Posts Tagged ‘view’

The Dormition of Virgin Mary the Mother of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Eastern Orthodox Church view and few words on feast origin

Tuesday, August 17th, 2021

Dormition-of-Mother-of-God-Koimesis_Greek_Mosaic_at_Chora_Church_Constantinople

Dormition of the Mother of God is a feast highly venerated in both Eastern Orthodox Churches as well as Oriental Orthodox Churches (The Coptic Church and the Armenian Apostolic Church which venerated the feast not on a fixed date), whether the rest of Orthodox world do celebrate on 15 of August the Dormition of the Mother of God. The so called old calendar Churches do celebrate the feast on 28 of August as the old church calendar coincides with this date on the public national calendar the countries use nowadays, whether some of the Churches such as our Bulgarian Orthodox Church, the Romanian Orthodox Church as well the Greek orthodox Church do celebarete on 15 of August.

Dormition_de_la_Vierge-stone-icon

 

The feast is one of the major Church feasts also in Western Roman Cathic church world known as the Assumption of Mary. The way the feast is venerated varyies, but it is important to say this feast is "The Summer Easter of the Church". In the ancient times the feast has been preceded in the Church by two fastings one for the Transfiguration of God Lord Jesus Christ that was venerated on 6th of August and one week fast preceding the Dormition or the Sleeping like death called in Church Slavonic Uspenie (falling asleep) that the Mother of God experineced before her righteous Soul passed to the Lord Jesus Christ. The painless death of the Mother of God has occured according to the Byzantine author Hypollitos of Thebes who lived in VIII centuryin 41 A.D., 11 years after Jesus's Crucifix and Glorious Resurrection.

Dormition_of_the_Mother_of_God_Bulgarian-icon-from_year-1893

Bulgarian icon from year 1893

The Dormition term expresses the Church belief that Virgin Mary on her death bed has been in a completely peaceful state of the Soul that and did not suffered the terrible pains of death and division of soul and body that each of us the sinners faces because of her extraordinary righteousness and as a blessing of Christ for the ever Virgin, because of her humility and life lived in service of God, and poor and every of her near sides and for her unceasing prayer for the world that she attained even during her earthly life time. The belief of Dormition is not a Bible found doctrine but a Church tradiiton and due to that protestant do not consider it as of a high value but we orthodox firmly believe this was not mention in the bible, because the Mother of God herself unwillingness for glory because she found unworthy compared to the great miracles life, suffering and salvationory plan Jesus completed. The dormition of Mother of God is found in many of Apocryphal writtings which never become official part of the Church canon.

In the language of the scripture, death is often called a "sleeping" or "falling asleep" (Greek κοίμησις; whence κοιμητήριον > coemetērium > cemetery, "a place of sleeping"). A prominent example of this is the name of this feast; another is the Dormition of Anna, Mary's mother.

The first Christian centuries may be silent, but "The Dormition/Assumption of Mary" appears in a Greek document (attributed to John the Theologian) edited by Tischendorf published in The Ante-Nicene Fathers, dated by Tischendorf as no later than the 4th century. Then there is the apocryphal literature such as the Protoevangelium of James, regarding the end of the Virgin Mary's life, though it is asserted, without surviving documentation, that the feast of the Dormition was being observed in Jerusalem shortly after the Council of Ephesus.

Gracanica_Monastery_Serbia-Dormition-of-The-Mother-of-God-Virgin_Mary

Dormition of the Mother of God, fresco from Gračanica, c. 1321. (See also:Palaiologian Renaissance)

Before the 4th-5th century Dormition was not celebrated among the Christians as a holy day and earlier it was perhaps not celebrated because the Church did not have time to celebrate too much of special feasts, as there was the era of heretics and gnostics from 1st –  2nd centuries which give birth to multiple heresies and the era of persecution that ended just about the 4th century. Only then the Church posessing freedom in the world could review its belief and clearly define the faith as earlier both Bishops (the apostle successors as the layman) was mostly busy with each one keeping their own faith instead of clearly documenting or giving separate feasts, until the 4th century many of the Church feasts of the martyr saints were still not recognized and known in the "Universal" Church around the world, because travelling was not so common as nowadays and each local established church by apostles strives to keep their faith in Christ and not clear up Church dogmas (this gave raise of course to the VII ecumenical councels who followed from 3rd to 8 centuries.).
 

Epiphanius of Salamis who become bishop of Salamis toda's Cypros (circa 310/20 – 403), a Jew by birth, born in Phoenicia, converted to Christianity in adulthood and lived as a monk for over 20 years in Palestine from 335–340 to 362, writes in "Panarion" (his book on Herisology) in "Contra antidicomarianitas" about the death of the Virgin Mary the following:

 

"If any think am mistaken, moreover, let them search through the scriptures any neither find Mary's death, nor whether or not she died, nor whether or not she was buried—even though John surely travelled throughout Asia. And yet, nowhere does he say that he took the holy Virgin with him. Scripture simply kept silence because of the overwhelming wonder, not to throw men's minds into consternation. For I dare not say—though I have my suspicions, I keep silent. Perhaps, just as her death is not to be found, so I may have found some traces of the holy and blessed Virgin. …The holy virgin may have died and been buried—her falling asleep was with honour, her death in purity, her crown in virginity. Or she may have been put to death—as the scripture says, 'And a sword shall pierce through her soul'—her fame is among the martyrs and her holy body, by which light rose on the world, [rests] amid blessings. Or she may have remained alive, for God is not incapable of doing whatever he wills. No one knows her end. But we must not honour the saints to excess; we must honour their Master. It is time for the error of those who have gone astray to cease."


Saint Ambrosius of Milan ( Mediolan ) in 4th century says:

"Neither the letter of Scripture nor Tradition does not teach us that Mary had left this life as a consequence of suffering from bodily ulcers." pointing to her sufferless sleep like death.

