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

Since I discovered prayer, I can say that I have found myself again, but not in any way, but much stronger. Prayer is the key to God's world, a world full of love, freedom, patience, mercy, forgiveness, hope, faith, and other wonderful qualities. A world in which I certainly want to live, as well as all those close to me (including those who are asleep), and not only (but since I am not the one who decides on behalf of others, all I can do is pray for them). This world of prayer is not an imaginary one, but one as concrete as possible. A world in which God, the Mother of God, and the saints listen to our prayers and, if they are useful to us, at the right time, they are also fulfilled. Prayers to the Mother of God and to the saints are intercessory prayers, in which we ask them to intercede for us before the Lord Jesus Christ, so that He, in His omniscience, may decide whether or not to fulfill the prayers addressed to Him by us. Prayer is the food of the soul. Also, with the help ...

Having experienced illness (in my case depression ) I can say that perseverance played an important role in getting me back to a somewhat normal level of living. Of course, in the face of illness we are all helpless. But also, God does not give us more than we can handle, and with His help, we can overcome everything. All we have to do is move forward, with our head first, having the hope that God is holding our hand and that He will break down any door that seems unopenable. By these doors, I mean the different stages of an illness, whatever it may be, or of some experiences or feelings in our lives. In my case, there were several doors that I felt I could no longer open, but I persevered, prayed, and tried endlessly, until the doors collapsed before me. Especially in the case of depression, the symptoms can be so strong that the sufferer can even commit suicide. That is why I maintain so loudly and strongly that we must cling with our whole being to God, Who is love and kindness, mer...

If you haven't been convinced by now, it is certain that death is the most certain event that will occur, at some point, in our lives. Death does not bypass anyone, no matter how much we would like it to happen. The thought of death should humble us and make us ask ourselves: if we keep dying, some sooner, some later, then what is our purpose on this earth? I have asked myself the same question many times, and the only answer that gives me peace is that my purpose on this earth is to prepare myself for the life to come. How? By trying to sanctify my life, an attempt that requires continuous work in becoming a better person with those around me, and with myself, and to draw closer and closer to God, through prayer and the regulations of the Church. This closeness to God is something concrete, because the closer you get to Him, the more you begin to discover yourself as you really are, and then you truly understand that God exists, and that this life is not the last one you are subje...

Although I am not a theologian, I chose to make a small post about the Holy Sacrament of Confession and the Communion with the body and blood of the Savior, Jesus Christ, in order to bring once again to mind their immense importance for our physical, but especially spiritual life. Before sacrificing Himself on the cross, the Son of God, Jesus Christ, instituted, at the Last Supper, the Eucharist, or the Communion with His body and blood: Matthew 26: 26-28 During the meal Jesus took some bread in his hands. He blessed the bread and broke it. Then he gave it to his disciples and said, “Take this and eat it. This is my body.” Jesus picked up a cup of wine and gave thanks to God. He then gave it to his disciples and said, “Take this and drink it. This is my blood, and with it God makes his agreement with you. It will be poured out, so that many people will have their sins forgiven. Also, after His resurrection, Jesus gave the apostles the Holy Spirit and the power to forgive and retain peo...

Although I really like what I do, I can honestly say that in the long run it can seriously damage your health. Yes, being a programmer, I spend a lot of time in front of the computer, and most of the time, when I take a break, I reach out and... you guessed it: I use my phone. These habits are not at all healthy for our minds, which need airing out and relaxing in nature. I wrote in another post that, unfortunately, my current lifestyle is not exactly healthy, and this has not been the case for a long time, but for years. I've been working from home for about 3-4 years, hearing many people around me tell me that I'm "lucky" to work this way. Working from home does indeed have its benefits, but in the long run, its disadvantages may outweigh the advantages. The main reason why I say this is the lack of socialization, of closeness to our peers, often ending up listening to and trusting our own thoughts, which most of the time are nothing but misleading and even harmful....

Our lives are full of miracles. Life itself is a miracle, but God sometimes allows our minds to be enlightened and our eyes to be opened, so that we can see and understand the miracles He has done in our lives. No, He does not do it for our own worthiness, but also for the benefit of others and so that He, the Giver of Life, may be worshipped and glorified. Such a miracle happened to me 2 or 3 years ago, when on a hot summer day, while I was outside, I saw a dead bird (quite large, I might say) in our parking space. Not knowing what to do with it, and after thinking a little, two solutions came to my mind. The first solution would have been to go and get the dead bird and throw it in the trash, but thinking about it more carefully, I realized that I would have done a great injustice to the other tenants, and the bird would most likely start to smell very bad due to rotting. The second solution would have been to leave the dead bird in its place, hoping that the cleaning lady would take...

