The Catalog of Good Deeds

In the Orthodox Church, there is a battle chest available, providing us with practical ways to resist sin and to actually defeat it. We don't just tell people to "try harder". We also tell them HOW. We give them the weapons they need to wage war against sin, and to arise victorious

Everyone knows lust is bad. Everybody tells us to fight against it. But not everyone can tell us HOW to fight against lust successfully. We try, we fail, we try, we fail, we try again, and we fail again… and at some point, we realize that we need better advice than just "try harder".

Today, we will consider twelve practical ways for Christians to do battle against the sin of Lust. These methods are time-tested and trustworthy. And they actually work:

1) Don't let your fantasies write a check that your loins can't cash. If you are unmarried, do not fantasize about sex. Ever. Guard your thoughts. If you are married, but your spouse is currently inaccessible, then don't spend ten seconds thinking about sex. Don't even think about sex with your spouse. Guard your thoughts. If you are married, and your spouse is currently accessible, then have normal marital relations with your spouse regularly. This helps reduce the risk of illicit temptations.

2) Fight the birds. There is a saying: "You can't stop the birds from flying over your head, but you can stop them from building a nest in your hair." No thanks to the logismoi, the devil can do this to you without your consent. Sexual thoughts will unavoidably pop into your mind. This does not make you guilty.

What makes you guilty is your *response* to that initial thought. The moment an illicit sexual thought pops into your head, immediately "fight off the bird" by distracting yourself with something else, and give that other thing your full attention.

3) Not all distractions are created equal. Some activities (like jogging or weight lifting) take a lot of physical effort, but very little mental effort. Even while doing these things, your mind can still wander into bad places. Other activities (like writing a theological paper, solving a math problem, or reading a good book), so intensely involve your thoughts that you cannot easily keep thinking about two things at once. As long as you are focused on that math, that philosophy, or that puzzle, the thoughts of sex go away for a while. If you try jogging or working out and that doesn't help, then try distracting yourself with something more mentally intense.

4) Confess it immediately. Call someone godly who you trust (especially a priest), and say, "I'm getting tempted again." It is amazing how confession totally breaks the power of the Enemy, and makes him go away for a while.

5) Immediately go near other people. When you are standing in the presence of other people, having a conversation with them, it is amazing how easy it is to avoid illicitly pleasuring oneself.

6) Read the Scriptures, and the writings of Orthodox Christian Saints. Sure, you "already know what they say". But read it again. And again. And again. It helps.

7) Fast. Orthodox Saints agree that indulgence in food is directly connected with indulgence in lust. Thus, by regularly fasting from food for a certain period of time, we do battle against the sin of lust. If you practice asceticism and self-denial with your stomach, that will make it easier to practice asceticism with the other parts of your body.

8) Don't feed the beast. Again, guard your thoughts. Don't watch a movie or TV show that has even a little bit of fornication, or a little showing of scantily clad beauties. Even if you only see them for a few seconds, your brain will lock onto those images, and hold onto them for hours (or years). Then when you are alone and vulnerable, your brain will bring those pictures back to torment you and tempt you. Therefore, avoid these triggers to begin with.

9) Look at Orthodox Icons. Look directly at the cross. God works wonders through the cross, and He tells you, "Your sin may seem strong, but it is not stronger than THIS!" Other icons are good too, for the same purpose. Remember, porn is just the Devil's iconography. God is the one who invented icons, and He did so because images are very powerful. Fill your mind with divine images, and God can use those divine images to drive out the other images.

10) Be Faithful even if you don't Feel like it. It's not all about your feelings. You can show faithfulness, even when your emotions haven't caught up yet to where they should be. Manifest faithfulness long enough, and the feelings will eventually return. Emotions are meant to follow, not to lead.

11) Pray. Don't fight lust alone. Call upon Christ, call upon the Theotokos, call upon the angels, and call upon all the Saints to assist you. Prayer to the Saints works.

12) This Too Shall Pass. When the temptation hits in a strong way, a voice in your head will tell you, "You have already gone too far. It is impossible for this tension to go away now, unless you manually pleasure yourself." — This is a lie. — In fact, if you get up, walk around, pray, and forcibly occupy your mind with something else for several minutes, the tension will go away, and the urge will pass. Knowing this to be true can help you successfully win the battle.

