A car really was waiting for us at the entrance to the monastery without us knowing how it got there. It was driven by a silent young man, who dropped us off outside the Traffic Police in Malakasa.

The administrator was waiting for us. He told us off for being late.

“We’re late?” I asked, “How do you know about us?”

“Didn’t you phone?” he asked.

He became quite pale when I said no, and said, “Have you come from the Elder?”

“Yes,” I replied.

He didn’t say anything else. He understood.

How, on the other hand, was ELPA informed? The driver of the ELPA car told us that he had lost his way for the first time in his life. He struggled for an hour going round and round the Traffic Police Station. We collected my car, fastened it with chains and got into the ELPA car headed for Athens.

“Are you a believer?” I asked the driver.

“I don’t know,” he answered abruptly. “I’m now thinking about whether or not we will find a garage open at this hour as you tell me. Those garages close at five.”

However, when we reached the garage Mr. Falieros the garage owner was still struggling to close the door. He had been trying for a long time. He had been in torment quite enough. He certainly wouldn’t leave the place unlocked with other people’s cars there. However, as soon as he put car inside, the door closed without any trouble.

The ELPA driver car gathered up the chains of the tow truck.

“Listen,” he said to me almost abruptly. “I will take you to the main road so you can find a taxi. I have an appointment in Peristeri.”

While he was talking, the car radio informed him that he had to go to Halandri via Marousi. So, he took us to the door of my house in Marousi, just like the Elder told us.

I’ve passed through bitter times in my life, and I shared them with the Elder. I tearfully begged him to help me. He had reached great spiritual heights. He had true gifts from the Holy Spirit. How many times did I hear his holy mouth talk to me about the power of the Jesus prayer! How many times did I hear him talk about repentance, love towards our enemies and the responsibility of the educator who must teach by example! How many times did I hear him talk about forgiveness that we should show to those who wound us! How many times did I tire him even though he was sick! He showed such tolerance, such love!

He once wanted to go to Mt. Athos because he said the monks were cold in some sketes and he wanted to take them blankets. He took them the blankets. He did this without thinking about his many illnesses or about his weak constitution.

One of the last times that I saw him, he said to me, “Look, Panagiota, you have a very good spiritual father. You do not have to come here again.”

I was embittered. I was very embittered at that moment. What do you suppose he is saying? Is he pushing me away? Why?

Now I know. I know that it was his spiritual will. In truth my spiritual father is that person who now takes upon himself the weight of all my weaknesses. May the Elder’s blessing make his heavy and laborious work light.

Lord, You manifest the good, true and just worker. You point out whoever identifies his will with Your divine will. You crown all those who are ascetics upon the mountains and all those in the cities who struggle on behalf of virtue. You vest them with Your purple robes. You confirm true faith. You are charitable, and make the lover of man known to all. You love Your children. Give rest also to our much beloved and respected hieromonk Elder Porphyrios.

[1]  The Hellenic Touring Automobile Club, Greek version of the AAA.

THEY WROTE

ABOUT ELDER PORPHYRIOS

George Papazahos

Assistant Professor of Cardiology at the University of Athens Doctor to Elder Porphyrios

The response of Professor George K. Papazahos, one of the Elder Porphyrios’ attendant physicians, to our request for his testimony about the great Elder was warm and direct.

The first edition was already being produced at the printers, so in order to save time, Mr. Papazahos sent the following text to us in Cyprus. He concluded the telephone conversation with these words, “Concerning the radio programs about the Elder in which you want me to participate. I’ll come to Cyprus to talk about that holy man whenever you want me to”.

We warmly thank Mr. George Papazahos and we cite his text, which was published as a letter in the periodical Synaxis (January-March. 1992, pages 93-97).

I am writing this letter from an inborn obligation to talk about the Elder Porphyrios. I experienced so many events near to him, as one of his doctors, for fourteen years, that I should not hide them from my brothers and sisters. I will relate a few “happenings” that reveal the Elder both as patient and as a doctor. Please forgive the personal elements which, if deleted, change the events. Others certainly experienced touching moments in his presence. These should not be lost because they constitute the traces of his holy life. They are proof of the Holy Spirit’s presence in our lives and are a legacy for our whole generation.

The Elder as a sick person

He really was ill, with a host of illnesses. Most of his bodily systems were stricken. I personally confirmed a myocardial infarction (anterior diaphragm with oblique ischaemia), chronic kidney failure, duodenal ulcers (with frequent bleeding), shingles (herpes zoster) on the face, staphylococcus dermatitis on the hand, hiatus hernia (with frequent constriction), chronic bronchitis, and adenoma of the pituitary gland.

He had the patience of Job. When his shingles were at their peak, the whole right side of his face (his scalp, cheek ear, chin) was an open sore. I asked him how intense the pain that he felt was. He replied, “It is like resting my cheek on a pan of scalding hot oil.” He was completely calm. He did not let out a hint that he was suffering, not a murmur.

Often when I found myself in his cell and we were talking, he suffered from constrictions of his hernia. It was always excruciating. He didn’t ask for help. He struggled to set it right on his own under the blankets. Nobody spoke, while from his lips one heard him whispering continuously, “Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy upon me,” with a sense of peace.

Once some people became upset when they kissed his hand because it was covered with gauze. They thought that it was disgusting. It was the time when we covered it up because he had staphylococcus dermatitis and it was completely ulcerated.

During our conversation one night after the cardiological examination and the usual electrocardiogram, I was shocked. I could never imagine that a man could confront his sickness in such a way. He said “I’ll confess something to you, but it must remain a secret. I have cancer in the pituitary gland. I already feel my tongue enlarged and it doesn’t move easily in the cavity of the mouth.” Later he made a correct medical analysis of the function of the endocrine glands, and he concluded by saying, “You should know that when I was a monk, maybe sixteen years old, on Mt. Athos, I felt so elated especially after receiving Holy Communion that I went into the forest and cried out: ‘Glory to you, Lord! The whole of You has come into me, into me, this humble sinner. You are my Christ who was crucified and suffered pain for me and You carried my sins. What do I do for you? What pain do I suffer for you? Lord, send me a cancer! May Christ grant me a cancer so that I might suffer with You.” He said that prayer continuously and then he confessed it to his Elders. They advised me not repeat it again because it troubles God. He knows what to do. I didn’t say that prayer again. But now, my dear George, He sent me the cancer. Do you understand what a good turn it is? Even though it’s late, I will suffer together with him a little.”

I was dumbfounded. It is the first time in my medical career that I had heard such an expression, “Thank God, I’ve got cancer!” I had forgotten that no ordinary man was standing before me, but Elder Porphyrios.

In spite of this he never refused the medical help of the many doctors who were also his spiritual children. In fact, one day I asked him, “Why do many spiritual people, especially monks, refuse medical help, thinking that the Panagia will help them quickly?” He answered. “It’s egotism. It’s the work of the Evil One, thinking that God will make an exception amongst all the others and will miraculously intervene for you. God performs miracles, but you should not expect one for yourself. It’s selfishness. On the other hand, God Himself acts through the doctors. “The Lord gave us physicians and medicine,” says the Holy Scripture.

He only accepted orthodox medicine, the fundamentals of which he knew very well. Through his experience of extended service at the Polyclinic in Athens and with divine grace, he looked deeply into the issue of illness and he often pressed us with precise scientific questions.

The Elder as doctor

His specialty was ‘telediagnosis.’ He saw the changes in himself and in others with astounding preciseness; often even in his doctors.

He himself explained to me that he diagnosed hypogonadism in a young man simply by looking at him. He diagnosed a fracture of the spinal column of a nun who lived in another city. There are probably thousands of those who were diagnosed by him and later had the sickness verified scientifically.

Here I will mention a self-diagnosis of himself. He verified changes in his electrocardiograph without a cardiograph machine. One night, he called me up quite concerned, “Come here, late as it is, to see the changes in the cardiograph. I was in pain many times today, and the pain was anginal.” Indeed, I ascertained that there were ischaemic changes (to arteries V3-V6) and I asked him under what kind of stress he was today. He began to cry and with frequent interruptions he began describing something in detail to me. He was seeing scenes from the street fighting in Romania. It was the day when the people rose up against Ceaucescu. With his gift he saw the shootings and the deaths in the squares just like they were being published in the newspapers the following day. He continued to cry, and I begged him to ask God to take away this vision. His heart was in a dangerous state because of the stress. His blockage could get severe.

I found myself in the same kind of stress while witnessing the sensitivity of the ‘other’ heart of a saint. I avoided looking at the cardiograph and thought to myself, “What meaning does this nitrite anti-angina medicine that I am about to give you have for you, Elder? You’re not of this world. Your heart is beating in Oropos and is living in Romania. On the ECG the heart is shown with an ischaemic ‘condition’ at the ST interval, but in reality can be found ‘resurrected’ to the heavens.” I left there quite late, trembling because I had seen a little of the light of a saint.

I would go to his cell as a diagnostic doctor but there were many times when he would diagnose me too. I will mention two of them.

I had been operated on by Professor Vasilios Golematis (two hernias at one time) and while I was recovering, we went with my wife to Oropos. I do not know if he had learnt about my operation from my friends but as soon as we walked into his cell, he looked at my abdomen intently for a long time and said to me, “I see that the one on the right was a good operation but the one on the left was masterful. Why did he operate on you better on that side?” My wife nodded to me, “What is the Elder saying?” I had not told her or anyone else that the surgeon had applied the Souldaice method on the left side because it was a big hernia. The Elder ‘saw’ it.

In December of 1990, I was in bed with major stomach-haemorraghing. At one point there was great concern as to whether or not I should be operated on. The telephone rang. I convey the Elder’s exact words to you, “I’m visiting you often these days. With the gift that God gave me, I’m acting in a healing way. I’ve never entered your home so many times in so few days... Something tells me that you shouldn’t have the operation now but you should change your way of life, loosen up a little. Leave the operating table for now, we’ll think about it later. What am I doing now? Am I a doctor to the doctor? (He laughs.) You should relax more because people love you. You’ve stolen my glory.” (He laughs.) You can imagine how I felt under that protective presence.

He loved all the people who approached him very much, and naturally he loved his doctors too. Consequently he would put his healing gift into practice for us. All those who sincerely approached him have the same experiences. I would often take friends and relatives with me. They were surprised when he began talking about their problems without my having informed him previously. A particular lady upon leaving the Elder wanted me to take an oath, saying that I had not said anything to him about her before we went to Oropos.

The gift he had made him more sensitive in the presence of human pain. Once, at sunset, the nuns stopped the cardiological test because many people had gathered outside and were waiting to get his blessing before nightfall. He went outside the cell and the visitors simply kissed his hand. He was tired and he did not speak to anyone. The last lady came out crying. When I went in again, I found the Elder crying. “That happens to me all the time,” he said. “I just saw that mother being beaten up by her drug addicted son so that she’ll give him money. And the poor thing has certainly been offended, having such a problem and leaving without any help... What can you do poor Porphyrios... Lord Jesus Christ...” He often whispered, the word, “Jesus” over and over again.

He was such a sweet and simple man that you did not hold back from directing any kind of stupid question at him. One day, I challenged him directly, “How do you know, Elder, that your gift of foresight is from God and not from the devil?” He laughed good-naturedly and said. “I tested it. It is from God because it does not make mistakes. I will give you an example. The church-warden at the Polyclinic was suffering pain in the upper molar and she was clutching her right cheek. I told her that the left molar was bad. She insisted it was the right molar but when she returned from the dentist, she said to me excitedly that I was right. In the x-ray, the problem appeared on the left but she felt the pain on the right side since it was on the same nerve. If it was from the Evil One, this foresight would have been based on the sick person’s feelings and would be wrong. God’s energy does not make mistakes.”

The Elder, as a doctor, did not only ‘see’ my physical ailments, he concerned himself with my many spiritual imperfections too. He tried to help me find humbleness. One afternoon he telephoned me at my office immediately after a couple of patients had expressed their extreme love for me for the care I gave them. I recount his words, “George, It’s the Elder. Both of us are going to hell together. We’ll hear, ‘You fool, this very night your soul is being demanded from you.’ You enjoyed the good things in life. “And the things you have prepared, whose will they be?’” I interrupted him, “What did we enjoy in this life, Elder? The broken down car, the empty bank account or the non-existent sleep?” He answered abruptly, “What’s that you’re saying? Don’t people tell you what a good doctor you are? You love us. You take care of us. You don’t skin us alive. And you welcome this praise, you swallow it down. Eh, you’ve already lost your reward. The same thing happens to me. They tell me that I have ‘gifts’, how I can touch them and perform miracles, that I’m holy. And I gulp it all down, weak fool that I am. Eh, that’s why I told you that both of us are going to hell.”

“If we’re going to go together,” I replied “let’s go to hell too!” And he hung up the phone saying, “I’m speaking to you seriously and you’re always joking. Good repentance to the both of us.”

One day I was downcast, thinking that most of my life has gone by pointlessly in the midst of useless daily details. The Elder telephoned me and lifted my spirits with two or three of his expressions, “Doctor, did you ever hear the phrase, “they will not taste death?” We can, if we wish, avoid death. All we have to do is love Christ. You, ‘with all of your heart’, Mr. Cardiologist.” (He laughs.)

The Elder was not only a doctor, he was also a vet. He loved animals. He tamed aggressive parrots and he taught them the Jesus Prayer. I was startled when I heard the parrot repeating the Prayer of Jesus in his cell. “He is more spiritual than me,” said the Elder. “I get tired and I fall asleep, but he stays awake and prays.” Recently he tried to tame an eagle.

One weekend in Northern Evia where he rested, the following thing happened, as he himself recounted, “A shepherdess asked me to read a prayer for her flock because her goats were getting sick. I agreed and they brought the whole flock close to the Church where I lived. I stood in front of the flock. I lifted my hands high and I said different prayers from verses of the Psalms that refer to animals. Not one of them moved. Then I lowered my hands and a billy goat moved toward me on his own. He came close to me, kissed my hand and moved away quietly. Isn’t that right?” he asked a nun who was standing nearby. “Yes, Elder, that’s exactly how it happened. I was there.”

