The Advice of a Priest on Abandoning the Idea of Abortion
—Fr. Dmitry, in meeting with a pregnant woman who wants to have an abortion, what should a priest say so she would abandon this move?
—If she came to a priest, we should understand that she doesn’t want to do it, even if unconsciously. And this chord is why she called upon the Church, and we must find it in her soul.
In such situations, I say: “Why do you want to kill your baby? Give him to me. I’ll raise him and feed him. And moreover, I’ll take him at any moment, as soon as you say ‘I’ll give him to you.’ Just don’t kill him.”
I have just one rule:
You’ll give birth, but don’t tell anyone you’re giving it up. You breastfeed him in the hospital, and then we’ll quietly come for you in a car and take your child. Here’s my telephone number. If you change your mind we’ll bring him back, even to Vladivostok if you go there, so you won’t waste a ticket. If I deceive you, you can always “narc” on me: “This priest messed with my head. Here’s his number and address.”
You don’t need anything. I’ll give you money so you can rebound!
So explain to me: why kill your baby? What’s the point here? You will have a sin on your conscience. You don’t know how old women (who had abortions in their youth) come and weep. Stand here, wait, here comes one now. I’ll call you over—you listen to what she says, how she suffers now. And you’ll be suffering your whole life. But here you’ll have a clean conscience. They used to bring them and throw them into monasteries, giving them over to be raised, or to childless women who never married. Just don’t kill your baby!
And as practice shows, once they breastfeed, they don’t call me.
Short Prayers and Words We Hear During the Services
Wisdom
WISDOM!
We hear this word repeated frequently during the services in our churches.
Firstly, this word is intended to remind us and bear witness before us and
before the world that everything that takes place in the church has as its
foundation the Divine Wisdom. "26In wisdom hast Thou made them all";
we hear these words at every vigil during the reading of the 103rd Psalm, the
so called Proemial or beginning Psalm. In our everyday life we frequently use
the words reason, mind, sense, and intellect when we try to describe the
obvious function of the human brain. In speaking of the functions of the brain
in this way, we frequently separate these functions of the brain from the full
manifestation of the human spirit. We are living in the age of reason, the age
of man’s great scientific, technical, intellectual, and artistic achievements.
Not infrequently these achievements are deprived of the creative element and
are directed toward destructive objectives.
Is this
what is meant by the word "wisdom," so often used in the church? In
part it is, as man’s reason, enlightened by the light of Christ, can be
contained within the sphere of the Divine Wisdom, but representing at the very
best a mere drop in the ocean of that Wisdom. We could repeat here the dying
words of that great scholar: "All I know is that I know nothing."
Divine
Wisdom is the basis of all creative endeavor in this world. All that cannot be
contained therein, does not draw nourishment therefrom, is not enlightened
thereby, consciously or unconsciously, and is repelled by true knowledge and
becomes a victim of destructive forces. As everything is polarized in the
world, the Divine Wisdom can be opposed only by absolute folly, diabolical
folly, and mindlessness. It is that folly of which King David said: "The
fool hath said in his heart: there is no God.
So this
is why the Church so often repeats the word "WISDOM." In the first
place, it reminds us that true wisdom is inherent in God alone; that man can
approach Divine Wisdom only in so far as he derives spiritual enlightenment
through the Church and in the Church; that the measure of his the Divine Wisdom
is based on humility and the recognition of his own insignificance,
intellectual and spiritual, before the greatness of God. Also, through the
repetition of this word the Church confirms that it, as the Body of Christ; is
one, holy, catholic and apostolic, and is the repository and the fountain of the
only true Wisdom.
Wisdom, Upright
We have
already reflected on the word "wisdom" which, minor though it is, is
profoundly significant. During liturgy, this word is often followed by the word
"upright." In it basic meaning, this word is a call and a reminder
for the supplicants to stand straight and to adopt the physical posture that is
most conducive to attentiveness and best testifies to the reverence of those
who pray to God. Sometimes it is not easy, it can be even tiring, to stand
straight for a long time. That very fatigue, however, is a sacrifice we offer
to God during the divine service and during prayers. That is why this fatigue
is blessed and beneficial. However, the reminder to stand straight is not
limited to its physical meaning. Undoubtedly, the Slavonic word prosti is
derived from the word простон — prostoi meaning "simple." This word,
then, urges upon us inner "straightness," simplicity, collectedness.
The words of the Cherubic Hymn call upon us to "put away all worldly
care." For the duration of the service, we must free ourselves from all
external, worldly superfluous baggage which frequently and very successfully
distracts our minds from the greatness of the religious ceremony. This
"worldly care," our vanity, our distraction must be left outside the
doors of the church; inside the church everything must be directed towards one
goal only: the glorification of the Lord and our immersion in the fullness of
our communion with Him.
In
general, simplicity is one of the basic assumptions of spiritual life. It is
not without reason that an Optina elder used to take pleasure in saying: ‘Where
there is simplicity there are angels aplenty." So here also, in the
church, where we stand face to face with the ineffable Wisdom of God, which is
revealed to us during the divine service, it is good that our hearts, our minds
and even our flesh be clothed in simplicity, holy simplicity, in which there
are no barriers and no walls between us and God.
