The Catalog of Good Deeds

A Lecture by Sister Irina, who serves as the sister of mercy in the mental Health Hospital in Minsk:

The history of the convent started with the social work in the hospital. One of the current nuns was a nurse there and saw how much people suffered there. Surely, any hospital is a place of sorrow.

Our patients are not necessarily people from socially disadvantaged environment or dysfunctional families. Imagine a person who was successful, but something happened in his life and he got to the hospital and was diagnosed with schizophrenia. People who get there for treatment suffer not only from their disease itself, but also from the understanding of their diagnosis. After you leave the hospital, it is quite difficult to find a job. Perhaps, only the convent can accept these people without any problems. People with such illnesses are often misunderstood in everyday society, and this makes people suffer much more themselves. They begin to ask questions. Why me? Why do other people live a normal life, while I have to spend my life here?

I have visited a woman who used to be a successful and beautiful person once but then she got to the mental health hospital. She was desperate. We have a proverb saying that if you feel bad you should look at someone who feels much worse that you. I tried to use the example of parents whose child died from cancer. I said, “Look at these unhappy people. They have been fighting with the disease for years but still they lost their child. They do not scorn God, they thank Him. You are young and you will get help here. Then you will receive supportive treatment and your life will get better. Of course something will change, but you will leave this place”. She replied, “Of course it is much easier for them to cope with their sorrow. They do not feel shame for their child’s death. This is not disgraceful”.

Our main task as the sisters of mercy is to prepare our patients for confession, Holy Communion, tell them about God, communicate with them and comfort them. We tell them about God as the source of life and joy.

How do our visits look like? We come, greet the personnel and the patients, we anoint all and anyone who wants with the holy oil, pray together and then just talk. It is up to us to decide what to discuss with these people. Usually, I read them the Holy Gospel and then we discuss what I have read.

Many people ask why we are not afraid to go there. When I began to visit the patients, I was told to be careful, to make sure no one stands behind me, to take off my glasses. I had a wonderful experience after which I forget about any fear. Once I came to the department and saw that the woman I had recently visited was lying tied to the bed. She asked me to come to her, but it was forbidden. I talked to all my patients and we read the Gospel together. Suddenly I heard a noise and saw that woman running to me across the hall. I leaned to the wall, but she run right at me. She reached me and throw herself at me and said, “Please, save me”.

Today there are 32 working departments in the hospital. We visit 30 of them, 2-3 sisters for each department. There are 15 mental health departments, 2 departments for people with alcohol addiction, departments for dangerous criminals, for men and women. There are also departments for children, 3 departments for elderly people who lie there helplessly because of their age and and various illnesses. There was a case when Fr. Andrew, our spiritual father, came to that department on Easter to serve a moleben. An elderly woman went towards him. She did not understand at all why and where she was going. Her condition was quite difficult. He asked her, “How do you feel? How are you?” And she answered, “Dear son, everything is great”.

There are departments for people with depression. A person has no desire for anything. He cannot eat or drink, he just does not care for anything. He lies on his bed and looks at the wall. One of our sisters visited a woman who was in similar condition. She always lied on her bed against the wall and never spoke. The sister came, greeted the woman, put a caramel near her bed and left the room. It went like that for some time, and then the woman was checked out of the hospital. Much later the sister told us that she was going on the bus, when a woman came to her and asked, “Don’t you recognize me? Your caramel has saved me”. Such a simple gesture, a simple candy helped a person to cope with depression. Of course, the treatment helped to recover, but the candy matters too.

We persuade our patients to accept their treatment. There are certain diseases, which need special treatment. Such medications can block certain parts of the brain, and this can look quite unpleasant: the eyes roll, some drool… People are afraid that they will remain in such a state forever. This is why we tell the patients they should cooperate with the doctors. We tell them about human dignity and that God loves everyone.

We had the cases when people were baptized right in the department. One of the patients of the narcological department completely changed his life and became a priest. I think that our communication, our sisters and our convent become a great support. While we believe, that people and their prayers support us.

