The Catalog of Good Deeds

There was a king who wanted to pick his heir out of his three sons. They were twins, clever and brave, so he had a hard time choosing.

He asked a sage for advice, and the sage gave him an idea.

The king asked his three sons to come to his chamber, gave each of them a bag of flower seeds, and said that he was leaving for a years-long pilgrimage. The one who will preserve the seeds until the king returns, will inherit the kingdom.

The first son did not think for a long time and simply put the seeds into a vault.

The second son thought, “If I put them into a vault, the seeds will die.” He went to a shop, sold his seeds and decided to buy the same seeds before his father’s return.

The third son went to the garden and threw the seeds wherever there was some empty space.

Three years later, the king came back. The first son took dead and rotten seeds out of his vault.

The father said, “These aren’t my seeds. My seeds could sprout but these seeds will never flourish.”

The second son hurried to the shop, bought some seeds and gave them to his father. However, the king said, “These aren’t my seeds, either. Mine were of a unique sort.”

The third son led his father to the garden where thousands of flowers blossomed. He said, “These are the seeds that you gave me. As soon as they are ripe, I’ll gather them and give them back to you.”

“That’s my heir!”

Elder Amphilochius (Makris) was the rector of St John the Theologian Monastery at the Island of Patmos. He founded several monasteries, children’s shelters, and almshouses in the Greek islands.

The wise elder often used parables to make a point:

– Christ often comes and knocks at your door, and you invite him to sit in the antechamber of your soul. Then you get distracted by your problems and forget about the Great Guest. He sits there patiently waiting for you, and when you don’t return for too long, He gets up and leaves.

Sometimes you are so busy that you respond to him out of your window. You have no time even to open the door.

Love is like flowers. You can’t store or accumulate flowers. If love blossoms in your heart, you have to share it. The more of it you share, the bigger it grows.

– I knew a man who hated the Cross, – a monk told a professor. – First, he forbade his wife to wear a christcross and hang a crucifix on the wall of their home. Then he started breaking roadside crosses (he lived in a country where they erect crucifixes at crossroads). He axed a hedge after he noticed that its branches intertwine in the shape of crosses. When he returned home, he was already mad. He saw crossed ceiling beams and furniture frames, and didn’t stop until he smashed everything…

– Is it a true story? – the professor asked.

– Oh no, – the monk replied, – it’s a parable! It’s a parable about people like you. First you deny the cross, and then you deny everything in the world. First you hate everything that doesn’t boil down to logic and then you hate everything because there isn’t anything in this world that can be reduced to pure logic.

A little girl is coming from the Sunday School back home. She meets an atheist who notices a happy smile on the kid’s face.

– Why are you so happy? – the atheist asked.

– I go home from the Sunday School.

– Well, and what did they teach you today? – he decided to make fun of the girl.

– They told us a story from the Bible about Prophet Jonah who had been swallowed by a big fish.

– How can a man survive being swallowed by a fish and how can a fish swallow anyone?

The girl thought for a moment but then responded:

– I don’t know how it happened but when I go to the paradise, I’ll meet Jonah and ask him.

– What if Jonah is in hell? – the atheist asked.

– Well, then you will ask him.

What Shall You Tell God?

What will the Lord ask you about? And what will you tell him?

God won’t ask you what car you had. – He will ask you how many people you gave a lift to.

God won’t ask you how big your house was. – He will ask you to how many people you gave shelter in your house.

God won’t ask you whether your clothes were stylish and fashionable or not. – He will ask you how many people you gave clothes to.

God won’t ask you what you possessed. — He will ask what possessed you.

God won’t ask you how much you earned. – He will ask you what ways you used to earn your income.

God won’t ask you what position you had. – He will ask you if you carried out your duties honestly and diligently.

God won’t ask you how many friends you had. – He will ask you how many people considered you their friend.

God won’t ask you how many times you told the truth. – He will ask you how many times you lied.

