The Catalog of Good Deeds

It is not a secret that St. Elisabeth Convent is running various charitable project to support people in need. The Catalog of Good Deeds is one such projects, too. On September 5, which was proclaimed by the UN as the International Day of Charity, we decided to ask the fathers from our Convent about what they think on charity in the context of our Orthodox faith.

Fr. George Glinski:

Charity is an inseparable part of a Christian community’s life, and we know that from the Holy Scripture. We can read about the life of the early Christian Church, the circumstances in which that Church existed and see how numerous early Christian communities, which we could name local churches today, helped each other and supported each other not only spiritually in their prayers, but also materially. For example, Apostle Paul writes that Christians from new religious communities supported the Christians of the Jerusalem Church. The Gospel calls us upon to help not just our brothers in Christian faith, with whom we make up the one body of Christ, but also strive to help any person because we all bear the image of Christ inside ourselves. So, our deeds of mercy and our love should not be targeted at the humanity only because the whole universe is called upon to transfigure through the human being, who is supposed to be a mediator between God and all the other creatures. As St. Maximos the Confessor wrote, “The human being is supposed to be the one through whom the grace of God will be spilled all over the world”. This is why it is rather important that we take part in the life of those people who need our help, drawing on our own possibilities and forces. If we cannot help with money, we can help with our wholehearted prayer. We should strive to do acts of mercy where it is possible by our own forces, and where our forces are limited, we should ask for God’s help, so that the Lord acts through our prayer and helps the people who really need His help, whatever help it should be.

Fr. Andrew Malahovsky:

Charity is one of the possibilities to be within God’s grace. There is mercantilism in the world and of course, it will exist forever. This mercantilism is predetermined by certain economical motivations, when we try to find out whether there is any profit for us or not. So, it is just a human attitude. But if we talk about charity and mercy, it means that the grace of God’s world is joining the human world. There is no mercantilism in it, there is only a pure desire to do good, the desire to take part in other person’s life. Charity always means sacrifice. A person gives not just something useless, but something what is essential for him in some way.

It is also great when our charitable work is connected with the interpersonal relations. When it is not just like someone brings some clothes or money somewhere or hands them out to a boarding home and forgets about this. Sometimes it is quite easy for us to leave some things. However, when there is a personal contact, when the one who gives and the one who takes see each other, then the work of such act of mercy becomes more deep and spiritual. One has to find time for another person, to talk to this person, to devote this time to him. It is not just financial help, which is more simple. Such involvement in other person’s life is more difficult, because in this case we talk about the sacrifice of our soul.

Fr. Artemii Tonoyan:

In fact, any liturgy is charity. The Body of Christ and we all are charity. You know what the Lord says about it: “do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing” (Matthew 6:3). We cannot even say more. Our life should be filled with God. We have to keep this state always inside ourselves, you see? Just do what you can do and leave… Do what the Lord lets you do. Nothing is possible without God. We all have the heart, and it will say us what to do. We just need to listen to it and see God in everything.

September 6, 2018

St. Elisabeth Convent

Dear Friend,

I would like to respond somewhat backwards to your questions about sex beginning with your questions, "Where are the healthy Orthodox Christian marriages in the hagiography? and Why does the Church seem so down on the pleasure of sex?" and then move to the matter of ontologically-based sexual morality, and finally offer some suggestions and some advice about how to think about this matter. I will speak directly and not pull any punches. May God help us both!

That you only mention pleasure in reference to Orthodox Christian teaching about sexuality and the saints in your letter identifies you and I both as products of a post birth control, post antibiotic generation, a very, very new phenomenon in history. The Fathers always connect the pleasure of sex with the pain of childbearing (which includes not only the birth itself, but also the care for and raising of children) along with other relational burdens (such as your body no longer belonging to yourself but to your partner – cf 1 Corinthians 7) and the myriad of diseases that are the fruit of unrestrained sexual practice. All of these are or can be part of the "pain" that accompanies the pleasure of a relationship that is sexually intimate. That you and I so easily separate the two perhaps shows how out of step with the Church we are as products of this culture.

