The Catalog of Good Deeds

The traditional acts of asceticism associated with Great Lent (and the whole of the Christian life) are prayer, fasting, almsgiving, and repentance. In my experience, Orthodox faithful tend to concentrate on fasting and perhaps making a good confession. If we have weaknesses, they are found in our prayers and almsgiving. These two belong together. Christ said:

And I say to you, make friends for yourselves by unrighteous mammon, that when you fail, they may receive you into an everlasting home. (Lk. 16:9)

For many, this saying seems extremely obscure. Who are these friends who will receive us? They are the poor. Like Lazarus in the parable, they will rest in Abraham’s bosom. The rich man called out for help but found none. Christ suggests here, that had the rich man “made friends” with Lazarus by acts of mercy, kindness, and generosity, he would have found ready help and a path from Hades to Paradise.

If you want to strengthen your prayers, make friends of the poor. This story is a great illustration:

During the reign of Alexander I, a certain nobleman fell into disgrace with the Tsar. His wife asked Father Nazarius [Abbot of Valaam Monastery] to pray that her husband’s case would turn out well. “Very well,” the Elder replied, “but first we must ask those close to the Tsar for their help.”

“We have done that already,” she answered, “but there is little hope.”

“But you have not asked those who needed to be asked,” said Father Nazarius. “Give me some money, and I will ask those whom I know.”

The woman gave him five pieces of gold. “No,” he said, “these are no good. Don’t you have small change made of copper or silver?” Father Nazarius took the money and during the day he gave it away to the poor and the unfortunate. He returned to the woman’s home toward evening.

“Glory to God,” he said, “those close to the Tsar have promised to help you. After this came word of the successful outcome of the dignitary’s case. The man and his wife rejoiced, and wanted to know exactly who had helped him with the Tsar. They were astonished when the Elder told them that it was the poor, those who are close to the Heavenly King. Deeply touched by the Elder’s piety, they maintained their great respect and love for him until the end.

Through Christ let us continually offer to God the sacrifice of praise, that is, the fruit of lips that acknowledge his Name. Do not forget to do good and to share; for with such sacrifices God is well pleased. Hebrews 13:15-16

By Fr. Stephen Freeman

Source: https://blogs.ancientfaith.com/glory2godforallthings/2018/02/09/strengthen-lenten-prayer-life/

It’s Sunday morning. The Church bulletin says that Church starts at 10:00am. It’s now 10:30am. You’re walking to the car to take yourself and the kids to Church. You’re arriving at communion. You’re embarrassed to come in that late, but you’re less embarrassed (after all, half the parish comes to Church late) than you would be by your children’s behavior if you stayed for the whole service.

You walk in during the Lord’s Prayer. A few minutes later, thank God, communion. Now you can go. Lunchtime!

Whining, crying, screaming, playing, talking, jumping, falling, bumping heads, chattering, running (or trying to)… I don’t know about you, but these are all things I’m afraid my two and a half year old son, John, is going to do in Church. But every week, multiple people in the Church tell me how well behaved he is. And with the exception of a cry here and a bump there, he is, by God’s grace, really well behaved in Church. Not only is he well behaved, he pays attention and participates! And no, we don’t arrive at communion. We arrive at or around the Doxology and we stay through coffee hour. Our Divine Liturgy begins at 9:30am and ends around 11:30am. He spends a solid two hours in Church without leaving.

To add a little more perspective to this great miracle, I’m a presbytera, so for all intents and purposes, I’m a single parent on Sundays. And John is extremely active, even for a two year old.

So how do I do it, you ask? No, there is no magic that comes upon a priest’s child that makes them better behaved. In fact, I’ve known lots of PKs that are quite badly behaved…

Here’s my take on bringing children to Church: How is a child ever going to learn to behave in Church if they aren’t in Church? How can we expect our children to prioritize Church if we don’t? What does it say to our children that we are on time for everything- school, work, movies, soccer practice, baseball games, concerts, luncheons- but we are NEVER on time for Church (except for Pascha- gotta get a good seat!)? What message does this send? Children pick up on these things. It is this quiet, childlike observance and understanding that I rely on to help me keep him calm and engaged during Church services.

John and I talk about Church a lot. At most, we go to Church three times a week (that’s during special seasons or occasions), but usually just on Sunday mornings like everyone else. Compare this with daycare or school every day, and kids can easily forget from one Sunday to the next. So that’s tip number one. Talk to your child about Church as often as you can. Liken things to Church. Make Church sound fun and exciting. For kids, it can be fun and exciting. John loves Church because there is SO MUCH to look at, listen to, and do. Keep Church in the forefront of their minds.

