The Catalog of Good Deeds

Priest Sergius: We meet God every day, every minute of our lives. We should be careful because we often fail to notice or appreciate this meeting. People expect something grandiose: Angels' trumpets, thunderclaps, and thunderbolts flashing around. Sometimes God touches a person with a quiet word in a difficult or sad situation… This is also an encounter. Thanks to this encounter we become living human beings. A man without God is a mannequin: he might look fine — wearing a suit and a tie — but his eyes will be empty. We should be different: even if we do not have a tie, our eyes ought to shine with joy.

Sermon after a Liturgy on February 15, 2016

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Priest George: Humility isn't spinelessness. Humility is one's desire to be as magnanimous and open as possible, in spite of the others' shortcomings, sins and weaknesses, so as to become a lens through which the light of the Kingdom of God may shine on other people.

Sermon after a Liturgy on February 18, 2016

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Priest Andrew: As we pass through trials that are inevitable in our lives, we should learn to love and serve our neighbors, and to trust God. We should learn to accept everything that the Lord gives us here with humility and gratitude, so that we do not persist in our sinful ways but grow spiritually and become freer. We are chained by the sin; we are attached to earthly things and our habits. When one tries to live spiritually, he breaks free of the chains that led him to losing God.

When a person is free, he becomes open for God, and the Lord dwells in him, which makes that person happy. That was how saints achieved this joy: as they went through life trials, they broke free of the bonds of their own sins and became happy even here. The Kingdom of God was already in their hearts. This is the path that the Lord blesses us to tread.

Sermon after the All-Night Vigil on February 13, 2016

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Archpriest Sergius: Christ adds something new to the Old Testament Law, and it is the Law of Love. This is the Law we will try to follow fearlessly.

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God gives us the most important thing — the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist, in which we receive God himself, and He drives away all demons, and nothing can do us any harm. Many people are afraid that something could harm them, politics or similar things. For a Christian, it does not matter at all. What is really important is staying loyal to God and never giving up on Christ.

Sermon after a Liturgy on February 14, 2016

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The Lord came into this world to transform people into temples of the Holy Spirit, so that each person could become such a temple. In this case, even those who destroy churches won't destroy these temples inside human souls because they are consecrated with the grace of the Holy Spirit. We have received Christ Himself into these temples, and He has made them holy.

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We can witness everything that Jesus told his disciples about: nations rise against one another, and kingdoms against kingdoms, states go to war; we hear about earthquakes, and we hear about new, previously unheard diseases. Naturally, these are the signs of the end times. When will the end come? Let us hope that the merciful God will give this world some time to repent, so that people would come to human-built churches, and so that these churches could be the places where the temples of our souls could be consecrated and where we could meet God. If encounters with God cease to happen, the world will also cease to exist. Therefore, let us be looking forward to these encounters; let us meet God more often; let us come to church in order to sanctify ourselves with the grace of the Holy Spirit.

Sermon after a Liturgy on February 19, 2016

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Archpriest Andrew: We have a habit of complaining: everything is not okay, we ache all over, people are bad, enemies are everywhere. Perhaps, we should try a different approach: how nice everything is, how many good people there are around me, how much love I have received from God! I must be grateful for everything I have today.

Sermon before a Confession on February 13, 2016

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Are we going to climb trees, like the publican did, to see Christ? Should we? Or we shouldn't? Perhaps, if we don't become like children, we will never meet God. If we are very clever, smart and rational, if we calculate everything: «What will people think or say about me? I don't want to be a fool in anyone's eyes, God forbid! People should think good about me». This is our human approach. God's approach is different. If we live with God, and Christ is the purpose of our lives, people will spit on us, they will persecute and rebuke us; they won't love us. But we will humble ourselves down and know the reason behind it, and be aware that God allows this to happen for our salvation.

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We want to combine the incompatible: Christ (His life, His love, His humility) and this world. This is impossible. Orthodox people aspire for the heaven, where laws are different.

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Our journey to Pascha(Easter) is not a path towards a special date, marked with red in the calendar. It is a journey into a new life, where it does not matter anymore who you are. Hence the exciting words of Elder Silouan: whether you are a worker or a king, a patriarch or a church gardener — it does not matter; your heart is the only thing that matters.