Holy_Mother-of-God-Arbanasi-Monastery-three-handed-Troeruchica-Miracle-Making-icon-Bulgaria-Great_Tarnovo

The famous icon Holy Mother of God Three-handed (Troeruchica) Arbanasi Monastery of the Dormition of Mother of God near medieval capital of Bulgaria Veliko Tarnovo

Our Orthodox Church specifically holds,teaching that Mary died a natural death, like any human being; that her soul was received by Christ upon death; and that her body was resurrect on the third day after her repose, at which time she was taken up, bodily only, into heaven when the apostles, miraculously transported from the ends of the earth, found her tomb to be empty. The specific belief of us Orthodox is expressed in their liturgical texts used at the feast of the Dormition.

Mount-Olives-Marys-burial-tomb-entrane-to-tombThe rock-cut Tomb of Virgin Mary and its entrance, its front side covered in icons; eastern apse of the crypt


The holy body that was taken in Heaven after the Virgin's resurrection 3 days after her Dormition has been originally placed after the burial procession in 41 A.D. in the Church of the Sepulchre of Saint Mary, also known as the Tomb of the Virgin Mary (Hebrew: קבר מרים‎; Greek: Τάφος της Παναγίας) it is located (identified) by historians in the Kidron Valley – at the foot of Mount of Olives, in Jerusalem.

The-stone-bench-on-which-Virgin-Marys-most-pure-body-was-laid-out-Jerusalem-mary-sarcophagusThe stone bench on which the most pure body of the Virgin Mary (Theotokos) has been laid out

 

Let by the Holy Prayers of The Virgin Mary Theotokos, we find grace and God grants mercy upon anyone in torture, in fear in bitterness and sorrows, in weakness and sickness, to all broken-hearted, to all the leppers and mind sick and who lay on the death beds be granted with a painless death similar to hers.

Let the Mother of God keep and protect the Holy Land of Bulgaria and All The Orthodox Lands and the rest of lands, villages, cities and all inhabitants on earth !!! AMEN

 

Short SSL generate new and self-signed certificates PEM, view and convert to and from PKCS12 to java key store cookbook commands cheat sheet

Tuesday, January 12th, 2021

OpenSSL-logo

Below is a short compilation of common used openssl commands (a kind of cookbook) helpful for sysadmins who has to commonly deal with OpenSSL certificates.

Lets say you have to generate new certificate / key and a PEM files, prepare self-signed certificates, show CSR / PEM or KEY ssl file contents, get information about certificate such as expiry date a type of encryption algorithm or sign certificate with self-signed authority convert PEM to PKCS12, convert from PKCS12 file format to .PEM, convert java X509 to java key store SSL encryptionor convert java key store format certificate to PKCS12, then below will be of use to you.

1. Generate Private RSA Key with 2048 bits

# openssl genrsa -out $ (hostname -f) .key 2048

2. Create CSR file

# openssl req -new -key $ (hostname -f) .key -out $ (hostname -f) .csr

3. Create a Self Certified Certificate:

# openssl x509 -req -days 30 -in $ (hostname -f) .csr -signkey $ (hostname -f) .key -out $ (hostname -f) .crt
Enter password:

# openssl rsa -in key.pem -out newkey.pem


4. Show CSR file content

# openssl req -in newcsr.csr -noout -text


5. Get Certificate version / serial number / signature algorithm / RSA key lenght / modulus / exponent etc.

# openssl x509 -in newcert.pem -noout -text


6. Server certificate as CA self signeded

# openssl ca -in newcert.csr -notext -out newcert.pem


7. Generate a certificate signing request based on an existing certificate

# openssl x509 -x509toreq -in certificate.crt -out CSR.csr -signkey privateKey.key


8. Convert .pem / .key / .crt file format to pkcs12 format
 

# openssl pkcs12 -export -in newcert.pem -inkey newkey.key -certfile ca.crt -out newcert.p12


9. Convert pkcs12 pfx to common .pem

# openssl pkcs12 -in mycert.pfx -out mycert.pem


10. The Formats available

# openssl x509 -inform the -in certificate.cer -out certificate.crt


11. Convert a pkcs # 7 certificate into PEM format

# openssl pkcs7 -in cert.p7c -inform DER -outform PEM -out certificate.p7b
# openssl pkcs7 -print_certs -in certificate.p7b -out certificate.pem


12. Convert X509 to java keystore file

# java -cp not-yet-commons-ssl-0.3.11.jar org.apache.commons.ssl.KeyStoreBuilder pass_for_new_keystore key.key certificate.crt

13. Convert java keystore file to pkcs12

# keytool -importkeystore -srckeystore keystore.jks -destkeystore intermediate.p12 -deststoretype PKCS12

How to View and Delete NetApp Storage qtree, Get statistics about Filer Volume Read / Writes operations and delete and show mounted volumes

Friday, August 2nd, 2019

how-to-delete-volume-qtree-snapmirror-view-netapp-volume-qtree-and-and-view-netapp-cluster-device-statistics-NetAppLogo

I've had recently the trivial decomissioning task to delete some NetApp Storage qtrees on some of the SAP Hana Enterprise Cloud NetApp filers.
If it is first time you heard of NetApp is a hybrid cloud data services and data management (ranked in the Fortune 500 companies).

Netapps are hybrid cloud data services for management of applications and data across cloud and on-premises environments and are a de-facto standard for Data storage on many of the existing Internet Clouds and Large Corporatons that Stores many Pentabytes of Data.

The Netapp storage devices are a kinda of proprietary Clustered version of the Small business NAS storage Solution FreeNAS (which of itself is a Free FreeBSD based Data Storage OS – The #1 Storage OS).
NetApps allow plenty of things to do such as Data Mirroring (Data Backups), Data Syncing, SpapMirroring, SnapVault and many, many more custom Data revolutionary solutions such as StorageGrid.

NetApp supports integration with Kubernetes, Docker, Oracle / SAP DB, Citrix, Xen, KVM as well as multiple cloud environments such as AWS, Azure, OpenStack and has even integration with some CI/CD DevOps data provisioning – i.e. Jenkins.

