Alexei Ilyich Osipov
Rating: 9,5|Votes: 17
The methodical development of imagination is based in the experience of one of the pillars of Catholic mysticism, the founder of the order of Jesuits and great Catholic saint Ignatius of Loyola (sixteenth century). His book Spiritual Exercises enjoys great authority in Catholicism. Ignatius himself said of his book that if one reads it, it could replace the Gospels. He tells the reader to imagine the crucified Christ, to attempt to penetrate the world of Christ’s feelings and sufferings, to mentally converse with the Crucified One, etc. All this contradicts in principle the basics of spiritual ascetic labor as it has been given to us in the lives of the saints of the Universal Church.
Teimuraz Kristinashvili
Rating: 10|Votes: 9
We meet homeless people nearly every day on our life’s path; people who are often contemptuously called “bums.” We see them at the train station, near the subway, in town squares and parks, and of course, at the churches, asking for money. Each time we see them, our hearts deliberate painfully over the question, “Should we give them alms, or not?” Then, other questions immediately arise, “How much? How should we give them? Is there any sense in giving at all?”
Rating: 4,3|Votes: 11
The Church has always glorified the Most Holy Mother of God as the Protectress and Defender of the Christian people, entreating, by her intercession, God's loving-kindness towards us sinners. The Mother of God's aid has been clearly shown times without number, both to individuals and to peoples, both in peace and in war, both in monastic deserts and in crowded cities.
Rating: 7,3|Votes: 3
Vladyka said, “Let’s pray to the Heavenly King; perhaps he will hear our prayer.” They began to serve the moleben for rain. Then a miracle happened—the sky, which did not have a single cloud, darkened, became covered in thick rain clouds and it not only rained, it poured, as if a bucket of water had spilled out. The walls of the old Uralsk cathedral trembled from the thunderclaps. Vladyka paused in his prayer and said, “Orthodox people! Isn’t this a miracle?!”
Rating: 7,3|Votes: 10
The venerable monk, when he had ended his prayers, glanced at the boy and, conscious that he beheld the chosen vessel of the Holy Spirit, he called him to his side, blessed him, bestowed on him a kiss in the name of Christ, and asked: "What art thou seeking, or what dost thou want, child?" The boy answered, "My soul desires above all things to understand the Holy Scriptures. I have to study reading and writing, and I am sorely vexed that I cannot learn these things. Will you, holy Father, pray to God for me, that he will give me understanding of book-learning?" The monk raised his hands and his eyes toward heaven, sighed, prayed to God, then said, "Amen."