The Catalog of Good Deeds

Question: "Isn't the fact that there were controversies over icons well into the 9th century proof that the early Church did not venerate icons?"

There were indeed controversies at various times, most notably the Iconoclastic controversies of the 8th and 9th centuries, but these controversies were primarily focused on the question of whether one could have icons at all. Even the iconoclasts did not object to the veneration of the Cross, or other holy objects. Their problem with icons was that they considered them inherently objectionable, regardless of whether they were being venerated or not. In fact, there was never any movement of Christians that accepted iconography, but rejected their veneration, prior to the Protestant Reformation.

It is a matter of fact, only 30 years prior to the first iconoclastic controversy, icons were not a controversial issue, as is shown by the the fact that the Quinisext Council issued a canon about the content of certain icons, that shows no hint of the making of icons being a matter of any controversy:

"In some of the paintings of the venerable Icons, a lamb is inscribed as being shown or pointed at by the Forerunner's finger, which was taken to be a type of grace, suggesting beforehand through the law the true lamb to us Christ our God. Therefore, eagerly embracing the old types and shadows as symbols of the truth and preindications handed down to the Church, we prefer the grace, and accept it as the truth in fulfillment of the law. Since, therefore, that which is perfect even though it be but painted is imprinted in the faces of all, the Lamb who taketh away the sin of the world Christ our God, with respect to His human character, we decree that henceforth he shall be inscribed even in the Icons instead of the ancient lamb: through Him being enabled to comprehend the reason for the humiliation of the God Logos, and in memory of His life in the flesh and of His passion and of His soterial death being led by the hand, as it were, and of the redemption of the world which thence accrues" (Canon LXXXII of the Quinisext Council).

And it is also a fact that archaeological evidence shows the ubiquity of Christian iconography going back to the catacombs. Clearly those who objected to iconography were outside of the Christian mainstream. What made icons controversial in the 8th and 9th centuries was the rise of Islam, and the desire of the iconoclastic emperors to bring those who had converted to Islam back into the Christian fold -- and icons were seen as an obstacle to this. It is also not coincidental that the iconoclastic emperors all came from parts of the empire in which Islam had made significant inroads.

Furthermore, a closer look at the texts of Scripture show that the Israelites had extensive iconography in both the Tabernacle and then later in the Temple. You find images of cherubim:

On the Ark – Exodus 25:18

On the Curtains of the Tabernacle – Exodus 26:1

On the Veil of the Holy of Holies – Exodus 26:31

In the Sanctuary – 1 Kings 6:23

On the Walls – 1 Kings 6:29

On the Doors – 1 Kings 6:32

And on the furnishings – 1 Kings 7:29,36

When you add all these references together, it is clear that there were Icons everywhere you turned in Israelite worship.

But some will object: "Isn't bowing before an icon and kissing it forbidden by the Second Commandment?" The issue with respect to the 2nd commandment is what does the word translated "graven images" mean? If it simply means carved images, then the images in the temple would be in violation of this Commandment. Our best guide, however, to what Hebrew words mean, is what they meant to Hebrews -- and when the Hebrews translated the Bible into Greek, they translated this word simply as "eidoloi", i.e. "idols." Furthermore the Hebrew word pesel is never used in reference to any of the images in the temple. So clearly the reference here is to pagan images rather than images in general.

Let's look at what the Second Commandment actually says:

"Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image (i.e. idol), or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor shalt thou serve (worship) them..." (Exodus 20:4-5).

Now, if we take this as a reference to images of any kind, then clearly the cherubim in the Temple violate this command. If we limit this as applying only to idols, no contradiction exists. Furthermore, if this applies to all images -- then even the picture on a driver's license violates it, and is an idol. So either every Protestant with a driver's license is an idolater, or Icons are not idols.

Leaving aside, for the moment, the meaning of "graven images" lets simply look at what this text actually says about them. You shall not make x, you shall not bow to x, you shall not worship x. If x = image, then the Temple itself violates this Commandment. If x = idol and not all images, then this verse contradicts neither the Icons in the Temple, nor Orthodox Icons.

Abraham bowed himself before the people of Hebron (Genesis 23:7, 12); Joseph’s brothers bowed before him (Genesis 42:6; 43:26, 28); and many other examples could be cited that show that bowing was an expression of respect, and bowing to idols is only objectionable because the object in question is in fact an idol, an image of a false deity. And kissing holy things is a very common act of devotion among Jews to this day (see: Kissing: An Act of Religious Devotion, by Rabbi Hayim Halevy Donin (From To Pray as a Jew: A Guide to the Prayer book and the Synagogue Service, (New York: Basic Books [Harper Collins], 1980), p.43f).

