The Catalog of Good Deeds

An article by Mikhail Skaballanovich, Ph.D. (Church History)

Although St Andrew of Crete calls the Nativity (nativitas) of the Most Holy Theotokos the “Beginning of All Feasts,” it was likely the last of the twelve major Christian holidays to appear in the calendar.

As a rule, holidays dedicated to the Mother of God appear later than the ones dedicated to the Lord. Although the first report of the holiday of the Nativity of the Mother of God dates back to the 5^th century, viz., the homilies of Proclus, Patriarch of Constantinople (439-446) in the East and Sacramentarium of Pope Gelasius (492-496) in the West, these accounts are not fully reliable: the authenticity of Proclus’s words is contested, while the earliest copies of the Sacramentarium of Pope Gelasius date to a much later time (8^th century). A recently discovered Syrian menologion (AD 412) does not mention the Nativity of Theotokos and, for that matter, neither does it mention any of the other Marian holidays; it mentions only two of the holidays dedicated to Jesus Christ, i.e. the Nativity of Christ and Theophany. This menologion commemorates “Presbyter Faustus and Ammonius and 20 martyrs with them” on September 8 (O.S.).

This holiday apparently originated in the Greek Church and soon spread to Rome and its affiliated churches. It is noteworthy that this holiday is celebrated by Nestorians (the Nativity of Our Lady Mary) as well as by Jacobites, on September 8 (with the exception of several ancient Coptic menologions, where this holiday is celebrated on April 26). It may mean that this holiday appeared in the Eastern Church before these heretics parted ways with the Church, i.e. in the 5^th century.

St Andrew of Crete († ca. 712) wrote two homilies and a canon for this holiday.

He already considered this holiday as a solemnity. He insists in his canon that all creation must rejoice (Ode 1); the heaven must be glad and the earth must be joyful (Ode 4); barren women and mothers must join the chorus (Ode 6). St Andrew probably wanted to put this holiday on par with other Marian feasts. If you read his canon, full of deep emotion and admiration, you will surely see that a 7^th-century Christian like St Andrew, who died in the early 8^th century, perceived the Nativity of the Most Holy Theotokos as a day when his heart trembled in awe and his soul was overflowing with exalted feelings.

Only a person who had been reared in veneration of this day and maybe heard enthusiastic hymns composed by earlier authors could have the inspiration to write such masterpieces as the 2^nd Canon for the Nativity of Theotokos. This holiday is highlighted in a 7^th-century Jerusalem Book of Canons, and a Georgian version refers to it as significantly different from other days. This feast is also referred to by name in the Festive Gospel, which Emperor Theodosius III (715 – 717) gave as a present to St Catherine Monastery on Mt Sinai. This Gospel was written with golden letters and apparently contained readings only for the most important holidays of the ecclesiastical year (it contains readings only for 21 days of the year: aside from the current twelve major feasts – with the exception of Palm Sunday, which might have been omitted by mistake – there are readings for September 1, December 24, January 5, February 7, March 9, April 23, May 8 and 10, June 29).

In the West, this holiday is first mentioned in the Roman Pseudo-Hieronymus Martyrology (7^th century), in the statutes of Bishop Sonnatius of Rheims (614 – 631) as one of the 13 days of the year when public affairs are forbidden, and in the Martyrology of St Bede the Venerable (†735). Holy Pope Sergius (687-701) is said by Anastasius the Librarian (9^th century) to have appointed a litany (a procession) from St Mary Church to St Adrian Church on this day. The rules of St Boniface (8^th century) name this feast as one of the holidays that merit special honor (sabbatizandae a populis cum singulari devotione). King Charles the Bald mentions this holiday in one of his charters (on distribution of monastery lands). An 8^th-century Anglo-Saxon Pontifical contains a bishop’s blessings for this feast.