Every time I went to Fr. Porphyrios, I was overcome with fear, thinking that this could be the last time I would check his health. Thus I checked his heart beat and carotid arteries for a long time. I did this in the sure knowledge that I was handling the body of a future saint of our Orthodox Church. When I took my hand away from his heart, he continued saying, “Lord Jesus Christ have mercy on Your world.” How much is owed by our world and our generation to these prayers of the Elder Porphyrios! How much I owe him personally!

On leaving, I would bow to get his blessing and sometimes he would give me a slap on the face (it was the highest expression of his happiness), or at other times he would squeeze my head in his two hands saying the Jesus Prayer.

I can now explain why God instilled in me the desire to study medicine at a more mature age and to become a cardiologist. He wanted me to know and examine at close hand, the simple, kind, charismatic and holy Elder, Porphyrios Bairaktaris.

One day he said to me, “When I leave, I will be closer to you. After death, distances are abolished.”

I hope that he now enters our homes and hearts more easily.

Alexander M. Stavropoulos

Assistant Professor at the Theological School

of the University of Athens.

In order to collect more testimonies about life and the works of Elder Porphyrios. in addition to the recorded tapes we did on CBC in the framework of the program Orthodoxy Today.” we sent a special mission to Athens.

During the course of this assignment, we also communicated with Mr. Alexander M. Stavropoulos, Assistant Professor at the University of Athens, who knew the Elder Porphyrios very well. Mr. Stavropoulos, however, was leaving the country the very next day. Thus, instead of recording a conversation, he was good enough to send us his text for publication “The Royal Oak - In Memory of Elder Porphyrios” that was published in the periodical “Efimerios”, (1991, pages 376-378.) We thank him warmly and we cite it below, followed by one other text of the same person that was first published in the periodical “Koinonia” (1992, pages 105-109) with the title, “The Heavenward Elder.” and which also cite in this present, second edition.

The Royal Oak In Memory of Elder Porphyrios

A living presence

The news resounded like an echo from one corner to the other throughout Greece and the whole world, “The Elder has passed on, may we have his blessing!” An unbelievable report, yet true. We were all waiting for something like this to happen someday. That someday was placed in the distant inaccessible future. All of us kept a safe distance from the unavoidable. We created our own type of insulation against it. We were nagged by the thought of what will become of us when that moment comes. We have many teachers, but we do not have many fathers. Who will console us during those difficult times?

However, I can feel within me the sweet sensation of his presence. It is a presence that unites the earthly, with the heavenly, the Church Militant with the Church Triumphant. Elder Porphyrios “has passed from death to life,” and he has become an intercessor for all of us who are grieving.

It is impossible for me to imagine him dead. His body has been placed in the good Athonite soil, which will produce fruit a hundredfold in the hearts of his children. That body that negotiated new roads, which grasped the smallest detail with his experience of ascetic life, will be reconstituted to that from which it was made, contributing to the metamorphosis on the day of Resurrection.

We all hold the memory of the touch of his hand firmly in our minds. By placing his hand on our head, he passed on a blessing, he healed or admonished. We remember his curled up body .in times of pain and suffering. We also remember the same body tall and upright when we found him in moments of extremely good health.

We will remember him as flesh and bones and in this way we feel he is next to us, in front of us, behind us, accompanying us discreetly on our journey through the thoroughfare of life.

Words of life

We will remember his words with overwhelming emotion because they were words of life that animated us. Let us delve into our memories and recreate those words in their fullness. Many of us were idle and neglected to record the complete mosaic of the skillful artwork of his word. The certainty that we would see him and hear him again made us indolent. He was one of our own. He would say the same thing.

He would constantly relate the same things to us, to clarify the details that escaped us. We would even wonder why he was telling us these things again. A heartfelt friend, who went to the Elder again and again, was always told the same story by him and asked himself why. Three years later he understood the reason for so much repetition. This, of course, made him tired, affected his health and troubled those who served his needs, because his strength was sapped.

We often experienced that awkward moment of knowing that we had tired him out. We became heavy hearted and sighed when he tried to persuade us to make the great step and take up the spiritual struggle. Entrenched within our doubtful security, we resisted the opportunities that he wanted to open up within us. Being narrow minded, we could not comprehend the openness into which he called us. With the narrowness of our hearts we opposed the broadness of his.

Creative restlessness

In spite of his desire to move forward, he stopped to marvel at the complexity of nature and technology. His brains were occupied in finding solutions to everything. Dead ends did not exist for him unless we put up barricades.

He was always in favor of transporting “built constructions.” If something cannot be done here it can be done elsewhere. So we transferred buildings that were condemned to ruin and age to a corresponding site in another area. Spiritual life demands techniques and methods so that you can transfer what you have learned here, there, or somewhere else. He tried to teach all of us the idea of ‘else’. We remember him saying: If we cannot do something here, let us start from somewhere else. The important thing was to start. We should not be idle. If you can’t start with this or that, start with something else. The impetus you get from that will motivate you to do the other things.

The three enemies: laziness, carelessness and indifference

He would charge most of us with being lazy. He would ‘sniff’ us out from the way we walked, the way we talked, the way we grasped something or by the way we moved our hands. He would say, “Look at him, he can’t even move his feet and he wants to move forward spiritually!” He applied a type of psychosomatic pastoral treatment. He recommended the use of work therapy.

He was unbelievably annoyed by our carelessness and our indifference. A Christian must be interested in and by everything. How is it possible for the world to progress if Christians are indifferent? We must be careful. The thief is careful. We must also ‘steal.’ We must impress upon ourselves attention to detail.

He had never put his hands on a steering wheel yet was an excellent fellow driver on impossible and difficult roads. The journeys that he made taught him what to watch out for. They taught him what to avoid. He passed on his invaluable experience even when we became exasperated with his interference. We realized little by little, that he did not aim to make us mature but to make us completely operational so that we could take advantage of our psychosomatic dynamism and produce abundantly.

Measuring our pulse

He gave special emphasis to the schedule of our spiritual life, which was not unrelated to all that we mentioned above. He took our measurements. You never found something that was off the rack. It was always something made to order for you. He labored to find your pulse, your own disposition for fasting, prayer, asceticism, and the mystical life. He would always convey to you something from his enthusiasm, something from his own ascent, something from his spiritual flights.

“Our religion, Alexander, is something magnificent. It heals everything. Love Christ, and then everything will change within you and around you.” By saying the word Christ you would think that the letters were being written in your heart one by one, and you felt an ache. You felt “the name above every name,” was being inscribed in your heart with large, fiery letters. You felt yourself taking part in the chorus of saints who have now received Elder Porphyrios into the Heavens.

To all of those, and they are many, who felt the rewarding presence of the Elder, let us say that the Elder Porphyrios lives and reigns in the unending day of the Kingdom. He prays for all of us and especially for the priests whom he respected, honored and loved with all the warmth of his heart.

May we have your blessing, Elder!

The Heavenward Elder

Gift of God

If we wanted to characterize the presence of Elder Porphyrios amongst us, we would be greatly helped by the two readings, the Epistle reading (Eph. 4:7-13) as well as the Gospel reading (Mt. 4:12-17). They were read in the Divine Liturgy on the day of the Fortieth-Day Memorial, which was held at the Holy Convent “The Transfiguration of the Saviour” at Milessi, Attica on the twelfth of January 1992.

We could maintain with certainty that Elder Porphyrios is one of the Christ’s gifts, who He has raised up to the heights and offered to the people. With his life, Elder Porphyrios revealed the Great Light, Christ, to those dwelling in darkness. He invited all of us to His miraculous light. The apostle, the prophet, the evangelist, the shepherd, the teacher and above all the father, were all concentrated in his person. Throughout his whole life he aimed at edifying the Body of Christ, the Church. All his gifts were given to him for this purpose

Is it possible for all things to be concentrated in one particular individual? Certainly it is possible if we remember that in each one of us “is given grace according to the measure of Christ’s gift.” The answer is given to the above mentioned doubt by the ingenious and silencing ‘epigram’ of a Cretan priest, who recited it to me in a telephone conversation a few days ago. There is no doubt at all.

“Porphyrios’ countenance

has bottomless depth;

no place can contain it

nor mind efface it.”

A form of resurrection

The Elder’s life is one continuous surprise whether we know little or much about it. However it is mainly a revelation of the life which the Lord assured us of when He came to the earth, “that they may have life and have it abundantly” (Jn. 10:10). The Elder’s life was resurrectional. It witnessed to the Resurrection. It was I would dare say, “a form of resurrection,” which revealed hope when death drew near to us, and when death drew near to him in its every mold.

Having this conviction, I was surprised when I was asked to write a death notice for the Elder. I silently objected. The dissension was formulated in the letter of an exceptional friend of mine. In response to my invitation to gather information relating to the Elder’s life, he willingly sent me notes of conversations he had held with him at various times. I found in them a brilliant icon of those things which we ourselves tried to present in words with such difficulty. I wonder who amongst us has the right to write the “death notice” of the sleeping Elder who has already “passed from death to life?”

I will quote some of the Elder’s words to you, based on the inventory of notes. My comments are superfluous.

“When I became a monk, I felt better. My health even strengthened. Before I was sickly, from then on I became healthier and had the stamina to withstand the struggles of life with spiritual courage. Chiefly I felt eternal. The Church is a mystery. Whoever enters the church doesn’t die, but is saved, is eternal. So, I’ve always felt eternal, immortal.” The face of the Elder lit up and he continued “From the moment I became a monk, I believed that death doesn’t exist. This thought sustains me.”

When I first read those verses, tears of joy slowly flowed over my cheeks. I said, ‘verses’? What else are those lines other than a resurrection hymn? Verses that breathe the poetry of a whole life out upon himself. The Elder’s life put into practice the glorious words of Kostis Palamas, the poet:

The statue I struggled to form for the shrine,

out of my own stone,

and to establish it mother-naked

and to age

and to pass by without passing away.

There, the reason why it was so difficult for us to imagine him dead and feel him alive and near us for four whole months after his departure.

A revelation of a kind

Another reason for our gratitude to God is that the presence of Elder Porphyrios in our lives resurrected within the Hellenic nation and the human race a disappearing breed: the figure of the ‘Elder’ within Orthodoxy.

We mentioned above how ample the qualities of Elder Porphyrios were. In his person we relived, as in a dream, all that tradition has recorded in histories and in the wondrous events of the saintly Elders’ lives. We relived the life of our Church condensed in the length of the encounters we had with him. It is truly a miracle to come out of his cell with certainty of faith, with firm hope, having tasted the sweet fruit of his love.

We know that for many he was the “tree of godly fruit,” the “wood of leafy branches,”[1] which nourished and sheltered many people. I remember the case of a highly placed person. When he found himself in a black despairing mood, he took his car and went and stopped a breath away from the Elder’s cell. In the morning, he would leave for his day’s labor without even attempting to talk with him. The Elder felt his presence. The Elder felt many things and he also did many things to be felt by others.

When George Seferis spoke some sixty years ago about that fir tree that bends down before the sea, do you suppose he knew what a ripe image he gave us in order to talk about the Elder?

“I once spent the night under that tree. At dawn, I was brand new, as if at that moment they had carved me out of a quarry.”

Carving the Transfiguration

True, maybe I have been led astray, talking about irrelevant images, about statues, about stones, and become distracted from my desire to trace the outline of Elder Porphyrios? I think not. Nothing like that is happening. I simply wanted in the final analysis to transcend the Elder’s deep desire to hew the formless mass of our stony selves, to form the image of Christ within us, and thus, transform us. All of this happened with much travail on his part, the strengthening of our hopes, so that we would never be disappointed and give up.

He saw signs of hope in our personal lives, the life of our nation and the life of humanity. One night, when we had confided in him our sorrow and our distress about everything that was happening around us, he confided:

Our age is just like the age Christ lived in. At that time, the world had arrived a wretched state, but God felt sorry for us. We shouldn’t get upset now. I see a truly outstanding person of God appearing in this calamity who will lead people and unite them towards the good.”

Amen, Elder, but when!

Everyone who knew the power of his prayers asks you to intercede to our most gracious God, to Christ’s all holy Mother, for the salvation of humankind and of our souls. Don’t forget us when we forget your life-bearing words. “Abide with us for it is toward evening and the day is far spent.” May his memory be eternal!

YOUR BLESSING

My good Elder,

your blessing as then

when you prayed for us

and you blessed us with the cross.

Your prayer rained

rivers of grace upon us

and you freed us

from the bonds

which held us

tightly bound

and motionless.

The hands and the feet,

were then free, moving

toward the four corners

of the horizon

and your word

a weather vane of many trips

transported us

upon the wings of the wind

to the ferry of fertile lines.

A.M.S.[2]

[1]  Akathist to the Most Holy Theotokos. 14th verse “New was the creation...”

[2]  Reprinted from the periodical “Ephimerios”, vol. 41, issue 17, November 15, 1992, page 353, with the permission of the author.

Nikos Zias

Director of Byzantine and Post-Byzantine Monuments. Professor at the Faculty of Philosophy

of the University of Athens.

The editorial board of the periodical. Orthodox Witness, which is the publication of the Pan-Cypriot Society of Orthodox Tradition, “The Friends of Mt. Athos.” has kindly granted us permission to publish in this volume the following text entitled, “Fr. Porphyrios, the Elder of Penteli.” The same text was also published in the periodical Synaxis, Athens, January-March, 1992, pages 84-88. It is published here with additions and changes by the author.

We met, my wife and I, Elder Porphyrios on the Mountain of the Blameless, Penteli, the calmest and friendliest mountain of Attica. An Athonite Abbot first told me about the Elder. He was experienced in the spiritual life, but also knowledgeable about the multifarious problems of contemporary life in the world. In spite of all of this, we started off with certain reservations about meeting this monk in Penteli.

Fr. Porphyrios lived in some makeshift little cells at St. Nicholas in Kallisia, a holding of the Monastery of the Holy Trinity, Penteli.

In order to get to St. Nicholas, you must park your car in a clearing and from there you must walk for a little less than half an hour. The path begins on flat ground. Then it narrows and you walk almost on the edge of the rocks. Beautiful flowers surround the hiker. Further on, after you descend an incline and cross over a small stream, you enter into a shady forest of fir trees. Later you ascend again and when you pass near some ruins, you find yourself in a rocky, treeless area where a monastery had been built three hundred years ago. Today the main thing remaining is the charming little domed Church of St. Nicholas.