Someone asked a holy hierarch three questions:

– What is the greatest thought worth thinking? What is the greatest worry worth being concerned about? What is the greatest anticipation worth waiting for?

That was what he said in response:

– The thought about God’s Providence in the life of a human is the greatest thought worth thinking because it makes your soul wise and blissful.

The worry for the salvation of one’s soul is the greatest worry worth being concerned about because one’s soul is the greatest treasure, and the greatest treasure demands the greatest care.

The anticipation of death is the greatest thing worth waiting for. It cleanses one’s conscience and motivates us to do good.

Translated from: azbyka.ru/days

Orthodox cross themselves from right to left. First, we will describe the mechanics of making the sign of the Cross, then explain why it is indeed important that we make the sign of the cross correctly.

Placing the cross on oneself

1) We place our thumb and first two fingers together in a point, and our last we fingers flat against our palm. The three fingers together represent the Holy Trinity - Father, Son and Holy Spirit, and the two fingers in the palm represent the two natures of Christ.

2) We touch our forehead, then our belly, tracing the vertical part of the cross.

3) From our belly, we bring our hand up to our right shoulder, touching it.

4) We finish placing the cross on ourself by touching our left shoulder.

The act of "Placing the cross on oneself" is a request for a blessing from God. We make if from right to left to mirror the actions of the priest when he blesses us. The priest, looking at the parishioners, blesses from left to right. Therefore, the parishioners, putting on the sign of the cross on themselves, do it from right to left.

Because the Lord separated the sheep from the goats, putting the faithful sheep on His right side, and the goats on the left, the Church always treats the right side as the preferred side. We only cross ourselves with our RIGHT hand. The priest, when blessing a person, first touches or points to their RIGHT side, then their left. Also the censing of the Holy Table in the Altar is always done from the RIGHT side first; censing of the Ikonostasis, the Congregation and of the Church itself always begins with the right side. The priest always gives communion with his RIGHT hand, even if he is left handed. There are other examples of this right side preference.

When a parent makes the sign of the cross over a child, they will cross them from left to right, just as the priest blesses. When they make the sign of the cross over themselves, they would do it, logically, the other way.

The Catholic Encyclopedia states that in the Roman Catholic Church, the faithful crossed themselves from right to left, just as the Orthodox do, until the 15th or 16th century. They must explain why they have changed an ancient and apostolic tradition. We cannot answer as to their motivations.

Is it important to cross ourselves a particular way? In a word, YES. We do not have the authority to choose willy-nilly what parts of the Christian Tradition we want to follow. Our fathers, and countless saints crossed themselves from right to left. Ancient icons show Christ or bishops beginning a blessing from right to left. the right side is referred to in a preferential way many times in scripture and our sacred hymns What should we want to change?

Source: http://www.orthodox.net/articles/about-crossing-oneself.html

The main parts of the Cross were two bars: one was vertical (the longer one), while the other one was horizontal and was joined with the long bar at right angles. The Savior of the world was nailed to these bars. In the top of the Golgotha Cross was a small plate – titulus – about which it is said in the Gospel: “And Pilate wrote a title, and put it on the cross. And the writing was, JESUS OF NAZARETH THE KING OF THE JEWS” (John 19:19). There was also a third bar which served as a footboard. Without it a body nailed to the cross could fall down.

However, the crosses on church domes often differ in their shape from a usual eight pointed cross. The cross on the Orthodox church’s dome expresses an idea of the House of God and the ship of Salvation and has the appropriate symbols. Very often the questions and misunderstandings arise concerning the crescent (tsata), located at the bottom of the cross. What is the meaning of this symbol?

First of all, we must understand that the crescent in the Orthodox cross has no relation to either the Muslim religion, or to a victory over the Muslims. The Crescents were used as decorations of Orthodox crosses much earlier: for example, the Church of the Intercession on the Nerl (1165), Dimitrievsky Cathedral in Vladimir (1197) and others.