Don’t just talk about Church outside of Church, however, talk about Church INSIDE Church (quietly, of course). Explain what’s going on to your child as it happens. Give them the ol’ play by play. If you don’t know what’s going on, educate yourself ahead of time. Most Divine Liturgy books have some sort of explanation in them about the service, borrow one from the parish and read it.

One of the biggest weapons I have in my arsenal of good-behavior-inducing techniques is where we sit in Church. We sit up front. In the front row. For every service. This is for two reasons. Imagine being a child about three or four feet tall. How boring would Church be if all you could see was the rear end of the papou sitting in front of you? Granted, he’s a nice papou who likes to make you laugh, but seriously. You may as well be listening to a cd! When we sit in the front row, John can see everything!

And the nice papous and yiayias are reason number two that we sit in the front row. Sitting up front minimizes the distractions. He’s not distracted by people coming and going. He’s not distracted by people to whom he’d like to go say hello. He’s not distracted by 500 people trying to make him laugh. As long as he faces the front of the Church, all there is for him to see is what he should be paying attention to- the service.

The Divine Liturgy, in Greek, is known as “I Theia Litourgia”, which means “the work of the people pertaining to God.” Work of the people. Does that we should be doing something? Indeed, we should. And so this is the primary way that I keep John behaving well- by engaging and involving him in the service. When the priest blesses us, censes us, or bows to us, we bow. When we hear the words “Father, Son, and Holy Spirit,” we do our cross. When we commemorate the Theotokos, we do our cross. When the small and great entrances happen, we do our cross as they walk by and name the chalice, patten, censor, cross, and fans (and even name the alter boys and priests if we can). When the priest tells us what to pray for in the litanies, we say, “Lord, have mercy,” or “Grant this, O Lord.” We say the Nicene Creed and the Lord’s prayer together. We sing along with the choir. There is plenty to do! If worse comes to worse, we point out all the icons and go to the proskinitaria off to the side of the solea and venerate the icon.

Does this mean that John doesn’t have bad days? Of course not! He’s two! He has his moments, sometimes entire services, where he is not so easy to get along with and doesn’t want to pay attention. That’s where mommy’s bag comes in to play (kind of like Mary Poppins’ carpet bag!). The most important thing in Mommy’s bag- our look book. I bought a $3 photo book, in which I put pictures of our family, the priests, the bishop, and little laminated icons (the saints are our family, too!). I change the icons and pictures out every once in a while so that he stays interested.

I also bring some snacks, like Cheerios. Now this may be controversial. Some people say that bringing snacks is not appropriate. But here’s my feeling about it. If he were seven years old, then no, it wouldn’t be appropriate. But toddler-hood is a critical time for children. They are learning about the world around them. Don’t we want them to learn about the world through the Church? They are learning to speak. Don’t we want them to learn the language of the Church (and no, I don’t mean Greek- though learning Greek is all well and good too)? They are learning appropriate behavior. Don’t we want them to learn appropriate Church behavior? I desperately want the Church to be part of his learning experience during this most important time. In which case, I’m willing to compromise a little (like the Church does- oikonomia, right?) and bring a few Cheerios to avoid having to remove him from the service. I also have a few picture books or cars that he likes. And I’ll let him play with them if I have to. But this does not mean that I stop engaging him. I’ll give him a break to play for a few minutes, but then I attempt to get him to put it down and pay attention.

One more thing. Don’t be self-conscious about your child making noise. I have friends who don’t come to Church for more than twenty minutes at a time because they are so afraid of offending someone with their kids’ little chirping and their noises. But those chirping and little noises are how the children talk to God. Those noises are their Divine Liturgy. Don’t deny your child the experience of being in God’s presence because someone doesn’t like that they are trying to sing along with the choir! Of course your child wants to sing! The priest is singing, the chanter is singing, the choir is singing… The children want to sing too!

If someone chastises me for allowing him to make noise and not taking him out, I respond by apologizing for the fact that they were paying attention to John instead of the service. I do it lovingly and tactfully, of course, and then I ask them how he’s supposed to learn to behave in Church from the baby room. I also take a moment to educate them about the fact that in many churches (especially in Greece), there is a lot of movement. People walk all around the Church to venerate the icons, venerate the relics, etc. It is a foreign concept to Holy Orthodoxy which is unique to America that we stand in one place like bumps on a log and don’t make a sound.

