The Catalog of Good Deeds

Another international Orthodox festival “From Heart to Heart” will take place this year in London on May 4-7 (Russian Orthodox Cathedral of the Dormition of the Mother of God and All Saints, 67 Ennismore Gardens, London, SW7 1NH; open daily 10.00 AM - 8.00 PM) and in Dublin on May 11-14 (Holy Apostles Peter and Paul, Patriarchal Metochion, Russian Orthodox Church, Harold's Cross Rd Dublin 6; open daily 10.00 AM - 8.00 PM)

The festival was created with the blessing of Metropolitan Pavel of Minsk and Zaslavl, the Patriarchal Exarch of Belarus.

This cultural enlightening project is organized by St. Elisabeth Convent, located in Minsk, and takes place annually in different cities all over Europe. The purpose of the festival is to show the beauty and richness of the Orthodox faith and culture and to strengthen international relations.

The program of the festival is scheduled for 4 days and includes cultural events and a wonderful fair, introducing various goods created by the workshops of St. Elisabeth Convent. The visitors will be able to preview church goods, vestments, spiritual literature, traditional Orthodox clothing, handmade ceramics and many other souvenirs.

All of the cultural events of the festival are charitable and include a concert of the monastic choir, a photo exhibition and a presentation devoted to Grand Duchess Elisabeth, a historical exhibition “Traditional hut” and the master classes held by the craftsmen of the workshops. At the master class visitors will be able to learn about the tempera icon painting techniques, the technique of making icons from crushed stones, as well as making various items from straw.

Special attention is given to children. A special play and entertainment area will be organized for them. Events for children will include the famous puppet theatre “Batlejka”, “Traditional hut” exhibition and master class in straw plaiting will take place. All the children are welcome to take part in the artistic contest “the Flowers for St. Elisabeth”.

We invite you to visit the festival and spend time in a friendly family atmosphere, to enjoy the singing of the monastic choir and take part in the convent’s deeds of mercy. We are heartily waiting for you to come!

All proceeds from the event will go towards helping the good workshops of the sisters

Forany questions please contact us:

st.elisabeth.shop@gmail.com, st.elisabeth.expo@gmail.com

Help support the ministry of St. Elisabeth Convent

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As Valentine’s Day was celebrated, it brings with it the measures of marketing and the things that most of us have come to believe will make the wrong right, and the right better. Valentine’s Day will be celebrated by the exchanging of love with flowers, candy, dinner or surprise trips. It has become one more thing to do because others are doing it, and many find it is easier to purchase something than act.

Our Holy Church teaches us that we are not loved just once a year on Valentine’s Day, but every day of our lives. The Gospel reminds every one that “God is love and those who live in God’s love live in God.” (I John 4:16) In other words, we may not be complete, but God loves us all. We know that family is not perfect and that we all have family members we can only love from a distance, but God loves His family perfectly.

Love can only flow from the foundation of your soul. And if it flows from your soul, it becomes energy. Therefore, love must be taught at home, not only by words, but by example, not only by expressions, but by value. Love must be taught, not only with words, but with deeds. It must be facilitated through expression. We all want to fall in love, not knowing the cost, but yet, all of us are filled with potential and capacity to love unconditionally. Love matters. It matters to all of us because family matters, spouses matter, children matter. And without it, we extend into a state of depression, loneliness, and despair.

We as an Orthodox Christian family should keep in mind that we are nurtured by God’s love – fed by His love – renewed by His love – strengthened by His love and above all forgiving by His love. In short, we are made by His love to others. Love in not exclusive to romantic relationships. Love is made in order for us to share with family, friends, community and co-workers; and in return, to be loved by others. Love keeps us alive on a cloudy day; for love is not only based on feelings, but on commitment. “Wherever you go, I will go,” said Ruth of old. (Ruth 1:16)

Love can only be expressed towards another human being, and is not limited only to romantic feelings. Love is also expressed in the feeling a mother has for her daughter or a father has for his son or friends have for each other. Love is not found in a car or a home or a career, because only in others can we truly receive back a measure of love that inspires us to grow and face the world. Love is what fuels us to change for the sake of whom we love, to grow, to fight well, and to discover who we are. Love is the instrument of our lives that is given to all in order to celebrate family and relationship between parents and children.

