Prologue 9
An Introduction to the Elder’s Counsels 19

PART ONE
THE RESPONSIBILITY OF LOVE
CHAPTER ONE
The Indifferent Generation 33
CHAPTER TWO
The Presence of a Christian Is a Confession of Faith 49
CHAPTER THREE
To the Pure All Things Are Pure 68
CHAPTER FOUR
Actions With Prudence and Love 81

PART TWO
STRUGGLE AND DEVOUTNESS
CHAPTER ONE
The Good Fight 103
CHAPTER TWO
How the Devil Works 123
CHAPTER THREE
The Benefits of Good Fellowship 134

CHAPTER FOUR
Devoutness Moves God 147
CHAPTER FIVE
Self-Offering Provides Divine Oxygen 171

PART THREE
SPIRITUAL BRAVERY
CHAPTER ONE
The Signs of the Times 197
CHAPTER TWO
Sacrifice Brings Joy 218
CHAPTER THREE
Bravery Is Born of Trust in God 241
CHAPTER FOUR
For the Faithful, Martyrdom Is a Festival 257

PART FOUR
DEPENDENCE UPON HEAVEN
CHAPTER ONE
God’s Providence For Man 277
CHAPTER TWO
Faith and Trust in God 294
CHAPTER THREE
Where Man Cannot Reach, God Provides Help 315

PART FIVE
SPIRITUAL WEAPONS
CHAPTER ONE
Prayer Is a Powerful Weapon 333

CHAPTER TWO
Monasteries Are the Fortresses of the Church 355
CHAPTER THREE
The Deeper Meaning of Life 3 81

INDEX
Scriptural Index 399
General Index 403

INTRODUCTORY NOTE.13
A FEW WORDS ABOUT THE THIRD EDITION.15
PROLOGUE TO THE SECOND EDITION.21
PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION.24
WHAT IS AN ELDER.29
SHORT BIOGRAPHY.33
THE FAREWELL LETTER OF ELDER PORPHYRIOS.55
A TEXT THAT THE ELDER LOVED.57
A TEACHING FROM ELDER PORFYRIOS.59
CONVERSATIONS WITH GREEK AND CYPRIOT FRIENDS.67
HIEROMONK ANTANASIOS.67
PROTOPRESBYTER GEORGE METALLINOS.73
PRESBYTER GEORGE C. EVTHIMIOU.87
ARCHIMANDRITE DANIEL GOUVALIS.99
ARCHIMANDRITE IOANNIKIOS KOTSONIS.115
MONK MOSES.123
MONK NIKODEMUS BILALIS.127
STAVROS KALKANDES.153
PANAGIOTIS SOTIRCHOS.167
N.N.181
ANDREAS TYLLIRIDES.197
H.H.201
GEORGE DEMETRIOU.211
ELDER SOPHRONY.219
ARCHIMANDRITE PAUL.223
TALKS ABOUT ELDER PORPHYRIOS.227
METROPOLITAN IRENAEUS.227
CONSTANTINE SCOUTERIS.243
PANAGIOTA GHIKA – DOITSINI.253
THEY WROTE ABOUT ELDER PORPHYRIOS.265
GEORGE PAPAZAHOS.265
ALEXANDER M. STAYROPOULOS.273
NIKOS ZIAS.295
CONSTANTINE GREGORIADES.295
EVANGELOS KARADEMOS ( POEM ).300
ELDER PORPHYRIOS AS I KNEW HIM.307
FR. MICHAEL MICHAEL.307
THEODORA SOLOMONIDOU.309
MARY KONTOGIANNI – IOANNIDOY.313
ACCOUNTS ABOUT ELDER PORPHYRIOS.327
ELDER PORPHYRIOS’ CONVERSATIONS WITH CYPRIOTS.339
ELDER PORPHYRIOS’ OWN ACCOUNTS.347
AN ANTHOLOGY OF ELDER PORPHYRIOS’ CONVERSATIONS WITH HIS SPIRITUAL GHILDREN.355
INSTEAD OF AN EPILOGUE.361
A FEW WORDS ABOUT THE AUTHOR.365

The Life
Childhood and Youth 35
Initial Difficulties and Aid from Grace 41
Settlement in Katounakia with Elder Ephrem 49
The Move to St Basil and the Death of Elder Ephrem 58
The Time of Bitter Struggles 62
The Nature and Forms of Trials 66
The Discovery of the Hesychast Elder Daniel
as Spiritual Father 70
The Trials Grow More Intense 81
Various Trials and Manifest Aid from Our Lady
the Mother of God 93
From St Basil to Little St Anna 109
The Move to New Skete 141
Teaching
On Sanctification and Dispassion 159
On Discovering the Will of God 166
On Regime and Disorder 172
On Trials and the Spiritual Law 178
The Differences between the Trials 182
The Law of Changes in Our Practical Life 187
Negligence, the Unsleeping Danger for the Christian 195
On Prayer 198
On Discrimination and Perspicacity 209

On Obedience 214
On Contemplation, and How Those Who Are Worthy
Contemplate 219

The descent of the Holy Fire at the tomb of Jesus every Holy Saturday is the only miraculous event in human history which has taken place each year on the same day for more than one and a half millennia. Covering a period of thirteen centuries (4th–16th c.), this book assembles historical accounts of the celebrated event.

Seventy authors—fourteen French, nine Englishmen, seven Byzantine Greeks, six Germans, five Armenians, five Muslim Arabs, four Italians, four Persians, three Russians, three Icelanders, two Egyptians, two Chaldeans, one Syrian, one Moldavian, one Ethiopian, one Belgian, one Austrian and one Swiss—describe the greatest miracle of the Christian world: the Holy Fire (i.e., the Light of the Resurrection of Christ) which appears every Holy Saturday at the tomb of Jesus, a few hours before the celebration of his resurrection.

Furthermore, the scientific measurements that were taken in the tomb of Jesus on Holy Saturday in 2008 by Associate Professor Antrey Volkov, confirm the descent of the Holy Fire and reveal three phenomena, which he himself characterizes as “incredible and entirely inexplicable.”

This book also includes a historical and archeological study concerning the original appearance of Jesus’ tomb and the rock of Golgotha, along with a series of reconstruction drawings of the two locations, as they looked in AD 33.