However, this holiday was not common in the West even in the 7^th – 9^th centuries. There is no such holiday in the Gothic-Gallican Calendar (7^th – 8^th centuries), Calendarium Luxoviensis (7^th century), the list of holidays found in the Acts of the Council of Mainz (813), in the 10^th-century Toledo Calendar and ancient Mozarabic calendars, all of which mention the Assumption. 17^th-century liturgics scholars even asserted that it was Fulbert of Chartres (†1028) who first popularized it; instead, he might have been instrumental in the expansion of this holiday to Northern France. The earliest Latin sermons on this feast belong to him, and the feast is characterized as a new one.

Although it took a long time to become commonly known and celebrated in the West, this holiday took even longer to become as solemnly celebrated as it is nowadays. The most ancient calendar of Corbie Abbey (8^th– 9^th centuries) contains the following note on September 8: “Memory (natale) of St Adrian and of the Nativity of Blessed Virgin Mary.” Later records assign one Mass to the Nativity of the Mother of God and another Mass to the commemoration of St Adrian; then two Masses to the Nativity and one to St Adrian; then St Adrian is left with only the early Mass; and then finally St Adrian has only a commemoration (commemoratio). Bruno von Hildesheim is characterized in a chronicle dated 1155 as “this most venerable prelate (praesul) was God-loving: he shone with ardent reverence towards His Most Glorious Mother Virgin Mary and diligently did whatever he could to venerate her. Among other things, he was the only bishop who ordered an eight days long octave (apodosis) of Her Nativity to be observed in his diocese, which was later adopted by the entire Holy Mother Church.” Bishop Guido Autissiodensis (†1270) also made this feast a solemn annual celebration in his diocese. Pope Innocent IV made the eight days long octave of this holiday mandatory for the entire Western Church during the Council of Lyon in 1245. Pope Gregory XI (1370-1378) determined a vigil and a fast for this feast, as well as a special rite of mass.

It was in the West and around that time that an explanation for the date of this holiday (September 8) was found. Durandus (†1296) writes that a pious man heard joyful singing of Angels every year on that day and he wondered why they were singing. It was revealed to him that the Angels rejoiced because Virgin Mary had been born on this day; as soon as the Pope learned about it, he ordered a celebration of the Nativity of the Holy Virgin on earth like in the heaven.

* * *

Church chants dedicated to the holiday of the Nativity of the Most Holy Theotokos must have appeared from its very beginning. Unfortunately, our current service hardly retains any of the 5^thor 7^th century hymns dedicated to this feast. Liturgical manuscripts that date back to 7^th and 8^th century (e.g., some Georgian manuscripts) contain chants that are totally different from our current ones.

We do not have a kontakion for the Nativity of Theotokos composed by St Roman the Melodist who lived in the 6^th century and wrote many of our current kontakia for the twelve major feasts. It is only the troparion Thy Nativity, O Theotokos Virgin that belongs to these ancient times — the 5^th– 7^th centuries, given that the same chant is a part of both the Roman Catholic mass and the Eastern Orthodox liturgy, and that this is practically the sole case where worship hymns in the Orthodox Church and the Roman Church coincide.

On the contrary, the 8^th and the 9^th centuries were the time when a number of church hymns dedicated to the Nativity of the Most Holy Theotokos appeared. Less than half of them made it into our current rite of celebration of this feast and its eve. The majority of these chants were introduced into the rite of worship by ancient rubrics but later faded out of use. Currently, there are chants by the following authors used during church services of the Nativity of the Mother of God: St Andrew of Crete († ca. 712) — the Second Canon of the feast; St John of Damascus († ca. 780) — the First Canon of the feast; Patriarch Herman of Constantinople († 740) — the aposticha; Anatoly, bp. of Thessalonica (?) — several stichera chanted during the litiya; Stephen and Sergius of the Holy City, i.e. monks of St Sabbas Monastery in the Holy City (Jerusalem), fl. 9^th century — the Canon of the Eve of the feast. The following authors once had their chants used in old times, e.g. according to the Hypotyposis of the Monastery of the Theotokos Evergetis, Constantinople, but were later rejected by our current Typikon: Emperor Leo VI († 916) — Canon, tone 4 I Shall Open My Mouth (according to the Evergetis Hypotyposis, it was chanted during “pannikhida” of the feast) and another canon with the same initial irmos (according to the same document, it was chanted during “pannikhida” on September 11); George, bishop of Nicomedia (?), fl. 9^th century — Canon, tone 4 I Shall Open My Mouth (the same Hypotyposis assigns this canon for the Matins on the Eve of the feast) and Canon, tone 4, The Powerful Generals during the “pannikhida” on September 10. The same Evergetis Hypotyposis requires (during the “pannikhida” on September 9) another canon, tone 4, I Shall Sing To Thee, O Lord My God, by John (of Damascus?). It is worth noting that St Cosmas of Maiuma did not leave us a canon for this feast: nor did he leave canons for Easter, Ascension, Annunciation, and Entrance of the Mother of God into the Temple.