Our society today has necessitated two income households. All of our energy as working couples today is based on an idea that is never fulfilled; to keep the children busy, off the streets and to grow up balanced. With the need for daycare and the countless extra curricular activities such as sports, music, dance, and learning centers, many of us miss out on the gift that will enable our children to grow and face the world – Love. Unless a child is loved, they will never know how to love and the greatest love is an unconditional love. There is a cost to love and to be loved. That cost is fidelity to those whom we are in the circle of their love so we can laugh, cry, give and accept, and sacrifice and deserve. It is here where love crowns our lives with confidence and loyalty. And with unconditional love comes the boundaries of accountability, responsibility, self-control, humility and charity along with the boundary of love to say no.

Even though many of us are flawed, rejected, sorrowful or broken, God’s love never ceases. When we accept His love, we are healed physically and spiritually; for the Sacraments of our Church are an outward expression of His love. Therefore, we are to love, not only life, but those who surround us: our family. When we make choices in our relationships, based on love, we attract others who embody love, which is based also in their soul.

If we are to do something different this Valentine’s Day, we need to become aware of our souls and ask ourselves the following questions:

Can I value others while constantly evaluating them?

Am I a forgiving person if I constantly remind a loved one the wrong they have done?

Am I a helpful person while my intentions are self-serving?

Is the compassion I express to others based on the intention to manipulate?

Is the love I express always a condemning one?

Today and every day, as we make the sign of the cross, we need to remind ourselves that love taught by Christ is slow to lose patience, always true, and always looking for a constructive way and not a destructive way. The love we inherit from our Lord is not touchy or nervous, not to impress others or pursue selfish advantage, but always has good manners and never gloats over the imperfections of other people, because love is stronger than death.

True love is free, but it requires a lifetime of work and it is usually the toughest work we face. Love is more than a feeling. It is a conscience choice to engage not only the human mind and body, but also the soul.

Source: http://www.antiochian.org/gospel-and-orthodox-family-christian-meaning-love

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Intending to speak, in dependence on God’s grace, of the day of His final judgment, and to affirm it against the ungodly and incredulous, we must first of all lay, as it were, in the foundation of the edifice the divine declarations. Those persons who do not believe such declarations do their best to oppose to them false and illusive sophisms of their own, either contending that what is adduced from Scripture has another meaning, or altogether denying that it is an utterance of God’s. For I suppose no man who understands what is written, and believes it to be communicated by the supreme and true God through holy men, refuses to yield and consent to these declarations, whether he orally confesses his consent, or is from some evil influence ashamed or afraid to do so; or even, with an opinionativeness closely resembling madness, makes strenuous efforts to defend what he knows and believes to be false against what he knows and believes to be true.

That, therefore, which the whole Church of the true God holds and professes as its creed, that Christ shall come from heaven to judge quick and dead, this we call the last day, or last time, of the divine judgment. For we do not know how many days this judgment may occupy; but no one who reads the Scriptures, however negligently, need be told that in them “day” is customarily used for “time.” And when we speak of the day of God’s judgment, we add the word last or final for this reason, because even now God judges, and has judged from the beginning of human history, banishing from paradise, and excluding from the tree of life, those first men who perpetrated so great a sin. Yea, He was certainly exercising judgment also when He did not spare the angels who sinned, whose prince, overcome by envy, seduced men after being himself seduced. Neither is it without God’s profound and just judgment that the life of demons and men, the one in the air, the other on earth, is filled with misery, calamities, and mistakes. And even though no one had sinned, it could only have been by the good and right judgment of God that the whole rational creation could have been maintained in eternal blessedness by a persevering adherence to its Lord.

