The Catalog of Good Deeds

Silence comes gradually in prayer. This is our first stage in seeking a union with God. It is this silence where you are able to hear more than your heart beat. It is in silence that God can speak to us. In silence we come to know our soul and the life giving spirit that dwells within.

Elder Aimilianos says,

I have to learn to be silent, that is, I have to learn to listen, I have to learn to wait, to await the voice of God. Within this silence, I’ll then be able to hear the beat of my heart, not the beat of my bodily heart, but I’ll feel my life-giving-Spirit, my hypostasis, which is none other than the Holy Spirit.

It is in silence that we can come to know and experience the Holy Spirit, the uncreated energies of God. It is in this silence of prayer that we begin to desire to acquire the Holy Spirit. We want to know what is the real meaning of the Holy Spirit. What we need is a revelation, Elder Aimilianos tells us, so we can understand the true meaning of the Holy Trinity revealed to us in Scripture. This is an experience that he says comes gradually.

He says,

The experience comes gradually, progress within our soul and God takes up His place within our being. And His steps and His voice mingle with our steps and our voice and then we become one with God.

This is all part of a long process that comes from our love of God, Our humbleness, our patience seeking and endurance in prayer. Eventually we develop this true desire for the Holy Spirit.

The Elder says,

We begin to desire the acquisition of the Holy Spirit, so that at some stage we can say:”Come and abide in us, Holy Spirit, and cleanse us from all stain” because our souls are full of stains, they fill our souls and there is nothing we ourselves can do about it.

We want to be pure in heart so we can see God as Jesus promised us. Not in some future life but in our life right now. It is only in this way that we can do with certainty the will of God. With a soul cleansed of all stain we know His will for us and can begin to act as a loyal servant.

This stage of desiring the Holy Spirit is only a temporary stage. Once we realize that is is the acquiring of the Holy Spirit that is essential for us we still have not acquired it.

The Elder tells us,

We feel this anxious expectation, then we’ll progress and we’ll have that silent delight which we call the foretaste of the coming of the Spirit and awareness of the presence of God.

To be in communion with God we need to call for Him, we need to seek, we need to knock on His door as Scripture says. Then in silence with great anticipation we, in our complete humility, we realize that without the Holy Spirit we cannot understand, we cannot be cured of our blindness or the satins that block us from God. The Elder tells we must say, “Spirit, where are you for goodness’ sake. You teach me!”

Now we must wait in anticipation feeling that He is nearby.

Source: http://orthodoxwayoflife.blogspot.com/2018/05/what-comes-after-silence-in-prayer.html

I found this in an old e-mail. I know the ‘perfect priest’ is an adaptation of ‘perfect pastor’ lists that have been around for ages, but am not sure where the additions about the Presbytera originally appeared. Enjoy.

The Perfect Priest and the Perfect Presbytera

1) The Perfect Priest preaches exactly 10 minutes. He condemns sin roundly, but never hurts anyone’s feelings. He works from 8:00 a.m. until midnight, and is also the church’s janitor.

– The Perfect Presbytera is very articulate. She never says a word at church meetings. She has a full-time, high-paying career, and home schools at least 3 kids. She never misses a church service, fundraiser or social event.

2) The Perfect Priest makes $140.00 per week, wears gold clothes, drives a good car, buys good books, and donates $1000.00 to the parish. He is 30 years old and has 40 years experience.

– The Perfect Presbytera drives her kids to their lessons in a late model mini-van that won’t embarrass the congregation, in between washing clothes in ecologically correct laundry detergent, making healthy balanced meals from scratch, and recycling all the bottles, boxes and cans in the house.

3) He is above all else handsome.

– The Perfect Presbytera stands up for the sanctity of marriage. She never minds all those females flocking around her handsome husband, or him being home late from church meetings night after night. After all, she too is unspeakably gorgeous. She never wears any makeup or spends money that should go to the poor on a hairdresser. She is always dressed in the height of fashion. Her babushka scarf, loafers and ankle-length skirts come from the Thrift Shop.

4) The Perfect Priest has a burning desire to work with teenagers, and he spends most of his time with senior citizens.

– The Perfect Presbytera is totally devoted to motherhood. She spends all her time visiting the shut-ins, calling people who were away from liturgy last week, and volunteering in the community. She behaves modestly, keeping in the background at church. She directs the choir, co-ordinates the Sunday School, leads the women’s group and organizes the perogie-making bee.