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How do we become free? This world has raised us to depend slavishly on financial standing, ranks, and property… A sinful word, a rumor, or a reproach, and that's enough — we have betrayed Christ. Sins are incompatible with God.

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Someone asked me, «What is the most difficult thing in life for you?» — and I replied, without hesitation, «Communion». You receive the fire, and you are not ready for it — and it will burn you and make you ache. However, God's love cleanses and sanctifies us through communion. It has cleansed us through confession, although we have not even started to repent properly; it has sanctified us through the Holy Sacrament of Communion, although we do not realize it at all. The Lord heals us and makes Abraham's children out of stone.

Sermon after a Liturgy on February 14, 2016

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«I don't want anything at all… I'm fed up with everything… I'm bored of living», people say. Why are they bored? Because human beings are not made for this temporary life — the eternity is their true destiny. They are not made for this earth that has lost its connection to God and has turned into a huge graveyard. They are made for the Heaven. A man is not a monkey: he is an icon. We should radiate the light of love that shines in the lives of those who live near us.

When a person is filled with light, his eyes are bright, and he sees everyone as if they had that light, too. It is very good to be around such a person because he can see beauty in you.

We all know that we are utterly spoiled. So if anyone says, «Listen, how good, how kind you are, how loving you are!» — people really change, even if it lasts no longer than a second.

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We have consecrated candles today. A candle symbolises the fire of the Holy Spirit. The brighter it shines, the quicker it dies. Likewise, if a person lives and shines, if he does not spare himself, if he is generous, if he understands that the more he gives away, the more he receives, then his life will be extremely bright. Such a person serves God all the time and makes people warm.

Sermon after the All-Night Vigil on the Eve of the Meeting of the Lord (February 14, 2016)

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One can see himself and God in his life differently. When a person lives as he pleases, he puffs his I up to such an extent that God becomes small. On the contrary, when a person begins to see his sins and learns to humble down, to obey, to be patient and grateful for everything, God becomes bigger and bigger and bigger. Finally, the person perceives himself as a small grain of sand but this grain of sand is in God's hands. This is our strength. God's power is made manifest in weakness.

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I would like this flame, this sparkle of God's love never to die out in our hearts, so that we could always remember this beauty and this light that entered our lives and became their meaning and their purpose, regardless of anything that happens, even in the darkest periods of our lives.

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Poisoned by sin, people have a distorted perception of everything; they see everything not in the light of love but in the sinful darkness they are used to; thus, they are afraid to get out and see God's light. For a Christian, it is impossible to live in darkness and within the boundaries set up by people; his immortal soul cannot breathe within them. This is why we come to church: to hear that we must lift up our hearts, lift them up to God. We must realize that the main treasure that will never be de-valued is in the heaven. What we will keep there are the riches of our good deeds that will intercede on our behalf before God on the Judgment Day.

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It is so important for us to come to this Holy Chalice that contains eternal life and the love of Christ in its entirety. Behold, this is our encounter with God. It happens at every Liturgy, this unity of man and God. This is the beginning of immortal life, which we should get ready for. Today, we are mortal, subject to pain, sin, and wounds; we grudge and are depressed all the time. We do not want to live like that. Certainly, you get what you bargain for, you only get what you really need.

Sermon after a Liturgy on the day of the Meeting of the Lord (February 15, 2016)

Forty Martyrs of Sebaste

March 9/22

The holy, glorious and right-victorious Forty Martyrs of Sebaste are a group of Roman soldiers who became martyrs for their Christian faith in 320. Ss. Cyrion (Quirio), Candidus, Domnus, Hesychius, Heraclius, Smaragdus, Eunoicus, Valens, Vivianus, Claudius, Priscus, Theodulus, Eutychius, John, Santhias, Helianus, Sisinius, Angius, Aetius, Flavius, Acacius, Ecdicius, Lysimachus, Alexander, Elias, Gorgonius, Theophilus, Dometian, Gaius, Leontius,

Athanasius, Cyril, Sacerdon, Nicholas, Valerius, Philoctimon, Severian,
Chudion, Aglaius, and Meliton.

Order Icons from the Catalogue of St,Elisabeth Convent

St. Constantine the Great issued an edict in the year 313, granting Christians religious freedom, and officially recognizing Christianity as equal with paganism under the law. But Licinius, his co-ruler and a pagan, continued to persecute the Christians of the East. He also purged Christians from his own army, fearing mutiny.

