Saint Porphyrios (born 7 February 1906 in the province of Karystos - died 2 December 1991 on Mount Athos) is an Orthodox saint, celebrated on 2 December. He is one of the greatest Orthodox spiritualists of the 20th century.
Entering the uncreated Church, we come to Christ, we enter the uncreated reality.
“The great mystery of piety is great”
The Church is beginningless, infinite, eternal, just as its Founder, the Triune God, is beginningless, infinite, eternal. The church is uncreated, just as God is uncreated. It existed before all ages, before the angels, before the creation of the world, “before the world was created” (Eph. 1: 4), as the Apostle Paul says. It is a divine institution, and in it “dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily” (Col. 2: 9). It is an expression of God’s manifold wisdom. It is the Secret of Secrets. This mystery has been hidden and revealed “in the last days” (1 Peter 1:20). The church remains steadfast because it is rooted in the love of God and in His great Providence.
The Eternal Church is composed of the three Persons of the Holy Trinity. Both angels and men have existed in the thought and love of the Triune God from the beginning. We humans were not born now: we existed centuries ago in God’s omniscience.
God’s love has created us in God’s image and likeness. She placed us in the Church, even though she knew of our apostasy that would follow. She gave us everything to make us gods by grace. However, by abusing our freedom, we have lost our original beauty and original righteousness, and so we have fallen away from the Church. Outside the Church, far from the Holy Trinity, we have lost heaven, we have lost everything. But outside the Church there is no salvation, no life. Therefore, the merciful heart of God the Father did not leave us outside of His love. In recent times, God has reopened the gates of heaven for us and appeared in the flesh.
With the Incarnation of the Only Begotten Son of God, the eternal plan of God for the salvation of man was rediscovered for people. The apostle writes of this: “For the mystery of godliness is great: God appeared in the flesh, was witnessed by the Spirit, appeared to angels, preached to the nations, received by faith into the world, and ascended in glory” (1 Tim. 3:16). The words of St. Apostle Paul are words full of meaning, these are divine, heavenly words.
In His infinite love, God has reunited us with His Church in the person of Christ. Entering the uncreated Church, we come to Christ, we enter the uncreated reality. In other words, we, the believing Christians, are called to become uncreated by grace, to become partakers of the divine energies, to enter into the Mystery of God, to overcome our worldly wisdom, to die for the old man (cf. Col. 3: 9; Romans 6: 6 and Eph. 4:22) and let us worship. When we live in the Church, we live in Christ. These are very intimate spiritual and theological issues and it is not easy to understand them. Only the Holy Spirit can teach us all this.
We are one in the Church, and Christ is the Head of the Church
The head of the Church is Christ, and her Body is us humans, Christians. St. The Apostle Paul says, “He is the head of the body, that is, of the church” (Col. 1:18). The Church and Christ are one. The body cannot exist without its own head. The body of the Church is nourished, sanctified, and living with Christ.
He is the Lord Almighty, omniscient, Who is present everywhere and fills everything, our Support, our Friend, our Brother. He is the pillar and bulwark of the Church. He is the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End, the Basis, He is everything. Without Christ there is no Church. Christ is the Bridegroom, and every human soul is a bride.
Christ united the body of the Church with heaven and earth: with angels, with men and with all creatures, with all of God’s creation, with animals and birds, with every little wild flower, with every insect. Thus the Church has become “the fullness of him who fulfills all things in all things” (Ephesians 1:23), that is, the fullness of Christ.
Christ is revealed in the unity between us and in His love – the Church. The church is not just me, but with you. We are all the Church. We all make up the Church. We are all one Body, and Christ is the Head. One Body, the Body of Christ: “But ye are the body of Christ, and members in particular” (1 Cor. 12:27). We are all one because God is our Father and He is everywhere. When we experience this, then we are in the Church. This was also the desire of our Lord, expressed in His hierarchical prayer for all members of the Church: “to be one” (John 17: 11,22). Well, this can only be understood by God’s grace! We experience the joy of unity and love. We all become one. There is nothing better than that!
It is important that we enter the Church. To unite with our neighbors, to absorb the joy and sorrow of all. To feel them as our own, to pray for all, to wish their salvation to the point of pain, to forget ourselves. To do everything for our neighbors, as Christ did for us. In the Church we become one with everyone who is unhappy and sorrowful, as well as with every sinner.
