The Catalog of Good Deeds

On this festal day, brothers and sisters, the Holy Orthodox Church invites us all to share the joy of the Most Holy Theotokos and the Righteous Symeon the God-Receiver: “Rejoice, O Virgin Theotokos, full of grace, for from thee hath shone forth Christ our God, the Sun of righteousness.” The Holy Church will glorify and exalt the Most Holy Virgin with these words of the troparion yesterday, today, and on all subsequent days until the afterfeast.

Today we are all sharing the joy of the Mother of God and the Righteous Symeon by remembering that sacred event that once took place in the Temple of Jerusalem. From Holy Scripture we know that on the fortieth day after the Nativity of the Divine Child, the Most Holy Virgin and Joseph the Betrothed went to the Temple of Jerusalem in order to fulfill the Law by bringing their Child there. What kind of law was this that the Holy Family is now fulfilling?

We should all remember how once the Lord commanded His holy one, Moses the God-Seer, to bring the people of Israel out of Egypt. Those of us who have read Holy Scripture, who know the sacred history of not only the New but also the Old Testament, know how Pharaoh resisted this command of God, being unwilling to fulfill that for which Moses asked him. Not giving heed to the terrible punishment that fell on Egypt by God’s will, Pharaoh did not learn: he did not fulfill the request of Moses. The only thing that provoked Pharaoh finally to concede was the terrible sentence enacted against the entirely innocent firstborn infants of Egypt.

One night the angel of death slew several thousand infants. Pharaoh was horrified and all of Egypt shuttered, seeing in this the unstoppable hand of God. It was only then that Pharaoh decided to release Israel from Egypt. Once Moses had led his people into the Promised Land, the Lord commanded that every firstborn male child, as the possession of God acquired by the blood of the Egyptian firstborns, be sanctified and redeemed unto the Lord. This is the law the Virgin Mary was fulfilling. He Who was to sanctify and redeem all people was Himself first sanctified and redeemed unto God! “The Ancient of days, having become a babe, is borne into the temple by the Virgin Mother, fulfilling the promise of His own law” (kontakion of the feast); He is borne in order to fulfill “the Counsel of the Most High, ancient and true” for the salvation of man opened to him through the Most Holy Virgin Mary on the day of her radiant Annunciation. The Lord God accepts this only “mystical and perfect” sacrifice from His Son. This was the sacrifice on Golgotha, where the Lord was killed on the Cross for us and our salvation, to save mankind from sin, the curse, and death.

The Virgin Mary, with the Christ-Child in her arms, and Joseph the Betrothed were met by Symeon the God-Receiver and Anna the Prophetess in the Jerusalem Temple. The struggle of unceasing expectation was the life of the God-loving Symeon, who was vouchsafed a heavenly prophesy that he would not die until he saw the salvation of Israel, until he saw the Savior, Messiah, and Christ promised by the prophets (cf. Luke 2:26). He received this prophecy when – 250 years before the coming into the world of Christ the Savior – he, along with other translators, translated Holy Scripture from Hebrew to Greek for the Egyptian king. He was given for translation the book of the Prophet Isaiah, that Old Testament Evangelist who prophesied a great deal about Jesus Christ. Translating the place where Isaiah says a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call His name Immanuel, which means God is with us (Isaiah 7:14), the Righteous Symeon thought that in all likelihood an error had crept into the text: a virgin cannot give birth, and if there is a birth, it is from a woman. He erased the word “virgin” and wanted to write the word “woman” in its place, but at that very moment an angel of God took Symeon by the hand and commanded him not to make this change. The truth of which the Prophet Isaiah spoke was indeed fulfilled and he, Symeon, would be a witness to its fulfillment, not dying until what was written had come to pass. Ineffable joy filled the heart of the elder Symeon when he saw the long-awaited Savior of the world.

But what keen vision would be needed in order to recognize in a tiny Child the promised Sun of Righteousness, the Redeemer of all nations! Symeon was very elderly and his bodily eyes were weak, but his spiritual vision remained untroubled because he had led his entire extraordinarily long life in purity and humility, full of love and trust in the Lord.

What an instructive lesson for us! Unfortunately, not only our physical vision but also that of our soul has been greatly blunted; sometimes we do not notice God next to us. Someone might say that he does much in life to meet God and to know God. But here, brothers and sisters, we must turn our attention to the following moment. Why did Symeon see Christ the Savior in the Child brought to the Temple? Because he was righteous in his life and had a pure heart – he was holy.

We often say that there is no deed greater than death for Christ. This is true, and it is no accident that the Church glorifies the holy martyrs. But when one looks at the image of St. Symeon, one sees here a different struggle accomplished by this man: he lived for Christ, he lived in expectation of meeting Christ. Sometimes we say: “Grant me, O Lord, to live a little longer.” The best thing we can wish one another is long life. But man cannot live long, above all, because of his sins. Illness, tribulation, troubles, and temptations beset man, and he cannot stand up under the weight of this burden.

