The Catalog of Good Deeds

There was a rich man who helped the poor, and everybody loved him dearly. He had a big iron piggy bank mounted on his wall and an inscription in gold letters above it, which read, “God’s Piggy Bank”. When the Lord sent the rich man a happy event, such as christening, name day, or something else, his wife used to tell him:

“God has given us so much! Please invite many guests to have fun with us.”

“How many guests should I invite?” the rich man would ask his wife.

“Forty people”, the wife would reply. The rich man would then pause to think and then respond:

“You know what, my darling? There are so many poor people around us right now. Their children are crying and won’t sleep because they’re hungry. Why not invite twenty guests instead of forty, and I’ll put the rest of what I would have spent on the other twenty guests into the God’s piggy bank.”

That’s what he usually did.

When the good man heard of any disaster (a fire or a flood), he would always say to himself, “Thank You God, You have protected me from this misfortune!” and throw a thanksgiving donation into the box.

Whenever a merchant came to the rich man, the rich man would choose some goods and go to a different room to get the money but then he would cast a glance on his piggy bank and say to himself, “Why buy so much? You can do with half of that.” He would buy half of what he had intended to, and throw the money that he could have used to pay for the other half into the God’s Piggy Bank.

Day by day, year by year, the rich man’s piggy bank grew bigger and bigger.

Before he died, he convened the elders of the village where he lived and told them, “I didn’t rob my own children or something but I still managed to collect a lot of money to donate to God’s cause. I spent and wasted less than I could. You will find what I could have wasted in this piggy bank.”

When the elders opened the piggy bank, there were tears of joy in their eyes. After the rich man reposed in the Lord, people called him their benefactor. The memory of that good man will always remain in his home village. A shelter for kids, a school, a hospital, and a new stone church will remind the later generations about him and his piggy bank.

Translated by The Catalog of Good Deeds

Editor's Note: The Amish have been capturing the imagination of Americans for decades, challenging the status quo with their utter rejection of the 'goods' of modern life.

The Russians have their own version of the Amish phenomenon in the face of the Old Believers, also called Edinovertsi (One-Faithers), who disdainfully turn down a sparkling, crude materialism in exchange for a strict, simple life.

Old Believers are Russian Christians who did not accept the reforms of the Official Russian Church in the 1600s. Since then, they have maintained a strict, vividly separate culture and identity, settling in separate communities and farming the land.

Old Believers usually have large families and dress traditionally; phones and washing machines are forbidden. Children do not attend school and are taught to read religious books in Old Slavonic, an old, complex language used in Russian Church services.

Throughout the 20th century, religious persecution forced the Russian Old Believers to wander through countries and continents. Today, however, with the support of the Russian government, they have been slowly returning and settling in conservative communities throughout Russia.

This is a series of mini-interviews with adherents talking about their lifestyle. This particular one explains how the Old Believers maintain a very strict, semi-monastic rule and tradition of prayer and piety.

From the time of Patriarch Nikon and Tsar Alexey Mikhailovich’s liturgical “reforms,” daily life and even the worldview of the Orthodox person has changed considerably.

We routinely hear from our pastors, and then from the laity echoing them: “What’s the difference, if at least there is love, and your conscience doesn’t reprove you…” and other variations on the theme of fulfilling this or that Church rule.

Indeed, the two main commandments of our Lord Jesus Christ were put in these words: Love the Lord thy God with all thy heart (Mt. 22:37) and Love thy neighbour as thyself (Mt. 22:39). Without that, all of our labors on religious soil turn into legalism, hypocrisy, and phariseeism.

However, our pious ancestors—and before them no less than the pious Byzantines, heirs to the works of the holy hierarchs Basil the Great, John Chrysostom, and Gregory the Theologian—tried to baptize their entire lives and everything around them.

It is no accident that the highest works of art, the most significant monuments of ancient Rus’, surviving until this day, have a clearly expressed religious character and are directly related with Church culture.

