St John Cassian of Rome: “Miracles while causing astonishment are of little help for a holy life.”
St Anthony the Great: “It is not a great thing to do miracles, it is not a great thing to see Angels, but the great thing is to see your own sins”
Month: July 2014
The final break.
Recently the General Synod of Anglican church has finally approved the changes in church law that will allow women to be ordained as bishops. According to BBC: “it breaks the continuous tradition that lasted until now of bishop-men exclusively, inherited from the early Christians almost 2000 years ago”
This decision had been brewing for a long time and it was, you might say, inevitable: by accepting certain prerequisites, you will inevitably come to certain conclusions based from them. Accepting certain ideas about faith and Church, you will inevitably arrive at certain conclusions about how it should be functioning. In western theology, a while ago, two approaches to Church have established themselves. Conservative – is the one that considers necessary to “earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints.” (Jud 1:3); the liberal believes that faith can and must change. Conservative enthusiastically believes in the supernatural, in the action of God in our world; liberal feels uneasy about the miracles of the Scripture and even more so about the ones of the Tradition. Conservative understands the mission of Church, first and foremost in the eternal salvation of men, liberal first and foremost in the struggle for social justice.
Conservative regards “present age” with a degree of apprehension – liberal warmly welcomes the progress (or what at this point is considered as such). Church is an organism, imbued with supernatural life; for liberal – corporation, similar to others. Therefore for the conservative, Church – is an organism, imbued with a mystical supernatural life; for the liberal – a corporation like other corporations. This is reflected in the perception of authority: for conservative Scripture and Church Tradition are above the requirements of modern society; for liberal it is the modern society that has priority, while what is written there in old books – not so much. St Paul can be condescendingly patted on the shoulder as a man limited to his era, and acknowledge that even our Lord had certain restrictions due to the fact that He had to adapt to the tastes of his audience. Specific questions – about female episcopate, about the attitude towards marriage, as to everything else, – are solved on the basis of one of these fundamental approaches.
If the bishop’s ministry is of a service administrator, of an executor of some theatrical performances which have reached us from time immemorial, and, well, a bit of a psychotherapist, then any arguments that men can perform this service and women cannot are perceived as absurd. Bishop is a job as any other job. Previously it was belived that woman cannot be a doctor or a teacher, and now these silly prejudices are forgotten and these professions became mainly represented by women. The conservative regards the episcopate as a kind of service that is fundamentally different from such undoubtedly respectable but qualitatively different occupations as that of a doctor or a teacher. The Church – is not a hospital, nor a school, nor a corporation; she is the mystical body of Christ, where people are assigned different kinds of ministry by the Holy Spirit. According to the word of our Lord, the Holy Spirit “recalls” to the Church all that Lord Jesus said. This is particularly evident in the sacrament of the Eucharist, when our Lord says: “Do this in remembrance of Me” (Luke 22:19) Lord Jesus Christ was (and still is) a man – this fact can be considered discriminatory, but no other Lord we have. He called God the Father – the feminists may be unhappy but no other God we have. Though around Him were enough of holy and pious women – first especially His Blessed Mother – He chose 12 apostles-men. No other apostles we have. Following His example, the Church for the duration of these 2 milleniums chooses men for bishop and priest ministry– no other Church we have. The Church is not established by us, but by Saviour, and it is not in our power to change what He established. Medicine or school education are human activities, in which we are free to change anything, including the gender proportion of employees. The Church is not established by us, but by Saviour, and it is not in our competence to change what He has established. Everyone is free to decide what to have for dinner- to drink tea, juice or sparkling water , to eat rice, cereal or pasta. While celebrating Eucharist only bread and wine can be used – because this is the establishment of the Lord. And it can only be served by successors of apostles – bishops and priests. By the same reason.
