Κύριε ἐλέησον!
Χορταράκι ἐλέησον!
Πουλάκι ἐλέησον!
Τὰ πάντα μέσα μου καὶ γύρω μου: καὶ τὰ μικρὰ καὶ τὰ μεγάλα, τὰ περασμένα καὶ τὰ ἄπειρα, καὶ τὰ ἁπλὰ καὶ τὰ αἰνιγματώδη, καὶ τὰ σκοτεινὰ καὶ τὰ φωτεινά, καὶ τὸ ὁρατὸ καὶ τὸ ἀόρατο, καὶ τὸ θνητὸ καὶ τὸ ἀθάνατο, καὶ τὸ καλὸ καὶ τὸ κακό, τὸ πᾶν καὶ τὰ πάντα σ’ ὅλους τους κόσμους ποὺ γνωρίζω καὶ αἰσθάνομαι, μὲ ὑποκινοῦν σὲ κραυγαλέα προσευχή:
Κύριε, ὦ Κύριε! Ὑπάρχει στοὺς κόσμους Σου ἀπάντησε στὰ ἐρωτήματά μου; Ἡ μήπως ἐγὼ δὲν εἶμαι σὲ θέση νὰ τὰ ἀκούσω ἀπὸ τὸν ἄλλο κόσμο, ποὺ ὅλο καὶ περισσότερο ἀπομακρύνεται, ἀπὸ ἐμένα;
Ἂν πάρω τὴ νύχτα γιὰ γλώσσα μου Ἐσὺ δὲν μὲ ἀκοῦς, ἂν πάρω τὴν ἡμέρα γιὰ αὐτί μου ἐγὼ δὲν Σὲ ἀκούω.
Ὢ πῶς νὰ Σὲ ἀκούσω; ὢ πῶς νὰ μὲ ἀκούσεις; Ἐσὺ ποὺ εἶσαι πανταχοῦ παρὼν δὲν εἶσαι παρὼν μέσα μου λόγω τῶν ἁμαρτιῶν μου γι’ αὐτὸ δὲ Σὲ ἀκούω, γι’ αὐτό, δὲ Σὲ βλέπω, γι’ αὐτὸ δὲ Σὲ καταλαβαίνω.
Ὢ Πανελεῆμον κατέβα, εἴσελθε στὴν καρδιά μου, στὴν ψυχή μου, στὸ σῶμα μου, (εἶναι φωλιὰ φιδιῶν, εἶναι κόλαση). Ἐσὺ ὅμως καὶ στὴν κόλαση κατέβηκες καὶ πάλι Θεὸς ἔμεινες. Κατέβα στὴν κόλασή μου γιατί θὰ τὴν μεταβάλεις σὲ Παράδεισο Γιατί ὅπου εἶσαι Σύ, ἐκεῖ ἤδη ὑπάρχει Παράδεισος, βρίσκεται ὁ Παράδεισος, ὁ δὲ ἄνθρωπος μαζί Σου εἶναι ἤδη ἄγγελος.
Ὢ πές μου τὸν Ἑαυτό Σου Κύριε Ἀνείπωτε καὶ Ἀκατάληπτε.
Ὅλη ἡ θλιμμένη φύση τείνει καὶ πηδᾶ πρὸς Ἐσὲ μὲ τὴ γοερὴ κραυγὴ καὶ βαθειὰ ἱκεσία:
Κύριε ἐλέησον!…
Οἱ πόνοι μας συνοψίζουν ὅλες τὶς ἀνθρώπινες λέξεις σὲ μία προσευχὴ καὶ σὲ μία κραυγή:
Στραμμένοι πρὸς Ἐσὲ βρίσκουμε ξεχειλισμένο σ’ ὅλο τὸ εἶναι μας, μόνο ἕνα στεναγμό:
Κύριε ἐλέησον!…
Θὰ θέλαμε νὰ Σοῦ ποῦμε τὸν ἑαυτό μας, ἀλλὰ χύνονται τὰ δάκρυά μας καὶ Σοῦ λέμε ὅλη τὴν ψυχή μας μέσα σ’ αὐτὰ τὰ δυὸ λόγια:
Κύριε ἐλέησον!…
Τὸ κάθε κτίσμα ἔχει τὴν καρδιά του. Καὶ ἡ καρδιὰ εἶναι μὲ τοῦτο καρδιά, γιατί ἀναστενάζει καὶ τείνει πρὸς Ἐσέ.
