For many people, the world of Orthodox, spiritual literature is a mystery. After all, we do not get acquainted with him at school or at the institute. The abundance of books published today by Orthodox publishing houses raises many questions: where to start your self-education? Are all books good for a layman to read? We are talking about this with Bishop of Intercession and Nicholas Pachomius.
- The concept of "spiritual literature" is quite broad. This is a range of books on various topics. Often, the works of holy ascetics, who set forth in them the experience of their spiritual life, are referred to as spiritual literature. The main criterion for the spirituality of literature is its correspondence to the evangelical spirit. These books help to understand the Gospel, to know the Divine world, to improve spiritually, to learn to pray, and most importantly, to learn how to compare your actions with the commandments of Christ.
AT modern world the concepts of "spirituality" and "spiritual development" have acquired a slightly different meaning than the one that is invested in it in Christianity. An Orthodox person invests in the concept of "spirituality" the development of the human soul, its aspiration to God. Therefore, we can probably talk about Muslim, Buddhist spirituality. Today, the authors of the course Fundamentals of Religious Cultures and Secular Ethics proceed from this, assuming the presence of confessional spirituality. And talking about some kind of abstract spirituality, when a person simply imagines images, concepts of some kind of foggy spiritual life, is not serious. Sometimes it can even lead to tragedy. Because, not wanting to understand the spiritual, supernatural world, a person can fall under the power of fallen spirits and be seriously damaged.
— Where does a person need to start getting acquainted with the world of spiritual literature: from serious works or from the basics?
— The first spiritual book that every person should read is the Gospel. Then it is worth getting acquainted with the interpretation of the Holy Scriptures. Because the Gospel is a rather specific book, it contains many deep images, historical allusions, and examples. In order to understand them, you need to have a certain skill, knowledge, conceptual apparatus. Many patristic writings allow us to correctly interpret Holy Scripture, help us understand what Christ is telling us and teaching us. We can recommend, for example, the works of St. John Chrysostom or Theophylact of Bulgaria.
And then you need to go on a broad front. On the one hand, church life is determined external actions, a set of rules for external behavior. There is a lot of good literature on this subject these days. You should definitely read the "Law of God", which tells about what a temple is, how to behave properly in it, how to confess, take communion.
The second important direction is the development of man's inner spiritual life. Because one can learn to observe all the rules of external Christian piety, but at the same time not really understand what is happening in the Church and what spiritual life is. Be sure to get acquainted with the patristic literature. Every Christian needs to read the "Ladder" of the Monk John of the Ladder, the "Emotional Teachings" of Abba Dorotheus, the "Invisible Warfare" of Nicodemus the Holy Mountaineer. Because it is a kind of primer of spiritual life. To apply the Gospel in your life, you need an example of ascetics, whose labors, deeds, searches we meet on the pages of spiritual books.
- Modern man often refers to the lack of time that could be set aside for serious reading. What would you suggest?
— I do not think that this is only a problem of modern man, it is unlikely that there was more time in antiquity. There is only one advice: start reading and devote to this even the shortest, but still constant time during the day. For example, for 10-20 minutes before going to bed, everyone can read the “Emotionally Helpful Teachings” of Abba Dorotheus. You know, when they talk about a modern person, I always remember a scene from the cartoon about Prostokvashino: “I get so tired at work that I barely have the strength to watch TV.”
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— The execution of any order is always associated with certain difficulties. It is always difficult to do what causes difficulties. And when we read about the fulfillment of some kind of virtue - such as love towards one's neighbor, forgiveness, humility - it is always difficult. But here it is worth remembering the Russian proverb: “Without labor, you cannot pull a fish out of a pond.” Therefore, the main principle here is: read it - start, albeit from the smallest. The man says, "I can't pray, I don't have enough time." Start praying with one or two prayers, read with one or two pages a day. So that you do not become like people who are always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth (see: 2 Tim. 3, 7). Priests are often asked: “How can one learn humility?” It is impossible to do this without beginning to humble yourself before the boss, husband, wife, children, everyday difficulties. So it is with other virtues.
— Can serious ascetic labors harm a person? After all, sometimes you can hear such a statement: "These are books for monks, it is better for the laity not to read them."
— No, I think that spiritual books cannot harm a person. You can also say: “Can the works of professors, scientists harm a student who is starting to study physics?”. Everything has its time, and everyone has their own measure. A novice Christian needs to read spiritual literature. And although by definition it is almost all monastic, but what is written in it can be attributed to any Christian. After all, by and large, what is the difference between a monk and a layman? Only a celibate life. The rest of all the prescriptions that are offered in the spiritual literature are valid for both the monk and the layman.
But at the same time, one must perfectly understand that the main virtue, which the holy fathers often write about, is reasoning. You need to be able to correctly evaluate what you read. Man is so arranged that it is always easier to perceive extremes. Since the book was written by a monk, and I am not a monk, then I do not need to read it. Often such a thought becomes an excuse, an excuse, that for me that small measure is enough. spiritual development which I have defined for myself. But if we open the Gospel, we will see that Christ calls man to perfection. Therefore, be perfect as your Heavenly Father is perfect (Mt 5:48).
It's hard to say for every person. Perhaps, for all it is possible to name the Gospel. By the way, you can meet a lot of people who call themselves churchmen, but at the same time they have never read the Gospel, Holy Scripture. I think it is very shameful to call oneself a Christian and not to read the Gospel, knowing how to read. And then you need to get acquainted with the interpretations of the Holy Scriptures, and with hagiographic historical literature, which makes it possible to evaluate your life using the examples of pious ascetics. You need to be interested in modern church literature, read periodicals. There is a lot of literature, and the main thing is to correctly prioritize. This should be assisted by a priest, with whom a person can meet in the temple and have a thoughtful conversation.
Unfortunately, today people generally read little, and therefore have little interest in spiritual literature. Therefore, it is important that the priest in the temple tell the parishioners about the benefits of spiritual reading, about book novelties, about spiritual writers. There should be a good library at the temple, a selection of books on a candle box or in a church shop. The range of books that are sold on a candle box always makes it possible to understand how the parish lives. In private conversations with parishioners during non-liturgical hours or during confession, the priest must recommend spiritual books.
We are now celebrating Orthodox Book Day. Various events will be held by the parishes of the Intercession Diocese. And how can every Christian celebrate this holiday?
– In the most direct way: take a spiritual book and start reading it.
This work is dedicated to my first mentor in the church ministry, Archpriest Vasily Vladyshevsky, with love and gratitude..
At present, a large number of people who have understood with their minds or felt with their hearts that there is a God, who are aware, albeit unclearly, of their belonging to the Orthodox Church and who want to join Her, face the problem churching, that is, entering the Church as a full and full member of Her.
This problem is very serious for many, because, entering the temple, an unprepared person faces a completely new, incomprehensible and even somewhat frightening world.
Clothes of priests, icons, lampadas, chants and prayers in an obscure language - all this creates in the newcomer a feeling of his own alienness in the temple, leads to reflections about whether all this is necessary for communication with God?
Many say: "The main thing is that God is in the soul, but it is not necessary to go to church."
This is fundamentally wrong. Popular wisdom says: "To whom the Church is not the Mother, God is not the Father." But in order to understand how right this saying is, it is necessary to know what is the Church? What is the meaning of her existence? Why is Her mediation necessary in man's communion with God?
In order to answer these and many other questions that arise in a person standing in front of the opened gates of the Church, this work has been written.
The basis of this work was the material collected and processed during the lectures given during the two-year courses of the "Sunday School" for adults.
Since this material was formed on the basis of the questions of the Sunday School listeners and the answers to them, it became expedient to use the form of presentation in the form of questions and answers in this edition.
Due to the fact that this publication is intended for people who already recognize the existence of God and want to know Him, people who are interested in Orthodoxy and feel, albeit unconsciously, their inner connection with Him, in this work we will not consider evidence of the existence of God and discuss with atheists or adherents of other faiths.
The purpose of this publication is to help modern man understand the meaning of the inner life of the Church, to consciously become its full and full member, a citizen of the Kingdom of Heaven, that is become churched.
I apologize in advance to those who read for the shortcomings of this work that it contains, and if it helps anyone to get even one step closer to God and the Church, I ask you to remember the author in your prayers.
Priest Alexander Torik
Question: Where should a modern person begin his “churching”, who believes in God and is aware of his belonging to the Russian Orthodox Church?
Answer: First of all, each Orthodox Christian should have faith, know and understand the foundations of the doctrine of the Christian Church and try with all your might live by faith.
In order to have faith, it is not enough to put on a pectoral cross, go to the temple and put a candle there, being sure that you are already "Orthodox".
Our Lord Jesus Christ repeatedly denounced in lack of faith even His disciples, witnesses of His numerous miracles, who themselves performed many miraculous deeds received from Him by the Power of the Holy Spirit. "Truly I say to you, if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, and say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there,' and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you." (Mat. 17.20)
True Faith is a gift from God. And this Gift is given to those who sincerely, "from a pure heart", yearn to receive it. "Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and it will be opened to you." (Mat. 7.7)
But in order for the thirst for gaining Faith to settle in the soul of a person, this person must force to realize that the question about God, about Faith is not just a question of "life and death", but of Life and Eternal Death.
Obviously, any person, at least once in his life, but thought: who am I, why do I live, is there anything after death?
Unfortunately, most people do not look for answers to these questions, but absorbed in worries about "daily bread", and who about the new "Mercedes" or other luxury items or necessities, tries to erase them from their minds or put them off for "someday". after ".
The scary thing is that this "later" may not come. The soul of a person who lives only with the cares of this “age”, under the burden of sins accumulated during his life, suffocates and dies, becomes incapable of perceiving spiritual phenomena, unable even want to know God. Sadly, but the number of such "dead souls" in our time is catastrophically increasing.
And if a person sincerely desires to receive answers to them, not embarrassed by his environment, national or any other prejudices, then God, seeing the pure desire of his heart, will certainly reveal Himself to him, giving him the opportunity to know the Truth and communion with Christ, who is: "Way and Truth and Life". (John 14.6)
It should also be taken into account that by following the path of the mind, through analysis and reflection, especially given the current amount of information available to everyone, one can quite quickly come to an understanding that God exists.
But stay with this rational fruitless knowledge.
The main tool for knowing God is the human heart, a heart that suffers, seeks, languishes in the absence of Grace.