And before you say it, yes, I know that a lot of kids cry because they want to leave and when you take them back to the Church they start crying again. This is the other reason I don’t take John out of Church. He doesn’t even know that leaving is an option. If he knew that it were and cried because he wanted to leave Church, then taking him out would be rewarding bad behavior by giving him what he wants. Oh yes, he screams or cries out in Church every once in a while, to be sure. But I only take him out when it’s clear that he won’t stop and we’re bordering on really distracting other people. He knows that if we have to leave because of bad behavior, it is not going to be a fun experience, and we’re going to go right back in to the Church as soon as he’s quiet.

I know, I make it sound easy. Believe me, it’s not. It is really hard work. It takes constant vigilance during Church to keep him engaged. And I’m sure that for the first few weeks, even months, your child will hate it (though they’ll hate it less if you sit in front where they can see!). But don’t give up. They’ll get used to it soon enough, and you will see them begin to love the Church and Her services. And then you will love every minute of worshipping with your child!

Source: http://www.familylifeministry.atlanta.goarch.org/time-to-go-to-church-a-time-to-fear-and-dread/

1) If you want to live a spiritual life, you should look after yourself. Every evening look at the good and bad things you did that day. Thank God for the good, repent in the bad.

2) When someone is praising you but you know that you have disadvantages, then this praising must be like a stab in your heart and must foster your desire to improve yourself.

3) Less philosophizing, more doing. In our life, we already devote too much time to the former at the expense of the latter.

4) Be especially careful with your impure thoughts.

5) If you feel any tendency to sin, make two prostrations to the Mother of God with prayer: “O Holy Theotokos, by the prayers of my parents, save me, a sinner”. The spirit of your parents will unite with yours in your prayer.

6) One must read Holy Gospel carefully.

7) Since the Lord’s prayer is the shortened Gospel, one must prepare properly to reading it.

8) When you are fasting with your body, do not forget to fast with your spirit. Do not be insolent, especially with those who are older than you are. This fast will be much higher than the fast of the body.

9) Work on bringing up your younger brothers and sisters. Influence them with your own example. Remember that if you have any disadvantages, they can easily adopt them. The Lord will call you to account in this issue.

The righteous Father Alexei Mechev was an archpriest of the Russian Orthodox Church in Moscow who, after the early death of his wife, became known as an elder in the world. The feast day of Righteous Priest Saint Alexei is June 9. Fr. Alexei died on June 22, 1923 in Vereia (west of the city centre of Moscow). In 1934, when his body was uncovered, it was found uncorrupted: a mark of sainthood. His relics were then laid in a new grave.

His son Sergei, who became the priest in his father's church of Saint Nicholas after him, was himself murdered in 1942. During the period of August 13 to 16, 2000 in Moscow, the Synod of Bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church gave approval or blessing for the glorification and canonization of the the Royal Martyrs of Russia, as Passion Bearers, and several hundred new martyrs and confessors. Among these Fr. Alexei was canonized into the ranks of the Saints by the Moscow Church, and his son, Sergei, was declared a New Martyr of the eparchy of Moscow.

Sources:

http://pravlife.org/content/9-sovetov-pravednogo-alekseya-mecheva-kotorye-pomogut-izmenit-zhizn

https://orthodoxwiki.org/Alexei_Mechev

The Holy Empress Helen uncovered the Precious Cross and Nails of the Lord at Jerusalem in 326.

At the beginning of the reign of Saint Constantine the Great (306-337), the first Roman emperor to recognize Christianity, he and his pious mother Saint Helen decided to rebuild the city of Jerusalem. They also planned to build a church on the site of the Lord’s suffering and Resurrection, in order to reconsecrate and purify the places connected with the Savior’s death and Resurrection from the foul taint of paganism.

The empress Helen journeyed to Jerusalem with a large quantity of gold. Saint Constantine wrote a letter to Patriarch Macarius I (313-323), requesting him to assist her in every possible way with her task of the restoring the Christian holy places.

After her arrival in Jerusalem, the holy empress Helen began to destroy all the pagan temples and reconsecrate the places which had been defiled by the pagans.

In her quest for the Life-Creating Cross, she questioned several Christians and Jews, but for a long time her search remained unsuccessful. Finally, an elderly Hebrew named Jude told her that the Cross was buried beneath the temple of Venus. Saint Helen ordered that the pagan temple be demolished, and for the site to be excavated. Soon they found Golgotha and the Lord’s Sepulchre. Not far from the spot were three crosses, a board with the inscription written by Pilate (John 19:19), and four nails which had pierced the Lord’s Body.

