The Catalog of Good Deeds

We recognize August 22, 1999 as the birthday of St. Elisabeth Convent. It was on that day that the Most Rev Philaret, Metropolitan of Minsk and Slutsk, tonsured first novices and blessed the Rev Andrew Lemeshonok to establish a convent in honor of the Holy Martyr Grand Princess Elisabeth.

Our Convent is 18 now! Here are 18 facts about our Convent. Let’s read the pages of our history together!

Fact 1. St Elisabeth Convent originated from the Sisterhood with the same name. The first lay sisters of mercy together with Father Andrew began their ministry in the Psychiatric Hospital in Novinki in 1996. They celebrated the first Liturgy on the day of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross. They had their first meeting during the Paschal season and decided to establish a Sisterhood in honor of the Holy Martyr Grand Princess Elisabeth.

Fact 2. The sewing workshop was the first workshop of St Elisabeth Convent. This fact can be easily explained: the sisters required white robes to visit the sick. At first, they were sewing the white robes at home, using sewing patterns from old textbooks. Currently, the sewing workshop is one of the biggest workshops of St Elisabeth Convent. The sisters make wonderful church vestments and clothes for lay people, as well as baptismal and wedding sets, towels, and tapestry. Learn more about the workshops here.

Fact 3. Elder Nikolai Gurianov blessed the construction of our Convent. Archpriest Nikolai had been the spiritual father of Father Andrew for many years. The construction of our first church near the Psychiatric Hospital in Novinki faced major obstacles: we did not have any financial support and locals were strongly opposed to the construction. Father Andrew went to Zalita Island to visit Elder Nikolai and ask for his advice. Father Nikolai resolved his doubts: he handed Father Andrew a small Russian coin with an image of a church and added, “People will bring you the rest.” The foundation of St Nicholas Church was laid in December 1997.

Fact 4. The first sacred object in our Convent was a particle of the relics of St Elisabeth. Father Andrew brought the particle of St Elisabeth’s relics to St Elisabeth Convent from Jerusalem in 1997. This is how he described his experience, “This sacred object came to us at the right time. When you look at your own weak flesh, you feel hopeless. But when you kiss the glorified flesh that became holy, the flesh of the Holy Martyr Elisabeth who defeated death and all her weaknesses, you regain strength, faith, and hope!”

Fact 5. The Chapel in honor of St Xenia of Petersburg is our first church in the boarding home. The Holy Table of the chapel in honor of the Blessed Xenia of St Petersburg was consecrated in the Boarding Home for the Elderly and the Less Able No.3 on February 6, 1998. It appeared on the territory of the boarding home for a reason. This is what Zinaida Lobosova, the Senior Sister of the Sisterhood, recalls, “The majority of those who live in the boarding home are not allowed to go out. Most of them grew up in a similar facility for children, and then were transferred to this boarding home. When we started visiting the Psychiatric Hospital, and then the boarding homes, when many patients got the opportunity to take communion, we naturally wanted them to have Liturgies as well. This is why we decided to establish a church within the walls of the boarding home.”

Fact 6. One of the first lay sisters of mercy to became the Mother Superior of the Convent later became the Abbess in the monastery in honor of the Entry of the Most Holy Mother of God into the Temple. Sister Helena Sysun was tonsured and renamed Elizabeth on August 23, 1998. The tonsure happened in St John the Theologian Convent. Today Nun Elizabeth is the Mother Superior of the Convent in honor of the Entry of the Most Holy Mother of God into the Temple, situated near v. Bohušy, HR.

Fact 7. Abbess Euphrosinia (Laptik) is the Abbess of our Convent. She became Mother Superior in 2002, and Abbess in 2005. Click here to read an interview with the abbess.

Fact 8. Men’s Rehabilitation Center was founded at the farmstead of the Convent, or, to be more precise, on the 120 hectares of vacant land, which were allocated to our Sisterhood by Minsk Raion Executive Committee. Today people call this place holy. It is here that many people with difficult fates find shelter and try to begin new lives. God and the Convent help them to do so.