We really needed to build the church in honor of St. John of Shanghai so that the liturgy for the sick can be served there. People will come there to pray and rest. On the ground floor of the church there will be a place where we can organize meetings with people who have been discharged from the mental health hospital. We will teach such people handiwork.

Many people do not understand the reason why we visit the hospital. Are you paid a salary? No. Don’t you have a family? Are you unhappy? No. Don’t you have anything to do at home? We have. Are you jobless? No, we are employed. We come to these people because they are our brothers and sisters. And we need to visit them.

St. Elisabeth Convent

November 27, 2017

A noble young man gave up all his possessions and came to live in a monastery. Due to the fact that he was well-educated, he was appointed to a special obedience of copying worship books.

The elder would spend a lot of time talking with the scribe, so finally other disciples started having grudges against their teacher and accused him of favoritism.

Having heard that, three of the most honorable monks decided to learn why the elder preferred his scribe to everyone else.

The elder did not answer anything to their enquiry. He simply led them to his disciples’ cells.

— Brother, come here quick! I need you! — he repeated over and over again as he was knocking on their doors.

None of his disciples opened the door: one brother was singing Psalms and did not want to be interrupted; another brother was weaving ropes with prayer and he was afraid to spoil the rope due to haste.

Finally, they came to the scribe’s cell.

The elder knocked at the door and uttered just one word, Brother!

The door swung open, and the surprised scribe appeared in front of the elder.

— Tell me dear fathers where do you see my other disciples? — the elder asked as he entered the young monk’s cell.

They did not know what to say.

The elder took a manuscript that his disciple had just been writing in.

— See dear fathers: he was writing this letter but as soon as he heard my voice, he sprang to his feet and did not even finish that letter. Doesn’t this letter tell you about the obedience that this disciple of mine has towards me better than all words? This is the kind of obedience that I love him for.

— You are justified in loving him, Abba, — the first monk said.

— We all love him, — the second monk added.

— God loves him for it, too! — the third monk exclaimed.

A craftsman who was making pencils, took one pencil and said, “Before I send you to the pencil box, I want you to know five things. Remember them and never forget, and you’ll become the best pencil you can be.

One: You’ll be able to do many great things only if you allow Someone to hold you in his hand.

Two: You’ll have to endure painful sharpening from time to time but it will be instrumental in making you a better pencil.

Three: You’ll be able to correct the mistakes that you make.

Four: Your most important part will always be inside.

Five: Whatever the surface that they use you on, you must leave your mark everywhere. Regardless of your condition, you must keep writing.”

The pencil promised that it would remember its creator’s words; it lay in the pencil box with a vocation in its heart.

You must remember these five rules and never forget them.

One: You will be capable of doing many great things but only if you allow God to hold you in his hand and if you allow other people to access the talents that you have.

Two: You will go through a painful sharpening from time to time by encountering various problems. You will need these problems to become a stronger person.

Three: You will be able to correct your own mistakes or just grow out of them.

Four: Your most important part is in your heart.

Five: Wherever you go, you must leave your own mark. No matter what your situation is like, you must continue serving God in all things.

Saint Nikolaj Velimirovič said:

Keep all things at a distance and bring your soul closer to God.

If you pour water on the fire, you will have neither fire nor water.

If you desire someone else’s property and hate your own, you will lose both.

If you fall in love with a maid as with your wife, you will have neither.

If you often drink someone’s health, you will lose yours.

If you keep counting others’ money, you will have less and less money.

If you keep counting others’ sins, your sins will multiply.

If you chase a fox and catch it, you will get your rooster back; if you chase a bear and catch it, you will neither get your rooster back nor your life.

An elder kept telling his disciples:

– When a king wants to conquer a city, he besieges it and deprives it of water and food supplies.

His starving enemy has no choice but to obey him. It is true of sins, too. If one abides in fasting and prayer, eventually his enemy will become weak and leave his soul alone.

There was a man who asked an elder:

– What good can I do?

The elder replied:

– All good actions are equal, aren’t they? The Scripture says, Abraham was hospitable, and God was with him. Elijah loved silence, and God was with him. David was meek, and God was with him. Therefore, do what your soul wants but first of all keep your heart pure.

