The Catalog of Good Deeds

Q: I have heard it argued that the phrase in the Liturgy "A mercy of peace, a sacrifice of praise" is both nonsensical and a corruption of an earlier text. Is this correct, and if not, what does the phrase mean?

A: It is true that there are some textual issues related to this text. There are number of manuscripts that read "Mercy, peace, a sacrifice of praise," and some argue that this reading makes more sense. However, in an article by Robert Taft on the subject, the oldest text that is cited, is the text of the commentary on the Divine Liturgy by St. Germanus of Constantinople, and it has the reading just as we use it today (Textual Problems in the Diaconal Admonition before the Anaphora in the Byzantine Tradition (Orientalia Christiana Periodica, 49 (1983) 345; St. Germanus of Constantinople, On the Divine Liturgy. Trans. [with Greek parallel text] Paul Meyendorff (Crestwood, NY: St. Vladimir Seminary Press, 1984), p. 90f.), This variant also made its way into the pre-Nikonian Slavonic texts, though since the Nikonian reforms, the mainstream Slavonic texts have followed the standard reading.

The fact that the standard text is criticized as being a more difficult reading is actually an argument in favor of its authenticity. One of the basic principles of textual criticism is that (all things being equal) the harder reading is more likely to be original, and a smoother reading is more likely the result of a later "correction." If such a "harder reading" were found only in an isolated manuscript here or there, one could perhaps make the case that it was the result of some error in copying -- but not when such a reading is the predominant reading.

In any case, whether it was the original reading or not, it is the accepted reading that the Church has embraced. That being the case, suggesting that the text is "nonsensical" reflects both a lack of humility and piety. If the Church has embraced it, it cannot be nonsensical. It may be that it is hard to understand, or that one might not understand it; however, just because a person does not understand what it means, this does not mean that it is incapable of being understood. After all, this is not a line from some obscure text that few would have ever encountered, or would have encountered infrequently. This is a line from the most prominent part of the most prominent service of the Church, which is served almost every day of the year. Consequently, it is unfathomable that such a text could have gained such wide acceptance in the Church had it truly been nonsensical.

Some try to argue that the text, at least as it stands in English, is ungrammatical, because "mercy" is an uncountable noun, and so cannot be used with the indefinite article ("a"). However, if you look up the word "mercy" in Merriam Webster's dictionary online, one of the examples of how the word is used is "it was a mercy they found her before she froze." Countless examples of this could be cited from the great works of English literature... and so it is simply not true that this construction is ungrammatical.

As for what this means, keep in mind that this line follows the words of the deacon: "Let us stand well, let us stand with fear, let us attend, that we may offer the holy oblation in peace." And so, in context, we see that this line is referring to the holy oblation.

Fr. Thomas Hopko provides a concise explanation of what this means:

"The Holy Oblation is Christ, the Son of God who has become the Son of Man in order to offer himself to his Father for the life of the world. In his own person Jesus is the perfect peace offering which alone brings God’s reconciling mercy. This is undoubtedly the meaning of the expression a mercy of peace, which has been a source of confusion for people over the years in all liturgical languages.

In addition to being the perfect peace offering, Jesus is also the only adequate sacrifice of praise which men can offer to God. There is nothing comparable in men to the graciousness of God. There is nothing with which men can worthily thank and praise the Creator. This is so even if men would not be sinners. Thus God himself provides men with their own most perfect sacrifice of praise. The Son of God becomes genuinely human so that human persons could have one of their own nature sufficiently adequate to the holiness and graciousness of God. Again this is Christ, the sacrifice of praise" (The Orthodox Faith, Volume II - Worship: The Divine Liturgy, Eucharistic Canon: Anaphora).

By Fr. John Whiteford

Source: http://fatherjohn.blogspot.com.by/2016/01/stump-priest-mercy-of-peace.html

Archpriest Andrew Lemeshonok, the spiritual father of St. Elisabeth Convent answers various questions of the parishioners.

How should I interpret the words from the Prayers for the Holy Eucharist,“first of all make peace with those who wronged you?”

I think it means not to bear grudges against that person and forgive him. That’s it. If your heart is at peace and you don’t feel aversion to that person, it means that you have reconciled with them. If you have wronged someone, you must ask him to forgive you and restore your relationship with that person, or at least, do your best to do so. If neither you nor the other person is ready to talk with one another, it will make things worse. Therefore, go and confess and ask God to make your heart peaceful and soft and to help you to forgive the wrongdoings of others. You can pray for that person, asking the Lord to grant him blessings, too.

