[flighter]

Amazing, simply amazing. Serbian Orthodox Church runs the web site you cited, and generally they are very reliable (unlike other sources of information in Serbia), so I guess it is all very possible.

If you look at Hilandar monastery, and other monasteries around, there are some people that are so devoted to religion, it is amazing. I would sometimes say it sad, but they have their reasons, so who am I to judge. Anyway, I have amazing stories about some of them, but it is not the topic here.

Judging by myself, I believe that someone must suffer a huge personal (not material) loss, like losing family members, to become so devoted to religion, but once again, I am not that religious so I can't really tell.

If you know the documentary movie "Encounters" by Werner Herzog, the background music is he traditional singing of Russian Orthodox Church priests, a form of long prayer and the blessing to those who listen to it.