Children and the burden of caring for them and raising them into healthy human beings is and always has been the principle (but not exclusive) purpose of sexual intercourse – this is a fact of biology first of all, and only secondarily a matter theology. So, not too long ago historically speaking, the only way to avoid the responsibility of children was to avoid sexual intercourse. If you wanted the leisure to learn to read and to pray with any regularity and discipline, the only two practical options were monasticism or great wealth. Anyone who was not very wealthy and yet wanted to develop a prayer life or an intellectual life had only one option: celibacy. If you had sex, you had kids that you had to feed, protect and shelter. If you were celibate, you only had to care for yourself, and in an intentional community that ate very little and worked very hard (a monastery), it was possible to devote lots of time to prayer and study. Since the only people for most of history who could read and write anyway were monks, it makes sense that most of what is written about saints in the past is about celibate men and women – or married men and women who became celibate. However, you don't have to read too deeply to figure out that many of the saints had robust sex lives – even though (for obvious reasons) it is not mentioned explicitly.

The parents (or one of the parents) of many of the saints are also saints. And these saints came from large families. Something must have been going on. Or take our Holy Foreparents Abraham and Sarah (and Sts. Joachim and Anna, and Zachariah and Elizabeth) for example. They must have still been sexually active in old age if they were still earnestly praying for children in their eighties and nineties – and when they finally do have a child, it is through God-aided regular biology, not immaculate conception. However, the Orthodox Church very seldom addresses sex directly, except where it goes wrong – which is how the Orthodox Church deals with just about everything: The Church does not multiply dogma unless there is a need. Saints with children are Saints who are having sex, and if they have a lot of children into their old age, then they are probably enjoying lots of sex for a long time, but obviously that is not what you want to focus on if you are a monk writing for other monks.

If a married man and woman wanted to devote their life to prayer and study, however, then for most of history they had to live together as brother and sister. In such cases dealing with desire is a huge issue. And that is why a lot of the Church's writing about sex focuses on controlling desire. Even St. Paul talks about this in the New Testament. It has not been at all uncommon in the Church that married people have stopped having sex – not because the pleasure is bad, but because the freedom from responsibility for children is more desirable than the desire for sexual pleasure. However, that does not make the desire for pleasure go away. And that is why a lot of the Church's writing about sex focuses on controlling desire. It is not unlike the problem with diet. The desire to be healthy and be of a reasonable weight does not make the desire for the pleasure of eating fattening and unhealthy foods go away. The Fathers are quick to point out that because of the nature of the world after the fall, pleasure is always coupled with pain, the roses always have thorns. We have to pick our pleasures. Who do we want to be?

Which brings me to the matter of ontology – how sex relates to what we are, to our being as creatures of God. Before the fall, we were certainly sexual creatures, Genesis makes that pretty clear; but we were not driven by sexual passions. So if we want to talk about sexuality rooted in ontology, then we have to deal with the problem of passion. Ah, there’s the rub. Human beings, male and female (together) are created in God's image. So to understand how sex relates to our being as creatures of God, we have to look at what God says about sex relating to Himself – and in the Bible and the liturgies of the Church, God says a lot about Himself using sexual language. God is the Bridegroom who betroths humanity to himself as a virgin bride. God has no other lovers. God does not "consummate" the marriage until the "Wedding Supper of the Lamb." God suffers everything to present to himself a virgin bride. The sexuality of man and woman created in God's image reflects this; or rather, the way the Church talks about God using sexual metaphor reflects God's relationship with human kind seen most clearly in how human beings were created to relate to one another sexually.

Ontologically speaking, we are virgins who offer our virginity to God our Groom who has purchased us with His Life and cares for us forever. Biological virginity is the manifestation in time and space of this ontological reality. Thus, there are two states in Christian anthropology: the virgin bride of God expressed in either the monastic state that iconically manifests the virginal longing of the espoused bride for the Bridegroom, or the married state that iconically manifest the longing fulfilled in the fruitfulness (and faithfulness!) of God's ultimate consummated relationship with mankind. Anything else is an aberration. Aberrations, though, are not the end of the story. God continually calls his unfaithful spouse back to Himself. Biological virginity is meant to be a manifestation of a deeper, inner virginity – an inner virginity that can be restored through repentance even if the outer virginity has been lost (i.e. St. Mary of Egypt is listed among the Holy Virgin Women).