By Fr. Joseph Gleason

Source: https://russian-faith.com/explaining-orthodoxy/practical-ways-avoid-lust-answers-priest-russia-n1574

I sometimes cannot help asking myself three liturgical questions whenever I visit churches which serve the Liturgy in the “classic” pattern I learned in seminary — all of those questions quite rhetorical. I would like to share them here in a spirit of calm inquiry in the hope of provoking helpful discussion about things liturgical. My approach might be styled as motivated by a spirit of “liturgical reform” by some, or even “renovation” by the less sympathetic, but my aim is not so much reform or renovation as a return to patristic common sense. That is, at Liturgy I cannot help wondering what St. John Chrysostom would think about what we have done with the Liturgy ascribed to him, and concluding that he would be less than thrilled at some of the changes that have evolved over the years. This does not mean that we should take the liturgical scalpel to the texts as Vatican II has done with the Roman Mass. But it does mean that if certain aspects of our praxis would raise the eyebrows of a Chrysostomus redivivus, perhaps we should revisit that praxis.

Question one: why do the people say “Amen” to prayers that they have not heard? Where the practice obtains of saying the prayers silently, the priest will say (for example) the prayer after the Great Litany silently or quietly enough not to be heard by the congregation, and then raise his voice so that the final bit of the prayer can be heard: “for unto You are due all glory, honour, and worship: to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit, now and ever unto ages of ages”. The congregation (or perhaps the choir, substituting for the congregation) then answers, “Amen”. The part that can be heard is not a prayer, or even a sentence, but simply a clause. The problem, of course, is that such a practice makes nonsense of the people’s response “Amen”. The word “amen” does not mean “the prayer is over”. As St. Justin Martyr explained long ago, it signifies “so be it” (in his Greek, genoito/ γενοιτο), and represents the people’s participation and assent to what has been said. This congregational assent transforms the utterance from being the private wish and prayer of the celebrant into being the corporate prayer of the gathered church. As Schmemann says (in his book The Eucharist), “With this word the ecclesial assembly concludes and, as it were, seals each prayer uttered by the celebrant, thereby expressing its own organic, responsible and conscious participation in each and every sacred action of the Church”. This presupposes, of course, that the prayer has been uttered and heard. Of course the people know (maybe) what the priest has said silently, but private knowledge is not the point. Liturgical worship is not private knowledge, but public utterance. As it is, the people are sealing not a prayer, but a clause, one with minimal content. The fact that this is not felt as odd reveals how greatly the role of the laity has been devalued and rendered liturgically irrelevant.

And sometimes it is worse than this. In places where the priest serves without a deacon, it is customary for him to intone the Great Litany, and then straightway intone the final clause of the prayer (the so-called exclamation or ekphonesis), and then, after the Amen has been sung, say the prayer quietly during the singing of the First Antiphon. (Presumably this is why that prayer is called in the liturgy books “The Prayer of the First Antiphon”.) This means that the people are saying their Amen not only to a prayer that they have not heard, but to a prayer that has not yet been said. Their “amen” and their role then is not only irrelevant, but nonsensical. I can imagine St. John Chrysostom raising his eyebrows.

The second question is this: why do we sometimes talk to people who aren’t there? I refer of course to catechumens in congregations where catechumens do not exist. Whether or not a congregation has catechumens within it, oftentimes the deacon and priest will assume they are there and talk to them. The deacon begins by addressing them, “Pray to the Lord, you catechumens!” and then goes on to pray for them. He will conclude by talking to them again, bidding them, “Bow your heads unto the Lord, you catechumens!” Then the priest prays a prayer, asking God to look down upon the catechumens “who have bowed their necks before” Him and unite them to His holy Church through baptism. After all this, the deacon again talks to them, ordering them twice to “depart” and again to not remain. But if no catechumens are there, who are priest and deacon talking to and about? Generally speaking, sane people do not talk to people who are not there as if they were.

