Elder Porphyrios > Quotes

“...The life of the parents is the only thing that makes good children. Parents should be very patient and ‘saintlike’ to their children. They should truly love their children. And the children will share this love! For the bad attitude of the children, says father Porphyrios, the ones who are usually responsible for it are their parents themselves. The parents don’t help their children by lecturing them and repeating to them ‘advices’, or by making them obeying strict rules in order to impose discipline. If the parents do not become ‘saints’ and truly love their children and if they don’t struggle for it, then they make a huge mistake. With their wrong and/or negative attitude the parents convey to their children their negative feelings. Then their children become reactive and insecure not only to their home, but to the society as well...”
― Elder Porphyrios

“...This is the way we should see Christ. He is our friend, our brother; He is whatever is good and beautiful. He is everything. Yet, He is still a friend and He shouts it out, "You're my friends, don't you understand that? We're brothers. I'm not...I don't hold hell in my hands. I am not threatening you. I love you. I want you to enjoy life together with me.”
― Elder Porphyrios

“...Love Christ and put nothing before His Love. He is joy, He is life, He is light. Christ is Everything. He is the ultimate desire, He is everything. Everything beautiful is in Christ.”
― Elder Porphyrios

“You won't become saints by hounding after evil. Ignore evil. Look towards Christ and He will save you. (p. 135)”
― Elder Porphyrios, Wounded by Love

“Somebody who is Christ's must love Christ, and when he loves Christ he is delivered from the Devil, from hell and from death.”
― Elder Porphyrios

“With humility you attract the grace of God. You surrender yourself to the love of God, to worship and to prayer. But even if you do all in the world, you achieve nothing if you haven't acquired humility. (p. 178)”
― Elder Porphyrios, Wounded by Love

“The soul of the Christian needs to be refined and sensitive, to have sensibility and wings, to be constantly in flight and to live in dreams, to fly through infinity, among the stars, amidst the greatness of God, amid silence. Whoever wants to become a Christian must first become a poet. (p. 107)”
― Elder Porphyrios, Wounded by Love

“[All things] are little loves through which we attain to the great Love that is Christ. Flowers, for example, have their own grace: they teach us of the love of God. They scatter their fragrance and their beauty on sinners and on the righteous. (p. 218)”
― Elder Porphyrios, Wounded by Love

“What is not expressed generally has greater power than words. (p. 214)”
― Elder Porphyrios, Wounded by Love