Archpriest Andrew Lemeshonok, the spiritual father of St. Elisabeth Convent, answers various questions of the parishioners.
How not to be afraid of joy? Why do we find
it hard to be happy sometimes?
We are
aware of the fact that our joy will not remain forever. That’s why we feel
terrified. It is difficult to get down to the sinful earth and to suffer after
being exalted by joy.
Ups and
downs in our lives are inevitable and very painful for each of us. That is why
the Lord grants happiness and special grace to those people who don’t feel
dispirited, who can endure the sorrows and trials that can befall a person
right after the moments of graceful joy.
Sometimes a person doesn’t fast too strictly
and doesn’t pray too fervently, but he still receives great joy at Easter… What
does Easter joy depend on?
Here is
the depth of one’s inner life and the depth of one’s heart. Sure, sometimes
people work really hard and abstain from a lot of things but they still don’t
receive grace. The Lord knows one’s heart and He knows what each person needs
most. There can be an unexpected joy when someone did not do anything special
to receive it, and he is surprised: what was the reason for it? The Lord simply
gives his love and touches one’s heart.
The
publican walked into the Temple… Did he read all canons? Did he fast? Did he
fulfil the Law? No, he didn’t but he came to the church, and his soul was ready
to accept God’s grace because it was humble, it knelt before God, and the Lord
comforted his sick and suffering soul. Our entire lives are in God’s hands. The
amount of joy and love that the Lord gives us depends on his Providence, and
not on our own efforts. Otherwise, we would work hard and demand, “Come on!
Comfort me, now! Why do you comfort that guy over there? He spent less time
working for you…” We would start arguing and quarrelling with God. We would not
be able to enter the Kingdom of God in that case. “How can it be that I denied
myself all my life, and that guy lived as he pleased, and he was a thief but
here he is the first in the paradise?!” It is fair? No, but it’s love.
It is said that if one dies on Easter or
during the Bright Week, he will not go through ordeals and go straight into the
Heaven. Is it true?
Yes,
there is such an opinion. I believe that each person will be tested
with the question, “Lovest thou Me?” However, we guess that death does not
occur at random. Its time and date is not haphazard. When the Royal Door is
opened, when the heaven and the earth celebrate the victory of life over death,
we would like to think that one’s soul will go to the paradise no matter what.
However,
approximately one hundred people die on Easter in Minsk every year. We can’t
say that they immediately go to paradise. Those who didn’t have the
encounter with God in the course of their lives also die, unfortunately. That’s
why the day of Easter is not a 100% guarantee of free entry into the paradise.
However, when a believer who goes to church regularly dies on Easter day, it
does matter for his soul. It is a testimony for his relatives, too, that their
deceased relative had pleased God.
What if
someone dies on a different day but had led a saintly life, does it change
anything? I suppose not. All days are holy for God. That’s why we have to
humble ourselves down and to repent in order to get into the paradise.
April 11, 2018
St.
Elisabeth Convent
CONVERSATION