Pages

Saturday, May 23, 2020

One of the Best Biographies of St. John of Kronstadt Was Written by a Contemporary of His Who Was an Occultist


The following was written by someone named Nadejda, whom I believe was Madame Nadejda Fadeef, the aunt of Madam H.P. Blavatsky, founder of the Theosophical Society. It was published in the Theosophical magazine she founded called Lucifer in volume 11, September 1892 - February 1893. The author was clearly acquainted with Father John of Kronstadt, and it is known that Madam Blavatsky herself admired Father John and seemed to want to show people that they approved of each other. Nonetheless, this is one of the best biographies written about Father John, and he was still alive at the time when it was published. In 1902, the same magazine published a retrospective of this article and updated information about him, which can be read here.

Wednesday, May 6, 2020

The Singing Toy Bear


The following is the testimony of Panagiotis Betses from the village of Kypseli in Zakynthos:

"On Christmas Eve in 1998, I was working late at my bakery. I went home very tired and lay down to sleep. My wife told me to get dressed so we could go to church, because it was the holy day of Christmas. I refused, due to my exhaustion. My wife was upset and she decided also not to go to church.

Suddenly at that moment, a little toy bear from the other room began singing on its own, without there being a clock to set. It shocked us both. We then both immediately got dressed and went to church.

Later when I asked a spiritual father at Mount Athos about this, he told me that the devil was happy that he achieved in preventing us from going to church on such a day, and he demonstrated this happiness by starting the song from the toy bear without anyone having touched it."

Source: From the book Ascetics in the World, vol. 1. Translated by John Sanidopoulos.


.

.