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.

Despite the fact that the Elder, burdened with many illnesses, was lying on the bed, he found the strength to get up. He seemed a little nervous. "Nothing, say something else. You don't have to say all the time, "I'm a sinner, I'm a sinner." Talk to God in a different way. Say the Jesus Prayer. Didn't you realize that this was a temptation that you couldn't resist?"

Help them with your prayer

Once I had a desire to help some people in solving their serious problem, which the Elder noticed, while they knew nothing about it. But I was afraid that they might misunderstand me, be offended, and in the end, instead of benefiting, my intervention would only bring them spiritual harm. I expressed my thoughts to Father Porphyrios, and he replied to me: "Do not talk to them about this topic. They will surely be offended, condemn you, and thus sin. However, do not show indifference to them either. Help them from a distance with your prayer. Then they will not suffer any spiritual damage and will benefit more from your prayer than from your words." I followed the advice of the judicious Elder, and it brought me peace.

If we do not pray, our soul will not see the light of Christ

I was always amazed by the fact that Father Porphyrius devoted all his time either only to prayer or to work, again with prayer. I saw him talking to me, making phone calls, eating, drinking water, heating the stove, doing other things, and I knew that he was praying incessantly while doing all this. Just as he taught others to pray, so first of all he learned to pray himself.

One day he said to me, "There's an electric generator somewhere, and there's a light bulb in the room here. But if we don't press the switch, we'll be left in the dark. There is Christ, and there is our soul. But if we do not press the 'switch', then our soul will not see the light of Christ and will remain in satanic darkness." Everyone saw that the soul of the Elder was illumined day and night by the light of Christ, because his prayer was a "switch" that provided a continuous spiritual connection between the "electric generator" and the "lamp".

Unceasingly say the Jesus Prayer