If a congregation does have catechumens, it is reasonable for them to pray for these catechumens even when they are absent—but not to talk to them. In the case of absent catechumens, the church might reasonably pray for them in the third person, omitting the lines in which catechumens are addressed in the second person (e.g. “Pray to the Lord, you catechumens!”). And of course one would not tell people to leave who were not present in the first place. As it is, we are talking to catechumens who aren’t there, and then telling them to leave, when we would in fact want them to remain even if they were there. When Chrysostom had his catechumens dismissed, he expected them to actually leave. That is, his words had existential meaning and a corresponding reality in congregational life. He would wonder why we pretend we have catechumens when we don’t, why we tell them to pray and bow their heads to the Lord when they are not there, and why we tell them to leave when we expect them to stay for coffee hour, or at least until the end of the service.

Question three: why do we pretend things have happened when they haven’t? Here I refer to several things. In some congregations the deacon cries out before the Gospel, “Stand upright!” (or “Let us attend!”; the Greek is orthoi/ ορθοι) and in some places this is taken as the signal to kneel. We tell people to stand up straight, and then don’t bat an eye when they do the opposite. Their piety may be commendable (if a touch uncanonical), but it makes nonsense of the liturgical direction.

It is similar later on when the people are bidden to bow their heads to the Lord (i.e. bow their heads forward so that the priest may extend his hand over them to bless them), and everyone present remains with unbent neck—except, oddly enough, the priest who turns his back on them to bow his head to the Lord. Or, most strangely of all, the diaconal command, “In the fear of God and with faith, draw near!” This is, of course, not a suggestion, but a command to all those listening to come forward to receive Holy Communion. The liturgical text assumes that the people have obeyed and that everyone present drew near, for the next diaconal litany begins, “Stand upright! Having partaken of the divine, holy, most pure, immortal, heavenly, life-creating and awesome mysteries of Christ, let us worthily give thanks unto the Lord”. In some congregations hardly anyone comes forward to receive (I remember being in one packed Greek church of about 500 people, where my wife and I and four other people were the only communicants), but the deacon insists on chanting as if the congregation had partaken of the divine and holy mysteries. In all this we see a gap between what we say and what actually happens. Our liturgical words have been, if not exactly emptied of meaning, then certainly subject to an existential erosion of meaning. We no longer mean exactly what we say. Constantinople’s pastor, I suggest, would not be amused.

What to do? One sometimes hears that no one can do anything to close the gap between words and reality in the Liturgy without the pronouncements of an Ecumenical Council. Such a view of history is defective. As a matter of historical fact, liturgies evolved throughout the centuries through shared local variation, quite apart from the mandates of an Ecumenical Council. Such councils, whether “ecumenical” or “provincial”, only concerned themselves with liturgical details when abuses and problems became widespread enough to merit their attention. Thus the Council of Nicea ruled that deacons should not commune presbyters (canon 18), and that one should not kneel liturgically on Sundays, or during the Paschal season (canon 20). Thus the “Quinisext” Council ruled that the pre-Eucharistic fast should be maintained even on Holy Thursday (canon 29), and that milk and honey should not be offered on the altar (canon 57). In all these rulings the councils were not concerned to police every liturgical development that occurred (which was beyond their power even if they had wanted to), but to simply curb developments they felt were widespread abuses. Liturgy grew and developed because it was alive, and quite apart from conciliar decrees. (For a quick overview see Taft’s The Byzantine Rite: A Short History.) The bishops had the major share of decision-making and control because the bishops then (unlike now) were the local pastors. As such, of course they had liturgical authority over the churches in which they had the weekly burden of pastoral care.

For now, the best we can hope for is to at least start the discussion. It is not an unimportant one. And we should hold the discussion realizing that St. John Chrysostom is watching us with interest. He might not now get a vote in the proceedings, but his approval or disapproval should surely matter to us.

We invoke his name and his authority at the conclusion of every non-Lenten Liturgy, and we will one day have to face him and perhaps explain to him why it is we serve “his Liturgy” the way we do.

