Glory to the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, our Savior

Let us not be influenced by the things we feel. They are not as scary as we feel. Let us not be frightened, let us not panic, let us not compare ourselves with others, and give rise to even worse states. In the old days, people did not compete as they do today. There was no reason for competition. There was no inferiority complex. Today, man immediately feels inferior: “They were chosen, I was not chosen; they succeeded, I failed!” As far as I remember, this did not exist or, if it did exist, it manifested itself to a very small extent. Today, it does not happen like that, precisely because man sees his problems in relation to others. What will others say? How will others react? How will he resist? How will he compare himself to them? And life becomes martyrdom, precisely because we live in an age in which this spirit influences us all. So why not try to remain uninfluenced? Do you know how peaceful we are, those who are not influenced, those who do not compare ourselves with others an...

Without problems, without troubles, without illnesses, without sorrows, what would man do?

Every temptation, every trouble, every attack of the devil, if we are attentive and patient, can bring us great benefit. The devil attacked Job with such fury! But what harm did he do to him in the end? Nothing. On the contrary, it brought him greater holiness and a brighter glory. When we are vigilant, the devil cannot harm us. However, he can, without his will, be of use to us, increase our virtue. Look what happens when someone blows on a fire. At first, it seems to put it out. But in the end, not only does he not put it out, but he inflames it even more. Without problems, without troubles, without illnesses, without sorrows, what would a man do? He would give himself up to debauchery and drunkenness, he would wallow in the mire like a pig, he would completely forget God and His commandments. But in this way, the struggles and fears, the troubles and trials keep him in a certain state of wakefulness; they become schools of philosophy for him, exercises of the soul. Just as the golds...

Let's not do good deeds to receive blessings

“Let us not do good deeds to receive blessings. Let us cultivate the noble and precious love that God has, and not the cheap, worldly love, full of human weaknesses. — Father, it is difficult for me to offer my love where it is not appreciated. — You do not have true love, that is why you struggle. Whoever has true love does not think whether his love is appreciated or not. The sacrifice he makes for his neighbor, because he does it out of pure love, he does not even remember. — How can I, Father, forget the good I do? — Throw it to the wind... And so you will forget it. But also forget the evil that others do to you. In this way you will gather spiritual wealth without realizing it.” Saint Paisios Agioritos

What does it mean to go to church?

One day two young married couples knocked on the door of my cell. They brought me a prayer book and asked me to say a prayer for them. I started talking to them and, as I had established a rule, I asked them if they went to church. And then they answered me: “ We are not old enough to go to church ”. And then I said: “ Lord, multiply the old people !” I do not sit in confession with someone who does not go to church. I have nothing to talk about. What should I say to him? There are some who say that they have not been to church for years, or that they were at Easter last year. To those who say that they were at Easter I say: “Do you know why there are so many people at church at Easter? Because there are also those like you who only go to mass once a year”. After that there are some who say – when I ask them if they go to church – “Yes”. And I realized that some people don't go to church for the service, but they go into the church and light a candle. And now I ask them: "But ...

Going to church – steps towards God

We, Christians, are the descendants of those who sacrificed themselves. And if we no longer have this opportunity to give our blood, let us make a different sacrifice. Those of you who were at church on Sunday made this sacrifice. That is, you left everything and went to church . Your head was not taken, you were not tortured, but you made a little sacrifice. You went, you stayed in church, you stayed awake in church, you sang, you listened. This is important. Let us understand that through this sacrifice, we also become partakers of the Kingdom of God. The secret would be from now on, to continue this experience in God! Father Nicolae Tănase

Death is life without God

Death is life without God. Death is a reality of the soul when the soul is not glued, nourished, infused by God, by the life of God, by the grace, by the uncreated energy of God. He is dead, dying, or sleepwalking. It is true that we believers are baptized, we commune, we confess, we receive grace, and we are not dead, but still, we often behave like dead or dying people, because we do not activate the grace received through the Holy Sacraments. Grace enters us through the Holy Sacraments, but it is activated and becomes active in us through our works. That is, by activating Grace, my word will be with my energy and with the energy of grace, my gestures will be with my energy and with the energy of grace. No movement of the soul and body will be just my gestures, my thoughts. How do we activate grace? How do we metabolize it and manifest it in our lives, in our acts, in our words? By fulfilling the commandments and prayer. Prayer, itself a commandment of the Lord, is what does this wor...

Prayer must bring steadfastness in good

Perhaps some of you have read the confessions of the Russian pilgrim, about his inner feelings, in connection with the prayer “ Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner. ” There, they insist on a certain number of prayers, first 3000, then 6000, then 12000, and so on. It is a method, in fact. I do not believe that we should count our prayers. You should know that I am not afraid to go before God and that God will tell me: Okay, okay, but you should know that you could have said “Lord Jesus” a million more times and you did not. I am sure. When I got to Theology, the subject of this prayer came up, and someone said to me: “Brother, wait, you cannot do something like this without a guide, you need a guide, a confessor!” And I have not found a guide either before or since. For example, if I went to a father who was considered to have an improved life, a great name, and a lot of knowledge, he told me all the knowledge from books. I can read those from books myself; he does...