There is no reason we should assume that the early Christians would not likewise have bowed before and kissed holy things, like their Jewish forefathers. And icons of saints or Biblical scenes would have been given the same veneration that the texts of Scripture were given.

By Fr. John Whiteford

Source: http://fatherjohn.blogspot.com/2015/12/stump-priest-did-early-church-venerate.html

Humor: once there was a poor young couple, and the husband served as a minister. He complained to his wife for breaking her promise not to buy a new dress. She responded, “The devil made me do it. It’s his fault for tempting me.” He replied, “You could have said, ‘Get behind me Satan!’” She said, “I did, but then he whispered over my shoulder, ‘it fits you beautifully in the back too.’”

The two men possessed by demons in today’s Gospel reading from the Fifth Sunday of Matthew (8:28 – 9:1) gives us the opportunity to talk about the first demon, the devil. Fr. Anthony Coniaris provided many thoughts about Satan in his sermon “The Truth About the Devil and His Demons” (This is My Beloved Son: Listen to Him, vol. 1, pp.145-152).

Satan is clever. He knows how to play us, both our weaknesses and our strengths. The Apostle Paul warned that he masquerades as “an angel of light” [14 And no wonder! For Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light. (2Corinthians 11:14)]. Satan was in the beginning the angel of light. That’s why his name was ‘Lucifer’ which means “bearer of light.”

St. Clement of Alexandria said, “God created an archangel and the archangel made himself a devil.” Jesus said, 18 And He said to them, "I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. (Luke 10:18). [12 "How you are fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! How you are cut down to the ground, You who weakened the nations! (Isaiah 14:12)]

We know more details about Satan/Lucifer’s fall from the Book of Revelation:

7 And war broke out in heaven: Michael and his angels fought with the dragon; and the dragon and his angels fought, 8 but they did not prevail, nor was a place found for them in heaven any longer. 9 So the great dragon was cast out, that serpent of old, called the Devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was cast to the earth, and his angels were cast out with him… 12 Therefore rejoice, O heavens, and you who dwell in them! Woe to the inhabitants of the earth and the sea! For the devil has come down to you, having great wrath, because he knows that he has a short time." (Revelation 12:7-9,12)

Now he has become ‘Satan’ because, as the name means, he “opposes and plots against” God. And his newly chosen darkness must be disguised so that he may tempt us give in to our weaknesses and pridefully exalt ourselves in our strengths. The word ‘demon’ comes directly from the Greek and is a fallen angel, one of Satan’s disciples.

He cannot fight God, so he tries to hurt God by harming His children. He is the one who “entered Judas” (John 13:27) to bring about the betrayal and death of Jesus. He is the one who prowls around like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour.

Thus, he earns his second name, the devil or ‘diabolos’ because he divides us from God and from each other.

Because of Satan’s great ability to disguise himself, many people do not believe that he even exists. And that becomes one of his great tricks. The devil is able to convince us that he does not exist. He is like the opossum, that fierce little rodent, who, when cornered by its enemies, plays dead.

Malcolm Muggeridge wrote in his book, “Jesus, the Man Who Lives”: “I have found the devil easier to believe in than God…a diabolical presence in the world pulling downwards as gravity does instead of pressing upwards as trees and plants to when they grow and reach resolutely and beautifully after the light.”

One of the other tricks of Satan is to turn things upside down. He portrays good as evil and evil as good. This is the unforgiveable sin against the Holy Spirit (Mt.12:31). Satan is the father of lies. Think about how sin is portrayed in movies, television shows and other media. Fornication and adultery are no big deal. Abortion and homosexuality are upheld as virtuous. But, speaking as a parish priest, perhaps many of you have also noticed, these sins are terribly hurtful and destructive to people’s lives, and not to just the one or two people directly involved, but to many more indirectly. In fact, demons have other names today such as pornography, addiction, alcoholism, greed, envy, lust, etc.

It is important to know our enemy. The devil always takes the good things that God has created for us to enjoy and tries to get us to distort and abuse them. For example, the demon of money is greed. The demon of sex is lust. The demon of self-respect is pride. Money is not evil but the love of money is! 10For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows. (1Timothy 6:10). Sex is not sinful but using others for one’s selfish gratification outside of marriage is. Listen to what Jesus says about Satan on this matter:

44 You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it. (John 8:44)

[Story about scorpion and turtle.] The nature of the devil is incorrigibly deceitful and destructive, illogical and irrational. That’s why evil does not make sense. There is no logic to it and often a sign of devil’s presence is the confusion he causes. He promises freedom but delivers slavery. He promises life and delivers death.

