CANON TO ST. PORPHYRIOS ... by Evangelos

Ode I.

Irmos.  After crossing the sea as if it were dry ground and escaping the wickedness of Egypt, the Israelite cried out:  Let us sing to our redeemer and God.

Tormented by many temptations, I take refuge in you as in my mediator with God; make my life peaceful and end the commotion of my wretched heart.

Because you completed your life in a God-fearing fashion, by your prayers you have now found boldness before God; intercede with him to heal the sick, Father, and bring diseases to an end.

As you glorify the Savior among the heavenly sentinels, keep watch over your monasteries in Athos and Attica, and furnish the power to your children to utterly rout the raging demons.

Let us celebrate the champion of the Kapsokalyvians and the Mother of God in hymns, asking them to intercede with the Savior and to save those in dangers and distress.

Ode III.

Irmos.  O Lord, who covered the vault of the sky with a roof and built the church:  Confirm me in your love, O summit of desires, support of the faithful and only merciful one.

Honoring you, as in a choir, Father, we acclaim you, praising your struggles and contests against the ruler of the unclean spirits.  O saint, from their rage save those who celebrate you.

You truly became a model of obedience and of the height of humility for monks on Mt. Athos and in Evia in the monastery of Haralambos; wherefore you received the power to smite the demons.

Let us all glorify the initiate of unspeakable secrets, the holy wonderworker and the protection of Attica, exalting in hymns the multitude of gifts with which the Comforter has crowned him.

You alone protect all men from terrible distresses, O Virgin; in your mercy you watch over those who hymn you by the prayers of Porphyrios, the all-merciful elder of all Greeks.

Prayers following Ode III
Preserve from dangers your servants, divine Father, especially those who ask for your help in times of danger; drive away their anguish and despair.

Tone 2.  Fervent supplication.
We beg you to guard us from afflictions, to guard the faithful in the faith of our Christ, St. Porphyrios, for you are a holy son of Evia, the venerable boast of the church and adornment of all the saints.

Ode IV.

Irmos.  I have heard, O Lord, the mystery of your dispensation; I have meditated on your works and glorified your divinity.

Exalted in your struggles against the envious tyrant of men, you advanced to receive, Father, a divine crown, as the most graceful victor. 

The gift of interpreting mysteries, of foreseeing the future and of healing all diseases has been given to you on account of your labors.

O!  The new and amazing wonders worked by your grace!  With what words should I compose hymns for you?  I am afraid, O Father, and I am astonished.

My all-holy Lady and incomprehensible wonder of the angels: deem me worthy to hymn you, the mother of the Savior of all men.

Ode V.

Irmos.  Illumine us with your commandments, O Lord, and by your lofty arm grant us your peace, O merciful God.

Taking refuge in your fervent prayers, we have acquired encouragement amid our sufferings, O Porphyrios, for you are our mediator with the all-merciful God.

Protect us who honor you, Porphyrios; grant us the resolve to suffer for Christ and give us zeal for the divine faith.

We joyfully raise a hymn to you, O Pure One, for you are truly the sweetness of the angels and you have ended the bitterness of Eve by your birth-giving.

Ode VI.

Irmos.  I will pour out my supplication to the Lord and to him will I declare my afflictions, for my soul has been filled with troubles and my life has approached Hades, so like Jonah I pray:  Raise me up from death, O God.

We are strengthened by your prayers, O saint, and we raise our souls to Heaven, abounding in patience and courage amid temptations and terrible attacks, O Porphyrios, our father; wherefore we all praise you publicly.

Healing every disease, O saint, you bid us to love the Savior with our whole soul, and mind, and heart, and to send up supplication to him, for the Provider himself is our helper.

Wholly radiant with divine grace was your venerable head, O saint, showing plainly to the woman who had come up to pray that you were a divine initiate of Christ, and her soul was filled with marvel.

Extolling you, pure Mother of God, we fill our souls with calmness, taking confidence from the love of your Son; hoping in your maternal entreaties, we ask that we may attain to the enjoyment of delightful Paradise.

[Selected prayers following Ode 6.]

Preserve from dangers, Porphyrios, your suppliants, and grant help to your monastery, O saint, inasmuch as you have boldness with the Lord.

The Kontakion.  Tone 2.  Protection of Christians.

You are the comforter of all who groan and the support of those whose faith is shaken.  Wherefore we the faithful all hasten to your grace to receive abundant protection and help on the sea of life and in the storm of afflictions.  We your servants ask you to give us strength and health of soul by your prayers to God, O father.