By Fr. Lawrence Farley

Source: https://blogs.ancientfaith.com/nootherfoundation/three-liturgical-questions/

Some time ago, in the 1990s, our parish invited a local "tree surgeon," Leo M., to cut down a couple of dead trees in the back of the church property. He came and worked with his wife, Kathleen, doing the job quickly and with kindness to the rest of the surroundings. But they strongly resisted being paid, insisting on offering their work gratis to our church. They were non-Orthodox, and we wondered about the reason for such generosity. The reason, as we learned from them later, was to be found in something that happened a few years before, just after they had been married.

Both Leo and Kathleen were serious enthusiasts of mountaineering and rock climbing, and so for their honeymoon trip they decided to go to Alaska to bag the highest peak of North America, mount Denali (aka McKinley), 20,320 feet. While living at the camp at the foot of the mountain, they thoroughly prepared their expedition: talking to guides, studying the maps, checking the equipment, and waiting for a long stretch of good weather.

When they finally started their exciting, but extremely difficult, ascent, everything went just fine for a few days. But at the end of one day, on a narrow path, they met an old, strange-looking man in a long dark robe. He was walking in the opposite direction, down the mountain. In a friendly manner he greeted them and advised them to turn around and return to the base camp as quickly as possible because the weather was changing into a severe storm. Soon, he said, it will be very dangerous around here. And, as if in answer to their unasked question of how could he know such a thing, he explained that he was local and knew the climate very well. Leaving them surprised and uneasy, he continued on his way.

Some minutes later, after Leo and Kathleen made the wise decision to turn back, and then tried to recall the appearance of the old man, they realized that they hadn’t seen a backpack or any other hiking gear with him. How could he have made it up so high in the bare, rocky mountain in sub-zero temps, without any food or protection?!

A few days later, almost at the bottom of the mountain, they were indeed caught by a severe storm. They survived it, constantly in their minds thanking the old man who had warned them of the danger. A week later, still staying at the base camp, they learned that some other climbers, who happened to be at higher elevations than they were during the storm, never came back.

Then, as if in answer to their curiosity, Leo and Kathleen noticed something at the camp cafeteria. It was a picture of their rescuer, pinned on a bulletin board between some miscellaneous ads and photos of the mountain. They recognized him at a glance. When they asked the waiter for his name, he told them, " It's an Orthodox saint who lived in Alaska. His name is St. Herman." And the photo showed the icon of St. Herman from the Orthodox church nearby.

The Saint had told them the truth. He was indeed a local guy...

"By enduring the trials of nature, the storms' cold and wind together with hunger, thou didst kindle spiritual peace, warmth and satiety, and become unaffected by the elements, truly a heavenly man and earthly angel, O wondrous Herman; so wishing to honor thee as is meet we cry out: Rejoice, conqueror of nature's hardships! Rejoice, thou who wast arrayed in the virtues! ... Rejoice, O venerable Father Herman, adornment of Alaska and joy of all America! " (From Akathist to St Herman)

Matushka Galina Tregubov and Lee Browne-Beed

Holy Resurrection Orthodox Church, Claremont, NH

Source: http://orthochristian.com/43717.html

By Fr. Sergius Nezhbort

We haven't heard about iconoclasm for many centuries now. Icons are no longer destroyed, like they were in the 8th and early 9th century. Sadly, the struggle with the image of God is apparently still going on. It happens in every person's heart because a human being is made in God's image but the sin in our hearts attempts to defile and destroy this image.

If we look at the history of art, we'll discover that our civilization is rooted in antiquity. The Ancient Greek and Ancient Roman art was anthropocentric, i.e., focused on the human. Ancient artists recognised an amazing mystery in every human being and tried to uncover it. If we look at the Greek and Egyptian works of art, we'll see that they always portray humans. Unfortunately, even though those humans were created in the image of God, they had the sin living inside their hearts, and that was why icon painting could not emerge during those times.

When Jesus Christ, the God-man, came into this world, we begin to see a deified human being in an icon. It's like a bridge with God becoming human on the one side and a human becoming like God on the other side. It is in icons that we encounter the real human being, the true beauty that is ever-present in Jesus Christ. The Christian civilization has God-man, rather than just the Man, in the centre.