Architecture, painting, literature… It’s as if Russia was one continuous church. Let’s not idealize it: There are times in the history of our country when many events happened that are quite bitter to remember today, but the presence of the Christian ideal as the orientation of the life of the state and society cannot be denied.

It seems those pious times have sunk into oblivion, and we live in that world and those conditions in which we live…

There are no longer long services and plangent, angelic singing in our city parishes, and icons of the Rublev school are found far from everywhere.

But grains of these olden times, of this semi-monastic life have been preserved, by the will of God, and survived to our day in the Edinoverie (United Faith, Old Rite) parishes of the Russian Church.

Let the reader not be scared of the words “Edinoverie”, “Old Rite parishes”, “Orthodox Old Believers”, and simply “Old Believers”. We’re not talking about representatives of some Christian confession or, God forbid, about schismatics, but about the same ecclesial fullness.

The Edinoverie arose as a movement of unity between the old and new rites already in the end of the eighteenth century.

Since that time, two rites with unity of faith have been active in the Russian Orthodox Church on equal footing. As Edinovertsi can freely visit new rite parishes and participate in their Sacraments, so the parishioners of regular Orthodox churches can freely come to our “ancient” services and even become members of our communities if desired.

Edinovertsi approach the Divine services very tremulously. Having decided to go to such a church, already from the outskirts you will see parishioners hurrying to the service, like the heroes from some film on ancient Rus’.

The men have unshaven and untrimmed beards, dressed in traditional untucked side-button high collar shirts, girded with a belt, and in pants and boots! Inside the church many wear black kaftans down to the floor.

The woman wear sarafans and opaque head coverings, held together in a specific way with a pin, and which cover the chest and back. Married women wear a povoinik under their head covering—knitted bonnets, testifying to the wearer’s marriage.

In their hands parishioners carry a long leather (as a rule) chotki—lestovka, or “ladder” prayer rope—with triangles sewn on the end.

If you’re planning to go to a Edinoverie parish and you don’t have special liturgical clothing, it’s no problem. Just remember the most important rule: Clothing should be discreet and tidy, like in a regular Orthodox parish. Sleeves should be long and opaque, and women must be dressed in a skirt, and headscarves are better held together with a safety pin.

Before the entrance of the church, and entering into it, Edinovertsi make the Sign of the Cross with three bows from the waist, silently praying, “O God, be merciful to me, a sinner!” (bow). “Thou hast created me, O Lord, have mercy upon me!” (bow). “Countless times have I sinned, O Lord, have mercy and forgive me, a sinner!” (bow). They take a special embroidered prayer mat — podruchnik — from a stack usually piled up inside the entrance. Later they lay their heads and hands on it, prostrating to the ground, to preserve them in cleanliness. Men and women stand strictly on their own sides, on the right and left respectively. Extra walking around the church is best avoided. If there is enough time before the start of the service, you can sit on a bench by the wall.

They don’t use electric lighting during the services in Edinoverie churches. The space of the church is illuminated by lampadas and candles. Such dimness better disposes a man to prayer, not distracting his gaze. Vegetable oil is used in the lampadas, and the candles are necessarily of wax. If they want to light candles, it’s better to do so before the start of the service. In some Edinoverie churches, before lighting a candle, they make three bows with the above-mentioned prayer “O God, be merciful…”, and also pray to the saint depicted on the icon.

