How the Church Creates Spiritual Ties

The Church is the Body of Christ, and we are its members. The Apostle Paul teaches that each member must fulfill his duty for the good of all. This means that if we belong to the Church and follow Her statutes, we will continually strengthen our spiritual ties in Christ. This will come about through the Church's prayers, Mysteries, services and mutual fellowship.
Chief meaning in the Church is given to the Mysteries, and for this reason we will examine their effects.


The Mystery of Baptism – Through this Mystery of renewal, the Church unites the infant to a new life in Christ. It would seem that this Mystery has meaning only for the one being baptized, but if we consider the godparents, we will perceive a greater meaning in this sacrament. The godfather and godmother are drawn by the Church to participate in the Christian upbringing of the child, and thereby enter into new ties with the family of the baptized. After this, the Church considers them to be spiritual relatives of the family of the baptized and therefore forbids inter-marriage between them. Thus, with each new baptism, the foundation of the Church, the family, is strengthened. Even if not all godparents fully acknowledge their obligations, yet around every baptismal font new spiritual ties spring up between members of the Church.


The Mystery of Communion – From the very earliest times of Christianity, this Mystery was looked upon as a means of maintaining spiritual ties between members of the Church. The Savior said: "He who eats My flesh and drinks My Blood abides in Me and I in him" (Jn. 6:56). The essence of this mystical unity is difficult to grasp, but leaves no doubt that all the faithful, through Holy Communion, enter into spiritual brotherhood through Jesus Christ. And when we say "brother-in-Christ" or write in a letter "with love in Christ," then we witness thereby to our spiritual kinship with other members of the Church. Such a spiritual tie between us goes far beyond all other human relationships, for it has an eternal, unsurpassable meaning. Therefore, the greater the number of the faithful that receive Holy Communion in a parish, and the more often they approach the Holy Chalice, the more the bonds of Christian love between them will be strengthened thereby.


The Mystery of Marriage – By this Mystery the Church creates a family, a new cell of the faithful. In essence, a sort of spiritual miracle is performed in this Mystery: from two previously separate persons, the Church fashions the new ties of relationship between husband and wife. And in the Rite of Matrimony the priest prays for them: "O Eternal God, Who hast brought into unity them that were sundered, and hast ordained for them an indissoluble union of love, do Thou Thyself bless these, Thy servants, guiding them unto every good work."


Although this "union of love" includes the physical unity, its chief sense is the spiritual union, after the model of Christ and His Church. And that there should always be of necessity mutual spiritual understanding between the groom and the bride in a Christian marriage, we have a direct indication in the following passage in the epistles of the Apostle Paul: "Have we not power to eat and drink? Hae we not power to lead about a sister, wife, as well as other apostles and brethren of the Lord and Cephas?" (I Cor. 9:5).


This shows us that true Christian marriage can take place only between the faithful. In choosing for himself a partner for life, the groom must, above all, find for himself a "sister-in-Christ," and the bride a "brother-in-Christ," after which the Church unites them in the bonds of marriage for their whole life. This is the reason why the Church considers marriages with persons of different confessions undesirable, and still more so, with unbelievers. Such marriages, as it were, remain outside the general life of the Church and cannot be stable. Only a common faith can be a true foundation for marriage; and everything else will follow.


The Mystery of Confession – In this Mystery new spiritual ties also appear between penitent and confessor. Here the confessor, appointed by the Church, becomes a spiritual father and takes upon himself care of his spiritual children. Thus, it is so important to have as one's spiritual father not just any priest, but a regular guide, as is done in monasteries. It is possible for laypeople to have such a regular confessor in the form of an elder to whom one commits oneself for his whole life. Thus, the Mystery of confession maintains the deep spiritual relationships between the clergy and the laity. But the spiritual father has a particularly great meaning for monastics, when they completely renounce the world and commit themselves to a spiritual father, who takes the place of their father and mother.



Such is the meaning of the Holy Mysteries in the creation of spiritual ties within the Church, on the foundation of Christian love. They sustain the faith of members of the Church and strengthen their Christian life, both family and personal. In such conditions there cannot be the type of loneliness and neglect among Christians which is presently observed among people lacking any sort of spiritual bonds. Such unbelieving people marry and beget children, but all this has a casual and temporary character. Their marriages fall apart, their children are neglected and perish, both physically and spiritually. Even their family relationships are based not so much on love as on greedy calculation, in order to receive help, protection or an inheritance, and so as not to be left alone in their old age. And how many suicides are there today, that arise chiefly because of unbelief and the loneliness bound up with it?


From Orthodox Life, Vol. 28, No. 3 (May-June 1978), pages 20-31. Translated by the Reverend Andrei Alexiev, pastor of St. Vladimir's Church, Houston, Texas, from: Orthodox Russia, 1976, No. 13 (1/14 July), pp. 8-13. This article was originally a lecture delivered by Fr. Sergei Shukin at Holy Trinity Orthodox Seminary. 

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Are you a sinner? Do not become discouraged, and come to Church . . .( St. John Chrysostom )

“Are you a sinner? Do not become discouraged, and come to Church to put forward repentance. Have you sinned? Then tell God, ‘I have sinned.’ What manner of toil is this, what prescribed course of life, what affliction? What manner of difficulty is it to make one statement, ‘I have sinned’? 

Perhaps if you do not call yourself a sinner, you do not have the devil as an accuser? Anticipate this and snatch the honor away from him, because it is his purpose to accuse. Therefore, why do you not prevent him, and why do you not tell your sin and wipe it out, since you know that you have such an accuser who cannot remain silent? Have you sinned? Come to Church. Tell God, ‘I have sinned.’ 

I do not demand anything else of you than this. Holy Scripture states, ‘Be the first one to tell of your transgressions, so you may be justified.’ Admit the sin to annul it. This requires neither labor nor a circuit of words, nor monetary expenditure, nor anything else whatsoever such as these. Say one word, think carefully about the sin and say, ‘I have sinned.'”

  St. John Chrysostom, On Repentance and Almsgiving, Homily 2

http://orthodoxchurchquotes.com/

Tremendous role of young people in the future rebirth of the Church ( St. Seraphim of Vyrytsa )

The Elder loved young people with all his heart. At that time young people went to church very rarely, if ever; so he was especially happy when they visited him. Father Seraphim spoke about the tremendous role of young people in the future rebirth of the Church. He said that "the time would come (and is already coming) when immorality and corruption will reach the lowest depths. There will be scarcely any purity left in young people. They will see no showstoppers in satisfying their whims, for they will be sure in their impunity. They will get together into groups and gangs to commit robberies, and live dissolute lives. At a certain time there will be a call from God and it will no longer be possible for them to live that kind of life, and they will turn to God, everyone by his own road, many will feel a craving for asceticism. Those who were sinners will be in the churches, fallen people will feel a strong need for a spiritual life, and many will become monks and nuns. The monasteries will be reopened, the churches will be full of people the majority of which will be young. The young will be going on pilgrimages to holy places — what a wonderful time this will be! The more they sin now — the more fervent their repentance will be. As a candle sparkles bright before it goes out, the same with the life of the Church. This time is near."

