Saint Porpyrios of Kavsokalyva once said the following to Bishop Irinej of Bačka:
"One day I sat on a bridge over there in your parts [in Serbia, where he used to travel in an invisible way by divine grace], I was observing the people who were passing by. And by the grace of God I saw them transparent, both their bodies and their souls.
What can I say to you, Irinej! I saw empty, lonely, wounded, broken souls. I saw boys and girls passing by holding hands, but without their souls having the strength to truly love. They fall in love roughly and superficially. Raised without a family or even in an atheistic family, they have no provisions for true love. Many of your girls are not even in a position to become mothers from the libertine life they lead.
That's why you don't tell young people theories, but tell them to live a modest life. Let them not live with laxity of morals. Talk to them about basic topics: that Christ does everything, but we must want Christ. Let's accept Him. And this is achieved with effort, with self-control. Christ wants asceticism. He wants pure love. So advise the young to love purity, because the libertine life is not only unhealthy and unhappy, but it is also debilitating. It impoverishes man, makes him useless, creates psychological and physical disorders. Teach young people to study Holy Scripture and especially the Psalter."
Source: From the lecture "Σεβ. Μητρ. Νεοφύτου καί Μπάτσκας κ. Εἰρηναίου, Ἡ πνευματική σχέση τοῦ Γέρ. Πορφυρίου μέ τόν Σερβικό λαό", 2008.
"One day I sat on a bridge over there in your parts [in Serbia, where he used to travel in an invisible way by divine grace], I was observing the people who were passing by. And by the grace of God I saw them transparent, both their bodies and their souls.
What can I say to you, Irinej! I saw empty, lonely, wounded, broken souls. I saw boys and girls passing by holding hands, but without their souls having the strength to truly love. They fall in love roughly and superficially. Raised without a family or even in an atheistic family, they have no provisions for true love. Many of your girls are not even in a position to become mothers from the libertine life they lead.
That's why you don't tell young people theories, but tell them to live a modest life. Let them not live with laxity of morals. Talk to them about basic topics: that Christ does everything, but we must want Christ. Let's accept Him. And this is achieved with effort, with self-control. Christ wants asceticism. He wants pure love. So advise the young to love purity, because the libertine life is not only unhealthy and unhappy, but it is also debilitating. It impoverishes man, makes him useless, creates psychological and physical disorders. Teach young people to study Holy Scripture and especially the Psalter."
Source: From the lecture "Σεβ. Μητρ. Νεοφύτου καί Μπάτσκας κ. Εἰρηναίου, Ἡ πνευματική σχέση τοῦ Γέρ. Πορφυρίου μέ τόν Σερβικό λαό", 2008.