This is
also the reason why the original meaning of the word upright; stand straight,
stand attentively, stand meekly, is so significant and important. They call us
to subject our behavior in the church to a specific spiritual and physical
order. Every divine service is a movement; ours and that of the entire Church,
toward God. In this movement we are like a spiritual army. In the words of the
hymn we "mystically represent the Cherubim," and Cherubim and
Seraphim are called by the Church "the heavenly host." An army
requires an order and a system. In this particular case, it is an order which
unites our spiritual being with our physical being.
For this
reason, as we participate in the Divine Service we shall stand sober, we shall
stand tall, we shall acquire that state of physical collectedness which will
reveal the way to collectedness and sobriety of the spirit. "Wisdom,
Upright!"
Let us attend
From time
to time during our church services we hear the words, "let us
attend!" This is the imperative form of the verb "to attend." In
ordinary language we might say "let us pay attention," "let us
be attentive." These are again "minor words," which are often
repeated during our services and which can easily escape our attention.
Strange, is it not, that the very words which urge us to be attentive should
escape our attention. These are minor words but words of great meaning and
responsibility.
Attentiveness
is one of the important qualities even in our everyday life. From childhood we
have been taught to pay attention; by parents, by teachers, and by superiors.
Yet it is not always easy to pay attention. Our minds tend to wander, to be
forgetful. It is difficult to force oneself to be attentive. The Church
recognizes this weakness and so tells us every now and again, "let us
attend," let us pay attention, be attentive.
To be
attentive means to make our minds and memories concentrate on and be in harmony
with what we hear. And more importantly, to attune our hearts so that nothing
that happens in the church can slip by them. To pay attention means to listen
and to hear, to look and to see. To pay attention means to free oneself from
all thoughts and considerations; from "all worldly cares." To pay
attention means to open one’s mind, one’s soul and one’s heart to all those
rays of wisdom which flow to us from the Light of Reason, from the Sun of
Truth, from Christ.
It also
means to pay attention to everything which the Church lovingly submerges us in,
but also to pay attention to each other, to our neighbors, to their needs, so
that we may indeed "with one mouth and one heart" glorify God in Holy
Trinity. Christ has said, For where two or three are gathered together in my
name, there am I in the midst of them (Matthew 18:19). But He can be among them
only if these "two or three" and the entire Church are linked by the
Union of Love, the very basis of which is the union of attention.
It is
good to remember these words, "let us attend," and to repeat them in
our spirit as we journey through life. As we look at the beauty of God’s world,
God’s creation, it is good to tell ourselves "let us attend." How
much evil, pain, irritation, hostility, untruth would begin to disappear from
our lives, from our relations with others, if we carry these words beyond the
walls of our churches and used them as a lantern and as a torch, to shed light
on each step we take, each movement we make, and each person we meet.
Amen
A very
minor word, Amen, is so often repeated during our services and in our private
prayers. Usually, it marks the end of prayers or important texts of religious
content and it is like a seal placed on everything of particular importance.
And that is exactly what it is. One of the earliest meanings of the ancient
Hebrew word amen was "to be worthy of trust." Other meanings are:
"it is truly so," "let it be so," "let it be
accordingly." In the Old Testament, in Deuteronomy, Moses instructs the
people of Israel to build an alter, he gives them the order of sacrificial
offerings and commands them to obey God and submit to him: 9This day thou art
become the people of the LORD thy God (Deuteronomy 27:9). In response to the
loudly proclaimed words of the prophet, words which reject every impiety and
every untruth, the people exclaimed repeatedly Amen. The last lines of the last
book of the New Testament, the Apocalypse or the Revelation of St. John the
Theologian reads: 20He which testifieth these things saith, Surely I come
quickly. Amen (Apocalypse 22:20).
Thus the
word "Amen" is used in the Old Testament to signify the concurrence
with the pledge given and, by the same token, the acceptance of all
consequences arising there from. Furthermore, in order to bear witness to this
agreement and at the same time praise the Lord, this word is repeated twice:
"Amen, Amen." In the New Testament this word is used even more
frequently. In the Christian Church, the believers, even Greek speaking
believers, started using this ancient Hebrew word at the end of each
Eucharistic prayer spoken by the priest. But even private prayers and hymns of
praise of early as well as present day Christians end with this word. Christ
used this word at the beginning of particularly important words of witness:
"verily, verily I say unto you," or "amen, amen I say unto
you." He invested this word with a new, special meaning which had been
unknown in the old rabbinical literature by using it to confirm the absolute
truth and veracity of His words; thus lending them the weight of His Divine
authority. In the New Testament even Christ Himself is called "Amen,"
the True One. As Apostle Paul says in his epistle to the Corinthians: For all
the promises of God in Him [Christ] are yea, and in him Amen, unto the glory of
God by us (II Corinthians 1:20). And so, as we utter the word "Amen"
we give ourselves to God, we submit to His will. As He has signed the New
Testament, His Testament, with His Blood which He has shed upon the Cross so we
receive from Him this New Testament, this new covenant of God with man and we
confirm our faithfulness and devotion to Him by this burning word of faith;
Amen!
Alleluia
In the
Psalms of King David we frequently find the word of praise
"Alleluia." Apart from the Psalms, this word appears only twice in
the Bible. Once, in the Old Testament, in the prophetic vision of the New
Jerusalem in the Book of Tobit it is said that its streets will echo with
Alleluias. Then in his Revelation (Apocalypse) St. John says: After these things
I heard a great voice of much people in heaven, saying, Alleluia; Salvation,
and glory, and honour, and power, unto the Lord our God (Apocalypse 19:1). And
alleluias continue to issue forth from the mouths of those who are holy and
just and bow down before the Throne of the Almighty.