And, if it is not filled "over the edge" with base passions, envy, malice, voluptuousness, there will always be a tiny "living" piece in it that can feel God, contain His Love, become the beginning of Soul Salvation.
An example of this is the thief crucified on the cross "on the right side" of the Lord Jesus Christ. Here is how the Gospel tells about this: “Bring two villains with Him to death. And when they came to the place called Skull, there they crucified Him and the villains, one on the right, and the other on the left. Jesus said: Father! Forgive them for they know not what they are doing: and they divided his garments, casting lots.
And the people stood and watched. The rulers also mocked with them, saying: He saved others; let him save himself, if he is the chosen Christ of God."
“One of the hanged villains slandered Him and said: if you are the Christ, save yourself and us. The other, on the contrary, calmed him down and said: or are you not afraid of God when you yourself are condemned to the same thing? And we are justly condemned, because they received what was worthy according to our deeds, but He did nothing wrong, and He said to Jesus: Remember me, Lord, when You come into Your Kingdom! And Jesus said to him, “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise.”. (Luke 23:32-36,39-43)
This is the power of God's Love for His creation!
In the last minutes of his life, the conscience of the robber woke up: he took pity on the Crucified innocently, and the Crucified God forgave him all his sins and was the first to lead him into Paradise!
All our sins will be forgiven by the Merciful Lord, if we repent. If we want. If we can. If we do not kill our souls with sins, making them incapable of repentance.
So, in order to have I believe you need want Get her.
And having awakened this desire in yourself, you need to ask Faith with God, like a man who came to the Lord Jesus Christ and asked for the healing of his son, to whom Christ said: "If you can believe a little, everything is possible to him who believes.
And immediately the father of the lad exclaimed with tears: I believe, Lord! Help my unbelief." (Mark 9:24)
Christ, seeing the sincere desire of this man, helped "his unbelief" and gave him Faith, and with it the healing of his son.
Likewise, we, who want to receive Faith, need to ask the Lord for it, and not rationally, with a "cold heart," but fervently, "with tears," as children sometimes ask their parents for what they want.
And, if our desire is sincere and the request is persistent, the Lord will give us Faith, and countless confirmations of its truth.
The second condition necessary for "churching" is knowledge of the fundamentals of dogma, that is: Who is God? What does He want from us? What does He promise us? Who is Jesus Christ? Why did He come? What did he teach?
What is the Church? Why is she needed? How can we live as a Christian?
All these questions are answered by "Holy Scripture" and "Holy Tradition" - the two pillars on which the Holy Catholic Apostolic Orthodox Church stands.
Question: What is "Holy Scripture"?
Answer: Sacred Scripture is a collection of books in which God Himself, by His Spirit, through the Holy Prophets and Apostles, gave us a revelation about Himself, about the history of the relationship between God and man, about the Kingdom of Heaven and about the ways to achieve it.
This collection of sacred books, combined into one Book, is called the "Bible" (the Bible is a book Greek.).
Question: What is "Holy Tradition"?
Answer: Sacred Tradition is a collection of all knowledge about God, about spiritual life, which is given to us by God, except for Holy Scripture, through the creations of the Holy Fathers, the Decrees of the Holy Ecumenical Councils, all the centuries-old experience of the life of the Church, Her liturgical texts.
Sacred Tradition complements and reveals the meaning and significance of the texts of Holy Scripture, introduces us directly into the practice of the spiritual life of a Christian.
So, in order to know the basics of Christian doctrine and for further improvement in spiritual life, it is necessary to have and study the Bible - the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments, which: "... can make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is inspired by God and useful for teaching for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be perfect, prepared for every good work." (2 Tim. 3.15)
Moreover, first and foremost, you need to read and study the New Testament of our Lord Jesus Christ, because it is precisely according to the New Testament that the Church of Christ has been living for two thousand years.
And, of course, it is impossible for a novice Christian to properly develop and perfect himself in Spirit and Truth without resorting to the spiritual treasury of Sacred Tradition, the creations of the Holy Fathers, and the guidance of the pastors of the Church.
The road leading to Christ inevitably leads to the Temple.
Question: What is a temple?
Answer: The temple is a place of communication between a person and God, a place for performing sacred rites. The Lord Himself said about the temple: "My house will be called the House of Prayer." (Mat. 21.13)
Prayer is the main, always and everywhere available, form of communication between a Christian and God. It is in many ways akin to human communication. For example: troubles, problems or illnesses overcame you, a desire appeared to "pour out your soul." You meet a loved one, friend or relative, and in a fit of frankness tell him everything that has accumulated in your soul. And, even if he listens to you in silence, you still feel his empathy, sympathy, you feel the mutual contact of your souls.
Approximately the same mutual contact of the soul with God is felt by a Christian during prayer. This contact, communication is the main action of prayer, during which a Christian purifies his soul and receives from God the Grace of the Holy Spirit. And if close person, friend, will not always be there at the right time, then the Lord is always and everywhere at the same moment ready to hear the heartfelt appeal addressed to him.
Great happiness for the soul is to constantly be in inseparable communion with its Creator, to always feel the fullness of the grace-filled presence of God in the heart. This is achievable. And the main tool for achieving this happiness of the soul is unceasing prayer.
Prayer performed constantly: at home, on the road, at work, and, of course, in the temple - a place specially created for prayer, a place where the Spirit of God dwells. A temple is a place where your prayer is greatly strengthened by the common prayer of the Church, by your participation in the sacred rites performed by the clergy.
Question: What are sacraments?
Answer: Sacred ceremonies are the Sacraments of the Church, Statutory Divine Services, various prayer services, i.e. those actions of the Church in which it is not visible, but really, through clergy specially appointed for this, it acts divine grace of the holy spirit, purifying, enlightening and saturating Christian souls, making them worthy of the Kingdom of God.
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Question: What is the Grace of the Holy Spirit?
Answer: The grace of the Holy Spirit is "the saving power of God, the Divine energy necessary for a person to improve in spiritual and moral life." (brochure " All-night vigil. Liturgy" published by the Moscow Patriarchate. Moscow. 1991, p. 54).
Grace of the Holy Spirit (abbr. grace) is a really existing Divine energy (energy is an active force Greek.), given by the Lord Jesus Christ to His Church almost two thousand years ago and to this day remaining in the Holy, Catholic, Apostolic, which has preserved the purity of the Doctrine of the Faith, Orthodox Church.
The Grace of the Holy Spirit should be told in more detail, since it key question in understanding the inner life of the Church, its purpose.
When our Lord Jesus Christ came out to preach the Gospel of the Kingdom of God, he gave us a New Commandment - the Commandment of Love. "I give you a new commandment: love one another!" (John 13:34)
These words were addressed to the people, who for many centuries lived according to the "Old" Law given by God through the prophet Moses - the law of justice: "an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth."
And suddenly this people hears the words of Jesus: “You heard that it was said: “Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.” But I say to you: Love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who despitefully use you and persecute you.” . (Mat. 5.43-44)
The people, in order to believe that Jesus was really sent by God, needed confirmation, and He provided these confirmations.
The gospel stories are replete with descriptions of innumerable miraculous deeds performed by the Lord Jesus Christ; healing the terminally ill, walking on water, feeding five thousand people with five loaves, raising the dead, and many others.
Realizing that all these deeds require a supernatural force, people asked Jesus what power He performs miracles, and Jesus testified that He performs them through the Power of His Father.
The Gospel of Luke directly says: "power went out from Him and healed all." (Luke 6.19)
This Power is the Divine Grace of the Holy Spirit.
It is very important for a Christian to understand that since all the miracles performed by the Lord Jesus Christ are real (who would listen to Him and follow Him, if people did not see the healed sick, the resurrected dead, if 5000 people were not satisfied with the pieces from the five broken by Jesus loaves), then the Divine Grace of the Holy Spirit, which performs all these miracles through Jesus, is also real.
Sending His disciples - the Apostles to preach the Gospel so that they could confirm their words with miraculous deeds, Jesus endowed them with the Power of the Holy Spirit, giving them the ability to work miracles and transfer this Power to other people. The apostles, dispersing to the whole world with the preaching of the Gospel of the Kingdom of God, healed the sick, cast out unclean spirits, raised the dead; word of sermon and miracles led thousands of new Christians to faith in the Risen Lord. In villages and cities, they gathered small churches from believers, and, choosing the worthy, they laid hands on them with prayer, passing on to the chosen ones the God-given Power of the Holy Spirit, which is necessary for performing sacred rites.
These chosen ones, who received from the apostles the Grace of the Holy Spirit, together with Her received the power to perform sacraments with this Power, as well as to transfer It to others. They became the first bearers of Grace after the Apostles - the Bishops of the Church, who also, through the laying on of hands, passed Grace to their successors - bishops, priests, deacons.
For almost two thousand years now, in the Holy Catholic Apostolic Orthodox Church, there has been acting transmitted in the Sacrament of Consecration (consecration - the laying on of hands Greek.) Divine energy - the Grace of the Holy Spirit, the bearers of which are the clergy.
Question: How is the operation of the Grace of the Holy Spirit manifested in the Church?
Answer: Let's take, for example, one of the most frequently performed sacred actions - a small consecration of water.
Ordinary water, after reading prayers over it by a priest and immersing the Holy Cross three times in it, changes its properties: it does not “bloom”, for many years it retains the fresh taste of freshly drawn water; those who accept it with Faith, those who drink and sprinkle it, give healing to ailments, drive away the action of demonic forces. In recent times, rabid atheistic propaganda tried to explain this miracle by the action of silver ions, claiming that silver vessels and silver crosses are used to sanctify water. It's a lie.
In our time, only a few churches have preserved silver bowls or crosses, since almost all church silver was looted over the years. Soviet power"fighters against religion".
Therefore, water is consecrated in vessels made of of stainless steel or copper, in galvanized or enameled buckets, plastic and any other.
Also, the crosses with which the consecration of water is performed can be made of various materials.
In addition, the consecration of water in the Sacrament of Baptism is generally performed simply by the hand of a priest. And yet, this water has all the properties that "Holy Water" should have.
This is only the most obvious example of the operation of the Grace of the Holy Spirit in the Church, although the consecration of water is by no means the most important sacred action and does not even belong to sacraments.
Question: What are Sacraments?
Answer: Sacraments are those sacred rites in which the Grace of the Holy Spirit acts with special power and which are most important in the spiritual life of a Christian.