Fact 9. Women’s Rehabilitation Center was established in 2011 not far from v. Nialidavičy. It became the second home for many women who had found themselves in a difficult situation in life. Nun Barbara (Atrasievič) who is in charge of the rehabilitation center, believes that this place will one day become a unique center, combining the functions of a shelter, an orphanage, and a crisis family center. Right now, they have almost completed the construction of the Church in honor of Saint Sergius of Radonezh.

Fact 10. The first book and the first audio recording were published in St Elisabeth Convent in 2002. The first film was released in 2006. The first book prepared by our Publishing House was printed in 2002. It was a book of Letters of St Macarius of Optina. The first tape with sermons and talks of Father Andrew Lemeshonok was released by our audio studio the same year. The Path of Love, our first film, was released in 2006. By now, we have published over a thousand book titles and released a variety of audio records, ranging from literary and children’s tales to music albums and lectures. We have produced several documentaries and a fiction series called Three Parables.

Fact 11. The Catalogue of St Elisabeth Convent website catalog.obitel-minsk.com together with the official english vesion blog The Catalog Of Good Deeds were launched in recent years. The Catalog showcaes handmade items made in St.Elisabeth Convent while the blog features articles, videos, and photos showcasing news related to the convent as well as Orthodoxy in general.

Fact 12. His Holiness Alexis II, the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia, visited our Convent in the autumn of 2008. He consecrated the biggest church of our Convent – the Church in honor of the Reigning icon of the Mother of God.

Fact 13. The Convent organizes many festivals, both outside (such as Kladez Orthodox Culture Festival and From Heart To Heart Festival) and within its walls. The Royal Voice Music Festival is an excellent opportunity to listen to the best examples of church music. Niabiosy Festival gathers batleika puppet theatres. Lenten concerts were held this year at various venues around the city of Minsk on April 1 – 7 this year.

Fact 14. Our sisters carry out their ministry not only in hospitals but also in universities. The first Spiritual Education Center was founded in the Belarusian State Agricultural Technical University in 2006. Today such centers have been created on the grounds of the University of Informatics and Radioelectronics, University of Medicine, University of Culture and Arts, Medical College, and Decorative Arts College.

Fact 15. There is a private school run by St Elisabeth Convent. IKHVIS Private Kindergarten and School opened its doors on September 1, 2014. Its first pupils will go to the fourth form this September. IKHVIS School has experienced and professional teachers, interesting and various extracurricular activities and clubs, and an opportunity to study the Orthodox culture.

Fact 16. There is a Visiting Nurse Service operated by St Elisabeth Convent, launched three years ago. “Our Visiting Nurse Service does not only provide sanitary and hygiene care for severely ill patients. The sisters are always spiritually attuned to their patients, each of whom has their own personal traits. In fact, you cannot carry out this obedience without Christ who stands between the sister and the patient,” Anna Kovalevskaya, the head of the Visiting Nurse Service, believes.

Fact 17. A new Pilgrims’ Center was consecrated last year. Father Andrew Lemeshonok remarked during the consecration, “The Pilgrims’ House is not just a hotel. It must help people to get involved in spiritual life. That’s why those who will receive guests have great responsibility. Having seen the divine beauty in you, our guests should be willing to connect with God and come back to the Convent.” The Pilgrims’ Office of St Elisabeth Convent does not only provide accommodation to our guests but also organises pilgrimages.

Fact 18. There are 124 nuns in the Convent right now. The latest tonsure was performed on March 15, on the feast day of the Reigning icon of the Mother of God. The heavenly patrons of the newly-tonsured sisters are holy new martyrs of the 20^th century.

August 22, 2017

St. Elisabeth Convent

What a pleasure and a joy it is to see a family where love and peace prevail between husband and wife, where the husband and wife share each other's joys and sorrows, thus mutually lightening all life's difficulties. By contrast, how sad it is for a husband and wife when dissension exists between them - when no tender feelings attract them to each other.

