Holy Mount Athos st. Georgi the Glory Bringer – Zographus Monastic main Church
I start this post with the St. George Zographus Monastery’s main Church as the Zographus Monastery on Holy Mount Athos was our brother Georgi last eartly place he wanted to spend the remaining of his eartly life.
Today it’s the 40th day since our brother in Christ (ipodeacon) Georgi Nedev has presented his humble soul to our Saviour Jesus.
This is the only picture I have of our brother Georgi
His living was as humble as his departure from this life and his passing I believe in the eternal life with God. Georgi had the severe desire to become a monk in Holy Mount Athos and has multiple friends in there which loved him and often prayed for him. Now on this 40 day in our Bulgarian monastery in Holy Mount Athos, Saint George – The GloryBringer (Zographus) monks will be serving a requiem service (Panihida – as we say in Slavonic)
His departure was striking and sudden for of us in the Church community here in Dobrich’s Holy Trinity Church, as well as not less shocking for the Holy Mount Athos Zographus monks Christian community who loved our brother sincerely.
Some short biographic facts about our brother ipodeacon Georgi Nedev are here Unfortunately the bio-facts I know about Georgi are very little, as I only knew him for a couple of years. Even though the short time I used to know him, I can say I was blessed through him and I’m exteremely grateful to him, it was through him I’ve learned a bit more about Holy Mount Athos and our Bulgarian monk community that is in Zographus, as well as some very minor details concerning the spiritual Church life that I’ve never thought about. It was thanks to him I was being encouraged on numerous times in terrible times of desparation and loss of faith and track in life.
Thanks to him I was being explained for a first time, how one can go for a pilgrimage journey to Holy Mount Athos and how one can get the pilgrim’s permit documentation related to going there called in greek diamontirium He also told me about numerous miracles about Holy Mount Athos, and explained me one needs to pray to the Holy Theotokos Virgin Mary and ask her that is being allowed to enter this holy place.
This last lent, even though his sickness Georgi was regularly visiting the evening services in the Church and was dilegent in his spiritual life.
I remember him expressing his enormous joy the last time I saw him on a Holy Liturgy for he took the Holy Communion. After the Church service, I asked him how is he, his answer was; I’m not feeling well, but praise be to God! for I was able to take the Holy Communion
Many times when I asked him what are his future plans, he used to answer I don’t know anything, it’s all in the God’s will (hands) for me.
You can see yourself how great his dedicated for God was by his own words.
As our priest, who used to be his confessor said, “Georgi was a righteous man and God took him early on”.
Let eternal be your Memory beloved brother Georgi now and Forver and Ever! Amen!
Today it’s the Sunday in which we the Bulgarian Orthodox Christians celebrate The Day of All the Bulgarian Saints We have plenty of saints in our Bulgarian Christian history, many known and even more unknown ones. That feast is actually one of the greatest local church commemoration of the Christian saints who gave their life for the building, growing and preventing of the orthodox bulgarian church and the orthodox christian faith througout Bulgaria’s lands. An almost complete list of the orthodox bulgarian saints can be seen here However many are not mentioned since there are no historical documents about the countless victims (martyrs) of Ottoman muslics who were beheaded or violently killed because of his refusal to accept the Islam. Here I will just mention few of the saints that are mostly venerated in the realm of the bulgarian orthodox christian faith:
1. st. Enravota (Prince Boyan) is considered the first Bulgarian Saint martyr who gave his life to show hthe truthfulness of the Christian Orthodox faith. His most notable speak is also a prophecy concerning the bulgarian orthodox church which was made before his martyrdom for Christ. The prophecy saint Enravota has made about the Christianity establishment in Bulgaria is as follows:
This faith, which I now die for, will spread and increase across the whole Bulgarian land, although you may wish to oppress it with my death. In any case, the Sign of Christ will establish itself and churches of God will be built everywhere and pure priests will serve the pure God and will deliver “sacrifice of praise and confession” to the invigorating Trinity. Idols, and priests as well, and their ungodly temples, will crumble and will turn into nothing, as if they had not existed. Besides, you alone (to Malamir), after many years, will cast away your ungodly soul without receiving anything in reward for your cruelty.
