The power of the prayer

 Once upon a time, several years ago, there was a family of day laborers who had a little boy whom they loved dearly. Unfortunately, however, the mother fell seriously ill and died. The father became a mother and a father, he worked hard to raise it, it was, you see, quite lively, he hoped that growing up, it would "lay". But, on the contrary, he was getting worse! He admonished him, begged him, told him to change his lifestyle, not to stay up late, not to get drunk, and that the life he is leading does not lead to happiness... Many times he cried in front of him like a small child.

    One cold, winter night, which again came at dawn and made a remark to him, the son pushed him violently, and the father fell on some old furniture and ended up on the floor. While the son closed the door with force and never came back! Years passed. The young man became a grown man and is in Germany, he did not change his way of thinking and living, he did not start a family and the weariness of the wasted life was imprinted on his face.

  One night in his sleep he sees the sea, a rough and towering mountain and a narrow path, which up there led to a stone hut, a strange hut. He saw at the end as if it had a small dome, he opened the door of the hut and he sees an old monk looking at him, one-eyed, holding a rosary in his left hand! He got scared, he jumped out of bed in a sweat! Was it a dream??? It looked real! From where and to where a hut with a small church and a monk???!!! What are these;;;!! I have been going to church since I was a small child and my father used to take me, he thought and a tear rolled down his cheek. He went out in the evening, but he had no appetite for anything! Something had happened inside him. His mind was spinning in the dream! He lay down, fell asleep, and, well, the exact same dream again! And the next day again the same. No coincidence at all, he thought. Where is this place? He discussed it with some well-known Greek friends, and someone told him that the description resembles a place called Mount Athos.

    Without thinking too much, he prepares some things and the next day he leaves for Greece! In Thessaloniki, he asked how to get to Mount Agios and was told from Ouranoupoli. From there he enters the morning boat and sets off without knowing his exact destination. When they asked him where he was going to get off, he paid the ticket to the end and did not speak. His eyes were fixed on the slopes of the Mount Athos mountain range, lest it reminds him of something from the dream... Many hours passed, nothing... The few passengers almost all got off. They passed "Agia Anna" and headed for the "horrible reels", as they are called. As they approached, a shiver ran through his entire body! Yes, that's it, bounce, it looks a lot!!! K, before he could tie the boat, he jumped down, he was now sure!!! He began the vertical climb. As he advanced and left the cells and huts behind him, something assured him that he would also find the hut with the strange old man!

    Hours of tiring hiking passed when at some point in the distance he saw the hut! All his tiredness is gone! Run to get there as fast as possible! It was already afternoon, a spring afternoon, the season of Great Lent. When he reached the door, a light blue door with a Cross on it, his feelings were mixed. He made his Cross for the first time in thirty years. He was already forty-five. He embraced the Holy Cross and knocked on the door! A calm and soft voice from inside told him: "I'm coming, Nikolas, my child"!!! The door opened and he saw the old man of the dream with one blind eye and the rosary in his left hand!!! Who are you, old man? And how do you know my name? And how did you enter my dreams and my life? Tears sprang from the old man's eyes and were lost in his long white beard!

     -Didn't you meet me, my child, my Niko? I am your father!!! Nikos first fell at his father's feet sobbing and crying and then got up and hugged his father. -Tell me, my father, how did all these wonderful things happen? What happened to your eye, father? -Listen, my child, that night when you pushed me and I fell, I hit the corner of the table in my eye and lost my light. I was waiting for you to come back, but you were nowhere to be seen! After a year I decided, with God's help, to be single. I first went to a monastery and then I came to be an ascetic here. I always had you in my prayers, I had made it a rule for myself to make many rosaries every day with the blessing of Christ and Our Lady! And I didn't neglect this for a single day! This is what brought you here, my child, the wish "Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on Your servant Nicholas" and "Holy Mother of God, save Your servant Nicholas"!

     After some days passed, Nikolaos expressed the desire to stay there, to confess, to become a monk and serve the elder,