Unfortunately, there are today not a few marriages where, instead of mutual respect and peace between husband and wife, there are quarrels and complaints about each other.

From what does this result? There are certainly many reasons, but the principal one is having chosen the wrong person to marry. Holy Scripture teaches us a beautiful lesson on this subject in the case of our forefather Abraham (Gen. 24). And so, let us Christians recall the marriage of the patriarch Isaac, Abraham's son.

When Abraham was a hundred and forty years old and his son was forty, Abraham called his faithful servant Eliezer to him and said:

"I will make thee swear by the Lord, the God of heaven and the God of the earth, that thou shalt not take a wife unto my son Isaac of the daughters of the Canaanites, among whom I dwell: But thou shalt go unto my country, and to my kindred, and take a wife unto my son Isaac."

The servant sware to him concerning the matter and left without delay for Mesopotamia, where Abraham's brother Nahor lived. After reaching the city of Harran, Eliezer stopped by a well of water and began to say a prayer in his mind:

"O Lord God of my master Abraham! ... Behold, I stand here by the well of water; and the daughters of the men of the city come out to draw water: And let it come to pass that to whom I shall say, 'Let down thy pitcher, I pray thee, that I may drink,' and she shall say, 'Drink, and I will give thy camels drink also': let the same be she that Thou hast appointed for Thy servant Isaac; and thereby shall I know that Thou hast shewed kindness unto my master."

Before he had done speaking, Rebekah, the daughter of Bethuel, the son of Nahor, came to the well. When Eliezer asked her for water to drink, she hastened to give him and the camels water.

And the man bowed down his head, and worshipped the Lord. And he said, "Blessed be the Lord God of my master Abraham, Who hath not left destitute my master of His mercy and His truth: I being in the way, the Lord led me to the house of my master's brethren."

When Rebekah's family learnt about Eliezer, why he had come to Mesopotamia, and how the Lord had showed him a wife in Rebekah for his master's son, they did not begin to contradict him, but gave their full consent to the proposal presented by Abraham's servant.

They said, "Behold, Rebekah is before thee. Take her and go, and let her be thy master's son's wife, as the Lord hath spoken." They called Rebekah, and said to her, "Wilt thou go with this man?" And she said, "I will go." When the servant returned home, he told Isaac all the things that he had done. And Isaac brought Rebekah into his mother Sarah's tent, and took Rebekah, and she became his wife; and he loved her: and Isaac was comforted after his mother's death.

Saint Gregory the Theologian refers to Isaac's marriage with Rebekah as an example of Christian behavior before marriage and says, "When you mean to take a wife, don't go running to people, but to God. Tell God, 'Appoint for me the one whom You have prepared for me in Your Providence.' Entrust this matter to God, and He will reward you for granting such a great honor to Him."

And so, in wishing to enter into marriage, one should, above all else, pray diligently to the Lord, Who knows the human heart, that He Himself would arrange the marriage according to His will, pointing out the chosen person and blessing the marriage with His grace.

If Abraham's servant, acting merely as a middleman, thanked God for finding a bride for the bridegroom, should not the hearts of the bridegroom and bride be filled with far greater thankfulness?

Not only do the bride and bridegroom have to thank the Lord, Who brought them together and decreed them to walk the path of earthly life as one, but also to pray to Him to send down His mercy for their future.

Let them recognize that they cannot build their happiness and a well-ordered marriage only by their own strength, without God's blessing. Let them together pray to God to bless their union and to send down His grace so that they may live in love, single-mindedness and chastity, fulfilling God's commandments.

Yet, how many people are there among us who left their marriage to God's will and, when wishing to enter into marriage, thought first and foremost of receiving God's blessing for it? Is it not true that all of us are busy primarily with earthly cares and thoughts?

How many men, before choosing a life-long partner, try to become familiar, not with a maiden's manner and behavior, but with how much property and various possessions she owns, how noble a family she is descended from, and so on.