2. St. Jonh of Rila (wonderworker) was a hermit in the Rila mountain who is a patron saint of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church. He is notable for his great spiritual purity achievement in his anchoretic life. Many miracles and healing has been received by people who has prayed and asked the saint to intercede in their behalf to God. He is known as the first bulgarian monk, and as an initiator of the first bulgarian orthodox christian monastery. His uncorruptable body is found for pilgrimage until this very day in the monastery he became a founder of Rila Monastery .
2. St. Brothers Cyril and Methodius Who were the saint brothers who venerated for enlightening the slavonic nations with writting letters. They’re actually the inventors of the old Bulgarian also known as Old Church Slavonic. They and their followers were the first to translate the holy bible into the newly created language – the Old Bulgarian.
3. st. Knyaz (King) Boris-Mihail (Boris-Michael) . He is known for his baptism of the Bulgarian Nation and the initiator of the creation of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church as well as a brilliant statesman. After baptising most of the bulgarian intelligentia and rooting up the Orthodox Christian faith in Bulgaria, he abdicted voluntery from his throne, leaving his son (Vladimir) to rule Bulgaria and started a voluntery monastic life in poverty. When his governing son tried to reinforce back the old pagan bulgarian Tengriism belief (e.g. the belief in Tangra (Tengri) he left the monastery took back the power (defeating his son) and blinded Vladimir. Then he returned back to the monastery and spend his remaining life as a monk.
4. st. Clement of Ohrid was one of the Seven Bulgarian Apostles Born in 840, a Slav from southern Macedonia, he established a monastery at Okhrida and a bishopric at Velica not far away. He is regarded as the founder of this primatial see and the first Slav to become a bishop. His extensive apostolate took the form of education of the clergy and of the laity, to whom he preached a series of sermons in Slavonic, suitable for neophytes and explaining the principal feasts of the liturgical year. Clement died at Okhrida on 27 July 916. 5. St. Nahum ucceeded St. Clement of Ohrid as bishop. Converted in Moravia by Cyril and Methodius, he journeyed with them to Rome and helped them with their translations into the vernacular: he is venerated in Russia as well as Bulgaria. Other companions of Clement called Sava and Angelar are also venerated with him. In different times and different places they all contributed to the fulfilment of the missionary plans of Cyril and Methodius. 6. Saint Zlata of Meglen has endured a martyrdom for Christ. She refused to accept muslim faith and has firmly confessed her Orhtodox Christian faith. She was given many chances to accept muslim faith by some Turks and therefore save her life but she refused and was cast into a prison for 3 months flogging until her blood soacked the ground. Finally, they suspended her upside down and lit a fire, to suffocate her with the smoke; but God was with Zlata, and gave her strength in suffering. At last they hanged her from a tree and cut her into small pieces. Thus, this brave virgin gave her soul up to God, and went to dwell in Paradise on October 13, 1796. Pieces of her relics were taken by Christians to their homes for a blessing.
7. 26 Martyrs of the Zographou Monastery on Mt. Athos at the hands of the Crusaders they have endured martyrdom for Christ, from the Roman Catholic Crusaders. Though the were warned that the enemies of Christ are coming to the Zograph Monastery they refused to leave the place and was burned alive by the unpious Crusaders. There is many others to be mentioned but I neither have the knowledge nor I’m worthy to speak about them.
Let by their Holy Prayers God have mercy on us the sinners.