Before the beginning of the service the priest leaves the altar and stands before the Royal Doors and reads the Seven Bow Beginning. This is a special “preparatory” prayer. It attunes us internally, calling us to gather ourselves. Preserved custom has this prayer read before leaving home and after returning from common prayer, and in the most extreme cases it replaces the morning and evening rule. It goes:

O God, be merciful to me, a sinner. (bow)

Thou hast created me, O Lord, have mercy upon me! (bow)

Countless times have I sinned, O Lord, have mercy and forgive me, a sinner! (bow)

It is truly meet to bless thee, O Theotokos, ever blessed and most pure and the Mother of our God; more honorable than the Cherubim and more glorious beyond compare than the Seraphim, without corruption thou gavest birth to God the Word; true Theotokos, thee do we magnify. (prostration, always)

Glory to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit! (bow)

Both now and ever and unto the ages of ages, amen! (bow)

Lord have mercy, Lord have mercy, Lord bless. (bow)

Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, for the sake of the prayers of Thy Most Pure Mother, by the power of the precious and life-giving Cross, and my holy guardian angel, and for the sake of all the saints, have mercy and save me, a sinner, for Thou art good and lovest mankind. Amen. (Prostration, without the Sign of the Cross).

After the dismissal “Lord Jesus Christ…” there are three more bows with the prayer “O God, be merciful…”

If you arrive at an Edinoverie church after the beginning of the service, say the “Beginning” yourself, and then carefully stand in a free place and join the common prayer. Here note that parishioners stand in church with their arms folded over their chest. According to patristic interpretation, such a stance symbolizes the folding of angels’ wings, standing before the throne of God. And you will note, to your great surprise, that it’s much easier to endure the long services in this position.

Don’t be confused by the differences in some words and endings of the prayers. This is how they were everywhere in ancient Rus’ until the middle of the seventeenth century. For example, you might hear the unfamiliar “… i vo veki vekom” or “And in the Holy Spirit, True Lord, the Giver of Life…” in the Nicene Creed.

If you wind up at the All-Night Vigil, you will note that the people sit in Matins at the Kathismas, rising only during the “Glory” to make the Sign of the Cross. There are opportunities to sit during the reading of the instructions, if they are given. The All-Night Vigil is long in Edinoverie churches; it can take from four to six hours. However, many newcomers have noticed an inexplicable ease and even an invisible “help” in standing.

Pay special attention to the kliros. There can be two klirosi—right and left, but usually there’s one. The kliros is led by a cantor, holding a pointer in his hands, with which he sets the singing, and points to important points in the hymns in the books, including when he hears if someone has slipped up. The cantor stands in the very center of the singers, and they align around him in “battle formation.” In Edinoverie churches, Znamenny singing, the main type of ancient Russian singing, coming to Rus’ from Byzantium, is used in the Divine services. The choir sings in one voice; instead of notes, hooked notation, peculiar for modern man, is used to indicate voice intervals. Even just looking at them, there inevitably arises a feeling of contact with something ancient, and at the same time eternal. Precisely such angelic singing was once heard by the ambassadors of the Equal-to-the-Apostles Prince Vladimir in the church in Constantinople. Znamenny “chant” is quite extended, ascetical, unemotional, and collected. Of course, if you compare Byzantine and Russian Znamenny singing, there are clear differences. The sound of our equivalent is free and loud, and the performance is quite strict—manifesting the national, northern color. Such singing helps the faithful to focus on prayer.

The prayers are read in a special way, as well as the liturgical readings from the Gospel and Epistle and the Six Psalms. This reading style is called poglasitsi—it is a kind of word pronunciation in plain chant. Poglasitsi is used for the Psalms, the Old Testament readings, the Epistle readings, the Gospel readings, the instructions, and so on. Reprints of seventeenth century books are used in reading and singing. Sometimes you can see ancient books of past centuries in leather bindings on the analogion, with yellowed pages, and ancient ornamentation and illustrations. Before the beginning of a reading, every reader, as a rule, does a prostration on a podruchnik, and, receiving a blessing from the priest, starts to pray.