As you walk on the narrow path, you are slowly cut off from the dirt and noise of Athens. Without realizing it, you enter another world. During the day, the city below stretches out its cloudy laziness. At night, the lights often flicker in the distance. In Kallisia there is no electricity. Candles and a few church lanterns light the faded forms of the Saints and the bare rocks. Oil lamps dimly light the cells. There is a small guest house where, during the winter, heat is produced by a wood-burning stove. The only presence of ‘technology’ outside the cells: a taut wire used as a radio antenna.

During the winter, Fr. Porphyrios snuggled up to the wood-burning stove. In the summer, he walked out on the small platform of rocks or in the little gardens that he cultivated in the lower areas of the monastery grounds. When the weather was good, he heard confessions in the Church. Then, as we first went there, we waited outside in the courtyard, making acquaintances with people that we met for the first time. We quickly felt an unexpected friendship and softness in our hearts. Maybe it was the internal need and an ache, functioning as a connecting element, that directed us all to the mountain, where we awaited help.

The first meeting with Fr. Porphyrios was very quiet and friendly. It was a meeting without any of the gloominess or austerity that one would imagine when hearing about an ascetic Elder. He listened to the pointed revelations of unstable souls with calmness and understanding, as if they were like common daily chats. It was as if he knew.

A sense of peace and cheerfulness filled the area around us and softened our souls. In our first meeting, all the inhibitions we previously had about him were dissolved. There was no inhuman strictness. There was only brotherly love and forgiveness. He listened while praying with his prayer rope. He blessed and he forgave.

“A spiritual father is a great thing,” he would say to us later. “This is why there is no despair in Orthodoxy. There is no impasse, because there are spiritual fathers who have the grace to forgive.” He began to tell us simple stories about people who found freedom in confession.

The Elder’s redeeming word, in the lightness of his presence, in the silence of the afternoon, calms our hearts.

In many of the expeditions that follow in the evening, in the morning, at night and at noon, pappouli awaits us. Every time the heart feels burdened, the horizon and the road appear closed, pappouli awaits us. Every time we venture forth upon a rocky path filled with brilliant flowers, pappouli awaits us and greets us with a smile. He is agile, cheerful and ready to release the burden from our hearts in a methodical way, guided by his limitless love and the abundance of divine grace which overshadows him. He is charming in the true sense of the word. He had childlike goodness and paternal wisdom.

One springtime afternoon, we found him tending to the strawberry plants while practically lying on the ground. He picked some strawberries and offered them to us so that we might taste the fruits of the earth. We talked there. Without giving much advice and moral instruction, he cut deep into the soul and sprinkled the balsam of the God’s grace upon it. At times like that, he glowed, shone and rejoiced like a child. He spoke to us continuously about the Prayer of Jesus, about noetic prayer. At another time, he spoke to us and explained to us the meaning of the blessing from a priest and the kissing of his hand. “The hand of a priest,” he said with amazement and ecstasy. “What an important thing, eh? what a mystery!” He spoke simply and humbly, emphasizing and repeating that he is not very educated. “Second grade of elementary school.”

One evening, we had gathered a group of people to meet with an Athonite monk. It became dark. The weather was rough and threatening. However, next to the Elder, even those who had not gotten used to the dark side of nature did not disturb the tranquillity. The Elder was talking about the difference between humbleness and an inferiority complex The humble person, he said, is not a fragmented personality He is conscious of his situation but he has not lost the essence of his personality. He knows his sinfulness, his insignificance and he accepts the observations of his spiritual father and of his brothers. He is sorry but he is not despondent. He grieves, but he is not defeated; he does not get angry. Whoever is ruled by an inferiority complex, outwardly and at first glance appears to be humble. If you admonish him or if you counsel him, then his unhealthy ego rebels, gets shaken up and he loses the little sense of peace that he had. He said the same thing happens with pathological depression in connection with the repentant sinner. “The depressed person turns inward and concerns himself only with himself. The sinner who repents and confesses comes out of himself. This is the greatness of our faith, the confessor, the spiritual father. So. you’ve told it to your elder, don’t turn back.” He stressed that a great deal. Not to dwell on the past, but to move forward. How many prisoners in the dark land of depression did he save at the final hour by releasing them with the power of his presence before God!

He also gave great importance to fasting without being extreme and overdoing it. He simply underlined its cleansing purpose.

Conversations with Elder Porphyrios touched various issues. In fact, sometimes he would provoke our amazement at the breadth of his interest. One summer afternoon we were in a hurry to leave. I told him the reason. We were going to attend a concert at the Herodian Coliseum. I brought it up almost on purpose to see his reaction. I was dumbfounded when he knew the composer and the conductor. He spoke with me in a most informed way about the subject. This pappouli of the Second Grade! I also spoke to those who had gone to him a long time before I did and who knew more details about the Elder. I asked them why the antenna was there. I learned that the Elder, at one time, was engaged in the building of some type of receiver made with galena. In addition to cultivating gardens, (which his advanced years and his sensitive health did not allow him to become involved in) he undertook technical projects.

I also brought up the subject of the wood stove. It was his design. We gathered around this stove on wintry days and had interminable discussions. Each one of us was waiting for his turn to see the Elder. While this was going on, Miss. Hariklia (the present Abbess Porphyria), the sister of the Elder, prepared coffee and other treats. Theologians, clergymen, Greeks, Serbs, judges, philosophers, doctors, teachers, professors, and students would gather there like a family. There was such warmth, such a sense of fellowship there, that even if the stove went out, we would not feel it.

We would often ask the Elder about decisions and choices in our lives. He always had an answer, sometimes expected and sometimes unexpected. He did not recommend resigning from and distancing oneself from activity. He insisted on doing something. He insisted on a simple way of life in the country. He considered a walk on the mountain to be valuable recreation.

The late Panagiotis Nellas, director of the well-known Greek Orthodox review “Synaxis”, frequently asked him things with regard to his periodical and he always received the correct answer.

It is known that Fr. Porphyrios had the gift of foresight and discernment. Many would go to him for confession and he would reveal their deeds. However, he would use that gift with great discretion and only for pastoral reasons. He used it only when it was absolutely necessary. Occasionally, when he was very well disposed and he took those long walks in order to take a little rest, he would ask, with his gracious smile, about the different localities of the people who were in his company. Although he had not been there himself, he would interrupt the person and continue the description. That gift also gave him many worries. Many people misunderstood the gift he had and went to see him without repentance and faith in God. They simply went there out of curiosity or to learn about the future. The Elder naturally took the appropriate position. Sometimes, though, people who started out with such cunning intentions found their faith and salvation in the Elder. Another temptation was from certain heretics or from deluded people (like speaking in tongues, etc.) The Elder was very firm about the cults that prevail in Christianity. The Elder was unyielding and categorical in such cases. He bluntly marked out his position, discrediting their delusion and condemning the heresy. He always emphasized that the only road to salvation is the Church, not ‘movements’ that were ‘personal’ and the such like.

Father Porphyrios offered the word of salvation and gave rest to souls, simply. He did not have some preprepared program, talks, ‘displays’ etc. By simply sitting on a rock or lying down on the ground, he would reveal to us the mysteries and the truths of faith and of our spiritual life. He would tell us about the great importance of prostrations and he would show us the proper way to do a prostration. He would explain to us the involvement of the body in prayer and the unity of the psychosomatic dimensions of man that he considered fundamental to the existence, the type, but also the healing of illness. He glowed with childlike joy when he spoke about noetic prayer. With his clear, weak voice, accompanied by graceful hand movements, he would say the words one at a time: “Lord, Jesus Christ, have mercy upon me.” He would add something else to this type of conversation, “God gave me the grace to be greatly occupied with this ‘work’.” He called the prayer of the heart ‘work.’ “This work is very useful for the faithful. It cleanses the soul and sustains the intellect (nous)” In all of his conversations, he said something about the prayer of the heart. Later, before his monastery was built in Milessi, he dreamed of having a suitable place where he would spend all his time with this work.

The most important work was actualized in the sanctuary of each person’s soul. This remains closed to interpretation. It is known only to God and to those who accept the benevolent breath of divine energy. These things are neither talked nor written about. However, others also see dramatic changes in people, who looked like they had reached into the depths of the abyss and are now transformed into children of the light.

During the last years of his life, he spent most of the time in bed. Besides, he was sickly and weak throughout his life. This, however, did not prevent him from going to Mt. Athos often, very often, and especially to the inaccessible cell. Neither did it prevent him from fighting, often hand to hand, with demons in order to free the souls of tormented people who hastened to him for his help. He was always serene even when he could hardly talk. He blessed people from his bed and he told us in a whisper about how he thinks of us and he prays for us.

Fr. Porphyrios has now left for Heaven, passing through the Gateway to Heaven, Mt. Athos. He blesses us from there. We keep his sacred memory in our hearts as a precious legacy. Our souls are pacified with the image of meekness and peace of the small-bodied pappouli in the little black woolen hat, who God granted to these end times in order to shore up the souls of contemporary Orthodox Christians.

Every time Elder Porphyrios left the Convent in Milessi, the nuns posted an appropriate announcement for the visitors. Here we see the last announcement that remained posted until 3th December 1991.

“Elder Fr. Porphyrios is absent from this afternoon and he did not tell us in how many days he would return. If you want something, you can leave a note in the mail box and when he returns we will give it to him. You should know that he himself will pray about your problem with much love.”

To which someone added a reminder of the date: The last time he left was on the evening of 28/9/91 when the clock changed.”

Constantine Gregoriades

Honorary General Inspector of Secondary Education

Doctor of Theology, Writer

Mr. Gregoriades gave us the following text especially for this second edition. This is in place of his conversation found in the first edition.

“Wondrous is God in His Saints”

Elder Porphyrios’ presence in our world during our lifetime was truly a blessing from God. Each of us lives in psychological confusion and our whole society is in moral and spiritual disorder. God, however, revealed His boundless love which nurtures all of us, each one of us, personally through the saintly figure of Elder Porphyrios.

The love of God is always substantial, say the Fathers of our Church. That is to say, it is offered through specific people and events. God’s pre-eminent manifestation of His love was in the Person of Jesus Christ. “In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His Only Begotten Son into the world that we might live through Him” (1 John 4:9).

It is a fundamental truth of our salvation that Elder Porphyrios reminded us of, less through teaching and more through his own sanctified self. The Elder received God’s love with the indissoluble communion he had with Christ. “Christ,” he said, “is everything, the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end, our true life.” His being was flooded with Christ’s love for all of us. He embraced people with affection, respect, leniency, and with boundless goodness.

Each one of us (even out of simple curiosity) could feel the presence of Christ in Elder Porphyrios. You felt uplifted and brave even while carrying the unbearable weight of your sins. You experienced the warmth of a personal communion that was full of Christ’s love.

Elder Porphyrios, compared with the other spiritual figures who have lived here, is distinguished by the fact that he was drawn by God’s love at a very young age. This is exactly what he wrote in his last letter and testament to his spiritual children.

The element of love was very characteristic in Elder Porphyrios, and because of it, the people of God received his blessing. This is not only true in the areas where the Elder, lived in Athens, Kallisia, in Milessi and elsewhere - but throughout the whole land, even outside Greece. Many people from all parts of the world would call the Elder for hours on end, trying to solve the many problems that burdened them.

When one feels the presence of Christ in the person of Elder Porphyrios, then we have the manifestation of a saintly figure, a sanctified man in our midst. This explains why people flocked to the Elder in such numbers to receive his blessing and to be enlightened. He was unable to satisfy everyone, especially during the last years of his life, because of severe fatigue and the numerous illnesses.

The reflection of God’s blessing

Elder Porphyrios did not teach with words but particularly reflected the presence of Christ with his own example. He allowed himself to be open and transparent so that this love would reflect upon others. This is why we can say that he is the supreme man of God.

A man of God means a man of love, of giving, of serving and of sacrifice. Despite his sickness, (the reason why his elders on Mt. Athos sent him back to his parents) he worked very hard for thirty or more years at the St. Gerasimos’ Chapel in the Polyclinic on Omonia Square, right in the heart of Athens.

He did not only give Christ’s love to the sick of the Polyclinic but also to all those who hastened to visit him, to confess and to seek his enlightened advice on the many problems they faced.

Despite his illness, the Elder felt sorry for the people that he received so that he could attend to their problems. He ignored his own suffering to help those who were in pain. When his body could bear no more, people simply walked by his cell and received his blessing, which was enough to sustain people and to alleviate their pain.

Elder Porphyrios’ Gifts

The Elder had received from an early age many gifts from God. He had the great gift of feeling human sinfulness deeply. The Fathers of the Church help us to understand that it is not an easy thing to accept one’s sinfulness. A person feels that he is a sinner when he comes to know all that God has revealed to him within the communion of His love.

Elder Porphyrios was impressed by all the wonderful things God had revealed to him. This high level of spirituality was expressed in his feeling of his own insignificance. In a very emotional way he emphasized this reality in his letter to his spiritual children, “I, however, feel that I am the most sinful person in the world... I have the feeling that my spiritual sins are many and I ask all those who have known me to pray for me, because for as long as I lived, I humbly prayed for you too.”

Besides, this is an indication of holiness: to feel sinful, to bear the sorrowful state of the world’s sins, whilst lifting people up to such a level that they live your reflection of holiness, having then the feeling of a true saint’s presence amongst them.

Elder Porphyrios had many gifts. He had the gift of leniency, the gift of vigil. He did not sleep at night because he used the time to pray for all the people and especially for those who suffered from serious illnesses.

He always said, “I will pray, but that’s not enough. My prayer must find a reaction from you. God, who wants to send His Grace to us, must find us with our arms open, ready to embrace it. Regardless of whether He heals us or whether He allows our suffering to continue, His action will be for our spiritual benefit.”

“When I am weak, then I am strong.”