Yesterday was a good day in general. Ofcourse as ever thanks to God. The day before yesterday I was feelingbad and I prayed asking of God something to become happening in my life. Yesterday Pro-XeX called and we drinked a coffee on The Fountain coffee with him and Amridikon. I received only one call from the Office for the whole day and later Bino an old friend come home and was my guest for few hours, in the evening, we met with Nomen and we decided we would watch a film on the Cinema. The Film that was projected wascalled “The Pirates of Carribbean Sea“, the film was empty of meaning just a tale I wasn’t able to get mostof the conceptions of the film it was just things happening all around the film an action happenning with some elements of humour. After that I send Nomen to his home and went home. I prayed with the Evening Orthodox Prayers as usual and as usual after that prayed with my own prayer for people I wish that God would give a hand. Today I red about the living of a saint Seraphim Sarov who used to live in russia. His life story is quite interesting, His teaching of the purpose of a Christian was absolutely truthful, what he said in his teaching was something I was all the time knowing. He said the Purpose of a Christian life is to be fulfilled and with the Holy Spirit staying in The Body of Christ Jesus, great truth, I read a documented conversation between the saint and an ordinary Russian citizen, st. Seraphim Sarov explained in this conversation how to recognize if we are fulfilled with the Holy Spirit and through this in Jesus Christ body. His explanation was something which I also know from experience so I know this saint is speaking of a Truth. When I was reading his documented with his speech I was feeling the presence of God so near. And was feeling exactly what st. Seraphim said a man feels in the Presence of The Holy Trinity!
I haven’t blogged for quite some time. First I glorify the Almighty God our Blessed Holy Trinity for his abundant mercy towards me!! Glory be to the Father, The Son and The Holy Spirit! Now and forever and ever! Amen. I start with this loud words and I have so many things to say. But yes yesterday a joyful news came to me it seems my Exemption letter for Internship has been Approved! I prayed to God that he make them approve this exemption letter because I want to graduate asap and go back to Bulgaria. Here in the Netherlands I feel really terrible, the spiritual state of the country is simply softly said terrible, even though they seem to be an advanced country from the tangible aspect of the things from the intangible/spiritually poor. Not to say that I feel like the devil is controlling most of their lives already. The complete mix of negroes, chinese, indonesians and all other type of races makes the country mixed. Here in the air it feels like a spirits of gluttony are crawling around all the time, also quite often I feel like madness crossing around the air. Sometimes I have that strange thoughts in my mind that something is really wrong with that country. Maybe I had a nice point about that.This SHR project is getting schizophrenic, anyways glory be to God for his abundant mercy towards me and sustaining me always. Yesterday was a terrible day I felt so confused such a profound spiritual sorrow was rulling me that I can hardly bear it, I had a couple of terrible days this days. Since some time I am suspecting there is something wrong here, everytime I have classes with most of the teachers here I feel terrible afterwards and I usually need a couple of days to recover to some sane state. In their presence I experience profound spiritual sorrow and suffering, I’ve been in a similar spiritual states before and I know that this simply can be described in the biblical word hell. Since some time I suspect something is wrong with this guys (I mean the tachers), a couple of days Mr. Joop Vinke the guy who seems to be like a dean to us mentioned during some of the theater sports answered my question where have been yesterday “to the rotary club” and then he added like every other day before, it was not clear is he mean it or not. My suspects became even stronger, because I know that one of my employers used to be attending rotary club as well I know some really terrible things happened in his life and I think he quit that club, anyways. Last week on Friday I met one of my other teachers (Mr. Da Ponte) and I spoke with him, the conversation flowed as he mentioned something about the Lord making the sun circle around the earth, I was interested by his statement so asked him if he believes in God and if he is a roman catholic. He said he is not roman catholic and then what followed was a sort of preach about what he believes and his God as I continusly asked him questions. From his description I left with the impression that he is probably believing in the same God of the masonry (I’ve red about that just a couple of days before). So many things matched, the teacher even mentioned that a lot of teachers in that school are also believing in God and I was left with the impression that he meant the same God as he believes, so I make the connection that they are probably rotarians, masons or taking participation in some sort of organization like that which has to deal pretty much with the occult. A couple of days before I spoke with a brother in Christ (Stelian) and I explained him what is happening and about this BHC (business ethics classes), I explained him how much they want you to accept what they say and if you don’t you are not worthy, I also explained to Stelio the whole story and how this guys are able to make you feel really bad. Since this guys tried to teach us their methods and I