Ἡ θέση τοῦ Ἁγίου Πορφυρίου γιά τίς ἐλεύθερες σχέσεις-The position of St. Porphyrios regarding free relations

Ο αγιότατος Όσιος γενικώς ήταν τελείως αντίθετος στις νεοορθόδοξες – νεονικολαϊτικές διδασκαλίες περί ελεύθερων σχέσεων με πρόσχημα την αγάπη. Γνώριζε ότι οι διδασκαλίες αυτές ωθούν τους ανθρώπους και μάλιστα τους νέους στον ερωτισμό, στην ελευθεριότητα, στις σαρκικές αμαρτίες και στις διαστροφές. Δυστυχώς, αυτές οι ιδέες εισβάλλουν στην Εκκλησία ως προοδευτικές, φιλελεύθερες, αντιπουριτανικές, αντιζηλωτικές και εκσυγχρονιστικές. Προωθούνται μέσω κακόδοξων Επισκόπων, « Πνευματικών χωρίς Άγιον Πνεύμα»259, μεγαλοσχήμων αρχιμανδριτών, ιερέων, καθηγητών Πανεπιστημίου, θεολόγων, κ.λ.π. 

Ο ορθοδοξότατος Άγιος Πορφύριος δεν ήθελε να ακούσει καθόλου γι’ αυτά260. Κάποτε του έδωσαν ένα από τα κυκλοφορηθέντα βιβλία, που διατύπωνε νεονικολαϊτικές απόψεις. Το μελέτησε λίγο και μόλις αντιλήφθηκε το περιεχόμενό του, το απεστράφη με βδελυγμία λέγοντας: « τι είναι αυτά;!!...»261 

Καταλυτική, απολύτως επιβεβαιωτική των ανωτέρω, είναι η σχετική ανακοίνωση-καταπέλτης του Ησυχαστηρίου του Αγίου Πορφυρίου ( Ι. Ησυχαστήριον Μεταμόρφωσις του Σωτήρος, Μήλεσι Αττικής). Σ’αυτήν δηλώνεται ξεκάθαρα η αντίθεση του Αγίου στις νεοορθόδοξες-νεονικολαϊτικές διδασκαλίες περί ηθικής απελευθερώσεως και ελευθέρου έρωτος262. « Φίλοι μας επληροφόρησαν», γράφει η ανακοίνωση του Ησυχαστηρίου του Οσίου, «ότι σε πρόσφατη διάλεξη, που πραγματοποιήθηκε στην Αθήνα, ο ομιλητής επεκαλέσθη ότι ο Άγιος Πορφύριος ο Καυσοκαλυβίτης υποστήριξε τις ιδέες του (δηλ. του ομιλητή) σχετικά με την « ηθικήν απελευθέρωσιν» των νέων από τις επιταγές του Ευαγγελίου και των Αγίων. Από καθήκον έναντι της Αληθείας, η οποία βαναύσως κακοποιείται από τους υποστηρικτές τέτοιων ιδεών, φέρουμε σε γνώση των αδελφών χριστιανών ότι ο Άγιος Πορφύριος δεν απεδέχετο τέτοιες διδασκαλίες, όπως και γίνεται φανερό σαφέστατα από πάρα πολλές συμβουλές του και ιδιαίτερα από τους λόγους του, που περιέχονται στα βιβλία με τίτλο «Το πνεύμα το Ορθόδοξον είναι το αληθές» και «Ο Άγιος Πορφύριος για τα σεμινάρια Ψυχοδυναμικής», αλλά και από μαρτυρίες πολλών συμπολιτών μας, που έχουν δημοσιευθεί σε διάφορα άλλα βιβλία. Μπορούμε να διαβεβαιώσουμε με απόλυτη υπευθυνότητα τους αδελφούς μας ότι ο Άγιος Πορφύριος καταδίκαζε με ένταση τις διδασκαλίες περί δήθεν ηθικής απελευθερώσεως και ελευθέρου έρωτος, τις οποίες διδάσκουν διάφοροι ψυχολόγοι και Σχολές Ψυχολογίας. Το γεγονός ότι ο Χριστός συγχώρησε τους αμαρτωλούς, που είχαν υποπέσει σε τέτοιας φύσεως αμαρτήματα ,καθόλου δεν σημαίνει ότι ενέκρινε τις αμαρτίες τους, διότι αυτήν την συγχώρεση την έδιδε μόνον όταν προϋπήρχε ειλικρινής μετάνοια και πάντοτε την συνόδευε με την συμβουλή «μηκέτι αμάρτανε».

Saint Elder Porphyrios taught that precondition of life in Christ, is the crucifixion- killing of the passions, the necrosis to the world, the renunciation of the secular mind.

" The neo- Orthodox and their post- patristic successors, underestimate, misinterpret, distort and insult the Holy Fathers, both early and contemporary. The post- patristic also divalue moral purity, practice, fasting, conjugal abstinence and abstinence in general, the Holy Canons and also the struggle against carnal pleasures. They don't even want the word devil to be mentioned, neither the word sin nor the word repentance. " They preach", according to the teaching of St. Anastasios, " the joy of the Church, the experience of the Resurrection detached from practice and from the cross. The tears of repentance, the preaching of the folly of the cross, the poverty of the fishermen, the abstinence of the reborn, are not fixed according to their measures.

