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!"

As for Father Porphyrios' prayers, many said that when he prayed for them, they felt silence and joy, repose and joy, bliss and peace. They felt his prayer as something that banished all sorrow and worries and created a sense of security and confidence in the future, awakening a desire to pray and praise God. For example, Mrs. Ν., who had recently been widowed, said that on the evening when she informed the Elder about the death of her husband, although she was in her house, she suddenly felt that all the heaviness had left her soul, that she was calming down and a quiet joy was flowing from her soul. She crossed herself and exclaimed: "My God, is this how I should feel?" Later she learned that at the very hour when she calmed down, Father Porphyrius was praying for her.

Another woman told one trustworthy person, who told us this story, that when she asked the Elder to help her in solving a personal problem, he suggested that she pray together every day at ten o'clock in the evening. When she said that she could not do it at that time, since she was busy with the house, he suggested that we pray together at four o'clock in the morning (she was at home, and he was in the monastery). To her objection that she would not be able to wake up on her own, and it was inconvenient to set an alarm clock, because it would cause anxiety to the whole family, the Elder said that he himself would come and wake her up. And indeed, as he said, every morning at four o'clock she felt a light touch, a push on her shoulder, and she understood that it was Father Porphyrius who woke her up. This announcement from the Elder brought joy, it caused neither fear nor anxiety.

One of our friends told us that when Father Porphyrius prayed for him in the evening, peace and tranquility came to him. Sometimes his body became so light that it seemed as if it were about to rise above the bed.

There were other cases. The Elder himself told our friend about one of them. One person owed money to another. Father Porphyrios, at the request of the lender, prayed for him, that God would bring him to reason and that he would repay the debt. The prayers of the Elder caused constant anxiety in a person who did not want to return the money. Finally, he asked Father Porphyrius to stop praying for him.

From this it can be seen that sometimes the one for whom the Elder prayed experienced constant anxiety, like a persistent reminder. Of course, this happened only when a person did not fulfill what he was supposed to do. But let's get back to our story.

Less than three weeks after the incident with the door open, the above-mentioned hieromonk again called Father Porphyrius and, no less than that, began to fervently ask him to stop praying for him. His prayer at night deprived him of sleep, and during the day he could not work normally. Others might have thought that he was lazy and irresponsible about his obedience. The elder promised to fulfill his request and indeed stopped praying for him. From that time on, the priest, as he himself later told Father Porphyrios, never again experienced the power of his prayer, which reached even America.

It is necessary to make a small digression in order to clarify the issue under consideration in order to avoid misinterpretations.