The Catalog of Good Deeds

1) If you want to live a spiritual life, you should look after yourself. Every evening look at the good and bad things you did that day. Thank God for the good, repent in the bad.

2) When someone is praising you but you know that you have disadvantages, then this praising must be like a stab in your heart and must foster your desire to improve yourself.

3) Less philosophizing, more doing. In our life, we already devote too much time to the former at the expense of the latter.

4) Be especially careful with your impure thoughts.

5) If you feel any tendency to sin, make two prostrations to the Mother of God with prayer: “O Holy Theotokos, by the prayers of my parents, save me, a sinner”. The spirit of your parents will unite with yours in your prayer.

6) One must read Holy Gospel carefully.

7) Since the Lord’s prayer is the shortened Gospel, one must prepare properly to reading it.

8) When you are fasting with your body, do not forget to fast with your spirit. Do not be insolent, especially with those who are older than you are. This fast will be much higher than the fast of the body.

9) Work on bringing up your younger brothers and sisters. Influence them with your own example. Remember that if you have any disadvantages, they can easily adopt them. The Lord will call you to account in this issue.

The righteous Father Alexei Mechev was an archpriest of the Russian Orthodox Church in Moscow who, after the early death of his wife, became known as an elder in the world. The feast day of Righteous Priest Saint Alexei is June 9. Fr. Alexei died on June 22, 1923 in Vereia (west of the city centre of Moscow). In 1934, when his body was uncovered, it was found uncorrupted: a mark of sainthood. His relics were then laid in a new grave.

His son Sergei, who became the priest in his father's church of Saint Nicholas after him, was himself murdered in 1942. During the period of August 13 to 16, 2000 in Moscow, the Synod of Bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church gave approval or blessing for the glorification and canonization of the the Royal Martyrs of Russia, as Passion Bearers, and several hundred new martyrs and confessors. Among these Fr. Alexei was canonized into the ranks of the Saints by the Moscow Church, and his son, Sergei, was declared a New Martyr of the eparchy of Moscow.

Sources:

http://pravlife.org/content/9-sovetov-pravednogo-alekseya-mecheva-kotorye-pomogut-izmenit-zhizn

https://orthodoxwiki.org/Alexei_Mechev

The Holy Empress Helen uncovered the Precious Cross and Nails of the Lord at Jerusalem in 326.

At the beginning of the reign of Saint Constantine the Great (306-337), the first Roman emperor to recognize Christianity, he and his pious mother Saint Helen decided to rebuild the city of Jerusalem. They also planned to build a church on the site of the Lord’s suffering and Resurrection, in order to reconsecrate and purify the places connected with the Savior’s death and Resurrection from the foul taint of paganism.

The empress Helen journeyed to Jerusalem with a large quantity of gold. Saint Constantine wrote a letter to Patriarch Macarius I (313-323), requesting him to assist her in every possible way with her task of the restoring the Christian holy places.

After her arrival in Jerusalem, the holy empress Helen began to destroy all the pagan temples and reconsecrate the places which had been defiled by the pagans.

In her quest for the Life-Creating Cross, she questioned several Christians and Jews, but for a long time her search remained unsuccessful. Finally, an elderly Hebrew named Jude told her that the Cross was buried beneath the temple of Venus. Saint Helen ordered that the pagan temple be demolished, and for the site to be excavated. Soon they found Golgotha and the Lord’s Sepulchre. Not far from the spot were three crosses, a board with the inscription written by Pilate (John 19:19), and four nails which had pierced the Lord’s Body.

Now the task was to determine on which of the three crosses the Savior had been crucified. Patriarch Macarius saw a dead person being carried to his grave, then he ordered that the dead man be placed upon each cross in turn. When the corpse was placed on the Cross of Christ, he was immediately restored to life. After seeing the raising of the dead man, everyone was convinced that the Life-Creating Cross had been found. With great joy the empress Helen and Patriarch Macarius lifted the Life-Creating Cross and displayed it to all the people standing about.

Source: https://oca.org/saints/lives/2018/03/06/100680-uncovering-of-the-precious-cross-and-the-precious-nails-by-the-e

One of the last two undeciphered Dead Sea Scrolls has been read by researchers at the University of Haifa in Israel.

