This is the
same Light that Moses experienced on Mt.
Sinai
Since we are discussing some new
found information about the supernatural experiences of the Elder Porphyrios, I
would like to first share with you what happened to him on Mt. Athos
It was still dawn, and the main
Church of Kavsokalyvia was locked. Nikitas
(Porphyrios before his tonsure), 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, a holy ascetic man. Fr. Dimas
looked around and made sure that nobody was there. He didn’t notice young Nikitas (Porphyrios)
waiting in the shadows of the entrance. Fr.
Dimas started making full genuflections and praying before the closed Church
doors.
Divine Grace suddenly descended
upon the holy Fr. Dimas and also cascaded down upon the young Nikitas
(Porphyrios), who was then ready to receive it.
His feelings were indescribable.
On his way back to his cell, 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, O God! Glory to You,
Glory to You, O God! Glory to You.”
Following the visitation of the Holy Spirit, a fundamental change took
place in the psychosomatic makeup of the young Monk Nikitas (Porphyrios). It was the change that comes directly from
the hand of God. He acquired
supernatural gifts and was vested with power from on high.
The first
sign of these gifts was when his Elders were returning from a journey and he
was able to see them coming from a great distance. He saw them where they were, even though they
were not within sight. He confessed this
to Fr. Panteleimon, his Elder, who advised him to be very cautious about his
gift and to tell no one about it. He
followed this advice very carefully until he was told to do otherwise.
More gifts
were revealed to him. 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 the makeup of them. 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 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 them. He simply touched
people and 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 to be healed of his own
ailments even though he had many of them. He never tried to get personal gain
from the knowledge extended to him by Divine Grace. (Editor’s note: He truly
became Christ-like).
Every time
he used his gift of discernment (διάκρισις) 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 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 edge 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” (Cor. 12:11) certainly held true for the
Elder Porphyrios. Naturally, he was a
human being and received Grace which comes from God. This God, who for reasons of His own
sometimes did not reveal everything to Him, Life lived in Grace is an unknown
mystery for us. Any more talk on the
matter would be a rude invasion into matters we do not 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 is learned. It is not a skill. It is GRACE.”
These are
the things that happened to him at the beginning of his monastic life. Now we share with you what happened to him as
he was preparing to depart this earthly life and to enter the Kingdom of
Heaven. These things that I am sharing
with you are taken from a talk that Monk Akakios gave in November of 2010. He
lived with the Elder for the last twenty years of his life and was at his
bedside when the Elder gave up his soul.
Akakios tells us the following marvelous things about Porphyrios. He experienced
the Uncreated Light in his cell at the Monastery in Malakasa, Greece which is
about one hour outside of Athens. That
particular day, he was talking to Akakios about spiritual issues. He was able at that time to still get up from
his bed and walk a few steps. He got up
and walked a few steps toward me and suddenly I saw him levitating above the
floor. At the same time he started to
exude a very bright blue Light—his clothing, his face and everything about him
was reflecting this bright blue Light.
I tried to
look at his face but my eyes could not stand the brightness of that Light. I turned away for a while and then I looked
at him again. I could not get enough of
that Light that was shining from him.
Again I could not stand the brightness and I turned away. I do not remember how long this phenomenon
lasted. But slowly, slowly the
brightness started to diminish and he slowly was lowered to the floor. I had
never experienced anything like that and I did not have the courage to ask him
about it. They say that Light is the
Wisdom and Power of God. A few days
later, during the summer I was alone in a cell at St. Demetrios in Kerasia
dealing with some very serious personal spiritual issues. The power of that Light that I had seen
envelope the Elder accompanied me there at Kerasia and helped me to overcome
fierce and difficult temptations of Satan.
After some
time, when I returned from there and I was doing spiritual exercises under his
direction, he spoke to me and said to me to locate in the Bible I Kings where
it says, “I live, God lives, do not forsake me.” To Elijah this is in reference
to his preparing to ascend to heaven and the young Elisha followed him and he
said to him “I am going a little further ahead before I die and he said to him
“my soul lives, my God lives, do not forsake me.” The Elder asked me what this expression
meant. I said that is an oath that his
soul will never abandon his Elder until the end of time. The Elder said “come closer so that I may
explain it to you in my own words what this means. As I approached him, I was
overwhelmed with awe because I was enveloped in a bright red Light.