Unluckily, our modern world brings the sinful, defective, and crippled human being back into the spotlight. That's why we say that the struggle with the icon goes on even today, in a sense. We must be aware of the fact that in a certain sense every person, every Christian, is an icon painter. You don't have to be a professional icon painter: if you live with God, there's an icon being painted in your soul. I suppose that this icon must be visible not just to yourself but also to all other people, so that they could see that we're different and that there is Christ shining through our eyes, words, and actions. More often than not, we fail to be the example and the image of God that we ought to be.

I recall how I was invited to speak about the icon in front of some people who knew little, if anything, about the Church. It was in the Fine Arts Museum. The tour guide said, "Father, please tell them more about miracles. People like to hear about miracles." I thought, "Of course, we all know that miracles happen when people pray in front of icons. The Lord responds to their prayers and makes miracles to reward their faith. However, there is another miracle, namely, the creation of an icon. Who paints icons? A weak human being, with his personal story and his problems. In spite of that the Lord performs this amazing miracle through that poor person. It's a miracle, indeed! It is quiet and unimpressive but it "is" a miracle, it's so beautiful and so near, so close to our daily lives. This miracle happens not because that person is especially talented but thanks to the prayer of the entire Church."

I heard a priest say, "Icons are born out of people's prayers." If you go to Tretyakov Gallery and look at the 14th-15th century icons, you will see how people used to pray at that time and how spiritually advanced they were. Their spirituality revealed itself in their icons. When we look at contemporary icons, we have to admit that our prayers aren't as fervent as they used to be. We should be aware of the fact that it is our prayer that determines the kinds of images that icon painters can paint. I say so because I work in this field.

July 30, 2018

St. Elisabeth Convent

A friend wrote:

My kids want to know where we got the story of the fall of the devil… How he was originally an angel and chose to stray… Is this actually an Orthodox belief? I couldn’t find it in the Bible… is it?

Sometimes in the Gospels, Christ mentions something in an aside that makes us stop and remember that this is the eternal God incarnate. One of those places is in Luke 10:18, where he says, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven.”

Some of the passages the Church reads in that context are ostensibly about someone else. But just as the deliverance of Israel at the Red Sea was both a historical event and a prophetic image of baptism, the Church recognizes some meaningful lessons in passages like Ezekiel 28. Here Ezekiel is prophesying the fall of the king of Tyre — but he suddenly begins talking about another proud ruler who was brought down:

Son of man, take up a lamentation for the prince of Tyre, and say to him, ‘Thus says the Lord God; “You are a seal of resemblance, and crown of beauty. You were in the delight of the paradise of God; you bound upon you every precious stone, the sardius, and topaz, and emerald… and you filled your treasures and your stores in you with gold. From the day that you were created you were with the cherub: I set you on the holy mountain of God; you were in the midst of the stones of fire. You were faultless in your days from the day that you were created, until iniquity was found in you. Of the abundance of your merchandise you filled your storehouses with iniquity, and sinned. Therefore you have been cast down wounded from the mountain of God, and the cherub has brought you out of the midst of the stones of fire. Your heart has been lifted up because of your beauty; your knowledge has been corrupted with your beauty. Because of the multitude of your sins I have cast you to the ground, I have caused you to be put to open shame before kings. Because of the multitude of your sins and the iniquities of your merchandise, I have profaned your sacred things; and I will bring fire out of the midst of you. It shall devour you, and I will make you to be ashes upon your land before all that see you. And all that know you among the nations shall groan over you: You are gone to destruction, and you shall not exist any more.”’ (Ezekiel 28:12-19, LXX)

This is one of the passages in which the Church sees an image of the fall of Satan. The being that Ezekiel laments was “with the cherub… on the holy mountain of God… among the stones of fire.” That expression, “stones of fire”, is how Isaiah describes the presence of God the Consuming Fire, in Isaiah 33:14ff, asking who is righteous enough to dwell there?

