Pious Porphyrios Kavsokalivite
I’ve been tantalized for a long time by the thought of becoming a monk, for devoting myself completely to God, but I got married and with the children I begot I tied myself and cannot do anything good for God.
With these thoughts and some others in my mind I went one day to the starets, and he, after I confessed him the several sins I had committed, cause sins are all I did and do, said, without telling him anything about the thought that tantalized me:
“Now leave and don’t think about this anymore!” “Forget about it, it’s not for you!” “Your house can be a monastery too, if you want it.” “There’s no difference from it.” “But you should only do what I tell you.” “It’s not the place that makes the monastery, but the way you live.” “Go and pray and have patience in everything!”
Some brothers from a monastery asked the starets if they could progress spiritually in the world or if it were more useful for their souls to go to the Holy Mountain, that’s an ideal place for mollification. And he told them:
“If someone is in Omonia and has his mind alert it’s like he’d be in the Holy Mountain.” “And if someone is in the Holy Mountain and doesn’t have his mind alert, it’s like he’d be in Omonia1.”
1 Square in the center of Athens