St. Seraphim of Vyrytsa

Tremendous role of young people in the future rebirth of the Church ( St. Seraphim of Vyrytsa )

'
The Elder loved young people with all his heart. At that time young people went to church very rarely, if ever; so he was especially happy when they visited him. Father Seraphim spoke about the tremendous role of young people in the future rebirth of the Church. He said that "the time would come (and is already coming) when immorality and corruption will reach the lowest depths. There will be scarcely any purity left in young people. They will see no showstoppers in satisfying their whims, for they will be sure in their impunity. They will get together into groups and gangs to commit robberies, and live dissolute lives. At a certain time there will be a call from God and it will no longer be possible for them to live that kind of life, and they will turn to God, everyone by his own road, many will feel a craving for asceticism. Those who were sinners will be in the churches, fallen people will feel a strong need for a spiritual life, and many will become monks and nuns. The monasteries will be reopened, the churches will be full of people the majority of which will be young. The young will be going on pilgrimages to holy places — what a wonderful time this will be! The more they sin now — the more fervent their repentance will be. As a candle sparkles bright before it goes out, the same with the life of the Church. This time is near."



St. Seraphim of Vyrytsa

The day of the Lord

Sunday is the day set aside to honor God and should be spent differently from all other days. It is a day we raise our minds and hearts to God with deep reverence towards Him and with profound gratitude and prayer. In the Old Testament it was the Sabbath that was such a day but in the New Testament it is Sunday, the Lord's Day.

Moses was told, "Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labor, and do all thy work: But the seventh day is the sabbath for the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work" (Exodus 20:8-10). In the Old Testament the penalty for not keeping it holy was the death of the soul.

What were the reasons for this commandment from God?
a. It was hallowed by God in memory of the creation of the world. In Genesis ti says, "On the sixth day God ended His work which He had made; and He rested on the seventh day from all His work He had made. And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because in it he had rested from all His work which God created and made" (Gen 2:2-3).

b. The other reason is the remembrance of the liberation of the people of Israel from Egyptian bondage as we are instructed in Deut 5:12-15. Similarly the people of the New Testament were delivered from the bondage of sin by the death of Jesus Christ and it is prescribed also for us to consecrate the day of the Old Testament Sabbath on the day of the Resurrection, Sunday.
Metropolitan Gregory of St. Petersburg puts it this way: "The Lord has granted us six days of every week to carry out our business necessary for our earthly life, but the seventh day–only ne day–He appointed for rest under pain of eternal death for violating it..."

Saint John Chrysostom says: "It was the Lord's good will to prescribe that we dedicate one day in the weekly cycle to spiritual matters."

In the book of Acts we see that original Christians gathered on Sunday for the breaking of bread and listened to His teachings (Acts 20:7).

There are several obligation that Sunday imposes on us.
1. We should set aside all the business we need to engage in during the six days of the week to support ourselves.

2. We should turn away from all impious acts that distract our souls from the remembrance of the Lord God, reverence towards Him, gratitude and a prayerful disposition of soul towards Him. This includes all unedifying reading, conversations and games where our soul might lose remembrance of God and potentially be carried away by delights and sin.

3. We are to attend the Divine Liturgy. This service is the ultimate remembrance of God's various blessings. In our attendance we reverence God, give Him thanks, and seek through our prayers that His blessings will continue to be given to us. We join in communion with Him as we partake of His body and Blood.

4. We should reflect on all of God's creation and His All-Powerful nature, His Wisdom, Goodness and unconditional Love for us. We should experience the wonder and awe of His creation in the natural environment. We should reflect on His life and the path He laid out for us through His death and Resurrection.
Metropolitan Gregory says. "You who love God: follow the path unto which the Lord has directed you and fear nothing...only try to please the Lord God, and then, remembering the words of the Holy Apostle, "If God be for us, who can be against us?" (Rom 8:31)... Do not be afraid, just try and avoid all occasions of sin through which our enemy always more easily lures us into his nets and ruins us."

You should contemplate His passion and death, how he suffered for us and think of what is written in the Gospel of John, "Behold how God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten son, that whosoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have everlasting life." (John 3:16).

5. We should read the Scripture on this day just like the first members of His Church (Acts 20:7). We are all called to live a holy life in His image. "God has chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him." (Eph. 1:4)

6. Metropolitan Gregory reminds us: "We must examine ourselves every day in relation to our salvation, so much more should it be our obligation on Sundays... Sunday before all other days should be a day on which we make the most attentive and detailed examination of our spiritual state in relation to salvation, and make a new, firm intention to root out from ourselves everything "opposed to God and our salvation."

Reference: How to Live a Spiritual Life, pp 112-137

On the Role of Women in the Church

A transcript of a talk given at St. Tikhon of Zadonsk Orthodox Retreat on 7 September 2009 in Guerneville, CA

The issue of women in the Church has been raised many times during the history of Christianity, beginning with the very first decades of the Church’s existence. That is why, when in the twenty-first century one asks about the role of women in the Church, one does not speak of this role—Christ Himself spoke about it and the Apostle Paul wrote about it in his letters—but the continuing problem of the relationship between genders in the family, society, and the Church. In Church consciousness, this problem is usually expressed in terms of bearded men in black possessing administrative authority which they withhold from women, even if the latter choose to glue on a mustache and don a black robe. From the point of view of modern Western culture—to which not only immigrants making their lives in the United States belong, but also in a significant way Orthodox people living in the European part of Russia—there is clear evidence of the discrimination of the Church against women only because they were born women. This is why it seems somewhat strange to me that I, a bearded man in a black robe who possess some limited administrative authority in my parish—a small part of the Church, have been invited to tell women about their place in the Church.




Well, in my opinion, the woman’s place in a church is on the left; that is to say, on the side where the icon of the Theotokos is found on the iconostasis. It must be noted that this placement gives more honor to women than it does to men. Practically, when the priest prays as one of us—facing the east—then men stand on his right, but when Christ Himself comes to us from the royal doors—whether in a blessing or in the Holy Gifts—then it is the women who end up on His right hand. Thus, if we were to imagine Christ Who stands in the royal doors and separates His sheep from goats (Matt. 25:32), then it is the women who end up on His right, but the men—on His left (33).

Of course, all of this has been said only in a half-joking manner. The issue of the interrelationship between genders in the Church is complex, that is to say, it consists of several parts. Let us take a closer look at some of them.