tried a couple of times their methods and saw the effect how by doing “something” “unconsciously” you can alter the other into a state of broken spiritness and terrible suffering while at the same time you feel overflowed with joy, a sort of stealing his living power or Angels so to say. I don’t want to enter into details about that since its to me surely related with demonic manifestation. I’ve also remembered that one of the guest lecturers that Mr. Vinke has brought here mentioned that he is rotarian, the coincidences started becoming too much seriously. I also spoke with a student who has graduated and I asked him if he feels that bad thing inside of him, I was stunned when he confirmed. Also in that SHR project it really is schizophrenic I feel that spiritually something really wrong is happening there I started thinking and I could recognize many of the things done in classes of Mr. Vinke has to deal with the paranormal even though not openly showed, even his theater sports has a lot of unconscious spiritism involved, not to mention his Werewolf games including vampires, whitches etc. a lot of the theater sport games include games which include things with dying, you play dead etc., etc. I also have noticed that teachers often are pointing me and saying that I’m not changing, many of the students here are changing seriously for bad. I know by my saviour Jesus Christ who said “by their fruits you will know them”, seeing their fruit suffering, confusion, hate, lies etc. I started being more and more convinced that this guys are dealing with the devil. So if my theory is right and I think it probably is, most of the teachers are members of the rotary club. Maybe they even see it as harmless way to improve their business contacts but I know this is not the case, and this guys are giving oaths, having their strange believes spiritual leaders and do worship the devil even though not openly. I shared all that with a couple of my colleagues and many of them probably just thought that I’m out of my mind. But the holy spirit in me testified all that the things I am thinking are true. I’ve shared what is happening with a brother in Christ (a priest) in the orthodox Church Bulgaria and he said he is gonna mention my name on the altar before God on the Divine Liturgies. I guess this matters because today even though I am not completely okay I feel much relieved and better and I feel God! Glory be to the Immortal and Holy of Israel now and unto ages of ages. I try to learn the gospel a bit early in the morning and a bit late at night before I go to bed I also try to pray a bit each morning and evening and trust the Lord to keep me and protect me from the schemes of the evil one! Yesterday I was at Ina’s place and tried to explain her that this project we do now has something to deal with evil spiritism. I even have suspected that this guys from the rotary club ask their members to share information about certain people that the rotary members work with and then try to bring some curses and spells if they see somebody as a problem to their practices. I suspect that this guys somehow use their members as a channels to spread their evil spirituality. I’ve also taken the advice of Stelio to start caring an Icon in me whenever I go to school. Quite often here and especially in the dormitory I feel something is happening inside of me, my heart starts beating unsteady I also feel spirits flying around and trying sort of trying to conquer me this more or less has to deal with their broken spirituality here. Often I feel completely exhausted like somebody stealing my living power and willingness. Also I have noticed that here in their discoteques, they don’t allow you to enter with a hat? My assumption is that there are somethings placed in the discoteques which has to deal with inducing thoughts in you. On saturday I and Sali entered into a discoteque, I was not so willing so I’ve removed my hat I’ve borrowed temporary from Sali. After being in the discoteque on the day after and on Monday I had terrible headache and felt weak and pretty much like almost dying, Also I felt something on my forehead happening, just like I felt on a numerous times the Holy Spirit annointance and the Lord’s spiritual sign on my forehead, I’ve red in revelation that the Antichrist is going to put something on ppl’s forehead and and their right hands I’m more and more starting to think that this in some phase is already working, I’ve felt aches on my right hand on a numerous occasions, here often Its like I fight for my spiritual survivance. People around I see as they’re dead and just living to consume “limed tombs” as they are called in the gospel. I know that all I’ve written here might seem like too much of a conspiracy, however I’m pretty much sure that many of the things I suppose are true to a certain high degree or even completely.END—–
On 6th of January in our Bulgarian Orthodox Church just like in the most Christian realm, we celebrate the great feast of Theophany / Epiphany (Baptizm of our Saviour Jesus Christ in Jordan).
What exactly we celebrate is the Baptizm of our Saviour Jesus Christ in Jordan by st. John the Baptist (John the Forerunner as we call him in the church). This day is very important for us as Christians and this is why the holy fathers in the church has ordered this feast to be among the 12 most important feasts in our Church, the so called (Lords feasts).
On Theophany's day it is a rule in orthodox Church that the Great Blessing of Water is performed. The Blessing of the water and the preceding holy water from the priests blessing is taken by Church layman and we bring a little of this water to our homes to bless through that our homes.