Have no doubt though, Satan is for real. Jesus Himself had to struggle with him during His forty days in the wilderness. He taught us to pray in the Lord’s Prayer, “deliver us from the evil one” (Mt. 6:13).

8 Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. (1Peter 5:8)

The devil has not changed in his ways with us. Master deceiver that he is, his approach is always with a lie.

4 Then the serpent said to the woman, "You will not surely die. 5 For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil." (Genesis 3:4-5)

The devil comes and tells us: “You don’t need God to tell you what to do. You are not the puppet. You can do things your own way. Be totally free. Set your own rules. You call the shots.”

“The devil made me do it.” Once Satan has convinced us to sin, then he moves on to his third trick of lies, that is to convince us that we did not commit sin. Thus, we blame others, even Satan himself. However, St. Cyril of Alexandria says, “The devil is able to suggest, but he has no power to force himself against our choosing. It is by choice that we sin.” Sin arises within us as the demons take advantage of our sinfulness. They aggravate it by introducing evil thoughts into our hearts. This is why Jesus urges us to “watch and pray” that we may not enter into temptations (Mt.26:41). Evil thoughts do not become sinful thoughts until we welcome them into our hearts and begin to take pleasure in them, mulling them over and over.

So how do we resist Satan? Knowing his three tricks is a start. Remember: 1) he does exist; 2) he is a liar, but 3) he does not have power over us. There are some other strategies we can employ to counter the devil.

St. Makarios the Great said, “The most important work in the spiritual struggle is to enter the heart and there to wage war with Satan; to hate Satan, and to fight him by opposing thoughts…by fornication in his thoughts, then there is no profit whatever in keeping his body pure.” 28But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart. (Matthew 5:28)

By entering the heart, we can guard its gate to oppose the logosmoi or thoughts by joining forces with God who dwells also therein. 4 You are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. (1 John 4:4). As Jesus said, 4 Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me. (John 15:4)

With God’s inner presence, we have the power and the authority to command Satan to leave us and leave us alone (Mt.16:23; Mark 8:33).

10 Then Jesus said to him, "Away with you, Satan! For it is written, 'You shall worship the LORD your God, and Him only you shall serve.' " 11 Then the devil left Him, and behold, angels came and ministered to Him. (Matthew 4:10-11).

St. Gregory Nazianzen says, “If the devil tempts you to ambition by showing you in an instant and in a single glance all the kingdoms of the earth, and if he claims that they all belong to him, then do not believe him for he owns nothing at all.”

But the greatest weapon of all against Satan is prayer. That’s why he works so hard to distract us from prayer with our daily chores. That’s why he entices us to skip liturgy with weekly chores, entertainment, sleep, recreation, family time, etc. Because the devil knows he has no power against prayer, so he tries to prevent us in the first place.

In conclusion…

Someone said once that in God’s kingdom there is always an election going on. God votes for you and the devil votes against you. But you have the deciding vote. Who will you vote for: God or Satan? Truth or lies? Freedom or slavery? Life or Death? 24"No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon. (Matthew 6:24). Amen!

By Fr. Rick's Sermons

Source: http://stgeorgegoc.org/pastors-corner/fr-ricks-sermons/who-is-satan

Fervor is boiling water, which is poured into the Chalice after the transmutation of the Holy Gifts. The boiling water is poured into the Blood of Christ. It happens immediately after the altar curtain above the Royal Door is closed and after the priest exclaims, “Let us be attentive! The Holy Gifts for the holy people of God.” These words precede and begin the communion of the faithful, from the clergy in the sanctuary to the flock in the nave. The act of closing the curtain symbolizes the locking of the Lord’s Tomb with a rock, sealing it with the high priest’s seal, and appointing the guards. Similarly, the entrance with the Chalice signifies the Resurrection of Christ.

The words “Let us be attentive! The Holy Gifts for the holy people of God” mean the following: we are called to be extremely attentive to what is happening. The Holy Body and Blood of Jesus Christ are distributed among the holy people, i.e., those Orthodox Christians who have properly prepared to receive them.