(2 Cor. 12:10)

Elder Porphyrios considered sicknesses to be a very great blessing from God. We all know that he had a weak physical nature. God allowed the Elder to be tried by many diseases. More than anything else he suffered from terrible headaches that created an unbearable condition. They made him feel so faint that he could not continue his conversation with the people. However he would often proceed, with God’s grace, to guide those urgent situations. He would set himself aside and concern himself with the progress and salvation of others.

Elder Porphyrios saw God’s presence in people through pain and sickness. When a person suffers, he feels his weakness intensely. He can’t rely on himself because he sees that his strength is waning. He wants to be able to get through these difficulties. This is why he is dependent on God’s love, His love for humankind. When a person communicates with God unceasingly in prayer, and when he entrusts himself to Him, the real strength that comes from God and leads to salvation, is conveyed to him. That is to say, it leads to union with God and participation in the life of the Holy Triune Deity!

When we asked the Elder about his health, he would tell us a few things. His personal struggle gave him the opportunity to offer us this great truth, “God more than loves us and He wants us to become His by totally surrendering ourselves.”

“Let us commit our whole lives to Christ our God.” This is made much easier when sickness does not allow us to depend upon our own strength. Sickness then becomes a real benefit to us. This is why the Elder said, “Don’t pray to God to make you well. He knows what is good for you and will act with the infinite love that He has for mankind.”

Elder Porphyrios’ gift of foresight.

The crown of all the gifts that God had given him was his gift of foresight. The presence of the Holy Spirit within him not only made his own being transparent, but also that of others. With the action and enlightenment of the Holy Spirit, Elder Porphyrios saw the secrets of the human soul. Whenever it was necessary to tell us something that was helpful for our salvation in Christ, he said it. In fact, he would say it in such a way that not only would you not become frightened but on the contrary, you would receive courage and boldness in order to continue your spiritual journey.

Many people had a hard time understanding what this gift of the Elder was all about. This is why he would complain, “Most people don’t realize that this gift is not my own ability. I say a few things that God enlightens me to say, so that the world will feel Christ’s embrace for all of us. And so it will give its own love to Christ in response.”

He himself said that many people thought that grace was clairvoyant or magic ability. This upset him. If someone approached the Elder with more faith in such clairvoyance then he would not reveal his gift of foresight. In other words, the Elder would not answer those things that the visitor would ask him. On the other hand, when he saw that the person who approached him had the disposition to repent, then he would talk to him about specific things that concerned him.

Let us mention, for example, issues of health, so that we will not touch upon other personal spiritual issues. He would tell certain people who had problems with their health to go to the doctor. In fact, he established and described in detail the particular problem and the spot where the complaint was located. Doctors were astounded by his medical knowledge. Many doctors went to the Elder to get his blessing. He would tell them things of a medical nature which helped in fulfilling their duties.

The Elder would say to others, “You have this problem, but it’s better that you don’t undergo surgery. We will overcome it in another way.” He would also point out, along with the correct diet, the spiritual direction they must take. A person could write a whole book about Elder Porphyrios’ gift of foresight. Perhaps those concerned could take it in hand: it would be helpful for all of us. In any event, as we have noted, the Elder used his gift of foresight for people’s spiritual edification. His purpose was, as he often said, to help people find themselves in loving communion with Christ and to be able to receive their salvation.

The road to sanctification

The Elder frequently said: “Every sinful person is all mixed up inside. We must open a small crack in our soul so that Christ’s light and love can enter. That’s how we begin to straighten out our soul. Christ always takes the initiative. We must be open to Him and afterwards, through our own vigilant effort (with prayer, confession, Holy Communion and love) we may feel the magnificence that God reveals to us. He has destined all of us for Paradise.”

“And what is Paradise? Christ is,” said the Elder. “When you love Christ, despite all your feeling of sinfulness and your weaknesses, you have the certainty that you have gone beyond death because you dwell in the communion of Christ’s love. May God make us worthy to see the Face of the Lord, both from here on earth and from there, where we are going.”

This sanctification was addressed by the Elder in a very ecclesial and Orthodox manner. One’s spiritual struggle is always realized within the life of the Church, never individually. “You can’t repent correctly and find God’s love walking in a vertical line. That is, it is not only you and God, you and Christ. Christ’s love is shared and always flows through other people.”

The Elder guided people to the Sacraments of our Church. “Christ reveals himself only within the Church. There where people unite and love one another, regardless of their sins. Not through their own abilities, but through Christ’s mercy and love. Christ’s love holds all of us together. He makes us one body and we participate in the theanthropic life of the Lord. In this way, the only way, we rise above the distraction and destruction of sin. This is truth’s highest point, the Holy Eucharist.”

The Elder always advised people to receive Holy Communion frequently according to their spiritual development. The corresponding preparation (confession, repentance, fasting and humbleness) is a must. He helped us understand that the greater our spiritual preparation was, the more sinful we feel. A person should never trust their own powers, but in Christ’s mercy and compassion. The Elder instilled this road to sanctification in people’s souls.

The meeting at Kavsokalyvia

About two months before the Elder passed away, I found myself by godly coincidence in the wilderness of Kavsokalyvia, Mt. Athos (in the middle of October 1991). I did not know that the Elder was there. At the main Church of Kavsokalyvia, I learned about the presence of the Elder in the hut of St. George. They told me that he was very sick and we would not be able to see him.

However, when the Elder discerned our conversation with the monks, he gave a blessing, and I went up to his hut. We had an amazing spiritual conversation for about three hours. We were both greatly moved. I asked the Elder why this was so, and he answered us as follows, “It is due to two things. I never dreamed that we could meet here at Kavsokalyvia. Meeting you here has made me very happy, that’s why I’m so emotional. Besides this room (it was a very small room) is the place where I started. I was fourteen years old and I came up here to the elders of blessed memory, Panteleimon and Ioannikios. God has allowed me to come back here.” His eyes, that were shut, filled with tears of joy, gratitude and thanksgiving to God, as he said those words.

The Elder had his own reasons for returning to his hut. I did not suspect a thing about his preparation to leave. In fact, when I asked him if he was going to stay up there because the people in Athens were waiting for him, he smiled with kindness and love and said to us, “Change the subject because what you’re asking depends neither on me nor you.” The Elder’s face was lit up in such a way that you could not get enough of that feeling of Christ’s presence in our midst.

The Elder’s death and the revelation of his love.

When I bid farewell to the Elder, his last words were, “Go with the Christ’s blessing. Your presence has gladdened my soul more than you can imagine.” The fullness of love in Christ is found exactly here. The Elder had the “mind (nous) of Christ” and always reflected the love of the Lord. He saw the image of Christ in people’s faces.

He showed his love towards us right up until his last moment. His desire that people be informed about his death only after his burial on Mt. Athos reveals not only his profound humbleness but also his respect and love for people.

If the monks and the rest of the world had learnt about the Elder’s death, hundreds, if not thousands, would have flocked there. It is very difficult for such a crowd to find room at Kavsokalyvia, which is found at the tip of the Athonite peninsular. To get there you must use the caique from Daphni. It is small and holds only forty or fifty people. There would have been a lot of overcrowding with dangerous unforeseen incidents. Besides, it was a harsh winter, and the weather was bad. Nobody could stay there overnight.

Elder Porphyrios was inspired by God and he passed away at daybreak on the second of December 1991 (new calendar). An all-night vigil began, that same day, in the afternoon and his honorable remains were buried at dawn the next day. Only then was his death learned of.

The Elder had boundless love for all of us while here on earth. Now that he can be found in heaven, we are sure that he constantly calls upon God, and in all boldness prays for all of us, for the whole world, and for each one of us personally. It is a great blessing to have one of your ‘own’ saints in heaven.

The Elder prays for Christ’s love to be stimulated within our hearts, and for God to make us worthy to leave this world and to enter His terrestrial uncreated Church. Elder Porphyrios left us this paradise of Christ’s love. It is the greatest inheritance that he could have left us before leaving for heaven.

To Porphyrios[1]

Porphyrios, the new, the discerning

fell asleep on the Holy Mountain,

in his cell at Kavsokalyvia where he struggled.

He blessed us with love, in his will

“Read the lives of the Saints, and fill

your souls with love for God.

May your life be liturgical, holy, young

with the Psalter, the Gospel, the Menaion.”

Your soul is an angel

amongst the hosts in the air

Your blessing gives us hope

that we’ll live with you there.

We thank you our Elder,

Your prayer gives us heavenly power.

Evangelos Karademos

[1]  Reprinted from the periodical Lydia (December, 1991, page 362) with the permission of the author.

ELDER PORPHYRIOS:

AS I KNEW HIM

Fr. Michael Michael

priest-in-charge, Holy Trinity Church.

Limassol. Theologian

I met the great Elder for the first time on 21 February 1986. My second son was born prematurely on that day at eight months instead of the usual nine. He had a serious breathing problem. At the time I was living with my family in Athens where I studied theology.

I immediately ran to Elder Porphyrios, about whom I had heard many, many amazing things. I asked him to intercede to God for me, to solve my son’s problem. When I entered the room where the Elder could be found lying down, I was infinitely moved. I felt as if I found myself before a holy man who really lived according to God’s will.

I told the Elder my problem and he immediately told me, “Go and find the doctors this minute, and tell them to keep giving oxygen to your child, and not to stop. Your child will become well anyway. Nothing will happen to him at all.”

I returned to Athens immediately. I went to the hospital where my child was. I found the head nurse and I asked her to continue giving oxygen to my child. Her answer was: “That is our business. We know how long we should give oxygen to the child and when we should stop.”

I left the head nurse’s office. I went up to the first floor of the hospital. I found the gynaecologist who performed the delivery. I asked for my child to continue to be given oxygen. His reply was, “That’s the head nurse’s responsibility.”

After that I went home. At 12:30 at night, I was told to go to the hospital immediately because my child’s condition was very serious. There they informed me that my child had suffered a haemorrhage in the lungs and the doctors could not do anything. It was because they removed the oxygen from the child despite my telling them to do precisely the opposite.

My relatives rushed to the hospital. They brought a priest in. We baptized the baby in the air and we gave him the name Stylianos.

Then the second miracle happened. From that moment my child became completely well. The second thing the Elder said would happen, happened. “Your child will become completely well. Nothing at all will happen to him.”

Theodora Solomonidou

Sociologist

The great need and intense desire to meet Elder Porphyrios arose in me after a lecture in Limassol which referred to him.

I went on vacation to Athens with my family in August 1990. I immediately made attempts to reach Elder Porphyrios by telephone. All my much concentrated week long effort was fruitless. He was always absent or ill.

I had begun to believe that at the end of it all I wouldn’t see him. I began to feel disillusioned. I had made so many telephone calls. You can imagine what I felt when, on my very last attempt, the very same Elder Porphyrios answered the phone. I said: “I would like, to speak to Elder Porphyrios, please” I heard, “My child, it is I.”

I cannot describe to you how I felt at that moment. I could not believe it. I was dumbfounded to such an extent that I really could not articulate a word. My husband, who was near me could not understand what happened to me.

In any event, I tried to take a hold of myself. I said to him, “Elder, I would like to come and see you with my family. I’m from Cyprus. But Elder, I don’t know where you live and how to get there.” “Come,” he said to me. “But as to how you get here, someone else will explain that to you because I don’t know how to explain it.” I heard the Elder call someone who was obviously nearby. A gentleman came to the phone and explained how to get there.

I made that telephone call at 7:30 in the morning. Immediately after, my husband, our two children and I caught the bus. Around eleven in the morning, we arrived at the Elder’s Convent in Oropos.

On arrival, we found other people who had gone there to see the Elder. However, they told us that we would not be able to see him because he was sick.

I said to my husband that I would like to wait there. We should not leave, in the hope that at some point we could see the Elder. My husband agreed and we stayed there. In fact they offered us food, fruit and water.

Then, at 4 o’clock in the afternoon, they opened the door that led to Elder Porphyrios’ room, where he was resting. We went up. There were about twenty people waiting to see him. They told us that he would only give us his blessing because he was very ill, and he couldn’t talk for much longer, as there were so many of us. Indeed, the famous singer Philippos Nicolaou was also there with his wife.

I selfishly stood second from the end hoping to see a little more of the Elder than the others and to talk to him.

The people went in one by one and he blessed them with the cross that he held in his right hand. When I approached, he pulled his hand back and did not bless me. He blessed everyone else but me.

This was the worst shock to me. Immediately I began to have some very ugly thoughts. I thought he had seen something bad in me with his gift of discernment and that was why he did not want to bless me. Not for one moment did the thought enter my mind that he did it for my own good.

On leaving the Elder’s room, I was in a very bad state. In spite of the fact that I knew both my husband and my children were already very tired from the trip to Oropos and our long wait there, I did not agree to leave. I was unyielding.

I left my family and went and hid myself behind a wall. There, unseen, the tears started to run from my eyes. No one saw me because I was hidden. No one heard me because my crying was silent.

Hidden as I was, I heard the Elder say through the open door of his room, “Someone is outside.” The nun who was directing the people to the Elder’s room said to him: “Elder there is no one outside.” It was like he was seeing me through the walls.

The nun went outside and looked right and left. She didn’t see me and she went back into the room. I heard the Elder for the third time, “Someone is outside.” He said this three times with a loud voice saying the same thing in such a way that I could hear.

You can understand how shocking this was to me. The realization that although I was hidden and no one saw me, Elder Porphyrios knew that I was there. I could see, in this way, his gift of foresight. I saw it with my own eyes. I heard it with my own ears.

I came out of my hiding place. The nun then saw me and led me to the Elder. “Calm down, my child,” the Elder said to me. Though he blessed all the others on the head, he not only blessed me on the head but also on the chest. He blessed me twice, with the cross he was holding. I kissed his hand. I thanked him and left quickly, as light as a bird. The happiness, the delight and the exultation that I felt within me cannot be described. It cannot be expressed with words, with any kind of words.

Maybe my testimony for Elder Porphyrios is unimportant in comparison with the testimonies and experiences of other people. However, for me personally, that meeting with the Elder was one of the most moving events of my life and I consider 1990, the year that I saw him, to be the most blessed year of my life.

