By Elder Teofil Paraian
I don't know if anyone can say that they led someone else to faith by their own power.
I have followed cases, as much as I am able, where people were led to the knowledge of God back in the olden days and in our time now. As many cases as I was able to follow I learned from.
My conclusion is that people cannot do anything more than what is within them. God is the one who turns the mind and life of a person towards good. I have reached the point of believing that there is no reason for us to speak with others about God, when they don't want to hear the word of God.
The only useful thing we can do to lead people to faith in God is to pray for them, to pray to God to give them a spiritual consciousness, progress in life and faith, and a way to repentance.
There is also the hope for us to help them by showing our loftier way of life, which will be introduced into their consciousness.
We cannot do more than this, and we cannot do something that will shake unbelievers from their unbelief, since religious truth is not something that falls into the process of proof. Only God can reveal Himself and His truths into the soul of man.
Source: From the book Ο Γέροντας Θεόφιλος Παραϊάν, Χωρίς φως, φωτισμένος (Elder Teofil Paraian: Without Light, Illumined). Translation by John Sanidopoulos.