After that, the fervor is poured into the Chalice, which is sitting on the Holy Table. The rubrics stipulate the following (according to the Archieratikon): the priest must pour the fervor into the Chalice with care, “with caution so as not to overwhelm the wine, that is, so as there isn’t more water than wine in the Chalice.”

The fervor is first blessed by the priest with the following words, “Blessed is the fervor of Thy saints always, now and ever and unto the ages of ages. Amen.” Then it is poured into the Chalice so as to make the sign of the cross, with the words, “The fervor of faith, full of the Holy Spirit. Amen.”

These prayers point at the following theological symbolism of the fervor…

The first symbol is mentioned by Archimandrite Cyprian (Kern), a renowned liturgical scholar, in his book titled The Eucharist. He quotes Saint Niketas Stethatos, who was St Symeon the New Theologian’s disciple, “… Also, when we drink his living and hot Blood mixed with water that poured out of his side, we are cleansed of every sin and filled with the Spirit, who is warm, for, as you see, the Blood that we drink from this Cup is as warm as the blood that poured from the Lord’s body…” That is, the fervor symbolizes the life in the Blood of Christ — the life for the entire world. On the other hand, it is our participation in the act of Redemption, as if we were standing by the Cross at the time of Crucifixion and if the Lord’s heart was still beating…

The other image is mentioned by Holy Righteous Nicholas Kavasilas, a Greek liturgical scholar of the 14th century: “The hot water was touched by fire, and as such it reminds of the Holy Spirit, who is like fire (Acts 2:3-4) and who is said to resemble water (Is. 44:3; John 7:38-39). It is poured into the Chalice after the consummation of the Sacrament and the consecration of the Holy Gifts to signify the descent of the Holy Spirit onto the Church. The Holy Spirit descended onto the Church after the slaughter and subsequent resurrection of Christ, which marked the fulfillment of the act of salvation. The Holy Spirit always descends after the consummation (of the sacrifice), for the Comforter comes to those who partake of the Sacrifice with dignity.”

That is why we should purify ourselves by fasting, prayer, and confession in order to reach for the Chalice of Christ with the fear of God and to partake of the Body and the Blood of Christ regularly, so as to bring the saving and life-giving fervor, sanctified by the Holy Spirit, into our human nature corrupted by sin.

By Fr. Andrei Chizhenko

Translated by The Catalog of Good Deeds

Nun Juliania, a choral conductor and Church composer, is well-known both in her home country Belarus and abroad. In the past years Nun Juliania’s choir recorded several beautiful albums of Liturgy chants.

The current album You Simply Have to Love represents a great collection of non-Liturgical Orthodox music which belongs to the spiritual heritage of various Christian nations, including Belarus, Russia, and Greece.

Agni Parfene, a classical hymn dedicated to the Mother of God, is probably the most recognizable non-Liturgical chant of Eastern Christian tradition. The song Creeping over the Water tells a touching story about a girl who prefers a monastic cassock over bridal dress. Listening to O, Wondrous Isle of Valaam one cannot help imagining the majestic domes of the monastery surrounded by the pine tree forest and nicknamed the Athos of the North. The Belarusian spiritual folk-song Three Angels reminds us that narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it (Matthew 7:14). Finally, You Simply Have to Love is a true masterpiece composed by Nun Juliania with lyrics by Archpriest Andrew Logvinov who calls upon us to love and forgive everyone.

It is not a secret that there is some prejudice toward choral music regarded by some as old-fashioned and boring. I think the most obvious advantage of the album is a careful selection of songs which can appeal to a general audience. Moreover, some of the songs presented in the album can be performed even by small choirs. This may be an opportunity for those who love spiritual choral music to make it more popular in the modern society and educate the young generation obsessed with listening to pop artists.

The album You Simply Have to Love gives us an excellent chance to reflect on eternal values, such as faith, joy, hope, love, and mercy while enjoying the best examples of spiritual music.

You can visit the Catalog of St. Elisabeth Convent to listen to a short preview of the album.

By Vladimir Sypchu,

a chorister from the parish of

the Entry of the Most Holy Mother of God into the Temple,

Minsk, Belarus

Catalog of Good Deeds, 2018

Many people, especially those who are far from the Church and its many-sided life often blam the Church of Christ for the fact that it does not accept and include in the Holy Scripture numerous so-called “gospels” and “letter of the apostles”, considers them false, calls them apocrypha and the works of gnostics. The fathers of the Church and ancient Christians, who denied such books as false and spiritually danger ones, are accused of dull thinking, religious fanaticism, and intolerance towards other views and disrespect towards other people’s opinion. However, is it really? We can easily check this with the example of apocryphal “Childhood Gospel of Thomas”, the book that is not accepted by the Church and falsely attributed to Apostle Thomas, whom we commemorate on October 6 (October 19).