One should not want to save oneself and others not to be saved. It is wrong for a person to pray for himself so that only he can be saved. We must love other people and pray that no one falls away and everyone enters the Church. This is important. One must leave the world with a similar desire when one goes to a monastery or the desert for a feat.
When we put ourselves first, we do not act Christian. We are true Christians when we feel deeply that we are members of the mystical body of Christ, of the Church, with a constant relationship of love; when we live united in Christ, that is, when we experience unity in His Church with the feeling that we are one. That is why Christ prays to His Father with the words: to be one. He keeps repeating this, and the apostles point it out everywhere. This is the greatest depth, the deepest meaning of the word Church. Here lies her secret – to unite all people as one person in God. There is no other faith like ours. No other religion says such things. In other religions there is talk of something, but not of this mystery – of this secret mystery that Christ requires of us – He Himself tells us that we must become such that He wants us to become His.
We are one even with people who are not close to the Church. They are far away out of ignorance. We must pray to God to enlighten them and change them so that they too can come to Christ. Instead, we usually look at things in a human way, act differently, and think we love Christ. But Christ, who “sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous” (Matt. 5:45), tells us, “Love your enemies” (Matt. 5:44). We must all pray to be together, all to be with God. If we experience this, we will have the corresponding results. We will all live in love and unity.
There are no distances for God’s people, even if they are thousands of miles apart. Wherever we are, we are all together. No matter how far our neighbors are from us, we must offer them support. I am occasionally called by some of our relatives from a city on the shores of the Indian Ocean; it is called Derban (the correct one is Durban), if I pronounce it correctly, and it is located in South Africa, two hours away from Johannesburg. Even these days they came here to accompany a sick man on his way to England, and they stopped by to read him a prayer. This excites me a lot.
When Christ connects us, there are no distances. When I leave this life, it will be better. I will be closer to you.
In the Church we are moving forward to immortality
The church is the new life in Christ. There is no death or hell in the Church. St. John the Evangelist says, “He who keeps my word will not taste death forever” (John 8:52). Christ destroys death. He who enters the Church is saved and becomes eternal. One is life, constant and infinite. There is no end, that is, there is no death. He who keeps the commandments of Christ never dies. He died for the flesh and the passions and was honored in the present life to live in heaven, in our Church, and then in eternity. Through Christ, death becomes a bridge that we will cross at some point to continue living in the unfading light.
And I myself, since I became a monk, have believed that there is no death. I have felt and will always feel that I am eternal and immortal. How nice that is!
There is no room for despair in the Church, which has the saving sacraments of salvation. We can be very wrong. But in this case we repent and confess, the priest reads the prayer of permission, receives forgiveness of sins and moves forward to immortality, without any anxiety, without any fear.
When we love Christ, we live the life of Christ. When, through God’s grace, we achieve this, we are in another state, experiencing a state of spiritual change, a much-desired state. For us there is no fear, no death, no devil, no hell. All this exists for people who are far from Christ, for non-Christians. For us – who are Christians and do His will here, as He tells us – all these things do not exist. In fact, they exist, but when a man kills the old man in himself “with passions and lusts” (Gal. 5:24), then he pays no attention to either the devil or evil. None of this interests him. The only thing that interests him is love, as well as the service of Christ and neighbor. If we are able to feel joy, love, and reverence for God without fear, then we can say, “I no longer live, but Christ lives in me” (Gal. 2:20). Nobody is stopping us from entering this secret.
The church is heaven on earth
When you serve God, you live in paradise. If you know and love Christ, you live in paradise. Christ is heaven. Paradise begins here. The church is a paradise on earth, very much like a heavenly paradise. The same paradise that is in heaven is here on earth. Here all souls are one, as in the Holy Trinity the three divine Persons, who are united so that they are one.
Our main concern is to dedicate ourselves to Christ, that is, to be united with the Church. If we enter into God’s love, we enter the Church. If we do not enter the Church, if we do not become one with the local, earthly Church, then it is possible to lose the heavenly Church as well. And when we say heavenly, we should not think that in the future life we will find gardens, flower gardens, mountains, rivers and birds. There are no earthly beauties here. There is something else, something very sublime. But in order to get to this other thing, we have to go through all these things in advance, to go through earthly images and beauties.
He who lives with Christ becomes one with Him and with His Church. Long live madness! This life is different from other people’s lives. This life is joy and gladness, rising to the heights of heaven. This is the life of the Church, the life of the Gospel. This is the Kingdom of God. The kingdom of God is in us (cf. Luke 17:21). Christ enters us, and we are in Him. This is what happens with a piece of iron. When we put it in the fire, it becomes fire and light; but when we take it out of the fire, it is again usually dark iron; it’s dark again.