Many of us have heard from certain people that they are tired of living and have asked God for death, because their soul is too weary and their body so ill: “Take me sooner, O Lord, from this earthly vale of tears!” But one does not find these words in the life of the Righteous Symeon, who lived not 60, not 160, not 260, but 360 years and, of course, was overcome by illness and the weakness of old age. But he did not complain, but rather desired to live for Christ’s sake. This is also a lesson for us, especially for those who have begun to tire of this life.

There is yet another significant lesson that we should learn from today’s feast day. The Holy Fathers bear witness to the fact that it is impossible to meet God in the afterlife if this meeting has not taken place here on earth. This means that I should make every possible effort to make this meeting take place in my earthly life. The Lord has done everything necessary for this. Somewhere in the depth of our souls we probably envy the Righteous Symeon, that at the end of his life he was finally able to meet our Lord Jesus Christ and even to hold Him in his arms. How we would have liked that! How we wish we could have been in the Jerusalem Temple then! Nevertheless, we present Christians – followers of our Savior, sons and daughters of our Holy Church – and much more fortunate than the Righteous Symeon and Anna the Prophetess.

Yes, the holy elder bore in his hands the Christ Child, but each one of us believers is given the opportunity to meet Christ not just once, and not just in the Temple, but in every place of our earthly existence. We are given the opportunity to have Christ in our hearts – and this is much more important. The Lord appeals to each one of us, saying: My son, give me thine heart, and let thine eyes observe My ways (Proverbs 23:26). He always seeks the human heart, going out to meet it. It befits us to hasten to Him both in joy and in sorrow. In joy we do this less often, while in sorrow we more frequently run to the Savior. The Lord approaches, and the weight of our life’s cross is lessened. In days of harsh reality, when life tests us, we should rush to Him: And call upon Me in the day of thine affliction, and I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify Me (Psalm 49:15), for The Lord is nigh unto all that call upon Him (Psalm 144:18).

The most important place for our meetings with the Lord is God’s church. Here, in every Mystery and in every prayer, a joyful meeting of God with man and man with God takes place. The Mystery of Baptism cleanses one of the ancestral sin, opening the doors of the Church to man and making him a Christian, a bearer of the name of Christ. In the Mystery of Chrismation grace-filled power is given, so that man would bear the name of Christ worthily, loftily, and sacredly. Unfortunately, however, we do not succeed in this; our lives have neither loftiness nor sanctity. Therefore the Church gives us another Mystery: through repentance one is able, as in a “font of rebirth,” to be cleansed of one’s sins and again worthy to bear the name of Christ.

Let us examine another Mystery, one that was just celebrated at the Divine Liturgy: the Holy Eucharist. What is this, if not my meeting with Christ? And not just a meeting: I take Christ within myself through the Communion given me under the form of bread and wine. And the other Mysteries? The Mystery of Matrimony sanctifies our family. The Mystery of Unction enables us to ask God for healing of soul and body. What grace-filled opportunities does Christ’s Church offer us! Yet the majority of people rarely make use of these opportunities (and many do not use them at all, unfortunately). We do not hasten to our meeting with God! We think that meeting God imposes certain restrictions on our freedom, and that I will not be able to do what I want. As such, I want to receive all good things here on earth, and not wait until the coming of eternal blessedness (and whether to expect it, I do not know); I do not want to labor for this, I do not want to deny myself everything.

It turns out that on such a wonderful feast day as this there are very few people in our Orthodox churches. In our city there are ten churches, and in each is a handful of faithful, but in a city of half a million ten handfuls is very, very little. For the heart of this people has become gross… and is not converted, that I should heal them (Isaiah 6:10). People do not wish to meet God! This is frightful, for if one does not meet God in this life then one cannot hope to meet Him after one’s physical death, in the life of the age to come. And if we cannot meet Him there, then what awaits us? A place without God, a place called hell. Could it really be that this is what mankind is preparing for? It is frightful to think so! The Feast of the Meeting of our Lord Jesus Christ reminds us of this time and again.

It is essential that we consider that our meeting with God takes place every time we perform any good deed. At the Dread Judgment the Lord will say to those standing on the right: For I was an hungred, and ye gave Me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave Me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took Me in: Naked, and ye clothed Me: I was sick, and ye visited Me: I was in prison, and ye came unto Me. Then shall the righteous answer Him, saying, Lord, when saw we Thee an hungred, and fed Thee? or thirsty, and gave Thee drink? When saw we Thee a stranger, and took Thee in? or naked, and clothed Thee? Or when saw we Thee sick, or in prison, and came unto Thee? And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these My brethren, ye have done it unto Me (Matthew 25:35-40). If we live this way, if we seek to see God in every person, no matter who this person is, then we will indeed not only worthily fulfill our Christian duty and obligations, but a meeting of the Creator with creation, of God with man, will also occur.

