Monachal life is a blessed life. The monk must find delight in prayer and be drawn by divine love. He can`t stay in monarchism if he doesn`t find delight in prayer. If this doesn`t happen it`s over, he can`t stay in the monastery.
But what keeps him in the monastery with the prayer is work. Work doesn`t impede prayer on the contrary, it strengthens it and makes it better. It is a matter of love. Work is as if someone prays or makes prostrations. Work is a blessing. For this reason we see that Christ called His disciples and the prophets when they worked, for instance when they were fishing or tending the sheep.
The joy of the monk is to enter into the love of God, into the Church, into Christ, into the Holy Trinity. He unites with Christ, his heart leaps up, it fills up with grace, Christ is his joy, it is liveliness, hope and love.
What to tell you. I by the grace of God when I went there, in the Holy Mountain…what life, what love, what piety, what zest, what obedience, what prayer I knew !
How we lived with one another, what smiles and love we had! What a heavenly kind of living!
Pious Porphyrios from Kavsokalivia
