The Catalog of Good Deeds

For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God. (1 Cor. 1:18).

A Visit to a Psychic

“Can I help you?” my acquaintance, who was a psychic, offered, “I won’t cost you anything. I’ve healed so many people already! I can perform surgical operations at a distance.”

I was intrigued, so I agreed. She began moving her hands around my body and then said:

“I can’t. You wear a metal object which causes an interference. Please take it off.”

“I have a wristwatch, a safety pin, and a cross on.”

“You can leave the wristwatch and the safety pin on but please take the cross off, it interferes with the scan, I can’t see your internal organs…”

I refused to take the cross off because I thought it was an illogical demand: a metal is a metal, why is one kind worse that the other?

It took me a while to learn why the cross “causes an interference.” A year after the experiment, I read the following words in an article by Hegumen Ephraim titled Corrupted by the Opium of Faithlessness:

“The contemporary youth who have no faith and often lack the grace of the Holy Baptism, are brainwashed to become a submissive crowd, manipulated by several powerful sorcerers or psychics. <…> The psychics conduct the brainwashing, i.e., induce demon possession, using secret spells, enchanted objects, and special hand movements. <…> The cross is an obstacle for their sorcery. It makes it hard for them to do anything bad because it attracts God’s grace to the human and doesn’t allow demonic powers to penetrate the human body. That is why psychics always request to take off the cross.”

Recorded by the author

Strange Wine

“I’ve experienced something that I wouldn’t have believed if someone else had told me about it,” one of our parishioners told me.

You know, I visit an old lady from time to time. She is my classmates’ mother. Both her sons (who were twins) died of hunger several years ago. They hadn’t been married, so their mother was left completely alone. She bequeathed her three-room apartment to her neighbors in exchange for food and care. Of course, they don’t work too hard but they give her some food sometimes. And naturally, they are looking forward to her death.

They dislike the fact that I visit the old lady. They know that she’s not alone. I told my spiritual father about this situation, and he recommended, “Be careful or else they will kill you, too.” He never gives unreasonable advice, so I was very surprised, although I didn’t take his warning to heart.

So, I came to that old lady’s place on a church holiday. She picked a bottle of wine from her cupboard and said, “Let’s remember my boys!” Well, I never refuse to drink wine. “Okay,” I replied. Something about that bottle just didn’t feel right to me. I made the sign of the cross on it. Imagine: the wine changed its color in front of our very eyes! It turned muddy red."

“‘Where did you get that bottle?’” I inquired.

“My neighbors gave it to me long time ago. I haven’t had the chance to open it yet,” she responded.

We didn’t find out what kind of wine it was but we decided not to drink it. Better safe than sorry.

I related this story to my spiritual father later. He sees occasions like these as normal. “It’s great that you made the sign of the cross on that bottle,” he said.

Recorded by the author

The Ceiling

This story happened before my own eyes. My friend asked me to be his son’s godfather. I agreed wholeheartedly. Beka was 10 months old. He was a happy and calm baby. His father used to say, “He doesn’t seem to feel cold or pain. He’s going to become a true warrior!”

We had a festive meal after the baptism, and the mother lulled Beka to sleep. Some time later, his mother said, “I took off his christcross when changing his clothes but I forgot to put it on again!” I rose to my feet and suggested that I put the cross on the baby, given that I was his godfather.

I went to the baby’s bedroom. He was fast asleep. I put the cross on his neck very carefully but Beka woke up and started crying. His mother ran into the bedroom and tried to calm him down. She was doing all she could to soothe him but she couldn’t. The baby was screaming loudly. The frightened father entered the room and took the boy into his lap. The baby didn’t want to stop crying.

He decided to take the child to the dining room. The baby stopped crying and smiled.

“Can you guess what he wants?” the mother was astonished.

The toastmaster joked, “He wants to feast with us!”

Hardly did he finish his joke that we heard a noise that shattered the whole house. A cloud of dust filled the bedroom. We looked inside, and it turned out that the ceiling above Beka’s bed fell down. Huge pieces of plaster lay on his bed and around it. The grace of the cross that we had put on his neck caused the baby to cry and thus saved him.

Eldar Maisuradze

Published in Kviris Palitra Newspaper on May 14, 2007

Prepared by Maria Saradzhishvili

Translated by the Catalog of Good Deeds

Metropolitan Anthony (Pakanic) tries to explain who really carries his cross and who does not.