This is what the Holy Orthodox Church of Christ is today reminding us of time and again. May God grant, brothers and sisters, that having once met God in the Mystery of Baptism, that each one of us would not part from Him in all the days of our earthly life and the life of the age to come.As the hart panteth after the fountains of water, so panteth my soul after Thee, O God. My soul thirsted for God, the mighty, the living; when shall I come, and appear before the face of God? (Psalm 41:1-2). Let us pray for this to our Lord Jesus Christ. Let us pray to the Heavenly Queen, the Righteous Symeon, and Anna the Prophetess that, by their prayers and intercessions, the Lord would help us worthily to bear the name of Christian in this world, to take God into our hearts, and never to part from Him.

By Archpriest Valery Zakharov

Source: http://www.pravmir.com/we-do-not-hasten-to-meet-god/

Lately, I have payed attention to the fact that people often put icons in their cars. These icons can be various: folding icons, triptychs and sometimes even simple images of the Cross. What is this? Is it some kind of fashion, ritual or amulet? Let us try to make it clear.

Car owners especially love the images of Christ Not-Made-by-Hand, the Mother of God of Kazan and St. Nicholas the Wonderworker. Often you can also see the images of Archangel Michael and St. Seraphim of Sarov.

First of all, let us deal with the variant about amulets. It is an element of paganism. Although some drivers, who put icons in their cars, consider themselves Christians, they often act in the other way around. Thus icons can be placed in cars as magical or pagan elements. Paganism is revealed in this case through the attitude towards icons, which are considered to be idols. Nevertheless, no icon can save or help a person, who has no real faith in God.

In Greek language the word “icon” means “image”. The image of the One Whom we address in our prayers. Looking at the icon, we should see the Savior, the Mother of God or saints in it. If you treat an icon like an amulet, then you will not get any help from heaven. It is not the icon itself that protects you, but the saint depicted on it. However, if drivers do not pray before the icons in their cars, and they serve them as mascots aimed to protect people during the journey. What is more, many people put icons in their cars just because other people do so.

If we take a little excursion through history, we can find out that so-called “road” icons exists for about 9 centuries. And this kind of icons represents one of the iconography genres. This art is rather multi-faceted and can take various shapes, enriching the Orthodox world with such unique works of art. Moreover, among the most interesting variants of holy images there must be noted the so-called “road” or “travel” icons, which are supposed to accompany faithful people on their way.

A travel icon is a small in size image, which you can easily get for the road and use for prayer. We know that such icons exist at least since the 12^th century, and that the first examples of this technique, which have survived to this days, came to us from the Byzantine Empire.

Earlier, only monks and pilgrims had such icons, so that they can read their everyday prayers before them. Today such an icon might be interesting for any person, who likes to travel or just spends much time on the road.

The popularity of those icons grew rapidly. After their appearance, not only monks began to wear such images, but also soldiers, merchants, nobles and even peasants. What is more, those icons were made of three pieces (triptychs) and were worn on the chest.

We can also add folding icons and special medallions to this category of icons. As a rule, until the 18^th century, travel icons were made of metal. Later, after the church reform, their amount was reduced and they were replaced by the images written with oil or tempera. However, the manufacturing of metal icons was not fully stopped, and they were created until the beginning of the 20^th century.

Today there are various types of the road icons and even patron saints’ icons can be used for that. Orthodox Christians, who are used to traveling a lot and want to think about their safety, often get such images to wear them around their neck, keep in a wallet or a bag or just put them in their car. So, we can say that today we observe the second birth of these unique Christian symbols.

Orthodox priests approve the tradition of putting icons in cars. It is often said that the icons in a car are just like an icon corner at home, in front of which we pray when we enter the house.

An icon is neither an amulet, nor mascot. It is the hope for salvation, protection and safe road. It is put in a car so that we can praise God and the Mother of God before to go and ask for a safe trip.

After the ride one should cross himself, kiss the cross and sincerely thank God for everything.

Travel safe by your cars and may the Lord bless your travels!

Source: http://pravlife.org/content/ikony-v-mashinah

Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted.

Continuing our commentary on the Beatitudes by Saint Gregory of Nyssa:

Next, building on poor of spirit and meekness, we move to yet a higher rung. Does seeing those who mourn as blessed involve those who endure misfortune and hardship and imply that those who do not have such sorrow in their lives cannot be blessed? Of course not. Gregory says this would be ridiculous.

Saint Paul teaches us that there are two kinds of sorrow (2 Cor 7:10). A worldly sorrow and one that comes from God. Gregory writes, the work of the worldly sorrow is death, whereas the other works in those afflicted with it salvation through repentance. For surely, if a soul bewails its wicked life because it feels its bad effects, such suffering cannot be excluded from the sorrow that is called blessed.

If we do not feel sorrow when engaging in sin because we feel no pain, then we have become paralyzed and dead to the life of virtue. We have lost what God have given us to encourage us to come to repentance and to grow spiritually. But Gregory says there is more than this in the idea of mourning.