Κύριε ἐλέησον!…
Σ’ αὐτὸ τὸ λυπημένο κόσμο ὁ ἄνθρωπος δὲν ἔχει μεγαλύτερη ἀνάγκη ἀπὸ τὸ νὰ ἐλεηθεῖ πρώτιστα ἀπὸ Σένα.
Κύριε ἐλέησον!…
Καὶ μαζὶ μὲ Σένα καὶ πίσω ἀπὸ Σένα νὰ τὸν ἐλεήσουν ὅλα τὰ ὄντα καὶ ὅλη ἡ κτίση:
Κύριε ἐλέησον!…
Μητέρα ἐλέησον!!!
Φίλε ἐλέησον!!!
Χορταράκι ἐλέησον!…
Πουλάκι ἐλέησον!…
Ὅλα τὰ ὄντα σ’ ὅλους τους κόσμους:
Ἐλεῆστε!!!
Ἐλεῆστε!!! Ἐλεῆστε!!!
In the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost.
Time and again we read of miracles in the Gospel and in the Old Testament and indeed, we observe them in the life of the Church through the centuries; miracles of healing, miracles of the renewal of a human life by the power of God. And at times people - we all - ask ourselves, What is a miracle? Is it a moment when God overpowers His own creation, breaks its own laws, destroys something which He has willed Himself? That would be an act of magic, an act of overpowering whatever is unwilling to obey, of overpowering what is weak in comparison to Him Who is strong.
A miracle is something completely different, a miracle is a moment when harmony destroyed by human sin is restored. It may be a moment, it may be the beginning of a whole life: a harmony between God and man, a harmony between the created world and its Creator. It is a restoration of what should always be; not a miracle in the sense of something unheard of, unnatural, perhaps contrary to the nature of things, but rather a moment when God enters into His creation and is received. And because He is received, He can act freely.
We have an example of such a miracle in the story of the marriage at Cana of Galilee, when the Mother of God turned to Christ and said to Him at this poor, peasant feast, "They have no wine". Their hearts were still hungry for human happiness, for human joy; and yet, the material support of such joy had gone. And Christ says to Her, "What have I to do with Thee, why are you asking Me this question?" And She does not answer Him directly; She turns to the servants and says, "Whatever He may say to you - do it". She offers Him a perfect act of faith; unreservedly She trusts His wisdom, His love and His Divinity. And at that moment, because a door has been opened by the faith of one person who has drawn into this faith all those who will do what they are told, the Kingdom of God is established, a new dimension of eternity, of infinite depth enters into the world and what is otherwise impossible becomes reality.
And here we are confronted with several things which are necessary for this harmony to be re-established. On the one hand, - a need; a need which is real; it may not be great, but it must be true; and joy and sorrow, illness and un-happiness are equally in need of being absorbed into something greater than the earth, something as vast and deep as the Divine Love and the Divine Harmony.
And then there is the Divine compassion that we have heard of so many times, and the word is repeated here again in today's Gospel - the feeding of the five thousand: Christ had compassion, compassion which means that He looked at these people who were in need, who could do nothing to alleviate it, and He felt a pain in His Divine Heart, that these people, whose life should be fulfilment, abundance, a glorious joy - that these people should be in obvious need. This time it was hunger, another time it is illness, another time it is sin, another time it is death - it may be anything. But God's love may be either joy, exulting, glorious joy or crucified, sacrificial pain. And when all this meets then a mysterious harmony is established between the Divine sorrow and the human need, between human helplessness and the power of God, the love of God that expresses itself in all ways, great and small.
Let us therefore learn to be pure enough in heart, pure enough in mind to be able to turn to God with our need without hiding our face; or if we feel unworthy of coming up to Him, let us kneel at His feet and say, Lord - I am unworthy! Unworthy to be in Thy presence, unworthy of being loved, unworthy of Thy compassion, and yet I believe in Thy love more than I am sure of my unworthiness, and I come, because Thou art love and victory; because I have evidence in the life and in the death of Thine Only Begotten Son of what I mean to Thee: the life, the passion, the death, the descent into hell, the horror of it, to save me.
Let us learn this creative helplessness that consists in surrendering all hope of human victory for the sake of the certainty that God can do what we cannot. Let us be helpless in the sense of being transparent, and supple, and listening with all our being, and presenting our need to God - our need of eternal life, but also our needs that are human and frail: the need of support, the need of consolation, the need for mercy. And the response of God will always be the same: If you can believe, however little - everything is possible. Amen.