In this small article, I'll show you how a Volume / Qtree on a NetApp filer could be viewed, mounted, unmounted, deleted. I'll also show you how to get statistics, while logged in remotely to the NetApp console and finally how to view and delete a NetApp configured snapmirror.

 

View NetApp Qtree

 

Here is how to view the Storage Qtree:

netapp> qtree show -vserver netapp01fv018 -volume VOL_OS_MIG -qtree bck_01v046485_20190108

To view the file content existing on the Storage server from the Linux bost next step to do is mount it with regular mount:

linux-host:~# mount netappfiler01fv018:/VOL_OS_MIG/ bck_01v035527_20190108 /mnt/test

 

Delete the Qtree from NetApp (Storage) Filer

Become administrator on the device

Once assured the content could go on to delete the qtree, it is necessery to become superuser (root) on the NetApp device, to do so, I hed to type:

 

netapp> set -privilege advanced

 

Then to delete the unneded volume previously used for transferring system update files, when logged in via SSH to the NetApp device – ONTAP Proprietary Operating system :

 

netapp> qtree delete -vserver netapp01fv018 -volume VOL_OS_MIG -force -qtree bck_01v035527_20190108


Note that this command will return back a job ID
assigned until operation is completed, to check the status of completion of generated JOB that is backgrounded, I've used command:

netapp> job show 53412

If all is okay you should get a Status of Success otherwise, if you get failed status you have to debug further what's causing it.
 

How to view existing export polcities and remove them

 

If you don't want to delete the qtree or volume but want to prevent a certain Linux server / application to not have access to it, it is useful to view existing export policy for a qtree.
 

netappfc001::> qtree show -exports -volume vol1_vmspace_netapp01v000885 -qtree q_01v002131
                                                   Is Export
Vserver    Volume        Qtree        Policy Name  Policy Inherited
———- ————- ———— ———— —————–
netapp01fv001 vol1_vmspace_netapp01v000885
                         q_01v002131
                                      vol1_vmspace_netapp01v000885.exports
                                                   true

 


To remove then export policy (to not exist at all), this is how:

 

 

netapp> volume qtree modify -vserver hec01fv018 -qtree-path /vol/volume_name/qtree_name -export-policy ""

 

I've also found the following volume qtree commands NetApp ONTAP documentation page helpful to read and recommend to anyone that wants to learn more.
 

How to delete a NetApp Volume if it is not used anymore

To delete unsed netapp volume, you have to do 3 things.
1. Unmount the volume
2. Put it offline
3. Delete it

to do so run below 3 cmds:

 

netapp> volume unmount -vserver vserver_name -volume volume_name
netapp> volume offline -vserver vserver_name volume_name
netapp> volume delete -vserver vserver_name volume_name

 

Show mounted Volume junctions (Get Extra Storage Volume information)

 

netapp> volume show -vserver netapp01fv004 -junction
netapp> volume show -vserver netapp01fv004 -volume MUFCF01_BACKUP

 

How to delete a Configured SnapMirror

What is a snapmirror?

 

Recovery-Scenario-Restore-Changes-To-Recovery-site-snapmirror-diagram

SnapMirror is a feature of Data ONTAP that enables you to replicate data. SnapMirror enables you to replicate data from specified source volumes or qtrees to specified destination volumes or qtrees, respectively. You need a separate license to use SnapMirror.

You can use SnapMirror to replicate data within the same storage system or with different storage systems.

After the data is replicated to the destination storage system, you can access the data on the destination to perform the following actions:

  • You can provide users immediate access to mirrored data in case the source goes down.
  • You can restore the data to the source to recover from disaster, data corruption (qtrees only), or user error.
  • You can archive the data to tape.
  • You can balance resource loads.
  • You can back up or distribute the data to remote sites.

 

netapp> snapmirror show -destination-path netapp02fv001:vol1_MUF_PS1_DR

 

netapp> snapmirror delete -destination-path netapp02fv001:vol1_MUF_PS1_DR -force
Operation succeeded: snapmirror delete for the relationship with destination "hec02fv001:vol1_MUF_PS1_DR".
 

If the snapmirror deletion gets scheduled you can use snapmirror status command to check status:
 

netapp> snapmirror status MUF_PS1_PRD
Snapmirror is on.

 

How to telnet from NetApp Storage to another one / check status of configured SMTPs for NetApp Cluster (filer)

 

 

You can use the autosupport and options autosupport commands to change or view AutoSupport configuration, display information about past AutoSupport messages, and send or resend an AutoSupport message.

For example if NetApp Filers have configured SMTP or SMTPs servers or other Proxy Configurations to pass on traffic from DMZ-ed network to external Internet resources or Relay servers this command will provide information on the Connection status of this remote services.

 

rows 0
set diag
node show

autosupport check show
systemshell -node netapp01f0018 -c telnet
autosupport show -fields proxy-url
systemshell -node netappf0018 -c telnet  147.204.148.38 80

netapp09fc001::*> systemshell -node  netapp08f0013 -c telnet  8080
  (system node systemshell)
Trying 100.127.20.4


node show – will provide information about configured nodes
rows 0 – will set the output print rows how they will be displayed
set – diag sets the device in diagnostic state

As you can see you can use the systemshell netapp command to try out telnet connections from the Configured NetApp logged in Source to any remote destination to make sure the set Proxy or SMTP is properly reachable.

How to get Statistics about NetApp existing volume Read / Write operations

 

On Netapp side issue:

netapp> statistics volume show -interval 5 -iterations 1 -max 25 -vserver netapp01fv004 -volume MUFCF01_BACKUP

For people starting up with NetApps, it is very useful to get a in-depth read on quick and dirty –  Netapp Commandline CheatSheet (for simplicity I've stored it in netapp-commands-cheatsheat.txt formatted file here ).

