Openness of the Heart. Meeting. Through Oneself to God and Man.

“Openness of the Heart” is a book by Frederica de Graaf, a reflexologist and psychologist, spiritual daughter of Archbishop Antoniy of Surazh. The author has been serving for almost 20 years in accompanying the dying and their relatives at the First Moscow Hospice. How can we support our loved ones in the most difficult moments of life? To console. To warm. To give hope. We cannot offer another person silence and faith if they are not within us. We will not be able to help anyone if we are not within ourselves, that is, if we do not possess ourselves: for a person can only give what belongs to them. Otherwise, it's impossible. Of course, one can pretend to give something, but it will always be false, unconvincing. When a person is in crisis, when they are very ill and suffering, they feel the deception and shut themselves off. Based on many years of experience working with hopelessly ill people and on the experience of apprenticeship under Metropolitan Antoniy of Surazh, Frederica de Graaf shows how to embark on the path to discovering one's true identity in God and to opening the heart to one's neighbor. Only by finding ourselves can we bring the light of love, warmth of soul, help, and comfort to those who need us.