The battle against despondency, slothfulness and weakness,when this happens, occupy the mind with the thought of death.
Come mentally to the grave; behold there one who has been dead four days: how he grows dark, bloated, and gives off an intolerable foul odor, is eaten by worms, having lost his fair appearance and beauty. Then look in another place: here there lie in the grave the bones of young and old, the beautiful and the ugly; and consider: who was fair, or ugly? Who was a faster, a continent man, an ascetic, or a careless man? And did it bring benefit to rich men that they had repose and enjoyment in this world?
Remember then the endless torments of which the holy books speak: the fire of Gehenna, the outer darkness, the gnashing of teeth, the infernal Tartarus, the unsleeping worm. And depict to yourself how sinners cry out there with bitter tears, and no one delivers them. They lament and weep over themselves, and no one has pity on them. They sigh from the depths of the heart, and no one has compassion on them.
Think how creatures, each in its own time, unfailingly serve the Lord their Creator. Reflect concerning the most glorious miracles of God which have been performed upon His slaves from the beginning of the world, and especially of how the Lord, having humbled Himself and suffered for the sake of our salvation, has benefacted and sanctified the human race; and for all this give thanksgiving to God, the Lover of mankind.
Remember the future endless life and the Kingdom of Heaven, the repose and unutterable joy.
Stand firm, do not leave off the Prayer of Jesus.
If you will recall and reflect on all this, then despondency, slothfulness and weakness will disappear, and you soul will come to life as from the dead, by the grace of Christ.
A meditation for those preparing to stand before the Creator and Church community in the awesome Mystery of Holy Confession, thereby being given the renewal of a second baptism.
I, a sinful soul, confess to our Lord God and Savior Jesus Christ, all of my evil acts which I have done, said or thought from baptism even unto this present day.
I have not kept the vows of my baptism, but have made myself unwanted before the face of God.
I have sinned before the Lord by lack of faith and by doubts concerning the Orthodox Faith and the Holy Church; by ungratefulness for all of God's great and unceasing gifts; His long-suffering and His providence for me, a sinner; by lack of love for the Lord, as well as fear, through not fulfilling the Holy Commandments of God and the canons and rules of the Church.
I have not preserved a love for God and for my neighbor nor have I made enough efforts, because of laziness and lack of care, to learn the Commandments of God and the precepts of the Holy Fathers. I have sinned: by not praying in the morning and in the evening and in the course of the day; by not attending the services or by coming to Church only halfheartedly.
I have sinned by judging members of the clergy. I have sinned by not respecting the Feasts, breaking the Fasts, and by immoderation in food and drink.
I have sinned by self-importance, disobedience, willfulness, self-righteousness, and the seeking of approval and praise.
I have sinned by unbelief, lack of faith, doubts, despair, despondency, abusive thoughts, blasphemy and swearing.
I have sinned by pride, a high opinion of my self, narcissism, vanity, conceit, envy, love of praise, love of honors, and by putting on airs.
I have sinned: by judging, malicious gossip, anger, remembering of offenses done to me, hatred and returning evil for evil; by slander, reproaches, lies, slyness, deception and hypocrisy; by prejudices, arguments, stubbornness, and an unwillingness to give way to my neighbor; by gloating, spitefulness, taunting, insults and mocking; by gossip, by speaking too much and by empty speech.
I have sinned by unnecessary and excessive laughter, by reviling and dwelling upon my previous sins, by arrogant behavior, insolence and lack of respect.
I have sinned by not keeping my physical and spiritual passions in check, by my enjoyment of impure thoughts, licentiousness and unchastity in thoughts, words and deeds.
I have sinned by lack of endurance towards my illnesses and sorrows, a devotion to the comforts of life and by being too attached to my parents, children, relatives and friends.
I have sinned by hardening my heart, having a weak will and by not forcing myself to do good.
I have sinned by miserliness, a love of money, the acquisition of unnecessary things and immoderate attachment to things.
I have sinned by self-justification, a disregard for the admonitions of my conscience and failing to confess my sins through negligence or false pride.
I have sinned many times by my Confession: belittling, justifying and keeping silent about sins.
I have sinned against the Most-holy and Life-creating Mysteries of the Body and Blood of our Lord by coming to Holy Communion without humility or the fear of God.
I have sinned in deed, word and thought, knowingly and unknowingly, willingly and unwillingly, thoughtfully and thoughtlessly, and it is impossible to enumerate all of my sins because of their multitude. But I truly repent of these and all others not mentioned by me because of my forgetfulness and I ask that they be forgiven through the abundance of the Mercy of God.