Now the task was to determine on which of the three crosses the Savior had been crucified. Patriarch Macarius saw a dead person being carried to his grave, then he ordered that the dead man be placed upon each cross in turn. When the corpse was placed on the Cross of Christ, he was immediately restored to life. After seeing the raising of the dead man, everyone was convinced that the Life-Creating Cross had been found. With great joy the empress Helen and Patriarch Macarius lifted the Life-Creating Cross and displayed it to all the people standing about.

Source: https://oca.org/saints/lives/2018/03/06/100680-uncovering-of-the-precious-cross-and-the-precious-nails-by-the-e

One of the last two undeciphered Dead Sea Scrolls has been read by researchers at the University of Haifa in Israel.

The 900 scrolls, discovered in desert caves at Qumran in the 1940s and 50s, are the work of scribes belonging to an ancient Jewish sect and include some of the earliest biblical manuscripts.

The newly decoded document is made up of more than 60 tiny sections written in a secret code. They were originally thought to have belonged to different scrolls, but researchers Dr Eshbal Ratson and Prof Jonathan Ben-Dov showed they were from a single document.

The scroll – originally written in code – gives an insight into the unique 364-day calendar used by the sect. According to the researchers, this calendar was involved in one of the fiercest debates between different groups during the late Second Temple period. The lunar calendar, which Judaism follows to this day, requires a large number of human decisions. People must look at the stars and moon and report on their observations, and someone must be empowered to decide on the new month and the application of leap years. By contrast, the 364-day calendar was perfect. Because this number can be divided into four and seven, special occasions always fall on the same day. This avoids the need to decide, for example, what happens when a particular occasion falls on the Sabbath, as often happens in the lunar calendar.

'The Qumran calendar is unchanging, and it appears to have embodied the beliefs of the members of this community regarding perfection and holiness,' the researchers explain.

Dr Ratson told Haaretz that arguments about the calendar 'may be one of the reasons this sect left the Temple and went to the desert. They had many disputes and this was one of them – they couldn't celebrate holidays together.'

The scroll gives the most important dates in the Qumran sect's calendar, including two special occasions not mentioned in the Bible. It also provides, for the first time, the name of the day marking the transition between the seasons – 'tekufah' or 'period'.

According to the university, the scroll also reveals that the person who wrote the scroll – probably one of the leaders of the sect familiar with the secret code – forgot to mention several special days marked by the community. Another scribe corrected the errors, adding the missing dates in the margins between the columns of text.

'The scroll is written in code, but its actual content is simple and well-known, and there was no reason to conceal it,' the authors say. 'This practice is also found in many places outside the Land of Israel, where leaders write in secret code even when discussing universally-known matters, as a reflection of their status. The custom was intended to show that the author was familiar with the code, while others were not. However, this present scroll shows that the author made a number of mistakes.'

Source: https://www.christiantoday.com/article/researchers.decipher.dead.sea.scroll.assembled.from.tiny.fragments/124407.htm

A reference point in the typiko of Great Lent is the communion of the Presanctified Precious Gifts. The discordance between the festal and joyful nature of the celebration of the Divine Eucharist and the compunction of Great Lent makes it inappropriate to celebrate the bloodless sacrifice on fast days. And yet, the importance of Holy Communion for the spiritual struggle of the faithful has established participation in the Presanctified Gifts even on such days.

The difference between the Presanctified Liturgy and the more common types of the Eucharist is that the Precious Gifts have already been sanctified as Body and Blood earlier, at the Divine Liturgy on the previous Saturday or Sunday. At the proskomidi, the celebrant takes out a second lamb [central portion of the loaf], which he places with the first on the paten. He sanctifies and elevates this as normal, and, after pouring the warm water into the chalice, immerses the second lamb in the precious blood and places it carefully in a special artoforio or tabernacle [a vessel kept on the holy alter where the reserved gifts are kept] until the day when the Presanctified is to take place.

The service of the reception of the Presanctified Gifts is not contained in the seven services celebrated during the day and night, nor is it a Divine Liturgy, but simply a way of distributing the Precious Gifts, and is attached to Vespers. The singing of the ancient hymn “Now the powers…” marks the join between the two services. What happens before the hymn is Vespers and then after the hymn we move into the Presanctified.

