Apparition of the Image of the Most Holy Theotokos Painted-by-Light on Mt. Athos
September 3, 2013,
marked the 110th anniversary of an apparition of the Mother of
God in St. Panteleimon Monastery on Mt. Athos. The celebration in
honor of the Painted-by-Light image was established by the Synod of the Elders
of that monastery on the 100th anniversary of this miraculous
event.
The Holy Synod of the
Russian Orthodox Church decided (Decision No. 97, July 27, 2013) to
include the commemoration of the apparition of the image of the Most Holy
Theotokos Painted-by-Light, which happened in the Russian St. Panteleimon
Monastery on Mt. Athos in 1903, in the menologion of the Russian Orthodox
Church.
Monk Gabriel who was
distributing alms to needy monks near the Great Monastery Gate of
St. Panteleimon Monastery took a picture of this process. When he
developed the photo, he was shocked to see an image of the Mother of God who
had humbly received a blessed loaf of bread.
Monastery archives
testify that the Russian monks organized weekly distribution of alms to the
needy in the late 19th and early 20th century.
Big and small ships from Odessa and Taganrog, where there were metochia of
St. Panteleimon Monastery, dispatched foodstuffs and other basic supplies
to Mt. Athos every week. The supplies were used by three thousand monks of the
monastery and four thousand Russian-speaking brethren who stayed in numerous
sketes, cells, and kalivas on the Holy Mountain.
A multitude of poor
mendicant monks and pious pilgrims would gather at the Great Gate of the
monastery every week. It is estimated that 600–800 people received loaves of
bread from the monks. However, idle and unruly drunkards also started to
frequent the weekly distribution of bread. A letter from the Koinotita
declaring that the tradition was becoming “useless and even harmful” was
received in the monastery on August 14, 1903. The governing body of the Holy
Mountain demanded that the administrative board of St. Panteleimon
Monastery stop the bread distribution and find a more appropriate and less
tempting way to help the poor. The letter read, in particular, that, “The
almsgiving required by the Gospel is God-pleasing only when it is
performed in a reasonable manner, i.e., to the needy people worth giving alms
to. By giving alms to the people who fake real need and don’t really deserve
them—to those who count on it and live here for that reason—you inflict harm
rather than do good.”
A week later, on
August 21, 1903, the monks of the Russian monastery decided to observe their
tradition and distribute the bread one last time before finally
reading the letter aloud to the crowd. By that time, hundreds were standing in
line to receive their usual loaves of bread. It was at that moment that
Hieromonk Gabriel took a photo, which was later developed with an image of the
Mother of God receiving her blessed loaf humbly together with others. Looking
at the unusual photo, the monks recalled what they had been told by Monk
Sebastian, who heard from the gatekeepers that “a hermit saw a woman during the
distribution of bread.” Some ascetics, who had also seen the Blessed Virgin in
the midst of poor monks and travelers, had also wanted to tell a gatekeeper
about it but this time, no one saw the Theotokos.
The Theotokos has
invariably supported those who dwell in her earthly domain. It was by the order
of the Queen of Heaven that the monastery continued to cater to the needs of
the poor brethren: the monastery provided meals to the poor after the monastery
meals, and the cellarer gave them foodstuffs from the monastery storehouse.
When the monastery
was being restored in the late 1980s, the miraculous photo was copied multiple
times and distributed to pilgrims along with a brief description of the event.
The new generation of Russians who had been traumatized by atheist propaganda regarded
this photo as a confirmation of the reality of the spiritual world, according
to many pilgrims.
The text of the
worship rite was approved by the Synodal Liturgical Commission.
A chapel with a water
fountain was erected on the place of the apparition of the Mother of God in
2011. The water from that fountain has allegedly brought alleviation of
physical and mental illnesses.
A church in honor of
the Icon Painted-by-Light was founded and consecrated on the ground floor of
the Holy Protection Dormitory in the same year.