Introduction: A Few Notes on Society and the Church

It is no secret that society, with its philosophy, ideology, and culture has a great influence on Christian thought. Preaching the Gospel in the Hellenistic world, the Church used terminology and methodology that could be understood by Hellenistic society; existing within the boundaries of the Roman Empire, the Church expressed its theology through political and legal imagery and allegories; having faced Soviet persecution, the Church was forced to look for ways to survive; and living in a modern materialistic society, the Church enters into a polemic with it, exposing its spiritual bankruptcy.

On the other hand, the Church consists not only of our heavenly patrons, but also of us, quite earthly people, who are influenced by our upbringing, ideology, propaganda, various fads, fallacies, and trendy philosophies. We not only take something from the Church, but also bring something to the Church, into its life and worldview. This is not always bad. Imagine that when you were three years old you were told that your life experience was complete, that from that point on you must learn only from examples found in the lives of previous generations, and that your own thoughts, feelings, and experiences must be either treated with suspicion or rejected altogether. As absurd as this sounds when applied to a person, it would be equally absurd to apply such as standard to the Church, as if preserving it somewhere in the fourth or fifth century, like a jar of pickles.

However, we must remember that our personal feelings cannot always be a measure of all things, and that it makes sense to reinvent a wheel only after we have familiarized ourselves with already existing models, but not sooner. I think it was Fr. Deacon (now Protodeacon) Andrei Kuraev who once offered the following example. We would never think of telling a neurosurgeon how to operate on a human brain or a pilot of a jetliner which button to push. Why then do we not think twice before doubting the wisdom of those who have been leading the Church on the path of sanctity for the last two millennia?

It is easy to understand that some of the charges brought up against the Church stem from a misunderstanding of the goals that Christ has set for his Bride. For example, establishing gender equality is not the purpose of the Church. This does not at all mean that the Church cannot occupy a certain position with respect to discrimination, inequality, or slavery. However, rooting out earthly slavery is not a direct task of the Church, which is charged with proclaiming Christ’s victory over the slavery of sin; and both men and women, slave and free (Gal. 3:28), white and black can equally partake of this victory.

The Church has always perfectly and consistently preached the Good News that it received from the Lord Himself: “to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed” (Luke 4:18). But this does not mean that every member of the Church—even from among the hierarchy—has always followed the spirit and letter of the Gospel. Our close ties with the earthly all too often reveal themselves in our relationship with the heavenly. Desiring earthly goods for ourselves, we imagine that Christ is an earthly king, forgetting that His kingdom is not of this world (John 18:36). Striving for earthly authority, we turn Christ into some kind of a tyrant, forgetting that He came to serve, not to be served (Mark 10:45). Finally, trying to trample down a wife who “raised her voice” (Luke 11:27), we like to cite the words “let the wife see that she respects her husband” (Eph. 5:33), and shy away from “husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her” (25). It is not the fault of the Church if we prefer such perverted “theology,” rather, it is the fault of our sinful nature. Certainly, there are such treatises written by the clergy as “Domostroi,” but they do not reflect the Christian view on the roles of men and women as much as they comment on the contemporary situation of the society. By the way, the author of “Domostroi” consciously tried to soften contemporary morals by pointing out to the barbarians the principles of Christian love. In other words, such treatises present more of a socio-historical interest than serve as a standard of Christian relations between a husband and a wife.

But the most striking is not the fact that a seal of our sinfulness can be found on various works by the clergy, but that even the Sacred Scripture must allow for our hard-heartedness. A surprising example of this can be found in the dialogue between Christ and Pharisees: “Why then did Moses command…—For your hardness of heart Moses allowed you… but from the beginning it was not so… And I say to you…” (Matt. 19:7-9). Thus, we must be very careful when citing the Scripture, and not look at the divine revelation through the prism of our hard-heartedness, but through the loving eyes of the Source of this revelation.

Women in the Church

Orthodoxy does not have a gender problem, as there is no question about the role of women in the Church. Such problems and questions are brought into the Church from society and family by people who live in the society and family. Bickering with his wife, for example, a man may throw at her a citation from an epistle of the Apostle Paul, an act that will surely be reflected on both his and her Christian self-awareness. Having watched feminist warnings of discrimination on television, a person may consciously or unconsciously bring them into the Church and begin to compare the life of the Church—at least as he or she sees it—with humanist and feminist principles. Additionally, the problem can be worsened by some clergy who—some jokingly, some not—cite from the Fathers something like: “Stay away from women and bishops,” forgetting to disclose that this advice was given by a particular elder to a particular novice and does not represent the worldview of the Church.

Of course, we may wonder whether there is such a thing as scholastic or abstract Orthodoxy. Most likely, we will be compelled to say that such Orthodoxy does not exist, just as a scholastically-abstract unhypostasized human cannot exist. As my painfully-famous compatriot Vladimir Lenin once wrote: “There is no abstract truth; truth is always concrete.” [1] This, however, does not mean that we cannot examine the foundational principles of the Orthodox faith which are true always, everywhere and for everyone. And it is in the principles of the Orthodox faith that we do not find a gender problem. Unlike some other faiths such as Hinduism[2] or certain Islamic sects,[3] Orthodoxy teaches absolute equality of people in their relationship to God, salvation, and eternal life, regardless of their gender, nationality, social status, etc.

“There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus” (Gal. 3:28). This, of course, does not mean that Paul no longer considered himself a Jew, a freeman, and a male, but rather some sort of transnational, genderless, and undefined creature. Quite the opposite—the Apostle understood and accepted the reality of this earthly life. But the life of a Christian, just as the life of Christ Himself, is the union of that which cannot be united: the earthly and the heavenly, the temporal and the eternal, the dust and the breath of life (Gen. 2:7)—a union, not a rejection of one in favor of the other. The purpose of Christian life as Orthodoxy sees it is theosis, that is to say, the theosis of our entire being: “…enter Thou into my members, into all my joints, my reins, my heart” (from Prayers of Thanksgiving following the Holy Communion, Prayer 3). Christ came to make the whole man well (see John 7:23)—not to kill the body and free the soul, as if from a cage. And the resurrection is not a resurrection of souls only, but also of bodies. Finally, it is our temporal earthly life that determines the trajectory that leads into eternity; and it was Christ’s earthly life—with His incarnation, service, crucifixion, and resurrection—that brought salvation to the world.

This is why we can find two elements: the heavenly and the earthly in the way that the Church relates to each person. The heavenly angelic element is manifest in the fact that in a church all stand equally before God, all equally participate in the service of the Divine Liturgy, prayer rules are the same for everyone, all equally partake of the Body and Blood of Christ, the fasts are the same for all, and in all matters of salvation and theosis Orthodoxy does not know any differences between men and women.

However, the earthly element is also present in the Church. For example, the Church sanctifies marriages only between a man and a woman, thus acknowledging this essential distinction among people. Note that Christian marriage is not a toll to be paid to our sinful nature or some unnatural encroachment of the socio-biological element on the life of the Church, but quite the opposite—the restoration and sanctification by the Church of the institution established by the Creator before the fall of Adam and Eve (Gen. 1:27-28; 2:22).