5) He smiles all the time with a straight face, because he has a sense of humor that keeps him seriously dedicated to his parish. He makes 20 calls a day to his people and is always in his office to be handy when needed. The Perfect Priest always has time for the parish council and all its committees and sub-committees.

– The Perfect Presbytera is completely open with parishoners about her personal struggles. They never hear a word of complaint from her. She certainly does not show favoritism. She is very close friends with the people in the parish who matter.

6) He never misses the meeting of any parish organization and he is always busy evangelizing the unchurched.

– The Perfect Presbytera is irreproachable when it comes to minding her own business. She makes sure Father is informed about everyone in the parish who is sick, troubled, or annoyed at the footwear choices of the altar servers.

7) The Perfect Priest is always in the next parish over!

– Strangely enough, even the Perfect Priest in the next parish over doesn’t seem to have a Perfect Presbytera!

8) Actually, the Perfect priest is one who is willing to give up his life for Christ if necessary… that’s the Perfect Priest!

– Couldn’t say it better: the Perfect Presbytera either.

Source: http://goodguyswearblack.org/2011/07/21/the-perfect-priest-the-perfect-presbytera/

Eleonora Borisovna Sablina is an historian, teacher, candidate of historical sciences, researcher of Japanese Orthodoxy, and the author of a book on St. Nicholas of Japan.

—Eleonora Borisovna, you have been living and teaching in Japan for many years. Tell us, please, how you arrived in the Land of the Rising Sun? Where do you work?

—I have been teaching at the Tokyo University of Foreign Studies for nineteen years. I am a candidate in historical sciences and professor. I also teach at the Tokyo Conservatory, and until March of this year I worked at the State University of Yokohama. Unfortunately, study of the humanities is being reduced in Japan today. It’s sad, but there’s nothing you can do—it’s a global trend.

I went to Japan straight from Moscow State University (MSU). I taught Japanese there. My specializations were as an historian-orientalist and as a translator. From 1978, when the world conferences of religious leaders began, I started working with the Russian Orthodox Church. I was invited as a translator. Vladyka Theodosy (Nagasima) would come to Russia and I would translate for him. I first learned about St. Nicholas when I started accompanying pilgrims. Of course, before that I had heard nothing about the saint because we lived in an atheist country; but the person of St. Nicholas interested me. In the end, I decided to go to Japan to study his activity and to introduce it to Russians. In 1992, after the fall of the USSR, the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs created special educational programs, receiving students and researchers from Russia. I was there for a year on this grant, as a visiting researcher. I went around all of Japan and visited all the churches. I wrote several articles under the title “A Pilgrim from Russia.” A large compilation on St. Nicholas’ work was even published in English, including my articles and those of other scholars.

—And you have stayed working in Japan ever since?

—Yes, they kept me; because Vladyka Theodosy did not allow any Japanese into his archives, but he told me, “Do as you wish.” It was apparently also because my specialization was as a researcher in Russian-Japanese cultural relations at the end of the nineteenth century, and my main direction was the history of St. Nicholas and the Japanese Orthodox Church. In general, when you say in Russia that there’s Orthodoxy in Japan, everyone is surprised. But there is! And it’s firmly rooted. I thank the Japanese Foreign Ministry for giving me the opportunity to study Orthodoxy in Japan, because it is the basis of Russian-Japanese relations at all times, and the mutual understanding between Russia and Japan comes from the Orthodox. St. Nicholas was a great scholar and Japanologist. I thank God that I also wound up in this current of Japan specialists.

—That brings up a question. You probably didn’t come to faith immediately. It seems St. Nicholas greatly influenced your coming to the Church.

—I came to faith after I began to collaborate with the Russian Orthodox Church and I would go to the services. But I have childhood memories of faith. I remember how my nanny would take me to Rostov-on-Don to church. It was a Greek church. I remember stopping into the church sometimes and going there for Pascha with a lit lantern. And that was the end of my experience with faith. I didn’t hear anything else about faith. We even had a class at MSU on scientific atheism. But one day the Lord led me to the Committee for the Protection of Peace. My classmates were there. They called me and said, “There’s a conference, organized by priests. They need the Japanese language.” I was scared, but I went. From there a whole chain of events lined up, leading me to Japan. I believe everything was so easily managed by the prayers of St. Nicholas. I always felt he was leading me. I finally began my Church life there.

