The Catalog of Good Deeds

Archpriest Andrew Lemeshonok: Everything cannot be ideal in this world. There will always be much more to be desired, and something just has to not be right. People cannot reach an ideal here on earth. Archimandrite Sophrony (Sakharov) told his monks one day. «Think about the most important things, and the rest will be added to you». If we start paying too much attention to details, we will be stuck in them.

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We are not attentive enough; we are so easily distracted; we do not remember what happened yesterday; we don't care about hurting someone, being rude to someone, or not noticing someone... We need to learn to be attentive in order to be able to think clearly and not be driven by the chaos that's inside us or by our feelings instead of looking for God. This is what incessant prayer is about. Do you think that incessant prayer means babbling Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me a sinner? No, it means constantly being in the presence of God and turn down our own will. This is the only way to learn the incessant, 24/7, prayer.

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You may say that you have nothing to do with it, and that nothing depends on you. It does, and it does a whole lot. If you pray and live with God all the time, thousands of people will be saved around you. If you come in contact with people who are in trouble and feel sad, and you comfort and educate them with your words, while having good thoughts and pure insight, do you know how much good you will bring? It is hard to imagine!

Sermon after a Liturgy on January 31, 2016

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Archpriest Andrew Lemeshonok: It is very hard, and even unbearable, to be living with a seemingly pious person sometimes. This kind of piety is deadly. It is easy to live with a humble person who deems himself the worst of all people. The less we think about ourselves, the easier it is for others to be with us. The less we have, the more we can get in God. This is the law of life. Christ did not have anything in this world, apart from God's love and approval of the Heavenly Father. The good thief did not learn theology but he repented and was the first to enter the paradise. That's why repentance is the one most important thing for us today.

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Why is it easy to be around a certain person? It is because he does not demand too much, he always puts himself in the last place, does not draw attention to himself, and always feels that he is unworthy. This is what makes a person really beautiful.

Take another person, who has something. And he needs to demonstrate it to everyone, «I have something. Do you know how spiritually advanced I am? Just wow! I'll tell you now». Here he goes, «I visited these or those elders, you know, I'm experienced in spiritual affairs...» Naturally, it is so boring to listen to all that, because these words aren't useful at all, that person utters them only to show off and to demonstrate that «I know something about spiritual life». Father Nicholas told me, «I don't understand anything; I don't know anything». He was serious. And this is beautiful because it is genuine. Try looking for the genuine things, not fake ones.

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We should devote our entire lives to Christ. And then we will be free, and we will not have problems interacting with each other, picking on who said what, who looked at what and how they did it. And then we will trust God, and thanks to it, we will be able to say together with the Apostle, «I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me. (Phil.4:13)» Everything is in God's hands.

Sermon after an Akathist to St Elisabeth on January 31, 2016

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Priest Artemius Tonoyan: We have heard the words of the Gospel today that tell us about the purity we need in order to be close to God, so that he could lay his hand on us, like his children whose thoughts and feelings are simple, bright, and honest.

Sermon after the Liturgy on February 3, 2016

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Priest Valery Zakharov: Everything we do, everything we feel must be subject to God's will... It is God who can determine a person's path, and human reasoning cannot possibly show us the right direction in life. People are full of passions; they are self-loving and proud, so if they do not pray to God to correct their lives, they will turn into chaos, full of injustices and hatred. We will inflict pain not only on ourselves but also on other people. I would like our lives to be built according to his commandments and his will. This is why we should test our lives all the time and see if they are pleasing unto God or not.

Sermon after a moleben on February 4, 2016

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Priest Valery Zakharov: You can't see another person's spiritual growth but you can see its result. A person was proud and pompous but then he becomes humble. It does not mean that he bends his head down — this is how we perceive humbleness — no, on the contrary, he may raise his head up but he will remember and be mindful of who he is and who God is. He will do his best not to be separated from the Lord, not to go away from him, not to lose him. This will make him and everyone around him happy because God acts through such a person, and joy pours over onto everyone.

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Every effort, every instant of pain and suffering that we endure for God's sake, will be rewarded by him a hundred-fold.

Sermon after a Liturgy in the boarding home for children with special needs on February 5, 2016

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Priest Alexander Pashkovsky: Sure, we must keep all commandments, although the Holy Fathers say that the commandments are higher than what we can possibly do, they are far too difficult for us. However, it is not our own efforts that we place our trust on, it is God's mercy that can help us.

Sermon after the Liturgy on February 4, 2016

CONVERSATION

From the Icon Casing Workshop of St.Elisabeth Convent

Troparion: “Seek us who are perishing, O Most Holy Virgin, chasten us not according to our sins, but as you are merciful in your love for mankind, have pity, deliver us from hell, sickness and necessity, and save us” 

From the Icon Painting Studio of St.Elisabeth Convent

There are several known versions of the miracle-working icon “The Seeker of the Lost” and many miracles when the Mother of God through her icon has helped people on the verge of disasters.

From the Semi-Precious Crushed Stone Workshop

In the middle of 17th Century, in a village near the Kaluga Governorate on the feast day of Theophany, a pious peasant by the name of Thoedot Obukhov was caught in a blizzard while traveling. The horses lost all their strength and stopped near a deep ravine. Obukhov began to lose hope and decided to lie down waiting for the end to come. However, during what he thought were his last moments, he began to pray to the Mother of God for help and promised to make an icon “The Seeker of the Lost” for his parish. His prayer was answered. A men in a nearby village heard a voice saying “Take Him” and walked outside to find the freezing peasant. After Obukhov, recovered, he proceeded to keep his promise and since then the icon he made for the church has granted many healings and miracles.

