Modern man flees loneliness. Despite all the separation from people and a separate apartment with soundproofing, he is, as a rule, afraid to be left alone with himself. That's why the telephone rings endlessly, the TV works day and night, open newspapers lie everywhere and the radio plays tirelessly.

Through the media, a person again and again plunges into the crowd of a busy life and the muddy stream of events. "You need to know this !" - we convince ourselves, listening to different messages from ten sources about the same thing. And in the end, we never find out anything.

"We must not lose sight of this!" - and we immediately miss it, because at that same second twenty more events happened, which, it turns out, definitely needed to be learned in order to know everything and get our bearings in time: they chose the next one Deputy Prime Minister, and then there was a magnificent presentation, ten nightclubs were opened there at once, and here a domestic pop star shares his impressions of his favorite Hawaiian dishes, but we never heard anything (apparently, at that very moment they were lively discussing a Mexican television series on the phone ) - what a horror!

However, reading the patristic works, you find truly priceless thoughts and sayings. Thus, Saint Nicodemus the Svyatogorets writes in his book “The Invisible Warfare”: “Let the events of this century pass you by, O Christian.”

It is difficult for us, brought up in an environment of flow of information, to understand these words. Maybe the author of the book, we say indignantly, is a saint, but he lived in a different time and his advice was behind the times. And we must be aware of everything - read newspapers, listen to the radio and watch TV. We are not indifferent to what is happening around us!

But Saint Nicodemus protected us, first of all, from the events of that world that lies in evil - the world of sin, evil and filth. Listening to information about the dark sides of life, scandals and intrigues, corruption and deception, violence and cruelty, we involuntarily get carried away by everything that is happening, plunge into the stuffy atmosphere of alarming messages, are exposed to harmful vanity and completely forget about the Kingdom of God, which is not of this world.

One of the holy fathers said: “If you know everything, but don’t know God, then you know nothing; if you know nothing, but you know God, then you know everything.”

< p>Add. information: Priest Mikhail Alekseevich Khodanov Born in 1958 in Moscow. Graduated from the international department of the Faculty of Journalism of Moscow State University. M.V. Lomonosov. For a year he studied at the Institute of Arabic Language at the Faculty of Philology of the Mustansari University of Baghdad. From 1882 to 1988 worked at the Institute of Social Sciences under the CPSU Central Committee as a referent-translator of the Arabic language. As a result of his spiritual choice, he went to work at the Church of the Mother of God of the Sign in Krestovozdvizhensky Lane and became a watchman, serving at the same time at the altar. In 1989 he entered Moscow theological schools. Graduated from the Moscow Theological Academy in 1995. The ordination to the priesthood took place in 1993 on Spiritual Day. Currently he bears the obedience of the Referent of the Moscow Patriarchate and is a cleric of the ancient Moscow Church of the Intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary on Lyshchikova Hill.

Source: https://rutracker.org/forum/viewtopic.php?tu003d4135601

Contents:

Foreword by priest Artemy VladimirovIntroductionAbout callousness and indifferenceAbout repentanceIs there salvation outside of Christ ?About the benefits of self-reproach About humility in a Christian manner About the Holy Church and intellectuals About the flow of information Computer and Christian spirituality About chastity and purity About the sins of Sodom About times, morals and the Russian school About adults and children About the suffering of children About demons About laughter and humor About the theater About attitudes to art About physical education and sports About human names and love for animalsAbout harmony with natureAbout the "Orthodox" PhariseesIs awakening possible?About children and holinessPalestinian diaryPart 1Part 2Priest Mikhail Alekseevich Khodanov