The extant sources do not allow us to say anything definitive about the kind of service and the hymns and readings that the holiday of the Nativity of the Most Holy Theotokos had before the 7^th century. Luckily, we have a 7^th-century source that sheds light on the rite of this service: a translation into the Georgian language of the so called Jerusalem Canonarium, that is, a collection of liturgical instructions, or rather an index of readings during worship in the Church of Jerusalem. We read, “The Nativity of Theotokos. Troparion, tone 1: Thy Nativity, O Theotokos Virgin. Prokeimenon, tone 1: Thou Hast Sanctified Thy Dwelling; verse: God Is Our Refuge and Strength.” This note is followed by a list of readings, viz., 1. The Wisdom of Solomon 8:2-4 (mistakenly cited as Proverbs); 2. Isaiah 11:1 ff.; and an unnumbered reading of Hebrews 8:7-9,10. Hallelujah, tone 8: Hear O Daughter. Gospel Luke 11:27-32. Washing of hands, tone 1, “Thy Nativity, O Most Pure Virgin.” Apparently, these are the instructions for the Liturgy only; more important feasts have rubrics for the Vespers and the Matins, too. Perhaps, the Vespers and the Matins of this feast did not differ too much from everyday services. We see Old Testament readings during the Liturgy and a special troparion “on washing of hands”, which might have been a substitute of the Cherubic Song. Remarkably, the Gospel reading in this source begins with “And it came to pass, as he spake these things…”, i.e. with the last words of the current Gospel reading. The second earliest source that contains liturgical instructions for this feast is the so called Canonarium of Mt Sinai, i.e. a similar book, which was meant to be used in a certain Church (maybe the Church of Constantinople), found alongside a Gospel book in St Catherine Monastery on Mt Sinai and attributed to the 9^th century. The Vespers prokeimenon in this book is “Glorious things are spoken of thee, O city of God” and the verse is God loves the Gates of Zion. The OT readings, the troparion, the Epistle and Gospel readings, and the Koinonikon are already the same as today.

The information about the order of the services on the Nativity of the Most Holy Theotokos is available to us since the 11^th century, when this service was already very close to the current one. We will mention only the few differences between the known ancient manuscripts and the current Typikon.

Thus, the manuscript of a Georgian translation of the Typikon (the 11^th -century Synaxarion of Iveron Monastery on Mt Athos) requires a special prokeimenon on the Vespers of this feast: “The holy place of the tabernacles of the most High, God is in the midst of her” and the verse was God Is Our Refuge. There was no litiya during the Vespers according to this book; it stipulated current stichera for Lord I Cried during the Aposticha (this book does not determine stichera for Lord I Cried; the same is true for all other great feasts); the troparion is the current one but in the first tone; the usual Matins kathisma is replaced with Psalms 43, 44, and 132; the Antiphons during the Liturgy are It Is Good — apparently the usual weekday ones — with the following refrains: 1). By the Prayers of Theotokos, 2). and 3). Save Us, O Son of God Born of a Virgin, For We Sing Thee: Hallelujah.