Stepping down from ontology to morality, we have to admit that morality is often influenced by culture. Yes, King David had many wives and concubines (although he did take responsibility for them and their children for the rest of their lives). We can also point out that many Christians (Orthodox or otherwise) completely ignore certain Biblical and canonical prohibitions against, for example, lending money at interest and other moral teachings of the Bible or the Church Fathers (e.g. the prohibition against selling church properties, the commandment to tithe, the prohibition against work on the Sabbath/Sunday or against taking a fellow Christian to secular court). However, in spite of some pockets of cultural waffling or slippage in some areas of the Church’s moral teaching, the moral teaching regarding sexual behaviour has been amazingly consistent throughout both Jewish and Christian history and in multiple different cultural settings. Even in the midst of secular cultures that were very sexually loose, Christians have never allowed polygamy (or polyandry for that matter) and have only reluctantly allowed divorce (or annulment, which has become a longer and more expensive route to the same end). Even in ancient Jewish contexts that allowed polygamy, it was expected that the husband was to care for all wives and concubines and their children for life. And certainly in all Jewish and Christian contexts – I really cannot think of one exception – any sexual intercourse outside of marriage was considered a moral failure, a failure that at least for Christians can be forgiven and healed, but a sin nonetheless, a missing of the mark. This universality of understanding about sexual morality is, it seems to me, quite significant.

But what do we do now? What do we do in an age of birth control and penicillin? And what do we do in a culture of sexual license? Well first regarding modern medical technology, I must point out that I do know people who are suffering terribly from physical conditions – not to mention psychological conditions – acquired through sexual licentiousness and despite modern medicine; and despite modern birth control, unintended pregnancy is common and often tragically ends in the death of the child and the serious maiming (if not physically, certainly psychologically and spiritually) of especially the mother and also the father. Also, regarding Christian morality in a sexually free culture, we must acknowledge that the Church has been here before, often. It might help us to look at what the Church has actually said in these sexually licentious cultures – but let's save that for another time (take my word for it, the Church teaching has historically become more explicitly strict, not less, in sexually licentious cultures).

But to be practical, let's look at dating. For a Christian, dating is not a good idea. However, many Christians find themselves single and living on their own. They do not know how to get to know someone whom they might want to marry except through dating. Yet even in a dating model, it is not that difficult to avoid physical sexual intimacy if you really want to avoid it (which is really the issue). Physical sexual intimacy requires privacy. If you don't want to have sex, don't go somewhere with your date where you could have sex. In other words, only be alone with your girl/boy friend in public settings: parks, restaurants, malls, bowling alleys, etc. Don't park your car in a lonely spot "to talk." Talk in a corner in the library, talk walking in a park, talk at church, talk on the bus. Don't, for God's sake, go to each other's homes. No news here. The problem isn't avoiding physical sexual intimacy, the problem is wanting to avoid it, which of course we don't – u0nless we very much want to live as the Church has taught us to live. And even then, desire does not go away; so we must, as St. Paul says, "walk circumspectly." We have to be careful not to let ourselves get into situations in which we could possibly do what our passions are screaming at us to do but that we really don't want to do.

Now regarding compromise. Many have said, and indeed this is what the general culture says, if it is "really" loving, it is okay. But what does that mean? Legion are the people who have given in to this line of reason only to find out a few weeks or months later that "real" love is not really as real as they had thought. If you really love someone (in that way) and really want to spend your life together, then really get married. Commit. For life. That's real love. At least that is real love as it has been revealed to us by God. It is how God loves. It is how God has called us to love.

But, you might say, a wedding is only a ceremony, a piece of paper. The real marriage is in our hearts – and in a technical, theological sense, the real marriage may even be understood to be the actual act of sexual intercourse itself with the blood of the first virginal intercourse being the seal of the covenant. However, the fact is that we don't really want to be married (at least not yet), and we may not even be sure, for sure, for sure, that we want to be married to this person. We merely want to dance but we don't want to pay the fiddler (as my foster mother used to say) – or we don’t want to pay the fiddler yet, we’ll pay sometime later if it works out. That is, we may devote our lives to each other as a holy icon of Christ and the Church later, if it works out. Honestly, this argument that the ceremony doesn't really mean much is actually an argument to wait for sex. If the sexual act itself is indeed the symbol of the commitment (rather than the ceremony being the symbol), then definitely the sex should wait until the commitment is certain. That is, if sex is not really merely about mutual affection.

I'm all for mutual affection, but is that what Christ and the Church has taught us that sex is for? Typologically, it is kind of like treating the Holy Eucharist as a common thing (c.f. Hebrews 10:29 and 1 Corinthians 11: 17ff). Holy Communion is our participation in the very Body and Blood of Christ. It is for the forgiveness of our sins. It is for our sanctification. It is our uniting with Christ and His Body. But if we treat the Holy Eucharist as a mere snack, as something we eat because we have the munchies, then like the Corinthians to whom St. Paul was writing, we are eating and drinking condemnation to ourselves. Why? Because the very means of our salvation we are no longer treating as the very means of our salvation. If we despise what God has given us for our salvation, then there is no other salvation. It is not as though God has plan B. Sex functions similarly.