The services end the same way they began—with the Seven Bow Beginning. Then the priest reads the homily from the ambo. Then the community follows into the trapeza. In some parishes, they have preserved the wonderful tradition of processing to the trapeza accompanied by the singing of the troparion of the day or feast. Before eating, all ceremoniously pray together. During trapeza you can read from a soul-profiting book, and on feasts it is customary to sing ancient Russian spiritual verses. Singing, as you know, is the soul of the people. It expresses its national character through its contents, which make you relive the events reflected in it. That is why it’s very important for Edinovertsi to sing Christian, and not worldly songs, in times of rest. This is another echo of a bygone era, and the desire to “draw near to the Kingdom of God,” Christianizing all the space around you.

During Edinoverie gatherings they read the Sacred Scripture with commentaries, the lives of the saints, the works of the holy fathers, and other edifying literature.

Because of the small number of parishioners, Old Rite churches are in close communication with one another, with active inter-parish cooperation. Edinovertsi of neighboring dioceses often visit one another; it can happen that faithful from various corners of the country, and even the world, come together for patronal feasts.

Those treasures of the liturgical and parish life that from the time of ancient Rus’ until our day have been borne by the Old Ritualists (Edinovertsi), are common to the entire Russian Church. Today they receive individual elements of Church piety in completely different churches and monasteries. Some use Znamenny singing on the kliros, somewhere they paint the churches according to the canons, others do not use electric light in the services. All these tools contribute to a better perception of God, deeper contact with Him for all those desiring of it, and for private prayer.

Interest in the Old Rite in the Church is growing with every year, attracting more and more supporters of a life according to the laws of ancient Rus’. May God grant that this interest not fade, but only increase, and most importantly—that it unswervingly help us all to move towards the salvation of our souls.

Vladimir Basenkov

Translated by Jesse Dominick

Originally appeared at: Pravoslavie.ru (http://orthochristian.com/104149.html)

Source: https://russian-faith.com/people/russian-amish-old-believers-guardians-ancient-russian-discipline-prayer-n1300

Medallions, pendants, and bracelets with images of the saints: there are so many products in some church stores! How should we treat them? Shall we wear them? Can a cross be a piece of jewelry? What if cross-shaped earrings are trendy now? Here are the answers by Archpriest Nikolay Markovsky, the parish priest of Holy Protection Church in v. Zaitsevo.

We have to bear in mind that the Cross is the symbol of our salvation. We all know perfectly well that it used to be a tool used for humiliating execution of lower-class criminals in the Roman Empire. When Jesus redeemed our sins on Mt. Golgotha, the Cross became the sign of His victory over death and a sacred object for every Christian. You cannot replace the Cross with anything else, with any icon, medallion, or ladanka.

If an individual wants to wear a medallion with the image of a saint, it’s fine. Each one of us has a heavenly patron. There are many people who venerate St. Spyridon of Trimythous, St. Nicholas the Wonderworker, St. Seraphim of Sarov, and other saints. You mustn’t replace your cross with these medallions but you can wear them together. The Cross is irreplaceable, and the rest is just supplementary to it.

Many people treat crosses or medallions not as sacred objects but as fashion accessories, and choose them accordingly, in jewelry stores based on their own aesthetic preferences. They wear these items over their clothes for everyone to see. It is unacceptable, too. A cross is a very personal item. Everyone carries his or her own cross on his or her neck, and it’s the cross that the Lord gave us during our baptism. When people show it off so that it becomes a fashion statement, it’s a sin. You should wear your cross modestly, under your clothes, and not show it off. The same is true of medallions and ladankas, too.

There are fashionistas who wear earrings and other jewelry in the shape of crosses. I think it’s outrageous. We read in the Gospel that the Lord carried his cross to Golgotha to be crucified on it, and the cross absorbed God’s Blood. The images of the Cross are sacred for every Christian. When people wear them in their ears, noses, and so forth, it’s a sacrilege, which calls for immediate repentance. Let’s take a flag of a regiment that fought in the Great Patriotic War as an example. It is soaked in the blood of the soldiers who carried it with them during all battles and died under that flag. Will you use that flag as a carpet or a fashion item? Everyone knows that the flag is sacred for the soldiers who survived that war. Similarly, the cross is sacred for all Orthodox Christians. You mustn’t wear it in the way that it wasn’t meant to be worn.