Praying for those who have committed suicide

– The mentally ill, when they commit suicide, have extenuating circumstances, because their minds are corrupted. Even if they see clouds, they feel a sensation of pressure, of suffocation. And if they also have some anger, then they have a double “cloudiness”. But for those who commit suicide without being mentally ill – as well as for heretics – the Church does not pray, but leaves them to the judgment and mercy of God. The priest does not mention their names at the Proscomidia, nor does he remove their ashes, because by committing suicide, they despise life, which is a gift from God. It is as if you were throwing everything in God’s face. But we must pray a lot for those who commit suicide, so that the Good Lord will do something for them too, because we do not know what happened to them when they committed suicide, nor what state they were in at the last moment. It is possible that at the moment they gave up their lives, they repented, asked for forgiveness from God, and thus their ...

How I healed myself from the fear of death – mature discussions with a child who "lived" in the oncology ward

I was a mother on the verge of losing my child. At 2 years and 3 months, my little girl had a tumor that doctors considered extremely aggressive and deadly. It turned out that the power of God is above medical statistics, and my child is healed without allopathic treatment and by God's will. Of course, from the very beginning, she understood my fear of loss, and later the discussions about death, about God, about what is here and what is beyond appeared. She is now 4 and a half years old. One of the evenings, she asked me how my father died, how my grandparents died, and who else is gone there. We discussed her little brother, who also went to God when he was 2 years old (he is not my son, but her father's son with another mother). After analyzing how many people we are here on Earth and how many have gone to God, he said to me seriously and thoughtfully, “Mom, do you know that our family in Heaven is bigger than our family here?” We talk about death as a natural event of life,...

Sin attracts through sweetness, and then torments through bitterness.

Tuesday, May 19, 2026

Let us be ashamed of ourselves, receiving the feeling of shame and humiliation of sin; let us condemn ourselves, letting the voice of conscience—or of the impartial justice of God, which speaks through conscience—resound with all its might; but besides this, let us hasten after the publican to give birth in our soul the same plaintive cry: “God, be merciful to me, a sinner!” All this depends on you, sinful soul. You yourself, and no one else, must do and feel all this in yourself. The publican beat his breast, but even before this, he beat his soul and wounded his heart with the thoughts of his mind. Therefore, enter into yourself, gather saving thoughts, and take care to break your hardened heart with them, ascend to heaven, descend to the lowest; look at yourself and look around you, and seek everywhere arrows to strike, whips to wound, hammers to soften your hardened heart. Remember the mercy of God towards you, be ashamed. Remember His righteous Judgment and fear. Remember that the...

Doesn't God know what we need?

So, our prayer, in its progress – what does it mean in its progress – in its exit, when the prayer is about to come out from within us, to truly become a movement towards God, we will see that it is a “silence within silence” within silence. That is, an absolute silence. But doesn’t God listen to us in another way [than by shouting]? Or doesn’t God know what we need? How could he not! But God wants this, on the one hand, so that we express our longing for Him and so that it may be something of ours. And secondly, so that we may become aware of our need and our emptiness. And thirdly, so that we may learn to ask. If God gave it to us immediately, before we did all these things that I have said, and before we lived them intensely, as easily as we gained it, we would throw it away, because we would not understand its true value. If your father gave you millions, you would throw them away on the right and left on the roads. But if you shed your sweat, so that in the end you only get fifty ...

How do we put all worldly worries out of our minds during prayer?

Let us repent for this desert in which we find ourselves. There, being in prayer, let us repent before God: Lord, I am like a waterless land, desolate and uncultivated, says the psalmist. Help me! Let Your grace descend upon my heart that thirsts for You! A private, personal prayer can then be made, on the spot, in the secret of your heart. And an examination of conscience: why are we hardened? Because usually our sins harden us. We have done some bad things, we have some people we cannot forgive, our hearts have a thick covering of this, because of hatred against our neighbor. And we pray that God will tear this veil, to open this heart again: He must make it permeable to everything that is happening around us. Through prayer, we tear some veils or darknesses, coverings on our mind and heart. There are several coverings around our hearts that make us insensitive to the words of God. But through prayer, these veils are torn, our mind becomes luminous, so that we must emphasize this clo...

The people of the world love the world because they have not yet known its bitterness

Therefore, listen to my words, the humble and the last of the monks, and do not consider me unlearned and illiterate. Open the eyes of your souls and see what exists beyond this world. The people of the world love the world because they have not yet known its bitterness. They are still blind in soul and do not see what is hidden in this fleeting joy. They have not reached the understanding light; they have not reached the day of their salvation. But you, who have seen and heard so many things, must understand that the fleeting delights pass away like a shadow and the time of our life flees, passes quickly, and knows no return. The time of this life is a time of harvest and gathering. Everyone accumulates their food, as pure as possible, for the other life. The wise do not win, nor the good-born, nor the one who talks incessantly, nor the rich, but the one who is mocked and endures for a long time. He who is wronged and forgives, he who is slandered and keeps silent, he who makes himsel...

The power of demons lies in thought, in suggestion – they are the authors of many of the thoughts we believe to be our own.