I humbly ask all of you to pray for a fellow orthodox christian from my home town.
The story started like this:
He turned to Christ somewhere in his 30s, while married and with two children. However his wife soon left him while taking the kids in the process due to his agressive "hyperdox" practices, including forbidding his kids to play with toys. This led him to live a self imposed life as a hermit in his own house - he has no electricity, no phone, computer etc. Soon after I first met him, all of the above I had only heard from what parishioners were talking so I didn't give it much credit. In many ways he was normal and friendly to me and I saw him a few times. However I couldn't help but notice how negatively he talks about all members of our town's parishes I mentioned. Soon I found out that his way of life, as described above, is true. He doesn't go to work - all he does is spending the days isolated at home, reading huge amounts of prayers - the Hours for example and so on. To my advice to at least find some work, he answered that work would leave him "no time for prayers". As I live in another city, I lost contact with him and hadn't seen him for almost a year.
This last Saturday I was in my home town again. I saw him at church and the look on his face was... demonic to say the least. The coming Sunday morning, the parish priest chased him away from church and told me "Don't you see him? That's our new priest!" - it turned out he'd started coming to parishioners, offering them to read prayers which only priests are allowed read for laymen. After the service ended, he came into church again. I kindly told him that he doesn't look well and he just answered that: "To hermits and to laymen a different grace is given." Immediatlely after that he went to a parishioner, who just entered the church, and made him a remark that he shouldn't wear a hat in church. A few hours after that I had to leave my hometown and I couldn't be of any other help to him.
This man (his name is Momchil), probably now near his 40s, has already spent years in isolation and has slowly fallen into a heavy state of prelest. If things go like this, he will undoubtedly be led to something even more serious, suicide is not out of the question. I feel like if I don't write this, it will be my sin for not doing anything about it. Please include him in your prayers.
The story started like this:
He turned to Christ somewhere in his 30s, while married and with two children. However his wife soon left him while taking the kids in the process due to his agressive "hyperdox" practices, including forbidding his kids to play with toys. This led him to live a self imposed life as a hermit in his own house - he has no electricity, no phone, computer etc. Soon after I first met him, all of the above I had only heard from what parishioners were talking so I didn't give it much credit. In many ways he was normal and friendly to me and I saw him a few times. However I couldn't help but notice how negatively he talks about all members of our town's parishes I mentioned. Soon I found out that his way of life, as described above, is true. He doesn't go to work - all he does is spending the days isolated at home, reading huge amounts of prayers - the Hours for example and so on. To my advice to at least find some work, he answered that work would leave him "no time for prayers". As I live in another city, I lost contact with him and hadn't seen him for almost a year.
This last Saturday I was in my home town again. I saw him at church and the look on his face was... demonic to say the least. The coming Sunday morning, the parish priest chased him away from church and told me "Don't you see him? That's our new priest!" - it turned out he'd started coming to parishioners, offering them to read prayers which only priests are allowed read for laymen. After the service ended, he came into church again. I kindly told him that he doesn't look well and he just answered that: "To hermits and to laymen a different grace is given." Immediatlely after that he went to a parishioner, who just entered the church, and made him a remark that he shouldn't wear a hat in church. A few hours after that I had to leave my hometown and I couldn't be of any other help to him.
This man (his name is Momchil), probably now near his 40s, has already spent years in isolation and has slowly fallen into a heavy state of prelest. If things go like this, he will undoubtedly be led to something even more serious, suicide is not out of the question. I feel like if I don't write this, it will be my sin for not doing anything about it. Please include him in your prayers.
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