Therefore, insisting on the equality of people, the Church also insists on their uniqueness. Remembering that every person in an hypostasized nature, the unity of nature and the uniqueness of hypostases can be shown on the example of the Holy Trinity. Each Person of the Trinity possesses one and the same divine nature, but is different and unique in His hypostasis: the Father gives birth, the Son is born, the Spirit proceeds; the Father is not the Son or the Spirit, the Son is not the Father or the Spirit, the Spirit is not the Father or the Son. The hierarchy within the Trinity is established through the relationship of the Persons of the Trinity, that is to say, through love, rather than through some supremacy of the nature of the hypostasis of the Father over nature or the hypostases of the Son and the Spirit. Examine, for example, St. Andrei Rublev’s icon “The Trinity”: while the Father is depicted at the head of the table,[4] all three Persons of the Holy Trinity take part in the pre-eternal council, and it is the Son Who is making the decision.

In the same way, in the way the Church relates to men and women we may sometimes observe a certain “primacy of honor” of men, while maintaining the absolute equality of male and female hypostases and the unity of nature. However, more honorable than not only men but even the cherubim is a woman—the Most Holy Theotokos, whom Orthodoxy, unlike Roman Catholicism, considers to be like us in every way and in everything, except personal sin. Sometimes, this “primacy of honor” of men is cited as the reason for the impossibility of female priesthood in the Orthodox Church. But it would be incorrect to think that only men can be priests in the Church.

The fact is that according to the Apostle Peter, priesthood belongs to all Christians without exception: “But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s own people…” (1 Peter 2:9) That is to say, a priest standing at the Holy Table does not possess and cannot possess anything that the whole Church does not already possess. Outside of the Church there cannot be priesthood, because priesthood is the inherent quality of God’s people. This quality or, more correctly, this grace is as if guided toward and focused upon the person of a bishop and through him a priest, but it is not a unique quality of just these persons, but rather of Christ and His Body—the Church.

Priesthood is possessed by the Church as the Body of the High Priest Christ. In some ways it can be said that priesthood is the relationship between Christ and His Church. Let us recall what it is that a priest does—he offers and accepts a sacrifice: “Sacrifice, master.—Sacrificed is the Lamb of God, that taketh away the sin of the world…”[5] But Christ’s sacrifice is offered for all of us, and all Christians accept it and in turn give themselves to Christ, offer themselves as a sacrifice to their God. Apostle Paul writes: “I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me…” (Gal. 2:20) Thus, priesthood is not something inaccessible to women, but rather it is their inherent Christian calling. The Liturgy (Gr.—“common work”) is the service of the whole Church, and a priest by himself cannot serve the Liturgy.[6] Unlike in a synagogue, where a quorum of ten men is necessary for a public service,[7] in Christianity it is two or three gathered in Christ’s name—regardless of the worshipers’ gender.

As far as the priest’s stole is concerned, we do not know why Christ chose to be incarnate in a male body, but it was so, and all of the apostles were men, and from the first days of the Christian Church the obedience of priesthood has been given only to men, and even then only to some of them. This did not happen due to some socio-historical reasons—Christians broke quite a few of the ancient social norms; nor was it because the ancient world did not have women-priestesses—for it certainly had plenty. Apparently, it was pleasing to the Holy Spirit and the apostles that the institute of male priesthood be established in the Church. I must admit that in addition to that which has been said, I do not have a more definite answer to the question “why?” But some theological opinions exist which may be interesting.

Since a detailed theological treatment of the mystery of creation is not the topic of this paper, I shall point out only a few broad themes. Perhaps some may find it novel, but the first divinely ordained order of relationships between men and women can be referred to as “matriarchate”: “…a man leaves his father and his mother and cleaves to his wife…” (Gen. 2:24) Noting that the first man did not have a mother and father but only his Creator-God, we may understand these words as establishing a social order for future generations. In other words, if John Smith and Mary Jones decide to become “one flesh” (ibid.), then John must leave his family (mother and father) and cleave to that of his wife, that is to say, he must become John Jones. Nonetheless, the dynamic of the relationship between a man and a woman was not supposed to include elements of lordship or primacy.

In reality, things turned out to be different. Eve not only disobeyed God’s commandment and not only made a unilateral decision to become “like God” (Gen. 3:5), but then she fed[8] Adam after she had eaten, thus establishing her primacy over him.

Considering the punishment that followed after the fall, we must remember that God is not a vengeful torturer Who remembers wrongs, but rather a loving and merciful Physician Who willed to be tortured and crucified for our healing and salvation. Therefore, God’s punishment must be understood not as deserved torture, but rather as medicine. And by the type of prescribed medicine we can sometimes guess at the nature of the illness. “To the woman [God] said, ‘…your desire shall be for your husband, and he shall rule over you’” (Gen. 3:16). Perhaps, in the very sin that plagued Eve there was an element which is cured through obedience to her husband. And maybe this is why the Church has traditionally placed the burden of priesthood upon men and not women. Certainly, there can be other interpretations of these verses in the Scripture.

However, it must be repeated that no interpretation of Scripture changes the fact that the role of women in the Church is the same as the role of men—theosis. Why then are only men allowed in the altar? This is also not true. Actually, only clergy are allowed in the altar. The sixty-ninth canon of the Sixth Ecumenical Council forbids all laity—men or women—from entering the altar. The modern custom of letting non-clergy boys serve in the altar speaks of the lack of clergy, rather than of some privileged treatment of boys. Girls can also serve as acolytes in the altar until they turn twelve, in other words, until they enter the age of sexual maturity and menstrual bleeding that is associated with it. In the same way older women can receive a blessing to enter the altar. Although these practices are rare in most parishes, they do exist.

Finally, the last topic that should be discussed is the role of women in the family. The Apostle Paul likens the sacrament of marriage to the sacrament of Christ and His Church. Thus, examining the Orthodox understanding of marriage may help us to better understand the role of women in the Church.

Women in the Family

The most common opinion about the relationship between men and women is based—and for a good reason—on the texts from the Scripture read aloud during the wedding service. As was mentioned earlier, a one-sided understanding of the verse about wives being subject to their husbands (Eph. 5:22) often draws applause from the male crowd, but let us try to examine the true meaning of what the Apostle writes. Might it be that the Apostle Paul is more spiritual than we are, and that our comprehension of the mystery of Christ and His Church is no more insightful than that of the ancient Jews who wagged their heads unable to comprehend the mystery of our salvation (Matt. 27: 39:43)? Writing about women’s subjugation to their husbands, the Apostle Paul bases this principle on the parallel of the husband being the head of his wife in the same way that Christ is the head of His Church (Eph. 5:23). But what kind of headship is this? Is it the same as we observe among some “zealots” for piety? Let us refer to the relevant verses from the Scripture.