The 11^th-century practice of celebration of the feast of the Nativity of the Most Holy Theotokos in the Evergetis Monastery in Constantinople as recorded in a 12^th-century manuscript has the following differences from the current practice. Only three initial stichera are chanted during the Lord I Cried at Vespers: the first and the second ones are repeated three times, and the third sticheron is repeated twice. There was no litiya during Vespers according to this Typikon. The Aposticha had the following verses: 1) Lord, remember David, and all his afflictions: how he sware unto the Lord, and vowed unto the mighty God of Jacob; 2) The Lord hath sworn in truth unto David; he will not turn from it;

Of the fruit of thy body will I set upon thy throne. Only two first stichera of the Aposticha coincide with the current ones, while the third one, Thy Most Honorable Nativity, is now the last during the Vespers; the fourth, Today the Barren Gate, is currently the fourth sung at Lord I Cried. The troparion is in tone 1. The first kathisma at the Matins was the usual one, and the second was a special one, appropriate for the feast, i.e. the sixth kathisma, O Lord, rebuke me not in thy wrath. The sessional hymn after the first kathisma is the one which is now read after the second kathisma; the sessional hymn after the second kathisma is the one that is read after the third ode of the canon today; the sessional hymn after the polieley is the one that is now read after the first kathisma. Canons: First Canon has irmoses repeated twice, troparia by 4, the 2^nd by six (no mention of irmoses here); consequently, the canon itself is read by 12 (today by 16). The current 1^st sessional hymn after the polieley is read after Ode 3 of the canon; the exapostilarion Holy is the Lord our God is read after Ode 9, like on other, mainly medium-importance feasts and, “optionally, another exapostilarion, sung to the tune of Hearken O Women: The ends of earth rejoice.” The Lauds included six stichera but the book names only two of them (probably the first two of the current ones), Glory: Now: the sixth one currently at Lord I Cried, Today the Barren Anna. The Beatitudes during the Liturgy are unique to this feast, in tone 8 “Remember us” — a troparion, a troichen and a theotokion. The following readings from the “Book of Praises to the Theotokos” were incorporated into the service according to this book of rubrics: the First Homily of St John of Damascus, beginning with Come All Nations, during the panikhida; the Second and the Third Homilies of St John of Damascus during the Matins after the First and the Second Kathisma, beginning with the following words, “If the Earth is measured by cubits” and “Various other subjects of feasts”; a homily by St Andrew of Crete “This feast is the beginning of all feasts” after the polieley; a “historical account by St James in his Metaphrastos” after Ode 3 of the Canon (currently, there remain the following readings: the Second Homily by St John of Damascus, referred to as the Homily by St Andrew of Crete; the First Homily by St John of Damascus after the 2^nd Kathisma; a homily by Gregory the Hieromonk; and an unspecified “reading of the feast” after the 1^st Kathisma).

We see that the service according to that Typikon is different from our current one in just a few ways, such as lack of several stichera (e.g. stichera during the litiya), another order of stichera and sessional hymns, and an abridged canon. The Hypotyposis of Evergetis Monastery is an important document in the history of liturgy because it recorded the practice of worship, which was the middle ground between the so call Studite and Jerusalemite Typika. The Hypotyposis of Evergetis is closer to the Studite Typikon in its earliest form, which we cannot find in the full copies that exist today, due to the fact that these remaining copies date back to the 12^th-13^thcenturies and are very close to the Jerusalem (the present) Typikon; they are much closer to it than the Hypotyposis of Evergetis.

