Alexandr Korol

But returning to the icon and the question about the icon, how does it work? I’ll say how I understood it at that time. At that time, I understood that it wasn’t about the icon itself, it wasn’t about who was depicted on it, but rather that it was consecrated because it was antique. That means it had been with deeply religious people or a person who prayed a lot. When a person prays, they disconnect from the social-material rhythm and enter a flow. Prayers are very powerful and work strongly; it’s a shame that people, especially young people nowadays, underestimate them. But prayers are exactly what works fastest, for free, and quickly. You don’t need these things that are currently being promoted, like retreats or whatever they call them. Just find the rarest, preferably unique, untouched five prayers, recite each one carefully three times to yourself when you wake up, and you will have incredible clarity of mind and heart, no madness, no external influences on you. All your instincts, fears, and sinful desires will be tamed and suppressed. You’ll be as connected as possible, let’s say, to God, to nature, to the system. And all your decisions will be purer and more correct. So, it’s generally wrong to make any serious decisions, especially significant ones, if you haven’t cleared yourself like this first. That’s very important. I think, as I understood it at that time, that it was consecrated, and that’s why it emitted this flow, which was present when people prayed before this icon many times. This flow from it radiated from the icon. When you touch the icon, it’s as if, like a person who prays, all your thoughts disappear, and you enter that “without thought” state, a meditative state. The Orthodox Church isn’t very fond of meditation. On one hand, that’s right, because there must be a boundary kept between different teachings. But from an Orthodox point of view, consecrated icons, and yes, of course, consecrated places – they open the heart, so to speak. They scatter the “cockroaches” in your mind, open the heart, nourish the heart, and nourish faith. It works. It works very strongly and powerfully. So, it’s not the icon itself that’s important, but rather that it’s consecrated. And since you liked it so much, and some of you found it interesting that there was such a powerful icon, instead of searching for it, you can create one yourself. Please, buy any icon, preferably one in a silver setting, and pray every day: in the morning, as soon as you wake up, to set your day right, and in the evening, to cleanse yourself from the day. If you do this with the icon, the next time you take it out, you’ll immediately enter that state of flow, just like in church.