Saint Gregory writes:

For if He meant to indicate only repentance for sin, it would have been more consistent to call blessed those who have mourned rather than those who are always mourning. Taking by way of comparison an example from illness, we would call blessed those who are healed, but not those who are forever in process of being healed. Obviously the continual healing would indicate at the same time the continued existence of the disease.

Gregory tells us that we cannot limit this beatitude to those who sin or misfortune. We have many examples of the saints who were not in continual sin. We know they were not denied blessedness. We know that mourning has to do with losing something that is seen to be good. When one faces misfortune he mourns, because he lost what was pleasant to him. At issue here is what we see as pleasant. Gregory asks us to raise our understanding from what we know to be pleasant to that which we do not know to be good. He says, we must first know what really is the true good, and then, with this in mind, consider human nature. For only thus can we attain to the mourning that is called blessed.

Now this is key to understanding what Jesus meant by mourning. We need to expand our understanding of what is good, to include what is beyond the pleasures of this life. We need to focus on the Kingdom of Heaven and the Divine goodness. As we grasp that what is true goodness, the perfection that we are capable, the goodness that Jesus showed us through His life, what is beyond our comprehension, our sorrow should grow and we should mourn about this lack of understanding.

Gregory writes:

But lest our words should labor in vain in our effort to reach what is inaccessible, we will cut short our enquiry into the nature of the transcendent good.... And the more we believe the nature of the good to exceed our comprehension, the more should our sorrow grow within us, because we are separated from a good so great that we cannot even attain to its knowledge.

This knowledge is something mankind once knew. Gregory explains that we only need go back to the story of creation where we learn that man was created in the image of God and lived in Paradise. But we were disobedient and separated ourselves from God’s goodness. This led to dire consequences.

Gregory writes:

Thus the creature that had once been without a master and in full possession of his free will, is now dominated by so many great evils that we can hardly count all our tyrants. For as soon as any of our innate passions is allowed to dominate, it becomes the master of the person it has enslaved. It occupies the castle of the soul like a tyrant, and afflicts the obedient lord through his own subjects. It uses our thoughts as its servants who carry out what seems good to it. For the whole array of passions, wrath and fear, cowardice and impudence, depression as well as pleasure, hatred, strife and merciless cruelty, envy as well as flattery, brutality together with brooding over injuries–they all are so many despotic masters who make the soul a slave in their territory as if it was a prisoner of war. If one were to add to this also the physical sufferings that are insolubly bound up with our nature, I mean the manifold forms of disease from all of which human nature was originally immune, our tears would flow still more, as we were comparing and contrasting what is painful and evil with the things that were good and pleasant.

When Jesus calls mourning blessed, Gregory says, “the underlying sense seems to be that the soul should turn to the true good and not immerse itself in the deceits of this present life.” Unfortunately, those who enjoy things of this world do not look for what is better. But if one chooses to seek, he will find what only those who seek can find. Gregory says that this is the primary reason Jesus calls mourning blessed. We need to be aware that we do not know true goodness, goodness that is so great we cannot describe it, and feel sorrow about our condition, mourning, and seeking to know.

Gregory concludes:

Therefore we should think it blessed to reserve our share of joy for the truly good things in eternal life, and to fulfill the duty of sorrow in this short and transitory life. We should not think it a loss to be deprived of some of the pleasant things of this life, but rather to lose the better things for the sake of enjoying the others. If therefore it is blissful to have the unending and everlasting joy in eternity, human nature is bound also to taste of the opposite. Then it will no longer be difficult to see the meaning of the passage, why those who mourn now are blessed, because they shall be comforted in the world without end. Now the comfort comes through participating in the Comforter. For the gift of comforting is the special operation of the Spirit, of which may we also be made worthy, through the grace of Our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom be glory for ever and ever.

Source: http://orthodoxwayoflife.blogspot.com.by/2009/09/3rd-beatitude-blessed-are-those-who.html

It’s no use to ask the Prodigal Son just how he ran away. He probably couldn’t tell you how he ended up in the swine world, a sullen existence that stretched as far as he could see.

Life was tough now. He had left home to “find himself” -- a mentally ill message the world has always fed its population. He had wandered into the place waving a lot of cash around. Things were great. It was lollapalooza 24/7, rock around the clock and party like 1999.

He took lots of selfies with other prodigals.

He got friended by thousands of people on fb. His instagram account blew off the charts.

Then the market crashed. His house was foreclosed on. The area suffered the worst drought in history.

There was no more cash to wave around. His fellow prodigals vanished.

His was all by himself, no reason to take a selfie anymore.

In trying to find himself, he lost himself, his heart broken into tiny eggshell pieces like Humpty Dumpty, fallen once and for all.

How did he run away? How did he get here?

It just happened. He wasn’t “paying attention” to the real things, to nature, his own human nature, the things of the spirit, and to the signs of beauty and truth.

The Prodigal Son never “ran” away. He shuffled off, away from his Father’s House. He was dazzled by the carnival of entertaining fantasies, the cardboard fronts of exciting desires. The hall of mirrors and pretty lights that covered up the reality of the place where he had drifted off to.

