People waste time on useless things

 

Father Daniel, how can a person today, in a "dislocated", alienated, deified time, save his soul and that of his neighbors?

- We must get to know ourselves well, and find out who we are and what we are, what drives us and leads us in life! To which God do we serve!

If it prevails materially, which many aspire to today - then we are at a loss, the temptations are great, and the Lord did not say that we will easily reach the Kingdom of Heaven.

He gave us fasting, prayer, the Gospel... He said: "Don't be afraid, just believe..."

Prayer, fasting and love for our neighbors lead us to faith.

Nowadays, people have distanced themselves from God our Father, from themselves, from other people. Ours is only what we give!

People waste time on useless things. They don't know or they don't want to know, "that we came to this world with nothing and that we will go before the Lord in the same way", we will take only good deeds and folded hands...

We must forgive our neighbors... To forgive means not to be offended, to let go of the person with peace and to forgive him all the bad things! Pray for him from afar without hesitation and without a "stone hearted".

The Lord will not be merciful to us, if we are not merciful to others! He does not forgive - our sins, if we do not forgive our neighbors, those who have offended us.

Elder Daniel of Dubrava

God-given powers to saints do not diminish in time

 

The saints are alive and their God-given power does not diminish in time. St.Ioanicius of Devič works miracles today, even as he did during his life on earth some five-hundred years ago. A certain man Miloš from Hercegovina prepared to travel to Jerusalem on a pilgrimage to the holy shrines. As he was about to depart on his way, St.Ioanicius  appeared to him in a dream and told him not to go to Jerusalem. "Rather than go to Jerusalem, it would be better for you to go to Devič," explained the saint, "and there, to restore my church and put it in order." Miloš obeyed the saint and went to the neglected Devič, cleaned it, put it in order, and made it possible to sing praises to God there again. Miloš became a monk there and remained until the end of his life. During the First World War and the Austrian occupation, a Hungarian officer with a detachment of soldiers came to Devič. The officer ushered abbot Damaskinos of the monastery, before the reliquary of St.Ioanicius  and asked him what was under the slab? " A Holy things," replied the abbot. "What kind of holy things?" the officer laughed. "You have something hidden under there." He then ordered the soldiers to strike the slab with pickaxes and overturn it. While this was being done, the officer was seized with pain in his abdomen. He lay down in bed and, before evening of the same day, died. The frightened soldiers left their work undone and fled the monastery.

from Prologue Of St.Nicholai of Ohrid