Young men and women! Remember that a marriage made by mercenary calculations is rarely happy. A marriage that is not concluded for sincerity, mutual trust and the joining of hearts degrades those who enter into it, and consequently it often brings much evil, creating possibilities for family dissension, reproaches and mutual insults.

Saint John Chrysostom told those under his obedience, "I entreat you not to look for money and riches in a maiden, but for good characteristics: modesty, piety and godliness; these are better than countless treasures. "Let us say someone grew rich by his wife. Isn't such an example shameful? I hear many people say things such as, 'I would rather bear extreme poverty than receive riches by a wife.'"

And indeed, one who chooses a rich wife chooses for himself a master rather than a wife and helper. On the other hand, one who marries someone of equal or lower position acquires a faithful helper for himself.

Poverty disposes a wife to save her husband, to listen to him in everything, to obey him, and to care assiduously about household work. A sensible, good and temperate wife, even if poor, also deals with poverty better than a peevish and evil wife with riches. And so, riches and money are useless if we cannot find goodness in our wives.

Strong mutual love between a husband and wife serves as a further foundation of a happy marriage. The same love must serve as an incentive for the bridegroom and his bride to get married.

Moreover, one must look not at physical beauty, but at the beauty of [the] beloved's heart. "Time washes away physical beauty, and sickness eats it up," says Saint John Chrysostom, "but beauty of the heart is beyond all changes. The former arouses anger and produces jealousy, but the latter is not susceptible to similar passions and knows no vainglory."

Nothing beautifies a person, or gains his or her favor, more than a good heart. Therefore, the Holy Father teaches each of us to try to know the inner appearance when we see someone attractive; and if this is not beautiful, to ignore the attractive looks.

Fathers of families! Imitate the solicitude of the forefather Abraham, who tried to find a godly wife for his son; for he did not seek for riches by her, nor fame of her family, but only nobility of heart.

And you, mothers of families, beautify your daughters not with gold or expensive clothes, but with modesty and meekness. A meek and decorous woman will encourage her husband to be a child-loving father and to take part himself in household work.

Translated by Paula Genis from

Semyia Pravoslavnavo Khristianina

Source: http://www.roca.org/OA/154/154m.htm

By Fr. Andrew Chizhenko

I remember the words of Alexander Griboyedov from his play “Woe from Wit”: “Read it not like an altar server, but with passion”. For centuries, that aphorism was the reason of sarcastic mockeries about church readings in intellectual circles. In fact, they do not correlate with the truth and ancient thousand year rules of reading in church. Thus, people who demand for the reader to read with passion do not know about the church life and the laws of church readings.

Genres mean a lot in art, and it is important not to confuse them. To put it simply, genre is a particular style in which the work is written. It has its own goal and the means which help to reach this goal. Basically, the goals in art are the following: to scare, to make someone laugh and to make someone cry. Consequently, the artistic means of expression are chosen according to the purpose of the specific work. Together with the talent and the work of an author all of these create a particular piece written in this or that style. The same concerns the oratorical art.

Everything is different if we speak about church reading. Its goal is not to scare or make someone cry or laugh, but to ease a person's path to God: “As it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet, saying: “The voice of one crying in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord; Make His paths straight. Every valley shall be filled And every mountain and hill brought low; The crooked places shall be made straight And the rough ways smooth; And all flesh shall see the salvation of God.” (Luke 3:4-6).

This is why when it comes to the pure sound of the word of God, there must be a definitive sound clarity, properly articulated pronunciation, where the words are pronounced lucidly. Therefore, a reader must not impose his emotions unto people, who are praying in church. He must be just a timbrel and psalter, which play Divine melodies. Theatrical manner of reading or singing in church always makes it hard to listen to. What is more, it serves as a distraction from from what is most important, which is sincere listening of God’s word. It is the word which will be necessary to perform the sacrament in one’s soul and will purify one’s heart.