We acknowledge you, O saint, as the initiate of the Kapsokalyvians and Mount Athos, the majesty of monks, the all-honorable adornment of priests, the noblest doctor and the deliverance from demons; you are the patron of calmness and the cause of great joy.  Wherefore we shout to you, O Father Porphyrios:  Do not cease to watch over us, to heal and to protect your servants.

Ode VII.

Irmos.  The youths from Judea, having come to Babylon of old, by their faith in the Trinity trampled down the flame of the furnace, chanting, O God of our fathers, blessed are you.

In simplicity you passed your whole life and served God and men, praying day and night, O saint, and bearing our burdens, all-blessed Porphyrios.

We seek out your paternal intercession with our God, thrice-blessed one, that we be preserved from danger and the rage of our evil enemy; we take heart in your great compassion.

You were loved by all, as one who wells up and overflows with love; you always heal our wounds, drive out demons, deliver us from troubles and furnish grace to those who ask for it.

Faithfully we celebrate you in song, most highly favored Virgin and Mother, for you have virginally borne for the world the Savior and all-merciful God, to whom you pray always that men be saved.

Ode VIII.

Irmos.  The king of Heaven whom the hosts of angels hymn, hymn and exalt him above all forever.

For the health and salvation of the world, you offer your prayers to Christ, wherefore we hymn you, Godly-wise Porphyrios.

Forgive the multitude of my sins, Savior, through the fervent supplications of Porphyrios, and grant me to live my life in repentance.

Give peace to my troubled heart, soothing the griefs of distress by your grace, O Father, for you are the benefactor of the suffering.

You have become a mother perfect in virginity, bearing our God and Savior, and prevailing upon him to save all men from danger.

Ode IX.

Irmos.  O Mother of God, we who have been saved through you fittingly confess you and, with the incorporeal choirs, magnify you, O pure Virgin.

Have mercy on your suppliants and those who fall down before you, awaiting your compassion.  Grant them grace, health and repentance.

After receiving his speech, the former mute, as he had been saved by you, brought you thanks, while his relatives marveled and honored you. 

O new among the saints, you astound all men by your miracles, O Father Porphyrios, drawing grace from above by your humility.

We hymn you, O Virgin, full of grace, for you have given hope to the world by bearing the Savior, God and man, for all.

ENDNOTES FOR THE CIRCUMSPECT

SOURCE:  https://proseuxi.gr/paraklitikos-kanon-agiou-porfiriou/.

I thank Zoilus for proofing the Greek and I thank Aeteia, my lawfully-wedded, for proofing the English.  Any errors surviving their ministrations are purely my own.

Ode 1.  
"Heavenly sentinels" is a poetic circumlocution for angels.  

"Power" is literally χάρις, a word which is capable of a remarkable range of meanings. Chris Eckerman notes that "scholars generally assume that χάρις, in epinician poetry, has a broad semantic range that includes splendor, glory, charm, favor, ode, grace, gratitude, and service" ("Χάρις in the Epinician Odes of Pindar and Bacchylides"). Even that list is not complete. The point is that χάρις has a range of meanings that has nothing to do with the Augustinian trajectory leading to the Augustinian revival of which Lutheranism, Calvinism and Jansenism are the high points. James R. Harrison notes that grace must be understood within its constellation of themes: glory, wealth/abundance, mystery, power (_Paul's Language of Grace in its Graeco-Roman Context_, p. 243) and of course peace (ibid., p. 230, footnotes 69-71).

"In the faith of our Christ" (τηρῆσαι πιστοὺς τῇ πίστει τοῦ Χριστοῦ ἡμῶν).  The objective genitive is one way to render τῇ πίστει τοῦ Χριστοῦ ἡμῶν; it means that Christ is being faithful to us.  We might also say "by the faith."  Another is "by faith in our Christ" (subjective genitive), which means that we are being faithful to Christ.  The problem with the first is that it is not clear how we are being guarded by the faith of Christ.  The problem with the second is that it is not clear how our faith is guarding us; in fact, it seems to suggest the possibility of faith-righteousness.  It is not clear to me how to tell which reading is intended.  One Kevin Grasso offers a third way out:  He says that what we render as "the faith of Christ" is intended to mean "the faith of which Christ is the content."  The reader may go to his article A Linguistic Analysis of πίστις χριστοῦ: The Case for the Third View to decide if he buys it.

Ode 4.
"O!  The new and amazing wonders worked by your grace!"  This troparion is also found in a canon to St. Paisios.  A number of passages in this canon are indeed very similar to the canon to St. Paisios, as the opening troparion suggests.  This is due to the fact that new canons tend to be recycled from older canons, just as most literature is recycled Homer and most philosophy is recycled Plato.