The 900 scrolls, discovered in desert caves at Qumran in the 1940s and 50s, are the work of scribes belonging to an ancient Jewish sect and include some of the earliest biblical manuscripts.

The newly decoded document is made up of more than 60 tiny sections written in a secret code. They were originally thought to have belonged to different scrolls, but researchers Dr Eshbal Ratson and Prof Jonathan Ben-Dov showed they were from a single document.

The scroll – originally written in code – gives an insight into the unique 364-day calendar used by the sect. According to the researchers, this calendar was involved in one of the fiercest debates between different groups during the late Second Temple period. The lunar calendar, which Judaism follows to this day, requires a large number of human decisions. People must look at the stars and moon and report on their observations, and someone must be empowered to decide on the new month and the application of leap years. By contrast, the 364-day calendar was perfect. Because this number can be divided into four and seven, special occasions always fall on the same day. This avoids the need to decide, for example, what happens when a particular occasion falls on the Sabbath, as often happens in the lunar calendar.

'The Qumran calendar is unchanging, and it appears to have embodied the beliefs of the members of this community regarding perfection and holiness,' the researchers explain.

Dr Ratson told Haaretz that arguments about the calendar 'may be one of the reasons this sect left the Temple and went to the desert. They had many disputes and this was one of them – they couldn't celebrate holidays together.'

The scroll gives the most important dates in the Qumran sect's calendar, including two special occasions not mentioned in the Bible. It also provides, for the first time, the name of the day marking the transition between the seasons – 'tekufah' or 'period'.

According to the university, the scroll also reveals that the person who wrote the scroll – probably one of the leaders of the sect familiar with the secret code – forgot to mention several special days marked by the community. Another scribe corrected the errors, adding the missing dates in the margins between the columns of text.

'The scroll is written in code, but its actual content is simple and well-known, and there was no reason to conceal it,' the authors say. 'This practice is also found in many places outside the Land of Israel, where leaders write in secret code even when discussing universally-known matters, as a reflection of their status. The custom was intended to show that the author was familiar with the code, while others were not. However, this present scroll shows that the author made a number of mistakes.'

Source: https://www.christiantoday.com/article/researchers.decipher.dead.sea.scroll.assembled.from.tiny.fragments/124407.htm

A reference point in the typiko of Great Lent is the communion of the Presanctified Precious Gifts. The discordance between the festal and joyful nature of the celebration of the Divine Eucharist and the compunction of Great Lent makes it inappropriate to celebrate the bloodless sacrifice on fast days. And yet, the importance of Holy Communion for the spiritual struggle of the faithful has established participation in the Presanctified Gifts even on such days.

The difference between the Presanctified Liturgy and the more common types of the Eucharist is that the Precious Gifts have already been sanctified as Body and Blood earlier, at the Divine Liturgy on the previous Saturday or Sunday. At the proskomidi, the celebrant takes out a second lamb [central portion of the loaf], which he places with the first on the paten. He sanctifies and elevates this as normal, and, after pouring the warm water into the chalice, immerses the second lamb in the precious blood and places it carefully in a special artoforio or tabernacle [a vessel kept on the holy alter where the reserved gifts are kept] until the day when the Presanctified is to take place.

The service of the reception of the Presanctified Gifts is not contained in the seven services celebrated during the day and night, nor is it a Divine Liturgy, but simply a way of distributing the Precious Gifts, and is attached to Vespers. The singing of the ancient hymn “Now the powers…” marks the join between the two services. What happens before the hymn is Vespers and then after the hymn we move into the Presanctified.

The timing of the Presanctified on the evening of Wednesdays and Fridays in Lent was preferred because of the all-day fast on these days until the time for Vespers, so that after receiving the Precious Gifts, the faithful were able to consume food. In parish practice, the communion of the Presanctified Gifts is often transposed to the morning, on the one hand because it is impossible for the faithful to maintain a strict fast, and, on the other, because of the habit of celebrating the bloodless sacrifice in the morning hours. Because of the change of time of the Presanctified, Vespers has also been moved to the morning, since the two services are combined. This is why it has become customary for Vespers to be celebrated in the morning during Lent, whether or not it is followed by the Presanctified. Other days when the Presanctified is regularly held are the Thursday of fifth week (Great Canon of Saint Andrew of Crete), the first three days of Great Week and the days when saints are commemorated.