At the time, in the Old Testament Church a certain form of reading was developed in the Jewish tradition. It was called cantillation (lat. “sing quietly”). Michael Skabalanovich, a professor from the Spiritual Academy of Kiev, wrote about this form in his book “The Explanatory Typicon” (Толковый Типикон): “…The introduction in synagogues of so-called cantillation, which is something between reading and singing; it is a load reading in which certain syllables are lengthened more or less.” It is a practical experience of the Church, which achieved harmony in combination with lucidity, clarity of sound and emotional detachment. This form is used in church services up to the present.

However, it does not change the fact that a reader must develop himself in his art. First of all, he should live a pious Christian life and be meticulous about sacral texts. Secondly, he should constantly educate himself because he need to know the Holy Scripture and church history, the Psalter and other prayers. Thirdly, a reader must thoroughly study the Church Slavonic language, so that he understand what he is reading. Finally, it is advisable that he does some exercise for his tongue, face and mouth muscles and vocal cords so that his voice has a pure sound, and his words are pronounced clearly for everyone in church.

Of course, during the service one should keep the rule of the golden middle concerning the tempo. On the one hand, a reader should not sing or read too slowly (because in this case the service becomes onerous for the people who are praying). On the other hand, he should not hurry, because the words or singing should not merge into one unclear and monotonous noise.

Readers, singers, chanters, deacons and priests should live with the words of prayer and spirit, so that the arrow of prayer released from their hearts reached our hearts. It is important that we should not pass our personal emotions to other people. At the same time, we need to learn with God’s help the essence of these sacred words, which perform the mystery of the union of a man with God.

Translated from: http://pravlife.org/content/pochemu-cerkovnoe-chtenie-dolzhno-byt-neemocionalnym

An interview with the librarian of the Monastery of St Catherine, Mount Sinai, Archimandrite Justin Sinaites, on the history and mission of the monastery, the Ladder of St John, and the fear of death.

Priest Antoniy Borisov: Father, thank you very much for agreeing to give us this interview. I’d like to start with a question about your presentation. You started your paper with some ideas about the Ladder of Saint John, hegumen of Sinai Monastery. This book for centuries has helped many Christians. How can Christians – how can we – understand it in the right way? And can you tell us about some special tradition of reading, of learning the Ladder in your Monastery?

Archimandrite Justin Sinaites: Saint John came to Sinai when he was only 16 years old. When he was 19, he was tonsured a monk at the peak of Sinai. When his elder passed away, he lived in a cave, and we know the location of the cave to this day. He lived there for 40 years, and then he became an abbot of Sinai when he was already an old man. So here is someone who had passed his whole life at Sinai.

There are many important books written at Sinai that have been the inspiration of Christians, but the most important is the Ladder. It came at a critical time; because it was in the following century that the Sinai passed outside of the Byzantine Empire, and became part of the world of Islam. The Ladder is a summary of all of the wisdom of the Desert Fathers up to that time.

St. John says about one passage, “I didn’t want to put it this way, but I was forced to,” and so it showed that it was not just his work, but that it was a collaboration with others as well, who sometimes overruled his own opinion. The genius of the work is that it is born from practical experience and practical observations. So even though it was written for monks in community – and I would say it’s still the paramount guide for monks living in community – it has been read and treasured by married Christians with families from the time it was written until our own day. It is read in every Orthodox monastery during the holy Fast in preparation for Holy Week and Pascha, and that is why in many monasteries it is depicted on the walls of the trapeza.

Human nature never changes. Technology changes quite rapidly, but human nature doesn’t change. So the advice he gave in the 6th and 7th centuries for humility, for peace with others, for love for God – all of these are as important today as they were in the 6th century.

A.B.: Your monastery, Sinai Monastery, is one of the most famous in the Orthodox world. What is the modern situation of your monastery? How many monks are there now? And what is the nationality of these monks who live now in Sinai monastery?

J.S.: We call St Catherine’s Monastery the oldest continuously inhabited monastery in the world. We can trace a Christian and a monastic presence there to the end of the 3rd and the beginning of the 4th centuries, and for 1700 years it has never been destroyed, it has never been abandoned.

