В одном нашем разговоре он сказал: «Есть старцы, которые, когда распрострят свои руки на молитве, могут простереть молитвенный покров над всей Грецией». Конечно же, он не говорил, имеет ли он в виду самого себя или кого‑либо другого.

Я сплю, а сердце мое бдит [137]

Молитва была для отца Порфирия жизнью. Без принуждения, непрестанная, пламенная, умная молитва Иисусова. Слова «Господи Иисусе Христе, помилуй мя» были райскими цветами, непрестанно расцветавшими на устах Старца зимой и летом, ночью и днем. Молитва была для него тем же, что и дыхание. Она никогда не прекращалась, и когда он бодрствовал, и когда спал, согласно словам пророка: Я сплю, а сердце мое бдит? [138]

Я и ты — это одно

Часто паломники просили Старца помолиться за них, за их близких, и он всегда обещал, что будет молиться.

Я недоумевал: как Старец может удержать в памяти сотни имен? Однажды, когда мы говорили с ним о молитве, он неожиданно повернулся ко мне и сказал: «Ты, наверное, хотел меня спросить, как мне удается в молитве не забывать столько имен? Я — человек грешный и слабый, и говорю: «Господи, помилуй Георгия, Николая, Марию, Катерину — сколько имен помню — и всех тех, за кого меня просили молиться, а я забыл их имена». И Бог, так как Он не отец Порфирий, чтобы забывать, но помнит все имена, немедленно распростирает Свою милость над всеми».

Я удивился его Божественному просвещению и спросил: «А как Вы, Геронда, молитесь обо всех этих людях?» И Старец совершенно спокойно ответил: «Вот так. Прежде всего я говорю: «Господи Иисусе Христе, помилуй мя“». — «Говорите, «помилуй мя“? Но ведь они же просили Вас молиться о них, а не о самом себе», — с недоумением возразил я. Старец, видя мое непонимание, ответил: «Хорошо. Разве ты не знаешь, что если Бог не помилует меня, то Он не помилует даже и тебя? Разве ты не знаешь, что ты и я — это одно?» Простые, но очень глубокие слова, более чем глубокие. Такой глубины, что в другой нашей беседе отец Порфирий сказал, что в этом чувстве нашего единства с другими кроется таинство духовной жизни во Христе.

Later, reading the works of the Holy Fathers, I found in them that the greatest mercy for our neighbors consists in our personal sanctification. Reading the life of St. Seraphim of Sarov, who said: "Acquire within yourself the peace of God, and thousands of people around you will be saved," I remembered the words of Father Porphyrius. Wasn't it the same with him? These are his amazing words: "... Me and You

"That's one thing." I believe that they have strong power and act through the Elder, who by his life fulfilled the high priestly prayer of the Lord: that they be one [139].

The Power of the Elder's Prayer

"My child Anargyre," Father Porphyrius once told me, "I had a very good friend, a hieromonk. He was blessed to go to America to preach the word of God there. We both took the separation hard. But the archdiocese was adamant in its decision. He had to go immediately. And so it happened.

On the day of parting, we made a promise before God to pray for each other until death. From the very first evening after our separation, I began to pray for my friend. At first, he also wrote to me that he was praying for me. But soon he began to report terrible sensations that he experienced during sleep. It seemed as if a high-voltage electric current was passing through his entire body, from the tips of his toes to his head. It happened to him every night. He literally became a bundle of nerves and almost lost sleep. At first, the hieromonk thought that what was happening to him was a consequence of the difference in climate between our country and America. But when he saw that in the course of time these phenomena not only did not weaken, but, on the contrary, intensified, he became worried. The hieromonk called me on the phone and asked me what I thought about all this. I calmed him down, told him that it was all nothing, that he had simply forgotten about our promise to pray for each other when parting. "And at what time do you experience these unpleasant sensations?" I asked him. And he said, "In the evening, when I go to bed at so-and-so." — "Oh, that's right. This is just the time when I, humble, pray for you. Blessed be the name of the Lord, who makes my prayer reach you in America! You also pray for me, because I am a sinful person," I told him and hung up."

It should be noted here that we are anticipating the questions of readers who may ask why the prayer of Father Porphyrius had such an effect on the above-mentioned hieromonk. According to the Elder himself, these feelings experienced by the priest in America were the result of the fact that he forgot about his promise to pray at the agreed hour. Of course, if he had prayed at that time together with Father Porphyrios, he would not have felt any unpleasant sensations.

Here it is worth talking about another amazing fact, the reliability of which is beyond doubt. Once this hieromonk woke up at night from the cold and saw that the door to his room was open. Surprised, and convinced that he had closed it as usual in the evening, he got up, closed it again, and went to bed. When a few days later he spoke on the phone with Father Porphyrios, he told him that he was visiting him and saw that he was asleep instead of praying. The hieromonk did not believe this, reasoning that it was impossible for the Elder to come to America to see him. And then he heard: "For example, the other day I came to you and left the door open behind me!" What could he say to these words of the Elder? "Great art Thou, O Lord, and wondrous are Thy works!"