In olden times, the Presanctified Gifts were given on the Wednesday and Friday of Cheese Week, and also on Good Friday. To this day, the Divine Liturgy cannot be celebrated in its entirety on these days, according to the old practice of the Church of Jerusalem. A remnant of the old custom is the addition to the Triodio of a reading from the Old Testament at Vespers in the two days of Cheese week. In the Byzantine era, there was communion of the Presanctified Gifts on every Wednesday and Friday of the year. Indeed, in the 10th century, communion of the Presanctified Gifts was optional in Constantinople.

In accordance with the old custom, a Presanctified Liturgy could also be held on the feast of the Elevation of the Precious Cross, instead of the full Divine Eucharist of Saint John Chrysostom which is celebrated today. The reason for this is to be found in the sombre character of the feast of the Elevation of the Cross, which is the equivalent of Good Friday, when there is a similar interdiction on the celebration of the Divine Eucharist. It also used to be the case that the Presanctified was held on the feast of the Annunciation, but canon 52 of the Quinisext Synod exempted that day, as well as Saturdays and Sundays, from the necessity to hold the Presanctified, intimating that the full Divine Eucharist could be celebrated.

The composition of the Presanctified Liturgy is attributed to a number of Church Fathers, among whom were Epifanios of Cyprus, Yermanos of Constantinople and Pope Gregory the Dialogist. Also, in codex 766 of the national Library in Athens (16th century), there is indirect testimony to the fact that it is a product of the pen of Saint Gregory the Theologian. In particular, the codex states that at the end of the Presanctified Liturgy, we have the dismissal hymn and kontakio of Saint Gregory the Theologian, probably because of confusion with the Dialogist. Ioannis Foundoulis prefers that no tropario of any saint be sung, but rather that, after “Glory. Both now”, we should immediately have the tropario “At the prayer, Lord”. However that may be, the author is not known today. According to P. Trembelas, the attribution to Saint Gregory the Dialogist is most likely due to the fact that he was responsible for popularizing it in the West, since he introduced it into the form of service for Good Friday in the Church of Rome, according to the Roman rule.

Briefly, the structure of the service of the Presanctified is as follows. Essentially, it begins with the readings and the “Let my prayer” in Vespers and with the prayers for the catechumens and the faithful. Then comes the singing of “Now the powers”, and the celebrant censes the congregation. In the middle of this, we have the Entrance of the Holy Gifts, after which the hymn is completed. This is followed by a litany, the prayer “by placing the holy gifts on the holy altar”, the Lord’s Prayer, the two prayers of bowing the head and the exclamation “Let us attend. The Presanctified holy things to those who are holy”. Thereafter, the structure of the Presanctified is identical to that of the Divine Eucharist, with only a few differences in hymns and prayers. These are: a) instead of “We have seen the light”, we sing “I will bless the Lord”; b) the prayer read before the icon of Christ is “Almighty Lord” and c) the antidoro is given before the end of the service, “Through the prayers”, while psalms 33 and 144 are read. The last is the old order of service not only for the Presanctified but for the full Liturgy, too.

The availability of the Presanctified Gifts demonstrates the Church’s desire to meet the spiritual needs of its members. As the prime expression of the sacramental community, the Holy Eucharist is a necessary feature of the life of the faithful. Its absence would weaken the bond of the faithful with the Eucharistic assembly, but its presence, even through the dispensation of having the Presanctified, fortifies the faithful in prayer and fasting during the bright sadness that is Lent.

By George Zaravelas

Source: http://pemptousia.com/2014/04/the-history-and-rite-of-the-liturgy-of-the-presanctified-gifts/

Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.

In this Beatitude we continue our climb toward perfection.

Gregory says,

All that the Divine Word has so far laid down is indeed perfectly holy. But what we are now' invited to contemplate is truly αδυτον, and the Holy of Holies. For if the blessedness of seeing God cannot be surpassed, to become the son of God transcends bliss altogether… If you call that which the Beatitude promises good, or glorious, or sublime, yet what is made known is something more than these words mean: it is fulfillment that outstrips prayer, gift surpassing hope, grace transcending nature...

