For Russians, Athos has become a place where good news is expected. Thousands of pilgrims come to the island every year, some of them stay there forever, they are so attracted by the purity and silence of monastic life.
Of course, among the monks there are talented, God-given preachers who are ready to share the received wisdom and reveal the secrets of spiritual life.
Unfortunately, in our time, the flow of pilgrims who love the Athos land has decreased. But cultural and spiritual ties between Russia and Athos have been preserved for many centuries. Many ascetics, who glorified and enlightened the Russian land, first visited Athos, where they learned the monastic life, received blessings and reinforcements for future labors. Remember at least the founders of the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra …
Although it has become more difficult to organize a pilgrimage trip to the island, it cannot be said that the difficulties also limited informational communication between believers. On the contrary, it has become even more developed due to the fact that web resources with sermons, news, photo archives have appeared. Can read lives of the saints for every day, this will become a real reinforcement for maintaining a clean and good life in the world. Examples of devotees of past centuries inspire sincere believers to live piously, preserving the faith and doing good to their neighbors. For more than 2 thousand years, the Orthodox Church has been enriched by many saints, martyrs, and confessors. We can say that the Orthodox have a holiday every day, because on any day of the year one or another saint is remembered who glorified God with his life or death.
Important Orthodox shrines are also kept on Athos: when pilgrims visit monasteries, they get the opportunity to pray with them and venerate the images that have become the main value of the church. Of course, we can say that the land of the island itself has already become a shrine, many of those who are now revered as saints walked on it. In the monasteries, the custom of hospitality has been preserved, in which of them the traveler may come, he can count on sharing a meal with the monks and lodging for the night. This is another example of the godly life that a believer in Jesus Christ strives for. Instructive stories, parables, lives are carefully preserved and passed from mouth to mouth. And thanks to the creation of thematic sites, it has become much easier to save them. If only men can visit Athos, Orthodox women can also read news and sermons on the site. There is an important advantage in this regard.
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