“For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government will be upon his shoulder…” (Isa. 9:6) What is “the government upon shoulders”? Is it some kind of epaulettes or shoulder boards—the usual symbols of government? Not quite. He was “bearing his own cross” (John 19:17), “He bore the sin of many” (Isa. 53:12). Is this the image of a general in epaulettes?—“He had no form or comeliness that we should look at Him, and no beauty that we should desire Him. He was despised and rejected by men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces He was despised, and we esteemed Him not” (Isa. 53:2, 3).

A secular leader acts on the following principle: “Come to me, all ye to whom I have not yet ordered anything, and I will give you duties.” Christ says: “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Matt. 11:28).

Who is the greatest in a secular kingdom?—He whose hat is the tallest and servants are many. But when Christ was asked who was the greatest in the kingdom of heaven, “calling to him a child, he put him in the midst of them…” (Matt. 18:1, 2).

“And he sat down and called the twelve; and he said to them, ‘If anyone would be first, he must be last of all and servant of all’” (Mark 9:35).

“If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet” (John 13:14).

Verses such as these are plentiful; all of them point to a very important quality of Christ’s headship—it is quite different from that of secular rulers and leaders. That is why the headship of a husband can have secular or heavenly qualities. These qualities are not mutually exclusive and can coexist in the same relationship. But without Christ’s kenosis, without His “emptying” Himself, there cannot be a Christian marriage, and all that is left is a socio-financial relationship.

Of course, the bearing of one’s cross does not apply to men only, as it does not apply to Christ only. The way of the Church and the way of each one of the spouses in a Christian marriage lies through self-denial: “If any man would come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me” (Matt. 16:24). Let us see how the Apostle Paul treats the issue of headship in a marital relationship: “Do not refuse one another except perhaps by agreement” (1 Cor. 7:5). That is to say, not by “the will of man” (John 1:13), or by the will of “the contentious and fretful woman” (Prov. 21:19), but “by agreement” (εκ συμφωνου).

Although we call ourselves slaves and servants of Christ, He calls us His friends (John 15:15) and lays down His life for us (13). This means that our slavery is not that of a captive who is bound by violence, but that of a loving heart which is captured by Christ’s love. In other words, the obedience of a wife who biblically refers to her husband as “lord” must be the free obedience of love. This may seem like an unattainable ideal, but was it not to us that Christ said: “You, therefore, must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect” (Matt. 5:48)?

Conclusion

The role of women in the Church is the same as the role of every Christian regardless of gender, nationality, social status, health, etc.—collaboration with Christ in the task of our salvation (1 Cor. 3:9). According to her individual gifts, a woman can choose to serve the Church as an administrator, a theologian, an iconographer, or a choir director, pursue sanctity on a monastic path, or as a mother—but all these are merely outward expressions of some of the aspects of Christian life. The most important is “the hidden person of the heart with the imperishable jewel of a gentle and quiet spirit, which in God’s sight is very precious” (1 Peter 3:4). This is because the Body of Christ does not consist of administrators, theologians, or iconographers, not even of clergy, but of Christians. And the role of each Christian—man or woman—according to Saint Seraphim of Sarov, is the “acquisition of the Holy Spirit of God.”

The several types of Bows in Church

Orthodox worship is characterized by a complete utilization of the senses sight, smell, hearing, speech and touch. We see the candles, Icons, frescoes, etc., we hear the sounds of singing and reading, at times lifting up our own voices, and we smell the characteristic odor of the incense. The whole of the human person is involved in worship, and important among the senses is the actual deportment of the human body. The attitude of the Orthodox Believer to worship is reverential, and certain types of bodily movements are utilized to reinforce this sense of reverential piety we stand during the services, we make bows and prostrations, and with great frequency, we make the Sign of the Cross. Accordingly, there are several types of Bows, depending on the solemnity of the moment.







Prostration (Great Metanoia Great Poklon).

Here the worshipper prostrates the whole body, throwing the weight forwards onto the hands and touching the ground with the forehead.

Bow (Small Metanoia Poklon).

The worshipper bows from the waist, touching the ground with the fingers of the right hand. Both Prostrations and Bows are preceded by the Sign of the Cross.

Reverence.

At certain times the worshipper merely bows the head; sometimes this is accompanied by the Sign of the Cross.

Sign of the Cross.

The Sign of the Cross is made with the thumb and the first two fingers of the right hand joined at the tips (the third and fourth fingers being closed on the palm). By joining the thumb and the first two fingers, we express our belief in the Most-Holy Trinity. The two fingers closed on the palm represent the two natures of Christ divine and human. With the thumb and first two fingers joined, we touch first the brow, then the breast, the right shoulder and then the left, making on ourselves the Sign of the Cross and signifying by the four points that the Holy Trinity has sanctified our thoughts (mind), feelings (heart), desires (soul) and acts (strength) to service of God. By making the Sign of the Cross on ourselves we also signify that Christ has saved us by His sufferings on the Cross.

Bishops and Priests, in bestowing a blessing, make the Sign of the Cross from left to right (appearing to us from right to left), while holding the fingers in such a manner as to represent the Greek letters IC and XC the first and last letter of the name Jesus Christ.

The healing mission of the Church

The main mission of the Church is to heal a person. In other words, when a person becomes part of the Church is healed if he follows the therapeutic regime which aims to assist him to return to the natural state which God gave him when He had created him.



After the fall of our forefathers, our nature was corrupted. When man severed his relationship with the Lord after disobeying His command, all his mental and physical capacities were immediately corrupted and perverted; his mind turned away from its unbreakable communication with the Lord, which was his natural state, towards the creation and matter, passions and sin. From that moment sickness and perversion entered man’s nature.

This is the reality of the fall, the sin of the forefathers, namely the hereditary sickness which passes on from one generation to another because we are natural descendents of our forefathers. Thus, each man has inherited this condition of spiritual sickness; the perversion of his nature.

Jesus Christ is called the ‘New Adam’, because He enters history at a certain point in time and accomplishes a mission. Christ’s mission was not so much to hand over the Gospel, namely His teachings, neither to give us a book called ‘Gospel’, but to give us Himself. In other words, just as we have inherited the sickness of our nature through the first Adam, Jesus offers us Himself, so that through the baptism we unite with Him, become one with Him, and then through the Holy Eucharist we acquire the capacity to unite with Him organically and ontologically (actually). This means that the actual unity with the Body and Blood of Jesus flows into our being, into our soul and our body. This is the reason why we become children of God and why the Church exists. The Church would have no reason to exist if it did not administer the holy mysteries, particularly the mystery of the Holy Eucharist.