How can one give thanks worthily for such a gift? With what words, what thoughts that move our mind can we praise this abundance of grace? Man transcends his own nature, he who was subject to corruption in his mortality, becomes immune from it in his immortality, eternal from being fixed in time–in a word, a god from a man. For if he is made worthy of becoming a son of God, he will possess in himself the dignity of the Father and be made heir of all the Father's goods. How munificent is this rich Lord! How generously He opens His Hands wide to give us His ineffable treasures! Through His love of man He brings our nature, dishonored by sin, to an honor that almost equals His own.

If we were to obtain all the benefits available to us in this world; riches, good health, friends, all kinds of pleasures, etc.; what would it mean if peace were missing.

Gregory says,

Therefore peace itself is sweet to enjoy, and sweetens all that is held dear in life. And even if we suffer any human misfortune, as long as there is peace the evil is borne more easily, because it is mixed with some good; but if life is haunted by war, we become in a way insensible even to our own occasions of grief. For the common calamity is greater than the individual causes of pain…

By this, therefore, one can see how greatly He loves man, that He bestows the precious reward not on pains and sweat, but, so to speak, on the enjoyment of happiness. Peace is indeed the greatest of the joy-giving things; and this He wishes each of us to have in such measure as to keep it not only for himself, but to be able to dispense from the overflow of his abundance also to others.

Now who is a peacemaker? This is a person who “gives peace to another.” To be able to give peace to another you must first have peace in yourself. Therefore God wants us to be filled with the blessings of peace so we can then pass it on to others.

What is peace?

Gregory says,

Surely it is nothing else but a loving disposition towards one's neighbor. Now what is held to be the opposite of love? It is hate and wrath, anger and envy, harboring resentment as well as hypocrisy and the calamity of war. Do you see for how many different diseases this single word is an antidote? For peace is equally opposed to every one of the things mentioned, and wipes out these evils by its own presence. Just as illness vanishes when health supervenes, and as no darkness is left when light begins to shine, so also when peace appears, all the passions connected with its opposite are eliminated.

Gregory asks us to focus on all the passions associated with hate. He say the the passions of the devil appear in those dominated by wrath.

He says,

For when the passion lays hold of a man and the heart-blood bolls over, when wrath, as they say, makes the black gall diffuse itself throughout the body, then all the senses that are placed in the head are affected with cramp by the compression of the internal vapors. The eyes protrude from under their confining lids, staring bloodshot like dragons at the offending object; the inside is compressed, panting for breath, the veins III the throat swell and the tongue thickens...

The evils of wrath are obvious and one who prevent such actions are truly blessed. But still worse, he says, is envy and hypocrisy because they are hidden deep in a man’s heart.

Gregory says,

It is cherished secretly in the depth of the heart, like a hidden fire, while externally everything is made to look deceptively like friendship. It is like a fire that is hidden under chaff. For a time it smolders inside and burns only what lies near; the flame does not flare up visibly, only a biting smoke penetrates, because it is so vigorously compressed from within.

We never know when this will bust out causing great harm. This is the story of an envious Cain who murdered Able who received praise. The envy within commanded the murder, but hypocrisy became its executioner, says, Gregory.

Those who have obtained a pure heart, who are able to imitate the Divine love of others and who exemplify the Divine energies of God are truly blessed.

Gregory concludes,

I think that man is called a peacemaker par excellence who pacifies perfectly the discord between flesh and spirit in himself and the war that is inherent in nature, so that the law of the body no longer wars against the law of the mind, but is subjected to the higher rule and becomes a servant of the Divine ordinance.

Source: http://orthodoxwayoflife.blogspot.com.by/2009/09/7th-beatitude-blessed-are-peacemakers.html

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9 Tips by St. Alexei Mechev that can Help to Change Your Spiritual Life

The Story of the Holy Cross and Nails Uncovered in Jerusalem in 326

Researchers decipher Dead Sea from tiny fragments for important information

The History and Structure of the Divine Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts

The Seventh Beatitude: Climbing Toward Perfection

What do we prepare for during the third week of Great Lent?

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Search This Blog

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9 Tips by St. Alexei Mechev that can Help to Change Your Spiritual Life

The Story of the Holy Cross and Nails Uncovered in Jerusalem in 326

Researchers decipher Dead Sea from tiny fragments for important information

The History and Structure of the Divine Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts

The Seventh Beatitude: Climbing Toward Perfection

What do we prepare for during the third week of Great Lent?

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