The Hebrew version of Ezekiel’s lament, in v.14 and 16, calls this king “the anointed cherub who covereth” (KJV) which associates his original mission both with holy authority (anointing) and with the Jewish idea of atonement (covering). For more on this angelic being’s original purpose and his fall, we look at Isaiah’s prophecy, ostensibly regarding the king of Babylon:

And it will be in the day when the Lord gives you rest from your pain and turmoil and harsh service in which you have been enslaved, that you will take up this taunt against the king of Babylon: “How has the extortioner ceased, and the taskmaster ceased! The Lord has broken the yoke of sinners, the yoke of princes. Having smitten a nation in wrath, with an incurable plague, smiting a nation with a wrathful plague, which spared them not, he rested in quiet. All the earth cries aloud with joy… Hades from beneath is provoked to meet you: all the great ones that have ruled over the earth have risen up together against you, they that have raised up from their thrones all the kings of the nations. All shall answer and say to you, ‘You also have been taken, even as we; and you are numbered among us. Your glory has come down to hades, and your great mirth: under you they shall spread corruption, and the worm shall be your covering.’ How has the dawn-bearer, that rose in the morning, fallen from heaven! He that sent orders to all the nations is crushed to the earth. But you said in your heart, ‘I will go up to heaven, I will set my throne above the stars of heaven: I will sit on a lofty mount, on the lofty mountains toward the north: I will go up above the clouds: I will be like the Most High.’ But now you shall go down to hades, even to the foundations of the earth. They that see you shall wonder at you, and say, ‘This is the man that troubled the earth, that made kings to shake; that made the whole world desolate, and destroyed its cities; he loosed not those who were in captivity.’ All the kings of the nations lie in honour, every man in his house. But you shall be cast forth on the mountains, as a loathed carcass, with many dead who have been pierced with swords, going down to the grave. As a garment defiled with blood shall not be pure, so neither shall you be pure; because you have destroyed my land, and have slain my people.“ (Isaiah 14:3-20, LXX)

English versions usually use either “Lucifer” or “star of the morning” to translate the word Isaiah uses in v.12. In Hebrew it’s hêlêl which comes from a root for praise, glory, shine, celebrate; from the root of this word we get “Hallelu Jah,” the command to exuberantly praise the Lord. This was also anciently the name for the morningstar, Venus, which shines brighter than any other “star” in the morning sky. The Septuagint renders this name with eophoros (dawn-bearer) and Jerome brought that into Latin as lucifer (light-bearer.) Lucifer isn’t a proper name, it’s just Isaiah describing how brightly this being used to shine.

In his Revelation, St. John the Evangelist presents so many figures and images at once that it’s hard or impossible to separate them into past, present, and future. Without trying to interpret too deeply, we can see in Revelation chapter 12 an image of the fall of Satan:

And another sign appeared in heaven: behold, a great, fiery red dragon having seven heads and ten horns, and seven diadems on his heads. His tail drew a third of the stars of heaven and threw them to the earth… And war broke out in heaven: Michael and his angels fought with the dragon; and the dragon and his angels fought, but they did not prevail, nor was a place found for them in heaven any longer. 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. Then I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, “Now salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of His Christ have come, for the accuser of our brethren, who accused them before our God day and night, has been cast down. And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death. 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.” Now when the dragon saw that he had been cast to the earth, he persecuted the woman who gave birth to the male Child…

John explicitly calls this fallen heavenly being “devil” (diabolos = false accuser) and Satan (Hebrew for “enemy”) and tells us the devil is on earth. He’s not in “the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels” (Matthew 5:41) and he’s certainly not ruling in hell as Milton and popular mythology would have it.

At the end of this age we know that the devil will be thrown into the lake of fire (Revelation 20:10.) Until then, our “adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour” (1 Peter 5:8) but *ldquo;greater is He that is in you, than he that is in the world” (1 John 4:4), so “submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you” (James 4:7).

By Fr. Silouan Thompson

Source: http://silouanthompson.net/2009/02/the-devil-is-in-the-details/

Teaching children to fast is very basic in an Orthodox Christian upbringing, like teaching them to pray. The question of when and how strictly to have one's children begin fasting should be discussed with a spiritual father. If a family does not have a spiritual father and the family is involved in a parish where fasting is not encouraged, especially among the children, one should ask God to present the family with an opportunity to find a spiritual father who can guide the family in the True Orthodox Christian life.