Which was here, the Swine World, so far away from his Father’s House.

So far this is a sad script. Human beings have only one home, one space of the heart that is real. That place is a spiritual place, the Father’s House where there is more than enough bread and wine, more than enough shelter, and best of all, more than enough feeling and knowing that one is home with the Father and given rest.

But human beings, to a man, let their minds wander off like a prodigal, and sooner or later, their bodies also wander out of the House and into the world of crashing markets, droughts and famines, disillusionment, disappointment, broken friendships and despair.

There is a cruel, cruel irony about passions. When any of the passions call — whether greed or gluttony, pride or despair, anger or lust or despair — they advertise with promised comforts. Anger promises revenge. Despair promises a protective shell. Lust promises an easier husk of love. Pride promises self-godhood. Gluttony and greed promise satisfaction and fulfillment.

And the moment a prodigal falls for the advertisement of a passion, an amnesia sets in. The prodigal forgets the way to his Father’s House, which is the way of the heart. He forgets that he belongs to the caring God Whose Name is love.

He forgets that he is human.

He forgets that other people are human, images of the Trinity, and instead calls them blasphemous names, merely functional objects of his own passions. If the passion is anger, then another person is called an enemy. If lust, then just sexual object. If despair, then merely a source of impossible expectations. If pride, then only a convenient underling, an extension of one’s own ego -- which has become an entire world that is very sick..

He forgets that his Father cares for him, and God is then seen only as angry and condemning.

He forgets about beauty, truth, goodness and love and the day turns to gray, sunsets become foreboding and night belongs to terror.

He forgets what is real because he is blind to Christ, and instead he willingly believes in the false darkness that rejects the light.

And that is why every prodigal — son or daughter — ends up exchanging their Father’s House and their own noble human nature for the Pig Pen of Life, and a life of falsehood — where the famine-lands call you, instead of the noble name of “human,” merely just an “individual,” or a “consumer,” or a “number,” or a “likely voter,” or a “marketing segment,” or a point in the 68% area in a normal distribution, or a diagnosis, or a predictable opinion-holder in an election survey. Or just a packet of desires that can be manipulated to try anything more transgressive, anything more thrilling, anything more individualistic, just to avoid the knowledge that the Swine World is just that, a cage with a feeding trough, filled with cheap trick grime and the modern mud of despair.

Don’t ask how the Prodigal Son ended up running away and slopping around in the domain of pigs. A sinner falls into sin in a fog of forgetfulness and amnesia. Human beings cannot rationally apostasize from their human nature -- the inheritance of the Father. They must become irrational and stultified first. They must forget their Father's House in order to shuffle off to the Swine World.

Always.

So there is no way for him to remember just how he got here.

But he doesn’t need to.

All he has to do is open his eyes, look around at the reality of the Pig Pen of Life, and remember how things were in his Father’s House … how the Bread tasted and how the Wine glowed with sweet light … how the arching roof of the Father’s love gave shelter from the storm of existence … how the pure white robe felt clean and pure, for once, on the heart that had tired so much of the dirty, leaden burden of the passionate world … and how the ring gave shining warmth -- of kindred-spirit to a cosmic family -- to his right hand.

Remember your true human nature, and Whose you are, and Whose you should be.

No one remembers how they became a prodigal.

But everyone remembers how they came to their senses, dusted themselves off from the grime of the Swine World, and decided to walk in beautiful repentance back to the House of the Father, and go in peace on the journey home, in the way of the heart, fasting, praying, giving alms, reading and thinking about the Word.

Ask any Prodigal about that, and he or she will be glad to tell you, for the memory is clear and bright.

For once, he is dressed and in his right mind, because he’s walking back home.

Source: http://janotec.typepad.com/terrace/2016/02/walk-away-from-the-swine-world.html

The priest looked out of the altar, checking to see if the choir director was ready to begin the hours before the Divine Liturgy. Just as he was ready to say, «Blessed is our God,» his newest convert, Bill, made a grand entrance into the church, having just gotten back from his latest pilgrimage to another monastery. Bill—or Vasili, as he now insisted on being called—had been a normal young evangelical convert, clean-cut, single, and working his first job out of college. Then he discovered Orthodoxy in a bookstore, and with great zeal embraced the Faith. He was chrismated after a usual six-month catechumenate, during which he read just about every book in print on the Orthodox Faith.

After a year or so, Bill had decided to go visit monasteries. This is where his change began. He became more pious and more serious about his faith, but also started to become, well, weird. Like this Sunday morning. Bill/Vasili was not content to come in like everyone else. Rather, prayer ropes flying from his wrists, he made grand bows at the entrance to the nave, and again, the entire congregation watching, with a flourish prostrated before virtually every icon in the church. It was such a display that no one listened to the hours.

Then, just before the time the Liturgy should have begun, Bill came up to the door of the altar and announced he must have confession, or he’d be in big trouble with the holy elders. Father, being patient with zealous youths, went to hear the confession.