Over time, I have become convinced that nothing was accidental and that God has worked (and is working) constantly in my life, and of course, in the lives of each of you. We just need to pay a little attention to what is happening around us, and put God first, and we will see that His providence is always present in our lives. I will tell you an incident that raised questions for me, even though I was not aware of God's work in my life at the time. In 2010, my father passed away, while I was still enrolled in college. My father's death came suddenly, without any great suffering before, so it was a pretty big shock for us too. Following his death, I decided to move in with my mother for a while, even if that meant giving up the second college I had started. Because I was going through a difficult time, and because I had an acquaintance who was passionate about animals, I decided to buy a puppy for my mother, to distract her from the event that had just taken place. After many re...

If you had asked me 3-4 years ago what anxiety was, I wouldn't have been able to give an answer. That's because I hadn't even heard of it, let alone experienced it. Anxiety manifests itself differently from person to person. For me, it manifested itself by having a continuous fear of almost everything around me. I was afraid to leave the house, to speak, or to do certain basic things without which you can't carry out your daily tasks. I had this manifestation for a long time in my life and I still can't say that I've completely gotten rid of it. In addition to the fear that something bad could happen, anxiety also manifested itself physically, often leading to panic attacks (fortunately not extremely severe ones). How do I manage anxiety and panic attacks? First of all, I have to mention the fact that I am in a continuous dialogue with my psychiatrist who prescribed me some anti-anxiety pills. Don't run away from a psychologist and psychiatrist, let alone a ...

Although I didn’t deserve it, overnight (literally), the Lord gave me this unique chance to no longer desire the material things of this world. For some, this is incomprehensible, but I consider it a great gift from God, because I no longer stress about acquiring the so-called material goods that could bring you happiness. I remember how, shortly before my conversion, we had just bought a new car, but in my greed, I was already making plans to purchase the next model. Well, after my conversion, I no longer felt the need to acquire that new car, nor any other material goods, being totally satisfied with what is offered to me day by day (this is very difficult for those around me to understand). I was talking earlier about the so-called material goods that can bring you happiness, a happiness that actually persists only for a short time. Only God can give us eternal happiness and peace, a peace that surpasses all understanding. But, for this to happen, we must take the first step towards...

Another battle I wage, but which has many spiritual benefits, is that of eating and drinking. I often struggle to find a balance between not eating too much, but also not eating too little. Eating too little is clear, because if I do, I feel that I do not have enough energy to carry out daily tasks, but very often I find myself in a situation where I have eaten too much, which gives me a state of discomfort both physically and spiritually. It is not for nothing that the Holy Fathers tell us that eating too much harms spiritual life, and that we must be careful in this regard as well. At the beginning of my spiritual ascent, I believed that I only had to be careful about what and how much I ate during fasting, but along the way I convinced myself that this was not the case. Just as we must be alert, active in everything we do during the day, so we must be alert when it comes to what and how much we put in our mouths, because excessive eating is harmful to health and spirituality. I also...

Personally, I believe that the war that is taking place in the world is a great pit of hell, both spiritually and materially. But, on the other hand, I believe that God finds the necessary resources to save souls even in such odious actions. War can be of two kinds: the spiritual war, which we should all wage, but of which we are not all aware, and the material war, the one that we helplessly witness and which is taking place in different parts of the world. The reasons for material wars are also of a spiritual nature, these starting from the lack of certain virtues of the leaders of the world's states, or, in other words, because of some passions from which they suffer, such as the passion of the need for power, or the love of money. If we all turned our gaze to God, and tried our best to fight our inner war, to the detriment of the outer one, surely material wars would disappear and we would live in a better world, in a world where the peace of God would dwell, instead of the div...

In this short post I will try to emphasize that, through our actions, we should be light to those around us, and not darkness. Although I try my best to do this, I admit that I don't always succeed, but I hope that my attempts leave at least some traces in the lives of those close to me. In the Sermon on the Mount, immediately after the Beatitudes, the Lord Jesus Christ described very clearly how we Christians should be: Matthew 5 13-16: You are the salt for everyone on earth. But if salt no longer tastes like salt, how can it make food salty? All it is good for is to be thrown out and walked on. You are the light for the whole world. A city built on top of a hill cannot be hidden, and no one lights a lamp and puts it under a clay pot. Instead, it is placed on a lampstand, where it can give light to everyone in the house. Make your light shine, so others will see the good you do and will praise your Father in heaven. How well do we manage to be the salt of the earth or the light fo...