In our Church belief the Holy Water from the Theophany feast is considered the most powerful in spiritual sense holy water as this water is the same water with which our sinless Saviour and lamb (Son) of God Jesus Christ was baptized in Jordan.
The reason why we call the feast Theophany is because God in his essence of Holy Trinity appeared clearly to mankind for a first time in Human history. Our Holy Trinity (3 essence God in one indistructable and insaparatable God – one God as God said for himself in the beginning of writtings) has revealed himself in front of all the people gathered along John the Baptist in Jordan waiting to be baptized in his three essences:
1. God the Father spoke from heaven manifesting and testifying about Jesus Christ being his beloved and only son and saviour of mankdin ,br />2. God the Son (Jesus Christ), has physically appeared to receive the baptizm to fulfill all righteousness and (the old testemential prophecies) and to begin his 3 years mission on earth.
3. God Holy Spirit) has descended from heaven on Jesus Christ in a publicly observable form of a dove
Theophany's feast is called by some english speaking orthodox christians Epiphany, but this is a term less used in orthodox christendom and much more spread in Roman Catholic one.
The Gospel readings in the church tell of the Lord's baptism by John in the Jordan River. The epistle reading of the Divine Liturgy tells of the consequences of the Lord's appearing which is the divine epiphany.
After the end of the st. Basil the Great Holy Liturgy served, the Great Blessing of Water is performed by one or more priests (depending on the number of present priests). The meaning of the blessing of the waters meaning is to show that mankind and all of God's creation, were created to be blessed and filled with the sanctifying of God's presence.
A very local unique bulgarian tradition on this number is that if the great blessings of water is performed by a priest near a river or a sea shore the cross be thrown in the water in order to bless the waters.
Then a number of brave man jump in and do a race swimming aiming to pull out the crucifixion of the water. It is believed that the one who could pull out the cross will get God's great blessings through the upcoming church year.
Let us pray trust and hope on God to also appear to us who seek him, and show us his Holy Trinity wholeness mercies just like he did himself to the people waiting for Baptizm from John the Baptist by the holy prayes of the Theotokos and his holy saints and all heavinly hosts. Amen
Below I post the only picture I have of this beloved brother in Christ ipodqkon Georgi You see our brother on the right side of the Metropolitan of Varna and Great Preslav Kiril. Georgi served as an ipodqkon in the Church Holy Trinity here in Dobrich and was well known and loved by the Church community there. He also was a really good loving and decent man completely devoted to our Orthodox faith, standing firm in the faith. He worked for many months in Holy mount Athos as a repair workers cook, where he cooked for about 70 people.
Before he worked in Holy Mount Athos, he used to be a restaurant chef in Sandanski. Since about 6 or 7 months time he become sick, his assumption for the sickness was that it might be of a bad sploit old food which was consumed by accident by him and the rest of the workers. He shared with me that all of the workers felt sick after eating it but all of them except him has vomited the food afterwards.
He gets poisoned and urgently transfered back in a hospital in Bulgaria. Consequently he went under a lot of examinations which failed to proof the exact type of sickness he was suffering from. He was prescribed to eat only fasting food (some bread, apples, oil and a few of other light meals). He was prescribed a lot of medications he tried but none of them really helped him and he on a numerous times has shared with me he is not feeling weel, though I was not really believing his health situation is so severe.
The exact state he was experiencing was infirmity, headaches, skin rushes, he could hardly stay on his foots for more than few hours, as lastly he shared with me. He also got rashes from most of the food he consumed. His life was a real tragedy as I remember I saw him just 3 weeks ago and he was about to go to Sofia for some examinations. Even though his hardships in life, he was not loosing faith and believed all that was happening was according to God’s will and did accepted his sickness with humility. During the about 7 months he spend in sickness he was many times being hospitalized in Hospitals in Dobrich, Varna and Sofia.