According to St. Basil, forty soldiers who had openly confessed themselves Christians were condemned by the prefect to be exposed naked upon a frozen pond near Sebaste on a bitterly cold night, that they mightfreeze to death. Among the confessors, one yielded and, leaving his companions,

sought the warm baths near the lake which had been prepared for any who might prove inconstant. One of the guards set to keep watch over the martyrs beheld a supernatural brilliancy overshadowing them and at once proclaimed himself a Christian, threw off his garments, and placed himself beside the thirty-nine soldiers of Christ. Thus the number of forty remained complete. At daybreak, the stiffened bodies of the confessors, which still showed signs of life, were burned and the charred bones were cast into a river so that Christians would not gather them up.

Three days later the martyrs appeared in a dream to St. Peter, Bishop of Sebaste, and commanded him to bury their remains. The bishop, together with several clergy, gathered up the relics of the glorious martyrs by night and buried them with honor. 

(Source: http://orthodoxwiki.org/)

On the first Sunday of Great Lent the church commemorates the “Triumph of Orthodoxy” which is also known as the Week of Orthodoxy. This feast originated in the 9th century in light of the final victory of the faithful over the heresy of iconoclasm. Nowadays, this feast signifies the victory of the orthodox over all heresies, false teaching and schisms. It is a feast day of the Truth and the victory of Christ over all the weaknesses and mistakes that go against the teachings of the church.

The iconoclasm heresy originated in the 8th century in present day Greece and very quickly spread throughout the Christian world. Christians were persecuted for painting, venerating and simply having the holy icons. In fact, many were martyred, imprisoned and killed.

The seventh Ecumenical Council (787) reaffirmed the need and importance of venerating icons. However, persecutions continued until 843 when a pious empress supported the final triumph of Orthodoxy over the iconoclasm heresy. Since then, a special service was created in honor of this victory in orthodox cathedrals when a bishop is present on the first Sunday after the start of the Great Lent.

Many people were ready to give up their lives while defending the holy icons. So what is an icon? What is its meaning? All of these questions are answered in a talk with Father Sergious, who is in charge of the icon-painting studio and icon painting school at St. Elisabeth Convent.

What is an icon and how can one describe an icon using only three words?

The first word is “picture”. Since an icon is indeed a picture of a person, a human. Nevertheless, not every picture is an icon. Initially it can be very difficult to establish the necessary requirements for a picture to be referred to as an icon and to determine what is and what is not an icon. For example, if we take The Return of the Prodigal Son by Rembrandt, the painting is essentially not an icon.

However, the painting expresses a theological and very profound love of God towards man in comparison to some of the more contemporary images of the same biblical event. Of course, according to the church canons we cannot place this painting into the iconostasis of the church or serve and venerate it. Still, from the point of view of a “picture” there is a definite and concrete theological perspective that the painting does indeed contain.

Very often in the fragments of icons, mosaics, or frescoes one could see emperors, empresses, as well as rich donors praying in front of the Lord or the Mother of God. What is more interesting is that the image is created in accordance with the church canons.

This is because even the most “correct” and canonical icons can include images of regular, earthly and secular people. Such people are not in the center of the icon because Christ is and must be the center but these people can still be depicted as they are turned to Christ. Therefore, even regular people have the right to be pictured, even if he or she is still alive. From this, you can see that an icon is much more complex than originally perceived.

An icon is a picture, along with the presence of the Image of God, but this Image cannot be captured, it cannot be grasped by any human logic and it cannot be contained in any amount of words or paragraphs which say which icon has this “image” and which does not.

If an icon is present then God is present as well.

“The idea of a New Testament icon, as interpreted by the Holy Fathers, is to properly express, clearly explain as much as possible through artistic expression, the truth of God’s incarnation. The image of Jesus is the image of God. (L. Ouspensky “Theology of the Icon”)

If we take this quote and look at the icon of Christ from the Zvenigrod Deesis - an image that is undoubtedly an icon, then we can conclude that here the icon expresses the dogmatic truth of incarnation with extreme precision and fullness that is not easily accomplished. There can be no argument here and I think that while looking at the image one can start to assert that if such an icon exists, then there is a God (Father George Florensky said something very similar: “If there is an icon of the holy Trinity then there is a God.)