Today many children have dairy and egg allergies and live their entire childhood without these foods. Many people do not eat meat at all, for philosophical reasons, and raise their children on a meat-free diet. There are cultures in the world whose diet have no or a only a very limited amount of meat and dairy, and in many cases, the people of these cultures are physically healthier than Americans. So, it's not a matter of depriving children--it's simply a different way of cooking.

A child's ability to fast during the Great Lent depends a lot on how the child eats during non-fasting times. If a child's primary foods are meat and dairy, then fasting will likely be difficult. But if a child is accustomed to eating a variety of legumes, whole grains, fruits and vegetables, then in most cases, fasting will not be difficult. It is important to have your children eat a variety of legumes, grains, fruits and vegetables throughout the year, so that they will be accustomed to these kinds of foods and will not find fasting to be such a dramatic change in diet.

Yet, again, establishing a fasting rule for the children in a family must be done under the guidance of a spiritual father. It is possible to become overzealous for having our children keep a full fast, and a spiritual father would temper this and guide the family on the path that is best for the children's physical health and spiritual development.

It is helpful to educate yourself what constitutes a healthy, nutritious diet for fasting so that you and your children will not suffer any deficiencies. (Serving your family peanut butter and jelly for lunch and pasta for dinner for 40 days is not a healthy diet and will make your family--especially your husband--hate fasting.)

For children who keep a strict fast the morning of receiving Holy Communion, it is helpful to make sure that they are fed a substantial, nutritious meal the evening before. If you are in a parish where the Divine Liturgy is late in the morning and the children have difficulty keeping a strict fast for the entire morning, it can be helpful to serve the previous night's dinner or give the children an additional protein-filled snack (and water if they are able), before they go to bed the night before the Divine Liturgy.

That's Just What We Do

Our children are born into a family that fasts on Wednesdays, Fridays and during Church fasting periods. They get plenty to eat each day during those times. We are amazed at how many Orthodox Christian families do not make fasting part of their regular routine. We feel it's easier for children to grow up used to that aspect of the Orthodox Christian faith rather than having to learn to fast as adults. On the other hand, we are not "label readers" and discourage that in our children.

On Parish Life and Fasting

We understand that it is difficult to fast, and some of us many have special food requirements. Parish leaders and organizers: please, if it is a fast period and there is a retreat/youth function do not serve children non-fasting food. We are not judging you or others if you break the fast, but it is very difficult for us parents to keep to the fasting calendar and then have it broken in the church, of all places. Please have all Sunday School teachers/youth groups leaders and parishioners who cook for the parish know not to feed children non-fasting food during the fasts or to verbally criticize the fasts of the Church. Further, please do not call us "fanatics" for following the Church fasting rules.

Prepare Them for Difficult Days

The Elder (Geronda) Athanasios had personal experience with true physical hunger during WWII. Over 300,000 civilians died in Athens, Greece alone from starvation, tens of thousands more through reprisals by Nazis and collaborators, and the country's economy was ruined. He saw starvation with his own eyes, was himself truly hungry, and knew that it would always be possible for times of hunger to come to any people at any time.

"I know how to be abased, and I know how to abound. Everywhere and in all things I have learned both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need." (Philippians 4:12)

In other words, when I have plenty of food, I do not eat like a glutton, and when I am hungry I have learned not to blaspheme God. I have learned the lesson to have plenty, to be rich without being attracted and attached to have plenty, to be rich without being attracted and attached to these things; but I can also go hungry without doubting God and questioning what is going to happen to me--maybe God forgot me or maybe God died. No; Saint Paul says, I have everything I need and then some. I have everything I need and I abound! (cf., Philippians 4:18). Holy Saint Paul, you were in jail for three years! Two years in Caesarea and one year in Rome and what do you have?