In each of the hospitals he spend a couple of weeks on injections and live sustaining medical systems. During this periods, when he was in his home here in Dobrich somewhere in Balik, he often chatted with me over Skype, giving me good spiritual advices. He also often called my landline phone to consult on various stuff concerning his problems with his notebook. As in the last days he could only lay and use the computer. The computer he had was one of the few possessions he had, in his last days he did not have money at all as all of his savings were spend for examinations and drugs…
I remember still one time when I walked with him towards the bus-station and I was in a terrible desperation, being faithless. He instructed me I should pray and told me not to despair and stop smoking as I was nervously smoking… He lived a life similar in many ways to the life of the saints. He had a strong love for monasticism and had the desire to either become a monk or priest. He told me many miraculous things he has seen and heard when he was in holy Mount Athos.
Last time I saw my beloved brother Georgi near the Church saint George (sveti Georgi) and for my grief I behaved partly as an asshole, and I repent I was not behaving better.
In this last time I saw him he shared for his great gratitude for God that he was allowed to visit the holy Lands (Jerusalem) The Holy Sepulchure church in Jerusalem. Even in this last days, obviously living in infirmity he had his strong dedication to the Church and come to the Church services for Resurrection / (Easter) and was mostly being present on holy liturgies in Sundays.
The last time I saw him in the Church he did the Gospel and red some psalms. He was always serious and looked for the spiritual in everything, very rare kind of person to meet today. Georgi blessed me with a couple of small icons (two copies of icons of Saint Georgi [Fanailska and Araviiska] miraculous icons from mount Athos as well as an icon picture of the Altar of Holy Sepulchure Jerusalem church), and I pray in front of them when I pray to God.
These are two of the icons brother Georgi give me as a gift and blessing from Holy Mount athos:
Saint Georgi Zographus Miracle making icon
My beloved brother in Christ Georgi (God Forgive him / Bog da prosti) has also blessed me with a wonderful digital movie about the Bulgarian monastery in Holy Mount Athos Zographus. The movie about Zographus is explaining thoroughfully the history of the holy cloister and showing the originals of the Holy miraculous icons and monks who spoke about today’s spirituality and what is it to be a monk on holy mount athos (one of the most holy places on earth today).
I know also that Georgi was a wonderful a really talanted cook (even a chief) as he was responsible to take an eye for 6 cooks during his work as chief in Sandanski. In the just recently passed away Resurrection day, he has cooked an Easter cakes and banica as well as some other meals using a holy mount athos recipee.
After the Resurrection early Holy liturgy was over we ate together with the brothers and sisters from Georgi’s delicious meals praising God and rejoicing for our Lord has Resurrected from the dead… I will really miss my namesake (adash) as I used to call him often. I just hope one day I would see him again if by God’s grace I’m allowed to enter Heaven. Just about 1 year ago his mother passed away, then some few years before his father has passed away and now not more than a year after his parents he is gone as well. When I look over this tragedy it’s really hard to understand it but using the Holy Scriptures, one can easily understand why it happened that way as,
His early departure from this life is according to the words in the Holy Bible in Isaiah 57:1:
The righteous perish, and no one ponders it in his heart; devout men are taken away, and no one understands that the righteous are taken away to be spared from evil.
I hope ipodqkon Georgi will find grace in front of God to pray for me the sinner and the rest of us who’re still living in ours sins on this sinful earth.
As the memory of the righteous lasts forever he will be forever remembered as I believe he was in the number of the rightous …
Please Orthodox Brothers and sisters pray for ipodqkon’s Georgi’s soul that our merciful God forgives him his trespasses and grants him an ever lasting joy with all the saints in the heavenly church, in paradise!
God forgive you our and my beloved brother Georgi! Let your memory last forever. Amen!
It is the second year I take the time to come for a pilgrimage in Pomorie’s Monastery st. great Martyr George (Georgi).<</b>
I’m named after the great Christian saint (It’s my Name day today :)!) and I do wanted to receive a spiritual blessing here in the monastery.
The believing Orthodox Christians this year could receive a spiritual blessing this year from the Monastery as some of the Holy Relics of many great saints are temporary in the monastery for the Monastery’s feast day which is the day we commemorate our great Orthodox Christian martyr saint Georgi.
It’s unique that this year by God’s grace the monastery has temporary received a small particle of the holy relics of st. George. The pilgrims could come here and does venerate the great saint martyrs for which I thank God for being allowed by his providence to be here in the monastery and venerate the holy relics.