Conclusion

NetApp storages are used in many Governments and Large Corporations and for critical applications with SLAs forfeits for million bucks, mostly for applications and Database storage that are of a very large scale and too critical to be handled by the conventional storage computing of simple RAIDS 1,2,3,5,6 etc. / LVM and so on. ONTAP and NetApp Filers and Filer Clusters, are easy to maintain but due to its high number of features, not many NetApp Storage / Backup system administrators have the knowledge how to take a good advantage of this beasts. Thus finally, my even small experience with them shows that even simple things as critical errors are not handled properly at least that was my experience as a SAP consultant with SAP Hana Enterprise Cloud (HEC) and their HANA Converged Cloud where, main storage. 
This article's goal was pretty simple to guide the user on a minimum set of commands for simple qtree / volume / snapmirror view and removal decomissioning tasks. NetApps Clusters are a whole ocean of stuff and knowledge so before doing anything complex, if you're not sure what you're doing always consult a NetApp storage sysadmin as some of this animals features looks easy for the common general sysadmin but not are not so.
 

The Lord’s prayer in Anglo Saxon (Vikings) like English and Welsh – Pater Nostra English language development 7th to 16 century

Tuesday, December 4th, 2012

The story of Christianization of the nations is one of the most fascinating stories of all times. Yet people and especially historians forgot that. Modern Anthropology is based on some mambo-jambo and some speculations on the basis of rejection of God. It is my believe that people who wish to know what has really happened in the past and have a better understanding on human history should study closely Christianity.

The Lord's prayer and studying the origin and spread among languages of the Lord's prayer is one great Anthropological standpoint. While researching on The Lord's Prayer in as many languages as I can I've stumbled on rather unique fascinating information, which gives one a glimpse on how Ancient Anglo-Saxon (Viking) English looked like?

This inspired me to come with this little article in which I want to share with other brother and sisters in Christ the blessing of hearing and listening to the Lord's prayer in Ancient languages.

In Arabic world, there are plenty of theories that the Qur'an and the ancient prayers from there contain more spiritual power than the modern translated ones. Of Course we Christians knows well the Qur'an does not possess a spiritual power in truth, so I just it just as example as many Islamic people believe that too.
The topic of which languages are more blessed than others has been in wide discussion in Christian realm, way before Islamic people had their Qu'ran written.

In IX – 7th century there was a wide spread belief that there are in practice two God inspired languages, which should be used for Christian faith (Jewish, Greek and Latin).

There were people in the ancient Church for and against the understanding of the only 3 God blessed languages in which the Holy writtings – the Holy Bible and Church Liturgical texts should be written.

God's will for humanity to use mother languages to read holy scriptures and pray as well as the existence of the Autocephalous Orthodox Churches all around the world has shown that this understanding is incorrect.

Even though this, the fact that there was a dispute on the topic had a good reason as the more ancient languages (in my view) had more spiritual deepness compared to newer developed mixed languages; besides that older languages are less mixed up, almost as a rule of thumb the more advanced a language is the more words from other languages it includes.

This is just my personal understanding and not a viewpoint of the one Holy Apostolic Church – The Orthodox Church. The reason why I think so is in the past people were more simple in their thinking and their understanding about the world. In my view simplicity and simple way of thinking allowed our ancestors to be more real and more closer to God, in a way offering them less options for evil, therefore I believe the ancient languages in which the Holy Bible and Church services are done like Church Slavonic, Jewish, Greek, Syriac, Coptic etc.

One of this ancient languages is Anglo-Saxon whose variation nowadays most of the world speaks in the face of modern English. As I felt so joyful to find and listen the Lord's prayer being recited in Anglo-Saxon and other ancient English-Germanic Languages, therein I decided to share the Lord's Prayer in Ancient English from XI-th century (from youtube) .


 

The Lords Prayer in Old English from the 11th century


 

The Lord's Prayer (Fæder ure) in Anglo Saxon (Old English)


 

The Lord's Prayer in Gaelic

 

The Lord's Prayer in Welsh


 

The Lord's Prayer in Old English

 


 

The Lord's Prayer in Old Norse


 

Heliand, Lord's Prayer – Old Saxon

 

The Lord's Prayer / Preier of Oure Lord in Recited Middle English John Wycliffe Bible


 

 

Lords Prayer in Proto-Celtic, Ancient British and Brythonic


 

 

Pater Noster in Old English-Middle English-Early Modern English


 

 

The Lord's Prayer in Old English (with scary voice and face :))

People who might enjoy this post might want to check out my previous attempt to collect Otche Nash – The Lord’s Prayer in 10 languages as sung by Church choires and prayed in the Orhodox Church

My independent view on Ukraine-Crimea Russia VS Western World crisis

Wednesday, March 19th, 2014

Crimea_New_member-of-Russia-Emblem
I've been following what is happening in Ukraine over the last 6 months and I see with pain this poor brotherly Slavonic country is being literally destroyed by Radicals. It is obvious that the Revolution in Ukraine looks very similar to Revolution in Egypt, the War in Syria and obviously doesn't happen by itself but was financed by foreign forces to serve someone's interests. I known that in Ukraine people live poor, but even after the change in power it is less likely that they will start living better.

In my view Ukraine's people got infected by European Union's external appearance for prosperity and freedom. Such an outlook is just on the surface and everyone who lives in EU knows that well. It is my understanding that the European Union is based on fairy tales for freedom, friendship of nations based on economy. EU sets itself on rules and regulations and vague words combined with economic factors. With the crisis appearing one after another in country members of EU (Greece, Slovenia, Cyprus, Spain etc.) it is obvious that the EU is artificial union and not working well. Many country who belong to EU for some years already have seen that and even some like England want out of the European Union. With this in mind it is fully unclear to me why Ukrainians want and think that membership in EU will solve there economic problems … on the contrary once they join the EU, they will have to fulfill thousands of rules and regulations which will destroy there local country economy and will make them put out all country money out of the country into the pockets of Western Nations. Same nation genocide scenario was executed in Bulgaria and give "good satisfactory fruits". By the rules and regulations on Bulgaria our local economy was destroyed making our contry market completely dependent on other Western country market for daily products and external Western business investments. The failure of Bulgaria as a concurent on EU market run the wheel of EU economy, opening a new space for new investments and trade. Same happened with Romania and most likely will happen also with EU's newest member Croatia very soon.