The sacraments are: Baptism, Confirmation, Communion, Repentance, Marriage, Unction, and Priesthood.
Our Lord Jesus Christ said, "Unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God." (John 3.5)
Thus, He clearly pointed out the need for the Sacrament of Baptism for a person who wants to enter the Kingdom of Heaven and abide there in eternal joy with God, and in confirmation of His words, in fulfillment of the prophecies spoken about Him. He himself received Baptism from John the Baptist in the waters of the Jordan.
During the celebration of the Sacrament of Baptism, after reading special prayers and anointing the person who came to be baptized with consecrated oil, the priest "baptizes" (washes Church Slavonic.) with its consecrated water through triple immersion or dousing with the pronunciation of the words: "The servant of God (name) is baptized in the name of the Father, Amen, and the Son, Amen, and the Holy Spirit, Amen."
At this moment, the Grace of the Holy Spirit, as it were, "irradiates" the whole person, and under the influence of Grace, his physical and spiritual being changes: the person is, as it were, reborn in a new quality (which is why Baptism is called the second birth).
In addition, in the Sacrament of Baptism, a person is given a name; he acquires a heavenly patron in the person of the saint, whose name they called him; all the sins committed by him before Baptism are forgiven by God, a mentor and guardian of the soul, the Angel of God, is assigned to the newly enlightened Christian; and the Grace received in the Sacrament of Baptism, the Christian carries in himself until the end of his life, either multiplying it in himself with a righteous life, or losing it through the fall.
God revealed to us through St. Seraphim of Sarov, the great Russian ascetic, that the goal of the Christian life is the acquisition of the Holy Spirit. Just as people of this world strive to acquire earthly riches, a true Christian strives to acquire the Grace of the Holy Spirit. There are many ways to acquire this imperishable wealth: this is "intelligent prayer", and the creation of works of mercy, and service to others, and many others.
Each Christian individually, under the guidance of his "confessor", follows one or another path of serving God and acquiring Grace. But one way, common to all Christians, is perhaps more frequent visits to the temple, participation in common prayer, confession and communion of the Holy Mysteries of Christ.
Question: What is the meaning of the Sacrament of Chrismation?
Answer: The Sacrament of Confirmation joins the Sacrament of Baptism, together They constitute a single rite. It is performed through the anointing of certain parts of the body of the person being baptized (forehead, nostrils, ears, mouth, chest, arms, legs) with a specially consecrated composition - Peace.
The meaning of this Sacrament is revealed in the words of the priest, pronounced by him during the chrismation: "The Seal of the Gift of the Holy Spirit."
The seal is a sign of the one to whom we belong. The Holy Spirit in this Sacrament is given to the baptized as a Gift of God, a Gift that completes the sanctification of a Christian when he enters the Church.
The apostles who were sent to preach the Gospel during the earthly life of the Lord Jesus Christ were endowed by Him with separate gifts of the Holy Spirit, namely: healing the sick, casting out unclean spirits, resurrecting the dead.
Appearing to the disciples shortly after His Resurrection, Christ gave them the ability to forgive sins by blowing and saying: "Receive the Holy Spirit. To whom you forgive sins, they will be forgiven; on whom you leave, they will remain." (John 20:22-23)
And only on the day of Pentecost, having sent down on the disciples the Holy Spirit in the form of "fiery tongues", the Lord endowed them with the fullness of the gifts of Grace necessary for the life of the Church.
Likewise, a Christian who has received cleansing from sins in the Sacrament of Baptism, renewal of life, birth into Eternal Life, in the Sacrament of Chrismation acquires the fullness of Grace as the Gift of the Holy Spirit.
Question: What are the Holy Mysteries of Christ?
Answer: The Church calls the Holy Mysteries of Christ Body and Blood of Christ into which "transubstantiate" (i.e. change their being, turn) bread and wine during the celebration of the Divine Liturgy by the priest in the temple.
Our Lord Jesus Christ said: "He who eats my flesh (eat - eat Church Slavonic.) and whoever drinks my blood has eternal life." (John 6:54)
On the night before He was taken to the Cross, while at the Last Supper with His disciples, Christ celebrated the Sacrament of the Eucharist for the first time, i.e. By the grace of the Holy Spirit, he changed the essence of bread and wine into the essence of His Body and Blood. Then, having given Them to eat and drink to His disciples, He commanded: "Do this in remembrance of Me." (Luke 22.19)
Thus, Christ established the celebration of the Sacrament of Communion, i.e. uniting with Him in the closest way, for when we receive the Body and Blood of Christ into ourselves, They become our body and blood, and we are deified as far as it is possible for a person.
Christ Himself said, "He who eats My Flesh and drinks My Blood abides in Me, and I in him." (John 6:56)
Satan, in his pride wanting to become equal to God, was cast out of Heaven. Adam and Eve, having accepted from the devil the proud idea of becoming "like gods, knowing Good and Evil", were expelled from Paradise. Christ, who humbled Himself to a terrible death on the Cross, defeated Satan with his pride, freed man from the slavery of sin and gave man the possibility of true deification in union with Himself through the communion of His Body and Blood.
Question: What is the Sacrament of Penance?
Answer: The Sacrament of Penance is a sacrament in which the priest, given to him by the Power of the Holy Spirit, "allows" (unties, frees Church Slavonic.) from the sins of the penitent Christian.
In order to understand the meaning of Repentance, it is necessary to analyze the concept of "sin" in more detail.
Sin is a violation of the Commandment of God, a crime against God's Law, in a sense, suicide.
Sin is terrible, first of all, because it destroys the soul of the person who commits this sin, for by committing a sin, a person loses the Grace of the Holy Spirit, is deprived of the Gracious protection and becomes open to the destructive forces of evil, unclean spirits, which do not slow down to immediately use the opportunity destructive actions in the soul of the sinner.
And since the human body and soul are bound together in this earthly life, spiritual wounds become a source of bodily ailments; and both body and soul suffer as a result.
It is also important to understand that the Commandments of God, His Law are given to us as a Gift of His Divine Love for us, His foolish children.
God in His Commandments commands to do something and not to do another, not because He "just wants to."
Everything that God commanded to do is beneficial to us, and everything that God has forbidden is harmful.
Even a common person, who loves his child, teaches him: "drink carrot juice - it is healthy, do not eat a lot of sweets - it is harmful." And the child does not like carrot juice, and he does not understand why it is harmful to eat a lot of sweets: after all, sweets are sweet, but carrot juice is not. Therefore, he resists the word of his father, pushes away a glass of juice and throws a tantrum, demanding more sweets.
Also, we, adult "children", are more inclined towards what gives us pleasure, and we reject what does not correspond to our whims.
And, rejecting the Word of the Heavenly Father, we make sin.
God, knowing the human nature, weak and prone to sin, and not wanting the destruction of His creation, among other Gifts of Grace, gave us the Sacrament of Penance, as a means of cleansing from sins, liberation from their consequences that are detrimental to man.
Having given his disciples - the Apostles - the power to forgive or not forgive human sins, Christ, through the Apostles, gave this power to the apostolic successors - the bishops and priests of the Church of Christ.
"And now every Orthodox bishop or priest has this power in its entirety.
Any Christian who recognizes his sins and wants to be cleansed of them can come to the temple for confession and receive "permission" (liberation Church Slavonic.) from them.
It is important to understand that the Church Sacrament of Penance is not just an opportunity to speak out and thus "lighten one's soul", as is customary in the world, but in essence this Sacrament is an action of Grace, and, like every action of the Holy Spirit, produces real beneficial changes.
Repentance is also called the "second baptism", since in this Sacrament, like Baptism, cleansing from sins takes place, and the soul regains the blissful state of purity and righteousness.
Those who come to this saving Sacrament, seeking healing of mental illnesses, need to know that the Sacrament of Penance consists, as it were, of four parts or stages:
Only in the presence of all these components the Sacrament of Repentance is performed, and the Christian receives the grace-filled healing of the soul from the sinful illness.
It should also be noted that confession must be strictly individual, "face to face", the so-called "general confession", when the priest reads prayers to everyone at once, and then one by one they come up for "permission", is not authorized.
Question: What is the Sacrament of Marriage?
Answer: The Sacrament of Marriage, like all other Sacraments, is an act of Grace.
The union of a man and a woman is originally blessed by God. Scripture says, "And God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.
And God blessed them, and God said to them: Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it..." (Genesis 1.27.28)
It also says in the Bible: "... a man shall leave his father and his mother, and cleave to his wife; and the two shall become one flesh." (Genesis 2.24)
"Our Lord Jesus Christ, speaking of the marriage union, unequivocally affirmed: "...what God has joined together, let no man separate" (Matt. 19.6)
It is this combination by God of man and woman into one flesh that takes place in the Sacrament of Marriage.
The grace of the Holy Spirit invisibly unites two separate human beings into a single spiritual whole, just as two separate substances, such as sand and cement, when combined with water, become a qualitatively new, inseparable substance.
And, just as water, in this example, is a binding force, so the Grace of the Holy Spirit is in the Sacrament of Marriage a force that binds a man and a woman into a qualitatively new, spiritual union - the Christian family.
Moreover, the purpose of this union is not only in procreation and mutual help in everyday life, but mainly in joint spiritual improvement, in the multiplication of Grace, because the Christian family is the Little Church of Christ, Christian marriage is one of the forms of serving God.
Question: What is the Sacrament of Unction and why is it also called Unction?
Answer: We find the basis for the appearance of this Sacrament in the Church in the Gospel, in the Epistle of the Apostle James: "Is any of you sick, let him call for presbyters (priests - o.A.) Church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil (oil - oil Greek.) in the name of the Lord. And the prayer of faith will heal the sick, and the Lord will raise him up; and if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven.” (James 5:14-15)
In these words of the Apostle, the meaning of the Sacrament of Unction is revealed.
First of all, the very name of this Sacrament indicates that the Action of the Grace of the Holy Spirit in It is carried out through the consecrated vegetable oil - oil (in Russia, sunflower oil is usually used for consecration).
According to the words of the Apostle, through the prayer of the priests and the anointing with consecrated oil, two acts of grace are performed: the healing of ailments and the forgiveness of sins.
But, you will say, is there the Sacrament of Penance for the forgiveness of sins? Correctly.