Translated by The Catalog of Good Deeds
The Difference between Praying for Healing and Cure
Christians are called
to pray for the sick. But often people continue to suffer? Perhaps it’s because
we’re praying for a cure when we should be praying for healing!
To cure
or to heal?
Tuesday night I was
invited to attend a workshop hosted by Healing Moments, which is an
advocacy program for Alzheimer’s and dementia.
The goal of the
training was to become a better caregiver for those suffering from these
diseases. Gory to God, I feel I am much better equipped now.
But one concept
really made me stop to think.
There’s a difference
between “healing” and “curing.”
We may not be able to
cure someone with Alzheimer’s or dementia, but we can heal him or her.
Healing
is wholistic
Curing is fixing the
one, specific problem. But healing encompasses the whole person: mind, body,
emotions, and spirit.
In other words,
curing is the domain of doctors, and healing is the domain of the Christian.
Healing is what we,
as Orthodox Christians, are called to do.
“Is any
among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray
over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord;” (James 5:14 RSV)
Indeed, this is what
I do when I visit people in the hospitals or people who are ill. I read prayers
over them and anoint them with oil.
We are asking for
healing and it shouldn’t be confused with being cured.
After all, no matter
what, we will one day die. Cures are only temporary.
Healing
is about salvation
Christ can cure
people through prayers – don’t get me wrong – but, through our prayers, we are
asking for something much more.
We are asking for
complete healing, which is salvation and union with Christ!
Christ’s passion,
death, and resurrection is about turning the worst thing possible – our death –
into the best gift ever: birth into a new, transformed, and glorified life.
This is healing.
Listen to the words
of the prayer read by the priest over the oil:
“…sanctify
this oil, O Master, that it may bring healing to those who are anointed with
it, relief from every passion (i.e., sins), from every sickness of
flesh and spirit, and from all evil, so that your holy name may be
glorified.”
Healing is much more
than getting your illness cured.
Healing
is making a difference
A quote from Vaclav
Havel was given to us at the workshop, and I think it helps to distinguish
between healing and curing.
“Hope is
not about believing you can change things [such as curing your
disease]. Hope is believing that what you do makes a difference [such as bringing
healing to your loved one].”
Source: http://www.dustinlyon.org/?p=570
Parable of the Day: Anyway, How Should We Pray?
When
someone asked a 10th-century Byzantine saint how to pray, he responded:
“The
prayer is simple: Lord Jesus Christ Son of God have mercy on me a sinner. The
question is how you say it. Imagine a person accused of a crime. It doesn’t
matter whether the accusation is fair or not — he is sentenced to death. All
his appeals were turned down, and the verdict was final. He is being led from
the prison to the central city square, passing the king’s palace on his way to
the scaffold. He seizes this last chance to ask the king to have mercy on him.
To do so, he has to shout “Lord have mercy!” so loud as to make the king hear
his outcry and help him. That is how we should cry out “Lord have mercy!” I
don’t mean that we should shout it out loud but we should do it with a
trembling heart and conscience, with hope and despair…”
Translated
by The Catalog of Good Deeds
Kenya: “The Other” Orthodoxy. Part II
What can we say about the Orthodoxy in
Kenya? I think I should forgo the statistical data, which you can find in many
articles in Russian and English, and stick to “what our eyes have seen.”
There are many children in the Orthodox
parishes in Kenya. Children often constitute 70–80 percent of a congregation.
There are a lot of orphans in the country. AIDS, hepatitis, and other diseases
take their toll on the Kenyan population. Coupled with drug and alcohol abuse,
this disastrous situation leaves many children in need of foster care. This is
the kind of work that the Orthodox Church has undertaken. The Church
establishes schools and shelters to feed and clothe the children, at the same
time preaching Christianity. Aside from comprehensive education, young
Christians study the tenets of the Orthodox faith and participate in church
worship and the operation of the shelter. That is how they naturally become
more involved in the life of the Church. This missionary strategy has been
implemented for a couple of decades and has proven to be very effective: the
Orthodox Church in the country demonstrates remarkable growth.