The most vital condition for communion is to have peace in your heart. If you feel hurt, you cannot take communion. If you want to get rid of it and fight your feelings but you haven’t defeated them yet, you MUST take communion to receive power from the Lord to say farewell to your offence forever.

Can I go to healers if doctors can’t help me?

There are different kinds of healers. There are people who make herbal remedies. They may have the gift to treat others with herbs and massage. That’s one kind of healers.

However, if a healer treats with self-written prayers, I’d rather not go to him. We have the Church, the Sacraments, and the grace that can heal and restore our health if God wants it to happen. However, if someone heals others with prayers, it is dangerous. The Church cannot bless it.

It seems to me that you have to use your brain at all times. If you are a Christian, you will instantly feel and know whether that person is from God or not. There are lots of charlatans or spiritually ill people among healers. They try helping others without any blessing, just by using their own powers. They might even believe in God, but it is very dangerous to access the spiritual realm and to become a healer at will. We have our Saviour who heals us and who has given us the power to defeat sin and death. It must suffice for a believer.

Can I have a dog in my house?

I think that yes, you can. I have a dog at home, too. When I asked Father Nikolai Gurianov about it, he replied, “You can but you must feed it well.” I don’t see any issues with it.

January 24, 2018

St. Elisabeth Convent

It is common these days to see Orthodox church school teachers tweaking lessons, activities, and curricula from Catholic and Protestant resources for their own classrooms. Yes, there are some resources available from various Orthodox suppliers, but by and large, there is a lack of these resources, based on the fact that you see so many parents and teachers trying to adapt materials from other faiths. So, what is the traditional Orthodox approach to education and how do we incorporate it into our classrooms?

Firstly, we need to understand that traditionally the Church directed education towards adults and not to children. It wasn’t until much later that we picked up the Protestant and Catholic approach of centering our educational efforts exclusively on children. Predominantly, children were educated by their parents through modeling and occasional instruction. Children learned their faith by watching their family live it day in and day out and interacting with their community. It was simply part of their life and therefore didn’t necessitate separate, direct instruction until they were older and could understand more.

Secondly, the classroom is not the only place for learning. For example, I can prepare a lesson for my classroom of students at the beginning of Lent. I can even spend hours preparing and creating activities, crafts, worksheets, videos, and interactive bulletin boards to teach them about fasting, almsgiving, and prayer, but the reality is that unless they go home and fast, give alms, and pray…the lesson was meaningless.

Not a single one of us would have our child attend a class once a week for 30-60 minutes to learn how to play the piano by means of a book, a worksheet or coloring page, and the teacher sharing their experiences of playing the piano. We would want our child playing the piano in the classroom, practicing at home, and learning all they could in between for their big recital at the end of the year. We would never even dream of sending our child to the piano recital without actually having played the piano – but these are the expectations we have for our children about their Orthodox faith. We don’t gradually teach them how to fast because many believe – it’s just too hard for kids. We guide our children away from the homeless person who walks into our church or hall looking for help instead of providing him a meal. We get consumed in sports practices, music lessons, homework, and projects and skip gathering our children for even a quick prayer before crawling in bed to thank God for the bounty of blessings He has bestowed upon us.

We have neglected to live our faith and expect a book, worksheet, or activity once a week to guide our children to be faithful Orthodox Christians. This is where Orthodoxy is different. It is not just a set of beliefs. It’s a way of life – lived not only on Sunday mornings at church but also when we go home, to school, over to a friend’s house, work, and even as we type our status updates and post photos on our favorite social media platforms.

So where do we start to make changes? How do we return to an educational approach we have left behind?

For starters, we need to educate ourselves and especially our church school teachers. Sophie Koulomzin, an Orthodox author and former professor on Orthodox education, tells us, “You can teach only that which you have made your own…” How many of us are teaching our children based solely on what we learned when we were in church school as children? How many of us read the children’s version of a Bible story to the class without ever having read the Bible for ourselves? Would we find this practice acceptable of teachers at our children’s schools? Most assuredly not! We need to move beyond the mentality that learning about our faith ends at high school. We need to be open to continuing our own education as we attend classes, retreats, webinars, read books, listen to podcasts, and ask our parish priest questions. Learning is a lifelong process.