Divine union of God and people takes place in the Church. We worship in the Church. When we are with Christ, we are in the light, then there is no darkness. But light does not last forever, that is, its presence depends on us. What happens to us is what happens to iron, which darkens when we take it out of the fire. Darkness and light cannot be combined. We can never have darkness and light at the same time. Either light or darkness! When the light appears, the darkness disappears.
We must love the Church very much
In order to maintain our unity, we must show obedience to the Church, to her bishops. As we listen to the Church, we are obedient to Christ Himself. Christ wants us to become one flock with one shepherd (cf. John 10:16).
We must love the Church very much and feel sorry for her. We must not agree with the condemnation of its representatives. The spirit I learned on Mount Athos is Orthodox, deep, holy, silent, without controversy, without quarrels, without condemnation. We must not trust those who accuse the clergy. Even when we see something bad with our own eyes, some seductive act of one of the clergy, we should not believe, think about it, or tell others.
The same is true of the lay members of the Church, as well as of any person. We are all a Church. Those who blame the Church for the mistakes of its representatives, ostensibly in order to help and correct it, are making a great mistake. They do not love the Church or Christ. We love the Church when, through our prayer, we embrace each of its members and do what Christ has done, that is, when we sacrifice, participate in vigils, and do all things like Him, our Lord, who “when He was blasphemed, He did not answer. insults; when he suffered, he did not threaten ”(2 Peter 2:23).
We must also pay attention to our obligations; to live with the Holy Sacraments, especially the Sacrament of the Eucharist. The essence of the Orthodox faith is in St. Sacraments. Christ gives Himself to the Church through the Holy Sacraments and especially through the Holy Communion.
I will tell you about a visit of God over me, poor thing, to see the grace of the Holy Sacraments.
For a long time I had a small growth on my back that hurt a lot. The pain spread widely to the left side of his back. She was unbearable. In my cell in Milesi we performed the Holy Sacrament of Anointing. Enduring the pain, they anointed my growth with crucifixion oil and the pain immediately disappeared. I rejoiced so much at this visit of God that I said to everyone who came to me:
“Take this consecrated oil!” Whatever hurts you, anoint the sore spot with it.
Forgive me for telling you this, but I am doing it for God’s glory.
“And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost.”
At Pentecost, God’s grace was poured out not only on the apostles, but also on all the people around them, affecting believers and unbelievers. Here is what the Acts of the Apostles say about this:
“When Pentecost came, they were all together. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they sat. And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance. And there were in Jerusalem Jews, devout men, out of every nation under heaven. When this noise came, many people were gathered together, and were amazed: for every one heard them speak in his own words ”(Acts 2: 1-6).
While St. Apostle Peter spoke in his own language, at the same time his speech changed in the minds of the listeners. In a mysterious way, the Holy Spirit allowed them to understand his words in their own language, secretly and unnoticed. Such miracles are performed by the power of the Holy Spirit. Let’s take the word house as an example; one who knew French would sound like la maison to him. It was a form of foresight: they heard their own language. The sound echoed in their ears, but inside, with God’s enlightenment, the words sounded in their language. The Fathers of the Church do not reveal to us very clearly this interpretation of the event of Pentecost, they are afraid that it will be distorted. The same happens with the Revelation of St. Ev. John. The uninitiated cannot understand the meaning of God’s mysteries.
A little further down in the Acts of the Apostles it is said, “Fear came upon every soul” (Acts 2:43). Every soul was overwhelmed with fear. This fear was not fear. It was something else: something unusual, incomprehensible, unspoken. It was awe, a sense of fulfillment, grace, being filled with divine grace. At Pentecost, people suddenly found themselves in such a state of deification that they simply were not on their own. In other words, when divine grace overshadowed them, then it seemed to drive them “mad,” in the good sense of the word. More precisely, she intoxicated them. This fact made a great impression on me. This is what I sometimes call a state, a special state. That was the excitement. This was a state of spiritual “madness.”
“And they continued daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread in the houses, eating with a cheerful and pure heart, praising God and being loved by all the people. But the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved ”(Acts 2: 46-47).