According to these copies of the Studite Typikon, which are a Slavonic-Russian edition of this Typikon made in 12^th or 13^th centuries, the worship on this feast has the following differences from the current one. There are six verses for the stichera on Lord I Cried, and the stichera are the current first three ones; there is no litiya during Vespers according to this Typikon; the Aposticha stichera go in the following order: the 1^st Sticheron is the same as today; the 2^nd Sticheron is the same as the 3^rd Sticheron now; the 4^th Sticheron is the same as the 4^th Sticheron on Lord I Cried today. Glory: Now: tone 2, to the tune of House of Ephratha, unspecified text — possibly the current aposticha sticheron from the Small Vespers; troparion, tone 1. The prokeimenon Lift up your hands in the sanctuary, which was sung after the Gospel at Matins during other feasts, was likewise sung after the Gospel at Matins of this day. The canons were chanted as follows: the First Canon had irmoses read once and verses repeated twice in Odes 1, 3, 4 and 6; both irmoses and verses were repeated twice in Odes 5, 7, 8, and 9 (because the first odes contained three verses, while the last odes contained just two verses each); the Second Canon had irmoses and verses recited once: all verses were by 12; there was the exclamation Holy Is The Lord Our God after Ode 9. The current three stichera at the Lauds were chanted twice each, then Glory: Now, followed by the first one of them. This Typikon always required Aposticha, too: Matins aposticha in tone 2, to the tune of House of Ephratha (unspecified), Glory: Now: One of those. Liturgy had “designated Psalms and they sing canons in tone 2, odes 3 and 5 with irmoses, during the Beatitudes.”

According to the earliest copies of the current Jerusalem Typikon, the service of the Nativity of Theotokos is only slightly different from the current (printed) Typikon. The two first stichera are repeated at Lord I Cried. Some manuscripts require singing the Second Canon by 6 with just the troparia without irmoses; other (Slavonic) manuscripts note that “we say its irmoses and troparia once, for they are plentiful.” The exapostilarion of the feast is chanted twice. It is either not specified or the one that Greeks use today. (Sessional hymns aren’t specified either, so we cannot be certain if they are meant to be the same as today or not). The odes of the Liturgy are taken only from the First Canon.

Finally, there are minor inconsistencies between our current rubrics of that feast and the modern Greek or Old Rite rubrics. The Greek rubrics have more differences, albeit insignificant. Thus, according to the Greek Menaia, the first two stichera at Lord I Cried are read twice. The First Sessional Hymn after the Polieley and the Sessional Hymn after Ode 3 of the Canon are chanted one in the place of the other, and there is no second sessional hymn after the polieley. The First Canon has irmoses by 8, the Second Canon has troparia by 6. There is a kontakion and an ikos after the Sixth Ode, together with a brief synaxarion (description) of the feast with preceding verses. The Ninth Ode does not have any refrains. The exapostilaria we use nowadays aren’t there; instead, they use one exapostilarion, mentioned in ancient books, and sing it three times to the tune of Hearken O Women: “The ends of earth today rejoice of Thy Nativity, O Virgin Theotokos Mary and the Unwedded Bride; it is through it that thy parents’ woeful malediction of infecundity was untied, as well as the curse of birth of Foremother Eve.”

According to the liturgical instructions used in the Patriarchate of Constantinople for parish churches, this service has the following differences from ours. They sing stichera by 6 at Lord I Cried; they do not have a litiya during Vespers; the litiya accompanied with singing of a troparion goes before Matins, which is served separately from the Vespers, similarly to other great feasts. The Matins contains Psalter (kathismas) and a polieley to Theotokos My heart is inditing; then hypakoe (in fact, it is a sessional hymn) after the Third Ode of the Canon. During the Liturgy, they sing antiphons consisting of the verses of what is known to us as the select Psalm for the Exaltation, viz., verses 1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 11 (see below), with insertions of Ps. 132:17 between verses 7 and 8, and Psalm 132:14 between verses 9 and 11. The chorus of the First Antiphon is By the Prayers of Theotokos; and of the Second Antiphon, Save Us O Son of God, Wondrous Art Thou In Thy Saints…; of the Third Antiphon, a troparion. They sing Come Let Us Worship… Wondrous Art Thou in Thy Saints during the Entrance.

According to the liturgical instructions used by Old Rite believers, the second and the third stichera at Lord I Cried are sung twice; they sing Today The Barren Gate sticheron in tone 6 after the Gospel reading; they have no refrains after Ode 9; instead they have a katavasia Mysterious Is The Paradise. Instead of It Is Truly Meet they sing Virginity Is Alien to Mothers and repeat the Photogogikon (Svetilen) three times. Apparently, the photogogikon is the same as in the Greek Menaia.