Ukraine is a brotherly nation to Russia and even historically this two nations share very similar faith. Of course the two nations differ but the similarities and even the language makes them brotherly nations. Ukraine was part of Russian Empire and is called Ukraine (from the word end part of Russia). Historically Ukrainian were known as "MaloRus", Russians were known as "Rus" and Belarusian as (White Rus).
Currently in Ukraine live 8,334,100 Ethical Russians (17% of Ukraine's population), the highest density of Russians is in Crimea with 58 % of Ethnic Russians.

Of course the economic crisis in Ukraine as every Crisis is not only a Crisis of material goods but a Crisis of spirituality. Big part of Ukrainian Church separated from Russian Orthodox Church and are not in canonical unity with rest of Orthodox Churches. Besides that the number of Uniats (Orthodox Christian who are under the rule of the Roman Pope) seem to be growing over the last years there. After the fall of USSR, the number of protestants and other Christian sects in Ukraine also has grown. The decay of Russian Orthodox Church diocese in Ukraine set a space for more and more religious spiritual divisions which affected the material country realm. Talking about religion it is worthy to mention a very curious and not much known fact is that current Prime Minister Oleksandr Turchynov (who took place of Viktor Yanukovych) is protestant pastor. The other key actor of the Ukrainian Revolution is Arseniy Yatsenyuk who is not even Urainian but Ethic Ukrainian Jew.

Concerning Crimea historically give birth to Kievan Rus (and so to say is like mother land of all Russians as we known them), from year 1783 to 1917 was a territory part of Russian Empire, then from 1922 to 1991 it was part of Soviet Union, from 1991 to 1998, Crimea was autonomous Republic. Crimea is well known from history where Russian Empire fought with French Empire in Crimean War (1853-1856). It is no strange why Russia wants Crimea so hard as they have historically fought for this land and over the last few centuries it was Russian teritory. It will be no strange either if Crimea becomes a reason for another war …

So Who is right Russia or the Western World (European Union / United States)?
For me from the facts it is more than clear that neither the Euroepan Union nor United States share a close history / language / culture with Crimea, neither ever this was their territory. Meaning Westerners doesn't have the right to escalate the situation by putting oil in the fire, but should better keep silent and let Ukraine Russia and Crimea solve their problem alone (in a peaceful way). But why Europeans and Americans try to intervene? Well simple economically European Union has more interest to have a new Member country membering ~ 45 millions and a nice tourist destination Crimea than to have a member with 3 million less, and US's influence on world by having a western oriented Ukraine will raise. This is the reason why they make so much noise and don't want to accept the referendum in Crimea for unification with Russia, because they have politic interests there.

Ukrainians was mislead to believe the fight for Ukraine is a nation heroism, where in reality what is happening in Ukraine is just serving biggest countries interests. The bad thing is what is happening there is a good reason for emerge of national war and we know from history such a small conflicts combined with a world economic crisis led to World War I and World War II. I don't say that such a war will emerge but I think Western World should be careful to not provoke a war in Europe through recognizing Crimea's people decision to become part of Russia.

Nessebar – Ancient Christian city and a wonderful rest resort

Wednesday, April 9th, 2014

nessebar-an-ancient-Christian-city-a-great-resort-place
Last Friday together with my best friend Mitko together with an old-school good friend Samuel and another friend Geоrgi travelled to Pomorie Monastery. The reasons to go there was to have a short pilgrimage journey and to baptize Samuil who had the good desire to receive Baptism. As always it is a God's blessing to spend time in monastery and this was time it was not different. We started the trip from Sofia to Pomorie in about 08:15 and with a few little breaks we reached theMonastery about 12:30. Before we start journey I call Pomorie Monastery's abbot father Ierotey to ask if he will bless our pilgrimage (for those who never was in monastery's everything  happens wtih a blessing and it is best before a monastic trip to ask a blessing). Once arrived the novice monk Milen met us and accomodated us in two of the monastic rooms.

On next day, there was the standard morning prayer service and the bells rung to wake us up, after the service we had a small talk with father Sergiy, met some of the brothers and with abbots blessing together with father Sergiy, we went for a few hours pilgrimage journey to Nessebar.

Nessebar (the town ancient name is Mesambria) is an ancient city situated 16 km from Pomorie (known in ancient times as Anchialo / Anchialo). Both Pomorie and Nesebar was a great historical Christian sites from very ancient times, a cities where first civilization started before Christ. Here according to excavation Christianity started somewhere in the early II-nd century and undergoes а bloom until the XI, XIII century. Here in those places according to some historic datas used to even have an archibiship seat. It is less known fact that Nessebar is one of the most ancient cities in all Europe and started its existence about 3200 years B.C.!
In ancient times before Christianity Mesambria used to be inhabited with Thracians.
On the road to Nesebar we passed through Aheloy (Achelous) – a town where occured the Battle of Achelous (y. 917) which is the biggest battle in medieval European history (120 000 troops participated in battle).

Bulgarians_defeat_the_Byzantines_at_Anchialos_battle_biggest-battle-of-10-th-century-medieval-times

Nesebar is a significant historical city and thus part of UNESCO's world heritage world site. It is divided in new and old city, whether new city's doesn't shiny with architecture, the old town architecture is preserved and absolutely unique. The fact that Nessebar used to be a important Christian center is still evident as even though the town area is situated in peninsula (consisting of only 850 meters width and 350 meters hight), it has 12 Churches !

