On October 25, as part of the Optina Meetings on the Banks of the Neva Festival held at the Dormition Compound, a meeting was held with Hieromonk Dimitry (Volkov), a resident of the Optina Pustyn Monastery and the author of the books The Jesus Prayer in the Spiritual Heritage of the Optina Elders and Confession and Revelation of Thoughts in the Spiritual Heritage of the Optina Elders. We present to the esteemed viewer a video of this meeting with a discussion of many spiritual issues. 00:00:10 Introduction and acquaintance 00:01:08 Expectations from the meeting 00:02:35 The main topic of the meeting was spiritual life in the modern world 00:03:34 The role of a spiritual father 00:06:28 Mistakes of spiritual fathers 00:07:24 Personal experience of Fr. Dimitry 00:09:22 Constant communication between a spiritual father and his child 00:11:16 You need to take a closer look at spiritual fathers 00:14:35 Advice on confession 00:15:47 The importance of preparing for confession 00:16:46 Different approaches to confession 00:17:45 The importance of individuality in confession 00:19:00 A parishioner's personal experience of confession 00:21:39 Strictness and mercy in spiritual guidance 00:24:46 Different types of spiritual fathers 00:26:37 The story of Elder Macarius 00:28:26 Confession and sermon of Father Nil 00:30:21 Traditions of confession in the Russian Church 00:33:02 The problem of formal confession 00:35:02 The importance of revealing sins 00:38:31 Confession and advice from Father Neil 00:39:30 The importance of conscious confession 00:40:30 Different approaches to confession 00:43:22 General confession 00:48:58 Preparation for confession 00:52:25 Frequency of confession and communion 00:55:57 Communion during pilgrimage 00:58:52 General confession (question from the audience) 00:59:21 Confusion in spiritual life 01:01:08 Effort of will and enemy thoughts 01:02:08 Humility and sinfulness 01:03:56 Despondency and sinfulness 01:04:47 Examples from the lives of monks 01:08:08 Fighting despondency 01:09:08 Repentance and despondency 01:12:07 Free Will and Prayer 01:17:07 Faith and Choice 01:20:19 Revelations and Faith 01:24:26 Preparing for Confession 01:26:15 Finding a Spiritual Father 01:29:06 Developing a Relationship with a Spiritual Father 01:30:06 The Importance of a Permanent Spiritual Father 01:31:36 The Dangers of Finding the Perfect Spiritual Father 01:33:31 The Question of Prayer and God's Intervention 01:35:50 The Diminishing Power of Prayer 01:37:42 The Perception of Death and Suffering 01:41:29 The Cross and Suffering 01:44:32 The Question of Saints and Prayer 01:45:31 Prayer and Holiness 01:46:28 Examples of Saints in Prayer 01:47:12 The Conditions of Prayer 01:48:52 The Perfect Idea of ​​Prayer 01:51:13 Church Service and Prayer 01:54:24 Christian Community 01:56:21 Conclusion *** 📍 Address: 199034, Saint Petersburg, Vasilievsky Island, Lieutenant Schmidt Embankment, 27/2 Tel.: +7 (812) 321-74-73 Email: [email protected] Dear brothers and sisters! 🕊️ Our church needs help to restore the covering of three chandeliers. Over the years of service, they have darkened from candle and incense smoke, but their light is a symbol of the light of Christ, illuminating our souls. And each of your contributions is an incorruptible sacrifice for the glory of God and to maintain the splendor of the Church of the Queen of Heaven. Help restore the former beauty and radiance of the lamps of the temple of our monastery 🙏 How you can help: • You can make a donation at the link: donationalerts.com/r/spboptina • Or to the T-Bank card No. 2200 7009 3416 2123 (Andrey Anatolyevich M.) with the note “Chandelier”. You can leave notes about your loved ones on our website: spb.optina.ru/rites 🌐 The Podvorye pages on social networks Telegram - https://t.me/optinaspb VKontakte - https://vk.com/public8817170 Rutube - https://rutube.ru/channel/25959959/ YouTube - / @optinaspb ©️ The official website of the Optina Pustyn courtyard - http://spb.optina.ru/ ©️ The official website of the monastery - https://www.optina.ru/