—What did you think of Japan on your first visit?

—I first went to Japan as a third-year student. The Expo 1970 world exhibition was there. The first thing I noticed was a different smell. They got us to Osaka in eight hours, and on the way I saw bananas lying out on counters, but we had a shortage of them. I was surprised by the unusual smell and the brightness of the fruit. The Japanese immediately seemed very friendly. We were working on building our Soviet pavilion, and I had to constantly translate for everyone—constantly traveling and talking. One elderly Japanese man even decided to invite us to some interesting places. He said he only had a little time left to live because he was sick, and therefore he wanted to show us young people his motherland. That’s when I first began to love the Japanese. They’re very compassionate people. I’m still friends with some of the Japanese who were at that exhibition then. The Japanese are not wasteful, but not stingy, not tight-fisted.

—How did you decide to write a book on St. Nicholas? Were there difficulties in writing it?

—No, there were no special difficulties. I first wrote a thesis on him, and I had all the documents. Besides, I wrote with my heart. Before going to Japan, I got a blessing from Vladyka Vladimir in St. Petersburg, whom I had befriended at conferences in Japan. He really loved Japan. One time, Vladyka and I went to a monastery where His Holiness (Patriarch Alexy II) was. They had trapeza in the evening, then everyone went up for a blessing. I approached the patriarch last, and he said, “And where are you, Eleonora Borisovna?” Ten years had passed and he still remembered me! I told him I’d already been in Japan for two years, and told him I was going to write a work about St. Nicholas. He wished me success. And in 2006, when my book came out, I presented it to him on the commemoration day of Holy Hierarch Alexei. He would then often ask, “How is your Japan?” and always asks me to convey his bow to Japan. I thank God that life has led such people to me, including Anthony of Sourozh. At the Local Council, when I translated for him, Vladyka was sitting on a step below us, and it was making me very uncomfortable. However, he said, “No, no, don’t interfere.” And in the end, I got a bouquet of red roses from him.

—You studied the life of St. Nicholas of Japan, went to all the churches where he served, and spoke with people connected with Vladyka in one way or another. What, in your view, led to St. Nicholas having such missionary success in Japan?

—Vladyka had a good heart, mind, and education. When he arrived in Japan in 1861, Christianity was still forbidden there. He was a regular priest at the consulate for eight years, and this whole time he attentively and heartily studied Japan—its history, literature, and most importantly, language. He studied Japanese for eight hours straight every day. He alternated with three different teachers. Just imagine, what productivity! Such a desire to get to know the country and language that many have said was created by the devil himself, since it’s so difficult. But Vladyka overcame it all.

St. Nicholas’ path to Japan was not easy, but providential. While he was still in the St. Petersburg Academy, when he went to the seminary’s evening prayers, he saw in one classroom a sheet saying that they were asking for a priest for the consulate in Japan—and not just a priest, but a missionary priest. Vladyka would later say, “I went to the service, prayed about this proposition, and by the end of the service my heart, my soul already belonged to Japan.” No one thought that he, a handsome and funny man, would wind up so far away and become a great preacher.

But the Lord judged otherwise. It’s interesting that the future holy hierarch met Metropolitan Innocent in Irkutsk, also later numbered among the saints, who was returning from America. St. Innocent sewed a velvet cassock for his young comrade, saying that he, Nicholas, should appear in all glory before the Japanese. He also gave him a pectoral cross and said, “You should come down the ladder from the boat with such a look.” Obviously, Vladyka well understood how important a missionary’s first impression is. And indeed, after the amazing conversion to Orthodoxy of a Shinto priest who had come to kill St. Nicholas, the Orthodox community began to grow by his fiery preaching in the Japanese language, and by 1880 there were more than 5,000 believers and 6 priests.

—As you know, St. Nicholas founded a seminary and theological schools. How did Vladkya prepare people for priestly service; how did he instruct and educate them?