He judges, too, not only in the mass, condemning the race of devils and the race of men to be miserable on account of the original sin of these races, but He also judges the voluntary and personal acts of individuals. For even the devils pray that they may not be tormented (cf. Mt. 8:29), which proves that without injustice they might either be spared or tormented according to their deserts. And men are punished by God for their sins often visibly, always secretly, either in this life or after death, although no man acts rightly save by the assistance of divine aid; and no man or devil acts unrighteously save by the permission of the divine and most just judgment. For, as the apostle says, There is no unrighteousness with God (Rom. 9:14) and as he elsewhere says, His judgments are inscrutable, and His ways past finding out (Rom. 11:33). In this book, then, I shall speak, as God permits, not of those first judgments, nor of these intervening judgments of God, but of the last judgment, when Christ is to come from heaven to judge the quick and the dead. For that day is properly called the Day of Judgment, because in it there shall be no room left for the ignorant questioning why this wicked person is happy and that righteous man unhappy. In that day true and full happiness shall be the lot of none but the good, while deserved and supreme misery shall be the portion of the wicked, and of them only.

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The Passages in Which the Savior Declares that There Shall Be a Divine Judgment in the End of the World (Chapter 5)

The Saviour Himself, while reproving the cities in which He had done great works, but which had not believed, and while setting them in unfavorable comparison with foreign cities, says,But I say unto you, It shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon at the day of judgment than for you (Mt. 11:22). And a little after He says, Verily, I say unto you, It shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment than for thee (Mt. 11:24). Here He most plainly predicts that a day of judgment is to come. And in another place He says, The men of Nineveh shall rise in judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it: because they repented at the preaching of Jonas; and, behold, a greater than Jonas is here. The queen of the south shall rise up in the judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it: for she came from the uttermost parts of the earth to hear the words of Solomon; and behold, a greater than Solomon is here (Mt. 12:41–42). Two things we learn from this passage, that a judgment is to take place, and that it is to take place at the resurrection of the dead. For when He spoke of the Ninevites and the queen of the south, He certainly spoke of dead persons, and yet He said that they should rise up in the day of judgment. He did not say, “They shall condemn,” as if they themselves were to be the judges, but because, in comparison with them, the others shall be justly condemned.

Again, in another passage, in which He was speaking of the present intermingling and future separation of the good and bad,—the separation which shall be made in the day of judgment,—He adduced a comparison drawn from the sown wheat and the tares sown among them, and gave this explanation of it to His disciples: He that soweth the good seed is the Son of man [Augustin quotes the whole passage, Mt. 13:37–34] etc. Here, indeed, He did not name the judgment or the day of judgment, but indicated it much more clearly by describing the circumstances, and foretold that it should take place in the end of the world.

In like manner He says to His disciples, Verily I say unto you, That ye which have followed me, in the regeneration, when the Son of man shall sit on the throne of His glory, ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel (Mt. 19:28). Here we learn that Jesus shall judge with His disciples. And therefore He said elsewhere to the Jews, If I by Beelzebub cast out devils, by whom do your sons cast them out? Therefore they shall be your judges (Mt. 12:17). Niether ought we to suppose that only twelve men shall judge along with Him, though He says that they shall sit upon twelve thrones; for by the number twelve is signified the completeness of the multitude of those who shall judge. For the two parts of the number seven (which commonly symbolizes totality), that is to say four and three, multiplied into one another, give twelve. For four times three, or three times four, are twelve. There are other meanings, too, in this number twelve. Were not this the right interpretation of the twelve thrones, then since we read that Matthias was ordained an apostle in the room of Judas the traitor, the Apostle Paul, though he labored more than them all (cf. 1 Cor. 15:10), should have no throne of judgment; but he unmistakeably considers himself to be included in the number of the judges when he says, Know ye not that we shall judge angels? (1 Cor. 6:3). The same rule is to be observed in applying the number twelve to those who are to be judged. For though it was said, “judging the twelve tribes of Israel,” the tribe of Levi, which is the thirteenth, shall not on this account be exempt from judgment, neither shall judgment be passed only on Israel and not on the other nations. And by the words “in the regeneration,” He certainly meant the resurrection of the dead to be understood; for our flesh shall be regenerated by incorruption, as our soul is regenerated by faith.