The word
"Alleluia," which appears with such frequency in the hymns and
prayers of our Liturgy, is of Hebrew origin. The last syllable "ia"
is an abbreviated form of Yahweh or Jehovah, the Old Testament name for God.
The preceding syllables mean praise. The whole word, then, means Praise God,
Praise the Lord. The Christian Church began early using this word of praise in
the liturgical texts. The word became an expression of joy and triumph, a hymn
to triumphant faith. In our Church, it is a part of all services, including the
services of repentance during Great Lent and the services for the dead. The
entire life of the Church is built on the unwavering faith in Christ’s
Resurrection. The attitude of the Church even to death is permeated with the
joyous expectation of the forthcoming meeting with Christ and the life
everlasting in the Kingdom of God.
During
the Divine Liturgy, the word "Alleluia" is sung before the reading of
the Gospel; at the end of the Cherubim hymn, it marks the translation of the
Mysteries from the table of ablations to the Holy Throne Table; it is sung
after the Communion and at the end of the liturgy. It is heard on many
occasions during the vigil. So it is present throughout our church services
and, for all its brevity, it expresses that to which all divine services are
dedicated; the praise of God.
So there
we have yet another minor word which does not always hold our attention. Yet,
its content is so inexhaustible that the just will use it to express the praise
of God in the New Heaven and the New Earth, in the everlasting Kingdom of God.
For there is no better way of proclaiming the Divine dominion over the world
and over mankind than by praising and glorifying Him, by singing praises to
Him; the King and the Lord.
Lord have mercy
Lord have
mercy. How frequently these three words are repeated in our churches and in our
personal prayers. They are repeated in litanies which consist of short
petitions, each of which ends with the words "Lord have mercy." At
evening services and during the reading of the Hours we repeat these words
sometimes three, sometimes twelve, and sometimes even forty times. How
marvelous is the score of the Russian composer Lvovsky for the multiple
"Lord have mercy" sung at the Elevation of the Cross. And there are
many other services during which "Lord have mercy" is repeated many
times, insistently, repentantly.
Let us
not be disturbed by such frequent repetition of some of our short prayers, in
particular the prayer "Lord have mercy." The object of such repetition
is to imbue our hearts, our minds, and our entire souls with the prayer. The
aim is to focus our attention on the topic of the prayer which the Church
considers of particular importance for our spiritual growth. This repetition,
like a theme in music, penetrates our consciousness and remains long in our
memory, staying with us even as we leave the church for our everyday
existences.
"Lord
have mercy." Three words, but what depth of meaning do they hold. First,
by calling God Lord, we confirm His rule over the world, the mankind and, most
importantly, over ourselves, over those who speak these words. Lord means
master, ruler. This is why we call ourselves the servants of God. This term has
nothing offensive about it, as is so readily suspected by some of those who
would fight the Lord. Servitude by itself is negative as it deprives the human
being of the original gift; the gift of freedom. But as this gift was given to
man by God, only in God can man find the plenitude of freedom. It follows,
therefore, that service to God is in fact the perfect freedom in God.
Our
service to God is far from perfect. Every day, every hour we flee from that
blessed Servitude. We flee to where there is neither light, nor love, nor joy,
nor life; we can find these only in God. We flee from perfect joy to the
bottomless pit of sorrow. Then, we awake spiritually, we return to our senses;
we begin to understand that we have nowhere to go when we flee God, except to
death. As King David said: Whither shall I go from Thy Spirit? And from Thy
presence whither shall I flee? (Psalm 138:7 [LXX]). We return to God; some of
us after only a momentary absence, some after many years of alienation. In
order to reestablish our filial servitude to Him, the servitude which we are
constantly fleeing, we beg for forgiveness and repeat: have mercy, have mercy.
So there
they are, these minor words, these few words of prayer with which we can pray
in all places and at all times: "Lord have mercy." It is good to
value them, cherish and nurture them. They are our praying beads made up of
words and they link our hand with the right hand of the Lord.
The Holies for the Holy
Just
before the Communion of the Holy Mysteries of the Body and Blood of Christ,
standing in the sanctuary facing the Holy Table, the priest raises the Holy
Lamb, the Bread of the Bloodless Sacrifice, which has become the body of
Christ, and says these words: "the Holies for the holy." These words
have the sound of a mystery which, indeed, is contained therein. But no mystery
should be deprived of the inner meaning with which these words, these minor
words," are also imbued.
Apostle
Peter, in his First Epistle General speaks to the still young Christian Church:
9But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation . . . the
people of God (I Peter 2:9-10). This is how Apostle Peter describes the members
of the early Church and all of us together with them. There is no doubt that
the early Christians consisted of sinners as well as saints. There are quite a
few sinners in today’s Church, starting with ourselves. And yet the apostle
calls all of them and all of us the chosen nation, the royal priesthood, the
holy people, the people of God. This sets the standard for the attitude of God
and the Church toward man, toward the people of the Church. Through the Mystery
of Baptism, every person receives the absolute guarantee of holiness. From the
font, the baptized individual arises holy, washed clean of all sin, all
untruth, and all defilement. This holiness is sealed with Chrismation. Thus all
newly baptized are given the fullest potential of holiness which the Church
recognizes in them through their entire life.