—Yes, you’re referring to the Tokyo Seminary, which had its first graduation in 1882. Vladyka strove to give seminarians there a very good and diverse education and invited various teachers. St. Nicholas always paid attention to the seminarians’ manners and their attitudes towards people. Some were expelled because they were drunk, some for foul language. Every day, Vladyka recorded how everyone was in church, school, and at work. St. Nicholas also paid great attention to the students’ health, because they were very poor and hungry in Japan at that time. Therefore, the seminary even organized a dacha in the mountains that the seminarians regularly visited. In the summer they went to the seaside. They tried to provide them all with good food and made them play sports and keep up their personal hygiene. Vladyka also demanded that the seminarians keep a journal, talking about trips home, who they preached to, and what difficulties they experienced. Such an attentive, deeply human approach to those around him, inherent in many Japanese, of course greatly drew them to the personality of St. Nicholas.

—Since you’ve hit upon the question of mentality, I would like to ask, what would you, having lived in Japan for so long, identify as the key features of the Japanese mentality?

—They are, of course: responsibility, collectivism, and, most importantly, love for their country—the Japanese often say, “I am happy to have been born in Japan.” In terms of love for their homeland and probably collectivism too, Russians and the Japanese are very similar. The climate is rather harsh in Russia, while in Japan they have almost constant earthquakes, fires, tsunamis—how could they get by without collectivism? But the most important thing in Japan is human relations. That is, if you don’t get along well with people, you will fall out of society. Do you know who one of the most beloved fairytale characters is in Japan? You’re going to fall out of your chair. It’s our Russian Cheburashka. Why? Because he is friendly with everyone—it’s very important. Also, everything must be balanced for the Japanese—this is foundational for their worldview. There should be nothing sharp, nothing broken, and nothing destroyed at all. The Japanese, oddly enough, very rarely say the word “no” or categorically refuse anything.

—In your view, what is the most valuable thing in the Japanese educational system? How traditional is it?

—The educational system in Japan is being gradually reformed—unfortunately, often not in a positive direction. Sometimes, for example, they reduce the humanitarian subjects in favor of the technical. My co-workers with whom I worked for many years as a professor say that this used to be a good university, and now it’s more like a strong vocational school. Of course, due to the low birth rate, there are fewer students and teachers. But it’s very difficult to get a job at a university without a degree now. It’s also good that universities now have obligatory full-fledged scientific societies.

—Japan is a very high-tech country, but at the same time, tradition plays a rather strong part in Japanese life. How do modern Japanese combine tradition and modern technology? How do they support the institution of the family?

—The preserving of tradition and the institution of the family is a big problem in Japan today; although, there are Japanese who surely have positive experiences in this regard too. There are many divorces today, and people get married late or don’t start a family at all, preferring a career path. But they’ve at least started making good family films in Japan. In Russia, the films are mainly about criminals and corruption. I’m ashamed of our television, of our country, because it’s pure garbage pouring out of the TV onto people. But there they have historical dramas, and far more good family films. Perhaps many of them are naïve, but they’re a positive example for the youth.

—How do ordinary Japanese people feel about Russia and Russian culture?

—Of course, everything depends on the specific person, but overall, they have a good feeling about it. Even Russian food seems tasty to the Japanese. I went to Germany, for example, and my co-worker said, “Where are you going? They have such terrible food there!” Food is very important for the Japanese. Their favorite word is “oi si,” meaning “delicious.” Russia has the most delicious food. And most importantly, there are hospitable people there. They also love Italy—everything Italian is beautiful to them. Italian cordiality also attracts them.

—Many think that the Japanese have a closed character. Would you agree?

—No, they are not closed. They’re just shy. See, from their mother’s milk they absorb the idea that you mustn’t cause any inconvenience for anyone. Thus, the children especially do not scream. You should always behave properly. Until recently, it forbidden to keep even a dog or cat in a multi-story building. What if the cat suddenly starts meowing or the dog starts barking? The Japanese are very law-abiding, but, most importantly, they respect one another. That’s not being closed, but restraint, modesty. Sure, they don’t open up immediately before a stranger, but if they began to trust him, then they will reveal their entire soul. They’re also very trusting.

—And the last question: What is the state of the Orthodox Church in Japan today? Does it have any prospects?

—Thank God, the Church is alive and growing. Of course, we are very short of priests. There are only two or three students in seminary, and they only take people with a higher education. We need to work with the young people, to educate them and engage them in Church life. The external environment is very aggressive right now.