It was the poor monastery at the edge of the inhabitable world. The great monasteries in Constantinople were imperial foundations with splendid treasures, many monks, and many monks who reached great heights of sanctity. Sinai was always remote. It was the most difficult to reach of all the pilgrim shrines. Up until the 18th-19th century it took 10 days on a camel to reach the monastery from Suez, the nearest port. So it was a remarkable feat to say “I have been to Sinai”. That meant that you had tremendous zeal, you had resources, you had time, you had patience to make such an arduous trek. With the advent of automobiles it became possible to travel there in 1 or 2 days. And then the present highways were built in the late 60s and early 70s. But you have to remember how recent all of these changes are. Sinai only became accessible 40 years ago. So when you go there today and you see the highways, the hotels, the restaurants and shops which were built to support the visitors who come there – that is a very recent development.

In ancient times it was difficult to find food and water to support life. But given that, you were living in isolation, in vast silence, and the monks there reached very great spiritual heights. Today it is not a question of finding food or water for the day, because transportation is so easy now. The challenge facing the monastery is keeping the ancient heritage, the spiritual heritage we have, as a living tradition, when so much around the monastery has now changed.

There are 23 monks in the community. It is a small community, compared to the great monasteries of Athens, compared to the great monasteries here in Russia. But it has always been the small monastery at the edge of the world. Twenty-three is not very many, but 40 years ago there were only seven monks there. The famous Greek author Kazantzakis visited Sinai. He said: “These seven old men are going to die; that’s going to be the end of all these centuries of heritage”. But we have more monks now that we did then.

There is a rule that you must be of Greek descent to join the monastery, because it was a part of the Greek-speaking world going back to the 4th century, and the monks there were very very eager to preserve the Greek heritage. But although it has been predominantly Greek throughout its history, there also have been monks from other nations and other peoples throughout its history as well. By exception to that rule there is a monk from England, and myself.

It has been a place of pilgrimage for Christians from all around the world, and I think it has a special relationship to Russia. We have a remarkable collection of manuscripts in Slavonic, even in Glagolitic, so these are witness to Christian pilgrims coming from Russia centuries ago. We have a silver reliquary for the relics of St Catherine given by Sofia, the sister of Peter the Great. We have a candelabra given by the empress Elizaveta. We have many gifts from Russian sovereigns, from Russian hierarchs, from the pilgrims.

Today it is Russians who are the predominant ethnic group visiting Sinai, because now there are direct flights from Moscow to Sharm-el-Sheikh, and Russians go there for vacations. But as a result, especially in winter we have 300 to 400, sometimes 500 Russians coming there every single day. The monastery has many publications in Russian, and the Bedouin in the area are learning Russian to be able to sell their things to the visitors. So it has a special relationship with Russia today, and with Russian pilgrims. Many come not knowing anything about the monastery, and then they see the donations that have been given by Russian pilgrims and Russian benefactors through the years and they become enthused that this is a part of their heritage, and then we say they arrive as tourists and they leave as pilgrims.

A.B.: What is the regime, the timetable of a monk of Sinai Monastery? How does a monk of your monastery live from day to day?

J.S.: It says in the Psalms, ‘Seven times a day have I prayed unto Thee’, and because of that, the full canonical office is seven services plus the celebration of the Divine Liturgy. But at Sinai we group the services together. At 4 o’clock in the morning we have the midnight service, the morning service and the celebration of the Divine Liturgy, which ends at about 7:30 on a weekday, and at 8:30 or 9 on feast days and Sundays. When you go to church at 4 o’clock in the morning all the stars are out, and by the end of the service the sun is up. So we experience the transition from dark to light in the course of the services. At noon we have the reading of the third hour and the sixth hour, and then at 4 in the afternoon we have the celebration of the ninth hour, vespers and compline. So in these three time periods we have the full canonical office.