For a man it is absolutely impossible to become a mother; even a woman unable to bear a child, could adopt him and thus justly bear the high rank of the mother. For a man it is not possible – such is the nature of things in the world created by God. Likewise, a woman cannot be a bishop – that is the nature of things in the Church, created by the same God. Certainly, for a religious liberal these arguments don’t do: he simply does not believe in God-instituted nature of the Church, and for him the secular society can quite possibly possess greater authority. As it is stated in BBC news, “by this decision church is recognizing the importance which equality has for the secular society, giving a sign that she wants to end the isolation from the people it serves”. Well, if you follow the standards of civil equality, it remains unclear why is it not possible to ordain atheists as bishops, since it is an obvious discrimination. But the break with the 2000 years long tradition it is rather a symptom. The root of the disease lies in the rejection of faith in the God-instituted nature of the Church
by Serghei Hudiev
translated from russian
Post dedicated to Pavel Ryzhenko.
These 2 paintings belong to the military artist, Pavel Ryzhenko. Comments below the picture belong to him as well. For more pictures please visit:
http://xn—-7sbgmbf3aevlbr7l.xn--p1ai/
Pavel reposed in the Lord at the age of 44. Memory eternal!
“Choosing the faith” In the III century St. George in all its splendor and power of the emperors commander, makes his moral choice. He is surrounded by an excited crowd – the old and young soldiers, young people looking for the truth, the emperor himself and his entourage. A friend betrays and sends his commander to death. The emperor who used to delegate to George important matters – now becomes the executioner. Only the Empress rushes for the sufferer. Facing the cross the Great and Holy Martyr, a recent pagan, feels that his soul has made the choice. Here is The Truth – The Cross of Christ does not leave anyone indifferent. So it was in the III century. So it is now. Sooner or later, everyone has to make his choice.
“The victory of Peresvet” Peresvet won Chelubey. But why he won the best duelist throughout Asia, to whom unto these days prayers are lifted as to a saint in Thibet? This question can have a lot of answers, but the most correct, in my opinion, is as follows. He, Peresvet, the schemamonk Alexander, who while still being alive received memorial service in Lavra served by St. Sergius, was driving on the Kulikovo field dead to everything except to love. He loved, this giant baby. He was obedient to his Abba Sergius, who barely reached the shoulder of his child. He did not notice the difficulties of a month long military campaign – he waited. Waited for his hour and he received it. If I could see this moment of triumph even from afar! No, not the one shown in the picture, but the real one. The spiritual. Maybe the audience will see in my picture what I could not pass on the canvas, and then the purpose of my work is reached.
The first secularist
from “A book of hours” by Patricia Colling Egan
” Adam succeeded in his attempt at usurping the divine prerogative. He became creator – and, in a sense, he created out of nothingness. He created a world out of the nothingness of his sin, and all of his descendants are born into his sinful world. The first secularist, without destroying its beauty, distorted God’s creation by seeing it and himself independently of God, thus generating the ugly brood of evil and sin in which we are all immersed from birth.
To heal the rupture, those distortions, and to achieve the fulfillment of our nature, we need help from outside ourselves as well as from within our humanness. We need God in our flesh, just what we have been given but could never have envisioned. Christ’s life, so humanly true and full, so united to the Father, restore the harmony, the shalom, of the cosmos.
He is “the Way, the Truth, and the Life” (John 14:6) we must follow, seek, and live if we are to fulfill in ourselves and our time the healing and restoration He accomplished in His own. He is the new Adam reversing His predecessor’s pseudo-creation, restoring to the world its capacity for God”
O give thanks unto the Lord For He is good Alleluia!
Scientifical fundamentalism
Be aware, the article is infected with microbes of atheism.
Hypothesis: Some microorganisms would gain an evolutionary advantage by encouraging human hosts to perform certain rituals that favor microbial transmission. We hypothesize that certain aspects of religious behavior observed in the human society could be influenced by microbial host control and that the transmission of some religious rituals could be regarded as the simultaneous transmission of both ideas (memes) and parasitic organisms.
http://www.biologydirect.com/content/9/1/14/abstract
The Spiritual Testament of Saint Seraphim (+1949) of Viritsa “This Was From Me”
By Metropolitan Manuel Lemeshevsky[1]
Have you ever thought that everything that touches you touches Me as well? For that which touches you touches the apple of My eye.