With the Cross

Carrying our own crosses is the only way to salvation. Unfortunately, not all people who claim that their crosses are extremely heavy carry them for real. Most of us are cross-bearers without the cross, and each one of us can become part of that unholy tribe.

It’s impossible to carry the cross of the faith in Christ and commit crimes. No matter how eloquently and persuasively we preach our deep faith at the people around us, no matter how much we complain of our difficult paths and our crosses, we are not carrying our crosses if our actions say the opposite.

For instance, you can’t pretend to be carrying your cross and disregard your neighbor at the same time. The person who really carries his cross knows with every single cell of his body how heavy it is, so he won’t crucify another person, for he knows the value of each step, each breath, each sweat-drop, and the teeth gnashing from exhaustion.

The person whose back aches because of the weight of his own cross won’t laugh at the weaknesses and failures of his neighbors. He remembers how painful it was to fall because every such failure left lifelong scars and wounds on his own body and soul.

You can’t carry your cross and not support the person walking by your side. There have been so many arms that hugged and supported you when you were about to fall. There have been so many shoulders that you could lean on to avoid falling down and to have a rest before continuing your journey.

A person who carries his cross must hate the evil that destroys our human self and sympathize with the person who is stuck in that filthy pit of evil and unable to move.

Without the Cross

Living without the cross means living in evil. The cross is always the plus; it’s the quintessence of goodness, love, and positive attitude. It is the best protection against evil.

According to Saint Augustine, evil is perverted goodness. Nikolai Berdyaev, an Orthodox philosopher, gave the following detailed definition of evil, “Evil is separation from the Absolute Being, committed as a voluntary act… Evil is creation that deified itself.”

The human desire to become a god instead of revealing the image and the likeness of the true God is the greatest trick invented by the devil. It leads an individual away from God, and therefore away from the path of goodness and salvation. Evil provokes the worst and the most treacherous traits of a human personality. Evil does not let people carry their crosses; it prevents them even from coming closer and touching it. In all its incarnations, evil invites an individual to reject the cross and throw it away.

The choice of good or evil, of bearing one’s cross or rejecting it is a source of constant struggle in a person’s life.

We only need our free will to make this choice, “Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.” (Mark 8:34). The Lord is simply suggesting, “If you want to come after me”. He does not break our will and doesn’t rush us. He invites us to follow in his own footsteps.

Evil and good are incompatible. A plus and a minus make a minus, as we all know. You just can’t truly and genuinely believe in God and at the same time steal, murder, commit fornication, and lead an immoral life.

Essence of the Cross

The essence of our carrying of our cross is submission to God’s Providence and his holy will. We should try to accept everything that occurs in our lives as our own and as something necessary for our salvation. We should accept it without grumbling or judging.

The more one trusts the Creator, the easier and more exciting his path will be. If one pays attention to God’s hints and accepts everything as it goes, his heart will acquire peace and he will not waste his energy on unnecessary battles but instead will obediently follow the prescribed directions.

If we trust God, we will avoid self-pity, which can make our path and our burden heavier. Self-pity and egoism are the core of pride that inevitably leads to the destruction of our personalities and to falsehood.

There have been many sad examples of false goodness, false nobleness, false Christianity, and false Orthodoxy both in the course of history and in our contemporary society.

We all should avoid covering our bad intentions up with respectable pretexts in our daily lives so as not to happen to be false cross-bearers who don’t actually bear their crosses.

With the Lord’s Cross in front of our eyes, let us reinforce our prayers so that we could bear all burdens of our earthly lives without complaints. Let us cleanse our hearts with truth and hurry in the footsteps of Jesus Christ, carrying our crosses and not rejecting them no matter how heavy they might be.

Recorded by Natallia Goroshkova

Translated by The Catalog of Good Deeds

Source: https://pravlife.org/ru/content/krestonoscy-bez-kresta

Question: How would you answer a Protestant who considered our veneration of the Cross (bowing down before it and kissing it) to be idolatry?

First we should consider whether or not bowing down before something or kissing it entails the worship of adoration that is due to God alone. If we look at the Scriptures and to Jewish custom, the answer is clearly "No."