Another important prayer is the prayer we address to the Mother of God: “It is truly right to bless you”. This is a prayer of praise and glorification of the Mother of God, Who gave birth to God the Word, Jesus Christ. It is truly right to bless you, Theotokos, ever blessed, most pure, and Mother of our God. More honorable than the Cherubim, and beyond compare more glorious than the Seraphim, without corruption you gave birth to God the Word. We magnify you, the true Theotokos. 

  O Heavenly King, O Comforter, the Spirit of Truth, who art in all places and fillest all things; Treasury of good things and Giver of life, come and dwell in us and cleanse us from every stain, and save our souls, O gracious Lord. The prayer to the Holy Spirit, “Heavenly King,” is a prayer that is as short as it is full of truth. This prayer is directed to the Holy Spirit, the third person of the Holy Trinity. In the first part of the prayer, the Holy Spirit is given several titles and succinct descriptions. He is also called the Comforter because He literally comforts the soul and body of the believer. I have personally felt these comforts countless times, and I do not say this with pride, but to reinforce the fact that it is not a random title. Comforts can be described as shivers that run down the back, which generally appear when you are thinking about a spiritual problem or making a decision in agreement with God. The Holy Spirit is also called the Spirit of Truth, because o...

For years, I have been struggling to acquire this much-desired virtue. I believe that there will be many more years from now, because, unfortunately, my life, in which I have to look at the monitor for 10 hours almost every day, puts my patience (and not only) to the test. I noticed that I no longer have enough patience with my family, with my children, and even with myself. In the last 5 years I have been running spiritually, probably being pushed by the evil one from behind, and I ended up getting tired and not having enough patience with myself and those around me. But, as Saint Cleopas Ilie used to repeat endlessly "patience, patience, patience...", I also ended up repeating it, on several occasions, because I felt that I was getting lost in my endless running. That is why I came to the conclusion that I need to take it easy, let time pass, and move forward slowly, because life is long, and it is worth living to the fullest. Specifically, I have formed a balance, both spi...

The devil has a cunning way of pushing you from behind, when he cannot tempt you through traditional methods to make you fall into sin. I have also gone through such temptations of the devil, temptations that seem to never end, because you never know what your limits really are. But even if you don’t know, you must try and find them and never exceed them, no matter what state you are going through. Specifically, here are some thoughts with which the devil tried to push me from behind, to later make me fall into despair: 1. You don’t fast enough. This unclean thought appeared when I decided to keep all the fasts ordained by the Orthodox Church: the fast on Wednesdays and Fridays, and the 4 great fasts during the year. In addition to the fact that the devil tried to push me to keep Monday, even though it was beyond my strength, he also tried to make me starve, so that while I was fasting, I could no longer carry out my daily tasks. Keep in mind that discernment is needed in all decisions...

Along my spiritual journey, I also learned to differentiate between idols and religious objects that I can kiss, and before which I can bow and kneel in prayer. A first temptation I had in this regard was when I started turning all the icons in the house face down. This temptation was very strong at first, and generally came about because of watching several videos of some sects, which considered icons and holy objects to be idols. It took me some time to realize that no, the icon is not an idol, but like a photograph, it is a tool with which you can get closer to the person who is painted in it, such as the Savior, the Mother of God, and the saints. Then, having escaped this first temptation, and having begun to put the icons back in their place around the house, I was tempted by another temptation, namely that of not kissing or worshiping the people in the icons (especially the Mother of God and the saints), the relics of saints, or other holy objects, such as the Holy Cross or the H...

Another temptation that I have experienced over time was that of the prophet, or the fact that I have to prophesy certain events in the future, such as the apocalypse (poorly understood by me at the time). I remember that 5 years ago I had created another blog, on which I wrote only alarmist posts, most likely to draw attention to myself rather than to the Lord Jesus Christ and Orthodoxy. Of course, I was not doing it consciously, but in my innocent unconsciousness, I believed that I was doing the right thing. Nothing could be more false, because it is written:  Matthew 7 3-4 You can see the speck in your friend's eye, but you don't notice the log in your own eye. How can you say, “My friend, let me take the speck out of your eye,” when you don't see the log in your own eye? One of the temptations that I experienced was that of opening the Bible. I remember that the night before, I had fervently prayed to the Lord to crucify my pride. Yes, a big mistake (I could even say st...