The Church is not an institution aiming to increase its followers for various reasons. It is the place where man is healed spiritually and is given the opportunity to unite with Jesus Christ. However, man needs to follow a certain therapeutic treatment called ‘askesis’. It entails obeying all of the Lord’s commands handed over to us by Jesus in the Gospel. Jesus’ commands are the medication which treats our sickness. In fact, the Lord shouldn’t have given us any commands since He had created us in His image; His commands are inherent in our nature and our conscience reminds us about them. Nevertheless, as the holy fathers say, the Lord did give us the appropriate medication to cancel out wickedness.

A sick man goes to the doctor and receives a certain treatment, not because the doctor impinges on his freedom or his dignity, but because his advice if heeded, may cure him. If he doesn’t follow the doctor’s instructions his illness will persist and may even cause his death. In the same way the Lord’s commandments act as a therapeutic treatment.

There are many commands and on the outset it seems difficult for someone to remember and obey all of them. Nevertheless, the most essential command is one and has to do with our entire being. It is: “you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with your entire mind and with all your strength.’ And it goes on ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself’. This part is the result and the evidence of our genuine love towards the Lord. In other words, it is not possible for someone who does not love God, to love himself, his neighbor, nature or the rest of the creation. Therefore, all the commandments have a common mission; they converge on the love towards the Lord. This is the natural state of man; this is how the Lord created him, namely, to move towards the Lord with a loving force. This is easy to understand since as the Scriptures say ‘The Lord is love’. But we must appreciate that we are not moving towards an idea, namely ‘love’, but towards a person.

The Church moves man towards a personal meeting with the specific, personal God. In other words, the Church is the place which develops man as a person and not as an individual (an ‘individual’ means someone who is engrossed in his self). That is, it smashes his individualism, develops him as a person and turns him into someone who for the most part has a personal relationship with the Lord. This is also the main difference between the Orthodox Church and eastern religions which speak about a vague and faceless deity. This is the reason why prayer differs from meditation. Prayer is a personal motion towards a personal God; meditation is an impersonal motion from one man to another through the invocation of a vague deity.

The personal motion towards the Lord presupposes that the Lord also moves towards man. Since God is love, it follows that man, who has been created in the image of God, is also love. This loving motion enables man to come out of his self and offer himself to another person, just as Jesus did when He ‘emptied Himself’.

When man empties himself he meets the Lord in a loving union which is totally personal and totally fulfilling for man as a whole. Man’s union with the Lord does not only take place on a mental, philosophical, metaphysical or psychological level. It is a perfect union at all levels. We ought to understand these things if we are to appreciate our true mission in this world. Therefore, by understanding the numerous commandments, we also understand why we ought to obey them.

In other words, the Church is not the sum of certain commandments and laws but it is the place with a specific mission. The Saints of our Church, all the children of the Church who are indeed living children of God and of the Church, prove that what the Church says and promises is true. These people have followed the treatment offered by the Church and became the temple of the Holy Spirit and the chosen vessel of the Lord. Namely the Holy Spirit is present inside them. Indeed there are several such people who are experiencing the presence of the Holy Spirit inside their souls. They know what ‘grace’ means.

When dealing with the reality of our worship, along with all the preconditions and evidence presented by the lives of our saints, we are faced with the entire range of the spiritual struggle. In other words, we understand why all these things happen, why the commandments are given, why askesis and the spiritual regime are necessary and what happens with the presence of Jesus and with the existence of the Church. Thus we understand what will happen to us. The only matter which still needs to be resolved is how to practically begin the process of our relationship with God, how to find Him and how to taste all the things promised by the Church.

The Lord does not discriminate. He does not offer His mercy to one but not to the other, neither does He give gifts to one but not to the other. There are no ‘chosen ones’ for the Lord. The Lord gives to each one the same grace and the same love. It is man who regulates his relationship with the Lord. Man is free to love the Lord absolutely. One may love Him a lot, another very little and yet some may hate Him.

Nevertheless, one has to be aware of his own intentions; he ought to be able to say that he will remain steadfast in his faith even though the Lord sometimes seems to leave him alone in his struggles. In other words, one must never lose heart. He ought to recognize that this mission is not up to him but it is a task accomplished by the Lord. Jesus said to His disciples: ‘You did not choose me, but I chose you’ (John 15, 16). The disciples may have offered their good intention, but unless the Lord was present with His grace to strengthen them, they could not have accomplished a single thing.

Bearing in mind the Lord’s presence we ought to wage our struggle with immense courage. One of the weapons the enemy uses is trying to prevent us from dealing with our sins and passions with courage and zeal.

The Lord offers us a medicine to help us with this process. It is the medicine of repentance in the face of the Lord. This means that one ought to repent not as someone who feels guilty, but as one who is the son of the Lord. Neither any trespass nor the devil are able to take away from us the privilege of being children of the Lord. Thus we may stand before the Lord and say: ‘Indeed, I have sinned; I have been misled. Nevertheless, I have not denied You and I am still seeking my deliverance’.

People ought not to be miserable inside the Church, because they have been called by the Lord to become gods through grace. This means that a person who lives the life of the Church becomes lord and not a miserable man. This is how the Lord makes him. The Saints, instead of feeling depressed, placed great emphasis on repentance because it made them feel children of the Lord. Repentance was like a life-giving force which led them straight to the throne of their Father.

In the Church there is no place for disappointment neither for backtracking, no matter what happens. Nevertheless, when someone begins his spiritual life, the enemy may succeed in stealing his soul and his heart, enslaving him into worldly matters and causing him to drop his first love towards the Lord.

Therefore, let us not be enslaved by the affairs of this world despite all our responsibilities and duties. Our heart must only move towards the Lord.

The end

Excerpts from a homily by the Metropolitan of Limassol, Athanasios, published in the ‘Paraklisi’ magazine, March 2012.

Is it appropriate to leave church early

Question: If one enters the church during the time of liturgy and leaves before the end, is this a sin?

Response: What is perfect and pleasing to God is for the person entering the church to hear the Scriptures and remain in the liturgy until the very end. For unless there is good reason, one should not leave before the end; for this is scornful. If some need presents itself, then that person has permission to leave early. However, even then, such a person should not justify oneself, but ask forgiveness from God, saying: "Master, forgive me; for, I was not able to stay."

 

St. John the Prophet

Underwater Chapel to be built in Bulgaria

Near the Bulgarian resort of Primorsko an Orthodox underwater Chapel will appear in the coming days, reports Sedmitza.ru.

A local clergyman has already blessed the foundation of the construction, stone plinths, the cross, the candle stand, an Icon of St. Nicolas with a bronze frame, and a plate with engraving: "Za Raven Broi" (“May you make the same number of dives as surfaces" ).

Construction will begin on June 1, just south of Cape Borun at a depth of 12 meters. Parts of the chapel will be delivered by boat and immersed by parachute.