No dispair - St. Porphyrios

 “I have consciousness of my sinfulness, but I live with hope. It is bad to despair, because someone who despairs becomes embittered and loses his willingness and strength. Someone who has hope, on the contrary, advances forward”

– St. Porphyrios

https://apantaortodoxias.blogspot.com/2019/02/no-dispair-st-porphyrios.html

Holy sayings

 LISTENING

When someone has a problem, you must listen to him carefully. The entire time that he is talking do not show him that you got tired, because then you lost everything. One time I was listening to a young man for nine hours without moving. This is why I got a problem with my intestines!

St. Paisios the Hagiorate

PREPARATION FOR PRAYING

To pray, you need to create for yourself the proper “climate”. Then the Lord himself will teach us how to pray.

Holy sayings

 It is the light

The continuous study of the Holy Scriptures is the light of our soul and it protect us from the passions.

St. Isaak the Syrian

The enemy’s achievement

The devil achieved to hide himself and to make people to use other names for him. They are not willing to accept that is the devil who incites and stimulates egoism in all human beings.

Advice for parents from elder Porfyrios

 Advice for parents from elder Porfyrios

 Today we put before you the words of one of the most inspiring elders of our times. The late Elder Porphyrios was a monk from Mt Athos who, for health reasons, had to leave Mt Athos, and ended up living in the heart of Athens for most of his life. In 1926, and at the age of twenty, he was ordained a priest by the Archbishop of Sinai, Porphyrios III, who gave him the name Porphyrios. At the age of twenty-two he became a confessor and spiritual father. Due to his extreme humility and obedience he received early the gift of spiritual discernment i.e. a type of clairvoyance. Below we provide his invaluable and insightful advice to parents on parenting issues.

 What saves and makes for good children is the life of the parents in the home. The parents need to devote themselves to the love of God. They need to become saints in their relation to their children through their mildness, patience and love. They need to make a new start every day, with a fresh outlook, renewed enthusiasm and love for their children. And the joy that will come to them, the holiness that will visit them, will shower grace on their children. Generally the parents are to blame for the bad behaviour of the children. And their behaviour is not improved by reprimands, disciplining, or strictness. If the parents do not pursue a life of holiness and if they don’t engage in spiritual struggle, they make great mistakes and transmit the faults they have within them. If the par­ents do not live a holy life and do not display love towards each other, the devil torments the parents with the reactions of the children. Love, har­mony and understanding between the parents are what are required for the children. This provides a great sense of security and certainty.

The behaviour of the children is directly related to the state of the parents. When the children are hurt by the bad behaviour of the parents towards each other, they lose the strength and desire to progress in their lives. Their lives are constructed shoddily and the edifice of their soul is in constant danger of collapsing. Let me give you two examples.

THE HUMILITY AND PIETY OF ST, PORPHYRIOS OF KAVSOKALYVIA

THE HUMILITY AND PIETY OF ST, PORPHYRIOS OF KAVSOKALYVIA

Commemorated on December 2nd.

On December 2nd the holy Orthodox Church commemorates the recently- glorified God-bearing elder of our times, St. Porphyries of Kavsokalyiva, who reposed on this day in 1991, He was known as a humble ascetic with the gift of foresight who always served the Divine Liturgy with compunction. In his memory we offer below his final letter.

While at the Holy Skete of Kavsokalvvia on Mt. Athos, the Elder Porphyries had given orders for his grave to be dug. Through a spiritual child of his, he dictated a farewell letter of advice and forgiveness to all his spiritual children.

Silence should be kept secretly and in your heart

 “Silence should be kept secretly and in your heart. Make sure that is not obvious to others that you maintain silence. As soon as you have said two or three words, continue immediately inside of you to send prayers for everybody to the Lord. Embrace secretly in your heart, with love, the entire world. All the Church … Make holy your silence by praying so is not sterile and barren.”

(Saint Porphyrius Kafsokalyvitis, Anthology of Advices, p. 281)

http://www.orthodoxpath.org/spiritual-life/silence-should-be-kept-secretly-and-in-your-heart/

To joy, from dejection (Saint Porphyrios of Kavsokalyvia)

 

Many of our saints changed dejection into joy through their love for Christ.
In other words, they took this spiritual force which the devil wished to destroy and gave it to God, transforming it into joy and exultation.
Prayer and the worship of God gradually transforms dejection and turns it into joy.
» Venerable Porphyrios of Kavsokalyvia
Source:  pemptousia.com
http://www.diakonima.gr/2015/09/02/to-joy-from-dejection-venerable-porphyrios-of-kavsokalyvia/

Put some effort Venerable – Porphyrios of Kavsokalyvia

The indolent, the idle and the lazy are not all right with God. Laziness isn’t a good thing at all. Indolence is a sickness, it’s a sin.

God doesn’t want us to be indolent. Great effort, movement, labour and action are a virtue.