Mary Kontogianni Ioannidou

program producer

for the Cyprus Broadcasting Corporation

Having read, some time ago, the life of St. Nectarios, the “Saint of Our Century”, as he is called, I was always wondering, trying to understand how all those people who had the heavenly gift of knowing him must have felt. In fact, some of them are still alive today. How can one feel close to such a person who had so many signs of holiness while on this earth, living in a century like the twentieth.

When I later met Elder Porphyrios, in 1981, I understood that his holiness was not simply an answer to my questions and problems. His holiness consisted of something much more significant and much more serious. That holiness is really acquired here in this corrupt world. He sought total holiness from all of us as the sole means to resolving all our problems. He was trying to pass on his own experience. He had applied himself completely to Christ’s saying “become holy, as your Father is holy.” He dedicated his whole life struggling to save the souls of all those who sought refuge in him.

Thus I understood that knowing a saint (because in popular consciousness, Elder Porphyrios already is a saint), answers every question with regard to God. Even if you have read nothing about God, in knowing such a man, you are assured not only that God exists but also that Christ is the only truth, “yesterday, today and forever.”

Elder Porphyrios’ humility was something inconceivable in human terms, it allowed his spiritual children, to worry him and to grieve him. This happened without his love being diminished in the least.

He was always smiling, even when he reprimanded you. He had the smile of a child of the Kingdom of God. He had that childlikness which you only encounter in infants, together with a total purity that made him appear so transparent, like a very clear pool, in which you could see the reflection of our fallenness and our human plight.

Whoever met him saw everything which up to that point seemed impossible being revealed to him. One saw with one’s own eyes in what miraculous way this world is bridged with eternity.

I met him for the first time in 1981. I did not know very much about what was happening or, if you want, I could not understand. I had heard a lot about him from my friends in Athens. Is it easy for someone to comprehend eternity?

As I entered his little hut, as we called it, I saw him lying on his bed with his eyes closed. I approached him. I knelt next to his bed. I kissed his hand, and he blessed me.

I had prepared myself to talk to him about a whole host of problems that concerned me. It was not necessary for me to tell him anything. When he spoke to me, in spite of the fact that he was sick and very tired at that time, I understood it was not necessary for me to tell him anything. He already knew everything: what I thought, what I felt, what was happening in my soul, who I was, what I was, and how I wanted to be.

From that moment, I became conscious of the fact that my life could no longer be the same. It could no longer be the same because it had henceforth, through Elder Porphyrios, acquired a direct and personal experience of what God is.

Going outside, even though our first encounter was only for a few minutes, I was filled with joy, delight, and feeling of praise for the Most High.

A few days later I met him again, for a lot longer this time. Returning to Cyprus, I said to my parents, “That man loves me much more than even you, my own parents. Now I understand how much God loves us all.”

He accepted you and loved you whoever you were, as you were. In his presence, even the greatest sin took on other dimensions. You were not shaken up. You were not overcome with despair and desperation. You only grieved because you had done one thing or the other because you did not put God’s word into action.

When you fell, he not only disallowed your despondency, but on the contrary, he helped you get up again, using it as a buttress for a new start, for a new spiritual conquest. Then he would show even greater love, even greater acceptance. He would take your hand into his and he began to teach you how to walk on God’s pathway.

Each person who met Elder Porphyrios, even if it was only once, could fill up whole pages with his personal experiences and feelings. Much more if he were able to publish the talks that he had with him on strictly personal issues.

Here, I briefly present a few of my personal experiences with that holy man to whom I practically owe my rebirth.

A few months after I met him, I took an exam for a final course at law school. It was an oral examination. At the time, all the exams were given in that way for the University of Athens law degree. I answered all the professor’s questions with the satisfactory feeling that I would get my degree at last. I ran to tell Elder Porphyrios about it “Pappouli, thank God, I’m going to get my degree. The only thing that saddens me is that now I won’t be coming to Athens so often and so I won’t see you as much as I do now.”

“We’ll see,” he said. “No, pappouli,” I insisted, “that’s the way it is; I will not be coming to Athens so often anymore.”

The examination results were published. I was greatly surprised when I was informed that I had not passed the exam. So I went to Athens again, two months later, to take a crammer for that course and to sit the exam again. I sat the exam. I answered the professor’s questions correctly. I went to Elder Porphyrios again. I repeated what I had told him the first time, “I passed my exams. I’m getting my degree,” etc. I again received the same answer: “We’ll see.” Again the same insistence on my part: “No, pappouli, this time it’s not possible. I did not miss one question. I answered all of them correctly.”

Again, the results of the exam came out, and again I was not amongst those who passed. (Let us leave the reasons to God, that professor, and myself.) I went to Athens again. I took the exam again. The same story was repeated for a third time. I went to the Elder again. Again I had the same certainty that I passed the exam. Again the Elder Porphyrios said, “Let’s see.”

I was required to sit the exam for the same course a fourth time. Fortunately this was before a different professor. After the exam, as always, I went to Elder Porphyrios. This time it was not necessary for me to wait for the results of the exam to be placed on the University bulletin board to see whether I passed or not. Elder Porphyrios in his unique way helped me to realize that my suffering was over and finally I was getting my law degree.

Once I asked for his blessing to write our discussions down. He answered me most kindly, “There’s no reason at all why you should write down those things that I say. Whatever I say is written in the Gospel. Study the Bible and you will find it written there.”

I was obedient to the Elder and I did not keep even one small note from the many, many excellent words that I heard from his holy mouth. Only I made sure to keep a thorough mental record, so that with God’s help many of our conversations are found recorded word for word in my mind to this day.

Elder’s words, “whatever I say is in the Gospels” were a very important spiritual lesson for me. With the passage of time I found out for myself that when a person really studies the Holy Bible, asking God to help him in this effort, there is never a time when he does not find an answer to his problem. Besides, it is a common experience. The “mix-up,” as the Elder Porphyrios was accustomed to say, only happens when we do not put Christ’s words into practice. Instead, in our selfishness, we do whatever we ourselves consider right and proper in a given situation.

Elder Porphyrios always insisted that we always study Holy Scripture, the lives of the Saints, and the texts of the Church Fathers thoroughly.

It was the time when they had just put a telephone in pappouli’s room. I was informed about it. Naturally, my first thought was how I could find out his telephone number. It was at moments like this that I glorified God for granting us the gift of technology. I could not believe it. Now I no longer had to wait until I went to Athens to speak with pappouli. It was now possible for me to talk to him and to hear him while I was in Cyprus.

I immediately called my friend Κ in Athens. He was the person who first led me to Elder Porphyrios and from then on supported me in my spiritual struggle. May God bless him.

K. was one of the few people who then knew the Elder’s number. He hesitated in giving it to me. He wanted to ask for the Elder’s blessing. My agony cannot be described On the other hand, however, I did not want to put K. into a difficult position.

An unforeseen matter forced me to travel to Athens, a few days later. Naturally, I rushed to the Elder. I went with K.

When we entered pappouli’s room, we kissed his hand and received his blessing. Before we were able to say anything to him, we saw him lifting up the bed covers. He was in bed. He took the telephone out from under them. K. and I stood there with our mouths open. Once again we saw his gift of discernment for ourselves. It was the Elder’s immediate answer to the question which K. would have asked him. If he could give me the telephone number or not.

Crying, I knelt next to the Elder’s bed and said to him through my tears, “Thank you pappouli, thank you pappouli.” K. wrote Elder Porphyrios’ telephone number on a piece of paper.

My telephone conversation with the Elder:

“Pappouli how does God allow others to be unjust to us? Is that just?”

“And who are you to judge God? Please, hang up the phone immediately.”

This is our telephone conversation the following night:

“Good evening, Elder.”

“How pleased I am that you called. I wanted you to call me so much so that I could ask your forgiveness for yesterday.”

“You, Elder, are asking forgiveness from me? I should fall at your feet and ask your forgiveness for making you so bitter yesterday.”

“Yes, I want to ask for your forgiveness for telling you to hang up the phone yesterday. But, you know, at the time somebody was here who wanted to commit suicide because of something that happened with his girl. He was kneeling here, and I didn’t want to leave him like that while speaking on the phone.”

It is very difficult, practically impossible, to write down what I felt then and what I still feel now, on paper. Therefore the only thing I can say, which I consider to be more than sufficient, is that when the saints ask for forgiveness from us unworthy ones, it is like Christ Himself knocking on our door. Only people who have reached “the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ,” as Paul, the Apostle tells us, can ask for forgiveness. This happens even when the responsibility for the fault falls completely upon others.

This was the extent of Elder Porphyrios’ humility. Humility that, because of it’s immensity, was and is inconceivable for all those who knew him, and even for those who didn’t. For as St. Isaac the Syrian explains, “Humility is power, which is received by the perfect and the Holy.”

In his final years he often used the word ‘see’, even though he had already lost his natural sight.

In January 1985, I was two months pregnant and I was anxious, like every future mother, for the baby to be brought into the world healthy and whole. He told me these exact words, during one of our telephone conversations, “I see the child in your womb. He is an angel.”

From then on he would use the words, “I see,” a lot more often; both for future events and for the present. About things which I had neither seen nor suspected. He once said to me with emphasis, “Remember what I tell you each time because as soon as I’ve said something, I forget it immediately.”

Later, when my child was born, I took his picture to Elder Porphyrios. He told me that it was unnecessary to show him the picture since he had already lost his natural sight. A fact I was unaware of up until that day.

“I can’t see,” he said to me. However, he said that “I can’t see” with such simplicity and indifference, if I may use the word, that I felt I was being taught something very important at that moment. It is something that would constitute a tragedy for the majority of us. Truthfully, who amongst us could easily accept complete blindness?

On the one hand, it was the full assent on Elder Porphyrios’ part, even in this case, to God’s will. On the other hand, it was the enormous, inconceivable difference between physical sight and spiritual sight. When the Elder Porphyrios used the words, “I see,” in reference to his spiritual eyes you understood from the tone of his voice only how much joy and delight that vision gave him. While the “I can’t see” referred to his physical eyes; it was as if it did not make any difference to him.

Something that he frequently did was to take your head in his hands and hold it in that position for many minutes. It really was a sacred moment. You felt that at that very moment a fervent prayer was being sent up to heaven for you, the sinner. A prayer from the depths of the heart of a holy man. A man who constantly interceded to God for everyone; for the consolation and salvation of all.

He also frequently, very frequently, took your pulse. Then he would tell you about the sicknesses that you had and he would also tell you about the sicknesses you would encounter in the future. He would talk to you about the sensitive parts of your body. He would tell you what to look out for and where you should pay more attention.

That which one could not easily comprehend was the natural sense of humor which Elder Porphyrios had. It really broke the ice that can exist in a relationship. However, it was primarily a meaningful way of making you leave your dejection and gloominess. His cheerfulness, his merriness and his goodness drew souls to him.

I often laughed together with him like a little child. That laughter was the required medicine at that given moment. It was the balm that soothed the soul’s pain. He used this medicine on the telephone a lot.

One of my most beautiful and tender memories of the Elder was the time when I remained in his cell for more than half an hour. When I came out my friends who had gone there with me considered me blessed for having talked with the Elder for such a long time. As usual, they began to ask me what he said. We never tired of hearing the Elder’s beneficial words from one another. You can therefore understand why they stood there with their mouths wide open when I told them that Elder Porphyrios and I played with the parrot the whole time that I was in his cell. A parrot however that Elder Porphyrios had taught to say constantly, “Lord have mercy on me”.

How many means did pappouli use to guide us in God’s way and life? Due to this everyone could understand him, even little children.

Elder Porphyrios was the true Christ-bearer. He never tired of saying Christ’s name. He always said to me: “Love Christ more.” He was delighted like a child when he heard the church radio stations that started broadcasting in Greece in recent years. He said, “They continually talk about our Christ.”

The following happened to me in one of our final meetings. When I asked him a question, he pointed at the radio, which was tuned to one of the Church radio stations and transmitting a program. “Listen.” he said to me. Then the next second I heard the unknown speaker’s voice answer my question.

Filled with grace from God, Elder Porphyrios would open the heavens before you. It was as if he brought all the God’s love for all His creatures down from above.

He wanted me to get rid of a bad habit. He asked it of me, he the saint and I the sinner, with these words, “Doesn’t the Elder have that much favor? Do it for me.” Or, “Tell your husband that the Elder begs him to support you in this effort.” The saints begging us, not for themselves, but for our benefit, for our salvation and deliverance. This and everything else is God’s benefaction, the most part of which you cannot express and you cannot endure. The only thing you can offer in response are the words of St. Paul the Apostle, “to be carnally minded is death, to be spiritually minded is life and peace.”

In May 1991 Elder Porphyrios helped me realize, during the course of a telephone conversation that this would be the last time we would speak together here on earth. I am noting this down as the last gift that he made towards me, the least of all. It greatly helped me prepare for an event which up to that moment had seemed too incomprehensible. What would my life be like without Elder Porphyrios’ presence here.

At this point I must also publicly express my grateful thanks to hieromonk Athanasios of the Holy Monastery of Vatopedi for the words of comfort that he gave me through divine grace following the announcement of the Elder’s death. I asked him to help me confront the situation, “Now you will no longer need neither airplane nor telephone to speak with Elder Porphyrios. You can now talk to him there where you are, whenever you want and he will listen. From now on Elder Porphyrios’ prayer for you and for all of us will be much more effective.”

I remembered the words of St. Seraphim of Sarov, that great Russian starets. I read his life when I first met Elder Porphyrios, in my effort to understand what an Elder is, “If I find grace before God,” he promised before leaving the world, “I will pray for everyone kneeling before the throne of the Most High.” I have the steadfast assurance that Elder Porphyrios now does that very same thing for all of us.

The Elder’s departure was necessary before we could understand and become more conscious of the measure of his own self-sacrifice and at the same time for us to feel our own self-centeredness.

There were times, it happened to me myself, when we saw his face constricted with pain. He then called a nun to move him onto the bed, to somewhat relieve the pain. We were there bombarding him with a thousand and one questions. His prayer was not enough for us. We wanted and we insisted on asking him about this, that, and the other. He answered us without complaint, without protest, always with a smile on his lips. The nuns would come (how much I owe them for their love, for their hospitality, for conveying messages to the Elder) and they would say, “Elder isn’t it time you rested a little?” He, saw how much we needed him, how much we wanted to remain with him - each person for his own need, for himself. He would say, “It doesn’t matter, allow him (or, her) to stay a little longer” In this way, Elder Porphyrios gave us the measure of Christian love: “self- sacrifice for those unworthy of it.”

