St. Porphyrios: A Gift from God to
Humanity
"St. Porphyrios is a gift from
God to humanity, to an age very tired and burdened.
We still have not come to understand
what Porphyrios means. He was greatly ahead of his time, ahead of the
perceptions and attitudes of many within the Church.
In St. Porphyrios, you do not find
"do" and "don't", forcing and angst, extremes and
exaggerations. You will not find cheap and shallow explanations.
There is not shame nor threats, nor
fear and misery. His teaching is full of Christ, light, joy and freedom.
"An Athonite Abbot told me:
"My Father, you find one like Porphyrios every 1000 years or so...a great
gift from God..."
Another monk, exhausted and crushed
by strict and rigid canons, told me: 'With St. Porphyrios, I found rest. I
found Christ, freedom, I found myself...Believe me, Father, for two years I do
not allow anything within my nous other than the Gospel, the Gerontikon, and
the words of St. Porphyrios. And I am happy..."
However, the great Porphyrios was a
simple little Elder. A little priest who wouldn't even catch your attention.
You would likely pass by him with indifference. You would not see him
"selling" holiness.
"Because holiness is simplicity,
humility, immediacy, it does not ring bells and does not shine windows, it is
not sold in the markets, like another honored Athonite Father says.
Elder Porphyrios did not call anyone
to him; he did not burden or force anyone. He let you come to him, to want him
and to desire him. He did not have any manic "catechism", no angst to
show off something; he was free. He did not preach himself, but his life
spoke!!!
"He gave to you when you were
ready. He opened your eyes to look on Heaven when you were ready to see, with
discernment, simply, beautifully. Together with him was your being, your
uniqueness, and thus he helped you to breathe deeply, to become beautiful and
magnificent, to become that which you always were but had forgotten."
-Quote of Fr. Livios on St.
Porphyrios
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