Abraham bowed himself before the people of Hebron (Genesis 23:7, 12); Joseph’s brothers bowed before him (Genesis 42:6; 43:26, 28); and many other examples could be cited that show that bowing was an expression of respect, and bowing to idols is only objectionable because the object in question is in fact an idol, an image of a false deity. In the second commandment we are told that we cannot make an idol, nor may we bow down to them, nor may we worship them (Exodus 20:4-5). The Scriptures also make numerous references to people kissing those that they love. And in Jewish tradition, kissing holy things is a common act that pious Jews engage in several times every day. In his book, "To Pray as a Jew," Rabbi Hayim Halevy Donin states:

"Kissing is a universal sign of affection. It is an act of love, an expression of endearment, not only between man and woman, parents and children, but is also the expression of one's feelings for the ritual objects and the religious duties associated with them.

There are no religious laws that require us to kiss a ritual or holy object. There is only the force of custom as it develops through the ages. In varying degrees kissing has become an optional commonplace among the Jews as an expression of religious devotion at the following times:

– The tallit [prayer shawl] is kissed just before putting it on.

– The tefillin [phylacteries] are kissed when taken them out of their bag and before replacing them in the bag.

– The mezuzah on the doorpost is sometimes kissed upon entering or leaving a house. It is done by touching the mezuzah with one's hand and kissing the fingers that made contact with the mezuzah.

– The Torah is kissed when it passes by in the synagogue. Here, too, it is often done by extending a hand to touch the Torah mantle and then kissing the hand. Some touch the Torah with the edge of a tallit and then kiss the tallit.

– The Torah is also kissed before one recites the blessings over it. Here it is done by taking the edge of one's tallit or the sash that is used to tie the scroll together, touching the outside of the scroll with it, and then kissing the tallit or the sash. Many people place the tallit or sash to the very words where the reading is about to begin. The sages advised against doing this as it may hasten a wearing away or erasure of the letters. At best, they recommend touching only the margin area near the line where the reading is about to begin. In all instances, one should not touch the Torah parchment with one's bare hand. The custom of not doing so derives from a special edict issued by the sages prohibiting such contact (Shabbat 14a: OH 147:1).

– The curtain on the Ark (parochet) is kissed before one opens it, or after closing it when the Torah is put away.

– A siddur [prayer book] and [C]Humash [Jewish Bible] are kissed before putting them away. These holy books are also kissed if they are accidentally dropped on the floor" (From To Pray as a Jew: A Guide to the Prayer book and the Synagogue Service, (New York: Basic Books [Harper Collins], 1980), p.43f).

And if we look at how the Israelites treated the Ark of the Covenant, it is clear that acts of reverence towards holy things like those we show to the Cross are not at all at odds with their understanding of the Old Testament Law.

The Ark is referred to as "the Footstool" of God's feet:

"Then David the king stood up upon his feet, and said, Hear me, my brethren, and my people: As for me, I had in mine heart to build an house of rest for the ark of the covenant of the Lord, and for the footstool of our God, and had made ready for the building" (1 Chronicles 28:2).

"We will go into his tabernacles: we will worship at his footstool. Arise, O Lord, into thy rest; thou, and the ark of thy strength" (131[132]:7-8).

And the Psalms specifically command us to worship (literally, bow before) the Ark:

"Exalt ye the Lord our God, and worship the footstool of His feet; for He is holy" (Psalm 98[99]:5).

And we see that the Israelites in fact did bow before the Ark:

"And Joshua rent his clothes, and fell to the earth upon his face before the Ark of the LORD until the eventide, he and the elders of Israel, and put dust upon their heads" (Joshua 7:6).

Church tradition directly connects the Cross and the Ark of the Covenant, because the Ark is the place of Atonement, and while the Ark is referred to as "the place where His feet have stood" (Psalm 131:7 lxx) and the Cross is the place were Christ's feet stood, when he made atonement for our sins.

And so there is nothing in our practice that in any way contradicts the Scriptures.

By Fr. John Whiteford

Source: http://fatherjohn.blogspot.com/2014/03/stump-priest-veneration-of-cross.html

Most of us are familiar with the main principle of parenting: leading with your personal example. What should you do if you are far from being a perfect Christian? How can you plant the proper values in your children’s hearts? Even though in theory we are generally aware of what we should be aiming at, we frequently fail at practical implementation of our stated goals. For example, when and how should you begin to explain the basic tenets of the Orthodox faith (such as, the Holy Trinity or the Sacrament of Communion) to your child? How do you explain to your little human why he or she needs to confess his or her sins? What is the age at which your children are required to fast before taking communion?