Prayer
May Almighty God, by His Holy Spirit, inspire the sincere image of repentance in all our hearts so that we may learn the standards of God, truly face our sins and humbly confess them to Him, both in our private prayers and in public Confession, and so be unburdened, relieved and freed from guilt, and reunited to the Body of Christ - the Church. How great a gift is the mystery of Confession!
St. John of Kronstadt
Life and prayer are completely inseparable. A life without prayer is a life which is unaware of an essential dimension of existence. It is a flat life, without depth, a two-dimensional life in space and time. It is a life that is satisfied with the visible, with our neighbour, but with our physical neighbour, in whom we fail to discover the immensity and eternity of his destiny. The value of prayer consists in discovering, affirming and living in accordance with the fact that everything has a dimension of eternity and of boundlessness.
The world in which we live is not a profane world; it is a world which we know only too well how to profane, but in itself it comes from the hands of God, it is loved by God. The value which God attaches to it is the life and death of his Son, and prayer manifests our recognition of this fact, our discovery of the fact that in the eyes of God every person around us, every thing around us has a sacred value and, being loved by God, becomes precious to us. Not to pray is to leave God out of our existence, — not only God, but all that He signifies for the world He created, the world in which we live.
Now we often think that it is difficult to coordinate life and prayer. This is a complete mistake, resulting from a false idea of life as well as of prayer. We think that life consists of being on the move and that prayer consists in going off somewhere into retirement and forgetting all about our neighbour and our human situation. This is untrue! It is a slander against life and a slander against prayer itself.
In order to understand prayer one must first get into solidarity with the whole reality of man, with his destiny and that of the whole world: assume it totally. And that is the essential act which God accomplished in the Incarnation. This is the total aspect of what we call intercession. Ordinarily when we think of intercession we think that it consists of politely reminding God of what he has forgotten to do. Intercession consists of taking a step which brings us to the heart of tragic situations, — a step which has the same quality as the one taken by Christ, who became man once for all. It means stepping into the heart of situations from which we can never find our way out again; a Christian, Christ-like solidarity which is simultaneously oriented towards two opposite poles. Christ incarnate, true man and true God, has total solidarity with man in his sin when he turns towards God, and total solidarity with God when he turned towards man. It is this double solidarity which makes us in a sense a stranger to both sides and at the same time united with both sides. This is fundamentally our Christian situation.
You ask, «What shall we do?» Prayer arises from two sources: either from our wonder at God and the things of God — our neighbour and the world around us, in spite of its shadows; or else from the sense of tragedy, our own, and especially other people's. Berdyaev said: «When I am hungry it is a physical fact; if my neighbour is hungry it is a moral fact.» That is the tragedy as it appears to us at every moment. My neighbour is always hungry: he is not always hungry for bread, he is sometimes hungry for a human gesture, a glance of affection. And this is where prayer begins, in this sensitization to the wonders and the tragedy. As long as this lasts, everything is easy: in wonder we pray easily, just as we pray easily when we are in the grip of a sense of tragedy.
But otherwise? At other times life and prayer must be made one. For instance, get up in the morning, stand before God and say: «Lord, bless me, and bless this day that is beginning», and then treat the whole day as a gift of God and consider yourself as God's envoy in this unknown which is the new day. This simply means something very difficult: that nothing which happens today will be alien to the will of God: everything without exception is a situation in which God will have placed you in order that you should be His presence, his love, his compassion, his creative intelligence, his courage... And on the other hand, every time you encounter a situation, you will be the one whom God has put there to perform the office of a Christian, to be a particle of the body of Christ and an action of God.
If you do that, you will easily see that at every moment you will have to turn to God and say: «Lord, clarify my intelligence, strengthen and direct my will, give me a heart of fire, help me.» At other moments you may say: «Thank you, Lord!» And if you are wise and know how to be thankful, you will avoid the folly that is called vanity or pride, which consists of imagining that one has done something that one could have left undone. It is God who has done it. It is God who has given us this marvelous gift of having that to do.
And when in the evening you present yourself again before God and make a quick examination of the day, you will be able to sing his praises, glorify Him, thank Him, weep over others and weep over yourself. If you begin to connect your prayer to life in this way, the two will never again be separated, and life will be like a fuel which at every moment is feeding a fire that becomes richer and richer, more and more burning, and which little by little will transform you yourself into that burning bush that is told about in Scripture.