«I am the worst of all sinners!» Bill began as usual. Then he read his list, only four pages this morning. «And I only could do two hundred prostrations, not my usual three hundred, and only read four akathists, so I am not fully prepared for communion,» he said. «Besides, I just had to have a cup of coffee, but since everyone else does anyway, can I still go to communion?»

The priest had heard it all before. What does one say? «You did all those prayers, and still had to have a cup of coffee?»

«Well, the Elder said I had to do the prayers, but I couldn’t stay awake to finish them all. So I had some coffee. But doesn’t everyone in this jurisdiction even have breakfast before Liturgy? I heard that Bishop So-and-so even had coffee with those godless Catholics right before Liturgy. Besides, it was at three a.m. when I had the coffee, and it’s almost ten now.»

A little after, thought the priest. «Why didn’t you start your rule a little earlier?»

«Well, the book I just read said it must only be done after midnight, as that is the time to battle demons. Besides, Madonna was on ‘Saturday Night Live.’ Uh . . . the video clips of hers really led me into a big temptation … so I did all those prostrations.»

Father really did not know what to address first. «Father,» Bill asked, «don’t you think it’s time to start being more traditional, to get rid of those paraffin candles and use real beeswax? It is more Orthodox. It really bothers me that the choir reads half the texts of the vigil, instead of singing them, like last night. And on the wrong calendar too. It took me three hours just to repeat the vigil on the right calendar! I’m afraid I am going to have to find another jurisdiction that is more Orthodox. Am I the only one in this parish who knows how to do things right? Besides, I have invited my Elder to meet you, and he’ll set you straight on all this stuff. He told me we have to do everything correctly, like they do it, otherwise we’ll all burn in hell.»

Father was losing patience, looking at his watch, 10:20 and counting. «Okay, Vasili, look, there are a number of issues here, and we need to talk about them, but not while the whole church is waiting for you to finish. When did you go to confession last?»

«Yesterday, at the monastery. I think I have finally found a spiritual father worthy of my obedience.»

«And who is he?»

«Fr. So-and-so, from the monastery in the mountains. He is coming to serve with you next Sunday.»

«Bill . . .»

«Vasili.»

«Okay, Vasili, then. That guy was defrocked years ago. I can’t serve with him! Who gave you a blessing to go see him? Much less submit yourself to him? Much less invite him here?»

«Oh, so you too are continuing to persecute that righteous man! I know in my heart he is truly Orthodox! Besides he baptized me yesterday, making up for what you did not do by chrismating me. Actually,» getting excited, «why am I here anyway? I should really go be with him as the true criterion of Orthodoxy. . . Not in this modernist, ecumenist jurisdiction. My spiritual father may have been defrocked, but he is obedient to God, not those godless bishops! I know it because I feel it in my heart. ..»

«So,» said Father, rather irritated, «why do you want to go to communion here anyway?»

«What! You would deny me my right to go to communion!» he whined, as he stormed out.

Monastery Life Vs. Parish Life

This story is a rather extreme, but not entirely uncommon, example of what can go wrong when laypeople—especially those who are spiritually immature— take to visiting monasteries for the wrong reasons and in the wrong spirit.

The growth of monasteries in North America over the past thirty years, and especially in the past five years, has brought about a tremendous opportunity for faithful Orthodox Christians to visit monasteries as pilgrims and be exposed to monastic tradition. A monastery, among other things, is a place which practices the liturgical and spiritual life in a maximalist way. This maximalism is expressed in a number of ways, including long, full services, strict ascetic discipline, and very conservative attitudes in everything from language, style, and dress to how one conducts one’s personal life. Many confuse monastic maximalism and conservatism with a kind of reactionary ethnic agenda. This is a great mistake, however.

The monasteries incarnate Orthodox culture, regardless of what ethnic flavor it may have. It is the timeless, universal (Catholic) culture passed on by the holy fathers and mothers of the Orthodox Church, through personal discipleship and obedience. The monastic culture is nothing other than obedience to the Gospel, through discipleship to our spiritual fathers, who convey the tradition of how to live out the Gospel in its fullness. To visit an Orthodox monastery is not just to visit that particular community in that place at that time. It is to enter into that living Christian culture which has been handed over from generation to generation by the holy fathers.

Monasticism, the way of repentance, is a radically different way of life from living in the world, with a family, a job, and in a parish. Parishes are the front lines of where the Church meets the world, where a culture is sanctified and transformed by the Gospel. People lead busy lives in the world, and are not able to lead as active a liturgical life as in a monastery. Parish life seldom is and often cannot be maximalist in ethos. Yet a parish is not a compromise, a second-class way of being a Christian. Being a Christian in the world is taking the Gospel to the world, and living and witnessing to Christ while participating fully and actively in the culture. This is a very high calling!