Many passages I omit, because, though they seem to refer to the last judgment, yet on a closer examination they are found to be ambiguous, or to allude rather to some other event,—whether to that coming of the Saviour which continually occurs in His Church, that is, in His members, in which comes little by little, and piece by piece, since the whole Church is His body, or to the destruction of the earthly Jerusalem. For when He speaks even of this, He often uses language which is applicable to the end of the world and that last and great day of judgment, so that these two events cannot be distinguished unless all the corresponding passages bearing on the subject in the three evangelists, Matthew, Mark, and Luke, are compared with one another,—for some things are put more obscurely by one evangelist and more plainly by another,—so that it becomes apparent what things are meant to be referred to one event. It is this which I have been at pains to do in a letter which I wrote to Hesychius of blessed memory, bishop of Salon, and entitled, “Of the End of the World.” [Ep.199].

I shall now cite from the Gospel according to Matthew the passage which speaks of the separation of the good from the wicked by the most efficacious and final judgment of Christ:When the Son of man, he says, shall come in His glory, . . . then shall He say also unto them on His left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels (Mt. 25:34–41), given in full. Then He in like manner recounts to the wicked the things they had not done, but which He had said those on the right hand had done. And when they ask when they had seen Him in need of these things, He replies that, inasmuch as they had not done it to the least of His brethren, they had not done it unto Him, and concludes His address in the words, And these shall go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into life eternal. Moreover, the evangelist John most distinctly states that He had predicted that the judgment should be at the resurrection of the dead. For after saying, The Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son: that all men should honor the Son, even as they honor the Father: he that honoreth not the Son, honoreth not the Father which hath sent Him; He immediately adds, Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word and believeth on Him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment; but is passed from death to life(John 5:22–24). Here He said that believers on Him should not come into judgment. How, then, shall they be separated from the wicked by judgment, and be set at His right hand, unless judgment be in this passage used for condemnation? For into judgment, in this sense, they shall not come who hear His word, and believe on Him that sent Him.

Source: http://www.saintspiridon.org/

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Each one of us has some acquaintances, or even relatives, who regard our gathering in church with puzzlement. Profound lack of understanding is written on their faces, even at times disturbance. Sometimes this pours out in words such as these: "Well, alright, you've committed yourself to the Faith, be that as it may. But why go to church, and waste all that time and effort in doing so? Look at me, for instance; I also believe. But I believe in the heart [literally. soul]. I have God in my heart, and do not need any outward ritualisation. just remember how, not long ago, the satirist Michael Zadornov remarked: No intermediaries are necessary for me to have communion with God!"

How can we explain our behaviour to such people? As always, there are two ways: that of the fall and that of defence. It is not hard to counter this type of worldly "philosophy." When all is said and done, a little healthy thought is sufficient to understand that the society in which these clowns (or, in present-day parlance, these satirists) flourish as experts in the sphere of theology and regarding the spiritual life, is completely sick. At the very least, it has fallen sick through a loss of a sense of balance; it cannot even laugh at itself, when it sees that now the joke has usurped a place even in preaching from the episcopal cathedra.... Contemporary society is such that it thinks those things are serious, which our forebears used to have only as Carnival Week amusements.

There is no seriousness in the position and contention of our critics that "God is in our hearts!" Of course, there is such a condition in the most exalted paradigm of the spiritual life. And this the Apostle Paul desired for us, when he said: "My little children, of whom I travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you" (Gal. 4:19), "to be strengthened with the might of His Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith" (Eph. 3:16-17).