The Japanese Orthodox Church has many great and great-great-grandchildren of those who were baptized by St. Nicholas. In general, Vladyka’s spirit and tradition is still preserved there. There is communality everywhere. The faithful hold Bible Studies. There are active sisterhoods. For example, we collect quality items and give them to a charity or send them to countries suffering from catastrophes. Everyone goes on pilgrimages together and celebrates Old Calendar Nativity. There is always a common meal after every Liturgy, as St. Nicholas established. Therefore, despite the problems and difficulties, thank God, the spirit of a living Christian community has been largely preserved.

Source: http://journeytoorthodoxy.com/2018/05/japan-made-me-orthodox/

By Fr. Andrew Lemeshonok

When the Lord's grace touches a person and he understands that it is his personal meeting with God, it is just impossible to express with words what is going on in his soul at this moment. This event outperforms any human feeling.

In Church, the Lord gives us an opportunity to become a part of a new life - eternal life - through His word, through Divine services and through chants. Everything we hear and see in the church, everything what we take part in – it all makes up our meeting with God. Holy Communion is the meeting with God. Here are the Body and Blood. Partake!

This is our key to victory. This is our hope that one day I will finally say “no” to sin in my life and repent. And I will not just say it, but change myself.

When our Christian faith is external, we get calm: we find some words, for example, the wise words of a priest, which support us, and we feel it is important to us… But this is not enough. There must be a word that will enter our heart; there must be such a meeting, after which we will be unable to sin because it will be impossible for us. Our mind, our perception of our life and the world in general should change.

One person decides to devote his life to God and goes to a monastery – this is his choice. Another one will have doubts… One person raises a family, while another one is still not sure. Why do people prefer not to register their marriage these days? We can say it is because they have no desire to be responsible for something. They do not want any responsibility. At the same time, people do not believe they can love someone their entire life. They do not believe in their power, they do not believe that one can devote one’s whole life to another person. “What if this is not my person? What if something happens, and I will be alone?” This is the volatility and doubt that a sinful person lives in, who has no pillar, no foundation of faith, on which one could build his life. One cannot build anything on sand because the construction on something unstable will fall…

God prepares us for this meeting. For many of us it will happen at the last moment of our life. Unfortunately, we know what can happen to people who did not know God: at the moment when they are finally able to see the spiritual world, they see demons instead of God. A person is afraid, because he does not know what to expect - he has no experience of communion with God. This is terrible. This is the final stage in life, which can lead to eternal fear. And this is completely different from what is happening to a person, who has spent his life in faith! He sees something, too, but in his eyes there is hope, not fear. A person is not afraid because he trusts God. And then, finally, his meeting with God happens – the beginning of a new life, eternal life… When you witness this, you feel that you are part of the mystery of eternal life.

May 11, 2018

St. Elisabeth Convent

- Geronda, some parents force their children to choose the same profession as they did. Often they do it rather persistently.

- They are wrong. Parents must not push their children to do what they want them to do, if children do not like it. I knew a young man who wanted to go to theological academy and become a priest. However, his mother was against his decision. She insisted that he had to go to medical university.

The young men learned byzantine singing and began to sing in the church. He made his own musical instrument and played various church tones on it. He knew a lot of church chants by heart. He was a rather talented young man and could even compose troparions and entire services. When he finished school, he entered the theological faculty. When his mother knew about that, she suffered a breakdown. Later she came to me and asked to pray for her: “Father, pray for me to recover soon. May my son do what he likes to do”. But when she recovered, she began to prevent her son from learning theology again. Finally, he left theology, he put singing off and just wasted his life.

When I see that young people do not know what profession to choose, I give them the following piece of advice: just look what profession or science you like most. You should deal with something for what you have a natural bent. If they want to devote their life to something they do not consider their calling, I ask them not to do this. They need to devote their heart to something they have a bent for. It will be for their benefit. I mean, I try to help them choose the direction, which they like, and profession, which is not beyond their capabilities. The main thing is that their activity should be God pleasing.

Someone has a bent for music? Let him be, for example, a good musician or a church singer. Let him sing and help those people, who listen to his singing, to love our Church and prayer. Someone has a bent for painting? Let him become an artist or an icon-painter so that he can receive a blessing to paint icons, which will perform miracles. A knack for science? Then let him devote his life to science and work with all his diligence.

Elder Paisios. Words. Chapter IV

Translated by The Catalog of Good Deeds

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