Our account of the history of the service in honor of this feast makes it clear how slowly and gradually this service was developed. Its authors were holy monks and confessors of the 8^th and 9^th centuries and this fact, coupled with high artistic qualities of their works, was the reason why their chants replaced earlier and doubtlessly simpler and less sophisticated hymns used in the 5^th-7^th centuries. Later, quite a few famous hymnographers brought the fruit of their inspiration to this feast, which came to be more and more venerated and honored by the Christian oikumena; however, the Church was so demanding that their works were not adopted for use during worship because they were found to be less brilliant than the former ones. It is also worth noting the care with which the liturgical instructions replaced certain hymns with others in the course of their centuries-long formation and development: texts formerly used at the Aposticha were then moved to Lord I Cried; texts originally chanted between odes of the canons were later moved to kathismas and the polieley. The rubrics were hesitant even in the seemingly unimportant issues, such as where to repeat a sticheron and which one to repeat; which number to sing canons by; whether to sing irmoses of the second canon or not. All this guarantees that the current rite of church service on this day is a harmoniously balanced single whole.

An article by Mikhail Skaballanovich, Ph.D. (Church History)

Translated from: https://www.sedmitza.ru/lib/text/440413/

Do we really need church rituals, given that Jesus did not celebrate Liturgy and did not make the sign of the cross? Sergey Khudiev explains where all these traditions come from and why we should follow them today.

Lately, I stumbled upon a popular, or, as they say nowadays, a viral text:

“Neither Jesus nor His disciples ever:

- Celebrated Liturgy in a church

- Made the sign of the cross

- Kissed icons

- Venerated relics of deceased “saints”

- Lit candles in a church

- Taught that you must venerate certain “sacred” objects.”

And the list goes on, it’s quite long and I don’t quote it in full. You get the idea, right? The diversity of Orthodox rituals is allegedly empty and unnecessary, even contradictory to the original idea and intent of Lord Jesus Christ and his disciples.

Therefore, performing those rituals is a waste of time, right?

Naturally, the Lord and his disciples hardly practiced the Orthodox spirituality as we know it. They belonged to the 1^st-century Jewish culture, so the pious customs that they followed were rooted in the Old Testament and in the Jewish cultural heritage.

However, this spirituality was no less ritualistic, traditional, and community-centered than the Orthodox one.

We find detailed descriptions of rituals, i.e. “stereotypical actions characterized by their symbolic meaning” in the Bible. For instance, the celebration of Passover is central to the Old Testament faith. Passover is celebrated as a way to remember the Exodus of the Jewish people from Egypt, and as such, it implies performing a strict sequence of symbolic actions, each of which carries a message of its own.

Exodus, chapter 12, describes in great detail what clothes people must wear, what food they must eat, and what actions they must perform during the celebration:

And the Lord spake unto Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying, This month shall be unto you the beginning of months: it shall be the first month of the year to you.

Speak ye unto all the congregation of Israel, saying, In the tenth day of this month they shall take to them every man a lamb, according to the house of their fathers, a lamb for an house: and if the household be too little for the lamb, let him and his neighbour next unto his house take it according to the number of the souls; every man according to his eating shall make your count for the lamb. Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year: ye shall take it out from the sheep, or from the goats: and ye shall keep it up until the fourteenth day of the same month: and the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it in the evening. And they shall take of the blood, and strike it on the two side posts and on the upper door post of the houses, wherein they shall eat it. And they shall eat the flesh in that night, roast with fire, and unleavened bread; and with bitter herbs they shall eat it. Eat not of it raw, nor sodden at all with water, but roast with fire; his head with his legs, and with the purtenance thereof. And ye shall let nothing of it remain until the morning; and that which remaineth of it until the morning ye shall burn with fire.