If the words, "God is within me," had been spoken by the Venerable Seraphim of Sarov, these words would have had some weight, for they would honestly bear witness to the fruit of his spiritual struggle. If a desert-dweller had said that he had trained himself in continual interior prayer, and for that reason he did not perceive [any loss] by his absenting himself from church, which he only rarely attended, then those words, coming from those lips, might be justified.

But when we hear these words from the man on the street, then it is right for us to inquire: As a result of which particular spiritual struggles have you achieved such progress? God is in your soul, you say? Then, explain, what course of prayer you took? How frequently do you recite the Lord's prayer? What? The "Our Father"? You can't remember it clearly?! Alright, then tell us exactly, how is it that you abide with the continual presence of God in your heart? What fruits of the gift of the Spirit have you become aware of in yourself? Here, I'll prompt you: "The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance" (Gal. 5:22-23). Do you have these feelings? No, they are not personal characteristics; they are gifts. A gift is that which we formerly did not possess, but which through spiritual regeneration has come into our life, imparting to it renewal. Do you have any understanding of any such renewal?

Can you distinguish in your spiritual experience what is the "presence of God," and what is simply a manifestation of various human characteristics: an awareness of beauty, harmony, a pang of conscience, and human fellowship? You cannot? This surely means that you haven't noticed the moment that God, the Creator of the universe, came into your life and into your soul? How could it not be noticed? Maybe, this means it didn't happen?

Maybe, again, you have become confused in distinguishing between faith in God and the presence of God Himself? And, wait a moment, — do you have such faith in you? Faith is not simply a passive assent — "Well, okay, I agree that there must be Something Faith is a striving towards that which appears right, to that which the soul has resolved to love. Faith is not just a passive acquiescence to some distant authorities or lines of argument; faith is an active thirst — "I want what is necessary for me, that it should be so."

Faith: this is active. It is a striving towards something already perceived but not yet self-evident. A striving towards something which already touches upon our lives, and throws its sheen across them, but which has not yet entered them fully. Faith: this is a desire for new experience. But it is hard to trust those who repeat, "I have my faith, and it is in the heart," and who say this with lacklustre eyes, or believe that then or at any time they have really experienced a striving towards God.

It is impossible to love, without that love showing, without making any kind of advance towards the person whom one loves. Likewise, it is impossible to believe, and not somehow manifest that belief in our outward activities. The rose that one gives to one's beloved is in itself something she does not need. This flower is not dear to her because of its exceptional beauty, but because it has been given a certain lustre on account of the love of the one who gave it to her. The way in which a bought flower stays in one's room is completely different from the way in which one which has been given us does! If a man professes that he loves someone, but doesn't do anything in the name of this love, if he does seek to meet, if he makes no gifts, if he doesn't devote some time for the beloved's company, if he makes no sacrifices — all this means that he must simply be boasting in front of those of his friends who are close to him: "You see, I lack nothing, I've got a sweetheart too!"

So now, you who affirm that "God is in the heart," what have you done to cleanse your heart for this wondrous Presence? How do you address Him, and what do you call Him? How do you keep Him within? How has this Acquaintance changed you? Do you love that One, Whom you have met? And what do you do for the sake of this love? If these questions throw you into a bewildered silence, how is it so when you consider yourselves so exalted above all that you abide with God? Perpetually standing still, you are not looking where you are going, or even noticing if you are stumbling!

One can pose such questions to those people who excuse their laziness by some imaginary "spirituality."

Nonetheless it is also important for us to establish why we go to church. To listen to the sermon? But these days you can get that from a radio presenter. To pray? But you can pray everywhere and at any time. Furthermore, this is the very advice of the Apostle: "Pray without ceasing!" Then, to make an offering? But these days there are numerous collections on the streets. To make a note of the announcements?