Most of educational facilities and
shelters look unseemly. The buildings stand on rented or purchased land and
look like bunkhouses without floors and windows, made of planks and other
building materials. If there is a water well, it’s considered a blessing. Water
is very pricey in Kenya.
You will hardly see “Orthodox”
architecture in Kenya. There are some nice-looking churches but we haven’t seen
any luxurious or weird ones. St Macarius Church in the seminary stands out from
the rest. There are churches made of stone in Nairobi and several other cities.
There are few such churches and most of them don’t look particularly appealing.
It costs an immense lot to build a stone church. Many priests used to be
enthusiastic about it but could not finish the construction. Churches under
construction aren’t a rare view in Kenya.
Going through the country, we came across
churches made of wood and all kinds of stuff. They looked less presentable than
barns back home. You will suddenly discover that this or that shanty is a
church only when you enter it and see the Royal Doors, icons, and candle holders.
People sit in church during worship. Anyway, regardless of how run-down the
building might be, you’re immediately impressed by its tidy yard. Only the
Orthodox and the Catholics seem to have clean church yards in Kenya but I can’t
speak for the entire country, of course…
The Church in Kenya is the community — the
faithful — rather than edifices. Perhaps, this is its main advantage. The Church
does not waste huge amounts on “centennial projects”. It invests in the people,
its parishioners. Huge buildings and expensive vestments don’t play any role
here. In spite of a favourable attitude of the government, the Church does not
enjoy financial support from the state and survives on its own. These
conditions make a bag of rice more valuable than some costly adornments of a
parish church.
Naturally, one shouldn’t look at Orthodox
Christian life in Kenya through rose-coloured glasses. Community life requires
some effort, emotional investment, and, what is crucial, good stewardship. We
met extremely poor missionaries but they had vibrant communities nevertheless.
We also visited stone churches in big Kenyan cities, which stand half-empty
even on Sundays. Generally, it is obvious that the most essential aspect of the
Orthodox mission is planting the congregation — the community of people who love
God and care about each other.
What are Kenyan priests like? They’re just
people. Like ours. Younger priests are filled with zeal and enthusiasm, while
the older generation have a more tempered attitude. What they have in common is
high theological qualifications, thanks to Nairobi Seminary. The seminary
teaches clergy for the entire African continent. Good professors, many of whom
received their degrees in Greece and St. Vladimir Seminary in the USA,
teach in the seminary. The Primate of the Orthodox Church in Kenya Metropolitan
Makarios is an example to follow: he graduated from Oxford University and the
Russian Orthodox Theological Institute in Paris.
Life is tough for the priests who serve
far from big cities. The Orthodox Church primarily addresses the poorest groups
of population. That is why many priests have to work. For instance, Father John
rents two fields where he grows flowers for sale. His work day begins very
early. Before he comes to the shelter and plunges deep in the problems of the
school and the children, he works in the fields with his family. After 6 PM,
when most of the children go back to their homes, he has to return to the
fields in order to feed his family. The life of Orthodox clergy is really hard.
That is why their happiness is worth much more. They are happy not because
life’s always good; it originates in their ability to knock at the heaven’s
door and to receive joy from God.
The high priest of the Kenyan Orthodox
Church is a unique and remarkable man. He jokingly calls himself a “grandson”
of Saint Silouan the Athonite because Archimandrite Sophrony Sakharov, known to
the Russian reader by his brilliant book Elder Silouan, was his spiritual father for more
than thirty years. He is the person who sets the standards of behaviour to all
priests and lay people in Kenya. He is remarkably active for his age: he
teaches in the seminary and travels around Kenya all the time, supporting his
priests in their work. Metropolitan Makarios keeps looking for ways to fund the
construction of churches, schools, and shelters.