The height of such artistic expression, that is presented to us, also prompts us to think that masterpieces cannot reach such levels alone, without God and the acknowledgement of his existence. Here, while looking at this icon (Christ from the Zvenigrod Deesis) the incarnation of God is expressed with such emphasis that you do not always see in contemporary icons. Icons may have all the canonical aspects, gold leaf plating and other features but you do not always see the most important aspect, the truth of our Lord’s incarnation - is not there.

An Uncontainable Combination

Everyone knows that artistic forms of expression existed long before the time of Christ. Ancient art forms are still unattainable…but these masterpieces generally depicted secular, human beauty which was often very generic, distant and cold. For example, take the image of Aphrodite. The image is one of beauty and harmony but at the same time, she is not alive, not real and therefore very distant to the everyday person. These art forms either depicted false idols or gods and the beauty was rather fictional and unattainable rather than being real and personal.

Christ comes into the world that appears to be beautiful but also deceitful because the world that our Savior comes into is filled with sin. Christ is able to show us true beauty. Beauty that is very human in one sense and the beauty that each one of us can feel. That same beauty is also filled with the Devine. An icon is also a phenomenon and a true wonder of the world because it processes the Devine and at the same time is made up of earthly materials such as wood and paint. Even the person who paints the icon is typically an ordinary human and not always a saint.

You see, in a way an icon repeats this unique paradox - where the uncontainable and combinable is combined, the same way as it is in Christ. It is difficult to imagine God and Man in one. It is hard to comprehend because everything human is always limited in understanding but everything related to God is grand and uncontainable. The icon also connects the Devine and the human aspects and we in turn can see its beauty, its phenomena and its complexity. Once again, since we can not explain God in a few paragraphs we cannot in the same way explain an icon and its mystery. This is why we need to look further and more in depth. The ability to understand and interpret an icon comes with the experience of every individual meeting with God and their individual connection to their Maker. This is because our entire life is a path towards meeting the Lord and so our closeness to God is proportional to our ability to feel the beautiful mystery of the icon.

We need each other

It is almost as if all the iconographers are in essence doomed: when we sit with our paintbrushes and we feel a colossal pressure of sin, our personal and that of the rest of the world. It is difficult for us because we need to depict the Truth of our Lord’s incarnation. Maybe people no longer need this Truth. It is very important to have people in this world who are in need of this truth and the Image of God. If we have people like that then we will still be able to do something. Even if we are “overeducated” and we have the most ideal sketches in front of us: We will not be able to do anything.

Why did Andrei Rublev paint icons the way he did?

It is because in his time people needed God. People could not live without God. This was his real inspiration that enabled him to depict Christ. Only this. It was not his personal talent, which without a doubt he did possess as an artist. Moreover, he was quite talented, may I add. Nevertheless, along with the talent there was a desire to be with God. In addition, if we can talk to people about God, show them the true beauty of the icon, maybe this might help people get back to the one main beauty - which we see in Christ.

This is why we have a very serious duty and responsibility in front of others.

Interview with the head of the mosaic workshop of St Elisabeth Convent Demetrius Kuntsevich

As we all know, St Elisabeth Convent will be 17 in August 2016. Numerous workshops, including the mosaic workshop, have been opened in the Convent. Could you please tell us how your workshop was established?

It all happened with the blessing of the spiritual father of the Convent – Father Andrew Lemeshonok – when the church inhonor of the Reigning icon of the Mother of God was being built. This church had been designed in accordance with the Byzantine style, so mosaic seemed to fit very well into the general concept of how it was to look. Father blessed us, saying, “Please try and make mosaic.”

I called my acquaintances – the guys I studied with. Some of them had already become practicing Orthodox, some were not regular church-goers yet. These were the people who formed the core of the workshop and have been working here ever since. We started from scratch: reading books, looking for materials. We would travel to St Petersburg and Moscow to find professional mosaic artist, of whom there are few. However, they did not have the skills we needed. We borrowed some experience from Christian artists. We would invent some know-hows ourselves.

To Order Mosaics from our Workshop, Email Us: St.Elisabeth.Shop@gmail.com

Hadn't you been making mosaic before that time?