But you can get that from an acquaintance. To put up a candle? But you can put up a candle in front of your icons at home. And so, why do we go to church?

Furthermore, some people say that if they want to go and pray, they go off to a wood, or to a stream or the seaside, and there in a "Church Erected by God" it is easier for them to be aware of the Creator and to send up glory to Him. Why, they say, do we leave the boundless temple [of creation] to place ourselves under the narrow vaults of a church that is man-made? [This is, of course, the argument of the so-called Blue Domers — ed.]

Just as the pagans speak of the sacrifices people ought to offer their god, so the Gospel tells us what sacrifice people must needs offer God: "The Son of Man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give His life a ransom for many" (Matt. 20:28); "God so loved the world, that he gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life" (John 3:16).

The biblical offerings of sacrifice were not necessary to God, but for the people. People simply must learn to be thankful. People must be instructed that they must deny themselves albeit a portion of their life, of their possessions and of their time (remember the teaching on the Sabbath), and give it over to the Person of the Lord. This is not because God needs this portion which is dedicated to Him, but because thereby people are instructed in sacrificial love.

Only a tenth or hundredth part of religion subsists in what people contribute. The principal part in religion is what God contributes therein. The most important part is not what people do for God's sake, but what God does for the sake of the people. The most important part is not what people bring as an offering in church, but that which they take away from the church!

That which we offer God, we can offer Him in any place. All that is in the world can thus be laid before Him. But there is that small portion of existence in which God is well pleased to reign, not in Himself but in another. That is my soul. This is that chamber within the limitless edifice of the universe, wherein the Builder thereof will not enter without an invitation. And it depends upon us at whose disposal we lay that freedom of ours, which was given us by God. Will we serve God, or will we serve ourselves, our caprices and our lusts? The only way we can augment the limitless power of the Lord is if we offer Him our own free will.' For this reason, "a sacrifice unto God is a broken spirit" (Ps. 50:17). And this sacrifice we can offer everywhere. And in this sense, each one of us is a priest. This is the meaning that underlies the words of the Apostle Peter, that the Christians are a people comprised of priests (I Peter 2:9). No one can, in my place, offer God in sacrifice my will. I alone have power over it, and only I can offer it at the Throne of God. Swear an oath of faithfulness and say, "Lord, Thy will and not mine be done! I thank Thee for all that Thou dost desire to bring into my life. Grant me the ability to serve Thee with my every breath!" And this can be done in any place!

So the possibility of offering sacrifice to God is always with us. And we can always say to our ego, the very words which the philosopher Diogenes once used to reply to the world ruler Alexander of Macedonia, who wanted to fulfil some request of the wise out of his love for him: "Make off, and do not block out the sun for me!"

Thus, that a Christian might offer sacrifice to God, it is not necessary for him to be in church. But religion is not only concerned with what we give. More importantly, it is concerned with what we receive. It is not so important why we seek God. It is more important why He seeks us.

Why we often go to church and turn to God with our petitions is well enough known. We turn to God, seeing Him as some kind of generator of humanitarian aid: "Give us, O Lord, better health, greater success and an increase in our wages!" Too often we seek the Lord, according to the saying of the hierarch Dimitry of Rostov, "not for the sake of Jesus, but for a crust of bread." But why does God seek us? Does He require something from us? Or does He wish to give us something?

Why does His Word invite: "Come unto Me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden" (Matt. 11:28)? This invitation has no such corollary as "and ye shall give Me so and so..." Rather this invitation ends with another promise; it tells of that which God does for those who respond: "And I will give you rest ... and ye shall find rest for your souls."

Thus, God calls us to Himself, so that he might present us with something. Learning — "Learn of Me" (Matt. 11:29): Spirit — "Receive ye of My Spirit;" Love, peace, joy — "Abide in My love" (John 45: 10); "My peace I give unto you;" "That My joy might remain in you." But Christ grants us something further which the mind cannot comprehend.