The timing of the Presanctified on the evening of Wednesdays and Fridays in Lent was preferred because of the all-day fast on these days until the time for Vespers, so that after receiving the Precious Gifts, the faithful were able to consume food. In parish practice, the communion of the Presanctified Gifts is often transposed to the morning, on the one hand because it is impossible for the faithful to maintain a strict fast, and, on the other, because of the habit of celebrating the bloodless sacrifice in the morning hours. Because of the change of time of the Presanctified, Vespers has also been moved to the morning, since the two services are combined. This is why it has become customary for Vespers to be celebrated in the morning during Lent, whether or not it is followed by the Presanctified. Other days when the Presanctified is regularly held are the Thursday of fifth week (Great Canon of Saint Andrew of Crete), the first three days of Great Week and the days when saints are commemorated.

In olden times, the Presanctified Gifts were given on the Wednesday and Friday of Cheese Week, and also on Good Friday. To this day, the Divine Liturgy cannot be celebrated in its entirety on these days, according to the old practice of the Church of Jerusalem. A remnant of the old custom is the addition to the Triodio of a reading from the Old Testament at Vespers in the two days of Cheese week. In the Byzantine era, there was communion of the Presanctified Gifts on every Wednesday and Friday of the year. Indeed, in the 10th century, communion of the Presanctified Gifts was optional in Constantinople.

In accordance with the old custom, a Presanctified Liturgy could also be held on the feast of the Elevation of the Precious Cross, instead of the full Divine Eucharist of Saint John Chrysostom which is celebrated today. The reason for this is to be found in the sombre character of the feast of the Elevation of the Cross, which is the equivalent of Good Friday, when there is a similar interdiction on the celebration of the Divine Eucharist. It also used to be the case that the Presanctified was held on the feast of the Annunciation, but canon 52 of the Quinisext Synod exempted that day, as well as Saturdays and Sundays, from the necessity to hold the Presanctified, intimating that the full Divine Eucharist could be celebrated.

The composition of the Presanctified Liturgy is attributed to a number of Church Fathers, among whom were Epifanios of Cyprus, Yermanos of Constantinople and Pope Gregory the Dialogist. Also, in codex 766 of the national Library in Athens (16th century), there is indirect testimony to the fact that it is a product of the pen of Saint Gregory the Theologian. In particular, the codex states that at the end of the Presanctified Liturgy, we have the dismissal hymn and kontakio of Saint Gregory the Theologian, probably because of confusion with the Dialogist. Ioannis Foundoulis prefers that no tropario of any saint be sung, but rather that, after “Glory. Both now”, we should immediately have the tropario “At the prayer, Lord”. However that may be, the author is not known today. According to P. Trembelas, the attribution to Saint Gregory the Dialogist is most likely due to the fact that he was responsible for popularizing it in the West, since he introduced it into the form of service for Good Friday in the Church of Rome, according to the Roman rule.

Briefly, the structure of the service of the Presanctified is as follows. Essentially, it begins with the readings and the “Let my prayer” in Vespers and with the prayers for the catechumens and the faithful. Then comes the singing of “Now the powers”, and the celebrant censes the congregation. In the middle of this, we have the Entrance of the Holy Gifts, after which the hymn is completed. This is followed by a litany, the prayer “by placing the holy gifts on the holy altar”, the Lord’s Prayer, the two prayers of bowing the head and the exclamation “Let us attend. The Presanctified holy things to those who are holy”. Thereafter, the structure of the Presanctified is identical to that of the Divine Eucharist, with only a few differences in hymns and prayers. These are: a) instead of “We have seen the light”, we sing “I will bless the Lord”; b) the prayer read before the icon of Christ is “Almighty Lord” and c) the antidoro is given before the end of the service, “Through the prayers”, while psalms 33 and 144 are read. The last is the old order of service not only for the Presanctified but for the full Liturgy, too.

The availability of the Presanctified Gifts demonstrates the Church’s desire to meet the spiritual needs of its members. As the prime expression of the sacramental community, the Holy Eucharist is a necessary feature of the life of the faithful. Its absence would weaken the bond of the faithful with the Eucharistic assembly, but its presence, even through the dispensation of having the Presanctified, fortifies the faithful in prayer and fasting during the bright sadness that is Lent.

By George Zaravelas

Source: http://pemptousia.com/2014/04/the-history-and-rite-of-the-liturgy-of-the-presanctified-gifts/

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How to Strengthen Your Acts of Asceticism During Great Lent

How is a child ever going to learn to behave in Church if they aren’t in Church?

9 Tips by St. Alexei Mechev that can Help to Change Your Spiritual Life

The Story of the Holy Cross and Nails Uncovered in Jerusalem in 326

Researchers decipher Dead Sea from tiny fragments for important information

The History and Structure of the Divine Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts

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