You might ask: what about athletes who do contact sports? They take off their crosses during training sessions because the crosses can be damaged. My opinion is that it is allowed to take the cross off and to put it in your pocket. Sometimes doctors also ask their patients to take off their crosses before a surgery or certain medical examinations. I was in a situation like that not long ago. The doctors were Christians, so they simply suggested that I put my cross on my hand, and I complied. That’s an example of direct necessity, and there’s no getting around it.

Is it required that you wear a cross with the Crucifixion scene on it?

Of course, a cross should look like a cross: that is, the Crucifix of our Lord Jesus Christ. If there isn’t the Crucifixion scene on your cross (e.g. if it’s someone else’s gift or if you were baptized with that cross), I don’t think it really matters. What you should care about is treating it as a sacred object and being aware of what you wear on your neck.

A cross must be a cross, so that anyone who looks at it should be able to see that it’s a cross and not a pendant, not a toy, not a pin. The Lord warned, “For whosoever shall be ashamed of me and of my words, of him shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he shall come in his own glory, and in his Father’s, and of the holy angels” (Luke 9:26). If you’re an Orthodox Christian and you go to church and take communion, how can you be ashamed of your cross? A Christian must be faithful to Christ and not cheat on him. You can hardly regard those who are attracted to many things at the same time and carried away by fashion trends as Christians. Those who want to wear pendants, should buy pendants and leave crosses to those who really care.

Women often wear bracelets composed of many small icons. Should we regard them as acceptable or not?

There are so many products in church stores nowadays. There are dozens of various ladankas, medallions, bracelets, bottles of oil consecrated no one knows where and no one knows by whom, etc. Frankly speaking, I’m skeptical about things like those. You can’t replace the cross with anything else. It’s our primary sacred object. When people wear a bracelet with images of twenty-five saints, what do they do it for? Can’t they pray to their favorite holy intercessors at home? If you regard that bracelet as a charm, are you really a Christian? It’s pure paganism.

Years ago, I used to see a whole iconostasis around some people’s necks: several crosses, medallions, and something else. Today, it’s not the case anymore. This is another case of Orthodoxy mutating into paganism. Pagans believe that the more gods you worship, the better covered you are. You simply need more gods and more rituals. The Orthodoxy is different. We have only one Savior, Jesus Christ, and only one Cross. You shouldn’t wear twenty icons and ladankas around your neck. You’ve got one Cross—a sacred object, which Jesus washed with his blood. What else do you need?

It is not the cross itself that protects us. It’s the Lord. It’s our faith. Jesus Christ says, “According to your faith be it unto you” (Matthew 9:29). If one cross isn’t enough for you, then you have little faith. Even if someone tears a cross off your neck or if you lose it or break it, it doesn’t mean that you’re left without God’s protection.

The Cross is the symbol of our faith. You shouldn’t panic if you lose it. If something happens to your cross, go to a church store and buy a new one. A cross is not a charm or an amulet. Your new cross will be as powerful as the one you lost. Don’t be afraid! If you lose your cross, go and buy a new one, then have it consecrated and wear it. May the Lord save you!

Recorded by Yekaterina Shcherbakova
Translated by The Catalog of Good Deeds

Source: https://pravlife.org/ru/content/mozhno-li-vmesto-natelnogo-kresta-nosit-medalon-s-ikonoy

For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God. (1 Cor. 1:18).

A Visit to a Psychic

“Can I help you?” my acquaintance, who was a psychic, offered, “I won’t cost you anything. I’ve healed so many people already! I can perform surgical operations at a distance.”

I was intrigued, so I agreed. She began moving her hands around my body and then said:

“I can’t. You wear a metal object which causes an interference. Please take it off.”