"Abide in Me, and I in you.... Receive ye this, this is My Blood, which is shed for you...." Christ entrusts His whole Being to the people; both His Divinity and His manhood.

In contemporary medicine there is a certain procedure: the patient is given a transfusion of his own blood. Blood is taken from his body, it is cleansed of various harmful contaminations, or alternatively enriched with certain components, which the sick man's organism cannot itself produce in the required quantities. And this purified or enriched blood is reintroduced into the patient's system. Something of the kind occurs in our relationship with Christ. God became man. He took on Himself our nature, which had fallen into corruption, and in Himself healed it and saturated it with Divinity, Eternalness, and Immortality; and it is His human Body, which has now already passed through death and resurrection, that He returns to us. His human Blood, vitalized by the Divine currents, He pours into us, that we might bear the seed of Resurrection and be communicants of Eternity.

And so, we come to church, so that we might receive something therein. The church — it's just walls; but walls built around the Mysterion [sacrament] of Communion The Mysterion consists in this: that to the people a hand is extended with the Gifts. Therefore to visit church is not an onerous obligation, but a wondrous privilege. To us there is granted the right to stand as participants in the Mystical Supper. To us there is given the possibility of becoming "partakers of the divine nature." To us there is granted to possibility of contacting an Energy, such that not one of of the power stations of the world could produce.

God sought us. And has found us. We simply need to go to that place, where closer than anywhere else God approaches the people, to that place where in an unprecedented way, through the Gifts themselves, He is distributed to the people. If Christ presents us with the Cup with Communion through the Royal Gates, does it behoove us to turn up our noses and affirm that "I have God in my heart"?

Christ has said where He awaits us and what He desires to give us. He, the Eternal One, desires to meet us and be united with us in this life, so that in our future, everlasting life, we might not be irreparably alone.

Would it be good manners for us, if we had received a message to meet someone on Pushkin Square, to take a walk on Leo Tolstoy Street at the time appointed? If the meeting was thus missed, who would be guilty? Well, quite obviously, not me, — Pushkin would be!!

Those, who declare that they do not need mediators in their relationship with God, do not begin to understand that in church there awaits them the Mediator, Who once offered sacrifice for them and freed people from the necessity of destroying those fruits which feed the idols of this world. Surely it is not so unbearably difficult to open your hand, so that the Gifts may be placed therein?

Deacon Andrei Kuraev

Source: http://orthodoxinfo.com/praxis/whygotochurch.aspx

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Someone close has died… Sooner or later we all encounter the mysterious phenomenon of death. And every decent person, by measure of his power and opportunities, tries to give the deceased his last due, to worthily send him off on the path of the whole earth. We attend to obtaining a coffin, to organizing the funeral, to planning the funeral repast. But we sometimes do not realize that the deceased himself does not need either the coffin nor the meal. Naked a person leaves his mother’s womb, naked he returns to the womb of the earth. Only one thing he needs, and needs it extremely. That is prayer. After the body’s death God designates a place for the soul until the Final Judgment — either heaven or hell, depending on how he had lived his life. Prayers for the repose of the dead, panihidas and commemorating at the liturgy greatly help the soul in the other world.

There is tale in the Lives of the Saints about the Venerable Macarius the Great, who prayed for everyone who departed for the other world. Once he saw a skull in the desert, which by the power of God related to Macarius that through his prayers, even the worst sinners receive some relief from their sufferings.

The first and immutable responsibility of each believer is the ordering of a funeral service for his deceased relative. One can display economy anywhere, only not on the funeral service! It must be performed no sooner than the third day of death (the day of death is considered the first day, even if the person died just before midnight); it is better, if the service occurs in church or at the cemetery. In an extreme case a funeral service can be performed in absentia. The deceased must be buried in the earth at all cost. Cremation is foreign to Orthodox ritual, borrowed from the eastern cultures. Even if the deceased willed to have himself cremated, going against his will is not a sin.