You are dear in my eyes, precious, and I have loved you; therefore it is a particular pleasure for Me to educate you.
When temptations arise against you, and the enemy comes like a river, I want you to know—This was from Me.
Your weakness needs My strength, and your safety comes from giving Me the opportunity to fight for you. If you find yourself in difficult circumstances, among people who do not understand you, who do not take what you like into consideration, who alienate you—This was from Me.
I am God, Who arranges circumstances. It was no accident that you find yourself in the place where you are; this is the place I have appointed for you. Did you not ask that I teach you humility? Well, then, look: I have placed you in precisely that place, in that school, where this lesson is learned. Your surroundings and those who live with you are only fulfilling My will. If you find yourself in financial difficulty, if you find it hard to make ends meet—This was from Me.
For I have your material means at my disposal. I want you to call unto me, for you to be dependent upon Me. My reserves are inexhaustible. I want you to be confirmed in fidelity to Me and to My promises. May it not be said to you in your need: “You did not believe in the Lord your God.”
Are you in a night of suffering? Are you separated from your loved ones and those close to your heart? This was from Me.
I am the Man of suffering, Who has tasted affliction. I have allowed this so that you would turn to Me, so that in Me you would find eternal comfort. If you have been let down by your friend, to someone to whom you opened your heart—This was from Me.
I allowed this disappointment to touch you so that you would know that your best friend is the Lord. I want you to bring everything to Me and to speak to Me.
Has someone slandered you? Give this to me, and bring your soul closer to Me, your Refuge, to hide from the “contradiction of the nations.” I shall bring forth your righteousness as the light, and your judgment as the noonday. If your plans have been destroyed, if you are downtrodden in soul and tired—This was from Me.
You made plans, and brought them to Me, so that I would bless them. But I want you to leave Me in charge of the circumstances of your life, and then responsibility for everything will be Mine, for this is too difficult for you; by yourself you cannot manage them, for you are only an instrument, and not the actor. If unanticipated problems of life have visited you, and if despondency has seized your heart, then know—This was from Me.
For I want your heart and your soul to be always aflame before My eyes; to conquer faint-heartedness of the soul in My name. If you do not hear from your dear ones and friends for a long time, and in your faint-heartedness fall into despondency and grumbling, know—This was from Me.
By this anguish in your spirit, I test the strength of your faith in the surety of My promise and the strength of your boldness in prayer for these dear ones of yours. Was it not you who entrusted them to the Protection of My All-Pure Mother? Was it not you who once entrusted their care to My providential love? If serious illness, either temporary or incurable, has visited you, and has confined to your bed, then know—This was from Me.
For I want you to know Me even more deeply in you bodily infirmities, so that you would not grumble over this trial sent to you, that you would not try to penetrate My plans through different means for the salvation of people’s souls, but that you would uncomplainingly and submissively bow you neck under My goodness towards you. If you have dreamed of performing some special deed for Me, and instead haven fallen onto a bed of sickness and weakness—This was from Me.
Then you would have been immersed in your activities, and I would not have been able to attract your thoughts to Me, for I want to teach you My deepest thoughts and lessons, so that you would be in My service. I want to teach you to recognize that you are nothing. Some of My best co-workers are those who have been cut off from vital activity, that they would learn to wield the weapon of unceasing prayer.
Have you unexpectedly been called to occupy a difficult and responsible position? Go, place it on Me. I entrust these difficulties to you so that the Lord God would bless you for this in all your deeds, on all your paths, in everything that will done by your hands. On this day I put into your hands a vessel of holy oil. Use it generously, My children! Every difficulty that arises, every word that insults you, every obstacle to your work that could elicit in you a feeling of annoyance, every revelation of your weakness and inability, shall be anointed with this oil.