And thus shall ye eat it; with your loins girded, your shoes on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and ye shall eat it in haste: it is the Lord’s passover. (Exodus 12:1-11)

People used to perform (and Orthodox Jews continue to perform even today) an elaborate ritual that reminded and explained the events of the Sacred History to the future generations. Nevertheless, this ritual was not only didactic: it functioned as a mystical time machine of some kind, which was (and is) making people participate in the Exodus. It was not just some other people very long ago, in a foreign land, who experienced the Exodus from Egypt; it was something that happened to us and constitutes a huge part of our own personal experience. We were Pharaoh's bondmen in Egypt; and the LORD brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand (Deuteronomy 6:21).

This is why a person who voluntarily refused to participate in the Seder, ceased to be a part of the Jewish nation. It was more than just a refusal to remember a key event in the history of the nation: it was a refusal to participate in the event.

Lord Jesus Christ does not refuse to perform that ritual, either. On the contrary, his Last Supper where He establishes the Sacrament of Eucharist takes place during a Passover Seder.

His disciples celebrate Eucharist according to his own commandments, “…and when he had given thanks, he brake it, and said, Take, eat: this is my body, which is broken for you: this do in remembrance of me. After the same manner also he took the cup, when he had supped, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood: this do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of me.” (1 Corinthians 11: 24, 25).

Various Christian traditions may have various ways of performing this ritual but it is this ritual that we will find wherever we look: a traditional sequence of actions characterized by their symbolic meaning.

A ritual-less Christianity is impossible simply because it is a ritual — the ritual of Eucharist — that is in the centre of the Christian community as founded by Jesus.

However, there are other reasons why it is impossible.

First, to be pious you need to put effort into praying regularly. The author of Psalms sings praises to God not because he is in the mood to do so right now but because God deserves praise and worship. The obligation to set apart the Sabbath for God’s sake implies prayer discipline: it is a moral obligation of a human being to sing praises to her Creator and Redeemer, which requires disciplined and organized effort.

You can — and should — pray in your own words. With that said, when you are tired, annoyed or in a bad mood, you pray using the words that have already become a part of the biblical tradition. The Psalter was a prayer book for early Christians — and it is mentioned in several verses: James 5:13, Ephesians 5:19, Colossians 3:16.

Secondly, public prayer inevitably calls for order of some kind, and when this order emerges, it becomes stable — why would anyone want to re-create it over and over again? Rituals, i.e. established formulas for public prayer, are simply unavoidable.

Rituals are impossible to avoid even in congregations, which attempt to get rid of rituals. One could write a similar critique against them, too:

Neither Jesus Christ nor his disciples EVER:

- Rented cinemas

- Wore suits and ties

- Made altar calls

- Used songbooks, let alone Hillsong worship hymns

- Played the guitars or used sound amplifiers.

Even if among Christians there are strict reconstructionists who re-produce 1^st-century customs as meticulously as possible, there are very few of them. First of all, it’s incredibly painstaking. Secondly, no one knows why it matters. Lastly, no matter how hard you try, you won’t achieve the result you aspire to: a 21^st-century man who wears a costume of a 1^st-century man is nothing but a 21^st-century man in a masquerade costume.

Religious life invariably requires rituals. These rituals cannot copy 1^st-century samples to a tee. Notwithstanding this fact, it is preferable that they preserve continuity with those samples — that they shoot out of the 1^st century like a living organism. This is why the Lord established his Church, “I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” (Matthew 16:18), described by Apostle Paul as a living Body filled with the Holy Spirit: “For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit.” (1 Cor. 12:13).

The rituals of the Church stem out of its practice of prayer and communion with God. They aren’t random or meaningless. When we perform them, we enter the very space of faith and prayer where Apostles dwelt.

Yes, spiritual life can become a mere formality; meticulous adherence to rituals can hide inner emptiness and infidelity to God — and that is something even prophets of the Old Testament warned against. But in order to face the danger of formalization of your spiritual life, you need to have a spiritual life first.

A Russian poet said,

If you don’t have a house,

It won’t be destroyed by fire.