Nesebar_Church-of-Christ-Pantokrator
Nessebar Church of Christ Pantokrator

Some of the ancient Churches in nessebar are dated from around VI to VIII century. Many of the Churches are in a style specific for Bulgarian empire build in analogy with the  Tarnovo capital of Bulgaria at that time architecture, such architecture is very common for Bulgaria and Byzantine empire in the XIII and XVI centuries. Churches dated from the XIII c. is St. Parascheva, (XIII c.) St. Theodor (XIV c.), St. Archangel Michael and Gabriel (XVI).
По това време са построени църквите “Св. Параскева (XIII в), “Св. Теодор” (XIV в), “Св. Архангели Михаил и Гавраил” (XIV в), имащи преки аналогии в столичната търновска архитектура.
 

ancient-church-in-Nessebar-1

Unfortunately though there are many Churches in Nessebar, many of them are just historical monuments nowadays and others are turned into Painting Galleries. In all ancient city only 1 Orthoox Church – The Dormition of Virgin Mary is functional with regular Holy Liturgies served. The Church has a miracle making of the Theotokos. Many people have found relief and cure or fast help from God after praying in front of the miraculous icon.

miracle-making-holy-icon-of-Virgin-Mary-Nessebar-Bulgaria
Nessebar Miracle Making Icon of Holy Theotokos

To give thanks to Mother Mary many people who received cure or whose prayers came true by praying in front of the miraculous icon deliberately left their gold earings, necklaces and even war medals.
In the Church there are holy relics of number of Christian saints – saint Cyprian and Justina, saint Tatyiana, st. mrtr. Marina, st. Vlasij, st. Macarious

Father Sergij walk us through the city telling a bit of history of each of the Churhes one of the Basilicas was much bigger the rest and fr. Sergius explained that this used to be a Church where a Metropolitan or a Bishop was serving.

We learned that in Nessebar was a very desired king region a place, a highly spiritual place with an overall of 40 Churches!
On the entrance of old nessebar there are remains of the old city fortress walls, the whole city houses and architecture is renessance with a lot of wooden houses.
fortifications_in_entrance_of_Nesebar
Nessebar city entry fortress remains

Nesebar_-_Wooden_Houses
Wooden Houses in Nesebar

Besides the beautiful Churches the sea side is breath taking and from sea shore you can in the distance another resort city Sunny Beach.

nessebar-hills picture
Nessebar winter sea coast view

In Nesebar there are plenty of souvenir shops, caffeterias, small ethnographic styled restaurants assuring a great time for every touries.Very neart to Nessebar is situated also a beautiful rest resort village Ravda.
About 13:00 we left Nessebar and headed back to Pomorie with fr. Sergij who told us a what of Christian faith stories rich in wisdom. On next day Sunday after the end of Holy Liturgy the Abbot of Pomorie Monastery (fr. Ierotey)  baptized Samuel and we had a lunch together with the brotherhood.In early afternoon we  headed back to Sofia. As always father archimandrit Ierotey and fr. Sergius presented us with Christian literature as a gift and a CDs with faith related movies.

Trip to Troyan Bulgaria and Troyan Monastery – Third monastery by size in Bulgaria

Tuesday, August 12th, 2014

Troan Monastery Church - Trip to Troyan Monastery from 16th century Bulgaria - 3rd monastery by size in Bulgaria
This weekend I went with my wife for a Trip To Troyan monastery from Sofia – bus ticket currently costs 12 lv (6 euro) and the distance is rawly 160 km.

Troyan is a remarkable mountain city situated in the center (heart) of Bulgaria, famous with being one of the main places where opposition and preparation for the Turkish Bulgarian war occured. Troyan monastery situated near Oreshaka village was one of the places where the idea of liberation of Bulgaria originated. Troyan was often visited by the remarkable revolutionaries and greatest Bulgarian heroes of all times like Vasil Levski and Hristo Botev.

Troyan Monastery - ancient orthodox monastery in Bulgaria from 16th century

Here in Troyan there was existing one of the many secret commitees in period (1869 – 1876) – Central Secret Revolutionary Committee (BRCK – as widely known in Bulgaria), creation of this commitee become reality thanks to the Deacon Vasil Levsky who saw there is no awakened Bulgarians to fight for national freedom.
Efforts of CSRC later lead to Liberation of Bulgarian from 500 years Bulgarians being under the yoke of Turkish Slavery.

Eco path in the steps of the Apostle of Freedom Vasil Levsky Bulgaria

Our first impressions from Troyan were quite negative, the bus station looks post communistic and a little bit like a horror movie, near the bus station there was a lot of criminal looking gipsies.
Just 5 minutes walk from there is a small beautiful park with children playground, what impressed me most in the park is a bush cutted in the form of ancient amphora and next to the park is the city center surrounded by a river Beli Osym, all from the city center you can see the beatiful mountains all around. There are two historical museums filled with archaelogical remains from early ages, national dresses, weapons from the Liberation war, explanation with chunks of history and Bulgarian national heroes connected to Troyan, there are beautiful expoisitions on how locals used to live through the ages museums, famous paintings original of local artistsBulgaria is a unique country, because of it combines outstanding nature and rich history remains of which is well preserved and standing firm testifying about the Bulgaria glorious past.

Entrance door of The Troyan Monastery - Troianska sveta obitel uspenie Bogorodichno

After taking a walk in the city center, we went to a local city bus station to take a bus to Oreshaka village – at the end of which is located Troyan Monastery. His Beuaitutide Patriarch Maxim who passed away 98 years old was born in Oreshaka village and become monk in Troyan monastery and was a brother of Troan monastery. Currently his holy body is buried in the monastery which is titled "The Dormition of the most Holy Theotokos".  One can feel the place is graceful even from reaching near Oreshaka village, the near view is also stunningly beautiful. The bus from Troyan has a bus stop right in front of the monastery and is cheap (costed only 1.90 lv per person 0.80 euro cents). Bus to the monastery travels 4 times a day, so it was convenient to reach the monastery.
Oreshaka and Troyan region is well famous since ancient times with its skillful craftsman and all kind of crafts developing.

Tryoan monastery mamut and lion - monuments from ancient God creation

Near the monastery there is small chapel from which the monastery started, the history of Troyan monastery, all revives around the miraculous icon of Holy Theotokos (Troeruchica – The Tree Handed Virgin).