The onus
of responsibility for the preservation of this gift lies no longer on the
Church but on the conscience of the individual, on his or her treatment of the
gift of free will, freedom of choice between good and evil. The holiness is
lost, it is dissipated on the roads and crossroads of life, but it is also
restored through the mysteries of Confession and Communion. And the Church
continues to stand by her original estimation: she continues to believe in us,
in . . . A chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar
people . . . [of God] (I Peter 2:9[-10]). And the Church invests not only her
priests but all her members with the great gift of the royal priesthood.
According to the Orthodox teaching, the great mystery of the Eucharist is
performed not by the priest alone, but by the entire Church, the entire
"royal priesthood," the entire "people of God."
Therefore,
as he raises the Holy Lamb, the Body of Christ, presenting it to the entire
Church, the priest says: "The Holies for the holy." "The
Holies" are what he holds in his hands at this moment; the Holy Mysteries.
"For the holy" means that the Mysteries are intended for all of us,
all members of the Church, in whose eyes we are all holy since we are the
people of God. And we, in full and humble recognition of our sinfulness and
unworthiness, respond: "One is holy, One is Lord, Jesus Christ. . . ."
Let us depart in peace
At the
end of the Divine Liturgy, after the Communion and the Thanksgiving for the
Mysteries, the priest turns towards the people and, coming out of the altar,
says: "Let us depart in peace." We must remember that in early days these
words marked the end of the Liturgy, and the faithful were asked to return to
their homes "in peace."
The word
peace appears often in the prayers of the Church. The Church is the great
champion of peace. It was peace which the angels proclaimed on the night of the
Nativity as they sang: "Glory to God on high and peace on earth."
Christ frequently spoke of peace: Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto
you: not as the world giveth (John 14:27). The Church calls for peace as it
begins the Liturgy and other services with the Litany of Peace: "In peace
let us pray to the Lord." In his War and Peace, Leo Tolstoy misinterprets
these words when he takes the word peace to mean the community of men. The
actual meaning of these words is the invitation to pray to the Lord in peace,
with tranquillity of mind. "For the peace from above’ is not peace given
to us by the world, peace achieved through peace negotiations and treaties; it
is the peace given to us by Christ. But we also pray "for peace in the
whole world," because nothing so dims the rejoicing of the Church as
raging enmity in the world.
This
peace is not the peace which is simply the opposite of war. Politicians, who so
readily use the word peace and who so frequently abuse it, do not recognize
that the most peaceful places in the world are cemeteries, not conference
tables at which the word peace appears in all shapes and forms. The peace of
which the Church speaks, with which it sends its congregants into the world
after the Liturgy, is a different peace. It cannot be taken away by anyone; it
is capable of filling the hearts and minds of men even on battlefields, in
wars, revolutions, and catastrophes. It is an inner peace. It is certainly not
individual or personal; it is the peace of which St. Seraphim spoke when he
said: "keep the spirit of peace within yourself and a thousand around you
will be saved." So it is the peace which cannot be concentrated upon, or
contained within, rather it is one which one uses as a conduit through which to
reach "a thousand" other hearts as St. Seraphim affirmed.
So it is
the peace to which the priest calls the worshippers as he sends them off on
their worldly business after the Divine Service. In the early days of the
Church, there no doubt existed a kind of spiritual insatiability. People were
loath to leave this "heaven on earth." And so the priest’s words ‘let
us depart in peace" are answered by the people "in the name of the
Lord"; in the name of God. And the priest responds to this request by
ending his dialogue with the people with the words, "Let us pray to the
Lord" and by reading the last prayer for the Church, for Her people, for
peace…
By Archpriest George M. Benigsen
Source: https://www.fatheralexander.org/booklets/english/vigil_v_potapov.htm
A Guide on How to Engage Your Children Before and During an Orthodox Christian Church Service
When my
husband and I first started having children, he and I were a part of the church
choir. Up to a certain point, my first daughter was easily incorporated into
lending my voice in the choir, but that changed when she became a mobile
toddler. My husband continued to sing in the choir, and I sang from the
congregation while caring for our busy girl. Soon we were on to seminary, where
my husband served in the altar in various capacities, all the way up until he
became a priest. During that time our family grew and I had two little ones to
wrangle. And then our family grew again soon after our first parish assignment…
I had three littles to wrangle and now my husband is the priest!
All that
to say: my entire journey in worshipping with children has involved solo
parenting during church services, so keep that in mind, as it will help you
decide what parts of my experience intersect with yours. I’ve had the fortune
to parent in a variety of church environments, and have noticed several things
that parents need to pay attention to about their particular church environment
in order to create a good plan for their kids.
Examine your environment & challenges
1. Church Architecture
This is
often overlooked by those who seek to give advice to parents, but it can
powerfully influence your method of approach. Look at how the church is laid
out, physically. Are you in a traditional building with narthex, sanctuary,
vestibules, and more? Or are you worshipping all together in one large space,
or perhaps in a small multipurpose room? What is your building made of? Are you
worshipping in a stone structure that echoes a lot, or are the walls laid with
more sound-absorbing materials? Where is it easiest to see the altar? Are there
pillars or chairs or pews in the way?
What part
of the space does it look easiest to contain a small child? Are there any
places where that open up and so encourage running? Do they have a “cry room”
where you can listen to the services?
When you exit the sanctuary, can you easily access a child-friendly
place, or does it open up into a wide area where the children can bolt away?
Are the floors carpeted, muffling a dropped toy or book, or is the floor made
of a hard material where crashes will be heard easily?