The crescent in ancient times was a sign of the Byzantine state, and only after 1453, when Constantinople was captured by the Turks, the Christian symbol became the official emblem of the Ottoman Empire. The Orthodox Byzantine crescent symbolized royal power.

Often, a crescent is portrayed as part of Episcopal vestments of St. Nicholas. It can also be found in other icons: the Holy Trinity, the Savior, and the Blessed Virgin Mary. All this makes it right to assume that the crescent on the cross is a symbol of the Lord Jesus Christ as the King and High Priest. Thus, the installation of a cross with a crescent on the dome of a temple reminds us that this temple belongs to the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords.

Moreover, from the past — from Christ and the first centuries of Christianity — we received another meaning of the cross with a crescent. St. Paul teaches in one of his epistles that Christians are able to "hold upon the given hope that is the Cross, which is as the safe and steadfast anchor for a soul." (Hebrews 6:18-19). The cross overcomes death and devil. Holding this "anchor," we are able to go through the waves of a stormy lifetime to a quiet bay, the Kingdom of Heaven.

The crosses with beautiful ornaments are set on the domes of St. Sophia Cathedral in Vologda (1570), Holy Trinity Cathedral in Verhoturye (1703), and the church in honor of blessed Cosmas in Kostylevo. They are decorated with twelve stars in the rays emanating from the center and with a crescent on the bottom. The symbolism of the cross vividly conveys the image from the book of Revelation: "And there appeared a great wonder in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, the moon under her feet and a crown of twelve stars on her head”. There are researches who assume that it is an apocalyptic image referring to the Mother of God, while Christ is often called the Sun of Truth. Twelve stars could be the twelve apostles.

In addition to the described above symbolism of the crescent, there are also other meanings, which belong to the patristic tradition. For example, the image of the Cradle of Bethlehem, which held the Divine Infant Christ; the Eucharistic cup; the Church’s Ship on the board of which a person can reach the bay of salvation. It is also a symbol of baptistery. Sometimes it happens so that a cross on the dome does not eight eight but four points (with or without a crescent). The crosses on some well-known cathedrals have this very shape – for example, St. Sophia Cathedral in Constantinople (13^th century), St. Sophia Cathedral in Kiev (1152), Dormition Cathedral in Vladimir (1158) and many others. Since the 3th century, when the four pointed crosses were found on the walls of the Roman catacombs, this form of the cross is considered equal to all the other forms.

Translated from: https://docs.wixstatic.com/ugd/b48266_9fe1af5a08874918bb79992858a428bd.pdf

“They wandered about in sheepkins and goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, tormented – of whom the world was not worthy. They wandered in deserts and mountains, in dens and caves of the earth” (Heb. 11:38-39).

The idea that the life of a monk is useless is not uncommon amongst Christians of today. The seeds of such thought can be found in Blessed Augustine’s critiques of certain monastic groups (though he did not attack the monastic life as such), but are mostly to be found in the fruit of the Protestant Reformation in the West. There is decidedly something off when one compares the so-called “Protestant work ethic” with misunderstandings and even anger concerning the monastic life. Objections about their seemingly “not doing anything,” of monastic life as some kind of vacation from an otherwise struggling world, and the notion that monastics simply live off the hard work of others “in the world”, so to speak, abound. Others say that the monastic life is completely antithetical to the Gospel itself, deducing the Gospel to little more than a social-justice movement bent on creating heaven on earth. To such as these, the idea of solitary contemplative life (or that of contemplative life in a community) is more reminiscent of the Neo-Platonism of pagan thinkers such as Plotinus, than of Christ.

All of these notions completely misunderstand the truth of what a monk actually is, as well as misunderstand the idea of evangelism and sanctity. St. Silouan the Athonite says, “There are people who say that monks ought to be of some use to the world, and not eat bread they have not toiled for, but we have to understand the nature of a monk’s service and the way in which he has to help the world. A monk is someone who prays for the whole world, who weeps for the whole world; and in this lies his main work.”