This is
now an aside from what we are talking about.
I once was talking to the Elder Paisios who told me about the Uncreated
Light, an experience of a red Light. He
said do not let anyone tell you that the Red Light is not Divine Light because
the chariot of Elijah was enveloped in red light. I tell you this because there is a false
opinion circulating that the red color is that of Satan. That is not true.
Now let us
come back to our original topic. I approached him. He caressed me, he kissed me on my face, on
my head and he put his lips to my ear and said “my God lives, my soul lives, do
not forsake me. The time has come for me
to say to you in my own words; “είναι εύκολότερο ό ίδιος νά ζήση παρά ήμάς τούς
δυό ψυχρότης νά μάς χωρίση.” (It is easier for me to live than for bitterness
to separate us.)” At that very moment I
was overwhelmed by that Divine Fire. I
was then told that I would be with my Elder until the end of his life when he
would leave for his heavenly journey.
The time
was getting near for us to leave for the Monastery of Kavsokalyvia on Mt. Athos
in order to prepare for the holy demise of the Elder. He said to me, “Come and let me teach you how
to pray to the Παναγία (The All-Holy Mary).
I got him up, because by this time he could not get up alone and walk.
We moved to the icon of Παναγία (the Holy Mother) that was in his cell. It is a large icon of the Theotokos that he
is often pictured with.
He lifted
up his arm in order to make a genuflection.
In doing this he was forced to lean against the table and because I
grabbed to support him he scolded me for being so concerned about him. He
proceeded to make two genuflections and on the third one he raised up both his
arms and he was raised one meter above the floor and he began to reflect a very
sweet Light. The Elder loved the Holy Mother very much and he had many icons of
her in his cell. He would say to me,
“look here, here and here there are icons of the Holy Mother everywhere.” At that moment, the face of the Elder
disappeared and he began to speak through the White Light. Even the icons were enveloped in this
Light. The image of the Holy Mother could
not be seen. The Light was very sweet
because she is our sweet Mother. I could
not understand what he was saying so I got even closer to him. I then took hold of his hand or rather it was
the hand of the Holy Mother and I do not remember how long we were in that
moment of ecstasy. Then slowly I felt
that the hand of the Holy Mother was the hand of the Elder. I then saw the face of the Elder and again he
was walking on the floor. He slowly
removed his hand from mine and allowed me to help him return to his bed.
I stood
amazed before that brilliance of the Elder.
I feel unworthy to talk about the Elder in these words. You may ask me why I feel unworthy to talk to
you about these experiences and why I feel humbled by them. No, I am not humbling myself. I tell you the truth. When the Elder fell asleep, a little later I
suddenly realized that every moment that I was close to the Elder was a
spiritual experience. In this way, if we
spoke for a thousand hours about the Elder, they would not be adequate to
describe his greatness and his many miracles.
After the Elder fell asleep I went to the Monastery
Katounakia to have a cassock sewn for me.
As I was ascending the path toward Katounakia, I saw Fr. Ephraim on the
left side of the foot path. Fr. Ephraim
was doing some work. I greeted him. Fr. Ephraim said to me, “Do you know what I
am doing now; I am preparing these steps so that I can go down below and
prepare my grave. I am also preparing
myself to leave this world.” We had a
discussion and then he looked at the sea and said to me, “Do you see the
ocean?” I said, “Yes Elder.” That is the
way Porphyrios was. It was a unique Grace that he had. If I send you to the ocean to fetch me a
little water, how much water could you bring me?” I said, “as much as my little
container can hold.” “Bravo,” he said to
me, that is what it is. That is all you
can bring me. Do you understand the
meaning of what I am saying?”