It’s
important to note that I cannot address all possible circumstances here, but
the principle is that the physical makeup of your worship space that will
influence how you approach worshipping with your kids. Church architecture, as
well as layout and materials are very difficult things to modify, so it’s
important to identify potential difficulties, and how they can create certain
behavioral tendencies and habits.
2. Community Culture & Expectations
Some communities
are very open with helping each other with their children in the services. Some
communities have an expectation that children make very little noise, and
parents may feel pressured to stay in the cry room or nursery. While many may
be enthusiastic about having kids present for the services, not every church
congregation has communal knowledge of how to work together or assist parents
with little children in church. Discuss with your spouse, friends, and fellow
parishioners what barriers there might be in your own community’s culture, and
how you make room the needs of families, push towards an ideal, and still
create an atmosphere of balance and peace in the community.
3. Know Your Own Children’s Needs
Here’s
the cliché: every kid is different, and so you’ll need a variety of tools and
approaches to work with each one of them in the services. It’s a difficult
dance sometimes, because you have to throw your own mood, needs, and desires in
there as well. The biggest tool I’ve found is this: love your child, no matter
what. Bathe them in your prayers, even in the middle of a frustrating episode
with them. Step backwards if you have to, and ask for other parents’ advice
with a certain trait or tendency. Get ideas from other parents on what worked
with their kids at a certain phase. Take all suggestions as you would in a
brainstorming session–consider everything as valid, and then put it to the
test. If it works for your child, fabulous. If not, try something else. But
consistency is key–once you set your expectations, don’t waffle on them.
Boundaries, reinforced with patience, help your child to know they are loved.
Prepare your family for liturgy
1. Practice at Home
Often
before bedtime prayers begin, it’s been a little wild in my house. My husband
is away for evening services many nights, and so creating a prayerful
environment in the tiny corner of a messy room with three energetic children
sometimes feels like banging my head against a wall.
One small
thing I do, though, is to get them standing in front of the icons and have them
take in a few deep breaths, letting them out slowly. And then I pray our
evening routine out loud slowly… more slowly than I would on my own. These kids
are learning the prayers with me, and as with practicing an instrument, it’s
better to learn to play the notes perfectly at a slow pace, because that’s how
you imprint the melody into your muscle memory. The same is true for prayer.
Practicing
prayers and how to approach prayer will help children to take that with them to
liturgy and make the connection.
2. Arrive Early to Begin in Peace
By
arriving early, you allow yourself enough time to take a communal deep breath
and get ready to dive in. Do the things you need to do: hang coats, take
bathroom breaks, get that casserole into the church kitchen, light your
candles, gather your service books. You don’t show up late to important things,
like doctor’s appointments or the beginning of school. Arriving early signals
to your children that this time is important. I also means that your unhurried
mind will be ready to hear all the prayers and fully prepare your heart for the
Eucharist.
But even
if you’re late, don’t get into a hurried rush. In my mind, while being on time
to the services is vastly important, it’s more important to teach how to
approach worship than how to be somewhere on time. Begin in peace.
3. Explain the Service as You Go
Children’s
service books help, but often the kids will want to jump right to the grown-up
ones when they can.
One of
the lovely things about church liturgy is that so much of the learning is
implied in the structure of the service and the sequence of prayers. However,
it takes a grown-up brain full of experience to see many of the patterns and to
understand the reasons why things are done the way they’re done (sometimes,
even the adults don’t even fully understand!). Pass your knowledge onto your
children in whispers. Start very young. Even two or three-year-olds, who have
only begun to ask why, can be given simple explanations. “We’re standing up
because Jesus is here,” was one of the first things I said to explain the
strange habit of popping up and down at seemingly random times during the
church services. Keep it simple in the beginning, and then go deeper as they
grow. You’re their teacher. Kids are always thirsty for knowledge.
4. Talk About the Liturgy in Your Home
Don’t let
the services–or the sermon–be an “out of sight out of mind” phenomena. A good
movie gets you talking about it on the way home with your friends, and the
liturgy should follow the same pattern. See if you notice anything different about
who was commemorated, something interesting about the Gospel reading, or if
something in the sermon stuck out to you. Bring that up with your family and
with your kids, perhaps on the car ride home or at dinner. Discuss it. Let
people freely express their likes and dislikes, confusion and excitement.
Explore and grow together in this way.
These are
some very general principles to get you started. I’ve found that the specifics
of what I do has changed quite a bit as my children grow and mature, but that
these things have remained true throughout. Good strength in your journey!
Source: http://www.familylifeministry.atlanta.goarch.org/joyful-noise-engaging-young-children-in-church-pt-1/v
Saint Juliana of Lazarevo as a Model for a Pious and Virtuous life
Righteous
Juliana of Lazarevo and Murom displays an astonishing example of a selfless
Russian Christian woman. She was the daughter of a nobleman, Justin Nediurov.
From her young years, she lived piously, fasted strictly and allotted much time
to prayer. Having been orphaned early on, she was given over to the care of
relatives, who did not understand her and laughed at her. Juliana bore
everything patiently and uncomplainingly.
Her love
for people was expressed in the fact that she often tended the sick and sewed
clothing for the poor. The pious and virtuous life of the maiden attracted the
attention of the owner of the village of Lazarevo (not far from Murom), Yuri
Osorin, who soon married her. The husband's parents came to love their modest
daughter-in-law and put the management of the household into her hands.