He says, "I have everything and I abound." Saint Paul is not lying. Do you see how a person can discipline himself, how he can be conditioned? My friends, what are you going to do when you keep filling your children up with chocolate, ice cream cakes, cream cheese and fresh butter? What is going to happen in a period of hunger? We need to teach the children to fast, to learn (even with all of today's technical means) to withstand some mild suffering, so they will be able to survive some difficult days if they happen to come upon us. If they are trained in this way of the difficult days of their lives, like Saint Paul they will say, I know how to live with plenty and I know how to survive with next to nothing.

Fasting With Joy

As to fasting before Holy Communion, we do a great disservice to our children by not teaching them to joyfully fast when they are young. Whatever you do, set a good example and do not complain about fasting in front of them. They are young but they are not foolish. Teach them why we fast.

Attention Span and Snacks

Children without health problems can go the length of a Divine Liturgy without food and drink. Please don't bring cheerios, or any food or drink (or gum) to church.

Blessed Meals

Pray while cooking or preparing food for yourself and your family. Make the sign of the Cross over your food and drinks. Always pray before eating, at minimum make the sign of the Cross; and do not be embarrassed about blessing your food in public or your children will feel the same way. (Source: Orthodox Christian Parenting. Cultivating God's Creation by Zoe Press)

Source: http://saintandrewgoc.org/home/2017/10/11/how-to-teach-children-to-fast

Saint Seraphim of Sarov is one of the pillars of the Orthodox faith in the Russian lands. Most Orthodox believers know his biography. We have also heard a lot about the miracles that he made. However, some readers of his biography might ask: what did he need all those ascetic feats for? After all, he led an absolutely chaste and pure life, didn't he?

What Does a Pious Person Need Asceticism For?

St. Seraphim himself considered fasting, alms-giving, prayer, and staying awake to be essential for acquiring the Holy Spirit.

St. Seraphim of Sarov led a chaste life since childhood years. Moreover, his entire family was known for its piety and donations to the Church. In spite of that, Father Seraphim used to say that you cannot rely solely on your good actions. You should check and see whether they bring down the grace of the Holy Spirit. He added more spiritual exercises to his everyday routines, noting, “I exhaust him who exhausts me.” It means that there are no actions that can shield us from the attacks of the enemy of the human race. We are stuck in this battle during our entire lives.

We Cannot Imitate Him Today

Apostle Paul writes, “Remember them which have the rule over you, who have spoken unto you the word of God, whose faith you should follow” (Cf. Hebrews 13:7) We know how Saint Seraphim imitated Jesus Christ and Saint Paul. How do “we” do it? We lack both the power and the desire to do so.

What we really want is to live happily. We don't want to suffer. We comfort ourselves by following the external rules and norms of a "godly" lifestyle. We always attend to our own needs and desires.

So… Are We Damned? How Can We Be Saved?

The Lord declares, “My strength is made perfect in weakness” (2 Cor. 12: 9). That is why we should acknowledge our true condition and follow the Elder's advice by evaluating our actions and thoughts carefully in order to make our first step on the ladder that leads to the Heaven, to the Kingdom of God.

Admittedly, we cannot imitate St. Seraphim of Sarov today… We should at least do our best to treat the Holy Fathers' heritage respectfully and honestly and act accordingly. Apostle Paul writes, “So run, that ye may obtain” (1 Cor. 9: 24). If we can't run, let's take tiny steps towards the Heaven so far as possible…

By Pavel Davydov

St. Elisabeth Convent

Subscribe to: Comments ( Atom )

Search This Blog

featured Slider

Practical Advice on How to Avoid Lust

Parable of the Day: Why to Waste Time with Prayer?

Three Rhetorical Questions about Divine Liturgy

Parable of the Day: How to Understand You Are Pure Enough

A Personal Story about the Miraculous Help of St. Herman of Alaska

Parable of the Day: You Have to Live Here and Now!

Every Christian Is an Icon Painter!

The Fall of the Devil: Is It an Orthodox Belief?

Parable of the Day: How Is Love Supposed to Unite Us?

How Could We Teach Our Children to Fast?

St. Seraphim of Sarov: Why Did Even that Holy Man Need Asceticism?

Partners

Search This Blog

featured Slider

About Our Blog

Most Popular Posts

Partners