Tuesday, May 13, 2014

St. Porphyrios on the Pain of the Martyrs

Christ is risen! Truly He is risen!
The Saints suffering terrible tortures for Christ (source)
 
A short time before, someone asked me if the martyrs felt pain in their so many tortures. He said that God gave them patience and they endured so many tortures.

And I told him: Man, as a man [alone], cannot bear even the first pain that he comes across. Physiologically, he should faint immediately. But their nous and heart were fixated on Christ: "Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me," not "take away my pain". [Christ] knows the pain and allows it as much as is needed to heal your soul.

He gave you a canon instead of other canons. You should not say "take it back". God knows your pain. A pill or a cup of coffee aren't necessary. Cut them out. Of course, man has the right to say to God in his life: "My God, take away my pain". But I think that it is better to take up his pain. Perhaps I am wrong, but I love this error.

Do not ask that your canon be lessened. (In reality, I had the thought in those days to ask to do fewer prostrations, because I was tiring from the three hundred.) Struggle with whatever God has given you.

(amateur translation of text from source)

Christ is risen from the dead, by death trampling down upon death, and to those in the tombs, bestowing life!
Truly the Lord is risen!

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