Domestic cares did not interrupt Juliana's spiritual struggles. She would
always find time for prayer and was constantly ready to feed orphans and clothe
the poor. During a severe famine, she, going without food herself, would give
up her last bit of food to a beggar. When an epidemic began after the famine,
Juliana devoted herself wholly to the care of the sick.
Righteous
Juliana had six sons and a daughter. After the loss of two sons, she decided to
withdraw to a monastery, but her husband persuaded her to remain in the world
in order to continue to raise the children. According to the testimony of
Juliana's son, Callistratus Osorin, who wrote her life, she became even more
demanding of herself at this time: she increased her fasting and prayer and
would sleep no more than two hours at night, having placed a log under her
head.
Upon the
death of her husband, Juliana distributed her portion of the inheritance to the
poor. Living in extreme poverty, she nonetheless was always full of the joy of
life and affable, and she thanked the Lord for everything. The Saint was
counted worthy of a visitation from Hierarch Nicholas the Wonderworker and of
instruction from the Mother of God on church prayer. When righteous Juliana
departed unto the Lord, she was buried alongside her husband in the church of
Saint Lazarus. Here also her daughter, Schema-nun Theodosia, was buried. In the
year 1614, the relics of the righteous one were found, which gave off a
fragrant myrrh from which many received healing.
Source: https://stjohndc.org/en/orthodoxy-foundation/saints/righteous-juliana-lazarevo
One Country Helping Another: An Orthodox Mission in Kenya
Ruslan Yarotsky, a religion studies major and
a former Evangelical pastor who is now an Orthodox missionary from Hrodna and
the Director of a Support Fund for Orthodox Christians in Africa, took a flight
to East Africa together with his friend Dmitry Fadeyev and spent two weeks in
an Orthodox community in Kenya. The two friends helped St Barnabas Shelter in
Njabini where Father John, an Orthodox priest and school principal, takes care
of ca. 170 orphans. The majority of those children's parents have died. Many of
the kids are seriously ill.
We visited a meeting where Ruslan told about
the Orthodox mission in Kenya and the struggles of Orthodox Christians in
Africa, as well as about his own spiritual journey from a pastor to an Orthodox
missionary and the simple things that make us happy.
- I'm an
infinitely happy person because the Lord found me, -Ruslan says. - Now I know
why I get up in the morning, and I can hope that I will find myself in a good
place after I don't wake up one morning. I'm a parishioner of the Church in
honour of St Luke at Hrodna Regional Hospital. Our parish is vibrant and
lively. It's like a big family. We know each other by name, come together to
study the Gospel and mix with interesting people. There is even a booklovers'
club. What else can one possibly need? Nonetheless, I have always wanted to do
an overseas mission.
Fyodor
Dostoyevsky said that a Russian must have something to die for. We are
subconsciously looking for something to die for. I have long wanted to go to
Africa. I was haunted by the idea that I had to help African children and the
Orthodox community there. He who seeks will find. I came across a webpage run
by Greek missionaries, who later introduced us to Father John, a year ago.
Following our request, he invited us to St Barnabas Orphanage located in
Njabini settlement.
There was
just one problem: where do we find so much money? A brother from our parish
advised us to "test God's will" by asking a priest to bless our
journey. Naturally, I did not want to go anywhere to ask for the blessing
because I had already made up my mind. I did not have money, though, and I
didn't know where to get it, so I went to Lavrishevo Monastery to my wonderful
spiritual father and counsellor Father Eusebius, the abbot of this monastery.
As we
were walking with the abbot in the snowy Lavrishevo, I stammered about my idea.
He looked straight in my eyes and replied that we had had to launch overseas
missions a decade ago. As soon as I received the blessing, things began to
unfold at the speed of light. Interestingly enough, it was one of my friends,
who is a Catholic, who donated the first $1000 "for the development of
Orthodox mission in Africa". Little by little, our parish collected a
substantial amount of money in a month and a half, about $5000, although our
parishioners are not that well-off. It happened thanks to God's mercy.
How did your family react?
You know,
each one of us will die, so why should we care where it happens? I am certain
that I won't live a second more or a second less than I am destined to. So it's
pointless to worry whether I die in Africa or here in Hrodna. We don't get to
choose where and when we are born and die.
I was
raised in an Evangelical family. Every young Evangelical kid dreams of becoming
a missionary. My family supported my decision. My wife had dreamed of going on
a mission to Yakutia when she was young. So I'm making her dream come true in a
way. My children wanted to go to Africa with me but it's too dangerous.
We had to
undergo vaccinations against yellow fever and malaria. It is physically
stressful to be there: Njabini is located at the altitude of 8200 ft. It is
hard to breathe and your heart is pounding differently.
No one
was waiting for us in Nairobi Airport. So we're standing there in the foreign
country with several heavy suitcases (the total load of 330 lbs consisted of
stationery, toys, and sweets). We bought
a SIM card, which cost us $20. Kenya is a very expensive country, strange
though it may sound. The locals' line of thinking is that if you are white, you
have to pay extra. A figurine that is impossible to bring back home because it
is too fragile will cost you $200.
Soon
Father John found us: he had parked his car in a wrong place. In spite of the
huge sticker on his car, "Saint Barnabas Shelter. We help children,"
he had to pay a $40 fine. It's a lot even for us, and for them it's… That was
how our first encounter with Kenya began.