When we first visited Kenya, Metropolitan
Makarios took us on a visit to some local parishes. We visited five or six parishes
in one day and brought them some humanitarian aid. At the end of the day, our
legs were swelling so hard that we could barely move, but His Eminence was
still smiling and lively.
Metropolitan Makarios is easy-going, far
from the image of a self-important and arrogant “prince of the Church”. As soon
as he met us, he led us to the seminary refectory, seated us around a table,
and started waiting on us: he fetched new meals and carried away our dirty
plates. It puzzled us because our people are not accustomed to this kind of
Gospel-like simplicity and modesty. He does not have guards, expensive
accessories, and stylish cars. You immediately comprehend that he is a true
monk. He doesn’t care who you are: the President of Cyprus, with whom he talked
on phone in our presence, or a regular guy from a poor neighbourhood…
Returning to Nairobi from our mission trip
to the coast, we knew: Metropolitan Makarios was there waiting for us. He
phoned us several times to make sure that we were okay. When we finally arrived
at the seminary several hours later, in the middle of the night, he was really
waiting for us. He grabbed one of our bags and tried to carry it to our cell.
Doesn’t it speak louder than words? His priests love him very much. I have
never witnessed such friendly and warm relationships before.
A liturgy in Kenya is accompanied by
joyful songs and dance. The dance is meant to glorify God. It doesn’t have any
erotic or dirty connotations. It’s absolutely pious and fits into the worship
harmoniously. Africans dance everywhere but it doesn’t mean that they dance
during every service, not at all!
Parishioners actively participate in the
Divine Liturgy. They read the Holy Scripture, recite prayers, sing chants and
hymns. The Eucharist crowns everything.
It is during one such service that it
suddenly dawns on you that their joy is for real. Many of them literally live
in hell. The Church and common prayer is their only beam of hope and joy. Our
“proper reading” of prayers, not grounded in the spirit of those prayers, is
much more dangerous and hypocritical than their childlike spontaneity. You
suddenly realise that God is present.
There is no “other” Orthodoxy. It’s
exactly like ours. There are various conditions that people live and get saved
in but everyone is saved by the same Jesus Christ.
Every time I return home from a mission
trip, I start looking at what the Lord has given me from a different angle. We
are so happy to see open churches, have the chance to read the Gospel and do
the ministry! How much we are given and how insensitive to it we have become!
People always ask me why children in
Africa keep smiling, despite their poverty, diseases, and hunger. I don’t know.
Maybe their eyes aren’t worn out by the screens of iPhones, their spiritual
eyesight is still strong, and they can feel that God is always near because
they are loved.
End of Part II
St. Elisabeth Convent
June 14, 2018
Three Short Parables About People Who Left the Church
Three parables
about the people who left the Church because they had been hurt by tactless and
rude people:
1. Archpriest
Dmitry Smirnov gave the following example, “I went to a bakery, and someone was
rude to me, so now I don’t eat bread.”
2. There was a man
who decided to give $1,000,000 to the poor. People lined in front of him, and
there was a girl among them. Suddenly, an old lady started scolding her for
something. The girl was offended and ran away. Since then, she never went to
that rich man again (although he continued to give away his money) and kept
complaining about him and the rude people in the line. Other people sympathized
with her. Many of those who had never been in that queue even concluded that
there was no such sponsor at all, and that they weren’t giving away real money,
just some bills of exchange.
3. A man was in
prison. His mother or father came to visit him. The turnkey rudely ordered the
prisoner to get out of his cell and go see his parents. The prisoner was so
offended that he decided not to see his parents at all…
Translated by The
Catalog of Good Deeds
Subscribe to:
Posts
(
Atom
)
About Our Blog
Welcome to the official blog of the Catalogue of St.Elisabeth Convent! The blog includes recent ministry updates of the convent, sermons, icons, personal stories and everything related to Orthodox Christianity. Join our Catalog of Good Deeds and become part of the ministry of St.Elisabeth Convent! #CatalogOfGoodDeeds
Most Popular Posts
Partners
