2/12/2019
Archpriest Alexander Dyachenko
He was a kind man, his family loved him and wanted to pray for him both during his illness and after his death. He was dying in their arms; he had already stopped breathing and his face had turned pale. Suddenly, he breathed in again, opened his eyes, sat up and demanded: “Baptize me immediately!”
I go to the cemetery as if to visit my friends—those whom I came to love during their earthly lives and with whom I prayed and restored the church—my brothers and sisters.
If a pastor has not learned how to build relationships with parishioners properly,
One turns to secular work from material need, another—from a spiritual temptation, another—as a spiritual labor. Only God knows who is who.
Priest Alexander Dyachenko
Grandma fell sick exactly at that tense moment. With her lungs damaged at seventy-five or even eighty percent and with critically low blood oxygen levels, she required special attention and 24/7 care. The real problem was that there was absolutely no one to look after her under the present circumstances.
“People throw icons away. They don’t need them. You can’t imagine how many icons I’ve brought to my garage! I pray for those who throw icons away and I ask the saints not to take offense at them.”
“You need me and I need you. I will help you. Be it construction materials or money, I can help. But you must help me save my daughter. She is a drug addict, nearly done for. You and your monastery, pray for my daughter.”
Unlike laypeople, who can abstain from Communion if they are feeling insulted, a priest celebrating alone does not have that option—he has to celebrate the Liturgy anyway. Therefore, we asked some Orthodox pastors to tell us how we can eliminate the feeling of resentment as soon as possible.
What is Holy Rus’? Is it some historical/geographical concept that belongs to past eras or an ideal we are expected to strive for? Does Holy Rus’ exist today?
Perhaps our greatest tragedy is not in the absence of strong politicians but in the lack of saints, whose example could serve as a powerful reviving stimulus.
Rating: 9.7|Votes: 40
It is crystal clear that our society is infected with a shortage of love. I think that our contemporaries, choked up in the general atmosphere of enmity (because of the lack of love), above all expect love from the Church. That is why above all we should tell those on the outside that God is love.