Kenya's
main scourge is poverty, hunger, lack of access to drinking water and basic
healthcare, and, as a result, there is a huge number of ill people. Due to high
mortality rates many Kenyan kids are orphans. It is to these kids that Orthodox
priests in Kenya cater. Yes, Kenya is different. There is a touristy Kenya with
the ocean shore and safaris. You will drive through a Maasai village, give
sweets to the local kids, and feel that you've done something meaningful. This
isn't the real Kenya.
For the
most part, the country is in a terrible condition. It is ridden by water
shortages, unemployment, and terrorism.
Mogadisho,
Somalia, is the most dangerous place in the world. Islamists keep raiding Kenya
all the time. They kidnap whites for ransom. There is one of the largest
refugee camps in Kenya — ca. 250 000 persons. Many of them are Christians
because belonging to the Christian faith is punishable by death in Somalia. Not
long ago two Protestants and a Catholic were beheaded…
There are
slums everywhere on the outskirts of the capital city: rubbish, poor hygiene,
crowds of people aimlessly wandering here and there, and apparent lack of
security — you start feeling insecure as soon as you leave the territory of the
airport.
When we
got to the shelter, we saw a pathetic sight: an acre of fenced land and several
bunkhouses made of terrible wooden planks. Animals in any of our villages live
more comfortably than those children. This place is home for 170 orphans aged 3
– 17 or 18. Their parents died of AIDS, tuberculosis or hepatitis, or have been
killed during civil strifes. The daily routine for Father John is to find
resources to feed and clothe these children, teach them the basics of the
Orthodox faith, and provide education for them. Upon graduation from the
shelter, the children get a certificate and can apply to colleges. You are
doomed if you are un-educated in Kenya. As a rule, the counsellors work for
food.
When
there is money, the children eat three meals a day. When there isn't, they eat
just once a day. What do they eat? Some kind of flour, possibly corn flour,
diluted in boiled water to make a glue-like mass. They add sugar to make it
less disgusting. If there's enough flour, they cook simple pancakes instead. As
long as this mass is hot, it's edible. The children eat it well. They invited
us to taste it but we couldn't. Even for Christ's sake.
The
Lavrishevo Monastery donated two boxes of sweets to the shelter. Some of the
kids saw them for the first time. The distribution of the sweets looked like a
huge event: the children stood in lines, and the volunteers gave them sweets
solemnly…
Dear
friends, we are so rich, and I mean it! Human beings are naturally marked by
their inability to be satisfied, they never stop pushing for more and more.
Many people have this false impression that Africans don't have anything but
they walk around happily, smiling at the sun. That's wrong. Africa is very
depressing and miserable. Piles of rubbish and people wandering aimlessly.
Abject poverty. Unemployment. No business opportunities. It is only where there
are churches that children smile because they are loved, cared for, and helped.
Nowadays,
life is harder in Belarus: the economic crisis hit everyone, but it pales in
comparison with Kenya. One hundred and seventy children without parents; no one
will shed a tear if they die… You walk down the village street, and there are
someone's legs sticking out of a pile of rubbish, and you can't tell if that
person is alive or dead and you cannot get closer: there is leprosy in some
regions, and there may well be poisonous snakes in the rubbish. Human life
doesn't cost anything at all.
One of
the most pressing problems that Kenya faces is lack of access to pure drinking
water. The shelter cannot afford a $30,000 borehole. Another acute problem for
the children who live in the shelter is shoes, which are expensive. Without
shoes, some nasty bugs will get under the children's skin, and their legs will
swell. However, if you have to choose between shoes and food, you choose food.
The older children pass their clothes and shoes to the younger kids.
Tyres are
the usual toys for Kenyan children. They make sandals from old tyres. The
children have almost no toys. When we got there, they were playing football with
a "ball" made of an old newspaper…
My heart
aches for them. I would like to help them but I can't. What can be done with a
couple thousand dollars? It's like a drop in an ocean. The bare minimum spent
on one child in the shelter is one dollar a day. For ten dollars, a child can
survive in the shelter for ten days. That's how we calculated our expenses when
we were getting ready for the trip. You can feed one child for $1 but often you
don't have even that one dollar. We organised three meals a day for the money
we had brought with us. We would buy cheap food, e.g., rice, lentils, grains,
and sugar, in special wholesale shops. No one even talks about other foods,
like meat or fish… The Great Lent is an ascetic feat for us; for them, it
begins on the day they are born. And it never ends for the majority of the
population.
The
Orthodox Church in Kenya grows rapidly, in large part thanks to the numerous
shelters and schools. The children who stay there hear the Gospel, learn the
God's Law, and participate in church services since their early years. They
grow to become Orthodox Christians. Then they marry and raise their own
children in the Orthodox tradition. Father John himself had skipped a service
in his semi-pagan Protestant congregation one day. When he accidentally met an
Orthodox priest who simply gave him some food, he was so fond of that man that
he started helping him in the church. As a result, he graduated from a school
and a seminary. Kenyan Christians are very simple-hearted. Prayer is their way to
survive. We have to force ourselves into praying with prayer ropes and saying
Jesus Prayer but in Africa, it's impossible not to pray.