To object that monks are nothing more than smelly hermits that hide from the world in caves is to completely miss the point of monasticism. Jesus Himself often went to the mountains and solitary places to pray, seeking to be alone with the Father. Is He too to be accused of not living the Gospel? May it never be!

St. John Maximovitch, a wonderworker of our times, speaks: “Holiness is not simply righteousness, for which the righteous merit the enjoyment of blessedness in the Kingdom of God, but rather such a height of righteousness that men are filled with the grace of God to the extent that it flows from them upon those who associate with them. Great is their blessedness; it proceeds from personal experience of the Glory of God. Being filled also with love for men, which proceeds from love of God, they are responsive to men’s needs, and upon their supplication they appear also as intercessors and defenders for them before God.” St. Neilos the Ascetic adds, “Let us avoid staying in towns and villages; it is better for their inhabitants to come to us. Let us seek the wilderness and so draw after us the people who now shun us.”

We see this in the lives of so many of the saints – from St. Anthony the Great to St. Seraphim of Sarov, who drew others to themselves because of the grace and holiness that overflowed from them. They lived in the wilds of the forests, in the empty wastes of the desert, in the depths of the earth and still the holy saints of the Church drew the inhabitants of the world to themselves.

To over-simplify the monastic life and its adherents to being little more than a collective of people who “can’t handle the world and its problems” is to miss the point. I remember clearly the Coptic monk Fr. Lazarus el-Anthony saying that he left “the world” because he was weak, not because he was strong and some kind of super-Christian ubermensch.

What does the Savior say on this? “Now it happened as they went that He entered a certain village; and a certain woman named Martha welcomed Him into her house. And she had a sister called Mary, who also sat at Jesus’ feet and heard His word. But Martha was distracted with much serving, and she approached Him and said, “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Therefore tell her to help me.” And Jesus answered and said to her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried about many things. But one thing is needed, and Mary has chosen that good part, which will not be taken away from her.”

The words of Christ Himself speak against the objections to the monastic life. For what is the monastic life other than the life of constant adoration, contemplation and prayer towards God? And what fault can be found in such a life? It is the prayers of the monks that causes the world to continue to turn; it is their humility which makes up for the lack of our own. As St. Silouan says, “Prayer keeps the world alive and when prayer fails, the world will perish.”

Source: http://deathtotheworld.com/articles/the-point-of-a-monk/

By Fr. Sergius Khrapitsky

There is always a fast after holidays. We always need to fast in order to throw away the dead weight that we don’t need and to get rid of it physically. Most importantly, we have to be really zealous in keeping with the gifts that God has given us, the greatest of which is faith. Faith is the ultimate God’s gift that we have received. We must not just preserve this gift but also defend it and use it. Let us defend our faith like the saints did. Let us teach ourselves not to be afraid of dying. (Sermon after the Divine Liturgy on June 15, 2017)

We shouldn’t be afraid of the powers of darkness. What we should be afraid of is losing God. He that is not with me is against me, as we have heard in the Gospel we’ve read today (Luke 11:23). When we lose God, we literally become his opponents, the Satan’s servants. Therefore, let us always do our best to stay with Christ, and we won’t be afraid of the terrible enemies who oppose God’s truth in this world and try to mock God’s truth and to insult the believers, the pious ones. God is patient to a certain extent but there comes a time when He will put them to shame. (Sermon after the Divine Liturgy on November 9, 2017)