On the 9th and 40th days after death panihidas must be ordered—prayers for forgiveness of the sins of the deceased. Particularly important is the 40th day, on which the personal judgment of God is carried out over the soul, determining its fate until the Second Coming of Christ. Prayers for the repose will be more effective, if any one of the relatives of the deceased partakes of the Eucharist on these commemorative days. Panihidas should be served in the future as well, on birthdays, the day of death, the saint’s day of the deceased. Writing altar pleas, putting up candles can be done every day. At the cemetery, one must not insult the memory of the deceased by becoming drunk or pouring vodka on the gravesite. It is better to light a candle, to pray, to clean up the grave. At home, at the commemorative repast, Russians partake of special food — kutia (rice with honey or raisins), yeast-raised pancakes (blini), kisel (flummery).

If the deceased during his life was a believer, did not disparage God or the Church, confessed his deadly sins, long-term memorial services are ordered in the Church — for forty days (sorokoust), six months or a year. Monasteries accept "eternal" (while the monastery stands) remembrances.

Can an Orthodox Funeral Service be Performed for People of Other Faiths?

This question has been raised many times. Notice, that the question is not whether one can at least pray for a deceased person of another faith, but can funeral services or panihidas be served for them. It is vital to differentiate between these two inquiries: just prayers for deceased persons of other faiths, and the performance of an Orthodox rite for them. Personal, in-home prayer for non-Orthodox persons is not forbidden, one can remember them at home, read psalms at their gravesite, offer alms for the remembrance of their soul… But the Orthodox funeral rite and panihidas are constructed in the certainty that the deceased and the one for whom the service is being held is a true member of the Orthodox Church.

In protecting the purity of its Orthodox teachings and the order of life established by God, the Church has always forbidden bishops, clerics and laity to join in prayerful association not only in the church, but even at home with all heretics, schismatics, and excommunicants. The strictness with which the Church guarded its children from the danger of being infected by some heresy even extended to forbidding hierarchs to pray or serve even in the presence of heretics. The basis for this canonical rule lies in the eternal word of Christ: "But if he neglect to hear the church, let him be unto thee as an heathen man and a publican" (Matthew 18:17). Being without the Church in life, heretics and schismatics are even farther from it in death, because then they lose the ability to repent and turn to the true light.

So it is perfectly natural that the Church cannot bring the mollifying bloodless offering or any prayer at all for non-Orthodox: this last is clearly forbidden according to the Apostle (1 John 5:16). In keeping with the commandments of the apostles and holy fathers, the Church prays only for the repose of Orthodox Christians who died in faith and repentance, as living members of the Body of Christ. This includes those, who might have fallen away at one time, but repented and returned to the Church.

Remaining true in all ways to the ancient Universal Church, our Russian Orthodox Church not only forbade funeral services for non-Orthodox — Roman Catholics, Protestants, Armenians, etc., but even to perform panihidas for them. Out of Christian mercy it only began to permit one condescension in relation to them: if the non-Orthodox is of "Christian faith," and for their burial there is no priest or pastor of their faith available, then an Orthodox priest may, in his vestments, accompany the body of the deceased to the cemetery and, during singing of "Holy God…" preside at the lowering of the coffin into the grave. Taking a body of a non-Orthodox person into an Orthodox Church is not permitted.

The expanse of Orthodox Christian love, in the name of which some demand to allow church prayers for deceased Christians of any faith, cannot extend to disregard for Orthodox teachings of faith, a treasure which our Church has protected in the course of centuries. Otherwise all boundaries will be erased, which separate the One True Church from those who are torn from the blessed unity with it.

From everything said here, it is clear that Church prayers are even more greatly forbidden for deceased Muslims, Buddhists, Jews and people of faiths, which do not recognize the Lord Jesus Christ.

Source: http://www.orthodoxphotos.com/readings/beginning2/help.shtml

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