Only in the Sacrament of Penance are forgiven those sins that a Christian remembered, repented of and revealed in confession. Forgotten, unconfessed sins continue to burden the human soul, destroying it and becoming a source of mental and bodily ailments.
The Sacrament of Unction, cleansing the soul from these forgotten, unconfessed sins, eliminates the root cause of illnesses and, by faith, grants the Christian perfect healing.
And since all of us, sick or feeling physically healthy, have sins forgotten or committed in ignorance, we should not neglect the opportunity to be cleansed of them in the Mystery of the Unction.
According to the tradition existing in the Russian Orthodox Church, all Christians, even healthy ones, once a year, usually during Great Lent, come to the temple to perform the Sacrament of Unction over them.
The sick, all the more so, should immediately invite a priest to perform this Sacrament, as soon as the disease makes itself felt.
Medicine fights only with the consequences of the disease, without eliminating its root cause, which lies in the field of human spiritual life.
The Sacrament of Unction, eliminating this root cause, enables medicine to successfully overcome the consequences of ailments.
The Unction is called the Sacrament of Unction of the Unction because, if possible, it is performed by a council (meeting) of seven priests, each of whom reads one of the passages of the Gospel included in this Sacrament with prayers attached to it and once anoints the sick with consecrated oil.
However, even one priest, who bears the fullness of the priestly Grace, can perform this Sacrament. In this case, he alone reads all seven passages from the Gospel with prayers, and himself, after each reading, anoints the sick person, a total of seven times.
Question: What is the Sacrament of the Priesthood?
Answer: Actually, it was already told about Him when we spoke about the Grace of the Holy Spirit and about the giving of It by the Lord Jesus Christ to the Apostles, and by them through the laying on of hands, "ordination", to their successors - the bishops and priests of the Church.
It is only necessary to add that the first six Sacraments we have described can be performed by both bishops and priests; The Sacrament of the Priesthood, that is, the endowment of a person, through the laying on of hands and the reading of a special prayer, with priestly Grace, necessary for the performance of sacred rites, can only be performed by the bishops of Christ's Church.
Question: What is the difference between bishops, priests and other clergymen?
Answer: The difference is in the fullness of Grace. All the fullness of the Apostolic Grace, received by them from the Lord Jesus Christ, belongs to the Bishops of the Church, as full-fledged successors of the Apostles.
Bishops, appointing Presbyters (priests) for priestly service, pass on to them a part of the Apostolic Grace sufficient to perform the aforementioned six Sacraments and other sacred rites.
In addition to bishops and priests, there is also the rank of Deacons (diaconia - service Greek.), who, by their consecration, receive Grace in that fullness, which is sufficient for them to fulfill their diaconal ministry.
In other words, deacons themselves do not officiate, but "serve", help bishops and priests to perform sacred rites.
Priests "sacred", that is, they perform the six Sacraments and less significant rites, teach the people the Word of God and lead the spiritual life of the flock entrusted to them.
Bishops perform all the sacraments that priests can perform, and, in addition, they celebrate the Sacrament of the Priesthood and head the Local Churches, or their Dioceses, uniting a different number of Parishes led by priests.
“Between bishops and presbyters,” says St. John Chrysostom, “there is no great difference, since presbyters are also granted the right to teach and administer church, and what is said about bishops, the same applies to presbyters. The right of consecration alone elevates bishops over presbyters ".
(Desk book clergyman. Edition of the Moscow Patriarchy. Moscow, 1983 Page 339).
It should also be added that the consecration of a deacon and a priest is performed by one bishop, while the consecration of a bishop must be performed by at least two or more bishops.
Question: What is Worship?
Answer: All the sacraments of the Church can be divided into two groups: Statutory Divine Services and Sacraments and Rites.
Statutory Divine Services are public Divine Services, the order of which is determined by the Typicon - the Charter (tipos - type, image Greek.).
The charter defines three "circles" of worship: daily, weekly and annual.
The daily circle includes all services performed during the day: Vespers, Compline (great or small), Midnight Office, Matins, Hours and Liturgy.
The Liturgy is the most important service of the day.
In practice, these services are combined into two groups: the evening "worship" and the morning. Usually, the services of "vespers", "matins" and "the first hour" are served in the evening. In the morning, the services of the "third and sixth hours" and the Divine Liturgy are served.
During Great Lent and on some other days, the order of services changes somewhat.
The weekly cycle of worship determines the features of worship for each day of the week, since each day of the week is dedicated to some special memory: Sunday- Resurrection of Christ; Monday- Heavenly Forces; Tuesday- John the Baptist and the Prophets; Wednesday- Cross in connection with the repentant memory of the betrayal of Judas; Thursday- Apostles and Saints (mainly Saint Nicholas); Friday- The Cross in connection with the Crucifixion of the Lord Jesus Christ; Saturday - Mother of God and to all the saints and the departed. Wednesday and Friday throughout the year (except for "solid" and Easter "weeks") are fast days.
The annual circle consists of services for each day of the year, including here all the holidays and days of memory of the saints.
The main Christian holiday of the year is Easter, called Feasts Feast, in addition to which there are twelve great holidays dedicated to the Lord Jesus Christ and the Mother of God, which are called "twelfth".
Some of these feasts are celebrated on certain days of each month and are called "fixed holidays". For example, Christmas, the Annunciation and others.
Some holidays, "mobile", are celebrated every year on a different day. Such are Easter and all the holidays that depend on it: the Entry of the Lord into Jerusalem, the Ascension, the Day of the Holy Trinity - Pentecost.
The biggest holidays are preceded by Fasts.
Question: What is the meaning of public statutory services, why are they performed according to a complex system regulated by the statute, what is their significance for the spiritual life of a Christian?
Answer: Our Lord Jesus Christ said: "... where two or three are gathered in My name, there I am in the midst of them," and again: "... if two of you agree on earth to ask for any deed, then whatever they ask shall be from my Father in heaven." (Matthew 18.19.20)
These words of the Lord make it clear why, from the very foundation of the Church of Christ, Christians have been gathering for joint prayer.
Even before the birth of Christ, during the period of the Old Testament, the most important part of the spiritual life of the God-chosen people was common prayer in the Temple, participation in the sacred actions performed by the Old Testament clergy, singing spiritual hymns.
The Lord Jesus Himself and His disciples on the night when He was taken to the Passion, "... singing let us go to the Mount of Olives" (Mark 14:26)
Old Testament sacred texts formed the basis of worship Christian Church, have become the core on which for almost two thousand years the newly created texts of Christian prayers and chants have been strung.
Among the Old Testament sacred texts in Christian worship, Paremias (excerpts from the texts of the Holy Scriptures of the Old Testament) and the Psalter (a collection of spiritual hymns created by the Prophet and Psalmist David) are used.
As the Church of Christ grew and expanded, the number of saints constituting Her glory increased, events took place in honor of which the Feasts were established, and the number of New Testament prayers and hymns composed in honor of these saints, or feasts, which, together with the Old Testament texts, constitute contemporary Christian worship.
In the course of history, in different centuries, various editions of the Charter of Divine Services were created, which, according to the place of creation, received the names: Jerusalem, Studian, the Charter of the Great Church and others.
At present, the Jerusalem Charter, adopted in the edition of 1695, is in force in the Russian Orthodox Church.
In addition to public Statutory Divine Services, private Divine Services are performed in the Church - Requirements (from the word require, need), performed according to the needs of the parishioners. The requirements are: the Sacraments of Baptism, Marriage, the service of Burial, the consecration of dwellings, etc.
All the vital needs of a Christian are provided by the prayerful support of the Church, Her Gracious help and blessing.
Question: Who is a spiritual mentor and what is his role in the life of a Christian?
Answer: To begin with, we will cite excerpts from the collection of sayings of the Holy Fathers "The Spiritual Leader and the Attitude of an Orthodox Christian towards Him" (published by JSC "Skeet", Moscow, 1993), a collection that is very useful to read for every Orthodox Christian.
"The leader in the spiritual life for every Christian must be a priest-confessor, to whom one must resort not only for confession, but also for teaching."
"Try all your life to have a spiritual father, reveal your sins and thoughts, weaknesses and temptations to him, use his advice and instructions - then it will be convenient to find the Kingdom of Heaven."
"Without the closest leaders, it is impossible to live holy on earth. You will find them in the Church, where the Holy Spirit sets them to pasture the flock of Christ. Beg the Lord to grant you a suitable confessor at the hour you need, and without your demand he will speak a comforting word to you. The Spirit of God will teach him, what befits you to say, and you will hear from him what is pleasing to God."
"Commit your heart to obedience to your spiritual father, and the Grace of God will dwell in you."
Here are just a few sayings of the Holy Fathers relating to the relationship of an Orthodox Christian with his spiritual leader.
It is a great happiness for a Christian to find a worthy confessor who will take responsibility before God for the spiritual life of his "child", will pray for him, monitor his spiritual growth, guide him in all cases of his life, directing him to the path of virtue, leading into Eternal Life.
For a Christian who has a spiritual father, the way to resolve the life problems that confront him is completely different from that of the people of "this world", who live without Faith, outside the Church and therefore wander in the darkness of ignorance about the things and phenomena of real life.
When various life problems arise before such "non-church" people, they are forced to solve them, relying only on their own mind, life experience, or on the advice of "non-church" people like themselves. As a rule, in such cases, problems remain unresolved, or their resolution entails other, no less problems.
This happens because the cause of all the troubles and problems of a person is in himself, in the separation of his soul from God, in the violation of inner spiritual harmony due to sins accumulated during life.
It is impossible to violate the Commandments of God without consequences!
If you pour sunflower oil into a car engine instead of engine oil, it will go bad. If you plug a 127 volt Christmas tree garland into a 220 volt outlet, it will “burn out”.
Because the creators of the engine and the garland, while developing them, provided for a certain mode of operation for their products, the violation of which entails their failure.
Also, God, who created man, gave him His Commandments as rules, by fulfilling which a person maintains his soul in a "normal", harmonious state.
A reasonable person, if his TV is broken, turns to the master, a person who is specially trained and knows how to fix this TV.
Unreasonable - he starts picking microcircuits with a screwdriver or calls a neighbor who, not being a specialist, only helps the owner to break this TV.
Similarly, the people of "this world", when faced with life problems that are the result of their sins, try to solve them themselves or, even worse, run to the "neighbors" - sorcerers, psychics, fortune-tellers.
The result is inevitably sad.