The local diving center has initiated the project. It hopes to help build the church for several days. Divers will be able to light special candles in the Church, which can burn in the water.



http://www.pravoslavie.ru/english/61898.htm

Why The Lord Permits Assaults On The Church

Why does the good Lord permit assaults and sufferings on the True Faith while He permits the pleasure of tranquility to heresies and paganism?

Why? Even St. John Chrysostom asks and immediately replies: "So that you would recognize their weakness (the weakness of the heresies and paganism) when you see that they disintegrate on their own without any disturbance and also to be convinced in the power of faith which endures misfortunes and even multiplies through its adversaries." "Therefore, if we quarrel with the pagans or with the wretched Jews, it is sufficient to emphasize as evidence of divine power that the Faith (Christianity) which was subjected to countless struggles maintained victory" even when the entire world stood against her [the Church].

St. Isaac the Syrian says: "The wondrous love of God toward man is recognized when man is in misfortunes that are destroying his hope. Here, God manifests His power for his [man's] salvation. For man never recognizes the power of God in tranquility and freedom."

 

by St. Nikolai Velimirovich

Use your talents to contribute to the work of the Church ( Fr. George Calciu )

Christianity is the religion of active works. Jesus Christ was active. He came into the world wanting to save us all. He did everything that was needed: He cared for the spirit but also for the flesh. He healed the sick, gave sight to the blind, cleansed the lepers, raised the dead, raised from the bed of suffering the sinner and the paralyzed. He conversed with the sinful women and with the publican. He called all to salvation. This means there is not one man in this world whom He gave no talent or who is not called to salvation. If one will not be saved, is because he did not want to be saved.

Everyone is called to serve the church, to serve God. Each one of you received one talent and God is asking you to use it. Multiply it by good deeds for your spiritual growth and for your salvation. Win the love of Him Who came into the world and was crucified for us.

So I ask all of you to contribute to the work of the Church by your good deeds, by your words and by your prayers. Preach the word of God outside the Church, oppose the sects that seek to dismantle the true Church of Christ, have love for one other, and live in unity.

- Fr. George Calciu

The healing mission of the Church ( Metropolitan of Limassol, Athanasios )

The main mission of the Church is to heal a person. In other words, when a person becomes part of the Church is healed if he follows the therapeutic regime which aims to assist him to return to the natural state which God gave him when He had created him.

After the fall of our forefathers, our nature was corrupted. When man severed his relationship with the Lord after disobeying His command, all his mental and physical capacities were immediately corrupted and perverted; his mind turned away from its unbreakable communication with the Lord, which was his natural state, towards the creation and matter, passions and sin. From that moment sickness and perversion entered man’s nature.

This is the reality of the fall, the sin of the forefathers, namely the hereditary sickness which passes on from one generation to another because we are natural descendents of our forefathers. Thus, each man has inherited this condition of spiritual sickness; the perversion of his nature.

Jesus Christ is called the ‘New Adam’, because He enters history at a certain point in time and accomplishes a mission. Christ’s mission was not so much to hand over the Gospel, namely His teachings, neither to give us a book called ‘Gospel’, but to give us Himself. In other words, just as we have inherited the sickness of our nature through the first Adam, Jesus offers us Himself, so that through the baptism we unite with Him, become one with Him, and then through the Holy Eucharist we acquire the capacity to unite with Him organically and ontologically (actually).  This means that the actual unity with the Body and Blood of Jesus flows into our being, into our soul and our body. This is the reason why we become children of God and why the Church exists. The Church would have no reason to exist if it did not administer the holy mysteries, particularly the mystery of the Holy Eucharist.

The Church is not an institution aiming to increase its followers for various reasons. It is the place where man is healed spiritually and is given the opportunity to unite with Jesus Christ. However, man needs to follow a certain therapeutic treatment called ‘askesis’. It entails obeying all of the Lord’s commands handed over to us by Jesus in the Gospel. Jesus’ commands are the medication which treats our sickness. In fact, the Lord shouldn’t have given us any commands since He had created us in His image; His commands are inherent in our nature and our conscience reminds us about them. Nevertheless, as the holy fathers say, the Lord did give us the appropriate medication to cancel out wickedness.

A sick man goes to the doctor and receives a certain treatment, not because the doctor impinges on his freedom or his dignity, but because his advice if heeded, may cure him. If he doesn’t follow the doctor’s instructions his illness will persist and may even cause his death. In the same way the Lord’s commandments act as a therapeutic treatment.

There are many commands and on the outset it seems difficult for someone to remember and obey all of them. Nevertheless, the most essential command is one and has to do with our entire being. It is: “you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with your entire mind and with all your strength.’ And it goes on ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself’. This part is the result and the evidence of our genuine love towards the Lord. In other words, it is not possible for someone who does not love God, to love himself, his neighbor, nature or the rest of the creation. Therefore, all the commandments have a common mission; they converge on the love towards the Lord. This is the natural state of man; this is how the Lord created him, namely, to move towards the Lord with a loving force. This is easy to understand since as the Scriptures say ‘The Lord is love’. But we must appreciate that we are not moving towards an idea, namely ‘love’, but towards a person.

The Church moves man towards a personal meeting with the specific, personal God. In other words, the Church is the place which develops man as a person and not as an individual (an ‘individual’ means someone who is engrossed in his self). That is, it smashes his individualism, develops him as a person and turns him into someone who for the most part has a personal relationship with the Lord. This is also the main difference between the Orthodox Church and eastern religions which speak about a vague and faceless deity. This is the reason why prayer differs from meditation. Prayer is a personal motion towards a personal God; meditation is an impersonal motion from one man to another through the invocation of a vague deity.

The personal motion towards the Lord presupposes that the Lord also moves towards man. Since God is love, it follows that man, who has been created in the image of God, is also love. This loving motion enables man to come out of his self and offer himself to another person, just as Jesus did when He ‘emptied Himself’.

When man empties himself he meets the Lord in a loving union which is totally personal and totally fulfilling for man as a whole. Man’s union with the Lord does not only take place on a mental, philosophical, metaphysical or psychological level. It is a perfect union at all levels. We ought to understand these things if we are to appreciate our true mission in this world. Therefore, by understanding the numerous commandments, we also understand why we ought to obey them.

In other words, the Church is not the sum of certain commandments and laws but it is the place with a specific mission. The Saints of our Church, all the children of the Church who are indeed living children of God and of the Church, prove that what the Church says and promises is true. These people have followed the treatment offered by the Church and became the temple of the Holy Spirit and the chosen vessel of the Lord. Namely the Holy Spirit is present inside them. Indeed there are several such people who are experiencing the presence of the Holy Spirit inside their souls. They know what ‘grace’ means.

When dealing with the reality of our worship, along with all the preconditions and evidence presented by the lives of our saints, we are faced with the entire range of the spiritual struggle. In other words, we understand why all these things happen, why the commandments are given, why askesis and the spiritual regime are necessary and what happens with the presence of Jesus and with the existence of the Church. Thus we understand what will happen to us. The only matter which still needs to be resolved is how to practically begin the process of our relationship with God, how to find Him and how to taste all the things promised by the Church.