Someone asked an elder:

– Father, what does sadness mean?

– Being sad means keep thinking about yourself all the time, – he explained briefly.

Someone asked an elder, “Is that man rich?”

– I don’t know, - the elder replied. – All I know is that he has a lot of money.

– So he’s rich, isn’t he?

– Being rich and having a lot of money isn’t the same thing, – the elder replied. - A person can be really rich only if he is fully satisfied with what he already has. A person who wants to have more is poorer than the person who has nothing but is nevertheless satisfied with what he has.

Translated from: https://azbyka.ru/days/

Today we commemorate one of the copies of the Iveron Mother of God Icon, called the Montreal Iveron Icon, a miraculously myrrh-streaming icon from which abundant grace poured forth to the Russian diaspora and many other Orthodox Christians. As God’s Providence and the Mother of God would have it, the man who was found worthy to receive this icon from Mount Athos and become its custodian was in fact a convert to Orthodoxy from Catholicsim—José Muñoz from Chile, now also known as “Brother José.” Archpriest Victor Potapov spoke with the icon’s custodian on one of his visits to Washington.

***

The Iveron Icon, which at present is preserved in a monastery on Mount Athos, was according to tradition painted by the Apostle and Evangelist Luke. In November 1982, a copy of the Iveron Icon of the Mother God began to stream myrrh in Canada. In 1983, the Icon was in Washington for the first time, and I then asked its guardian, the Spaniard José Muñoz, how he had received the Holy Object, and when it had begun to stream myrrh. Here are his own words, which were recorded during our conversation with him:

“Once during our pilgrimage on Athos, after several hours of walking, we got lost. It began to get dark. We needed quickly to find shelter for the night. Going along a path, we stumbled upon a small, poor skete. There the fourteen Greek monks of the skete were engaged in iconography. They received us very cordially. Having rested a little, we began to examine the icons of their work. One of my fellow travellers, who spoke Greek, got into a conversation with the monks and told them who we were and where we were from. I, though, taking advantage of the moment, began more attentively to examine everything round about. Suddenly my gaze stopped at an icon of marvelous artistry with dimensions of approximately fifteen by twenty inches. I asked a monk if he could not sell it to me. He refused, having explained that this image was the first to be painted in that skete and therefore could not be sold. I could not tear my eyes from that wondrous icon. We stayed the whole night in the skete and in the morning stood through the Liturgy. During the singing of “It is truly meet”, I begged the Queen of Heaven on my knees to let the Holy Image go with me... Bidding farewell in the morning, all the monks accompanied us, but the hegoumen [abbot.—O.C.] was not among them. And then at the last minute before our departure from the monastery we saw him: he quickly descended the staircase with the wrapped-up icon in his hands. He came up to me and said, “Take it. I am gifting it to you. It must be with you.” I offered to pay for the icon, knowing that the monks were needy; but the hegoumen said severely, “One must not take money for such a holy object!” I crossed myself, kissed the image and made a vow to myself that that image would never become the source of my enrichment...

“After this, we set out at once for Iveron Monastery in order to receive the superior’s blessing and to touch the icon received by me to the original, which is preserved in this famed monastery. But by far not everyone is allowed to approach and touch the ancient wonderworking icon. Glory be to God, we were permitted! In the chapel, we knelt, and gazing at the holy object, froze in prayer before the image of the Iveron Mother of God. The image was so majestic, so shiningly beautiful, and radiated such spiritual power that it was difficult to gaze at it for long! A hieromonk helped me touch my copy to the Original.

“Soon after this we went home to Canada. We returned on November 3, 1982. I put the icon next to the relics of the saints of the Kiev Caves Lavra and the New-martyr Elizabeth Feodorovna, which I had received from the reposed Archbishop Leonty of Chile. A lampada flickered before it all the time, and each day before sleep I read Akathists to it. On the 24th of November, I was awakened at three o’clock in the morning by the powerful aroma of roses—the whole room was filled with it. At first I thought that it emanated from the relics or from a spilt vial of perfume; but upon approaching the icon, I was struck! The whole icon was covered with oil—a fragrant oil! I froze on the spot at such a miracle!”