A Christian who tries to keep the commandments of God has a clear conscience and peace in his soul; the events of external life happening to him do not destroy his inner harmony, but contribute to an even greater improvement of the spirit; just like fire and water, they harden iron, making it strong steel.
An Orthodox Christian, faced with any life problem, goes for advice to a confessor, knowing that he asks for an answer to his question not from a person, even a righteous and spiritually experienced one, but from God, Who sees his Faith, and gives him through confessor needed advice and blessing.
Having received blessing spiritual father for any work, a Christian, without hesitation, fulfills it as an obedience, and the Lord will certainly give him His Gracious Help in this.
The Church, through the lips of the elders, teaches: "Commit your heart to obedience to your spiritual father, and the Grace of God will dwell in you."
Question: How can a beginning Christian find a spiritual guide?
Answer: The Church gives the Christian the right to choose his own spiritual mentor. It would be great if a priest from the nearest church becomes it.
But, since the disposition of the soul of each Christian is purely individual, priests are also different in character, spiritual experience, it is very important to find such a confessor so that there is cordial contact, mutual understanding and complete trust between the Christian and the confessor he has chosen.
Then spiritual guidance will bear good fruit.
You can give a few practical advice people who want to find a spiritual mentor:
First of all, pray earnestly to God, asking Him to grant you a prudent and kind mentor. As you ask, so shall you receive.
Go to the nearest temple, pay attention to the priests during the service.
Try to feel with your heart - to whom it will settle down.
Approach this priest for confession, repent of your sins, ask questions that concern you (just don’t take his time for idle talk, speak briefly and about really important things).
Depending on whether the priest treats you attentively or indifferently, with participation or indifference, decide for yourself whether to entrust him with the solution of your painful problems or limit yourself to confession and resolution from sins, and then look for another confessor.
But, if you have trusted and received advice and blessing from him, do it sacredly, as received from the Lord Himself, and then do not run from one priest to another in the hope of changing the instruction that you did not like.
The same Christ acts equally through all the priests, and therefore it is a sin to address the same question to different priests twice (if for the first time you were given a specific blessing - how to act) - a sin.
If you could not find a priest in the nearest temple to whom you would dare to entrust your soul for spiritual guidance, do not worry.
Even in pre-revolutionary Russia, many traveled to solve important issues of their lives in Optina Pustyn to the great elders, in Diveevo, and in other places where there were priests glorified by the height of their spiritual life.
As you begin to visit churches and enter into fellowship with other Orthodox Christians, you will hear in which churches, which priests enjoy authority and love among the parishioners, and your opportunities to find a spiritual leader will expand significantly.
"If there is no experienced mentor and a Christian will go to the confessor, which is, then the Lord will cover him for humility." (The spiritual leader and the attitude of an Orthodox Christian towards him. Edition A.O. "Skit" Moscow. 1993.)
Those who wish to find a spiritual mentor need to remember the words of the Lord Jesus Christ: "Ask and it will be given, seek and you will find".
The main thing is not to stop fervently praying to the Lord, and He will give you a mentor for Salvation.
Question: How to behave in the temple?
Answer: First of all, be humble. When you enter the temple, do not think that you have "made happy" God with this.
It is a great happiness for you that the Lord instructed you to turn to Him and gave you the opportunity to enter His Sanctuary. Think about how many people are left outside the temple, in spiritual darkness, and thank the Lord for calling you to the path of Salvation.
Going to the temple - the "House of Prayer", remind yourself that you are going there to communicate with God, to ask Him for the forgiveness of sins, the salvation of the soul and the Grace of the Holy Spirit necessary for this.
Find out in advance what time the service begins in the temple, and try to come to the temple fifteen minutes earlier than the start.
Approaching the entrance to the temple, make the sign of the cross with a bow three times.
Question: What is the "Sign of the Cross"?
Answer: The sign of the cross is a small sacred ceremony in which a Christian, depicting a sign on himself (a sign is a sign Church Slavonic.) The Cross of the Lord with the invocation of the Name of God, attracts upon himself (or on the one whom he overshadows, for example, his child) the Divine Grace of the Holy Spirit.
One can be convinced that this is indeed the case from numerous examples described in spiritual literature or transmitted orally, when demons or demonic obsessions disappeared from the sign of the cross, vessels with poisoned drink burst, water "charged" by sorcerers, psychics or "grandmothers" went rotten. ", calmed down crying babies, weakened or passed ailments and many others. others
In the grace-filled power of the sign of the cross, you yourself will repeatedly be able to verify as you enter into the practice of spiritual life.
Gracious power is given to the sign of the Cross because Christ, by His death on the Cross, which is an act of the greatest Divine Self-sacrifice out of love for His perishing creation, defeated Satan with his pride, freed man from the slavery of sin, sanctified the Cross as a victorious weapon, and gave this Weapon to us for struggle with the enemy of the human race - the devil.
By the way, pay attention to the fact that the vast majority of heretics and sectarians hate the Cross and, considering It only an instrument of suffering, trample It.
We, Orthodox Christians, should know that the sign of the cross only has the power of grace when the reverently and rightly.
"Demons rejoice at random waving," the experience of the Holy Fathers tells us.
So, in order not to please, but to drive away unclean spirits with the sign of the cross and receive grace-filled sanctification from God, it is supposed to be done like this: we put the first three fingers of the right hand (thumb, index and middle) together with the ends evenly, and the last two (ring and little fingers) bend to the palm.
The first three fingers put together express our faith in God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit, as the Consubstantial and inseparable Trinity, and the two fingers bent to the palm mean that the Son of God, after His descent to earth, being God, became a man , that is, they mean His two natures - Divine and human.
Making the sign of the cross, we touch with three fingers folded together forehead- to sanctify our mind, to stomach- to sanctify our inner feelings, then to the right, then to the left shoulders- to sanctify our bodily forces.
When we overshadow ourselves with the sign of the cross, we mentally say: "In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, amen," thus expressing our faith in the Holy Trinity and our desire to live and work for the glory of God.
The word "amen" means: truly, so be it.
By bows we express the consciousness of our sinfulness and unworthiness before God, they are a sign of our humility, admiration before Him.
There are bows waist when we bend down to the waist, and earthly when we kneel and touch the ground with our heads and hands.
So, approaching the entrance to the temple about fifteen minutes before the start of the service, you make the sign of the cross three times, making a bow after each, thereby expressing your gratitude to God for allowing you to visit His House, and asking for His blessing to enter to the House of Prayer, then enter the temple.
Upon entering, stop near the entrance and also make three signs of the cross with a bow from the waist, thereby expressing your reverence for the holy place where the Spirit of God dwells.
Then look around, and you will see a "candle box" not far from the entrance, a place where they sell candles, icons, accept notes with the names of those who are commemorated "for health" and "for repose."
Go there and, depending on your financial capabilities, purchase several candles at an affordable price.
Question: What are church candles, why and where is it customary to light them?
Answer: The church candle is first of all yours victim God.
Sacrifice is what a person gives from his material fortune without receiving in return material equivalent to given.
For example: if in a store you give a seller a certain amount of money and receive in return some product worth that amount, this is not a sacrifice. In fact, you have not given anything, but only exchanged one form of property (money) for another (goods).
If you bought a candle and burned it at home, using its light for reading or just for illumination, this is not a sacrifice.
If you bought a candle in a church and set it to burn in front of any icon or shrine, this is a sacrifice.
If you gave alms to a beggar, or put money into a "church mug" to restore the temple, this is a sacrifice.
Sacrifice is a gift, an expression of our love for the one to whom we bring this gift.
And only then our sacrifice is pleasing to God, when it is offered from a pure heart.
It doesn't matter what the material value of that sacrifice is.
When a child gives his father a hand-made drawing or craft for his birthday, this is no less pleasant for the father than if the child gives him an expensive tie or shaving cream bought with the money given by his mother.
Some try to enter into "commercial relations" with God, for example: "Lord! Do this and that for me, and I will put the thickest candle in the church for you!"
God does not need thick or thin candles. God needs loving hearts.
We need candles as an opportunity to express our love for God, as a symbol of our fervent prayer, rushing to Him like a candle flame, as an opportunity to prove that we are able to sacrifice the material for the sake of the spiritual.
A candle is, as it were, a conductor of our prayer, strengthening and directing this prayer to God, the Mother of God or any of the saints to whom you decide to turn for help.
After you have purchased the candles, go to the icon of the "holiday" lying on the lectern (bedside table with an inclined upper plane) in the middle of the temple (depicting an event or a saint whose memory is celebrated on this day), light and place the candle on the candlestick in front of this icon, pray to the saint depicted on it.
For example: "Holy saint Nicholas (or the holy martyr Tatiano, the blessed prince Alexandra, etc.)! Pray to God for me a sinner (sinner), may the Lord forgive me all my sins and with your holy prayers make me reach the Kingdom of Heaven."
If you say the same thing in Russian, and not in Church Slavonic, the saint you are addressing will hear you no worse.
As you begin to use the Prayer Book, you yourself will begin to use Church Slavonic words and phrases in your prayers, because you will see that the Church Slavonic language, due to its figurativeness, accuracy in expressing thoughts, artistic brightness and beauty, is much more suitable for communicating with God than our modern crippled colloquial Russian language.
After you say your prayer (in your mind or quietly aloud) in front of the icon, make the sign of the cross twice with a bow from the waist (if the day is not Sunday or a holiday, then it is possible with the earth), and "attach" to the icon, that is, kiss her as a sign of love and respect for what is depicted on it, after which for the third time make the sign of the cross and bow.
In the same order, Christians should approach any shrines: icons, holy relics and others, that is: first you light and put a candle, then you pray, then you cross yourself twice and bow, then you kiss the shrine, then the third time you cross yourself and bow, then leave.
Question: What are icons and what are they for?
Answer: In order to understand what an icon is ("icons" - an image, an image Greek.), it is necessary to look into the Holy Scriptures.
In the Old Testament, God forbade the creation of any images of the Deity because He had not yet revealed Himself to people in a visible Image, while the pagan religions that existed then abounded in images of false pagan gods (idols).
Warning God's people against falling into idolatry, God gave the Commandments: "I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage; you shall have no other gods before me.
You shall not make for yourself an idol or any image of what is in heaven above, and what is on the earth below, and what is in the water below the earth; do not worship them and do not serve them..." (Exodus 20:2-5).