There are certain things that hurt terribly when you recall them to mind. There are certain things that make you want to cry out, “Forgive me, Elder. Forgive me, my God.”

A saint is in our midst and what do we do? Will we at least become a little better, become inoculated by his holiness?

The life and times of Elder Porphyrios are one more proof that our Orthodox Faith is the true faith. We saw all of what we read in the lives of the saints, being indubitably confirmed in the great Elder of our time’s person. It is through him, at the end of the twentieth century, that our God revealed once again His grace and truth.

Now, after his demise, I ask him to pray to God to forgive me for loving him far more than I obeyed him. Yet he was the personification of obedience and humility. Even up until the last moment of his earthly presence he gave us the greatest lesson in humbleness. In the farewell letter to all his spiritual children, he writes, “I beg all of you to forgive me for whatever I did to upset you”

I do not hesitate to submit that after his passing, every time I pray through Elder Porphyrios for strength from on high, it comes. This happens with me more so now. Through the prayers of Elder Porphyrios our Holy God gives solutions to my problems and ways out of my dead ends.

“With what words can we thank you Lord for this gift, which even the worthy do not comprehend.”

ACCOUNTS ABOUT

ELDER PORPHYRIOS

Fr. Arsenios

Fr. Arsenios, a monk of St. Catherine’s Monastery on Mt. Sinai, told us the following about Fr. Porphyrios during our visit there in July of 1989:

B. was a novice at the Monastery. He was very young and could not get used to the monastery’s tough routine that allowed very little time for sleep. So, during the mornings, after the Divine Liturgy, he would go to the area where the burning bush was located and fall asleep.

The Abbot of the Monastery, as well as the other members of the brotherhood, ignored what was happening. They did not want to be too strict or to discourage him in his monastic endeavors. So B. continued to sleep away the morning hours in the same place.

B. loved Elder Porphyrios very much and telephoned him frequently. One day he called the Elder.

“Good morning, Elder.”

“Good morning, my son. How are you?”

“I’m fine, Elder. How are you?”

“I’m also fine. In fact, I am thinking about how nice it would be for me to be there at the burning bush that God revealed to Moses. Those who can be found there are sleeping.”

B. read about this in the second edition of this book and asked us to clarify that he was not at all surprised by the fact that Elder Porphyrios ‘saw’ him in Sinai, while still in Athens, with his discernment, because he already knew about his gift. He was moved by his love and his concern.

A friend of ours from Greece, Th. S., was married to a Cypriot doctor. She went to receive Elder Porphyrios’ blessing, as she was going to take a trip to Cyprus in the summer of 1983. When she told blessed Porphyrios that she was going to Cyprus, the Elder said to her, “Go and find this Cypriot lady. Tell her I sent you and get to know one another.”

Th.S. obeyed and because of Elder Porphyrios from that moment on, found in the person of this young lady and her husband, two close, honest and worthy friends. During the ensuing years they frequently visited and conversed with Elder Porphyrios.

Th.S. knew Elder Porphyrios for more than twenty years. She first met him when she was sixteen years old. Here we briefly relate a few of her many experiences just as she told them to us:

Once, she faced a very serious problem which she had been talking to Elder Porphyrios about for some time. He always calmed her fears by assuring her that the problem would turn out well. Everything would turnout just as she hoped it would, despite evidence to the contrary.

Th.S., however saw that as time went on things became worse instead of better. One evening she was told that in the days that followed, the very thing that she was afraid of was going to happen. Nevertheless Elder Porphyrios never stopped assuring her that it would not happen. She felt such despair and turmoil, she spent the whole night pleading, “Pappouli, pappouli, why pappouli? Didn’t you tell me that everything would turn out all right? Now, what will I do pappouli?” She cried all night.

As soon as dawn broke, the telephone rang. She was surprised to hear Elder Porphyrios’ voice. “Come on, my child why are you acting like that? You shouted for me all night and you didn’t allow me to rest. Why are you acting like that? I told you that everything would turn out all right.”

Th.S. was speechless. How did the Elder Porphyrios know that she was calling for him all night? and how could he still insist that everything would be all right?

God, naturally, had helped him to foresee things correctly in this situation, as well. Th.S’s problem, was resolved within a few days and everything turned out just as the Elder Porphyrios said it would.

Another account from the same.

She already had two daughters and was not thinking about having another child. Not then at least.

One day she went to Elder Porphyrios with her husband. While they were talking, she suddenly saw him making the sign of the cross over her abdomen and saying, “Lord, Jesus Christ, give her a child.”

Her first reaction was protest, “Why pappouli? You know what a terrible financial state we are in. My husband is still establishing his practice and we already have two small children who have not yet gone to elementary school.”

“Come now,” Elder Porphyrios told her, “isn’t it a pity for your husband not to have a son? He doesn’t tell about it, but deep down he very much wants to have a son, too. You’ll see, this child will bring you wealth and happiness.”

A month and a half later, Th.S. was pregnant and soon brought a beautiful little boy into the world. Today he is six years old. He, as foreseen by the Elder, brought the family happiness and great financial security.

A third account from Th.S.

A close relative of Th.S. wanted to unburden herself to Elder Porphyrios with something troubling her soul. However, something always happened, and she never managed to go and see him.

One night, she saw Elder Porphyrios in a dream and spoke to him about that problem of hers. Waking up in the morning, she telephoned him to ask when she could go and see him. Amazed, she heard him say, “But you told me about it yesterday. You want to tell me the same thing again?”

Testimonies of the Cypriot doctor, D.S.,

as they were related to us, by him.

He was studying medicine at the University of Athens.

One morning, the doorbell rang in his apartment. He opened the door and saw an unknown priest who said, “May I enter?” D.S. was greatly impressed by the fact that from the very first moment he felt that the priest, in his own words, “was completely different from all the other priests I had met up to that time.”

D.S. explained, “We talked for four whole hours. We talked about all my personal and family matters and problems. He captivated me so much that only when he left did I realize that I had not even offered him a cup of coffee. He had astonished me from the very first moment that we met. Just imagine, that as soon as I opened the door, he addressed me with my name without ever having met me before.”

D.S. continues, “This priest, I later learnt, was Elder Porphyrios. I changed all the decisions I had made about my future, considering the conversation we had that day. This happened at a very opportune and decisive time with regard to the rest of my life.”

During the years that followed, doctor D.S. met Elder Porphyrios many times. Of the many times he told us about, we relate only two.

The first is that the Elder Porphyrios gave great importance to the endocrinological system of the human body and he frequently spoke to D.S. about this subject.

Secondly, as D.S. told to us, “It was a time when I became greatly concerned about the question of death. It reached a point where I thought about it constantly. So, one day I went to the Elder and I asked him to explain what death was to me. He laughed and said, “Death doesn’t exist.”

The two following stories were told to us by E.S., a spiritual child of Elder Porphyrios in Athens:

A girl entered Theological School on Elder Porphyrios’ advice. In the beginning she did not apply herself to her full ability. She studied a lot less than she should have.

Elder Porphyrios, wanted to encourage her and often urged her to study. He even discussed the content of the lessons with her sometimes.

On the eve of the examination period the late Elder saw that the girl was not well prepared, and told her to bring her books to him so that he could test her on a few pages like a teacher would. The student did not know the material well, and he said to her, “Tonight, you’ll study those pages that I tested you on that you didn’t know very well.”

The girl was obedient and learned those pages very well. She only understood the meaning of the Elder’s actions the following day when she discovered that the examination questions were taken from those pages exactly. She was amazed. She glorified God and from then on she became a diligent student.

A lady went to visit Elder Porphyrios for the first time about a serious family problem she had. Since she wanted her husband and children to hear the Elder’s answers she put a small cassette recorder in her handbag in order to record the conversation with him.

When she arrived, she saw that there were many others who had gone there before her. She sat down to wait her turn. At one point, even though so many people were before her, she heard them saying, “The Elder said that the lady with the cassette recorder should come in.”

She was literally at a loss. Only she and God knew that she had a cassette recorder in her handbag. She found out for herself that you cannot hide anything from Elder Porphyrios.

The four following accounts were told to us by Mr. Ignatios Gregoriou, a resident of Neas Politias, Oropos, Attica. They were recorded in Oropos, and we present them in full.

I have a brother who has been missing since 1981. Once, I decided to ask Elder Porphyrios how I should remember him in prayer [for the living or for the dead] “Pray for his health,” was the answer. I was confused because I wasn’t sure if I heard correctly. He picked up my thoughts and said to me: “Aren’t you asking me about Anastasios?”

How did he know, I ask you, that my brother is called Anastasios? He didn’t even know my own name. I was concerned not to trouble the Elder, and I would go only to receive his blessing. I had never stopped to talk to him about any problem or affair of mine. The only time that I spoke to him was the time I’ve already mentioned, concerning my brother.

I want you to understand that from the moment Elder Porphyrios told me to pray for my brother’s health every single doubt that my brother might not be alive was cleared from my mind. Even if I never meet him again, even if I never hear any news from him, I have the unshakable belief that my brother lives. I was not told it by just anybody, but by a saint through whom God spoke.

Mr. Ignatios Gregoriou’s second account.

When Elder Porphyrios was about to have a cataract operation, a spiritual daughter of his went and took some girls from here, went into the forest and cried, begging God to make the Elder well.

One day the Elder called her to him, “You, come here. Why did you take the others and go and cry in the forest?”

“Because,” she answered, “we want you to get well, Elder.” Do you know what he then said to her? She herself told me. He told her word for word: “Pray for me to become good, not well”

The third account of the same.

Fr. Andreas, who has now died, was a dermatologist before becoming a monk on Mt. Athos. Later, he came here to St. George’s Nea Palatia, Oropos, as the priest. One day he asked Elder Porphyrios’ permission to see his hand since he was a dermatologist. This was because Elder Porphyrios had amongst other things a skin condition there. His right hand was wrapped up in gauze because of it. This account was told to me by Fr. Andreas himself.

He did, in fact, allow him to examine his hand. Fr. Andreas then went and bought some ointment and took it to the Elder. “Apply this cream, Elder,” he said, “and in a few days your hand will be healed completely.”

Elder Porphyrios then said, “Fr. Andreas, this thing on my hand was given to me by God to correct me. And now you’ve come to take it away from me?” He refused to take the ointment.

Mr. Ignatios Gregoriou’s fourth account.

“The account that I am now telling you was told to me by my neighbor, Th., who lived very close to Elder Porphyrios. He had lived there for many years, from the time when the late Elder still lived in Penteli.

One day, a man from a village in Thrace went to the Convent to see the Elder. His wife was paralyzed. The Elder was not there. He was on Mt. Athos. This man had such great love in God that when they told him that Elder Porphyrios was not there he said, “That’s all right. It was enough just to come here to the place where he, a saint, lives and breathes. That’s plenty for me.”

When he returned home, he found his wife standing up in the kitchen. She was no longer paralyzed. When he asked her what happened, his wife told him that on a particular day she got up and started to do the housework. It was exactly the same day that her husband had gone to find Elder Porphyrios. This man’s faith in God was so great that God honored him with the experience of such a great miracle.

The following account happened a little after the Elder Porphyrios’ departure, and was told to us by D.M.M., a Cypriot now resident in Athens.

She was pregnant with her first child and from this was filled with anxiety, uneasiness and fear; something that often happens to women who are about to give birth for the first time. She often reached the point where she would wake up at night and would not be able to get back to sleep again.

About one month after Elder Porphyrios’ departure she had a dream. She saw that she was sitting in the back seat of her father’s car. The car was being driven by the Abbot of the Monastery of the Paraclete, Fr. Cherubim. Next to him sat an unknown venerable and aged priest. The two of them were taking her to maternity hospital for the birth. Upon waking, she felt boundless calm and a release from her anxiety and fear.

Her parents were very close to the Elder but she had never met him herself. The rest is presented here in her own words, exactly as they were written down.

“Well, imagine, what happened to me..., how I felt..., what I did... when I went to my parent’s home, two months after having that dream. I saw a picture of that unknown pappouli hanging on the wall, the same person I saw in my dream. I was literally shocked. “Who is that pappouli?” I asked them. “Where did you find that picture?” “It’s Elder Porphyrios,” they replied, “someone we know brought it, and gave it to us this morning.”

Today, when we are talking about it I feel the same astonishment that I felt on that day. I had never met Elder Porphyrios. I had never seen his face while he was alive, while he was here in the world. Yet, I came to know him, to see him after his passing, when he went to heaven.”

ELDER PORPHYRIOS’

CONVERSATIONS WITH CYPRIOTS

Elder Porphyrios’ Conversations with Cypriots

One of my friends went to meet Elder Porphyrios. After they talked about her problems, he suddenly asked her how my son was, if he was well. My friend replied saying that he was very well.

He persisted and asked her if my son was well three more times. My friend assured him that he was very well all three times. However, it left such a great impression upon her that when she returned to Cyprus she insisted on asking me about the matter. She telephoned me with some anxiety to ask me whether or not my son was sick. When I told her that, thank God, his health was fine, she calmed down. However she still wondered why Elder Porphyrios persisted in asking her if my son was well.

I told my friend that there was nothing wrong with my son’s health. That was true. I did not tell her what was really happening to my son. It was strictly a family matter, which I did not see fit to make public.

Elder Porphyrios, was as always absolutely right, because at that time my son was suffering from great internal torment.

Maria I.

The first time I went to Elder Porphyrios it was with the purpose and the intent of personally finding out to what extent all those things I heard about him were true. I wanted to find out if there was any element of exaggeration in those stories.

With my objective rationalism I decided that I was going to verify this in my own way. I did not tell any one about it. I would try to have my mind elsewhere for as long as the Elder was talking. I would think of other things to find out for myself if he really could understand what I was doing.

We entered his room. There were five of us. We kissed his hand. He blessed us. The others said a few things then suddenly he started telling us a story. I decided that then was the right time to try out my little scheme.

