The Catalog of Good Deeds

By Fr. Andrew Lemeshonok

The Church is the union, the formation in this world, which cannot be destroyed, which cannot be defeated by the gates of hell because Christ loves us, and the Church itself is based on this God's love towards people. Today and tomorrow – this love is always unrequited because we do not value it, we just get used to it. This love never weakens, and where sin abounded, grace abounded much more (Romans 5:20). The Lord does not say, “Do you deserve My love or not?” Instead, He asks us, “Do you want My love?”

However, God does not impose His love on us. We live by God’s grace, by the love that unites us all. There is so much sin in this world, that it could divide us long ago. We see how some people give in to their own human perception and then finally deviate and go astray. They think that their truth is the most true, and that their opinion is the most right. This is a mistake. When will a person see this mistake? Some people understand this quite soon, while others can understand this only in the very end of their life.

It is so sad to hear about ruined lives… I confess people for hours, and young people come to me and tell about how the devil destroys their families and pits people against each other. He manages to do the most terrible thing – people become enemies because of inheritance or living area. This is so scary! People sell each other and just go mad! We can see this happening all the time.

When you hear about such things, your optimism and joy get smaller and smaller. At the same time, we need to understand that this all is temporal. We have to speak about the source of life, about the joy that exists, that works in this world and defeats it. However, sometimes it can be just impossible to see it with our human eyes. We need to have faith and trust to God to see it. We need to reject ourselves, our opinion, and our vision of the situation.

It is good if a person humbles himself and tries to hear. But many people do not. The most tragic thing is that sometimes people even try to hide behind some pseudo-Orthodox ideas. Sometimes it all just comes to the point of absurdity: people proclaim themselves “Orthodox” and ignore the sufferings of their close ones! A person near you is suffering – "I have no time for this! I have to solve universal issues!" It happens all the time around us. Again, one can despair because of this, but we must not lose our faith in God.

We must help each other, support each other, and bear the burdens of each other in order not to fall, not to lose the connection with God. Our common prayer and our meetings help us. Of course, sometimes our prayers are full of joy, sometimes they can be sad, and sometimes they are just sorrowful. But this is our life. We need to continue living, to live through certain pages of our life, certain moments and periods. We need to draw conclusions from what happens so that we do not make mistakes and trust to sin, which sometimes can seem even more believable that what God says to us.

Our path is going on. We try to find something, to discover something in our today’s life. The main thing is that God is near us. Our life and the life of our closest people is at His hands, but not in the hands of fate, luck or coincidence. Everything is under the Lord’s control.

May 21, 2018

St. Elisabeth Convent

I heard this story from Hieromonk Theophylact, a monk of the Pskov Caves Monastery, during the latter half of the 1980s. He was told it by a military man—a first-rank captain and man of faith. How did he come to the faith?

In his youth he commanded a torpedo boat on the Pacific Ocean. One day the boat went out on its watch into the sea. The weather forecasts were good, and nothing indicated any trouble. Just the same, on the horizon there appeared at first a large dark cloud, which started growing rapidly. A sharp wind blew, which grew into a strong squall. A storm began. Huge waves started beating against the small ship.

The ship was tossed from side to side. Water flowed into the machinery area. The ship was on the verge of stopping, and that would fatal for all.

The captain was no coward, but nevertheless the fear of death reached his heart—after all, he was not alone; he answered for the entire company. What should he do? Then suddenly he remembered his mother’s words of long ago: “Pray to God. He saves people everywhere.” And the words of his grandfather, an old sea dog: “Whoever has not been to sea has never prayed to God.” The captain had not gone to church since childhood—first there was the young pioneers, the komsomol, and then his service. He did not know how to pray. But inside, in his soul he was shouting, “Lord, save me! Lord have mercy!”

Suddenly, a miracle happened. He saw an old man walking right on the waves, wearing the garments of a priest. The captain even had time to look at his face—regular features, a small beard, and a clear gaze. The old man blessed the ship with both hands and immediately the wind died down. The sea went flat. The storm was over. The Captain caught his breath.

Returning, he promised to himself to go without delay to a church and place a candle as a sign of thanks for his deliverance and the salvation of the crew. But in the Far East during the years of persecution, nearly all the churches had been destroyed.

Nevertheless, an opportunity soon presented itself. He was sent on an assignment to Leningrad. While travelling along the Ring Road, the captain noticed a beautiful five-domed cathedral. He left the tram and walked over to it. It was the St. Nicholas Cathedral, of naval glory. But the captain did not know about this. He went into the half-dark lower church, bought a candle for two rubles and fifty kopecks and looked around for a candle stand to place it on. He noticed an icon with the image of a pious elder in the garb of a bishop and decided, “I’ll place a candle before this grandpa.” The captain walked closer, looked at the icon, and froze. The facial features corresponded exactly to those of the amazing elder who had stopped the storm on the Pacific Ocean! “Whose image is that?” the captain asked a church-worker in a dark apron. “What do you mean, whose? It’s the holy hierarch and wonderworker Nicholas, defender of those who sail the sea,” she replied.

This incident was written down in slightly different word by Fr. Theophylact in his collection, This Happened in Our Time. Twenty-seven years have passed since I read it. Much has been erased from my memory, but the main thing remained: the image of St. Nicholas, the merciful, miraculous deliverer of those who are perishing.

By Fr. Vladimir Vasilik

Source: http://orthochristian.com/70898.html

Question: Can the name influence one’s character? I was always sure that the books about the meaning of names were something of the horoscope’s kind. However, I have recently found out that priest Pavel Florensky also thought that the name could influence the identity of a person. Does it mean that the name given to a child may affect his identity and prevail eventually? Can several letters of a name be so meaningful?

Answer by Fr. Andrew Lemeshonok: I believe, Fr. Pavel meant something a bit different. The name itself will not influence a person, but still there is some connection with the saint in whose honor you are named. After all, during the Baptism in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, you establish the connection with your future patron saint.

I think it is wrong to say that a person’s life is predetermined by his name. Almost all saints showed us, those who bear their names, the example of living with their spiritual feats and their love towards Christ. It is not just a combination of letters what has power - it is the spirit that inspires our names. This is why the spirit should be foremost, not letters.

Of course, there is nothing accidental in the world. This is why names should have certain influence, but this influence is not fatal. You give the name to your son or your grandson, you advise your close people to give a certain name to their child – you have certain associations, you put some sense in this name. Some people give their children the names of their grandparents, and here there is a connection to – they are your close relatives, after all… I think, all of this has a certain meaning, because there is nothing chaotic in this world.

Priest Pavel Florensky was a rather sensible person, who tries to explain and express his own perception of the world in such a way. This all is quite interesting, but this is not a theorem. Perhaps, we can say that it is a beautiful theory.

May 16, 2018

St. Elisabeth Convent