Knowing that it is natural for a person to desire to have a visible Image of the Divine, the Lord warned people in these Commandments against depicting the Creator in a visible image of something He created "in heaven above, on earth below, in water below earth."
Although these Commandments do not say anything about the image of the True God Himself.
When the time came and the Son of God came to earth, incarnated from Holy Mother of God in human body, people for the first time were able to see, and subsequently depict God in His Image, accessible to human perception.
"No one has ever seen God; the Only Begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has manifested." (John 1.18)
When the Apostle Philip asked the Lord Jesus Christ: "Lord, show us the Father," Christ answered: "How long have I been with you and you do not know Me, Philip? Whoever has seen Me has seen the Father" (John 14:8-9).
Scripture in the Book of Genesis says: "And God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him" (Genesis 1.27).
And now, in this God's image, once bestowed upon creation to man. God, in the person of His Son, first revealed Himself to people.
Moreover, our Lord Jesus Christ Himself blessed the creation of His images, giving people His first images - icons.
Holy Tradition brought to us the story of how King Abgar, who ruled during the earthly life of the Lord Jesus Christ in the Syrian city of Edessa, was seriously ill with leprosy.
Hearing that in Palestine there is a great "prophet and miracle worker" Jesus, who teaches about the Kingdom of God and heals any illness, Abgar believed in Him and sent his court painter Ananias to give Jesus Abgar's letter with a request for healing and painted a portrait of Jesus.
When the painter came to the Lord Jesus Christ, he could not paint His portrait "because of the shining brilliance of His face."
Then the Lord took a piece of fabric from the artist and applied it to His Divine Face, which is why His Divine Image was imprinted on the fabric by the power of Grace.
Having received this Holy Image - the first, created by the Lord Himself icon, Abgar with faith kissed him and for his faith, by the grace of God, received healing.
Subsequently, when the apostle of the 70 Saint Faldeus came to Edessa to preach the Gospel, Avgar himself and all the inhabitants of Edessa accepted Baptism and became Christians.
Abgar wrote on the fabric of the Image Not Made by Hands the words "Christ God, everyone who trusts in you will not be put to shame", decorated it and installed it in a niche above the city gates.
In 630, the Arabs took possession of Edessa, but they did not interfere with the worship of the Image Not Made by Hands, the fame of which spread throughout the East.
In 944, Emperor Constantine Porphyrogenitus bought the Image Not Made by Hands from the then Muslim ruler of Edessa, the Emir, and transferred It to the capital of Orthodoxy - Constantinople.
Throughout the history of Its existence, until it was captured by heretic crusaders and disappeared along with the ship during a storm in the Sea of Marmara (1204-1261), the Image Not Made by Hands became famous for innumerable miracles, which brought Him worldwide fame.
Many copies were made of Him at different times, and many of these copies were also glorified by miracles and healings.
In Russia, the Image Not Made by Hands has long been one of the most revered images of the Lord Jesus Christ.
In addition to the Image Not Made by Hands given by the Lord to Avgar, the whole world knows the Image of the Lord Jesus Christ that has survived to this day, imprinted on the Holy Shroud of Christ stored in the Italian city of Turin.
The shroud is a piece of fabric in which, according to Jewish custom, the Body of the Lord Jesus Christ was wrapped, taken down from the Cross and placed in the Tomb (the coffin of the Jews at that time was a cave, closed from the outside with a stone).
At the moment of the Resurrection of the Lord Jesus, by the action of the Grace of the Holy Spirit, it was imprinted on the fabric of the shroud, like a photographic negative. Image of the Body of the Lord Jesus Christ.
In the second half of the 20th century, scientists from different countries of the world repeatedly studied the Holy Shroud, and the vast majority of scientists came to the unanimous opinion that the Holy Shroud is a genuine fabric in which the Body of the Lord Jesus Christ was wrapped.
Some of the scientists who took part in the study of the Holy Shroud, who were previously materialists, as a result of the studies, believed in the Lord Jesus Christ and were baptized.
So, from the above examples, it is easy to understand that God, who revealed Himself to us in a visible Image - in His Son the Lord Jesus Christ and gave us His first images - icons, blessed us to depict Himself in hand-made icons, and, as evidence of His blessing, gave many from these man-made icons, the Grace-filled Power to work miracles and heal the Christians who come to them with faith.
The first icons - portraits of the Mother of God were painted directly from Her by the apostle and evangelist Luke.
According to legend, when the Most Holy Theotokos saw Her first painted Icon, she said: "From now on, all generations will bless Me. May the grace of the One born of Me and Mine be with this icon."
In total, the apostle and evangelist Luke painted about 120 icons-portraits of the Mother of God, some of which have survived to this day.
The words of the Mother of God were fulfilled. And not only the original icon of Her, but also thousands of other icons of the Mother of God became famous for the abundant manifestations of Grace.
Almost every church has a revered (revered, especially respected) miraculous icon of the Most Holy Theotokos, and if you ask the clergy of this church about it, they will show it to you.
In addition to the images of the Lord Jesus Christ and His Most Pure Mother, there are also icons of the Feasts and Saints.
The "Festive" icons depict all the main events from the Holy History: the Nativity of Christ, Baptism, the Annunciation of the Most Holy Theotokos, the Resurrection of Christ and others.
These icons were also called the "Bible for the Illiterate" because, looking at these icons, illiterate people visually studied the Gospel history and joined the Divine Revelation.
The icons of the Saints depict the Archangels, the Guardian Angel, the Holy Prophets, the Apostles, the Martyrs, the Reverends and the Righteous, the Holy Fools for Christ's sake - in a word, everyone who served Christ in earthly life and now, in Heaven, praying for us.
In the two-thousand-year history of Christianity, iconoclastic heresies (heresy is a lie, a distortion of the true teachings) repeatedly arose and in our time among various sectarians, whose advocates call icon veneration idolatry.
Therefore, an Orthodox Christian must know that he worships not a board or a canvas with paints, but God depicted on them.
Icon same Christians don't worship, but revere her as a shrine, as a visible Image of the invisible Heaven, as a window into the Kingdom of God, through which we see the Lord, the Most Pure Mother of God and His Saints.
You also need to know that in order for the created image to become a Holy Icon, a tool for communicating with the Inhabitants of the Heavenly Kingdom, it must be consecrated by an Orthodox bishop or priest through reading special prayers and sprinkling with holy water.
At the moment of consecration, the icon is given the Grace of the Holy Spirit, which makes the icon a shrine, an Image through which we gain access to the Prototype depicted on it.
Usually, Christians, when they come to the temple, put candles and pray in front of the festive icon in the center of the temple, in front of the revered images of the Savior of the Lord Jesus Christ and the Most Holy Theotokos, in front of the icon of the saint whose name they bear (if there is no separate icon of your heavenly patron in the temple, put a candle , and pray before the icon of "All Saints").
They also put candles on the "eve" (canon) - a small quadrangular table with many cells for candles and a small Crucifix on it, and pray for the repose of the souls of deceased loved ones in the Kingdom of God.
In addition, when you purchase candles, you can submit notes with the names of relatives and friends for commemoration by the priest "for health and salvation" and "for repose", as well as order a prayer service or memorial service (how to fill out the notes, you will be prompted by the ministers selling candles) .
It is very important before the Divine Liturgy to submit notes for proskomidia (proskomidia - preparation Greek.), during which the priest, reading notes with names, takes out for them particles from the prosphora, which, after the transubstantiation of bread and wine into the Body and Blood of Christ, are immersed in the cup with the Blood of Christ with the reading of the prayer "Wash away, Lord, the sins of those who are commemorated here by the Blood Thy Honest, by the prayers of Thy saints."
By performing this sacrament, the souls of the people commemorated in the notes are given the Grace of the Holy Spirit, which cleanses from sins, strengthens the living on the path of virtue and gives joy to the departed.
For the departed, commemoration at proskomedia, church and home prayer, giving alms for them are especially important, because, having moved to another world and received a monastery there corresponding to their earthly deeds, they themselves cannot change their situation in any way (and it is, if a person has died with unrepentant sins, very regrettable), and only Gracious help from loved ones living in this earthly world can alleviate and improve their lot.
In addition to the proskomedia, the priest commemorates the living and the dead at litanies (litany - zeal, lengthy prayer Greek.), and also, if ordered, at a prayer service (of the living) and a memorial service (of the deceased).
Panikhida (All-Night Singing) Greek.), the prayerful commemoration of the dead, got its name in antiquity, when the first Christians only under the cover of night could secretly take the bodies of their brethren martyred for the faith of Christ and bury them with singing and burning candles.
And in our time, those praying for a memorial service stand with lit candles as a sign that they also believe in a future bright life; at the end of the requiem, these candles are extinguished as a sign that our earthly life, burning like a candle, should go out, most often not having burned down to the end we presume.
Molebens are short services in which the priest, on behalf of the worshipers, prays to the Lord God, the Mother of God or the saints.
Sometimes such prayers are combined with an akathist (akathist - non-sedal Greek., a specially composed prayer book, during which it is not supposed to sit) or with a small consecration of water.
The “holy” prayer service is usually ordered by Christians who have sick loved ones or who themselves suffer from ailments, so that, after the priest reads prayers for their health and blesses the water, take this holy water home and drink it with prayer and faith, asking the Lord for forgiveness of sins and getting rid of ailments.
According to the faith of those who ask, the Lord grants His grace-filled help through holy water.
In addition to the general "petition" prayer, there are special prayers, for example: a thanksgiving prayer for receiving help from God, a prayer for healing the sick, a prayer for travelers, for deliverance from drought, heavy rains, before starting field work, before starting children's education, and many others .
Usually prayers and memorial services are served in the morning after the Divine Liturgy.
If you ordered a prayer service or memorial service, you yourself need to be present during their service and pray intensely with the priest, especially at the moment when the priest reads your note with the names of those for whom you are praying.
As mentioned above, you need to come to the temple before the start of the service in order to have time to submit notes, purchase candles, put them and pray in front of the icons of the Lord, the Mother of God and those saints to whom you want to turn for help.
Then stand in any place in the temple, men on the right, and women on the left of the center, facing the altar, and during the entire service do not leave your place.
If you are in poor health or are of advanced age, you can attend the service sitting (usually there are benches for this in the western part of the church), getting up only at the most important moments of the service.
Popular wisdom says: "It is better to think about God while sitting than standing about your feet."