My friends and I studied at the Belarusian Academy of Arts and majored in public decorative art, where they study mosaics. The skills that we had learned there served as the basis for our work. However, church art calls for special skills that we had not received while studying at the academy. This was a serious trouble. There are certain requirements and consistent patterns of church mosaic. Icons and frescoes in the church are a world of their own. You do not have the right to invent anything new or to make mistakes. Church art is supposed to preach the truths of the Gospel, not folklore of any kind. You have to know and understand what you are doing.

Did you have to learn on your own?

Yes, we tried to learn and comprehend as much as we could. We read a lot. We travelled to Archimandrite Zinone (Theodore) who is an acclaimed icon painter. We borrowed something from him, namely, his approach to work, the process itself, and his technique of painting. We asked questions, looked for ancient sources such as books and photos, and used them in our work. It was in 2001-2003. We did not have the technologies that we have today.

Someone would travel to Serbia or Greece and take pictures of church mosaics, and we would call that person asking them to give us their photos for some time, and then went to Moscow. However, these films were not intended to be used too often for fear of ruining them. So we had to print the photos for several days, and then bring these piles of photos from Moscow. We had to pay money at each stage of the process. However, we were glad to have the opportunity to use not only clips from the “Ogonyok” magazine and old Soviet-era black-and-white photos but also these new photos.

Suppose someone wants to work in your studio? What are the skills a successful candidate must have?

New people come to our workshop from time to time, and they have various backgrounds. Often they want to work with us but do not have abilities and special skills, even the basic ones. We hire them nevertheless. Father Andrew used to say, and I agree with him, that if people really want it, and if we have vacancies, we must gladly accept everyone. If we have vacancies, we hire everyone who applies. We do not go out searching for highly professional workers; we do not select a team that would suit us from the professional point of view. Among our staff are only those who came to us because they wanted to work with us.

Who works in your studio?

Some of the guys, especially our first workers, have artistic education: they had graduated from the Academy of Arts with majors in public decorative arts and painting. Kirill came later. Dima majored in graphics and “publics”. Half of the staff are girls and boys who have a school of art or art classes background. There is Uncle Vanya from Kazan, a hippie in the past; he turned to God long ago and he wants to do something, to serve God, to be part of the team, but he does not possess special skills. Two guys from Kiev wanted to work at our workshop – and they do work quite well. One of the two guys has artistic skills, he even studied icon painting in the Kiev Caves Lavra, while the other guy (Oleg) never did anything like that before; well, he does have an inclination and love of art but in fact, he is not an artist. Yulia, who is over 40, has come to our workshop recently. She cannot do anything but she is very eager to learn so she tries hard to do auxiliary and basic work. I believe that if she is persistent in her desire to learn, she will learn to do something more difficult. Perhaps, she will not be able to work without supervision but she is already capable of doing some of the essential work in our workshop. Attention, intuition, and obedience is everything one needs.

So you believe that willingness to work is more important than skill?

Yes, I do.

What are the materials traditionally used for mosaic?

The majority of our works are Byzantine mosaics. Traditionally, this style makes use of smalt, opaque colored glass, gold leaf, and gold tesserae. There may be inclusions of various stones, marble, insignificant insertions of granite. Smalt and opaque colored glass are cut into cubes and laid on a prepared surface. We often improvise by using various beautifully-looking kinds of colored glass, various kinds of peddle (sea and river peddle, black and white peddle), natural stones, nicely cut marble, granite, semiprecious stones, bricks and limestones.

All this may be combined to decorate surfaces. These materials have interesting structure and create a special atmosphere, and they can be combined in various manners with mosaics, frescoes, and icons.

In order to make the interior design look like a single whole, you have to pay attention to every detail because it has artistic value and importance of its own, even the gaps between the stones, the lining, and the profiles. All this is mosaic, even the decorative surfaces. We try to make sense out of all that.

What is the technology of mosaic? Could you please describe the entire process from choosing the topic to the completed artwork?

I could answer to this question both in a simple way and in a more complex way. The simple answer is: first, a draft is drawn up, based on an idea, which can even be abstract, for example, “divine glory and beauty”. In fact, this is an abstract idea but the central one: a portion of the God's Kingdom, the celestial world, reborn by the Holy Spirit, transformed by grace. There is no such idea in its pure form in our life because it is mixed up with chaos, ugliness, terror, and distortions.