The monastery is open to visitors from 9 until 12, and anyone who comes can visit the church, can visit the adjacent museum, can see the place with the burning bush. In the wintertime sometimes a thousand people a day come and see the Church during that time, so it can be very very crowded. Summer is, by comparison, the peaceful time. After the noon service we have the one meal where everyone sits down together and we have the readings from of the Lives of the Saints and from the writings of the Fathers. Then there is a quiet time in the afternoon in anticipation of vespers. There is again a work period after the evening service and again quiet time in the evening and the night in preparation for the morning service. So it is an alternation between private prayer, common prayer and also between times of work and times of rest.

A.B.: Nowadays your monastery is situated on a territory with a very difficult political situation, and your monastery is surrounded by Muslims. How can the monks and your monastery live in this situation? Does this conflict have any influence on the monastery?

J.S.: Before the 7th century the whole peninsular was Christian, and that is why there is a Bishop of Sinai. The Bishop of Sinai was the signator of some of the early Church Councils. With the coming of Islam the Christians there either left or converted to Islam. So there was the end of the Christians’ presence at Sinai from the 7th and 8th centuries except for the monastery and the churches and chapels connected with the monastery.

From the 7th century, with the coming of Islam, the monastery became a place for the resident monks and for pilgrims, but it was no longer a centre for large numbers of Christians who dwelt in the area. The Bedouin who work for the monastery and live in the area trace their descent to the soldiers who built the monastery in the 6th century, so they have been affiliated with the monastery since that time. We have been told by anthropologists that they are the oldest separate ethnic group in the Middle East, second only to the Samaritans, so they have a remarkable history of their own. They are called the Jebaliyya, from the Arabic word “jebel”, – ‘mountain’ – which is ‘the people of the mountain’, in reference to Mount Sinai.

In ancient times there were just a few monks living in the monastery, and a few Bedouin in the area, and they supported each other. The Bedouin would help the monastery in their many tasks, and the monks would bake bread for the Bedouin in the area and support them in turn. It was a remarkable symbiosis between the monks and the Bedouin that is especially remarkable today, because the monks are Christians, Greek-speaking monastics, and Bedouin in the area are Muslims, Arabic-speaking with families, so we differ by culture, by language, by religion, by all the things that make for conflicts. But instead of having conflict we had and still have a remarkable relationship of peace and support. The Archbishop has said that one of the great problems facing the whole world today is the tension between the world of Islam and the Christian world, the world of the West. Sinai is the emblem of fervent Christians and fervent Muslims who yet have found a way to live in harmony and respect, and it is the emblem of the peace that is possible and that becomes our hope for the world at large.

A.B.: In your paper you talked about the strong connection between prayer and the fear of death. But there is a question. If a man is afraid of death, and this fear is so strong that he forgets about salvation, this fear is like a wall, and the man cannot see paradise because of this wall. How can modern Christianity explain to a man that this fear can be a servant on the way to salvation?

J.S.: St John has a Step in the Ladder, Step Six, ‘On the Rumours of Death’, and he says something that is very striking, and that puzzled me. He said: ‘Christ fears death, but he does not tremble at death’, to show that he is of two natures. Many times St. John says something, but he doesn’t expand it, he doesn’t explain it. He was writing for people who lived in close contact with each other, who shared the same foundations. He only needed to make the brief gestures, as it were, and people would understand. But many of these things are confusing and they need to be explained. So I myself begin to read the writings of other Fathers to try to understand this more clearly, because how can it say that Christ feared death?

It is St Maximus who provides such beautiful insights into this passage. He mentioned that Christ had a perfect Divine nature, but he also had a perfect human nature. He feared death in that he had taken upon himself the fullness of our human nature, and he experienced within himself all of the temptations, all of the conflicts and all of the fears that we experience as human beings, but without sin. But having triumphed over these, then he gives us hope and consolation. So the fear of death, that is an inherit part of our human nature, is no longer something to be feared, because Christ has conquered death. Death for the Christian is a time of sleep, and it is a passing from the world of temptations and tribulations into the hope of eternal life. So it is become a passage now from death into life.

