Myśl pedagogiczna św. Porfiriusza z Kafsokaliwii

Abstract

Saint Porphyrios (Bairaktaris) of Kafsokalivia (1906-1991) is one of the most famous contemporary Greek saints. He belonged to one of the most respected in Orthodoxy category of holy Elders, that is, spiritual fathers endowed with the charism of clairvoyance. As an experienced spiritual director, he passed on his pedagogical thought, which focuses on the purpose of Christian life - divinization, the parent’s desire to become a saint and pass on holiness to his children not through discipline and pressure, but through God’s grace, which acts as a parent seeks to sanctify. The Elder opposed unequivocally selfishness, seeing excessive praise as the cause of the poor spiritual development of the child. He emphasized the need to obtain and pass on to the child the humility which he identified with the natural state of man and the necessary condition for obtaining God’s grace.