It will be enough for us to mention just several episodes from this pseudo-Christian work. In the very beginning of the apocryphal story, it is described how little Jesus was playing with water and clay, when He decided to make some small birds figures of clay. That was happening on Sabbath. One boy, the son of the scribe, saw that. Then he took a branch of a willow and dispersed all the water. “And when Jesus saw what was done, he was wroth and said unto him: O evil, ungodly, and foolish one, what hurt did the pools and the waters do thee? behold, now also thou shalt be withered like a tree, and shalt not bear leaves, neither root, nor fruit. And straightway that lad withered up wholly, but Jesus departed and went unto Joseph's house. But the parents of him that was withered took him up, bewailing his youth, and brought him to Joseph, and accused him for that thou hast such a child which doeth such deeds” (The Infancy Gospel of Thomas, III).

As we can see, this short episode speaks for itself – its nonsense is not even worthy to be discussed. Any loving heart that confesses Jesus Christ as our Lord and God will never accept such story and will never believe in such controversial and cruel miracles that contradict the spirit of the Gospel of Christ.

There is another episode that only confirms the strangeness of the apocrypha in relation to the Christian tradition. “After that again he went through the village, and a child ran and dashed against his shoulder. And Jesus was provoked and said unto him: Thou shalt not finish thy course (lit. go all thy way). And immediately he fell down and died. But certain when they saw what was done said: Whence was this young child born, for that every word of his is an accomplished work? And the parents of him that was dead came unto Joseph, and blamed him, saying: Thou that hast such a child canst not dwell with us in the village: or do thou teach him to bless and not to curse: for he slayeth our children” (The Infancy Gospel of Thomas, IV).

Even the most cursory examination of the text of this apocryphal “gospel”, which contains no Good News at all, lets us understand at once why the Apostolic Church did not recognize that text as the one that related to the Holy Scripture of our tradition, and what is more, proclaimed it a fiction distorting the elementary understanding of good and evil. This is why Apostle Thomas just cannot be the author of this story, although his name is mentioned in its title. Christians were taught long ago by Apostle Paul that they had to recognize and differentiate the Word of God from fictive stories. Apostle Paul appealed to us then and appeals today as well: “not to be soon shaken in mind or troubled, either by spirit or by word or by letter, as if from us, as though the day of Christ had come” (2 Thessalonians 2:2).

By John Nichiporuk,

a Bachelor of Theology,
specialized in Biblical Studies.

The Catalog Of Good Deeds

Life-Saving Splinter

When Archimandrite Pavel Gruzdev was in a prison camp, he made it his duty to get up an hour before the general wakeup call and wash the floor in the entire bunkhouse. After he was released and became the rector in a parish church, he always washed the floor in the church. One day, this humble habit rescued his life.

The brick vault of the dome in the main aisle of Holy Trinity Church in v. Verkhne-Nikulskoye, where Father Pavel Gruzdev served, collapsed. The church had long been in need of repair because its foundation and other buildings near the church were eaten away by the waters of Rybinsk water reservoir, which did a great deal of damage. Of course, the parish didn’t have enough money to restore and repair the church. Surprisingly, the way the vault fell in reveals God’s mercy and providence of His chosen one.

That was how it happened. Father Pavel was washing the floor in the central part of the church. Suddenly, a splinter pierced his hand. It was so painful that Father Pavel threw away the wash-cloth and went out of the church. It was at that very moment that the vault collapsed. Huge pieces of bricks made a hole in the floor at precisely the same place where Father Pavel had stood seconds before! When he returned into the church, he saw clouds of dust and a heap of stones on the place where he had stood… There was a hole in the dome, through which a clear blue sky could be seen. Amazingly, no one was hurt during the collapse!

A Forgotten Name Day

This is what happened in my family this winter. My relative’s son is in the army now. Lately, he called to congratulate his mom on her name day. He said that he had almost forgotten about the day: life’s busy in the army, you know. When they stood in the ranks in front of their barracks, an old lady approached him and said, “Sonny, I’m going to celebrate my name day today. My name is Nina. Congratulate me!” She singled him out of the entire rank for some reason.