Sexual intercourse in life-long marriage is an icon in the flesh of God's love for mankind. Sexual intercourse is how we participate with God in the creation of new human life. Sexual intercourse is part of the glue that keeps a man and women united for life – the secret garden, the spring that does not run into the streets, the hiding place of love. But can sexual intercourse be all this to us if we treat it as a common thing, as an mere expression of mutual affection – or worse yet, as a mere means of giving mutual pleasure? Not that sex is not or should not be pleasurable. It should be pleasurable, just as the Holy Eucharist should taste sweet, but mere pleasure is not the purpose. As far as the Church is concerned, physical pleasure is just the tip of the tip of the iceberg of what sexual intercourse is about.

And regarding this matter of compromise, I must also point out that if someone and his/her girl/boy friend have significantly different views on sexual morality at the beginning of the relationship, then most likely it indicates that the foundation for a life-long monogamous relationship does not exist. I am not saying that a relationship is impossible. But I am saying that how you treat sex before you are married will certainly influence how you experience and think about sex after you are married. You are setting a pattern, a precedent for life.

Nevertheless, everything can be healed in the Church. Nothing is impossible. But there is the easier way and the hard way and the very hard way. What do you want sex to mean to you and your possible future spouse for the rest of your life? Is it merely an expression of affection and mutual pleasure or is it an icon of Christ and the Church, a commitment to be with and for each other forever, a devotion to cling to one another throughout your entire life no matter what? You have to decide.

My friend, I know this sounds harsh. But honestly I would speak just as directly to a parishioner who told me that they wanted to join the army so that they could go fight in Afghanistan. It is a serious matter. Just like joining the army, sex eventually becomes a matter of life and death, even if it doesn’t seem that way at first.

Source: http://holynativity.blogspot.com/2012/08/straight-talk-to-single-christian-about.html

Question: Can you tell us about the history of the sign of the cross since the early Christian times? As far as I know, neither Jesus nor his apostles made the sign of the cross. When did this tradition appear?

The Rev Athanasios Gumerov from Sretensky Monastery: We do not have any worship texts written by the Christians of the Apostolic age. Therefore, we cannot resolve the issue of whether the sign of the cross was used in the primitive Church unequivocally. Absence of definitive knowledge does not mean that we must deny the possibility for the sign of the cross to appear in the earliest Christian communities. Some researchers unambiguously state that “The custom of making the sign of the cross begins in the Apostolic times” (The Comprehensive Orthodox Theological Encyclopedia. Saint Petersburg, published by P.P. Soykin, year n/a, p. 1485). As early as Tertullian’s time, the sign of the cross has already become an established tradition among Christians. Tertullian writes in his treatise De Corona (ca. 211) that we guard our forehead with the sign of the cross in all circumstances of our daily lives: when we enter a house or leave it, when we put on our clothes, when we kindle lights, when we go to bed or begin to do something.

The sign of the cross isn’t just a part of a religious ritual. First of all, it’s a mighty weapon. There are many examples in the collections of sayings by the Holy Fathers and the lives of the saints of the real spiritual power that the image of the Cross possesses. Didn’t the God-enlightened Apostles know it? We find an interesting testimony in The Spiritual Meadow by John Moschos. When a priest named Conon from the monastery of Pentucla left the monastery, he met St John the Baptist who meekly implored him to return to the monastery, promising to make the monk free from temptations. Abba Conon refused. St John made him sit on a hill, opened his garment and made the sign of the cross three times. (See Chapter 3). The great John the Forerunner descended from Heaven. Could he have learned to make the sign of the cross from people?

This story indirectly points at the fact that the sign of the cross was used since the beginning of Christianity. Here is another argument in favour of this assertion. Saint John of Damascus writes, referring to the cross, “It is given unto us as a sign, similar to the circumcision of the Israel.” (An Exact Exposition of the Orthodox Faith, Book 4, Chapter XI). Who gave it unto us? God. He bequeathed to us the circumcision through Abraham (Genesis 17:10) and apparently the sign of the cross through the apostles.

Translated by The Catalog of Good Deeds

An essential key to making a successful pilgrimage, whether an outward or an inner pilgrimage, is repentance. We all of us at one time or another, to one degree or another, feel some sorrow or regret about our sins and failings. But true repentance is much more than regret.