Here are few photos of the Holy relics from the monastery, on the pictures you see the holy relics of Saint Cyprian & St. Justina on the right, st. George’s holy relics in the center and st. Macrina’s holy relics on the left.
On the picture above you see the Abbot of Pomorie monastery Father Ierotei (who is a truly great father and a wonderful spirited man !) with the holy relics (bones) of saint Macrina on his left.
On this last picture you can see the holy relics of the Pomorie’s monastery embedded into icons (the two icons on the right).
I thank God for blessing me with being here in this holy cloister and blessing me with being able to venerate the holy martyrs relics and through this bless me and strengthen me.!
It’s important to say that we the orthodox Christians had the tradition to venerate our saint holy remains as a way to venerate God himself in accordance to the holy bible psalm which says Great and Glorious is God in his saints!
I’m sorry to provide my readers with this bad quality pictures, I’ll try to put some better quality pictures of the holy remains in very short time. Being able to show this holy remains to other orthodox christian brother and sisters is also a great grace and blessing which by God’s grace was given to us the sinners! Just to close I’ll say glory be to our God – The Holy Trinity now and forever and ever amen!
We live in the age of the boom of sects, false prophets and false “messiahs”. Today it’s common that the bookstores are filled in with all kind of occult literature and magic teaching literature, agnostic books, horoscopes and all kind of empty modern day philosophy books which teaches evil, the so called “Get rich for a day”, “The secrets of success”, “How to take advantage over the others”, “How to be succesful”, “NLP for your success”, “How to enter into business”, “How to become rich quickly” etc. are e very short list of all the non-sense literature one can meet on the books market.
Along with the books we are being offered all kind of movies and philosophies “teaching us” about the life meanings, trying to explain the meaning of life and the universe and the meaning of each self as a human being.
From Christian perspective, most of this movies and books which plead to contain “a deeper life meaning” are empty of any real pure spiritual contents but are simply a mixture of various religious beliefs belonging to different group of worldy faiths and mostly targets to make the authors of the story or screen play rich.
This movies are not being inspired by God – The All Holy Trinity and they reject Christ as a founding stone on which to stand over, it’s clear that they contain an anti-christian content and every truly devoted Christian should try to abstain from watching them.
To name just a few of asuch a movies which are ecumenical (preach for unification of world religions) and from Orthodox Christian perspective are anti-christian in essence:
What the Bleep Do we Know – Down The Rabbit Hole
The Great Secret of Water
The Secret
The Fountain
We as Christians should try not watch this movie or praise them as something which confirms our faith, as they don’t confirm our faith in Christ but they try to spread up a “sick spirituality” and insane ideas. This is just a small list of movies I have encountered which has influenced my spiritual health in a really negative way, therefore I hope if you’re a Christian you will take my warning and CHOOSE NOT TO WATCH THESE MOVIES!. The reason for choosing not to watch this movies would be purely to prevent yourself from experiencing a spiritual (soul) damages by exposing yourself to the heretical teachings and ideas of the aforementioned ones.
Also try to get astray from all the genres of boks which I have mentioned above which try to teach you how to become sucessful in life, I have personally read a book I’m not sure about the exact name but it was similar to:
“The subsconscious could do everything / (Psyche can achieve everything) / The power of Mind etc.”
The book teaches the false idea that with our subconscrious mind we built our own current realities and promotes “positive thinking” as a way to attract wealth, personal success and happiness to yourself.
You can see yourself that this is insane not only from a Christian perspective but even for any rational person.
The idea of this false teachings is to convince you that man is undeveloped god and that we are masters of our own reality.
Therefore it is in direct contrast with even basic Christian beliefs, we Christians do belief that our reality and existence is completely in God’s hands and nothing could happen without God to allow it to happen. Therefore from a Christian perspective if you, “during the whole day think about how you will get rich and how you will have millions in a bank account” as many of the up-mentioned devilish movies and books teaches, nothing will happen if God does not allow it.
We’re clearly said and taught from the Holy Bible and the Livings of the saints that all our life and daily goods we attain through our life are given by mercy, the saints has taught us that our lives and all we’re and possess are from God for God and through God! To whom be glory now and forever and ever! Amen.