From the Gold Plating Image Workshop of St.Elisabeth Convent

Another miracle-working icon with the same name is known to be  from a village near the Kharkov governorate, which appeared in 1770. It is known for saving the residents of the village from cholera.

In 1835, a church attached to the Moscow Alexandrov Orpahange Institute was consecrated in honor of the icon.

In 1812, the invading French armies vandalized a church in Moscow where a copy of the icon was located. The icon itself broken up into three pieces. Many miracles occurred from this particular icon. 

From the Laquered Icon on Wood Workshop

CONVERSATION

What is this Feast about?

She has brought Him to the Priest and righteous Elder

whose appointed lot it was to see Christ the Lord.

Simeon, receiving Him in his arms, rejoiced greatly and cried aloud:

“This is God Who is co-eternal with the Father!

He is the Redeemer of our souls!”

(From the Aposticha, The Meeting of the Lord Vespers)

According to the scriptures, on the fortieth day after the birth, the Virgin Mary brought the Lord to the Temple in Jerusalem. At the same time, the righteous elder Simeon was living in Jerusalem. It was revealed to him that he would not die until he sees Christ with his own two eyes and his heart accepts the truth that the Savor of the world will be born from a virgin. According to the Holy Tradition, Simeon was one of the translators and writers of the Septuagint, which is a translation of the Hebrew Scriptures into the Greek Language. While translating the book of Isaiah, Simeon came across the words “Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son and shall call his name Immanuel”. He wanted to change the word “virgin” to “young woman” but was stopped by the appearance of an angel, who proceeded to tell him that he would not die until he sees the prophecy come true.

Also, at the temple was an 84-year-old widow by the name of Anna the Prophetess, who gave thanks and glorified God, when she saw that Christ was brought to the temple.

Faithful to God

The Meeting of Our Lord is a feast of hopes, and promises that have come true. The Feast of encounters. It is not just the feast of the meeting between elder Simeon and the Godchild, not only a crossroad between the Old and New Testament but a feast day when each person meets God. It is that precious moment when a person has found God, has found the true faith that we can call a true encounter or meeting.

Saint Silouan the Athonite saw Christ but after that had to live for quite some time, experiencing a certain abandonment. However, during this time he continued to be faithful to God and to the meeting that he had. This is the period of his life when he said the following words “Keep Thy Mind in Hell and Despair Not.”

Why does the encounter happen?

Most likely because somewhere deep inside, subconsciously, every person is looking for the truth. The person is looking for something bigger then himself and can not compare to anything human. One must also seek the uncontainable because only when a person attempts to grasp the uncontainable, can he finally begin to feel the fullness of life.

We constantly feel and go through various spiritual periods where our moods and desires constantly shift. Perhaps this is the moment where our faith to God is truly tested.

Many people have said that after their first encounter with God, they go through a period that is less bright and life seems to be sad and unpleasant. Everything becomes a burden including going to church, trying to pray, the sins begin to weigh you down, altogether everything appears gloomy and hopeless. It is at these moments we must reach out to God, to the Holy Scriptures, Traditions and to the Church, which is the body of Christ. In other words, we must remain faithful and we must keep our faith. Moreover, the Lord will not abandon those who are faithful to him. After someone dies, you ask yourself if the same encounter will occur for that person after the body dies. I think by keeping the faith in Christ we can attest that the encounter will occur. We must remember His words “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man comes unto the Father, but by me”.

Our entire life – Is an Encounter.

If we look at our entire life, it becomes clear that it consists of encounters. It is not just a meeting of man and God, as stated above but the “meetings” that happen every day, and if we look closely and patiently then we will never miss it.

An excerpt from the story Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupery comes to mind – what does it mean to tame?

“I am looking for friends. What does that mean -- tame?"

"It is an act too often neglected," said the fox. "It means to establish ties."

"To establish ties?"

"Just that," said the fox. "To me, you are still nothing more than a little boy who is just like a hundred thousand other little boys. And I have no need of you. And you, on your part, have no need of me. To you I am nothing more than a fox like a hundred thousand other foxes. But if you tame me, then we shall need each other. To me, you will be unique in all the world. To you, I shall be unique in all the world....”

From this story, “tame” could also mean to meet, encounter. Meet someone and accept him or her for who they are. Become a part of one’s life, one’s soul, even if for a mere second. To meet on such a depth where words are no longer necessary, when a person does not need to resist the truth or pretend to be something he is not. We should never forget how beautiful people could be. And if during our “meeting” we begin to forget about ourselves, we can direct more attention to other people and hopefully do so with an open heart. This can allow us to be engulfed by another’s world which in turn can lead to opening up to compassion and understanding others. It is important to truly understand a person instead of careless nodding and paying attention to everything but the other person.

But in the end we still choose the people who we want to be friends with?

How come we can not be friends with everyone?

Could be because the souls are not moving in the same direction and the feelings of inner closeness are much stronger than the conclusions of the mind. As scientific and intellectually advanced our age may be, we still live and follow our heart. And you can not commend the heart, you can not lie to the heart. A real friend - is a gift from God. He accepts you for who you are. A true friend will be honest and true, even is not the most “attractive”. You are more valuable to a real friend than someone who attempts to make sure you like them. Sometimes a person can leave a friend. They go on to new experiences, new friends and a new life. Then suddenly you reconnect, meet again, and a certain spark and moment returns and through your heart you begin to understand how much you value that person. It is as if you find a toy you have long forgotten about and suddenly all the warm memories and comfort returns.

Real friendship is a prefiguration of God’s love towards us. The Love that can withstand anything, the Love that believes everything, the Love that never ends. Love without which nothing real can ever be.

Sister Daria