By Fr. Sergius Nezhbort

I wish that this day and all our lives were as bright as this morning, so that the sunlight and the light of God’s love would shine upon us and there were no clouds that could block that light. There is too much gloom in our lives, isn’t there? That gloom wraps us up and we don’t know where to go and what to do. It may appear that there is no escape and that the pain will never end. Nevertheless, there comes a moment when clouds give way to the sun, and the sun starts to shine, and you start to see in this light of Divine beauty that there is a way out; you just have to be patient and wait for the Lord to help you. That’s why it’s vital that we don’t hurry, don’t hesitate, don’t go to extremes but wait patiently for the Lord to strengthen and support us, to dissolve the darkness of our souls and to let us see everything clear and bright. We must be careful not to block this light and let it shine in our hearts. Sometimes a person experiences an enlightenment for a moment but then he brings himself back into the darkness. May the Lord help us not to block the Divine Light. (Sermon after the Divine Liturgy on June 19, 2017)

Every Christian is a soldier of Christ. A sister or a brother of mercy is like a special forces soldier. They are people who can really go to a war zone and fight there like a commando or a paratrooper.

That’s in theory. In practice, however, things work differently. Instead of being a real soldier, a person tries to find some place to hide and to sit there undisturbed until the war ends. (Sermon after the Akathist on June 18, 2017)

It is so sad to look at a person who should know better, who is an adult and not a baby; a person who has spent a decade in the church but still remains in a baby-like state and does something inconsistent with his spiritual age.

Sometimes people get stuck in their current state and don’t want to grow up. You have to be able to recognise it in time and get yourself going. I believe that the life itself - the situations that we find ourselves in - may help us, if we are sensitive, attentive, and not stubborn or opinionated; if we are open for the change that the Lord can bring about in our souls. If we are really willing to give God the opportunity to transform us, the Lord will certainly transform us. (Sermon after the Divine Liturgy on January 10, 2018)

When I was reading the today’s Gospel, I was thinking about the fact that half of this reading is read during molebens in the hospital. There are many ill people there, some of whom are severely ill. While reading these words, Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you (cf. Matthew 7:7), I can’t stop thinking to what extent they touch the hearts of those people and to what extent they touch my own heart. These words are beautiful and inspiring but it may happen that they fall on deaf ears because we don’t connect with them on the core level: maybe this can happen with someone somewhere but it will hardly happen to me. Thus, these words become abstract and detached from the reality of our everyday lives. I would like us to comprehend these words and get the feeling that the Lord is near, that He really cares for us and He will give us everything we need and He won’t give us what we don’t need and protect us against unnecessary temptations. He will give us strength to cope with the things that we have to suffer through. (Sermon after the Divine Liturgy on June 12, 2017)

By Fr. Valery Zakharov

When we come to church, we meet with saints who worked for God’s sake. We commemorate them one by one and try to hear and understand what they said to God and how they felt about God. We do our best to get in tune with them and ask them to help us to improve or at least repent of our imperfection. (Sermon after the All-Night Vigil on July 26, 2017)

Saints avoided other people not because they didn’t want to see them; they escaped people in order to get to them. When we acquire some spiritual skills, we push people away and isolate ourselves. It appears to us that we go to God but the result can be unsatisfactory: we open our eyes and see that we go in the opposite direction. It would be great if we didn’t lose direction, if we didn’t lose faith and connection with God. It would be wonderful if we kept our eyes fixed on the compass of love — His love, not human love because it is temporary — but on the love that points to the eternal life. (Sermon after the Divine Liturgy in the Boarding Home for Children with Special Needs on September 10, 2017)

Every time we come to God — every time we come to church — we attempt to discover the invisible world that is present here, in the same space where the visible world is. We have to get into the other world, a different dimension. However, we don’t have to break into that world or sneak into it. We just have to open up our hearts to hear what the Lord wants to tell us in the still and quiet voice, not in the strong wind, not in the earthquake, and not in the fire. We have to listen intently to be able to notice the voice that calls us from the depths of our hearts in spite of the thundery noise of the world and the turbulence of our minds — to hear what God wants, what kind of people He would like us to be and how we should preserve the gift that He handed to us to ensure that it isn’t disdained and that it remains the pledge and the life-giving water that pours into our souls and gives rise to the invisible sprout that must grow into a huge tree in the Kingdom of Heaven where birds of the heaven will have their nests. (Sermon after the Divine Liturgy in the Boarding Home for Children with Special Needs on August 27, 2017)