The Elder
had three great Christian virtues; άγάπη, humbleness, and patience. The love of the Elder toward God was not
simple love, it was divine love. He had
love for his sweet Jesus. Like iron is
melted in a fire, so also was the Elder melted by the love of God. He became a flame and reflected the Uncreated
Light of God. His love of Jesus was
defined by the allegory of the shepherdess and her love for the shepherd. It was this divine love that he had acquired
at the age of thirteen that inspired him to pursue severe ascetic
struggles. His Elders were very strict
with him. He called them tyrants but he
also said they were holy. He would not
allow himself to sleep at night. He
would do hundreds of genuflections along with his prayers. During the winter months he would strip
himself to the waste in order to emulate the severity of Siberian winters. He later admitted that his severe asceticism
compromised his health. When I asked him
how his Elder allowed a fifteen year old boy to abuse himself in such ascetic
struggles, he said, “when you fall in love with Jesus Christ, you do not ask
anyone what you should do” He would
often repeat the words of St. Paul in reference to Jesus. Ζώ δέ ούκ έτι έγώ ζεί
έν ήμίν ό Χριστός. (I no longer live for
Christ lives in me.).
In
Malakasa one night the nuns were awakened from their sleep by the weeping and
wailing of the Elder. When they reached
his room, they heard him saying through the door, “Lord give me his
sickness. I will die in place of
him. He has seven children. He must live in order to raise his children.”
At the end
of his life, he was so weak that simply by speaking to people he would be in
danger of dying. When I first met him I
did not know all these things and when he finished talking to visitors I would
hasten to him in order to receive his blessing.
Once when I did this, he said to me, “I am tired and I cannot give you a
blessing.” I responded, “I just need to kiss your hand.” He then raised his
hands and said Νά ρέ. (Here then). He
crucified himself like Jesus. The nuns
were often criticized for telling people to go away when they saw the Elder so
weak. He would die every day for his
fellow man. The Elder Sophronios from
Essex, England said that the humblest man in the world was the Elder
Porphyrios.
A young man who had psychological and drug
problems was sent by the Elder to Mt. Sinai to recover. But instead of the young man going to Church
at night he would go to the Burning Bush and sleep under it. The monks of the Monastery would look for him
everywhere and could not find him. One
night, the young man saw the Elder Porphyrios standing before him and the Elder
ordered him to get up. He then proceeded to slap him so hard that he fell down. This miraculous event of course happened
while the Elder was still physically in Malakasa, Greece.
When the
Turks invaded Cyprus in 1974, the military in Greece could not communicate with
the military in Cyprus. The Greek
military officers knowing the supernatural powers of the Elder went to visit
him at Malakasa. The Elder’s
supernatural powers allowed him to see all the moves of the Turks and he
revealed this to the Greek military in Greece.
He was
able to speak to people in their native language. He knew all the sciences and he was able to
discourse with scientists of all the different sciences. He completely
understood the scientific terminology they used.
At the end
of his earthly life, they went to Kavsokalyvia for the last time. While at the
Monastery, Fr. Akakios would care for
him for twelve hours and Fr. Panteleimon would care for him for twelve hours.
He said, “I have come here to prepare myself to die. I will not go back to the world. If something should happen to me and I should
desire to go back to the world, do everything you can to stop me.” He asked me to read the service of those who
are being tonsured into monasticism. I
read this service for a whole month. He
said to me; “do you know why I am asking you to read this service and I am
doing commentary on it? I said; “because
you want to teach me.” He responded, “I want to see if I have fulfilled all
those promises that I made in that service.
I want to see if I am a genuine monk.”
He also
wanted to hear the funeral service as chanted by the great cantor
Vasilikos. This cassette was recorded in
Paris. It became well known in the
Orthodox world. The Elder asked me to order it from Athens so that he could
hear it. As soon as the service started
he suddenly pushed the stop button on the cassette and began crying. The Elder then said; “our age is similar to
the age when Jesus came to preach the Good News.”
“I now
leave the world because nobody listens.
Everyone is doing their own thing and nobody pays attention to what we
are saying. Only if we join ourselves to
the Uncreated Church will we be saved.”
One of the nuns who took care of the Elder at the Monastery in Malakasa
called him once on Mt. Athos. She asked
him, “How are you feeling Elder? He
answered; “what am I doing my child is fighting with the whole world.”
HIS LAST NIGHT
At 9 p.m.
he tried to tell me something but he could not get the words out. But I
understood that he wanted to speak to a novice.