During the service, try to listen carefully to reading and singing, because the words of prayers and hymns contain deep wisdom, they convey feelings of heartfelt repentance and joy in the Lord, tell about the exploits of the saints and about the manifestations of the Great Mercy of God to His creation.
Try to perceive worship not so much by ear as by open heart; breathe in the fertile atmosphere of the temple, disconnect from worldly problems and talk with God.
Remember your childhood and the trust with which you treated your mother or beloved grandmother with your troubles when you were looking for pity and affection from them; remember what comfort their love gave you, and with the same confidence open your heart to the Heavenly Father; tell Him about your troubles, cry about your sorrows, ask for help and support, ask for forgiveness of your sins and weaknesses, and receive great comfort from His Divine Love; leave the temple renewed, with a quiet and tender heart, feeling with all your being the Grace and joy of the Holy Spirit.
Not a single earthly mother has that fullness of Love with which the Lord accepts the mournful sighs of the human soul addressed to Him.
One has only to call Him: "Lord!", as He is already invisibly standing by - Loving, Pitying us, knowing the infirmity of the human soul, ready to pour out on us the Blessed Gifts of His Grace.
And it depends only on ourselves, on our directness and sincerity with which we condemn our sins, on our desire for purity and Truth, on the depth of our faith, whether we receive heartfelt consolation and Gracious Help or whether we leave mournful and inconsolable.
It is impossible to cheat with God, it is impossible to deceive Him, it is useless to try to enter into a relationship with Him "You - to me, I - to You."
"Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God," the Gospel teaches us. (Matt. 5.8)
Only a pure heart listens to God and fills it with His Grace.
We have enough strength to want to purify our hearts, to force ourselves to turn without cunning to Him Who, for the sake of redeeming us from eternal death, voluntarily gave Himself to be torn to pieces by a distraught crowd. Who endured painful humiliation and terrible death for the sake of giving us Eternal Life.
And therefore, our duty is to force ourselves to do good deeds, to force ourselves to the feat of prayer, to purify our hearts from the passions that defile it, resorting to the help and Protection of the Mother Church, strengthening our souls with all the grace-filled means that we will find in abundance in the temple .
In order for the temple to become your second and main Home, in order to feel “yours” in it, in order to use the Gracious Gifts of the Holy Spirit in its entirety, you need to go to the temple and be in it, you need to teach your soul to communicate with God, and then He Himself, as a Father and Teacher, seeing your efforts, will teach you, holding His hand, to follow the Path of Salvation.
Question: How should an Orthodox Christian live in the world, communicate with other people in the family, at work, at home?
Answer: The church life of an Orthodox Christian does not end behind the walls of the temple.
We spend most of our lives in the world, communicating with people like ourselves, imperfect and suffering from their imperfection.
Therefore, it is very important that we do not lose the Grace received in the temple from this fellowship, but, on the contrary, multiply Her victories over the Evil that is militant against us in this world.
The Church teaches us how to fight this invisible battle, how to repel the attacks of the devil, how to be strengthened in the Spirit, how to grow and improve in virtue. She also provides us with healing means to heal spiritual wounds received from the enemy in this battle.
The Church calls a Christian a "warrior of Christ." An experienced warrior understands perfectly well that not only victory, but also his life depends on the degree of his preparation, and therefore diligently maintains his combat capability, devoting considerable time to constant training.
Likewise, a Christian should not allow himself to relax and weaken on the path of spiritual perfection.
Because you do not fight the devil, he will not stop attacking you, but, on the contrary, will use your indulgence to lead you into sin and plunder the fruits of your spiritual work that you have collected.
It must be remembered that from the moment you embark on the path of Salvation, you are attacked by an evil enemy filled with hatred for everything holy, possessing tremendous power and many thousands of years of experience in the destruction of human souls.
Only a man who does not rely on his own weak forces, but giving himself into the hands of God and armed by the Church with the weapons of Grace, has the hope of emerging from this battle victorious.
By the grace of the Holy Spirit and the humility of the Christian, all the power of Satan is crushed.
So, going outside the walls of the temple into the world, get ready to fight the three main enemies of a Christian: the world, the flesh and the devil.
The world takes up arms against us with its temptations: wealth and vain glory, communication with people who are alien to the Spirit of Christ, political passions and material concerns, fears of becoming a victim of crime and military threats, propaganda of debauchery and many others.
Our flesh rises up against us with gluttony and fornication, the desire for bodily comfort and pleasure, illness and laziness, striving in every possible way to prove its superiority over the spirit, forcing a person to use all the forces of the soul to satisfy carnal needs.
The devil, using all the means of his associates of the world and the flesh, attacks us with thoughts, temptations and temptations, using all the human senses for this: sight - hitting him with the views of someone else's wealth, lustful films and images; hearing - delighting him with flattering speeches, music that stupefies the mind and corrupting the soul with foul language; sense of smell - delights of culinary and cosmetic smells; taste - accustoming him to voluptuousness and alcohol; touch - the whole gamut of carnal sensations: from comfortable clothes to prodigal touches.
But the main object of the devil's attacks is our imperfect, godless human mind.
The devil strikes him with thoughts of pride, arouses in him dreams that lead away from real life, teaches him to rely not on the Omniscient and Almighty God, but on his own weak forces, pushes him to self-digging and fruitless inquisitiveness in matters of secondary importance, leads him away from the path of knowing God into the jungle of occult heretical teachings.
The consciousness of a person not enlightened by the Truth of the Gospel, not transformed by the Grace of the Holy Spirit, becomes an ally of the devil in the destruction of the human soul.
Therefore, it is very important that a Christian learns to implement the knowledge gained through reading the Holy Scriptures and spiritual books, through the sermons of priests, knowledge supported by own experience prayerful communion with God, everyday life in the world.
Gotta learn to see the world through the eyes of a disciple of Christ, to correlate our thoughts and actions with God's Commandments, in our relationships with relatives and strangers to be guided by the main Commandment of Love, which teaches us not to do to others what we would not want them to do to us.
The Apostle Paul, in his Epistle to the inhabitants of Corinth, writes: "If I speak in the tongues of men and angels, but do not have love, then I am a ringing brass or a sounding cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy, and I know all the secrets, and I have all knowledge and all faith so that I can move mountains, but I have no love, then I am nothing.
And if I give away all my possessions and give my body to be burned, but I do not have love, it does not profit me at all.
“Love is longsuffering, is merciful, love does not envy, love does not boast, does not pride itself, does not act outrageously, does not seek its own, is not irritated, thinks no evil, does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; it covers everything, believes everything, hopes everything, everything endures. Love never ceases, although prophecy will cease, and tongues will be silent, and knowledge will be abolished. ... Now these three remain: faith, hope, love; but love is the greater of them ". (1 Corinth. 13.1-9.13)
From these words of the Apostle it is clear that without Love, it is impossible to save the soul and reach the Kingdom of Heaven.
However, Love itself does not instill in the soul of a person if he himself does not make efforts to acquire it.
The properties of Love listed by the Apostle, that is: long-suffering, mercy, lack of pride and envy, and others, they are also way finding Love.
If in communication with other people we accustom ourselves to show patience, mercy, overcome envy and irritation in ourselves, then we go this way, and Love gradually fills our heart, at the same time ousting everything impure from it and strengthening it in a virtuous life.
Therefore, the world for a Christian is not an annoying obstacle on the path to the perfection of the soul, but place and means attaining this perfection.
Look at the athletes - how much time and effort they spend on grueling workouts in the gym, so that for a brief moment, standing on the podium, they get a fleeting human glory.
How many times more diligently should we, Christians, work on the perfection of our souls in order to receive eternal glory from the Lord in His Kingdom.
And if athletes deliberately create and intensify difficulties for themselves in training, working out their skills by overcoming these difficulties, then we do not need to artificially increase our temptations, the world supplies them to us in sufficient measure.
It is only necessary, trusting in God and calling on His Almighty help, to try with all our might to overcome the temptations that confront us in accordance with His Divine Commandments.
Every day, every hour, and even every minute situations arise in front of us in which we can show both the best Christian qualities and the weakness of our sinful nature.
Woke up in the morning; The Guardian Angel whispers: "Get up to pray," and the tender flesh is in slavery to laziness, and the devil reassures with the thought: "Yes, lie still, so that you have time to pray, and if you do not have time - it's okay, God is merciful - He will forgive."
And so, while we choose which of them to obey, time passes, it's time to run to work or study, and we jump out of the house without praying, dissatisfied with ourselves, having lost the God-given opportunity to ask for His blessing for the whole coming day.
We leave the house, a hurrying passer-by pushes us and we shout after him (or mutter to ourselves “under our breath”): “You need to watch where you are going, cretin!”, and again, instead of being rewarded for patience, we receive condemnation for the sin of anger and slander .
In transport, at work, in the family, situations constantly arise in front of us when we can either earn or lose the main treasure of a Christian - the Grace of the Holy Spirit.
And it depends on us, on our composure or relaxation, whether we earn it or lose it.
So, in order for our life in the world not to destroy our unity with God, but to contribute to its strengthening, it is necessary to learn how to constantly maintain our soul in a state of spiritual activity.
In order to help a Christian, while in the world, to accomplish the work of his Salvation, the Church provides him with her own means, created on the basis of the entire two thousand years of experience of practical spiritual life.
Chief among these are prayer and fast.
The prayerful communication of a Christian with God can be conditionally divided into several types.
These are: church prayer (we have already talked about it earlier), canonical prayer (using prayer texts introduced by the Church into the canon-rule), "creative" prayer, when a Christian "talks" with God in his own words, and "continuous" or " smart prayer.
All these types of prayerful communion with God are equally important and necessary for a Christian to have a fulfilling spiritual life.
Participation in common church prayer not only enriches a Christian with Grace, but also actively contributes to the spiritual unity of all those who pray together into one inseparable spiritual whole - the Church of Christ, a family united by Divine Love, headed by the Heavenly Father Himself - the Lord God.
Canonical prayer, in addition to connecting the praying soul with God in the shortest possible way, is also the most important school that teaches us to correctly formulate our thoughts and feelings, direct them in the right direction, avoid verbosity and empty outpourings.
Creative prayer is necessary to express purely individual experiences and needs; it is born from the personal practice of the spiritual life of a Christian and is improved as his soul improves and gains prayer experience.