Remember that every obstacle is a Divine instruction. Every sting will be dulled when you learn to see Me in everything that touches you. Therefore place the word I have declared to you today in your heart: This was from Me. For this is not an empty matter for you—this is your life.
Translated from the original Russian by Hierodeacon Samuel, Monastery of St Job of Pochaev, Munich, Germany, for the Orthodox Christian Information Center. Posted on 3/6/2008.
[1] Translator’s note: Inasmuch as the above text was distributed for from hand-to-hand in samizdat form for several decades, printed versions include competing explanations of its authorship and origin. The most common attribution is to St Seraphim of Viritsa, who was said to have written it in 1937 to a certain bishop, his spiritual son, who was at the time in prison. It is almost entirely certain, however, that the author is in fact Metropolitan Manuel (Lemeshevsky) of Kuibyshev and Syzran (1884-1968). It is known that St Seraphim of Viritsa and Metropolitan Manuel were acquainted, and therefore it could be speculated that this meditation represents the latter’s record of the saint’s spiritual teaching.
Blind men.
I had the occasion to visit Montreal Museum of Fine Arts where I saw this painting:
“Vanitas” by N.L.Peschier
It reminded me of desert monks that placed a coffin in their cell as a reminder of what awaits everyone. It also gave them the right perspective over the things of this world. Things that fallen spirits are trying to lure with all humans ever since the fall. Same ghostly pleasures that Christ our Lord was tempted with during His fast in the desert. Christ made it possible for us to win over the fallen spirits and our own fallen nature. “Break their teeth, O God, in their mouth: break out the great teeth of the young lions, O LORD” Psalm 58:6.
So, instead of the coffin this painting could serve the same purpose. There are several variations of Vanitas paintings that 16-17th century painters were inspired to bring to light .
I also had the chance to see one of the Tissot paintings, but it wasn’t one of those inspired by the Bible. Like this one, a different version of the well-known “Blind leading the blind”:
The blind man represented here came to the delusional state of believing that not only he has a perfect sight, but he also was confident that he can lead other people on a certain road to a certain very much desired destination. Since his companions were as blind as he was, they were not able to discern the truth from the lie. God spare us from something like that.
St Ignatius Bryanchaninov describes this state of spirit in his homily on the blind of Jericho:
“The sight of sinners is perverted and damaged by sin to such a degree that in all fairness it needs to be accepted and defined as blindness. This blindness is a blindness of spirit. This blindness is all the more dangerous, as it considers itself and confesses itself as the most satisfactory and superb sight. The blind sinner doesn’t see God, nor eternity, nor self, nor the purpose of man’s creation, nor death that awaits him and all men, unavoidable for him and for everyone. Miserable one! He acts based on his blindness, for his own perdition, lives only for the sake of futile and ephemeral things, chasing ghosts. And the forgotten death comes after him, pulls him out of the field of his activity, presents him to the Divine Judgement, which he never meditated upon, for which he never bothered to get prepared. The beginning of the return of sight for a blind sinner is the realization and confession of his blindness, renunciation of the deeds that were committed under the guidance of this blindness”
The blind of Jericho confessed his blindness and he prayed and waited for Christ to call him, to save him.
“For thou wilt light my candle: the LORD my God will enlighten my darkness” Psalm 18:28
Poems from communist prisons. Simion Lefter
Mother
by
Simion Lefter
Good night, Mother, good night,
precious soul, priceless balm,
the stars have come to tell you
it is late, but you by the window have fallen asleep
The moon has set behind the roof
and now you stand alone in the sash.
Go, Mother, go to bed.
Again you have waited in vain today.
The icon seems about to weep
over your snowblown hair.
The vigil light is almost out,
You even forgot it today.
Year by year, maybe today, perhaps tomorrow,
You wait on the porch for your son.
He is somewhere in prison fading into the night,
flogged along the road of slavery.
