By Markiani Notarias
It was Pentecost, and all my relatives were away outside Athens.
I awoke at 5 o'clock in the morning and thought not to sleep again but to go to Kallisia so that I might be able to confess to the Elder [Porphyrios].
I arrived at 6:30 in the morning.
I found the Elder going out to the water faucet with his facial towel.
When he finished he said to me:
"Come to confession."
(I was ashamed to tell him or even avoided it).
We went to the rock. He looked around at the mountains, took a deep breath and asked me:
"Do you sense it?"
I didn't have time to ask, or maybe I was in the middle of asking, "What Elder?" and a fragrance suddenly enveloped me.
A "strange" fragrance, strong without being suffocating, such that I sensed only in holy relics, such as in Saint Sergius of Radonezh in Zagorsk [in Russia].
"Yes, Elder, yes!"
I could tell from the joy that filled me and the fragrance that flooded me.
"This is a good fragrance," he said. "It comes from beyond, far away."
Coming from far away? I knew it was the fragrance of the Holy Spirit, since it was Pentecost.
My eyes became like faucets that ran throughout the liturgy effortlessly.
My soul was filled with joy and love for everyone and my face was inflamed [reddish like fire].
This is what I understood from a friend's question who said:
"What is wrong with you today, how come your face is so red and bright?"
It was the visitation of the Holy Spirit through the Elder and the gift to sense Holy Pentecost.
Blessed be God in His saints.
Source: Testimony recorded in the book Wondrous Events and Advice of the Elder Porphyrios, published by Metamorfosis tou Sotiros, Milesi, 2016, 4th edition. Translation by John Sanidopoulos.