The Lord does not discriminate. He does not offer His mercy to one but not to the other, neither does He give gifts to one but not to the other. There are no ‘chosen ones’ for the Lord. The Lord gives to each one the same grace and the same love. It is man who regulates his relationship with the Lord. Man is free to love the Lord absolutely. One may love Him a lot, another very little and yet some may hate Him.

Nevertheless, one has to be aware of his own intentions; he ought to be able to say that he will remain steadfast in his faith even though the Lord sometimes seems to leave him alone in his struggles. In other words, one must never lose heart. He ought to recognize that this mission is not up to him but it is a task accomplished by the Lord. Jesus said to His disciples: ‘You did not choose me, but I chose you’ (John 15, 16). The disciples may have offered their good intention, but unless the Lord was present with His grace to strengthen them, they could not have accomplished a single thing.

Bearing in mind the Lord’s presence we ought to wage our struggle with immense courage. One of the weapons the enemy uses is trying to prevent us from dealing with our sins and passions with courage and zeal.

The Lord offers us a medicine to help us with this process. It is the medicine of repentance in the face of the Lord. This means that one ought to repent not as someone who feels guilty, but as one who is the son of the Lord. Neither any trespass nor the devil are able to take away from us the privilege of being children of the Lord.  Thus we may stand before the Lord and say: ‘Indeed, I have sinned; I have been misled. Nevertheless, I have not denied You and I am still seeking my deliverance’.

People ought not to be miserable inside the Church, because they have been called by the Lord to become gods through grace. This means that a person who lives the life of the Church becomes lord and not a miserable man. This is how the Lord makes him. The Saints, instead of feeling depressed, placed great emphasis on repentance because it made them feel children of the Lord. Repentance was like a life-giving force which led them straight to the throne of their Father.

In the Church there is no place for disappointment neither for backtracking, no matter what happens. Nevertheless, when someone begins his spiritual life, the enemy may succeed in stealing his soul and his heart, enslaving him into worldly matters and causing him to drop his first love towards the Lord.

Therefore, let us not be enslaved by the affairs of this world despite all our responsibilities and duties. Our heart must only move towards the Lord.

The end
Excerpts from a homily by the Metropolitan of Limassol, Athanasios, published in the ‘Paraklisi’ magazine, March 2012.

Advice on Dealing with Stray Thoughts in Church ( Saint Theophan the Recluse )

 
One of the problems we all face is the tendency for our minds to take over while we are in church where we are supposed to be in prayer. This happens to all of us as it i the nature of our mind to be always active unless we command through our soul to stop. This part of our mind is part of the body and needs to be controlled by the higher part of our being.


Here is some advice from Saint Theophan the Recluse:
First we are to pray as follows:

Pray with sincere warmth, with an outpouring before God, with feelings of contrition, humility and reverential fear and with diligent petitions for your spiritual needs. When we even approach prayer in church with this attitude we will still be faced with stray thoughts. Here is how how recommends to deal with them
As soon as you notice your thoughts have left church, turn them back and do not ever allow yourself consciously to daydream or to stray in thought... When the thoughts stray unbeknownst to you, this is also a small sin; but when you begin wandering off in thought purposely while you are in church , this is as sin...It is like a man who has gone to the king in order to ask him for something who then begins to make faces and fidget in the king's presence, without paying any attention to him... With respect to thoughts there are these two rules: 1) As soon as you notice this straying, turn the thoughts back, and 2) do not consciously allow the thoughts to wander.
A remedy against straying thoughts is mental attention, attention to the fact that the Lord is before us and we are before Him.... The attention is attached to the Lord by fear of God and by the desire to please God. From these come warmth of the heart, which draws the attention to the One Lord... Without labor and mental effort you will not attain anything spiritual... Reference: The Spiritual Life, pp 151-152

Advice on Dealing with Stray Thoughts in Church

One of the problems we all face is the tendency for our minds to take over while we are in church where we are supposed to be in prayer. This happens to all of us as it i the nature of our mind to be always active unless we command through our soul to stop. This part of our mind is part of the body and needs to be controlled by the higher part of our being.

Here is some advice from Saint Theophan the Recluse:
First we are to pray as follows:

Pray with sincere warmth, with an outpouring before God, with feelings of contrition, humility and reverential fear and with diligent petitions for your spiritual needs.

When we even approach prayer in church with this attitude we will still be faced with stray thoughts. Here is how how recommends to deal with them

As soon as you notice your thoughts have left church, turn them back and do not ever allow yourself consciously to daydream or to stray in thought... When the thoughts stray unbeknownst to you, this is also a small sin; but when you begin wandering off in thought purposely while you are in church , this is as sin...It is like a man who has gone to the king in order to ask him for something who then begins to make faces and fidget in the king's presence, without paying any attention to him... With respect to thoughts there are these two rules: 1) As soon as you notice this straying, turn the thoughts back, and 2) do not consciously allow the thoughts to wander.

A remedy against straying thoughts is mental attention, attention to the fact that the Lord is before us and we are before Him.... The attention is attached to the Lord by fear of God and by the desire to please God. From these come warmth of the heart, which draws the attention to the One Lord... Without labor and mental effort you will not attain anything spiritual...

Reference: The Spiritual Life, pp 151-152

The way of the Church is love ( Elder Paisios )

The way of the Church is LOVE; it differs from the way of the legalists. The Church sees everything with tolerance and seeks to help each person, whatever he may have done, however sinful he may be.

Elder Paisios 

The Church in our times- Elder Paisios

                       
'' The Church is the Church of Christ and He is the One  Who governs Her.
The Church is not a temple built with stones, sand and mortar by the faithful,
and destroyed by the fire of barbarians.

The Church is Christ Himself. ''


With Pain and Love for Contemporary Man- Elder Paisios

Church services

                             


The good chanter and the priest play a great role in good church services.
When chanting, you must understand and feel what you say. Don't get proud that you supposedly chanted beautifully.You must live what you say.

Once I was chanting a hymn of Apostle Peter that was about his denial. Ehen I said
'' ...and he cried bitterly, '' I saw tears coming out from his icon. The saint must have been pleased.
The priest's cassock is superior to trousers, it's got double grace.....


Papa Dimitri Gagastathis
Life, Miracles and Spiritual Counsels of a Simple Priest of Our Days. pg 98..

The Church is holy

 

                                                        

         
The Church is holy, although there are sinners within her. Those who sin, but who cleanse themselves with true repentance, do not keep the Church from being holy. But unrepentant sinners are cut off, whether visibly by Church authority, or invisible by the judgement of God, from the body of the Church. And so in this regard the Church remains holy.




- St. Philaret, Metropolitan of Moscow