A trial most difficult to contend with was the lack of news; news of any kind. The prisoners were tortured by worry over their families: were they safe, or homeless (many were); were friends still free or even alive – they had no inkling of what went on in the world outside, not even of what transpired in the prison itself – isolation was complete.
Missing the mark
Although we are unique, our essential needs are the same: we want to love, we want to be loved, we want to be like God and we want to worship God. How does it happen that instead of loving others we are using them to satisfy our egoistical passions, instead of being loved we become incapable of making other people to be happy in our presence, instead of being like God we are becoming isolated beings in various forms of delusion, instead of worshiping the Living God we become idolaters.
When an archer releases the arrow, he either hits the target or misses it, that’s it. In spiritual world, the arrow (our thought that materializes in words and deeds) behaves strangely. It can come back and wound the soul, it can open the gates to our heart for cold and dark beings. In spiritual world/warfare missing a target is defined as sin, amartia.
Fr Seraphim describes the consequences of missing the mark, when man decides to do things his way:
“The Revolution reveals its truest face in Nihilism; without repentance – and there has been none – what comes after can only be a mask hiding that same face. Whether overtly in the explicit antitheism of Boshevism, Fascism, Naziism, or passively in the cult of indifference and despair, “absurdism” and “existentialism”, modern man has clearly revealed his resolve to live henceforth without God – that is to say, in a void, in nothingness. Before our century, the well-meaning could still delude themselves that “Liberalism” and “humanism”, “science” and “progress”, the Revolution itself and the whole path of modern thought were something “positive” and even, in some vague sense, had “God” on their side. It is quit clear now that the Revolution and God can have nothing to do with each other; there is no room in a consistent modern philosophy for God at all. All further modern thought, whatever disguises it may assume, must presuppose this, must be built upon the void left by the “death of God”. The Revolution, in fact, cannot be completed until the last vestige of faith in the trug God is uprooted from the hearts of men and everyone has learned to live in this void” Nihilism. The Theology and Spirit of Nihilism.
In this warfare we are witnessing today, the war on religion, family, morals, education, sovereignty, who will dare to stand against this insane modern Goliath, well-equipped and financed, the one that more and more openly tells us – christians, your time on this planet is over? And to my mind these beautiful verses from Liturgy come: “Let us lift up our hearts” and let us look at this modern Goliath from the height of the power of God. Then we’ll know that if the believer follows Christ teachings and is in unity with the Body of Christ, by prayer God will give us His victory. So, in these “apocalyptic days” as Fr John Krestiankin used to say in his sermons, we can try to search the deeper meaning of the victory of young prophet David that defeated the monster with a pebble. “If God is on our side, who is against us?”
I would like to share these words from Elder Thaddeus of Vitovnica: “All that God created, He created as sublime and perfect. Even the spirits that later fell away from God were created as perfect beings. They fell away from noetic perfection, and because they have alienated themselves from the Source of life, they seek solace in a life of falsehood. They have no real life but seek it amid created things, amid things that are limited. That is the food they thrive on. But because they have alienated themselves from love – yet remember how it was when they were under the wing of the Holy Spirit in the fullness of Grace – they try to imitate that [love], and thus entice people, giving them false comfort in order to win them over.
And so people engage in many activities: philosophy, rational thinking, scientific research – but all that is very short-lived. The comfort lasts a very short time, and then depression and despondency set in. People on this earth generally feel very lonely, even when they are among their closest family members. This is due to our fallen nature. The children cry, and their cries are also the cries of their parents.
The fallen spirits also feel loneliness and therefore keep company with each other, doing all kinds of evil, just like the people here on the earth. The fallen spirits are of one mind and they act together, whatever they do, trying to find consolation, but they never find it. Likewise people: they go to bars and restaurants together and get drunk, smashing glasses and bottles, and they come home with cuts and bruises, but they find no comfort. They look for comfort everywhere, but it cannot be found. But those who are one with the Lord, like the angels, are always at peace and have joy in their hearts. Their peace and joy are unchangeable.”
Encounter with orthodox christianity 