Ξέρω ὅτι πολλοὶ ἀπὸ τοὺς συγκεντρωμένους πάλι θὰ μᾶς κατηγορήσουν, ὅταν μιλοῦμε γι᾿ αὐτά, καὶ θὰ ποῦν «Μή, σὲ παρακαλῶ, μὴ γίνεσαι φορτικὸς καὶ βαρετὸς στοὺς ἀκροατές· ἄφησέ το στὴ συνείδηση τοῦ καθενός, ἄφησέ το στὴν κρίση τῶν ἀκροατῶν· ἔτσι τώρα μᾶς ντροπιάζεις, μᾶς κάνεις νὰ κοκκινίζουμε!...».
Ἀλλ᾿ ὄχι! Αὐτὰ τὰ λόγια δὲν τὰ ἀνέχομαι! Γιατί οὔτε ὁ Παῦλος ντρεπόταν νὰ ἐνοχλῇ συνέχεια γιὰ τέτοια πράγματα καὶ νὰ ζητᾶ σὰν ζητιάνος. Ἐὰν ἔλεγα τοῦτο, δηλαδὴ δός μου, φέρε γιὰ τὸ σπίτι μου, ἴσως νά ῾ταν ντροπή. Ἂν καὶ οὔτε τότε θά ῾ταν ντροπή. «Οἱ γὰρ τῷ θυσιαστηρίῳ», λέγει, «προσεδρεύοντες, τῷ θυσιαστηρίῳ συμμερίζονται» (Α´ Κορ. 9,13). Πλὴν ὅμως πιθανὸν νὰ μὲ κατηγοροῦσε κάποιος, ὅτι μιλῶ γιὰ τὸν ἑαυτὸ μου· τώρα ὅμως παρακαλῶ γι᾿ αὐτοὺς ποὺ στεροῦνται, μᾶλλον ὄχι γι᾿ αὐτοὺς ποὺ στεροῦνται, ἀλλὰ γιὰ σᾶς ποὺ δίνετε· γι᾿ αὐτὸ καὶ μιλῶ χωρὶς νὰ ντρέπομαι.
Γιατί ποῦ εἶναι ἡ ντροπὴ σὰν πῶ, δῶσε στὸν Κύριο ποὺ πεινᾷ, ντῦσε τον ποὺ γυρίζει γυμνός, φιλοξένησέ τον ποὺ εἶναι ξένος; Ὁ Δεσπότης σου δὲν ντρέπεται μπροστὰ σ᾿ ὅλη τὴν οἰκουμένη νὰ λέγῃ «ἐπείνασα καὶ οὐκ ἐδώκατέ μοι φαγεῖν» (Ματθ. 25, 42), ὁ ἀνενδεής, ἐκεῖνος ποὺ δὲν ἔχει ἀνάγκη ἀπὸ τίποτε· καὶ ἐγὼ θὰ ντραπῶ καὶ θὰ διστάσω; Σὲ παρακαλῶ, μακριὰ τέτοια πράγματα! Τοῦ διαβόλου εἶναι αὐτὴ ἡ ντροπή!
Δὲν θὰ ντραπῶ, λοιπόν. Ἀντίθετα μάλιστα καὶ μὲ παρρησία θὰ πῶ· δῶστε σ᾿ ὅσους ἔχουν ἀνάγκη, καὶ θὰ φωνάζω πιὸ δυνατὰ ἀπ᾿ αὐτούς. Γιατί ἐὰν κάποιος ἔχῃ στοιχεῖα καὶ μπορεῖ νὰ μᾶς κατηγορήσῃ, ὅτι αὐτὰ τὰ λέμε γιὰ νὰ σᾶς παρασύρουμε πρὸς ὄφελός μας, καὶ μὲ τὸ πρόσχημα τῶν φτωχῶν κερδίζουμε ἐμεῖς, τότε πράγματι αὐτὰ δὲν εἶναι μονάχα ἄξια ντροπῆς, ἀλλὰ καὶ μυρίων κεραυνῶν, καὶ οὔτε ἀξίζει νὰ ζοῦν ὅσοι κάνουν παρόμοια.