For 6 months after my conversion, I had almost no dreams. I say almost, because there were two or three dreams that really upset me. In one of them, it seemed that I was in heaven, where there were a lot of happy people. In the center of that sea of ​​people was the Lord Jesus Christ and Saint Elijah (don't ask me why, because I don't know). As I looked around me and was amazed at how many people were there, I heard some warnings coming from the Lord Jesus Christ. Those warnings were about an acquaintance of my family, a teenage girl. In the morning, I woke up very upset, believing that what I had dreamed was true and that I had to convey all those warnings as quickly as possible. I picked up the phone and called my mother, who in turn called the mother of the girl in question. Of course, it all ended when my mother was confirmed that everything was in its place, okay, as it should be. For me, this temptation represented the T0 point of completely giving up ever trusting dreams...

Nowadays, more and more families choose to divorce, and they do it far too easily from my point of view. We have become unaccustomed to the sacrifice that we should have given to the other, to the patience and attention that we should offer them, and thus we have given room for the devil to get his tail into our thoughts and convince us that divorce is the best solution. Well, the Church does not teach us like that, but on the contrary, it guides us towards understanding, love, patience, prayer, etc., towards the other. The Church teaches that divorce can only occur in the case of cheating by one of the partners, the rest of the reasons being able to be resolved, perhaps through other means, like those mentioned earlier. Of course, there are also extreme cases in which divorce may be the last resort to be able to live a free life, as God gave us to live, but I am not referring to these in this post. Divorce means division, the separation of two people whom God united through the Sacram...

First of all, I would like to emphasize the fact that I believe that we, humans, most often relate to God incorrectly, considering Him as some entity, some thing, some animal, or even His entire visible creation: the universe, and so on. But, as the Holy Scriptures teach us, God is made up of 3 persons: God the Father, the Son of God Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit. In addition to the 3 persons of the Holy Trinity, God allows us, out of humility, to address the Mother of God, His saints, and angels. Of course, the Mother of God, the saints, and the angels intercede for us before the Lord, who are in complete obedience to Him. God is secretly waiting for us to take the first step towards Him, either by addressing one of the persons of the Holy Trinity, or any of our other intercessors mentioned above. Most of the time we take this step towards God when it is difficult for us, either in case of illness, or in case of the death of loved ones, or because of who knows what other trouble i...

A single moment was enough for the Lord to wake me up to reality, to convert me from non-human to human, from dead to alive, from unbeliever to believer. He woke me up to the reality of His existence both in my life and in the lives of others around me. A wonderful reality, but also frightening, because I realized how many sins and mistakes I had made before Him. Before conversion, I can say that I was a rebellious man. Rebellious, first of all, against the Church of God. I blamed the priests, the customs established in the church, the number of churches built (you know the slogan: "We want hospitals, not cathedrals" - a big mistake!), etc. Something that I am still ashamed of now, discovering how much beauty there is within this Church and how much love and truth is shared among its parishioners. Of course, there is no forest without droughts, so you will say that you know someone who does not behave like a true Christian, although one is given. Or that you read a news story...

In this short post I will try to describe both the good moments and especially the hard ones that I went through after I asked for a sign from God, and He allowed it to be shown to me. As I told in my testimony: The next day, being desperate, I asked for another sign from the Lord. This is the most miraculous thing that has ever happened to me in my life. Before I finished walking, I noticed a PERFECTLY WHITE CROSS in the sky. Being amazed that I had received another sign, and looking at the cross, at that very moment a gentleman passed by me who CALLED ME BY NAME in German (having left the country): Mikael. I turned to him in amazement, asking him to speak to me in English, because I don't speak German yet. But, looking into my eyes, he said something to me in German, turned, and left. The Lord allowed the appearance of this great sign, which over time has helped me enormously, but has also given me a lot of spiritual work. If this cross had not been shown to me, then most likely ...

It has been almost 5 years since God revealed Himself to me in an absolutely wonderful way. In all these years, I have gone through indescribable states, both good and less good, but with God's help, I managed to get through it all. Unfortunately, about 6 months after the fateful day when God showed me that He is alive and present in my life, I began to slowly sink into a chronic depression. It all started with an indescribable hunger to learn more about what I had experienced, felt, tasted, but having no one around me to guide me to this end, I slipped alone into a shadow cone, from which I hardly managed to emerge. If it were not for God in my life, I would not be here today to write this new page, so I give Him glory for everything He has done with me over the past few years. I was saying that I went through chronic depression. For those of you who don't know what that means, here are some of the symptoms of this terrible disease: A constant low mood; Feelings of helplessne...