Monastics have a different calling: to be «not of this world,» and to structure their lives solely by the Gospel, and by the traditions of the Church, especially the liturgical cycles. It is very important to remember that there is no difference between the services prescribed for a parish and those of a monastery. There is no difference in the rules of fasting, prayer, or piety. The main difference is that people in parishes are engaged in the world, and monks are not. The monasteries are critically important to the life of the parishes: they constitute the reservoir of the living Tradition, in its purity, where people can experience the Gospel lived out in a radical way. Monasticism can inform their lives, inspire faithful laity to greater dedication of their lives to Christ and the Gospel, and provide a place of healing and spiritual consolation.

But as Bill/Vasili’s story illustrates, there are also some great temptations that people can fall into in visiting monasteries. These temptations are all centered around spiritual pride, and the prelest (delusion) which can go along with it.

1. The Trap of Spiritual Pride

Spiritual pride is an easy trap for those new to the faith, who are newly exposed to monastic life, and who are seeking and striving to live an authentic Orthodox spiritual life. It can especially be a trap for those visiting monasteries, seeking spiritual direction, and not knowing what an authentic Orthodox life in the world, in a parish, is all about.

Faithful people go to monasteries, and see people’s piety and how things are done in that monastic tradition, and want to emulate it—but without understanding it. Pilgrims go and encounter spiritual elders and monks who live lives which, in their view, are more «spiritual» than that of their own parish priest—so they judge him as inadequate to fit their spiritual needs. They go to confession, develop a spiritual relationship with a spiritual father or mother in a monastery, and think that theirs is the only way to salvation. They receive spiritual direction which they may interpret wrongly. Sometimes, people just get some bad advice, and uncritically turn it into the ultimate criterion of spiritual life. And sometimes people will go to a monastery or spiritual father who has been disciplined by the Church, and disregarded the discipline. Then the pilgrim-turned-disciple gets caught up in the self-justification of the errant elder, which in some cases has created a schism.

Excessive external piety, false humility, preoccupation with gossip and «issues» in the life of the Church, judging people on their piety or stance in these issues, complete assurance that one knows exactly how things should be done, and perhaps most dangerous of all, idolizing a person or place as the ultimate criterion of Orthodoxy, can all be symptoms of this malady. They are all aspects of spiritual immaturity. What is missing in all this is Christ and the real spiritual struggle with oneself.

2. Excessive Piety

Zeal for Christ and the Church are great and wonderful things; but authentic zeal is very different from a zeal that comes from one’s passions. Carnal zeal always has some element of self-gratification or self-centeredness, by which one justifies oneself as truly Orthodox, truly pious, and «in the know.» Authentic zeal is not directed towards anything but union in Christ, or against anything but one’s own fallenness. With true zeal, there is no hypocrisy. False zeal, the delusion of spiritual pride and conceit, is always hypocritical.

Piety is an important way of personalizing the experience and mystery of the faith. Bowing, making the sign of the cross, behaving reverently, and all the other forms given to us by the Tradition are very useful in this. But they are never to be used except to express one’s own love for God. They should never be used to «teach» others who are doing things «wrong,» or to try to «convict» people of their impiety; much less, to show others that «I know how to do things ‘right’.» In many monasteries, the rules for external expression of piety— bowing, crossing oneself, prostrations, and so forth—are observed very carefully; in parishes, however, they often are not. One should never attract attention to oneself through external piety. That only feeds the pride and self-centeredness that is in us, and distracts other people from their prayers.

The rules of fasting also fall into this category. Monasteries generally follow the rules quite strictly. And there is no difference whatsoever in the rules for fasting between monks and laity. That does not mean, however, that one should ever judge another, much less comment, on how someone fasts or doesn’t fast. Not only is it usually hypocritical, but it misses the point. Fasting, and all the other rules of the Church, are a means and not an end. If we fast, and feel proud about it, and condemn another for not being so strict, it would have been better for us if we had not fasted at all (Romans 14:3 ff).

The same rule applies to the liturgical life of the Church. Monasteries, by their very constitution, serve the liturgical services very fully and according to the ancient St. Sabbas Typikon. Services can go on for hours and hours, sometimes, and occupy a major proportion of each day. There is no difference whatever, at least in the Slavic traditions, in the services prescribed for monasteries and those for parishes. For a pilgrim to a monastery, while at first the services may seem a real chore, and too long, eventually they grow on you, and you want nothing else. Parish services, abbreviated out of pastoral necessity, can seem incomplete.

There are a couple of temptations here. The first is to think that the monasteries are doing it «right,» while the parish is doing it «wrong.» The second temptation is to think that there is not as much grace in the parish services, and that the services and liturgical/spiritual life are not being taken seriously. This inevitably leads to judging the parish priest as less «spiritual» and lazy because he cuts the services. Little do we remember that at our first monastic services we were the first to sit down when we had a chance, and glance at our watches every five minutes, wondering if and when it was ever going to end! Parishes abbreviate out of pastoral necessity, and at the discretion of the pastor. One must not judge a priest or parish when they are doing all they can!