Then immediately Elder Porphyrios turned towards me. He called me by my name said, “Are you listening to me?”

“Yes, Elder, I’m listening,” I answered. He took up the story again. Suddenly he said to me again, “Listen to what I’m telling you.” This happened five times. Each time he would interrupt his story a little, turn towards me and say, “Listen to what I’m telling you?”

My friends naturally thought that these continual appeals on Elder Porphyrios’ behalf constituted some expression of special interest towards me. Maybe it was because it was the first time I had met the Elder. Maybe it was because he wanted me, especially, to hear the story he was telling us. Only he and I knew the real reason.

This is my personal testimony. The Elder Porphyrios could really read the minds and thoughts of each person who approached him, with that marvelous gift of discernment he possessed.

Thus, God made me worthy to ‘place my finger in the hole of the nails’ and to marvel at the grandeur, in the person of Elder Porphyrios, of the Lord’s gift to twentieth century humanity.

K.I.

Our marriage began with the best of presuppositions and from the start Elder Porphyrios, whom we often telephoned, told us not to avoid having children.

A little later, after our child was born, we did not get along and we decided to get a divorce. We also had something against the Elder, may God forgive us. Instead of foreseeing our marriage dissolution with his gift of which we had personal experience, he encouraged us to have children.

However, when our infant began to grow up we became conscious of the fact that it would be criminal if we got a divorce. So we forgot our differences and decided to make up despite the fact that we would both have preferred a divorce. (We saw no other way out.)

Three years before his death, Elder Porphyrios told us, “If you didn’t have that child you would now be divorced and God only knows what would have happened to you. That’s why I told you to have a child. You saved your marriage which is sacred, like all the sacraments of the Church.”

He continued, “You’ll create a happy family if you always think of this image which I’ll now describe to you. Your child will hold each of you by the hand. He will walk ahead to show you the road and you will follow.”

L.A.

I was studying in Athens. I visited Fr. Porphyrios many times alone or with friends of mine. We always received encouragement, helping us continue our difficult life in Athens.

During Easter 1981, I visited him with my fiance. We were soon going to begin our new life together. We wanted to ask the Elder about a lot of things and to receive his advice. However, we respected the fact that he was ill and confined ourselves to receiving his blessing only. He said to me as I was kissing his hand, “Let me check your pulse a little.”

I gave him my hand. “It is good,” we heard him say. He continued, “You are both good. You are Christ’s.”

Then, turning towards me, he said “You are a tender soul and very sentimental. You easily become enthusiastic about things but later you’re wounded and get upset. May you always be sensitive to whatever is good. That is the way Christ wants us.”

Elder Porphyrios’ words often helped me to overcome many things in my life such as sorrow caused by disappointment and my extreme sensitivity

DP.

I hasten first to make it clear that the only reason I am not signing this text is to avoid any possibility of my words being considered as a sign of haughtiness, pride, or boastfulness. Besides, the short story is what is important, not my name. I am nothing more than one of the many who through God’s kindness got to know Elder Porphyrios.

It was a very beautiful spring afternoon. We reached Oropos with the usual manifest worry as to whether Elder Porphyrios was there, whether or not he was sick, if he would speak to us, if he was too tired from the many visitors on that day, etc.. We had these uneasy feelings every time we set off to visit him.

Arriving there, we found ourselves before a most unexpected scene. Glory to God! Elder Porphyrios was there. He was not in bed, but up and about. He was in good health. He was in a field (right next to the Convent that he later built), overseeing scores of people who had gone there voluntarily to plant different things in the field.

The scene was indescribably picturesque and biblical. The ‘good shepherd’ in the midst of his ‘rational sheep’. The instructor of souls even demonstrating how tomatoes should be planted. So that everything would be as it should be, perfect.

Naturally, we didn’t even consider approaching him to kiss his hand and to receive his blessing.

We stopped the car a good distance away from the area where the large number of people were working. We remained in the car and we tried to console one another and each person was saying: “It doesn’t matter, nature is so pretty here and the afternoon is so beautiful. Let’s enjoy it at least.”

Half an hour went by, and I felt the need to get out of the car and take a little walk in the forest nearby. I was so grieved because I would not talk to the Elder that I wanted to be alone and maybe to cry a little. I wanted to speak with him so much and to get his advice about the enormous problems that then burdened me. Besides, I went to Greece only once or twice a year. Who knows how many months would go by before I would see him.

As I was walking the length of the forest, my friends who had taken me there in their car came running towards me. “Come on,” they said to me, “the Elder is calling for you.”

“Me?”

“Yes, he said to go up to him, he wants you.”

“You’re joking?”

We had not told anyone that we were there. We didn’t even speak to anyone from the time we arrived and parked the car here. No one took any notice of us because they were all so busy, and we were far away from them. The only way they could see us was with a telescope.

They practically dragged me to the Elder. I couldn’t believe that Elder Porphyrios saw me. More importantly, he saw what was happening in my soul at that time.

I approached him. I kissed his hand, and he made me sit down next to him. He kept me near him for about an hour. He and I were talking while all the others around us were digging the ground and planting. This was happening to such an extent that I felt it was improper for me to receive preferential treatment. The others were killing themselves working and I was enjoying the seat of honor next to the Elder without my offering any help.

At that time I knew very little about Christ and I studied the New Testament very little. Only later, when I had been taught by Elder Porphyrios to study the New Testament and the Fathers of the Orthodox Faith, did I understand the meaning of his actions that day, “...and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out” (John 10:3).

The Gospel according to St. Luke gave me the answer, “Then all the tax collectors and the sinners drew near to Him to hear Him. And the Pharisees and scribes murmured saying, ‘This man receives sinners and eats with them.’ So He spoke this parable to them saying, ‘What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he loses one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness and go after the one which is lost until he finds it? And when he finds it, he lays it on his shoulders rejoicing. And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and neighbors, saying to them, Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost! I say to you likewise there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance” (Luke 15:1-7).

A Cypriot lady.

THE ELDER PORPHYRIOS’

OWN ACCOUNTS

Elder Porphyrios’ own accounts

Over the course of the ten years in which we had the divine blessing of meeting Elder Porphyrios, we had the great gift of hearing many accounts from his honorable mouth. Both in person and on the telephone.

We present a few of them here, just some simple indications of his divine gifts.

One day a lady went to get some advice about her children. She spoke to him about all her children and about the different problems she had with them. She had absolutely no problem at all, as she put it, with the youngest child. He was so good that everyone in the village said he should become a priest.

When the lady finished telling her story, Elder Porphyrios told her she should not be so sure about her youngest child. He saw that her biggest and most real problems would be created by that very child.

She flew into a rage. She started yelling at the Elder, accusing him of saying her child was something other than how she described him. Generally, she treated him in a very rude manner. (You’ll allow us not to mention - besides, it is not necessary - the epithets that she applied to the Elder, as he himself told us)

Some time passed. One day, the Elder heard a lady outside of his room yelling, practically screaming, “Let me see the Elder. Let me kiss his feet and maybe he will forgive me. May God forgive me for the terrible sin which I committed against him.”

The Elder Porphyrios then asked a nun to escort the lady in. When she went into his room, she fell at his feet, wailing, asking again and again for forgiveness.

When she had come round she explained that the very same child about whom he had spoken to her, suddenly started to change from one day to the next and became unrecognizable. From being the studious child that he was, he stopped studying for his lessons. He had gotten mixed up with bad company and he was always away from home. One day he reached the point of throwing a heavy object at his father’s head after he had made some remark to his son. From that moment he left the house and, despite the fact they had been looking for him for days, they could not find him anywhere.

His unfortunate mother was kneeling asking for forgiveness from the Elder. She pleaded with him to pray to God to enlighten her child to return to his home.

Elder Porphyrios told us this story during a conversation about relationships between parents and children. He gave the subject immense importance.

He also told us another story about his life that, as it seems, is known to many and evidently to others too. He himself told it to them because they had been told about it by a third party.

We put down our own experience here for one specific purpose. This account of the Elder’s was in answer to a question we asked him. A question common to many people in our century. How can we, who live in the world, in the bustle, turmoil and schizophrenia of contemporary life, meet God?

Elder Porphyrios told us the following story, presented here in brief:

Shortly after he was appointed chaplain to the Church of St. Gerasimos in the Athens Polyclinic, by Omonia Square, he had a problem at the time of the Liturgy. Directly across the street from the Church was a store that sold gramophones and records. The shopkeeper played records on the gramophone in order to attract customers. He played them so loudly, however, that Elder Porphyrios could not bear it. He had reached the point where he thought of resigning even though he wanted the post very much.

In this situation, as throughout his whole life, Elder Porphyrios did not put his own wants first, but with much prayer and humbleness, asked God to show him what he should do.

Therefore, following three days of fasting and prayer he found a notebook that belonged to the son of a Church council member, in the corner of the Church. He was a student at the University. It was a physics notebook, -Lord, we always marvel at your works- which gave Elder Porphyrios the solution to his problem.

Leafing through the pages, he found some notes that referred to acoustic waves. Studying it, he had a thought. If you throw a pebble into a lake, the water is disturbed and circles form. If, on the other hand, you threw a rock into another section of the lake, new bigger circles are created which neutralize the first circles.

This was the answer from God that Elder Porphyrios was waiting for. The next day, he tried to concentrate all his spiritual and mental powers into the prayers and the acts of the Divine Liturgy. Thus, on the basis of the reasoning he had done about the lake, he formed circles in his mind and his heart that canceled out the circles that were formed by the gramophone. It no longer disturbed nor distracted him from the Divine Liturgy.

There was a priest who struggled to overcome the smoking habit. When he was just about to give up, temptation would defeat him and he was overcome again. He had tried to give up smoking often, using different methods. Each time he failed.

This continued until he visited Elder Porphyrios one day. They talked about different subjects. When they began talking about priest’s family situation and about certain differences that he had with his wife. Elder Porphyrios told him that the real reason for the friction was the fact that, without the priest himself realizing it, he smoked. “When you give up smoking,” the Elder said to him, “you will see that your wife will love you more, your differences will end, and everything will be as you wish in your house. I’ll pray for you and you won’t smoke again. Now throw that pack of cigarettes you’re holding out of the window immediately.”

The priest was obedient. He threw away his cigarettes and did not smoke again. Even though he had been trying to give up smoking for years and always failed, this time he encountered no difficulties in the realization of his decision.

When he finished telling the story, Elder Porphyrios called one of the nuns to his room and asked her to bring in a priest who was outside with his wife. It was the priest about whom we were talking. There we heard the priest and his wife telling us how much suffering this habit had caused to their personal relationship. It was through Elder’s intervention that everything changed and they both became different people.

Then Elder Porphyrios explained to us that in another situation he showed a spiritual child of his yet another method to stop smoking. You cannot suddenly give up smoking from one moment to the next, (as in the case of the priest who he advised to throw away the pack of cigarettes immediately). This new method was in stages. The specific advice in this case was to lessen the number of cigarettes by one every three days.

When we asked him why in one instance he suggested one way and in the other instance another way, he answered that for each person different things apply. One person can bear one thing and another person something else.

AN ANTHOLOGY

OF ELDER PORPHYRIOS’ CONVERSATIONS

WITH HIS SPIRITUAL CHILDREN

An anthology of Elder Porphyrios’ conversations with his spiritual children

An anthology of some of Elder Porphyrios’ axiomatic conversations with his spiritual children from Greece and Cyprus. They are presented just as they themselves recorded them for this book.

We present them in full, bearing in mind St. Isaac the Syrian’s saying “Brevity (of the humble) is like the infinite words of the wise.”

*

“You’re always talking about my ego, Elder.”

“Yes, because not one trace of egotism should remain in us, not a trace, do you hear?”

*

“Acquire humility, as much as you can, humility.”

“It’s difficult in the world we live in, Elder. How can I acquire it?”

“By loving Christ more.”

*

“I would like to make my parents believe in God as much as I do, Elder, because they are very lukewarm in their faith. But it is already too late since they are old and at the end of their lives.”

“It is not late at all. Not at all, that age is the most suitable.”

*

“I like to go to the movies, the theater, but some of my friends told me that a good Christian has no need of those things and he shouldn’t go there. What do you say about it, Elder?”

“You may go, if you like, it is not bad. The important thing is that you should not go to see something which will satisfy certain carnal desires of yours.”[1]

*

“Elder what can we do about our child who is filled with fears and insecurities?”

“You are completely responsible for this. You created these problems from his mother’s womb because of the bad relations between you and your wife. All those emotional wounds will affect the child throughout his life?”

*

“Elder, I’m afraid of getting married in case I chance upon some ill-natured woman.”

“An ill-natured wife might be your chance to enter paradise.”

*

“Elder, must I constantly help people in need of financial assistance all the time? I’m telling you this because, as you know, I don’t have great financial ease.”

“Do that too, when you can. However help those around you much more by speaking to them, by listening when they want to talk about their problems, or express their pain. Keep them company so that they won’t feel alone.”

*

“Elder, my daughter is living a dissolute life, how can I save her?”

Only with your own holiness. A parent’s holiness saves their children.”

*

“How can I stop smoking? I tried many times but I didn’t manage it.”

“Every time you have the desire to smoke, say ‘Lord, have mercy on me.’ Prayer to Christ is the solution to each and every one of our problems. Do you see that even this parrot, this beautiful bird that I keep here in my room, has learned to say, ‘Lord have mercy on me.’”

“Elder, I trust in dreams a lot. When I’ve had a dream at night that I think is a bad omen, I’m turned upside down for the whole of the following day, because I’m afraid that something bad will happen to me. For example, last night I saw fish in my sleep.”

“Don’t attach any importance to dreams. Now go to the fish market. Buy some fish and fry it for breakfast. This is what you should always do with your dreams.”

*

“I confessed a new sin to my spiritual father, Elder, but I want to tell you about it, too.”

“If you said it to your spiritual father, there’s no need to say it to me as well. Since you confessed and repented, you received absolution.”

*

“Elder, you speak to this friend of mine on the phone much more and for much longer than you speak to me lately.”

“Were you afraid that I love her more than I love you?”

“Elder, you read my mind again. Can I tell you something else? I was also a bit jealous. Forgive me.”

