The Elder said to me, “There was a fellow here a little while ago who asked me if the martyrs felt pain during their torture? He was saying that God gave them patience and they endured the many tortures.”
“To this I responded that, as a human being, one cannot stand pain. Neither could they stand the initial pain that they suffered. Naturally they ought to have fainted right away. But they focused their minds and their hearts on God.’ ‘Lord, Jesus Christ, have mercy on me. No, do not take pain away from me: He knows the pain and allows it as much as is necessary to heal your soul.”
“He sent you a specific penance instead of other types of penances. You should not ask that it be taken away. God knows your pain. A pill or some coffee is not needed. Do not use these things. Of course a person has the right in his life to ask, ‘Dear God take the pain from me: But I think that it is better for one to endure the pain. Probably this is a delusion but I love this delusion.”
“Do not ask that penance be lessened. In reality I had thought at that time that they lessen the number of prostrations had to do. I was getting tired of having to do three hundred of them. “Struggle in whatever God has given you to do.”
“How’s your friend doing with the depression you were telling me about?”
“We took him to the doctor. He is giving him antidepressants. He is better now.”
“Help him, my dear friend, to give himself to Christ with his whole heart-In this way he will overcome the depression and his nervous condition.”
“Loving Christ with all our heart is most essential. This is where our entire effort should be directed.
~Adapted from Monk Agapios, The Divine Flame Elder Porphyrios Lit in My Heart