Today, we have an interview with Fr. Artemii Vladimirov, whose vast pedagogical and priestly experience enables him to come up with answers filled with a little bit of humour and inexhaustible love towards kids.

Father, speaking of children’s confession, how would you explain to a child why he or she needs to see a priest?

First, the mother has to enter into a “separate agreement” with the priest, “Father, my cutie-pie is going to come to you. She is four but she is very eager to confess like her mum. My sweetie wrote down her confession last night, it’s hilarious.” Dear priests! Please don’t say, “What an affront! Get away with your child, and don’t disturb me!” Look at that paper sheet and say, “Hmm, I see, I see. You didn’t do your bed, you lost your toothbrush, and you demanded from your mother to buy something or played up. God will forgive you for these sins, and I’m waiting for your next confession next week.”

The priest must also put a little effort into turning from a “strict rabbi” into a tender and radiant father. He should deal with the little sinner with joy and turn the confession into a fun event. A child will be happy to meet a priest if the priest has (or maybe, the mother gave him) a book, some felt pens, or some sweets. Actually, it’s easy. My recent book First Steps to the Cross and the Gospel contains my thoughts on the Sacrament of Repentance and on how to make children ready for and accustomed to confession.

In fact, you can give your child the chance to talk with a priest even when he or she is three or four or five years old. What really matters here is that the priest must not be too formal. “Honey, what did you want to tell God? What was wrong or not quite right?” And the six-year-old boy replies, “Father, I almost stepped on my cat’s tail yesterday.” “Wait, did you step on the cat’s tail?” “No, I didn’t. I almost stepped on its tail.” “God will forgive you. Be cautious, say hello to your cat, draw a picture of the cat with the tail, and the cat will enjoy it.” You know, that is how little by little you will become the young boy’s favourite friend, and then he will tell you the next time, “Father, I said hello to my cat.” “That’s great! You’re an honest, reliable, and good boy. By the way, does your mother have to repeat twice or three times for you to obey her?” “Umm, four times.” “Well, it’s important to grow and improve. What bothers you today?” The boy replies, “I don’t know what my favourite subject in school is.” The priest makes a serious face and says, thoughtfully, “Oh, it’s a hard question, I know. Don’t worry, God will help you to figure it out. Let’s pray to decide what you like most: reading, arithmetic, or PE. Or maybe you shouldn’t worry and start loving all subjects at the same time? Okay, God will forgive you, my boy!”

We should adapt to those who come and confess. We should touch the strings of their souls tenderly and with extreme caution. There was a priest who was very ardent and made a disastrous mistake. Sure, people learn from their mistakes but the mistakes must not be brutal. A young girl came to confess and whispered into his ear that she stole someone else’s things. The priest raised her hand and said in a loud voice, so that all parishioners could hear, “This is the hand that is used to stealing other people’s possessions!” The girl even began to stutter… The priest wished her the best but instead, he caused a serious trauma. We must be really careful.

How should children fast before communion? I’m not talking about older kids who can be talked into not eating anything before the Liturgy but is it so critical for toddlers aged 3-4 to fast before a Liturgy? It is difficult for them to do without breakfast, if you consider the time to get to the church and the total duration of the service.

Of course, it is difficult. Let’s bear in mind that agape meals in ancient times did not require fasting before liturgies. Nowadays, there are people who have to eat something before a liturgy, e.g., those who suffer from diabetes and some other health issues. Naturally, if a priest doesn’t approve of a baby who has milk on his or her lips, it’s wrong. You know, “Hey, you’ve had some milk — go away — fast and pray — and take communion next Sunday.”

We shouldn’t be sanctimonious because if we want babies to stay quiet during a divine office, then they require something to eat and drink. Our main emphasis must be on different aspects, which we have pointed out in the first part of our interview. Parents can fast on the baby’s behalf. Apostle Paul says that meals neither make us closer nor farther from God. A baby by nature has to eat something to feel comfortable and not to have memories of suffering and staying hungry in the church, for unknown reasons. There are quite a few priests who stick to the hardcore approach but I don’t like it.

Interview by Maria Kotova

St. Elisabeth Convent

To be continued…