A.B.: Christian history, the history of the Christian Church, shows us that sometimes theological discussions have become the reason for some conflicts. Sometimes modern theologians don’t feel responsible for their books, for their theological views. How can modern theologians feel this responsibility for what they say? And can some theological ideas and views nowadays become a reason for social or political conflicts?

J.S.: I grew up in the West, and I know the West as one who grew up there. In the West, especially today, you find academics who are familiar with the Scriptures, with the early texts. They can speak about the early texts with great authority, but they have no faith commitment themselves. Sometimes they even despise people who have a faith commitment, even though they are so proficient in speaking about the early texts and Scriptures themselves. That is a divide that the Orthodox Church has avoided. I was very impressed at the opening of the conference, when Patriarch Kyrill spoke about this very dilemma, that when theologians write their monographs on the history and the analysis and the observations about the Fathers, the early texts of the Church, the Scriptures themselves, they must have a responsibility for these in the Christian life so that they do not diverge as they have in the West. The theologians should be, par excellence, the ones who reflect the life of prayer and the life of dedication for Christians at large. I am very pleased to see that this is the case here in Russia, where it is not only a cerebral academic activity, but becomes a manifestation of a dedicated life.

A.B.: Our Holy Fathers very often tell us that every Christian, theologian or not, needs to be on the King’s Way, on the golden mean. But sometimes we want to be liberal, and sometimes we want to be conservative. What is the main problem for modern theology, for modern theologians, to stay on this golden mean? How can we stay there and not go to the right or to the left?

J.S.: The study of theology has a very very important place. So we should not disparage this as an academic field. But the theologian, par excellence, is one who prays, one who knows God and above all one who has experienced God. We should never think of this as a purely academic exercise, but remember the heritage that we have from the Fathers and our need, not only to become familiar with these in an academic sense, but to be the very embodiment of these texts. I think that is especially important in our days.

We had one visitor to the monastery and he said: “Anyone can read a book; I want to see the living example”. That was remainder for us that we not only live in such a special place, and we have an opportunity to attend the services and to know the lives of the saints, but that we must become the example of this heritage in a living sense.

It is not the statements of doctrine only, or the arguments about doctrine only that attract people to Christianity. It is lives that have been transformed and that become luminous examples of Christian piety that reflect Christ into the world. This is something we can never forget in our own dedication as Christians, that we must become not only familiar with the texts, but we must become luminous examples of the sanctification that these texts present us.

A.B.: The last question. Many theologians and scientists today speak about the crisis in the world. Many of them tell us about a religious crisis. This crisis is a part of secular society that is very strong nowadays. In these conditions what can the Orthodox Church offer to the society which doesn’t know who God is, and which sometimes doesn’t need God at all?

J.S.: The hallmark of our times is secularism, consumerism and the pursuit of personal goals and personal enjoyment without regard for other people. This is an age of information technology when it is so easy to connect with people around the world. But instead of this becoming a means of sympathy for other people, many times the internet is an isolating experience, and we become more removed from the people at a distance and even from the people around us, compared to previous generations.

Many people do not have a hostility to the Church, but they see the Church as something that is irrelevant to their needs. But there is planted in us a remembrance of God, and a longing for God, that is part of our human nature. We can find substitutes and gratifications in many other ways, but we cannot find profound peace and true enjoyment until we come to know God, and God gives the peace that passes all understanding.

It is a temptation for the Church to accommodate itself to the world in a way that compromises its own heritage. Certainly we need to communicate with the world, to reach out to the world, but the world expects the Church to retain its integrity and its witness and it is because of that integrity and that witness that they return to the Church. And this becomes the answer to the challenges of the modern world, that the Church does not change; it retains the same witness it had over the centuries, and as it gave people hope, consolation and profound joy in past centuries, so can it do so even today.

A.B.: Father, thank you very much for this interview. Your ideas were really great and very important for us. Thank you very much.

J.S.: Thank you.

An interview by Priest Antoniy Borisov

Source: http://www.bogoslov.ru/en/text/2361333.html