Therefore, it is important first of all to struggle with those passions, with those weaknesses and shortcomings that are obvious and "lie on the surface". And when we take up such a struggle, we will see that so much work is needed to overcome one sufficiently pronounced passion that it may require the application of all the forces of a person.

Engaging in shallow self-reflection, you may not reach the real work on yourself. This is the essence of self-knowledge, which comes only with the experience of inner struggle. And sobriety is precisely the necessary prudence that helps a person in his inner battle.

Can a priest demand that a person reveal all thoughts during confession, even those that a person does not accept? If a person does not do this, then Communion will supposedly be condemned. Is this true?

Such a requirement is not only unreasonable, but also harmful. The revelation of thoughts is possible only in monastic life. The parish priest has no right to demand such a confession. In the sacrament of Repentance, it is necessary to reveal only those thoughts that a person cannot cope with, which constantly return to him. And if a person wages an internal battle, cuts off thoughts, then the main meaning of this struggle is to forget and never return to them. What will it be like if a person himself tries to keep in mind from confession to confession all the dirt that has come to his mind during the day, week, month (or even more)?

Therefore, only a person who does not have a clear understanding of the foundations of spiritual life can demand the revelation of thoughts from a layperson. The Holy Fathers said about thoughts: "Their business is to come, and our business is not to receive."

I love animals more than people. They are defenseless, they are not able to take revenge, they have no malicious intent, and at the same time they love us... Tell me, what happens after the death of an animal? Why can't you come to church and pray for them? Why do we have cruelty to animals in our country? When I hear somewhere that an animal has been injured, my heart bleeds, I begin to worry, and, on the contrary, I don't care if it happens to people. Man is a sinner, which means that he must be punished, but for what and why do animals suffer?

It is normal and good for a person to treat animals kindly. But it is absolutely unacceptable and sinful to love animals more than people.

We cannot unequivocally answer the question of what happens to animals after their death. The fact is that in the Orthodox Church this issue is not doctrinally developed. In the Holy Scriptures there is no specific information about the posthumous fate of animals. Why? Because the Lord Himself, through Holy Scripture and Tradition, reveals to people what is necessary for their salvation. We can be sure that man, created in the image and likeness of God, possesses an immortal soul, that the world in all its diversity and beauty was created by God for man's sake, that man is called to communion with God both in earthly, temporal, and eternal life.

We also know from the Holy Scriptures that animals existed in the primordial Eden, that the forefather Adam gave them names: the Lord God formed out of the earth all the beasts of the field and all the birds of the air, and brought them to man to see how he would name them, and that whatever man should call every living creature, so would be its name (Gen. 2:11). 19). In this naming there is the supremacy of man over animals, and man's deep understanding of all creation, and its voluntary submission to him. This is also the complete harmony between them, which was lost after the fall of man.

Indeed, with the Fall, suffering and death entered the world: the creation did not submit to vanity of its own free will, but by the will of Him who subjected it, all creation groans together and is tormented to this day (Romans 8:20, 22). However, I would not advise you to idealize animals (in fact, most species are not at all inclined to love humans, and, if we talk about wildlife, they are quite merciless to each other in their environment) and treat people so harshly, even ruthlessly, and want them to be punished.

The relationship between man and living nature is so deep that only man can deliver creation from suffering by fulfilling God's commandments: "And creation itself shall be set free from slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God" (Romans 8:21), says the Apostle. In a global sense, this will happen when the prophecies of the Apocalypse are fulfilled, in a new world transformed by God. It was revealed to the Prophet Isaiah that there will also be animals in the new earth, but also in a different, transfigured state, when they will not be able to harm anyone: the wolf and the lamb will feed together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox, and the dust will be food for the serpent: they will not cause harm or harm in all My holy mountain, says the Lord (Isaiah 65:10). 25).

However, examples of restored harmony between man and animals can be seen even now: both in the lives of saints, and even in the lives of our contemporaries. Remember, for example, the life of St. Gerasim of Jordan: a lion served him until the end of his days, from whose paw the saint took out a splinter... St. Sergius of Radonezh and St. Seraphim of Sarov, who are especially revered in Russia, are even depicted in many icons with wild animals – bears, which approached them with trust and took food from the hands of the saints. Surprisingly many such cases are found in the memoirs of eyewitnesses about Elder Paisios of the Holy Mountain, who treated both people and creatures with ardent love, and it reciprocated his feelings (among the "close friends" of the elder were birds, lizards, snakes, and frogs).