In October of 1888 the Grand Duchess Elizabeth, not yet an Orthodox Christian but still a Lutheran, went on pilgrimage to the Holy Land with her Russian Orthodox husband, the Grand Duke Serge Alexandrovitch. From Jerusalem she wrote the following to her grandmother, Queen Victoria of Britain:

“My very dear Grandmama,

“All our journey we have had very little time for writing letters, but having a quiet morning I use the opportunity of sending you a few lines from this Holy Town. It is such an intense joy being here and nay thoughts constantly fly to you all, praying God to bless you with every possible blessing…. It is such a dream to see all these places where Our Lord suffered for us and such an intense comfort to have been able to come to Jerusalem …. one can quietly pray and recall all that, as a little child, one already heard with such religious awe.” (Quoted in Lubov Millar, Grand Duchess Elizabeth of Russia: New Martyr of the Communist Yoke)

Grand Duchess Elisabeth in Jerusalem

In today’s world, especially in Europe and America where there is a certain amount of affluence, individuals and families do not go “on pilgrimage”; they “take vacations.” They go skiing, or they go to Disneyland, or they travel as tourists to see some interesting — but usually non-Orthodox, non-religious — places and sites. Our forefathers in the old countries, however, knew nothing about such things as vacations; they only knew about pilgrimages. They lived longing for the day when they could go on a pilgrimage to the shrine of some wonderworking icon or a saint. This was their concept of a vacation — something that would nourish the soul rather than give rest to the body, for the body, they knew, would soon disappear into the grave, when the soul would go on into eternity and there find its reward or punishment, according to the way of life it had led with the body on this earth.

The title of this article is “What is a Holy Pilgrimage?” Such a title suggests that there is such a thing as a “holy” pilgrimage as opposed to an “unholy,” profane, or secular journey.

The English word “holy” comes from the Middle English, halig, which is derived from the Old English, hal (hail), which means “whole” or complete, not divided or broken up. This seems to reflect the Savior’s own command to us, that we be perfect, even as your Father Who is in Heaven is perfect (Matt. 5:48). He could as well have said, “Be ye holy, even as your Father Who is in Heaven is holy.” Or “Be ye whole…” (Our English word “heal”–as when the Lord healed the paralytic–comes from exactly the same Old English term for “whole” and “holy.”) So, by “holy” we commonly mean something or someone that is exalted or worthy because it is perfectly good and righteous or filled with virtue. We also use the word “holy” interchangeably with “divine” or “heavenly”; thus, we say “Holy God,” or “the Most Holy Mother of God.” A less common but very useful word is “hallow,” which also comes from the same root as holy and whole, but means something that has been made holy or is set apart for holy use. Thus, we sometimes speak of a shrine as a “hallowed place.”

All of these words – whole, heal, hailow – are therefore closely related in English to our word “holy.” The whole aim of our life is to become holy, that is to become saints, to achieve union with God. Now we come to the word “pilgrimage.” This word comes from the word “pilgrim”; for our purposes a pilgrim is one who journeys to a shrine or holy place, perhaps the shrine of a saint, or a church containing a great wonderworking icon, or a monastery. This word derives from the Latin peregrinus, which means “foreigner,” and from this we get our fine old English word, “peregrinate,” seldom used nowadays, which means simply to walk or travel, especially on foot. A “pilgrimage,” then, is the journey or path that a pilgrim takes to a shrine or sacred place. It can also refer to the course of our life here on earth, about which I’ll speak more in a moment.

When we talk about a “holy pilgrimage,” we mean, then, some activity or behavior or action–namely, going somewhere very special in a churchly sense, a place that is very holy and tends to draw us towards grace, towards God and towards goodness. It is a movement forward, ultimately in the direction of God. A holy pilgrimage is something which is “set apart” and different from our normal day-to-day activities; it is supposed to be something “other-worldly.” Bishop Ignatius Brianchaninov, in his book, The Arena, tells us that the term “world” means “those people who lead a sinful life opposed to the will of God, who live for time and not for eternity.” Quoting Saint Isaac the Syrian, Bishop Ignatius also explains that “when we wish to call the passions by a common name, we call them the world.” He further explains that “the passions are the following: love of riches, desire for possessions, bodily pleasure.., love of honor which gives rise to envy, lust for power, arrogance and pride of position, the craving to adorn oneself with luxurious clothes and vain ornaments, the itch for human glory which is a source of rancor and resentment, and physical fear …. In brief,” he points out, “the world is the carnal life and the carnal mind.” And it is precisely this which the pilgrim flees, which the pilgrim seeks to turn his back on...