3. Judgmentalism

The biggest sin is to judge some one, especially the priest. The standard we set for the priest is usually impossibly high, something we ourselves could never live up to. Thus, any such judgment is immediately hypocrisy. The life of a parish priest is very different, filled with completely different cares, concerns, and responsibilities, from that of a priestmonk in a monastery. The laity see very little of the actual life of their priest. Many think he only works for two hours on Sundays! But to be a pastor is actually an eighty-plus-hour-a-week job. How can the laity judge him? And especially his «spirituality»?

The priestmonk may appear to be more «spiritual» because he is in church for six or eight hours a day, and has few other responsibilities. Try to do that with a family, and dozens or hundreds of parishioners to serve! The asceticism of being in the world and serving Christ, whether as priest or layperson, is equally as great as that of a monk in a monastery. It takes as profound a «spirituality» to do it. But the details will differ with the circumstances.

4. Abuse of Spiritual Guidance

Often people will go to monasteries for spiritual guidance and confession. It is a venerable and ancient Orthodox tradition to have a priestmonk in a monastery as a spiritual father, and to submit one’s life to him. Sometimes people will go to a great elder, mostly for the big questions in life. It is also true that some people will connect better with their parish priest than others. This should be supported by the parish clergy.

If the Church is a spiritual hospital, the monasteries are the intensive care wards, with the specialists. You don’t go to a family doctor for cancer; but you also don’t go to a neurosurgeon for a cold. The great elders are those specialists who through years of ascetic purification and experience know how to deal with many of the big questions in life that people bring. Many have great spiritual gifts. Many do not. Most monastics are not elders by any stretch of the imagination. This does not compromise their ability to serve as confessor, consoler, and spiritual father. Whether it is a parish priest, a priestmonk, an eldress, or a great elder, the source of the advice and consolation is ultimately the same: God.

A true elder is one who always leaves a person with a profound sense of freedom, even when he reveals to a person the will of God. There is never any manipulation or personal agenda. The elder simply wants the salvation of the person, and is a vessel for him of God’s love and forgiveness. The great temptation is to idolize the elder, and even substitute him/her for Christ. A personality cult leads to the destruction of both the elder and the disciples.

Obedience is very important in the spiritual life. Obedience, however, is always within certain boundaries. It can never involve doing what is illegal or immoral. True spiritual obedience has one end: to lead us to obedience to God. It is always within the Church, always toward a more profound level of communion, both ecclesially and personally.

A great temptation, especially for Americans, is to try to find an elder (read also priest or bishop) who is «worthy of my obedience.» This is complete spiritual pride and delusion. We may think that we need a great elder, only the best, to submit ourselves to, because only such a gifted one could understand us, and «I could only associate myself with someone who could recognize and develop my unique potential.» This is presumption, conceit, and arrogance, presuming oneself to be on the highest of spiritual planes. In reality, especially if we have such an attitude, the last person we would be able to deal with would be a great elder of profound spiritual life, who would quickly cut us down to size. Our pride could not handle that, and we would disregard his advice—even, paradoxically, if what he advises would be the best thing for us.

5. Ecclesiastical Gossip

A last great temptation is to get involved in gossip about people, places, practices, and especially the «issues» confronting the Church. Whether it is who is doing what, how they serve this or that service and with whom, or the like, which is all gossip; or whether it involves the greater problems confronting the Church, such as ecumenism, the calendar, or what they are or are not teaching at such and such a seminary; there is very little fruitful and much more that is sinful in all that idle talk. The Lord said that we will be accountable for each word.

Not only does this gossip involve judging people, especially hierarchs, clergy, and teachers who will have to answer for themselves before God; it distracts us from the one thing needful: to pursue our own salvation. We are only accountable to God for our own salvation, not for issues which we can have no effect on. One of the saddest things is that monasteries tend to attract people who in the name of being serious about their spiritual-life fall into this delusion, while all this kind of gossip and factionalism actually destroys their souls.

It is bad enough that people talk about such things in person; many also read whole publications that are essentially scandal sheets. The Internet is perhaps the worst vehicle for such gossip. This is nothing other than ecclesiastical pornography. It must be avoided at all costs!

Why We Should Visit Monasteries

Faithful Orthodox Christians should go on pilgrimage to monasteries often, should strive to emulate the piety and asceticism of the monastics as far as possible, and should seek the counsel of monastic spiritual fathers and mothers. The temptations and trials come primarily from our own spiritual immaturity and ignorance. We have to be aware of our weaknesses, and strive for the authentic spiritual values of humility, faith, and love.

The prayer of St. Ephraim should always be with us, as the overall guide for our spiritual life: O Lord and Master of my life, do not give me the spirit of sloth, faintheartedness, lust of power, and idle talk; but give rather the spirit of chastity, humility, patience, and love to Thy servant. Yea, O Lord and King, grant me to see my own sins and not to judge my brother, for blessed art Thou unto ages of ages. Amen!

By Hieromonk Jonah (Paffhausen)

Published in AGAIN magazine

Source: http://www.kiev-orthodox.org/site/english/722/

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