sisters, the first week of lent has ended, and today , first sunday, is called the week of the triumph of orthodoxy. we find the origins of this holiday in the first centuries of christianity, after three fierce centuries of persecution by pagans under emperor constantine the great, it was established in the byzantine empire. it would seem that this should have served to usher in a prosperous, calm time for christians. however, during this period , false heretical teachings began to arise, distorting the teachings of the church, including heresy iconoclasm, whose followers denied the veneration of holy icons. however , the tradition of venerating holy icons... existed since ancient times in the christian church, it was based on the holy scriptures, and remained inviolable until the 7th century, but in 730, the byzantine emperor levi the isaurian, succumbed to the influence of the retics, banned the veneration of icons. then the orthodox, especially the monks, began to fight for the right to depict jesus christ on icons. the persecution of the orthodox was no longer by pagans, but by other christian

the church will remind us of the triumph of orthodoxy, as an event emphasizing the importance of purityof the great spiritual wisdom of st. john climacus, of the sincere repentance of st. mary of egypt, all these spiritual means we can and should use it for our purification, spiritual growth and drawing closer to christ. for a glorified christian who really goes through this period with dignity, lent becomes a time of special spiritual joy, the spring of the soul, a person has a desire to remain in this state as long as possible... and a person , going through fasting correctly, sometimes regrets that the fast is already ending, he reaps good fruits and wants to strive to have even more. a natural question may arise, what kind of joy is there when you have to restrict, force? the point is that correct understanding of fasting cleanses a person’s soul and helps him gather himself inside. fills it with love, creating a place for god’s action in him, moreover, gives place to god himself, such closeness to god revives a christian, fills him with deep spiritual joy and meaning, makes him tru

with a red star defeated demons with a swasika, victory of the forty-fifth year was a great triumph of orthodoxye gigantic empire between three oceans lost and was conquered. american and only tiny transnistria rose up in arms and defended its independence. transnistria has become a symbol of patriotic opposition. the day newspaper suddenly turned into a huge pharmacy. people brought us medicines, ivs, potions for the wounded soldiers of transnistria, and we transported all this to teraspol, during that day it suddenly turned into a transit point where they came... i remember how radovan karadzic read me his elements and the wind raised and lowered into his black mane. i remember the old whining cannon firing shots at sarajevo, tired artillerymen pulled the rope. in easter belgrade, white with cherry blossoms and apple trees, american cruise missiles were exploding. belgrade residents were afraid that the americans would blow up the bridge over the sava river, connecting the two halves of belgrade and thousands of belgrade residents. they came out on this bridge, forming a human shield, i stood