Consolation of the faithful

Upon the advice of a local Orthodox clergyman, the Icon was taken to church and placed on the altar. During the entire liturgy, myrrh flowed from the hands of the Christ Child. Since that time, with the exception of several days during Holy Week, when the Icon is absolutely dry, the myrrh has continued to flow almost uninterruptedly. (Holy Myrrh is a sweet, fragrant oil which was used in the Old Testament for the anointing of kings. In contemporary Orthodox church practice, a newly born Christian is anointed with Holy Myrrh during which the words “The seal of the gift of the Holy Spirit” are said by the priest.)

In the years since, Jose traveled to many cities and parishes where the Icon was venerated to the great joy and consolation of the faithful.

Wherever the Icon went, there are always many questions. Some people initially had doubts. A scientist in Miami was astounded to see that the back of the Icon remained perfectly dry. He later surreptitiously chipped off a small piece of the board on which the Icon is painted for scientific analysis: it was found to be ordinary pinewood, nothing more.

At some times the myrrh would flow in greater abundance than at others. During the consecration of a bishop in Montreal there was such an outpouring of the myrrh that it streamed down from the analogion (lectern on which icons are kept in Orthodox churches) onto the floor. On another occasion, in Florida, the myrrh was seen to rise forth from the hands of the Mother of God and the Christ Child as though it were being pressed from within. Nobody had any power to regulate the flow of the myrrh, it would move at the will of God and His Most Pure Mother.

The Icon was kept in a frame about two inches deep and measures about 12 by 18 inches. At first the myrrh flowed only from the hands of the Mother of God, from the star on Her left shoulder and, occasionally, from the hands of Our Lord Jesus Christ. Yet in March 1985, during a Lenten service, even the frame and glass of the Icon began to exude myrrh in such quantities, that the cloth of the analogion on which it lay was totally saturated. There was always a layer of cotton wool placed at the base of the Icon to absorb the myrrh: pieces of this cotton were distributed to the faithful.

Although there have already been several cases of physical healing (not only among Orthodox, but Catholics and Protestants, too), the purpose of the Mother of God seemed to be directed more at the healing of souls. Many who have stood before the Icon have testified to this, experiencing not only compunction and repentance, but consolation as well.

As mentioned earlier, the flow of myrrh would cease during Holy Week. It would cease on Holy Monday. After the Liturgy on the morning of Great Saturday, a light dew of myrrh would form on the Icon, its case and protecting glass. During Matins (the midnight service at which the glorious Resurrection of Our Lord is proclaimed), when the procession of clergy and faithful, holding icons and banners, would leave the church, the Icon would begin to exude myrrh in such quantities, that it would cover the hands of the person carrying it.

This is not the first time that the Orthodox Church has witnessed such a miracle. In the nineteenth century the Surety-of-Sinners Icon in Moscow exuded myrrh with which the sick were anointed and received healing. Earlier, there was a myrrh-streaming icon of the Mother of God in the Tolga monastery in Yaroslavl; and there have been others.

What is the meaning of this extraordinary manifestation of God’s grace in our time? It has been observed that in the history of the Church such miracles have occurred in times of great tribulation; we saw this in the Apostolic times, and, more recently, in Russia, where the Church suffered cruel persecution for 70 years. The miracles strengthen the faithful and prepare them to endure trials. The appearance of the myrrh-streaming Icon in our time may well signify a period of further great trials for the Russian Orthodox Church and, at the same time, offer consolation that the Mother of God will be a Protectress of the faithful: Unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall much be required.