» Venerable Porphyrios of Kavsokalyvia

Source: pemptousia.com

http://www.diakonima.gr/2015/06/19/put-some-effort-venerable-porphyrios-of-kavsokalyvia/

Being indifferent towards the enemy Venerable Porphyrios of Kavsokalyvia

Being indifferent towards the enemy is a great art: the art of arts. And it comes about only by divine Grace.
Opposing evil by the Grace of God is achieved bloodlessly and painlessly, without pushing and shoving.

» Venerable Porphyrios of Kavsokalyvia

Source:  pemptousia.com
http://www.diakonima.gr/2015/07/08/being-indifferent-towards-the-enemy-venerable-porphyrios-of-kavsokalyvia/

Love and pressure Venerable – Porphyrios of Kavsokalyvia

Porfirie xThe supposedly ‘pious’ parents, whose concern was to make their children into ‘good Christians’, oppressed them through their human love and achieved the opposite to what they wanted.

It’s not food Venerable – Porphyrios of Kavsokalyvia

It’s not food or favourable living conditions that ensure our health. It’s a holy life, the life of Christ.
I know ascetics who fasted very strictly and never had anything wrong with them. Nobody risks getting ill from fasting. Nobody’s ever done so.

 » Venerable Porphyrios of Kavsokalyvia
Source:pemptousia.com

 http://www.diakonima.gr/2015/05/10/its-not-food-venerable-porphyrios-of-kavsokalyvia/

God’s precognition

Here’s a mystery: in His omnipotence and His omniscience, He knows everything, including what’s going to happen in the future, but He’s not the cause of any evil.

God has precognition, but doesn’t preordain.

» Venerable Porphyrios of Kavsokalyvia

Source:  pemptousia.com
http://www.diakonima.gr/2015/04/05/gods-precognition/

Magnificent and unknown providence

 We live as though we don’t feel the magnificence of divine providence.

God’s very adroit. We can’t understand His actions.

Don’t think that God’s done something wrong and then corrected it: God doesn’t make mistakes. He doesn’t correct anything.

Our aim must be to become holy…Saint Porphyrios (Bairaktaris) the Kapsokalyvite

Saint Porphyrios (Bairaktaris) the Kapsokalyvite

Commemorated on  2 December

There is one thing we must do, and that is turn to Him and love Him with our soul. Love for Christ: this is the best and sole remedy for the passions. 

“The flood of divine love fills the soul with joy and exultation.”

Prayer should not be seen as a chore or an obligation but rather an act of love.

The object is not to sit and afflict and constrict yourself in order to improve. The object is to live, study, to pray and to advance in love––in love for Christ and for the Church.

The Elder tells us,

Simplicity and gentleness are a very saintly mode of spiritual life, but you cannot learn this in an external way. It must suffuse itself mystically within you so that your soul embraces this mode of life through the grace of God.

Living in the Presence of Christ. Saint Porphyrios (Bairaktaris) the Kapsokalyvite

Saint Porphyrios (Bairaktaris) the Kapsokalyvite

Commemorated on December 2

Pray for the purification of each and every person so that you may imitate the prayer of the angels in your life.  Yes, the angels don’t pray for themselves.  This is how I pray for people, for the Church and for the body of the Church.  The moment you pray for the Church, you are released from your passions.  The moment you glorify God, your soul is calmed and sanctified by divine grace.  This is the art I want you to learn.

God wants us to become like the angels.  The angels only glorify God.  This is their prayer, glorification of God and nothing else. ..Doxology is prayer without self-interest.  The angels do not pray in order to receive something; they are selfless…  

When we enter into this prayer, we will glorify God continually, leaving everything to Him, just as our Church prays ‘We commend our whole life to Christ our God.’  This is the ‘higher mathematics’ of our religion!

I ask only for God to have mercy on the whole world and on me.

Pray for others more than for yourself. Say, ‘Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me,’ and you will always have others in your mind.

How Do We Meet God? Elder Porphyrios

How Do We Meet God?

Elder Porphyrios: Testimonies and Experiences, by Klitos loannides.

In our question of “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.

Love for the person with AIDS

At one time, I took a sick person to him who was diagnosed with AIDS. Some of my friends who knew that I was friendly with the Elder asked me to help this sick person who was extremely depressed. The AIDS victim was in really bad shape and he wanted to commit suicide. When I heard that he wanted to commit suicide, I sent him to another priest who was also a doctor. His name is Fr. Stamatis. The sick person went to this priest but the priest advised him to go and see Elder Porphyrios.
I took him to the Elder. He was a person who did not appear to look like a Christian. He had a very worldly look about him. I left him in the cell with the Elder.

Counsels and Events

He spoke to us about our faith and how Orthodoxy is the only true faith. It is like a pearl because the Elder knew all other religions. At other times he would say, “when someone does something bad to you or thinks something bad about you, you should communicate to him your goodness” and he would move his hand in the form of a blessing. “In this way you will not be harmed.”
When we asked him about death, he said, “death is like getting up, opening the door and going out into the light. Now you are in the light! This is the truth and we should not be very sad when loved ones leave us.” All the time he was talking, he was praying and we heard “Lord Jesus” and he was repeating this constantly.