We need to prepare a lesson ahead of time for our students. This may seem obvious, but I’ve walked past many a classroom where the teacher was playing Hangman on the chalkboard using “Orthodox vocabulary” or the ever popular construction paper cross was being made once again because they simply ran out of time to prepare a lesson for that Sunday. How can our children take the lesson seriously if we don’t take it seriously?

We need to connect the classroom and home as often as possible. This could include sending a letter home to parents once a month telling them what their child learned or is about to learn. It could also include sending activities or books home for the children to share and do with their parents.

It is vitally important we see not only the church school teacher as educator but also our family, our priest, and our parish community. How wonderful would it be to learn how to make prosphora from one of the older ladies in the community who has been making it all her life? How invaluable would it be for our children to learn at a young age that their priest is someone they can chat with when they have a problem instead of trying to face it on their own? How remarkable would it be for children to see their parents turning to prayer in times of sorrow and joy?

By Jennifer Hock in The Sounding Blog

Source: http://myocn.net/what-is-orthodox-education/

A mountain ahead. Hurray?

As a rule, when running up against difficulties in our ordinary, daily life, we try to get around them however we can. This is perfectly natural—after all, if we, let’s say, are walking home and on our path is an icy hill, it would be more reasonable to take another route rather than risk slipping and breaking a limb. Or, let’s say we are looking for an apartment and find out that in such-and-such a building the elevator doesn’t work, then it would be perfectly natural for us to strike that building off the list and not get all enthused about walking up ten flights of stairs all the time. This is probably the first thing to which it would make sense to pay attention: As Christians and simply as adults, responsible people, we should not create hardships for ourselves artificially. Our lives are hard enough without that.

Nevertheless, a person who categorically avoids whatever difficulties that may be rarely succeeds in life. He can graduate from school, university, find a relatively comfortable and easy job, but he will not attain any important thing that a different attitude towards life might attain. After all, only truly difficult situations, moreover, stressful situations force us to mobilize all our strength, and stimulate us to learn how to “outgrow” them. Therefore, while avoiding difficulties where it is rational to do so, we must under no circumstances hide from them where they might be able to teach us something essential. This applies to study, work, sports, and of course to Christian life.

Igumen Nektary (Morozov)

Why must we definitely struggle with difficulties in Christian life? Because, as St. John Climacus formulates it, when we are warred against we fight back; that is, when we run up against an inner struggle, when we have to do something with psychological difficulty, with effort, we understand that our passions are behind this along with our direct enemy [the devil], who does not sleep. And this understanding arouses us to overcome fear and laziness, and do the very thing that is salvific for us.

And what in Christian life is especially hard for us? Deeds and acts directed against the passion that is acting most forcefully at that moment in us. It is even somehow strange at times to see how one thing is hard for one person, another thing for another, a third for a third; and each of them would gladly do what is hard for the others. This is not so much because these people are so very different as it is because different passions act in them to different degrees.

What does it mean to “overcome difficulties”? It practically always means growing out of our faintheartedness. And of course when we are already adults this becomes more and more difficult if we have not been accustomed to it from childhood. Thus, when a child comes to confession and tells about some dishonesty, for example that he made a mess and blamed it on his younger brother, the priest might say to him, “Understand that there is only one way to set things straight: God to your mom and dad and admit everything.” And the child has to admit the reason for his deceit: thinking that the truth would not come out, or that he was afraid of punishment, or that he just didn’t want others to think badly of him.

And not only a priest but any adult that the child trusts can reveal this spiritual law to him: “Do you know that if you do not admit it now then in all likelihood you will not admit to something the next time, because then it will be much harder than today. You will get used to deceiving, and this will lead to your doing it that way every time. And later, when you grow up and want to become a different person, it will be very, very hard for you to change. I can’t force you to do this, but I strongly advise you to overcome your fear now, today, so that it won’t be so hard for you to do it later.” And it must be said that quite a few children decide to follow this advice, and you will see how this child outgrows himself, how he becomes stronger.

And for the most part, the same thing happens with an adult when he decides not to run away from a situation in which he is ashamed and fearful, but to take a step toward the truth and bear all possible consequences...

Read full article: http://orthochristian.com/100662.html

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