The death of Brother Jose and the loss of the icon

José Muñoz lived a monastic life, and some say he was secretly tonsured. He spent his entire life after the miraculous manifestation of the icon taking it to different parishes the world over for veneration by the faithful, and when he was at home he prayed continuously before it, commemorating names sent by people requesting prayers. But such an angelic man soon became ripe for the Kingdom of Heaven, and on October 31, 1997 he died a martyric death. In a hotel in Athens, where he was staying before returning home from a grace-filled pilgrimage to the holy places of Greece, this servant of God and His Most Pure Mother was brutally tortured and murdered by unknown Romanian criminals. Although he had not taken the Icon with him to Greece, the whereabouts of the miraculous, myrrh-streaming Icon are still unknown.

However the Mother of God did not leave her children without this consolation, and just before the tenth anniversary of Brother Jose’s death, a printed paper copy of the Montreal icon began streaming myrrh in Hawaii. Now this icon is taken to parishes, bringing consolation and reconciliation.

Holy Brother José, remember us also in your prayers where you abide in the Heavenly Kingdom!

Source: http://www.pravoslavie.ru/98876.html

As a liturgical artist, as someone who makes expensive objects to furnish the Church or to be worn by its clergy, there is a homily of St. John Chrysostom I like to keep in the back of my mind. It is a homily on the Gospel of St. Mathew in which he warns us: “Do you want to honor Christ’s body? Then do not scorn him in his nakedness, nor honor him here in the church with silken garments while neglecting him outside where he is cold and naked.”

At first glance one could almost think him a Protestant, an Iconoclast when he says: “What we do here in the church requires a pure heart, not special garments” Or “Give him the honour prescribed in his law by giving your riches to the poor. For God does not want golden vessels but golden hearts.”

I love this homily. Our father among the saints has the mind of Scripture, as his homily repeats that structure we find so often in the Bible. It is the voice of God in the prophets saying: “Stop bringing meaningless offerings! Your incense is detestable to me.” It is the pleading of the Psalmist who Cries out:: “You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it; you do not take pleasure in burnt offerings. My sacrifice, O God, is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart you, God, will not despise.”

As I have expounded in my Recovery of the Arts series, we find St. John using a structure of center and periphery, treating the arts as “garments” that are contrasted to the “heart”. He warns us to mind our hearts, to remember that the first fruit of our attachment to Christ is not a beautiful church or a beautiful liturgy, it is love. It is wonderfully humbling to keep this in mind. As a person who spends most of his time making objects for the faithful, one can easily believe one is somehow special or more “spiritual” because of this liturgical occupation… This humbling reminder is the first reason why I love this homily.

The second reason why I love this homily is that it shows, in a hidden way, the very form of what liturgical art should be. For although it might seem that Chrysostom opposes the liturgical arts to loving our neighbor, to think this would be as much an error as believing that the prophets or the Psalmist oppose the (God given) prescriptions of sacrifice to a broken and contrite heart. Chrysostom is not opposing them to one another, rather he is making the “garment” dependent on the “center” , the outside submit to the inside. He is establishing hierarchy. For just as the psalmist declares that once God has created in me a “pure heart”, only then “…will you delight in the sacrifices of the righteous, in burnt offerings offered whole;” In the same manner, Chrysostom makes sure we understand that he is not “…forbidding (us) to supply these adornments; (he is) urging (us) to provide these other things as well, and indeed to provide them first. No one has ever been accused for not providing ornaments, but for those who neglect their neighbor a hell awaits with an inextinguishable fire and torment.”

And so the liturgical arts must be in two ways a proper participation in the hierarchy 1. First their very existence should submit to the pure heart, to love of neighbor and care for the poor 2. Then in their appearance, the liturgical arts should also be structured though principles of hierarchy and concentric forms so that their experience is a reminder of the heart.

A proper understanding of hierarchy will solve many of the problems that have plagued the history of the Church and will avoid so many of the errors that were made in opposing the outside forms to the inside, of opposing faith to works, of opposing the hidden to the visible, the honor given to God and the honor given to men. It is absolutely true that the lower term of the hierarchy, when seen as an end in itself, when seen as broken away from its master, is a sin. But when the heart is pure, when it is broken and filled with love; then the garment will glimmer and shine with immaculate beauty.

By Jonathan Pageau

Source: https://www.orthodoxartsjournal.org/st-john-chrysostom-on-liturgical-art/

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