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

Note on the English Translation ix
Biographical Note x

PART ONE: THE LIFE OF ELDER PORPHYRIOS
The Path to the Holy Mountain 1
The Holy Mountain – Kavsokalyvia 10
Evia 37
The Polyclinic Hospital in Athens 49
Saint Nicholas at Kallisia 70
The Holy Monastery of the Transfiguration at Milesi 75
Kavsokalyvia – 1991 82

PART TWO: THE WISDOM OF ELDER PORPHYRIOS
On the Church 87
On Divine Eros 96
On Prayer 113
On Spiritual Struggle 134
On the Monastic Life 158
On the Mystery of Repentance 173
On Love for One’s Neighbour 180
On Divine Providence 190
On the Upbringing of Children 195
On Dispositions of the Heart 212
On Creation 218
On Illness 224
On the Gift of Clear Sight 232

APPENDIX
Saint John the Hut-dweller 249
The Skete of Kavsokalyvia 250
Map of Evia and Attiki 252
Map of Mount Athos 253

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.

Ποιήμα απο τον Καραδήμο Ευάγγελο.

Τό κείμενο τοῦ Μεγάλου Κανόνος μέ μετάφραση στίς ἀντικριστές σελίδες σέ μικρό καί εὔχρηστο σχῆμα. Σελίδες 237.

Ἕνας ὕμνος στήν ὡραιότητα τῆς Παναγίας. Ἕνα τραγούδι στό παρθενικό μεγαλεῖο της. Ὅ,τι ἀνώτερο, ὑψηλότερο καί εὐγενέστερο ἔχει νά ἐπιδείξει ἡ ποίηση καί ὑμνογραφία προκειμένου νά ἐγκωμιάσει τή Βασίλισσα τῶν Ἀγγέλων, τήν Παντάνασσα τοῦ κόσμου, ἔχει συνοψιστεῖ στόν Ἀκάθιστο Ὕμνο. Τό ἐγκόλπιο αὐτό θά σέ βοηθήσει νά ἑνώσεις τή φωνή σου πιό δυνατά, πιό καρδιακά, μέ ὅλες τίς φωνές πού τιμοῦν καί δοξάζουν καί μεγαλύνουν τήν Ὑπεραγία Θεοτόκο σέ ὅλα τά πλάτη καί μήκη τῆς γῆς.