“I have a wristwatch, a safety pin, and a cross on.”

“You can leave the wristwatch and the safety pin on but please take the cross off, it interferes with the scan, I can’t see your internal organs…”

I refused to take the cross off because I thought it was an illogical demand: a metal is a metal, why is one kind worse that the other?

It took me a while to learn why the cross “causes an interference.” A year after the experiment, I read the following words in an article by Hegumen Ephraim titled Corrupted by the Opium of Faithlessness:

“The contemporary youth who have no faith and often lack the grace of the Holy Baptism, are brainwashed to become a submissive crowd, manipulated by several powerful sorcerers or psychics. <…> The psychics conduct the brainwashing, i.e., induce demon possession, using secret spells, enchanted objects, and special hand movements. <…> The cross is an obstacle for their sorcery. It makes it hard for them to do anything bad because it attracts God’s grace to the human and doesn’t allow demonic powers to penetrate the human body. That is why psychics always request to take off the cross.”

Recorded by the author

Strange Wine

“I’ve experienced something that I wouldn’t have believed if someone else had told me about it,” one of our parishioners told me.

You know, I visit an old lady from time to time. She is my classmates’ mother. Both her sons (who were twins) died of hunger several years ago. They hadn’t been married, so their mother was left completely alone. She bequeathed her three-room apartment to her neighbors in exchange for food and care. Of course, they don’t work too hard but they give her some food sometimes. And naturally, they are looking forward to her death.

They dislike the fact that I visit the old lady. They know that she’s not alone. I told my spiritual father about this situation, and he recommended, “Be careful or else they will kill you, too.” He never gives unreasonable advice, so I was very surprised, although I didn’t take his warning to heart.

So, I came to that old lady’s place on a church holiday. She picked a bottle of wine from her cupboard and said, “Let’s remember my boys!” Well, I never refuse to drink wine. “Okay,” I replied. Something about that bottle just didn’t feel right to me. I made the sign of the cross on it. Imagine: the wine changed its color in front of our very eyes! It turned muddy red."

“‘Where did you get that bottle?’” I inquired.

“My neighbors gave it to me long time ago. I haven’t had the chance to open it yet,” she responded.

We didn’t find out what kind of wine it was but we decided not to drink it. Better safe than sorry.

I related this story to my spiritual father later. He sees occasions like these as normal. “It’s great that you made the sign of the cross on that bottle,” he said.

Recorded by the author

The Ceiling

This story happened before my own eyes. My friend asked me to be his son’s godfather. I agreed wholeheartedly. Beka was 10 months old. He was a happy and calm baby. His father used to say, “He doesn’t seem to feel cold or pain. He’s going to become a true warrior!”

We had a festive meal after the baptism, and the mother lulled Beka to sleep. Some time later, his mother said, “I took off his christcross when changing his clothes but I forgot to put it on again!” I rose to my feet and suggested that I put the cross on the baby, given that I was his godfather.

I went to the baby’s bedroom. He was fast asleep. I put the cross on his neck very carefully but Beka woke up and started crying. His mother ran into the bedroom and tried to calm him down. She was doing all she could to soothe him but she couldn’t. The baby was screaming loudly. The frightened father entered the room and took the boy into his lap. The baby didn’t want to stop crying.

He decided to take the child to the dining room. The baby stopped crying and smiled.

“Can you guess what he wants?” the mother was astonished.

The toastmaster joked, “He wants to feast with us!”

Hardly did he finish his joke that we heard a noise that shattered the whole house. A cloud of dust filled the bedroom. We looked inside, and it turned out that the ceiling above Beka’s bed fell down. Huge pieces of plaster lay on his bed and around it. The grace of the cross that we had put on his neck caused the baby to cry and thus saved him.

Eldar Maisuradze

Published in Kviris Palitra Newspaper on May 14, 2007

Prepared by Maria Saradzhishvili

Translated by the Catalog of Good Deeds

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