Metropolitan Luke (Kovalenko)
The “dogs” are those who, under the pretext of piety and zeal for God, tear apart the Church and lead people away from Christ. They are those who tear, bite, and destroy what belongs to God. Such “dogs” have no love in their hearts—neither for God nor for man.
Zhanna Kurbatova
The iconography of St. Ambrose of Optina is based on the icon painted for his canonization. That icon, in turn, was created from both portraits and photographs of the saint.
Father Sebastian was exceptionally gentle and tactful. Around him, there seemed to radiate a moral atmosphere so pure that crude words or base actions became impossible.
In early September, summer gently retreats from the Solovki archipelago—a place of prayer but also of breathtaking natural beauty.
Father Sebastian later recalled his time in the camp: “They beat and tortured us, demanding only one thing—that we renounce God. I said, ‘Never.’”
