11/2/2018
Archpriest Oleg Vrona
I said goodbye to my companion, but I have a lasting impression of that shocking admission. “Don’t these cases of self-castration,” I was wondering,” bear testimony to the fact that once the sects got separated from the one and whole body of the Church, they lost grace as the only way to acquire all kinds of virtues, including chastity?”
The mold on the wall, the boarded-up windows, and the cigarette butts on the floor evoked a sense of admiration in us before the church and the holy ascetics who silently endured abuse as though they were consciously sharing this fate with Christ.
Vladyka Kornily was lying on his back with eyes closed and hands crossed over his chest... At the Russian border, when we were almost done with our prayer rule, we heard some firm steps coming towards us through the corridor.
Placed on the samovar pipe as on a soldier’s foot, the boot would dance about merrily under the hand of Mother Paisia, from which the samovar began to puff portentously, reminiscent of a general on the training ground
I must say that after this story from Mother, Fr. Seraphim and ascetics like him, whose lot it was in the difficult war and post-war years to comfort and encourage people, to instill faith in them and to pray for them, sparing no time or effort, remained in my thoughts for a long time.
It’s not easy to walk gracefully into the Kingdom of Heaven. So Schemanun Maria “hobbled” her way to salvation...
Nevertheless there was one important revelation for me: I saw that the preacher had attained such spiritual maturity that every word he uttered was an expression of his innermost experience of communion with God, and therefore, always powerful, meaningful and new to the listeners.
Rating: 10|Votes: 21
Thanks to the intercessions of St. Nicholas, the church on Vene street in Tallin continues not only to adorn the city, but also continues to warm its people’s souls, ever in need of such warmth in our difficult day and age.
Rating: 9.6|Votes: 45
Nun Seraphima faced a grave, unsolvable problem: how to fulfill her filial duty without leaving the monastery. The only way out seems obvious for everyone—to leave the monastery to take care of her ailing, elderly mother.