*

“Your children should not hear you arguing even once, not even if you just raise the tone of your voices to one another.”

“That’s not possible, Elder!”

“But of course it’s possible. Just as I’m telling you it is, not even once.”

*

“Elder, do you understand what a great sin I committed?

“You are good and you will overcome it.”

“But, Elder, my sin is very serious.”

“Don’t despair. You have a good soul and God, who sees it, will forgive you and help you.”

*

“You haven’t spoken to me much lately, Elder, and I worry about bothering you and asking you about my problems.”

“You, my child, have known me for many years. You know by now that I can help you more with my prayers rather than with my words.”

*

“My spiritual father is absent and I want your blessing, Elder, so that I can take communion tomorrow.”

“Do you hate anyone?”

“No, Elder.”

“Good. Go and receive communion.”

*

“Now I’m at the start of my pregnancy and all my friends tell me to do a pre-natal examination to determine whether or not I will give birth to a retarded child or a child with some other terrible affliction “

“And afterwards what will you do? Have an abortion? If you do such a thing, never again ask for my advice because I will have nothing more to say to you.”

*

“I frequently get depressed, Elder.”

“Why do you stay closed up in your house all the time?”

“Where can I go?”

“Go on trips, go to the mountain. Those things are very good.”

*

“Elder, I tremble at the moment when I will need to face the death of one of my relatives.”

“It is your insecurity and nothing else “

*

“I have studied much, as you know, Elder. Should I also study theology?”

“It’s not necessary. It is quite enough to study the Holy Scriptures and the Fathers. You will find everything there.”

*

“Elder, tell me something about the spiritual life.”

“Whoever does not repent will be lost.”

“That’s a hard saying, Elder.”

“I’ll say it to you once again, whoever does not repent will be lost.”

[1]  The Elder’s advice is not directed to everyone but was given to a particular individual under specific circumstances. It is wrong of us to come to the conclusion :he Elder Porphyrios gave the same advice to everybody. In any case, he did not allow this particular person to see all plays and films unchecked. If we study the matter carefully we will see that very few films are free from the inclination to satisfy certain carnal desires.

INSTEAD OF AN EPILOGUE

Instead of an epilogue we present the following excerpt from the eighteenth homily of our Holy Father Makarios of Egypt. It can be found in his complete works PG 34, 640-641:

Those who have been deemed worthy to become children of God and to be reborn from above by the Holy Spirit, who have Christ within themselves, enlightening them and giving them rest, are guided by the spirit in many and various ways. They receive God’s grace in a mystical way within their hearts, which grants them spiritual comfort. We will mention, as an example, some people who apparently gained worldly enjoyment, partially showing association of the soul with the grace of God. Sometimes they feel like they are at a royal banquet, where they are filled with joy and inexpressible happiness. At other times they feel like a bride who unites with her bridegroom and rests with him in divine repose. At other times they are like bodiless angels, they are so light and transcendent, even in the body. Sometimes they are as if they have become intoxicated with a strong drink. They delight in the Spirit, being inebriated, namely, by the intoxication of the divine and spiritual mysteries.

Sometimes they find themselves immersed in weeping and lamenting over the human race and pouring out prayers on behalf of the whole race of Adam. They shed tears and are consumed by the love of the Spirit towards mankind. At another time, they are so enflamed by the Spirit with such joy and love that, if it were possible, they would gather every human being into their very hearts, without distinguishing the bad and the good. Again they are so filled with humility regarding themselves below all men in the humility received from the Spirit, so they consider themselves as the least significant and most worthless of all human beings. Sometimes they are lifted up in joy unspeakable. At other times they are like some powerful person who has donned the king’s whole armor and has come to do battle against the enemies. He fights courageously against them and conquers. Whoever is spiritual takes up the heavenly weapons of the Spirit and attacks the enemies, does battle with them and puts them under his feet.

At other times, in deepest silence and tranquility, one rests in unique spiritual pleasure, in indescribable rest and spiritual well-being. At another time one is instructed in understanding and unspeakable wisdom and knowledge of the unknowable Spirit through grace in matters that cannot be expressed in tongue and speech. At another time one becomes like all human beings. So varied are the ways that grace affects the soul in so many different parts refreshing in it accord with will of God. Grace exercises the soul differently, in order to restore it to the heavenly Father perfect, faultless and pure.

These things spoken of here concerning the workings of the Spirit belong to the level of those who are not far from perfection. Those various manifestations of grace that we spoke of, even though they are expressed differently, still act on such person in progression, one operation following another. Finally, when a person reaches the perfection of the Spirit, completely purified of all passions and united to the Paraclete Spirit in an inexpressible communion, and is deemed worthy to become spirit, united with the Spirit, then it becomes all light, all eye, all spirit, all joy, all rest, all happiness, all love, all compassion, all goodness, all kindness. As a stone in the depths of the sea is completely surrounded by water, so are those who have united in every way with the Holy Spirit. They become like Christ, putting on the virtues of the power of the Spirit. It keeps them constant, and they become both inwardly and outwardly faultless, spotless and pure.

Having been restored by the Spirit, how can they outwardly produce evil fruit? But the fruits of the Spirit shine forth in them, always and in all things. Let us then beg God and believe with love and much hope so that he may grant us with the heavenly grace of the gift of his Spirit in order that the Spirit himself may direct and guide us into the complete will of God and give us rest with his varied leisure. “Let us beseech God so that, through this guidance and exercise of grace and spiritual progress, we may be deemed worthy to attain the perfect fullness of Christ.” (Eph. 3:19). And again, “...until we come into the perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.” (Eph. 4:13). The Lord has promised all who believe in him and asked in truth to bestow on them the mysteries of the inexpressible communion of the Spirit. Let us, therefore, give ourselves completely to the Lord and hasten to receive the good things spoken of above. Consecrated in soul and body and nailed to the cross of Christ, let us become worthy of the eternal kingdom, glorifying the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit forever. Amen.

I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Finally, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord,

the righteous Judge, will give to me on that Day, and not to me only

but also to all who have loved His appearing

2 Timothy 4: 7-8

A FEW WORDS ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Mr. Klitos Ioannides was born in Moutoutas. Cyprus in 1944. He graduated from Pedoulas Gymnasium and the Teaching Academy of Cyprus. He worked as a teacher for two years (1965 - 1967). Between 1967 and 1974 he studied Philosophy, Religious and Social Studies in Paris. In 1973 he was declared Doctor of Philosophy at the Sorbonne.

He worked as a translator and professor in Paris and in Athens (1973 -1976). From 1977 he was a researcher at the Cyprus Research Center.

He systematicaly occupied himself not only with Religious Studies, Philosophy and the History od Modern Cypriot Literature, but with academic research into the Biblical, Patristic and Mystical letters, with poetry, essays, articles, study, criticism, translation, co-writting and presenting radio and television programs. Thousands of his articles and essays have been accomodated within the pages of both the daily press and other periodicals.

Poetry and other works of his have been translated into English, French, Russian, Italian, Serbian, Bulgarian, Hungarian and Spanish.

Amongst other things, he was a founding member of the Cypriot Center of the World Association of Writers (PEN), secretary for a number of years, vice - president and now in charge of public relations. He is also, a member of the Administrative Council of the Philosophical Society in Cyprus, from its foundation. He is a corresponding member of the Philosophical Society of Greece and a member of the Society of Writers, Greece. He has represented Cyprus at many Greek and International conferences on philosophy and literature.

I. Academic Studies

•  Mystique Grecque, Encyclopedie des Mystiques. Paris, 1972 (under the pseudonym Lefkon Agathias.

•  Ρυθμός καί Ἁρμονία: Ἡ οὐσία τῆς μουσικῆς καί τοῦ χοροῦ στήν Πλατωνική παιδεία, Nicosia, first edition 1973, second edition 1978.

•  Τό πρόσωπο τοῦ φιλοσόφου ἀπό τούς προσωκρατικούς στόν Πλάτωνα, Nicosia 1977

•  Οἱ νεοπλατωνικοί φιλόσοφοι, Πλωτῖνος, Πρόκλος, Ζήνων, no. 1, Nicosia 1980

•  Ἱστορία τῆς Νεώτερης Κυπριακῆς Λογοτεχνίας, Nicosia 1986

•  Langage musical et speculation philosophique, Stasinos, vol. no. 9: Nicosia, 1988

•  Le portrait du philosophe pré-socratique, Zenon, no 6 - 9, Nicosia 1988

•  Le philosophe et le musicien dans l’oeuvre de Platon, Nicosia 1990

•  La “paideia” musicale chez Platon, Nicosia, 1981 (offprint from the Stasinos Bulletin, 1979 - 80)

•  Les genies intermediaires en Grèce, Zenon, no. 2, Nicosia 1981

•  Musique et deontologie artisti- que chez Platon, Athens, 1983 - 84

•  Le roi - philosophe spectateur et acteur d’apres Platon, Athens (offprint from volume no. 15 -16, Philosophia of the Athenian Academy).

•  L’ethos musicale chez Platon, Athens, 1985 - 86 (offprint from volume no. 15 - 16, Philosophia of the Athenian Academy.)

•  Socrate, modèle philosophique, Zenon, no. 4 - 5. Nicosia, 1985.

•  Etre et apparaître: Le philosophe et ses rivaux, Stasinos, 1981 - 1984, Nicosia, 1985.

•  Ζήνων ὁ Κιτιεύς: Ἡ ζωή καί τό ἔργο του, Nicosia 1985 (offprint of the volume Stoicism of the Center for Scientific Research Cyprus)

•  Πλωτῖνος ἤ ἡ ἀναζήτηση τοῦ Ἑνός, Nicosia, 1991 (offprint from Year Book no. XVIII, of the Center for Scientific Research Cyprus)

•  Ἀβγή ἤ ἡ κυπριακή φάση τοῦ Αἰμιλίου Χουρμουζίου, Nicosia, 1992, Year Book no. XIX, of the Center For Scientific Research Cyprus.

•   Ἡ ἀνέκδοτη ἀλληλογραφία τοῦ ἀρχιμ. Ἰ. Κυκκώτη μέ τόν ἐξόριστο στίς Σεϋχέλλες Ἐθνάρχη Ἀρχιεπίσκοπο Μακάριο Γ΄. (Year book of Κ.Μ.Ι.Μ.Κ. no 2, Nicosia 1993.

•  Γιάννη Σταυρινοῦ Οἰκονομίδη, Ἀνέκδοτες ἐπιστολές ἀπό τό κατεχόμενο Ριζοκάρπασο, Ἐπετηρίς Κ.Ε.Ε no. 20, Nicosia, 1994.

•  Μιά ἀνέκδοτη αὐτοβιογραφική ἐπιστολή τοῦ Δώρου Ἄλαστου (Stasinos, Nicosia 1989 - 1993)

•  Ἐκκλησία Κύπρου: Ἱστορία καί Πολιτισμός δύο χιλιάδων ἐτῶν, Nicosia, 1995

•  Ἀρχιμ. Ἰ. Κυκκώτη: 4 ἀνέκδοτα κείμενα γιά τόν Δ. Λιπέρτη, Year book of Κ.Μ.Ι.Μ.Κ. no 3, Nicosia, 1996.

II. Poetry

•  Γενεά  Ἕκτη, Nicosia, 1967.

•  Ἀσπιδοῦχοι Κουρῆτες, Nicosia 1971.

•  Θαργήλια, Nicosia, 1975.

•  Ποιήματα, 1967- 77, Nicosia, 1977.

•  Τά Πένθημα, Nicosia, 1981.

•  Ἰῶτα Ἕν, Nicosia, 1987.

•  Ποιήματα 1967-1987, Nicosia 1988.

III. Essays

•  Κόκκος σινάπεως, Nicosia, 1990.

•  Νοσταλγία Θεοῦ, Nicosia 1994.

IV. Translations

•  B.N. Tataki, Ἡ ἑλληνική πατερική καί βυζαντινή φιλοσοφία, Athens, 1975.

•  R. Susko, Ἡ τυπική λογική καί ἡ ἀνάπτυξη τῆς γνώσης, Δευκαλίων, vol. no. 16, Athens, 1976.

•  R. Ingarden. Καλλιτεχνικές καί αἰσθητικές ἀξίες, Δευκαλίων, vol, no. 18, Athens, 1977. Second edition, revised and improved, Athens, March 1993. Third edition, Athens, June 1993. Fourth edition, Athens, May 1994. Fifth edition, Ahtens, August 1995.

• Σύγχρονοι ἅγιοι Γέροντες, Nicosia, 1994, 2nd. Edition, 1995.

VI. Other.

•  Ἡ συνωμοσία κατά τῆς Νεώτερης Κυπριακῆς Λογοτεχνίας, Nicosia, 1986.

VII. Under Publication

•  Ἀπό τό Ἀρχεῖο Παλαιμάχων τοῦ Κ.Ε.Ε.: Φυλακτῆς Ἀριστοκλέους.

•  Ἡ ἀνέκδοτη αὐτοβιογραφία τοῦ ζωγράφου - ἁγιογράφου Σολομώντος Φραγκουλίδη.

•  Κύπριοι ἅγιοι Γέροντες.

V. Conversations

•  Θαύματα τοῦ Ἁγίου Ραφαήλ σέ Κυπρίους, Nicosia, 1991.

•  Ἡ Ὀρθοδοξία σήμερα, vol. i Nicosia 1992, vol, ii. Nicosia, 1996.

•  Ὁ Γέρων Πορφύριος - Μαρτυρίες καί ἐμπειρίες, first edition, Nicosia 1992.

Table of Contents

Copyright

Acknowledgements

Introductory note

A Few words about the third edition

Prologue to the Second Edition

Preface to the First Edition

What is an Elder?

A Short Biography of Elder Porphyrios

Conversations with Greek and Cypriot friends

Talks about Elder Porphyrios

They Wrote about Elder Porphyrios

Elder Porphyrios: As I Knew Him

Accounts about Elder Porphyrios

Elder Porphyrios’ Conversations with Cypriots

The Elder Porphyrios’ Own Accounts

An Anthology of Elder Porphyrios’ Conversations with his Spiritual children

Instead of an epilogue

A few words about the Author