Ἀλλὰ ἐάν, μὲ τὴ χάρη τοῦ Θεοῦ, καθόλου δὲν σᾶς ἐνοχλοῦμε γιὰ τὸν ἑαυτό μας καὶ κηρύττουμε ἀδάπανο τὸ εὐαγγέλιο, χωρὶς βέβαια νὰ κοπιάζουμε ὅπως ὁ Παῦλος, ἀρκούμενοι πάντως στὰ δικά μας, μὲ ὅλο τὸ θάρρος θὰ σᾶς λέγω, δῶστε στοὺς φτωχούς· καὶ δὲν θὰ σταματήσω νὰ τὸ λέγω, καὶ ὅταν δὲν δίνετε θὰ σᾶς εἶμαι σκληρὸς κατήγορος!*
*Ἀπὸ τὴν ΜΓ´ ὁμιλία του στὴν Α´ πρὸς Κορινθίους, Ε.Π.Ε. 18Α, 720 ἑξ.
Ἀπόδοση στὴ νεοελληνικὴ Ἀρχιμ. Χρυσόστομος Π. Ἀβαγιανός
Καὶ ἐνῶ ἀπὸ µικρὸ παιδὶ εἶχα κάνει πολλὲς ἁµαρτίες, ὅταν ξαναπῆγα στὸν κόσµο, συνέχισα τὶς ἁµαρτίες, οἱ ὁποῖες µέχρι σήµερα ἔγιναν πάρα πολλές. Ὁ κόσµος ὅµως µὲ πῆραν ἀπὸ καλὸ καὶ ὅλοι φωνάζουνε ὅτι εἶµαι ἅγιος. Ἐγὼ ὅµως αἰσθάνοµαι ὅτι εἶµαι ὁ πιὸ ἁµαρτωλὸς ἄνθρωπος τοῦ κόσµου.
Ὅσα ἐνθυµόµουνα βεβαίως τὰ ἐξοµολογήθηκα καὶ γνωρίζω ὅτι γι’ αὐτὰ ποὺ ἐξοµολογήθηκα µὲ συγχώρησε ὁ Θεός, ἀλλὰ ὅµως τώρα ἔχω ἕνα συναίσθηµα ὅτι καὶ τὰ πνευµατικά µου ἁµαρτήµατα εἶναι πάρα πολλὰ καὶ παρακαλῶ ὅσοι µὲ ἔχετε γνωρίσει νὰ κάνετε προσευχὴ γιὰ µένα, διότι καὶ ἐγώ, ὅταν ζοῦσα, πολὺ ταπεινὰ ἔκανα προσευχὴ γιὰ σᾶς.
Ἀλλὰ ὅµως, τώρα πού θὰ πάω γιὰ τὸν οὐρανό, ἔχω τὸ συναίσθηµα ὅτι ὁ Θεὸς θὰ µοῦ πῆ: Τί θέλεις ἐσὺ ἐδῶ; Ἐγὼ ἕνα ἔχω νὰ τοῦ πῶ: Δὲν εἶµαι ἄξιος, Κύριε, γιὰ ἐδῶ, ἀλλὰ ὅ,τι θέλει ἡ ἀγάπη σου ἂς κάµη γιὰ µένα. Ἀπὸ ἐκεῖ καὶ πέρα, δὲν ξέρω τί θὰ γίνη. Ἐπιθυµῶ ὅµως νὰ ἐνεργήση ἡ ἀγάπη τοῦ Θεοῦ.
Καὶ πάντα εὔχοµαι τὰ πνευµατικά µου παιδιὰ νὰ ἀγαπήσουν τὸ Θεό, ποὺ εἶναι τὸ πᾶν, γιὰ νὰ µᾶς ἀξιώση νὰ µποῦµε στὴν ἐπίγειο ἄκτιστη Ἐκκλησία του. Γιατί ἀπὸ ἐδῶ πρέπει νὰ ἀρχίσουµε.
Ἐγὼ πάντα εἶχα τὴν προσπάθεια νὰ προσεύχωµαι καὶ νὰ διαβάζω τοὺς ὕµνους τῆς Ἐκκλησίας, τὴν Ἁγία Γραφὴ καὶ τοὺς βίους τῶν Ἁγίων µας καὶ εὔχοµαι καὶ ἐσεῖς νὰ κάνετε τὸ ἴδιο. Ἐγὼ προσπάθησα µὲ τὴ χάρι τοῦ Θεοῦ νὰ πλησιάσω τὸν Θεὸ καὶ εὔχοµαι καὶ σεῖς νὰ κάνετε τὸ ἴδιο.
Παρακαλῶ ὅλους σας νὰ µὲ συγχωρέσετε γιὰ ὅ,τι σᾶς στενοχώρησα.
Γέρων Πορφύριος
