10. Confession of the heart

It's almost a week since the young medical student Dimitris, visited the wise ascetic elder at the chapel of the Archangels, up on the mountain.

Their discussion on various spiritual topics and especially the sacrament of confession, had captivated him. Throughout the week, he tried to study and discover, as much as it was possible, the errors and passions of his soul and to write them down. He was determined to confess them to the wise elder priest and ask him to guide him on the spiritual path he had already begun.

Now, he is happily going up the path through the forest, which would soon bring him closer to his divinely inspired guide.

The joy of the ascetic elder was obvious, when he saw the young student sitting next to him and asking him to hear his confession.

9. The secret for a proper confession

Under the deep shade of a plane tree and beside the stream of running gurgling water, near the beautiful chapel of the Archangels, high in the mountain, the ascetic elder is sitting with Dimitris, the young student of medicine, and talking to him.

Dimitris is a very modest, sensitive and polite young man. He loves all people, but most of all those who are suffering from various diseases. Besides, this was the reason he decided to study medicine, because he wanted to be among the suffering and serve them with his medical knowledge.

8. The miracle of forgiveness

It was still very early in the morning, when the rising sun emerged timidly, to challenge the darkness of the night.

Alone, a young man went up the narrow path through the woods, to go to the chapel of the Archangels, where a venerable old priest lived ascetically together with four other brothers. He was the abbot at this small monastery, a spiritual father renowned for the love and compassion which he showed to those who went for confession.

Soon, the young man was kneeling at the feet of this holy spiritual father and opened his heart to confess all his sins.

7. Does God love me too?

One day a mother was talking to her oldest son about the various problems that are troubling all the teenagers nowadays.

Sometime later, the discussion turned to God and the mother asked her son what his friends believe about Him.

-Some children, mum, believe simply that there is a superior power who governs the world. Others say that there is nothing, neither God nor soul. They believe that everything is material and ends with death, that is why they declare themselves as atheists. Others, on the other hand, believe that there is a God but He isn't concerned with them. Of course, there are those who believe in His existence and go to church.

6. The secret for a happy marriage

-What's wrong, my child, why are your eyes red from crying? the little girl's mother asked her anxiously, when she came home from a school friend's house.

-There was a big fuss today at my friend's house. Her parents were quarrelling and said many bad words to each other. In the end they decided to split up and her dad left the house.

-What did your friend do then?

-She was crying inconsolably and begged them not to split up. But they took no notice of her and continued to curse each other. Why aren't all couples happy, mum, like you and dad? What is it that makes them unable to live together with love?

5. A heavenly melody

Two days before Pentecost, a young man with his wife went to their spiritual father to confess their sins. They wanted to cleanse their souls from every sin and get ready spiritually for the great day of the Holy Spirit.

The pious confessor heard their sins, read them the prayer of forgiveness and blessed them. Then he took them to sit under a big oak tree with its thick shade. Near them a bubbling stream ran from the monastery's well, where its murmuring together with the rustling of the trees made their own sweet melody.

There he found the opportunity, as an affectionate spiritual father that he was, to teach them a wonderful heavenly melody. To reveal to them the nicest treasures of the Holy Spirit, with which they could become spiritually rich and walk their life on the greatest paths of joy and happiness.

4. Our real father

A family was in the habit of praying every day in front of the holy iconostasis. One day, after the evening prayer, the small child asked his father:

-Dad, why when we're praying do we say that God is our Father? Is it maybe because He created us?

-My child, God created the whole world as well as us, humans. But while for the whole world He is just God the Creator, for us humans He is something more. He is the real Father and Mother of our souls.

3. What Satan says to God about us!

We all say that we love and respect God and that we are good Christians. We don't feel that we are isolated from Him, because we don't harm anyone and definitely go to church three times a year. We believe that we are close to God. But Satan tells God different things about us.

With much audacity, as if he is the one who successfully dominates our lives, because we do whatever he puts in our minds, he turns to God and says:

2. The most merciful Father

The greatest joy for a child is to have good parents. The nicest thing a child can have in this life is its mother's tender love and the loving protective presence of its father. Only an orphaned child can understand the suffering from the lack of such parents.

But the same suffering is felt by those people, who think that they are orphaned from the presence of a heavenly Father God. How many people really feel sadness and sorrow because, due to their sins, they think that God does not love them, but is ready to punish them and send them to hell for the mistakes and the sins they have made or are still making.

1. The miracle of repentance

Who doesn't want to be happy? No one! We all want joy and peace, that's why we do everything to achieve it. But despite our efforts, it is very difficult to succeed. That's why we are wondering what's really to blame.

The secret is not found in acquiring various material things or in bodily pleasures, but in the most precious thing that a man has, which is his immortal soul.