The breaking of bread is Holy Communion. The number of those saved was constantly growing, as people saw all Christians praising God with a cheerful and pure heart. The expression “with a cheerful and pure heart” is similar to the expression Fear overwhelmed every soul. It was enthusiasm, and it is again a noble “madness.” When I personally experience this, I feel it and cry. I enter the event described in the Holy Scriptures, I experience it, I feel it, I get excited and I cry. This is the divine grace, this is the love of Christ.
What the apostles experienced with each other, feeling all this joy, then happened to all the people who were under the upper room where the apostles were. This means: Christians had love for each other, rejoiced in each other, were united with each other. This event radiates spiritual rays, so others experience it.
“And the multitude of those who believed were of one heart and one soul; and no man called any of his possessions his own, but they had all things in common ”(Acts 4:32).
Here in the Acts of the Apostles we talk about the common life of the believers in the community. Here the mystery of Christ is revealed. This is the Church. Here we find the best words for the early Church.
The Christian religion changes man and heals him
Our religion is the religion of religions, it is a divinely revealed religion; the correct and true religion. Other religions are human, empty, they do not know the greatness of the Triune God. They do not know that the purpose and purpose of our existence is to become gods by grace, to become like the Triune God, to become one with Him and with one another. Other religions do not know these things. The ultimate goal of our faith is the fulfillment of Christ’s words:… To be one. This fills the work of Christ. Our religion is love, affection, enthusiasm, holy and gracious “madness”, thirst for the divine. All this is in us and we are obliged to find it in our souls.
For many people, however, religion is a kind of struggle, anxiety and fear. That is why many consider “religious” people unhappy because they see what a miserable state they are in. And it really is. Because if one does not understand and experience the depths of religion, then religion becomes a disease, and a terrible disease, so terrible that one loses control of one’s actions and is left without strength and will, filled with anxiety and worry, being guided by the evil spirit. Such a person bows, cries, shouts, ostensibly humbles himself, and in fact all this humility is a satanic act. Some such people experience religion as a kind of hell. In church they worship, are baptized, say: “We are sinful and unworthy”, and as soon as they go outside they start cursing and blaspheming the sanctuary, if someone disturbs them a little. It is clear that this is a demonic state.
In fact, the Christian religion changes man and heals him. But the main condition for one to understand and know the truth is humility. Selfishness or selfishness obscures the human mind, confuses it, and leads it into delusion and heresy. It is very important for a person to understand the truth.
In ancient times, people lived primitively: they had no houses or anything else. They hid in caves without windows and closed the entrance to the cave with stones and twigs to prevent wind. They did not understand that there is life outside and there is oxygen. In the cave the man wastes himself, gets sick, dies, while outside he comes to life. Can you understand the truth? Then you are in the sun, in the light. You see all the greatness of God’s world. Otherwise you are locked in a dark cave. There is light, and there is darkness. Which is better of the two? Which do you prefer: to be kind, humble, calm, to have love in you or to be neurotic, anxious and quarrel with everyone? Without a doubt, love is the highest. Our religion contains all these goods. It is the truth itself. But many are turning to something else.
Those who deny this truth are sick at heart. They are like sick children – children who have been left without parents, or whose parents are divorced or quarreled with – and the children have become maladapted and antisocial. All spiritually confused people go to heresies and sects. These are confused children of confused parents. But all these confused and unadaptable people have energy, are persistent and achieve many things. They subdue normal and calm people, because they affect other people like themselves, and they have supremacy among people because they are the majority and find followers. There are others who, while not denying the truth, are at the same time confused and sick at heart.
Sin makes a person mentally confused. This confusion cannot be removed by anything. Resolution is reached only with the help of the light of Christ. The first step is taken by Christ: “Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Matt. 11:28). Then we, the people, receive this light with our free will, which we express through love for Him, through prayer, through participation in the life of the Church, through participation in the Holy Sacraments.
Many times neither labor, nor earthly worship, nor the shadowing of the cross attract God’s grace. There are certain secrets here. The most important thing is to avoid the form and stick to the essence. Whatever you do, do it out of love.
Love is always ready to sacrifice. If you do something by force, your soul is embarrassed and resists. Love attracts God’s grace. When grace descends, the gracious gifts of the Holy Spirit descend. “And the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance.” (Gal. 5: 22-23). These are the qualities that a healthy soul must have in Christ.
Through Christ man is ennobled, and thus evil has no place in his life. For him, evil does not exist. There is only good, only God. In this case, evil cannot exist. In other words, once there is light, there can be no darkness. Nor can darkness envelop a person who is filled with light.