The idea may give birth to a composition, to a traditional image of a feast or a saint. The image must fit well into the interior and the exterior, thus becoming a part of the building. It may be a church wall, nicely decorated by some natural or unnatural stone — everything may be inspired by God's glory.

We work both with the interior and the exterior decoration; both of these types of design are public art, which is inseparable from architecture and forms an integral part thereof. This is a holistic approach.

When the initial idea is embodied, for instance, in the images of certain saints in a certain place, then the sketch is drawn. It is not big, the size of a small sketch board — not larger than a meter in size. After the sketch is finalized, it is tested in the architecture of the church. We try to see how it fits — this way or that. Now there are good modern technologies: we can project the sketch directly onto the wall, using a computer and a projector, and get the accurate vision of how it is going to look when it is done. We can print something out, glue it and fit it, and draw something. We can examine the surface, measure it, and touch the wall. Once the sketch is tested, all dimensions are clear, and the composition fits well into the interior, we go on to make the mosaic.

Here we have to decide what colors and hues of smalt we are going to use, and how we are going to combine them. A color scheme is developed with colors for the given artwork. The artist may vary these colors as he likes because this is the stage of working with the abstract color scheme. If we apply this color scheme to the images, we amplify its effect, impression, and expressiveness.

Then the mosaic is assembled. As a rule, the first attempt is a preparatory one: we assemble parts of images or whole images on modelling clay, as if it were the finished mosaic. Sometimes we make a simple sketch, sometimes we make a more detailed image, and finally, all that remains to be done is re-assembling it on glue, cement or gesso.

After the preliminary assembly we see what we get, what we miss and what we lack. We can make an experimental assembly in concrete, and place it into the architectural context where it will live. If everything is fine, and the piece on the wall does not contradict with the original idea and the sketch, we proceed with the mosaic. We go on and correct mistakes on the go. Sometimes, if something falls below our expectations, we have to remove this section of mosaic and re-assemble it, changing the tint or the module or the size of the stone.

Mosaic has certain nuances: for example, the position of the rows of stone, and how the size of the stones changes — from bigger stones to smaller ones or vice versa. The gaps between the stones are also an important element. All this works for the sake of the intended effect, the feeling, and the expressiveness of the image. God's image must be in everything, not only in the image of Christ. God's image may be reflected even in some tiny stones, in the way they are put together. If everything is done with love, in an attempt to surpass oneself, to exceed one's current pathetic skills; if one tries to do more than he is able to in an attempt to let God act instead of the wretched man — everything will be alright.

The Lord acts, even though sometimes it seems that we do not succeed, do not like some things, that it is meaningless. However, if we go on working with the blessing, hoping that the Lord sees and knows everything and will interfere when necessary, then everything will obtain its completeness somehow. In the meantime, you may be looking at what is done and think, “Well, it wasn’t bad. Glad that we did it.”

The art of mosaic is a very labor-consuming process. It demands extreme concentration, patience, and attention. What helps you to concentrate during work and to remain peaceful and calm?

This is not an easy question. Every day we have lots of responsibilities and duties, lots of things to do for our relatives, friends, or someone else. I cannot say that after praying, lighting up a vigil lamp, I forget about everything and sink deep into the ideal world... It is impossible, perhaps. Everything is mixed up.

Anyway, you've got to forget about everything else and make something ideal, not in the sense of what I can do, but how it could be if it were done ideally. You have to do it in spite of the fact that you cannot or do not know how to do it, have a headache, feel tired and unhappy. This is the disposition that one should have.

I believe that no matter what, we always have this disposition because we know that we do something divine, something that exceeds our abilities. So we have no right to do it thinking that “whatever we get as a result is fine”. It does not matter if you want it or not, if you can do it or not; this has to be bigger than the things around you, the world you live in, and yourself as a person. It is this perception that creates the breakthroughs. One cannot have this kind of concentration all the time. Nevertheless, if you try really hard, if you want it and see that it is necessary, the Lord will give you power to do that.

By Elena Makeyenok

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Excerpts from Sermons: "The Most Important Meeting"

Forty Martyrs of Sebaste

The phenomenon of the orthodox icon: A theological perspective.

Quick Facts: About "Oklads"

Holy Shroud of Jesus Christ

Tenderness Icon of the Mother of God (of St Seraphim and Diveevo)

Holy Shroud of the Mother of God

Will you please try and make a mosaic?

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