Miracle making icon in Troyan Monastery Holy Virgin (Theotokos) Troeruchica - Tree Handed

The monastery story revives around this icon, a monk from holy Mount Athos was travelling to Vlashko (nowadays situated in Carpathians – Romania near border with Moldova), on his way he heard about a hermit with his pupil living near Oreshaka region and spend some time in fasting and prayer with the hermit local people heard about the miracle making icon and come from near and distant regions to venerate the Holy Virgin and pray. When the time come and he decided to move further in his trip to Vlashko he put the icon on his settled horse, made the sign of the cross and walked after few steps the horse stumbled and break his leg, in this event the monk understand it is not God's will to travel and he returned back to the hermit. After spending some time with the hermit, he settled again his horse but on exactly the same place the horse fall again – in that the monk understood this happens because the icon wants to stay on that place. The hermit offered to the monk that he stay there and they service God together, but traveling monk rejected, he venerated the holy icon for a last time and continued his travel to Vlashko. A small brotherhood formed by God's providence near the hermit and they decided to make a small wooden Church for Troeruchica and started servicing God there. This is how Troyan monastery started in the XVI century. The Glory of the Holy icon of Virgin Mary (Troeruchica) quickly spread all around enslaved Bulgarian lands and people come from all regions to pray to the Virgin to cure them, grant them good fortune, good health, solve spritual and family problems … The notes over the last 400 years shows that everyone that come with faith and prayed in front of the Virgin icon found confort, healing, numb started talking, deaf started hearing, paralytics walked.

Sveta_Bogorodica-Troeruchica-Holy-Theotokos-miracle-making-icon-Troyan

Monastery chronicles say that thanks to the Theotokos Troeruruchica in year 1837 the icon saved the locals from the black death which was taking its toll in the region, nobody that came to the monastery to ask for protection from the plague didn't suffered plague, everyone that decided to stay in the monastery during the plague survived, even though people from all around were coming to confess and take the sacraments, no one in the monastery wasn't infected by plague.

We arrived in Troyan Monastery around 16:30 and by arriving were hospitally accepted by our marriage godfather Galin and his sister Denica and were threated with fresh watermelon and even 50 grams of Bulgarian traditional drink Rakia. They're currently painting walls in the monastery dining room in 18:00 we had the blessing to attend the evening Church service. The service was deep and unique experience that moves you to the Kingdom of heaven. After the Church service we went to nearby Mehana Kaizer (Old Bulgarian Dining Inn – Krychma whole made to look in Old Bulgarian Style – there is plenty of traditional food to choose and food was super delicious 🙂

kaizer-krychma-traditional-inn-pub-near-Troyan-monastery

On Sunday 10.08.2014 we were for the Holy Liturgy service and after that we walked through the monastic Church and saw near the Church the bell tower and next to it the old monks monastic graveyard. We visited also the museum of the monastery which contains various religious use objects dating back from year 1700+, old  craftmen instruments, old icons, potirs, priest clothes, old coins from all around the world and Bulgaria. There was a lot of information about historical facts regarding the monastery brotherhood, as well as some chronicles and documents explaining participation of the monastery in the fight for national freedom of Bulgaria. The musem is made of two rooms one of which was the same room where the Apostle of Freedom Vasil Levsky – one can see there the exact hiding place which Vasil Levsky was using to sleep secretly – the hiding place looks like a normal wardrobe.

Scyth saint Nicolas near Troan Monastery Oreshaka Bulgaria - revolutionary city led to freedom of Bulgaria

After seeing the museum, we went to see the monastic Scyth – "Saint Nicola", which was used earlier by the monks, whenever they wanted to have period of seclusion to raise their spiritual life. The Scyth has a large Church in honor of Saint Nicolas, most likely this Church was visited by people from the village, in times when Christians in Bulgaria was forbidden to attend Church services by Turkish Empire – and this is why it was build in such a secluded place. Near the scyth is the grave of a famous rebel for Bulgarian Freedom, and there is a cave with a spring.

Graveyard and skeleton of haidut - rebel Velko fighter for Bulgarian freedom Schyth near Troyan Monastery

Then we walked back the road to Troan Monastery and near the monastery, we went to see workshop of a carpenter lady who makes wooden ornaments for Churches in the region and the monastery.

The lady give us some herbs as a blessing. We had the chance to also take the blessing from the current Abbot Biship Sionij who was earlier rector of Sofia's Seminary Saint "John of Rila".

Outlook Express hotkeys (short keys) list – Use your MS Outlook efficiently

Thursday, March 13th, 2014

I'm foced to use Microsoft Outlook Express daily for my daily work in Hewlett Packard. Thus I decided to learn the hotkeys to make my Mail use more efficient. Here are list of Outlook Express hotkeys, hopefully to be useful to others too:
 

Print the selected message –  Ctrl+P
Send and receive mail –  Ctrl+M
Delete a mail message - DEL or Ctrl+D
Open or post a new message –  Ctrl+N
Open the Address Book - Ctrl+SHIFT+B
Reply to the message author –  Ctrl+R
Reply to all –  Ctrl+Shitf+R, Ctrl+G (news only)
Refresh news message and headers –  F5
Forward a message - Ctrl+F
Find Text - F3
Find a message - CTRL+Shift+F
Close Message - ESC
Check Names - Ctrl+K, Alt+S
Go to your Inbox - Ctrl+I
Go to the next message in the list - Ctrl+> or Ctrl+SHIFT+>
Go to the previous message in the list - Ctrl+< or Ctrl+SHIFT+<
View properties of a selected message - ALT+ENTER
View the full source of the message - Ctrl+F3
Go to the next unread mail message - Ctrl+U
Go to the next unread news conversation - Ctrl+Shift+U
Go to a folder –  Ctrl+Y
Open a selected message – Ctrl+O or ENTER
Mark a message as read - Ctrl+ENTER or Ctrl+Q
Move between the Folders list (if on), message list, preview pane, and Contacts list (if on) - TAB
Mark all news messages as read - Ctrl+SHIFT+A
Check spelling – F7
Insert signature - Ctrl+SHIFT+S
Send (post) a message –  Ctrl+ENTER or ALT+S
Select all messages –  Ctrl+A

Enjoy 🙂

 

Total Commander or Free Commander a must have Windows file Explorer alternatives

Monday, December 2nd, 2013

Total Commander must have windows file explorer alternative logo

Whether coming from Linux background and you're forced to work with MS Windows or even if you're born as a Windows user  and you hold a strong dislike for Windows File Explorer. You will certainly appreacite some Windows Explorer alternative like Total Commander.
 