Watch out for this heretical false doctrines which might separate you from Christ and our mother the Orthodox Church. The appearance of all this kind heretical literature and movies is in accordance to the prophecies by our Lord Jesus Christ who said that in the last days there will be many wolves in sheeps clothes, who will deceive and be deceived.
Let we as an Orthodox Christians be careful about what kind of books we read and keep our selves away from these and the similar kind of poisonous teachings.
Let we be fully delivered by God’s grace from being exposed to this kind of faith tempting books by the Holy Prayers of The Theotokos and all the Saints. Amen
There is a miracle of incorruptable holy relics (Incorruptable Bodies) of many of our Orthodox Saints in the Orthodox Church. Little or none is actually known in the non-orthodox christian realm about this great miracle proof of the truthfulness of our faith.
The incorruptability of saints has been a phenomena longly known to exist, some of the incorruptable bodies of saints are still preserved already for more than 10 centuries.
The phenomenon of incorruptable bodies is a sure sign for saintship in the Church. There are dozens of orthodox christian saints whose bodies are still intact. Our Orthodox Church teaches that the incorruptability of the saints body is given by God’s grace for all us the believers as a confirmation of the Resurrection of the Dead, which is about to come in the Great day of the Lord as the scriptures teaches.
A good example for incorruptable body which exists for 10 centuries in the bulgarian lands are the incorruptable holy body of St. John of Rila. St. John of Rila is the greatest known Bulgarian saint also officially recognized by the Bulgarian Orthodox Church as the patron saint of Bulgaria (protector of all Bulgaria).
In below’s videos I present you the antiphon of St. John of Rila:
Antiphon translated to English means (Song of Praise) dedicated to some Christian saint and is actually an Orthodox well-known Church term.
Saint John’s incorruptable bodies is still kept in his established monasteryThe Rila Monastery . Each year on the saints feast his incorruptable body is being bringed out of the monastery for a procession around the Church monastery.
On that day all the pilgrims who are looking for St. John’s spiritual intercession in front of God (The Holy Trinity) are lined up to venerate the great God servant St. John of Rila.
Unfortunately there is no video that has video-taped the incorruptable body of Saint John of Rila. However there are plenty of videos which shows a lot of incorruptable bodies of saints some of which are even Roman Catholic.
Along with the saints bodies incorruptability, many of the saints bodies does emit a specific a flower like odor, nevertheless the body is a thousands of years old.
Here is an example of a saints remains which is considered incorruptable, his body is preseved for more than 60 years without any special chemical threatment.
What is most important is many believers does receive a spiritual blessing or get healed from various spiritual or bodily diseases, when they look up for the holy intercession of the saint, who has been honoured by God with incorruptableness.
Before a saint’s body is recognized as a saint and his body as incorruptable, usually there are testimonials by christian layman for healings by his holy prayers during his earthly living. Some of the saints which are found to have incorruptable bodies has happened after a few years they have been put in a normal earthly grave. In holy mount athos there is a tradition that (if I remember correctly 5 years) after a monk’s death and burial, his grave is being digged out to collect his remains and put it in a ossuary.
After this 5 years some of the holy monks remains are found to possess this miraculous graceful incorruptable bodies.
As we know from Holy Bible, the body is the temple of the holy spirit my logical interpretation of some of the saint’s incrorruptability is rooted in there saint’s way of living as they have achieved the Holy Spirit (The Spirit of God) in an immeasurable quantities that, the Spirit of Truth that’s being flowing out from their incorruptable bodies is still sustaining the body and prevents the natural laws to destroy it.
The bodily incorruptabilities of our Orthodox saints is also a clear sign for the truthfulness of Orthodox Christian faith. The incorruptability is also a direct violation of the natural laws by God’s great providence and mercy and I guess is given as a stimulator of us whose faith in our saviour Jesus Christ and in God the Holy Trinity – The Father, The Son and The Holy Spirit, to whom be glory now and forever and ever Amen!
And shall not uncircumcision which is by nature, if it fulfil the law, judge thee, who by the letter and circumcision dost transgress the law? -- Romans 2:27
