"I'll eat, and you'll be full?" the Elder asked.

These words completely disarmed me.

"Listen to me, Anargyre," continued Father Porphyrios. "I will make you one proposal. But I want you to promise me beforehand that you will agree with him and follow him.

"I promise, Geronda. I am ready to do what you tell me.

"Good. Now we will pray for each other every day at a certain time.

We agreed on everything and promised each other to pray. The time for prayer was determined - ten o'clock in the evening. The Elder, as he told me, firmly believed in the power of such joint prayer. "The results of praying together are amazing," he said. But I want you to follow our agreement to pray at ten o'clock sharp, and never break it. And I will do the same."

Finally, Father Porphyrios and I came to the bus stop. This time he did not allow me, as I usually did, to walk him home. "No," he said, "don't see me off. Go home. We've just agreed on something, haven't we?" From today we must begin to act according to the agreement. From tonight. Everything must be done quickly." I obeyed. The elder got on the bus, and I waited until he left. As soon as the bus started, I remember it well, he knocked on the glass and said to me: "Exactly at ten!" His face shone with light and was like the face of an angel. Of course, he was thirty years younger then. In the prime of life.

Indeed, at ten o'clock in the evening I locked myself in my room and began to pray. From the very first minute of prayer, some waves began to pass through my body, from my feet to my head and back. A blindingly bright light filled my room, so that I felt like I was in flames, but the fire did not burn me. At first, I was very frightened, I almost panicked. But very soon I realized that all these phenomena reflected the power of Father Porphyrios' prayer. I calmed down completely, and an unprecedented, great joy seized me, it seemed to me that I was no longer on earth. This continued until I finished praying. The next day, my first task was to meet with the Elder. I decided not to tell him anything, I wanted him to speak first. And so it happened. As soon as I took his blessing, he asked me with special satisfaction and with a smile: "Well, are you scared? A little more, and you would have run away without looking back... But I saw you in the bright light that filled your entire room, and I saw you rejoicing and rising higher and higher, as if desiring to reach the Throne of the Lord! Do you see the power of such a common prayer? Keep praying, and you will remember me more than once." And indeed, I remember him. And I will remember him not only in this life, but also in the future one. Because with the passage of time, all these phenomena that occur during prayer have become even more intense, they can no longer be described.

It would be good if the Elder prayed with me even now. I wouldn't need anything else. Yes, let it be so, let it be so...

Don't say all the time, "Oh my God, I'm a sinner!"

In October 1990, I was not in the best spiritual condition because of various problems and severe temptations that had befallen me.

Not even having the strength to pray, strange as it sounds, for several days instead of praying I only said: "My God, I am a sinner and I do not know how to talk to You." I also remembered Father Porphyrios, who said to me more than once: "You know, Nobody, how great is the gift that God has given us – the right to communicate with Him every hour and every moment, no matter what state we are in. And He will listen to us. This is our greatest treasure. That is why we must love God."

Being in such a state of spiritual crisis, I, together with three of my friends, went to Father Porphyrios. My friends were the first to come to the Elder, and I was the last.

As soon as I entered, Father Porphyrius said to me: "Sit down, sinner." When he told me that, I immediately realized that he had been following the situation in which I found myself all this time.