I called Theodore and wanting to leave them alone, I said I would
prepare the milk for the Elder. Before I
was able to prepare the milk Theodore called me and said to come quickly
because the Elder was in great distress.
This situation lasted until four in the morning. In spite of this, he lived until 2 a.m. the
next night. The Elder said “call
everyone because I am leaving.” He asked
us to say the Jesus Prayer loudly. He
said I should say this prayer a thousand times.
And I said it one thousand times Κύριε Ίησού Χριστέ Έλέησόν με (Lord
Jesus Christ have mercy upon me) and a thousand times Κύριε Ίησού Χριστέ έλέησον
τόν κόσμον σου (Lord Jesus have mercy upon the world). Then I said Κύριε Ίησού Χριστέ άνάπαυσον τούς
δούλους σου (Lord Jesus Christ grant repose to Your servants). He was having difficulty breathing. We attempted to lift him up and he would
faint. We then did CPR three times to
revive him. He asked us for the last
time to lift him up and he again fainted. I again began saying the Jesus
Prayer. He then took his gaze away from
us and was looking up. He turned his
head to one side, his face was becoming more and more peaceful and a faint
Light enveloped his face. He was saying
something that we could not hear. Then I
heard him say; Έλα, έλα έρχου Κύριε (Come, Come, I am coming Lord). He closed
his eyes and then something very shocking happened.
Remember
when I spoke to you at the beginning of this presentation about him talking to
me about the Prophet Elijah and Elisha? It was at that time that he said to me
that I would be the one to close his eyes as he gave up his spirit. He said then: “It is easier for me to live
than for a chill to separate us.” As he
closed his eyes I was thinking within myself that he told me a long time ago
that I would close his eyes at the end. As I was thinking this, he suddenly
stopped closing his eyes, turned to me and said “close my eyes.” I closed his eyes by gently placing my hand
on his eyes. He closed his mouth and the
end came.
He had
left directives about his funeral many days before he died. He told us in detail what should happen at
his funeral. He said who would change his clothing, who would take him to the
Church and then there would be a vigil and all the community should receive
Holy Communion. He also told us who would carry him to the grave. He directed that no phone calls were to be
made to the outside world. He said that everything will be done in an ascetic
and humble way. I wrote down all his
wishes and he then approved them. He
again called together the whole brotherhood and he placed the directives for
the funeral on the icon of the Holy Mother.
He said that when I die you will fulfill all the directives.
Fr.
Panteleimon and I changed his clothes.
The others went outside as we prepared his body for burial. We found his will in his clothes and we later
published it. One of his requests was that we should anoint his body with myrrh
from the έπιτάφιον (replica of the Tomb of Christ). As we prepared to take him to the cemetery,
the Aegean Sea below us was very rough and nobody could possibly navigate it
and approach the Monastery in time for the funeral. But as soon as we placed his body in the
grave, the ocean became calm and some people arrived to see the elder for the
last time but they were too late.
When I was
writing down his requests for the funeral, a monk came to his cell and asked
the Elder what he wanted us to do with his bones after we exhumed his
remains. His response was; “Oh, throw
them in some ravine where nobody will be able to find them. In that way, they will not be able to make me
out to be a saint and reverence my bones.”
His body
dissolved and was returned to the elements from which it was created. The only parts of his body that remained
incorrupt were his two hands. When the
Church proclaims him a saint some day, we will be able to receive his blessing
from his incorrupted hands once again.
May we have his blessing. I pray
that all of you will have the blessing of the Elder Porphyrios.
A saying
of the Elder: “The best way to prepare for the antichrist is to banish the
antichrist from our lives and fill our inner being with Christ. If we are
called to be martyrs for our faith, we will go willingly.”
Translated by +Fr. Constantine J. Simones from the Greek in
the summer of 2012 USA.
ΔΟΞΑ ΤΩ ΘΕΩ ΕΝ ΤΟΙΣ ΑΓΙΟΙΣ ΑΥΤΟΥ
GLORIFIED IS GOD IN HIS SAINTS
Από το Ιστολόγιο ΑΠΑΝΤΑ ΟΡΘΟΔΟΞΙΑΣ
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