Saint Porphyrios
Posted December 2nd, 2025
My dearest catechumens,
Today the Orthodox Church celebrates the memory of a modern spiritual giant, St. Porphyrios.
Saint Porphyrios was born on February 7, 1906, in Evia. His parents were pious people. His father, in fact, was the chanter of the village and had met Saint Nektarios personally. His family was large and poor and that's why his father was forced to leave for America, where he worked on the construction of the Panama Canal.
At the age of twelve he secretly left for Mount Athos, with the desire to imitate Agios Ioannis Kalivitis, whom he especially loved. The grace of God led him to the hut of Agios Georgios of Kafsokalyvia and to the submission to two Elders, Panteleimon and Ioannikios, brothers in the flesh. He devoted himself with great love and a spirit of absolute obedience to the two Elders, who admittedly were very strict.
He became a monk at the age of fourteen and took the name Nikitas. A little later God gave him the gift of clairvoyance.
In 1940 AD, on the eve of World War II, Elder Porphyrios settled in Athens, where he took over the duties of chaplain at the Athens Polyclinic. As he said, he lived there for thirty-three years as one day, tirelessly practicing spiritual work, and relieving the pain and sickness of the people.
In the last years of his earthly life, he began to prepare himself for his sleep. He wished to retire to Mount Athos, to his favorite Kafsokalyvia, where secretly and silently, as he lived, he would give his soul to her Bridegroom. Many times, he was heard to say: "I seek even now that I am old, to go and die up there".
Indeed, in June 1991 AD, anticipating his end, and not wanting to be buried with honors, he left for the hut of Agios Georgios in Kafsokalyvia of Mount Athos, where he had become a monk about 70 years ago; at 4:31am of December 2, 1991, he surrendered his spirit to the Lord, Whom loved so much in his life.
His last words, the ones he loved so much and were very often heard from his mouth, were from the Hierarchical prayer of the Lord: "so that they may be one as we are one".
The essential elements of the personality of St. Porphyrios were his participation in the Church in a substantial and not moralistic way, his infinite love for Christ and through Him in fellow man, accompanied by holy humility, the experience of secret joy in Christ and the experience of immortality in Christ.
For him, the best method of the spiritual struggle of the Christian, was expressed by the following words: When you are in a dark room, do not strike the darkness to drive it away. It does not leave like that. Open the window to the light, that is, give yourself to the love of Christ and then the darkness leaves effortlessly.
Τhe following videos will help you understand the magnitude of his sainthood.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mqkPrROZCas
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vpR3CtPM3JI
May we have his blessings!
Fr. Christos