1. Total Commander –  Windows Advanced File Manager

Total Commander was widely spread and still is mostly used by advanced Windows users since the distant 1996 when it came to exist.
Total Commander is highly spread among programmers and computer professionals. It is well known in Russia and the ex-Soviet Union block countries Total Commander is strongly preferred over Windows Explorer by anyone who ever had to work in Old command line MS-DOS, Unix consoles / Midnight Commander etc. Total Commander has just one downside it is not free as in freedom but shareware, so you either have to find a crack for it or everytime you run it press a number before you can proceed with it, this however is not such a big issue as usually you work with computer whole day and even if you should press a number once to continue run as Shareware, you have to do it just once or twice a day.

Total Commander windows internet explorer hackers alternative not registered screenshot

So why use Total Commander or Free Commander preferred choice over Windows Explorer and why it is better for one to use it:

1. Security

Big part of viruses have hidden attribute. Of course we can’t see it’s presence in Windows Explorer, this is so common with USB Drive Viruses. While MS Explorer has limited capability in showing system file, Total Commander is different, once it is specified to show hidden files, all kind of hidden files are to be shown.

2. Support for multiple upload protocols like FTP and SFTP

Through Total Commander plugins you can enjoy simplified way to do every operation from one interface. Once plugin for SFTP / Webdav … plugins you will not have to install separate clients like WinSCP / CarotWebDav etc.

3. Play multimedia mp3 / Zip / Unzip, watch pictures

You can play your mp3s with no need for WinAmp, Unzip or IrfanView. As this is done internally in Total Commander through plugins. So using Total Commander saves you from multiple applications also gives you unified interface something which saves time and annoyance of separate applications pop-up windows.

Total commander directory Cdrive listing the hacker choice for file explorer

4. Better file copying internal program

Total Commander's copier is much better than Windows Explorer default one. Lets say you have a power outage during copying a large file. What Windows Explorer will offer is overwrite the file loosing you time, whether Total Commander will continue copying from file byte size it stopped due to outage. Another advantage is it will be able to copy damaged files much better than Windows default copier program. TT's internal copy is not so quick as TerraCopy but faster than Windows Explorer default one..

5. More powerful search than Explorer's

TT has capabilities to search inside archives, set search encoding type. Search only by directories or files, set a range of dates from which files has to be found, search only hidden directories, search by directory file attribute, file size, look for duplicate files etc. etc.

total commander more powerful windows search window screenshot

Here is a complete list of Basic features embedded in Total Commander latest version which of time of writting is 8.01;
 

  • Two file windows side by side
  • Multiple language and Unicode support
  • Enhanced search function
  • Compare files (now with editor) / synchronize directories
  • Quick View panel with bitmap display
  • ZIP, ARJ, LZH, RAR, UC2, TAR, GZ, CAB, ACE archive handling + plugins
  • Built-in FTP client with FXP (server to server) and HTTP proxy support
  • Parallel port link, multi-rename tool
  • Tabbed interface, regular expressions, history+favorites buttons
  • Thumbnails view, custom columns, enhanced search
  • Compare editor, cursor in lister, separate trees, logging, enhanced overwrite dialog etc.
  • Unicode names almost everywhere, long names (>259 characters), password manager for ftp and plugins, synchronize empty dirs, 64 bit context menu, quick file filter (Ctrl+S)
  • USB port connection via special, many improvements to ftp, synchronizing and other functions

Total Commander has a portable version for those who travel a lot and like to use it on multiple computers from a USB Stick.

2. Free Commander – A Total Commander Free for personal use Alternative

Freecommander FC / Free Commander hackers free windows explorer alternative

Free Commander is not open source but it is free to use for non-commercial use and not Shareware, so it is perfect alternative for those who like Total Commander but dislike fact you have to press a number on each TT start up and you have to see in Total Commander Title (NOT REGISTERED)

List of basic supported functions by Free Commander are;

 

  •     Dual-panel technology – horizontal and vertical
  •     Tabbed interface
  •     Optional tree view for each panel
  •     Built in file viewer to view files in hex, binary, text or image format
  •     File viewer inside archives too
  •     Built in archive handling: ZIP (read, write), CAB (read, write), RAR (read)
  •     Nested archive handling
  •     Built in FTP client
  •     Easy access to system folders, control panel, desktop and start menu
  •     Copy, move, delete, rename files and folders
  •     Multi rename tool
  •     Wipe files
  •     Create and verify MD5 checksums
  •     File splitting
  •     File properties and context menu
  •     Calculation of folder size
  •     Folder comparison / synchronization
  •     Modification of file date and attributes
  •     Folder / program favorites
  •     File searching (inside archive too)
  •     File filters for display
  •     User defined columns for detailed view
  •     DOS command line
  •     Multiple language  support

Just like Total Command, Free Commander has a portable version for those who want run it on Windows machines with no admin permissions to install.
 

IE PassView – View stored Microsoft Internet Explorer passwords program

Thursday, January 5th, 2012

While checking a friend of mine's blog, I've seen a reference to a Windows program capable of revealing stored website passwords.
Check stored internet explorer passwords in plaintext with IE PassView

IE PassView is a small password management utility that reveals the passwords stored by Internet Explorer Web browser, and allows you to delete passwords that you don't need anymore. It supports all versions of Internet Explorer, from version 4.0 and up to 9.0.
Ie PassView is quite a good one for crackers, who would like to steal some lame poor Windows IE user facebook,gmail, yahoo etc. passwords 😉 here is a link to IE Passview's download page