April 20, 2018

St. Elisabeth Convent

One of our biggest worries and sources of anguish as parents is when our children leave home and then fall away from the teachings of the Church. This is true especially in regards to sexual behaviors. Let's assume for this discussion that the parents have provided a loving relationship for the child and have joined with them in daily prayer and regular participation in the sacramental life of the Church. In other words, the parents have done everything "right" in the child's Orthodox upbringing. Even in such a case, when a child leaves home, he or she is now, often for the first time, under the guidance of their own free will. It is not unusual that your child will misuse this God-given gift, just as you surely have in your younger years.

What is a parent to do when they find out their child has gone astray?

Elder Paisios has a surprising answer.

Even the most serious fall of the children shouldn't make parents desperate, for sin has become fashionable in our time. They should always keep in mind the following: Now days, young people will be granted certain "extenuating circumstances" and will be judged with leniency for their transgressions. Today a grade of "seven" for conduct is the equivalent to the "ten" - "excellent" of our schooldays. Of course, parents will always try to help their children, but they mustn't be overly anxious. Children will get more sensible and experienced with time. Right now they may not understand what is good because their mind has not yet matured. Their mind is cloudy and it lacks clarity to discern the danger that lies ahead and the irreparable damage they can suffer.

Realizing that today's culture is much more difficult than the one we as parents were raised in, how are we to react to the misadventures of our children. Are we to get upset and confront them? Should we try to constraint them in any way? Should we disassociate ourselves from them as long as they engage in sinful activities? What are we to do?

Elder Paisios says,

It would be good if the parents indicated to the child that they do not get upset over unacceptable behavior; but they mustn't become overbearing; and of course, they should continue to pray. Prayers, spoken with pain, are effective. If the child does something very serious, the parents must intervene appropriately. If it is not so serious, they they can overlook it a little, so as not to provoke the child and make the situation worse by causing the child to distance himself from them. They must pray to Christ and Panagia to protect their child.

He is saying that we need to let them know that we are understanding of the difficult condition that they now face and our love for them is unconditional. We want them to know that they can continue to confide in us and we will try and offer loving advice that will be helpful to them as they mature and struggle to overcome the difficulties of life lived out of their own free will. We can share with them our own struggles. And most importantly we must offer fervent prayers in their behalf.

The Elder tells a story:

When I was at the Skete of Iveron, a young man came by chance and found me. He was wandering in Chalkidiki, found some group of pilgrims coming to the Holy Mountain and came with them to the kellion. My goodness, he was an atheist, blasphemous, most imprudent! He had a devilish cleverness and believed in nothing. He swore at all the other pilgrims, young and old. With patience and a little effort, I brought him to some reckoning; I gave him a haircut, too, because he had very long hair. "Look", I told him, "may your mother be well, for it was certainly her prayers that brought you here." "You are right, Father," he told me. "I was wandering in Chalkidiki, and I don't even know how I got here." "If your mother finds out that you have come here to the Holy Mountain and sees you with your hair cut, she will feel such joy for you!" "How did you know that, Father? My mother will truly be overjoyed to see me so changed!" he responded. God turned him this way and that way and guided him to the ... master! How much prayer his mother must have poured out for him!

Source: http://orthodoxwayoflife.blogspot.com.by/2013/07/how-to-deal-with-child-who-goes-astray.html

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Seven Parables and Stories for the Week: Issue 31

The Reason Why Orthodox Christians Cross Themselves from Right to Left

The Origins of Orthodox Crosses with a Crescent

Developing a Proper Understanding of Monastic Life

Excerpts from Sermons: We Shouldn’t Be Afraid of the Powers of Darkness

What to do if your child falls away from the teachings of the Church?

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