His mother wasn’t too surprised when he told her about it. She later admitted to me: if a boy enjoys reading the Psalter in the army, everything’s possible. Indeed, her son reads the Psalter voraciously whenever he can. He found this book in the barracks library, in the leisure room. That’s how things go in our army nowadays.

By Alexander Tkachenko

A Raven’s Pie

Saint Kuksha of Odessa was 63 in 1938, when he was thrown into a prison camp for five years as a “cult minister”. Like all other convicts, he was made to work as a tree logger 14 hours a day and subsist on a meager ration. The elderly hieromonk endured the life at the prison camp patiently and complacently, and he even tried to support other prisoners spiritually. Unfortunately, sometimes he felt completely exhausted. The Lord came to his help, sometimes miraculously.

This is what the elder wrote in his memoirs: “It was on Easter. I was weak and hungry. The sun was shining and birds were singing, and the snow was already melting. I walked along the barbed wire fence and I desperately wanted to eat. On the other side of the fence, I saw cooks carrying pans with pies for the guards, and ravens flying over their heads. I begged, ‘Hey, raven, you fed Prophet Elijah in the wilderness, please bring me a piece of pie, too.’ All of a sudden, I heard a loud ‘Caw’ over my head, and a pie fell to my feet: the raven had stolen it from a cook’s pan. I bent over to take the pie, thanked God tearfully, and ate it.”

Translated by The Catalog of Good Deeds

7. Pray in front of the holy icons

Few people know that the spiritual tradition of the Orthodox Church discourages praying with closed eyes, if there isn’t a good reason to do so. Our minds can’t handle lack of visuals well. When we don’t look at anything, our minds start creating various images or visualizations. It may even be pleasant at times but if we pray in this manner, we can easily be carried away by these images, and our prayers will turn into dreams or fantasies. That is why there are holy icons. Looking at them, we direct our thoughts towards the Person who we pray to.

8. Your prayer must have a proper recipient

Proper recipients of a prayer include the Lord God glorified in the Holy Trinity, the Most Pure Theotokos, saints, and heavenly hosts. All other recipients are unacceptable. For instance, we don’t pray to the reposed: we pray to God for their blissful repose. We cannot address the “Mother Earth”, the Blue Sky, the Green Grass, the Fire, and everything else that can be found in pagan rituals. Even if you pray together with people who claim to be Orthodox Christians but encounter things like these, you have to stop and state that this kind of prayer is wrong in clear terms. Prayers like these have nothing in common with Christianity.

9. A true prayer cannot impose any conditions on God

A prayer is an opportunity to talk with God. Only humans have this opportunity. Sure, all creation praises its Creator but only sentient humans can communicate with God using words. A prayer is first of all an interaction between a human being and God. Nevertheless, if the human being starts demanding anything from the Lord, his or her prayer will be more like a magic spell than a truly Christian fear of God and reverence.

10. You must not rejoice at the misfortunes of other people in your prayer

There are three main modes of prayer: gratitude or praise, petition, and penitence. All other emotions that are rooted in our passions, such as anger or resentment, are absolutely impermissible during the prayer of a Christian. For instance, it is wrong to want revenge, to curse other people or to ask God to punish them. It is forbidden to rejoice at other people’s misfortunes and to thank God for sending them these or those trials, and so forth.

11. Prayer mustn’t be formal

You mustn’t read the holy words aloud just to mark them as read. If you don’t want to pray; if you feel that you don’t have enough time or energy for prayer, better pray less but call to God as sincerely as you can. However, it is worth pointing out that reducing the time of prayer must not turn into a habit.

Holy Fathers used to say that God won’t hear the prayers that we don’t hear as we pronounce them. It’s clear that the Lord knows all our petitions before we start praying but if we are careless and read the prayers halfheartedly, just to perform a certain ritual or a ceremony, the value of our words amounts to zero.

12. Prayer cannot be hollow

Before we pray to God or His saints, we ought to prepare by reflecting to whom we are going to pray and what we are going to pray about. More often than not, people who spend years in the Church get so accustomed to the prayers that they start reading them without thinking. Your prayer won’t be powerful if you simply repeat some words, the meaning of which you don’t know or to which you’ve grown insensitive. A prayer isn’t a magic spell that ostensibly possesses power of its own. It cannot be hollow and careless. Apostle Paul says, “I will pray with the spirit, and I will pray with the understanding also: I will sing with the spirit, and I will sing with the understanding also.” (1 Cor. 14:15). You have to try and put your mind into the words of a prayer.

End of Part II

By Archpriest Pavel Velikanov

Translated by The Catalog of Good Deeds

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