Read the full article here: http://www.pravmir.com/holy-pilgrimage/

1. You mustn’t live idly. Instead, do the labour blessed by God. Idleness is the cause of all evil. He who lives in idleness, sins continually. The weak and the elderly, who cannot work, are an exception.

2. Be cautious of all kinds of sin. Treat them like a deadly poison because all kinds of sin offend the Almighty God and make him angry. He who sins is alienated from God and cannot acquire eternal salvation. Beware of the sin that can kill you forever.

3. Do not do what your conscience forbids you to do, for the same actions, which your inerrant conscience forbids, God’s Law forbids, too. Good conscience is in tune with God’s Law <…>

4. Worship God not with your body and outward appearance but with a good conscience, fear, love, obedience, gratitude, prayer, and faith. God is the Spirit that has no shape or substance, and therefore isn’t worshipped by anything other than spirit and truth.

5. Seek to please God with faith and obedience, that is, do what He wants and what He pleases, and do not do what He doesn’t want and what He doesn’t like. Whatever you do, it’s impossible to please God if you aren’t obedient.

6. Be afraid to mention the Name of God jokingly or deceitfully to avoid being punished by God immediately, for our God is a consuming fire (Hebrews 12:29).

7. Invoke the Name of your Lord God in the beginning of anything you do, and start with a prayer so that the Lord would help you to begin and to finish your planned action. Hence, a Christian must not do anything that goes contrary to God’s Law; only an action that complies with it.

8. Do not imitate everything other people do. Those who imitate others recklessly, are spoiled and corrupted; evil multiplies every hour and piety dwindles accordingly. Instead, listen to what the Word of God teaches you.

9. True Christians reside in this world like travellers, pilgrims, and strangers, who are always looking for their Heavenly homeland with their spiritual eyes and in faith, and aspire to achieve it. Be a traveller and a pilgrim in this world, and look for the Heavenly homeland, and aspire to achieve it. The world with its lures and lust will be an abomination for you. If you are a person who seeks eternal bliss and wants to receive it, hold all temporary things in contempt so as not to lose the eternal by seeking the ephemeral.

10. Keep away from luxury like you would from a plague. It paralyses a Christian soul, teaching it to steal other people’s property, to harm people and refrain one’s hand from giving alms — which a Christian is expected to do. Luxury is like a gluttonous stomach that knows no satisfaction or like a voracious abyss that devours everything. It needs more and more, and keeps changing things. It leads you to think, “My house isn’t great, I should build a bigger one. My dress isn’t fine, I should have a more fashionable one. I’m ashamed of riding a cab, I should buy a luxurious horse carriage. This meal is bland, why not cook a more delicious one. I don’t want to drink plain wine, I think vodka is better. My servants are poorly dressed, I think I should buy them a more appropriate uniform, etc.” That is how luxury devours everything and debilitates your mind. Beware of luxury. To a natural man, even a little will suffice; lust and luxury demand more and more.

11. Do not adorn your body with snappy clothes, like some people who call themselves Christians have a habit of doing. May your clothes conform to your status. Christian clothes are clothes of your soul. Christians must adorn their souls, not their bodies. The beauty of your soul is the image of God unto which we are created. Seek this beauty, and it will suffice.

12. When in church, focus on what is being read and sung. Affection, true prayer, heartfelt singing, and thankfulness will come as a result of it. Do not allow your mind to wander outside of the church even as your body is present in church, so as not to merit the reproach determined by the Holy Writ, “This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me” (Matthew 15: 8). If your body is in church, your spirit must be there with it, for you stand in front of God.

13. Beware of dinners and banquets. It is extremely difficult to go there without damaging your conscience. You won’t return home the same, so take heed. There is nothing better and safer than to stay at home. The things, which your eyes don’t see and your ears don’t hear, will not affect your heart. There is no better way to attract good and God-pleasing thoughts than seclusion and silence. If you mix with a lot of people, you will lose all the good that you’ve earned while alone.

14. If you have to get out of your house and meet somebody, be attentive and guard your heart with all caution. Remember the Lord your God wherever you go. May the holy fear of God be like a candle that lights up your way and directs your steps. Wherever you go and whomever you meet, God is there with you. He knows everything about you. He sees what you do and hears what you say. Therefore, be careful.

15. If you happen to sin or do something wrong, do not be desperate but as soon as you discover that you have sinned, kneel before the merciful God humbly and ask for his mercy with a publican’s prayer, “Lord, have mercy on me a sinner!” (Cf. Luke 18: 13) — and your sin will be absolved. Amen.

Prepared by The Catalog of Good Deeds

August 26, 2018

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