And if you don’t have a spouse,

There’s no other guy she’ll desire.

If you do have a spiritual life, it will definitely manifest itself through rituals — and you shouldn’t be afraid of it.

Source: http://www.pravmir.ru/zachem-tserkvi-stolko-obryadov/

Inspiration Studio will be opened in the Church in honor of St. John of Shanghai and San Francisco soon. This church is located on the territory of the National Applied Research Centre of Mental Health. The lessons will target those who undergo rehabilitation in this Centre.

This is what the sisters who will hold the classes tell about the idea, about its importance and various aspects.

Nun Martha (Matveyeva), icon painter and artist:

— We dreamed of having a studio like this in the church built on the territory of the hospital for a long time. Finally, this dream is coming true: the church is already built; a big and bright room where we plan to have classes for those who undergo treatment and rehabilitation in the Centre of Mental Health has been equipped. I believe it is immensely important and precious that the classes will be held in this holy place, in the building of this wonderful church. It is no coincidence that this church is dedicated to St. John of Shanghai and San Francisco whose entire life was a vivid example of loving God and his neighbors. Even now, many of those who pray to him receive aid and are healed.

Our students will master various kinds of art: painting, wool felting, paper folding, etc.

I will be teaching classes on paper art, which is a vast array of crafts, including paper folding, quilling, origami, modeling, making sculptures from paper clay, scrapbooking, and a lot more. I like working with paper because is a flexible, light, and accessible material that you can use to make amazing things even during one short class.

I have already had experience working in the Centre of Mental Health. I used to teach classes in the rehabilitation department and several other departments. It was there that I noticed how meaningful and life-changing it could be! When we do something together, we immerse into a special creative and kind atmosphere and build mutual trust and respect. Our souls are relieved, and in addition to that, thanks to God’s help, we manage to make very nice works of art.

I praise God for having the opportunity to open our Inspiration Studio now!

Darya Yaskevich, a psychologist:

— Our main goal is to give people a chance either to get well or to learn to coexist with their illness, to be able to accept themselves and their illness. We will practise various methods, primarily the means of art, to help people during our classes.

Speaking of the materials we need for the classes, I personally like the resource-based approach, when you make things out of what you have at hand. It often turns out that you only need cardboard and a black marker pen to make a whole lot of things.

You never know in advance what you’ll use but we always need high-quality paper, good brushes, acrylic and gouache paints, and the already mentioned marker pens. We need wire, a lot of duct tape, and glue. We also need fabrics. Generally speaking, we will need materials that you can glue and paste — everything that you can cut out from and everything that you can paint.

Xenia Mamykina, a specialist in wool felting:

— When I conduct workshop sessions in wet felting, I simply do my best to make life easier for people.

Felting teaches you to love working with your hands, doing handicrafts and experimenting. Felting can help a person to get out of a difficult mental condition that she experiences. Felting helps individuals to discover new abilities. This kind of activity boosts one’s creativity. People start tinkering with things; pieces of wool turn into certain objects and grow in all three dimensions, and that’s happening right in front of their eyes. When you do felting, you are not fully aware of what kind of picture you will make in the end. These constant discoveries reveal one’s hidden potential of creativity.

I don’t have any science to back it but I can see that God helps us all, and it is especially visible when we are all together.

Natallia Zhigamont, an artist, a teacher, and an art therapist:

— The most crucial thing when doing art therapy classes with people in crisis situations and with those who are in hospital is a personalized approach to each and every person. Fine arts can therefore be regarded both as a means of communication and as a self-help opportunity. One should choose the kind of activity that will help her to get distracted from her problems and to divert her thoughts into a more positive channel. It may become an eye-opening lifehack for some people, which will improve the quality of their lives and give them meaning and purpose after they leave the hospital. Creative work is essential for everybody. It allows them to seek and find, to change and never stop improving. This is vital for those who, for a number of different reasons, find themselves in a difficult situation and see no way out.

September 22, 2017

St. Elisabeth Convent

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