Apart
from Njamini, we brought humanitarian aid to cities where the situation is even
worse. We wanted to support the priests and missionaries, our brothers in the
faith who carry out their ministry under these extremely harsh conditions. I
have many priests as friends. They also have their troubles and there are few
of them who ride posh cars but it cannot be compared with what life is like in
Kenya. We were driving to a priest to bring him some foodstuffs and came across
a building made of steel sheets, like an old garage. This building turned out
to be his house. There was a chair, a table, a bed, a prayerbook, a Bible, and
a prayer rope, and that was all he had. He cooks some kind of stew on open fire
near his cabin. His wife and children live 300 miles away. He serves as a
missionary in that place for a fortnight every month, then gets back to his
family somehow, and serves the other fortnight there. He does not complain. He
loves God and lives happily. If I take a pack of rice and give it to a priest here
in Belarus, I don't think he'll be extremely excited. For them, even tiny
amounts of water and food mean a lot. They encounter pain and suffering but at
the same time they rely on Jesus. They are true patriots of Kenya who love
their country and don't want to leave. They simply want to live normal lives.
Like we all do, don't we?
Europeans
used to help them more but they reduced funding of African charitable projects
due to the refugee crisis. Their welfare organisations and charities started
focusing on their own countries.
It must
be noted that it becomes cleaner and tidier wherever Orthodox parishes are
planted. People really change their mentality for the better. The Lord cleanses
their hearts and they begin to make everything clean, too. This is how small
pockets of cleanliness and order pop up. There are more and more Orthodox
parishes in Kenya every day. There is approximately one million Orthodox
Christians in Kenya nowadays. They build hospitals and schools and by doing so,
they unite people and preach the Gospel. There are regions where indigenous
polytheistic beliefs are still strong. They require not only social support but
also preaching about Christ. Their seminary prepares educated and skilled
priests. There are no monasteries in Kenya right now. There is just one monk in
the country.
I would
also like to tell you about Metropolitan Makarios of Kenya, who is a spiritual
child of Elder Sofrony (Sakharov). He hails from Cyprus. He studied in several
universities in Europe, including the Orthodox Theological Institute of St.
Sergius in Paris, France. He is very
unpretentious, I have never seen bishops like him. Our bishops are wonderful
but I don't know them, I only see them on TV. He has spent his entire life to
develop and strengthen the Church. It was due to his efforts that there are 300
parishes, many schools and shelters, a seminary and a technical college in
Kenya now.
Kenyans
honour Metropolitan Makarios like their father or grandfather. The situation of
survival that people have to face in Africa creates an atmosphere of
simplicity. There are no barriers between bishops and common folk. They have to
stay together to survive. His Eminence Makarios visits churches daily. He is
always on the go. When he learned about our visit, he decided to come to see
us. He celebrated a solemn Liturgy. He served partly in Church Slavonic during
the Liturgy, so that we could understand what was going on. The service ended
with lively dances - that's how Orthodox Kenyans praise the Lord.
It was a
completely new experience for us. When we first came to Njamini and there were
170 children dancing around us and having fun, we were astonished…
Unfortunately, sincere joy fades in our hearts with time. By the way, the Book
of Psalms reads, "Praise God with the timbrel and dance, (cf. Ps. 150: 4).
The dance means roundelays. That's what it means. Our mentality stops us from
having fun so openly. They are very open-hearted. As soon as the service was
over, everyone went outdoors, and the children started dancing around the
metropolitan. They live by dancing - and God.
Currently,
the situation in central Kenya is becoming even more complicated. Due to their
civil strife, food prices have skyrocketed, and it means that children will be
starving again. Businesses from Belarus are ready to help but it's meaningless
to send humanitarian aid: the corruption rates are so high that the locals
won't see the aid, it will be stolen on its way. The Belarusian ambassador
openly admits that it's a waste of money. That's why we collect donations,
store them on a VISA credit card, go to Africa, rent cars, buy everything in
the cheapest shops, and distribute the staples among missionary parishes. We
bring back receipts and post photos to be as transparent as possible.
St
Barnabas Shelter is actively raising funds to buy the plot of land they rent
right now. We hope that, God willing, they will succeed. When they do, they
will be able to build something more substantial, with the help of volunteers.
For instance, during our last trip we built a coop for chicken, which will
supplement the meagre ration of the children.
Our next
trip to Kenya is in February. So if you can tell anyone about it, please do.
Please write to us, we will be happy to receive all kinds of help.
My friend
who is an editor of a newspaper had an argument with me, "Why Africa?
There are many poor folks here, too." He is a very pious man and a
remarkable Orthodox Christian. He spent three days trying to convince me that
"it was your pride telling you to go to Africa." And then he came to
me and admitted honestly, "It has dawned on me that I oppose your idea so
much because I don't do anything like that myself." He gave me a $100 note
saying, "I don't want to fight with God, I'd rather be your ally."
If some
of our priests were to push forward the establishment of the Hrodna Missionary
Fellowship, it could allow us to take a different approach. As of now, it's a
bunch of amateurs. Our spiritual fathers bless us, and we're grateful to them.
So if you spread the word among your friends, or if there are people who are
willing to help, we will really appreciate it because one dollar is the cost of
one day of a child's life. It isn't mere words. If any one of you will make up
your mind to go there, you will see it with your own eyes.
Interview by Sister Maria
(Kotova)
January 4, 2018
St.
Elisabeth Convent
Subscribe to:
Posts
(
Atom
)
About Our Blog
Welcome to the official blog of the Catalogue of St.Elisabeth Convent! The blog includes recent ministry updates of the convent, sermons, icons, personal stories and everything related to Orthodox Christianity. Join our Catalog of Good Deeds and become part of the ministry of St.Elisabeth Convent! #CatalogOfGoodDeeds