Unceasing or “intelligent” prayer is a constant, inseparable communication of the soul with God, accomplished through the incessant turning of the mind and heart to God with brief prayer invocations, of which the most effective is the “Jesus Prayer,” so named because the name of the Lord Jesus Christ invoked in it already itself has a huge Graceful Power, which is given to those who diligently make this prayer.
Here is this prayer: "Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me (me Church Slavonic.) sinful (sinful)!"
We have already said that every literate Orthodox Christian should have an "Orthodox Prayer Book" - a collection of prayers blessed by the Church for general use.
Prayer books are short (in which the morning and evening prayer rules and prayers for those preparing for Holy Communion are given in an abridged version) and complete (in which the morning and evening prayers are given in full and, in addition, there are canons and akathists, a complete "Following to Holy Communion" and separate prayers for holidays and saints.
Some editions of the "Orthodox Prayer Book" also include the "Psalter" and a short dictionary of Church Slavonic words.
It is best to immediately get yourself the most complete edition of the prayer book, but, in principle, for beginners at first, a short one is enough.
After you have purchased a prayer book, sit down and, slowly, carefully read the morning and evening prayers (they are entitled "Prayers for the Future Sleep") prayers simply as a text, trying to understand the meaning of what is being read, look in the dictionary for incomprehensible Church Slavonic words or mark with a pencil to then ask a priest or more experienced Christians for their meaning.
Perhaps you will be able to purchase the "Explanatory Prayer Book", in which Church Slavonic texts of prayers are duplicated, for better understanding, with a Russian translation.
In a word, before you start reading canonical prayers, you need to figure out their meaning so that what you read during prayer is not "parrot gibberish", but would be a meaningful appeal to God.
After you basically understand the meaning of prayer texts (and this, in fact, is not at all difficult: our native language), you can proceed directly to prayer.
Organize a "Goddess" at home, a prayer corner where you will have icons, a lamp or a candlestick, where you will have a prayer book, keep holy water - in a word, like a small home temple of God Most High.
According to ancient Orthodox tradition, "God" was arranged in the "red corner" (red - beautiful Church Slavonic.), that is, in the east corner of the room.
Nowadays, due to the peculiarities of planning modern apartments, due east orientation cannot always be observed.
Therefore, you can arrange a "Goddess" where it will be convenient for you to pray, where the icons are - there is a "red corner".
If possible, it is advisable to make a corner shelf on which the icons will stand and on which the icon lamp will stand (or hang in front of it).
But, since not in all apartments, taking into account the already standing furniture, this is real, you can allocate a separate shelf for the “Goddess” in a closet or sideboard.
In general, according to Orthodox tradition, icons should stand, and not hang, like paintings.
If you live in very cramped living conditions, or there may be conflicts with loved ones who do not share your religious views, you can purchase a "skladen" (folding double or triple icon), which you will put in front of you for the time of prayer, and then remove.
At the time of prayer, Christians usually light a lampada in front of the icons (as a sign of our ardent love for the Lord) or a candle bought in the church (some Christians keep an "unquenchable" lampada in front of the icons, that is, constantly burning day and night).
Prayer is a deeply personal matter, and therefore it must be done in such a way that, if possible, no one and nothing distracts you from communion with God.
Get up in the morning 15-20 minutes earlier than usual, wash yourself in order to wake up properly, then retire in front of the icons and open the prayer book.
At the very beginning, before morning prayers, you will read: " Rising from sleep, before any other work, stand reverently, presenting yourself before the All-Seeing God, and, making the sign of the cross, say:
In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Then wait a little until all your feelings come to silence and your thoughts leave everything earthly, and then say the following prayers, without haste and with attention of the heart ..."
According to these instructions, one should begin reading both morning and evening (except, of course, "awakening from sleep") prayers.
You should read the prayers according to the prayer book quietly out loud, or “to yourself”, carefully following the correct stress in the words, and most importantly, so that every word and expression you utter is comprehended and felt by you.
The holy fathers say: "Better five words of the mind - than a hundred words."
It is not right. God doesn't need a mark.
Only prayer, understood by the mind and felt by the heart, reaches God and is pleasing to Him, and only such a prayer brings us the Grace of the Holy Spirit.
Therefore, at first choose for yourself from the morning and evening prayers a few of the most understandable and close to you in terms of expression of prayerful feelings and read only them.
Then, as you gain experience in prayer and become accustomed to Church Slavonic, you will expand your prayer rule to its full extent.
In the case of "extreme employment", instead of morning and evening prayers, the Monk Seraphim of Sarov blessed to read, and named after him, "Seraphim's rule": 3 times - "Our Father ...", 3 times "Our Lady of the Virgin, rejoice! ".., and 1 time -" I believe ..." (all these prayers are part of the morning prayers).
But one must be honest with God and not justify one's laziness by being "extremely busy," when in reality there is no such employment.
Remember that your prayer is not a forced tribute to God, but life-giving food for your soul, and it is you who need it.
As you gain prayer experience, when you have a desire to increase your prayer rule, you can, taking the blessing of your confessor (and if you don’t have it yet, then from any priest from the church you go to), add to the morning or the evening rule (or at other times) is the reading of psalms from the Psalter, canons or akathists, and necessarily (this does not require special blessing) one or more chapters from the Gospel.
In addition to reading canonical prayers, you can turn to God with your "creative" prayer, that is, in your own words, tell Him about your problems and needs and ask for the help you need.
However, turning to God with a "creative" prayer, remember that He, even before your petition, knows all your troubles and needs and gives you everything you need to save your soul, according to your present spiritual state, and therefore do not forget, in the end "creative" prayer to add: "but not mine, but Yours, may it be. Lord, will," or: "because of the destinies (i.e., in those ways that You, Lord, know) save me, Lord Humanity" .
Regarding unceasing "intelligent" prayer, there is a large amount of patristic literature, on the basis of the "Jesus" prayer, there is a whole direction of spiritual achievement.
For beginners in their prayer life, we can recommend performing unceasing prayer as follows: wherever you are: on the road, at work, at home, if your mind is not busy with any necessary labor activity, say "to yourself" the words of the "Jesus" prayer: "Lord, Jesus Christ, Son of God! Have mercy on me a sinner (or a sinner)".
Moreover, this prayer should not be pronounced mechanically, but carefully and slowly, focusing on the word "have mercy", because this capacious word contains both "forgive my sins", and "strengthen in virtue", and "protect from all evil", and "Give me Your Grace."
If you accustom yourself to the constant performance of the "Jesus" prayer, then this prayer will protect you from impure thoughts, protect you from many temptations, acquire the saving Grace of the Holy Spirit for you.
So, in order to fully have prayerful communion with God, it is necessary: when visiting the temple, to participate in common church prayer, to perform the morning and evening prayer rule according to the "Prayer Book", in your own words to turn to God in "creative" prayer and to accustom your soul to unceasing communion with God through the "intelligent" "Jesus" prayer.
In addition to prayer, and to help it, a Christian is obliged to observe the Fasts established by the Church.
Question: What is Post and why is it needed?
Answer: Fasting is abstinence, voluntary self-restraint in food, entertainment, communication with the world, fasting is a sacrifice of thanksgiving to God for that great Expiatory Sacrifice of the Cross, which was brought for us by the Son of God Himself, our Lord Jesus Christ.
Remember the state of the soul after a plentiful hearty meal, when laziness and relaxation spread throughout the body, the head becomes heavy, the consciousness becomes dull, when lustful animal instincts arise in the soul - where can thoughts of God, repentance or prayer come to mind!
Satiated flesh becomes the complete master of man and opens the door to many impure passions.
Fasting, on the other hand, is a crushing weapon against the slavery of the flesh that is fighting against us, it is the opportunity given by God to free the spiritual being of man through the oppression of the bodily.
Holy Scripture testifies to us about fasting as one of the means of saving the soul.
When, for the sins of the inhabitants of the city of Nineveh, the Lord condemned this city to destruction, like Sodom and Gomorrah, and sent the prophet Jonah to inform them of this, the king of Nineveh: "... got up from his throne, and took off his royal vestments, and put on in sackcloth, and sat on the ashes, and commanded to proclaim and say in Nineveh on behalf of the king and his nobles: "so that neither people nor cattle ... eat anything ... and drink no water ... and cry out loudly to God, and that everyone should turn from their evil way... perhaps God will yet have mercy and turn away His burning anger from us, and we will not perish. "And God saw their deeds, that they turned from their evil way, and God had pity about the disaster, which he said that he would bring upon them, and did not bring. (Jonah 3.6-10)
In this example, one can see that fasting, as an expression of repentance and contrition for sins, removes the wrath of God from the penitent.
But fasting is not only an expression of repentance and an atoning sacrifice for sins.
Here is what St. John of the Ladder says about the properties of fasting: “Fasting is the violence of nature, the rejection of everything that delights the taste, the extinguishment of bodily kindling, the extermination of evil thoughts, liberation from bad dreams, purity of prayer, the luminary of the soul, the preservation of the mind, the destruction of heart insensitivity, the door tenderness, a humble sigh, joyful contrition, the retention of verbosity, the cause of silence, the guardian of obedience, the relief of sleep, the health of the body, the cause of dispassion, the resolution of sins, the gates of paradise and heavenly pleasure. (Ladder. Word 14. Art. 33)
Summarizing the above, we can say that fasting is one of the most important spiritual means in the salvation of the soul.
Moreover, the essence of fasting is not just not to eat certain types of food.
If you do not eat meat, but sit for hours at the TV - this is not a fast, if you go to theaters, concerts and other entertainment venues during fasting, this is not a fast, if you spend time visiting and receiving guests, actively "communicate" on the phone, reading fiction This is also not a post.
If you yourself, abstaining from modest (meat and milk) food and entertainment, condemn others for their "careless" life, then this is all the more not fasting.
Fasting is abstaining from everything that can come between you and God, during fasting Christians abstain even from intimate married life, fasting is going inward and being there alone with the Lord, this is a time of introspection, a careful review of your life, a period of the most active spiritual work to correct their shortcomings, eradicate passions, purify the flesh and spirit.
During fasting, a Christian should pay more attention and time to visiting the temple, praying at home, helping others and doing works of mercy.
Some of the Holy Fathers call prayer and fasting two wings that lift the Christian soul to Heaven.
The Church has established a whole system of fasts, observing which a Christian contributes to the successful passage of spiritual exploits, the improvement of the soul, and the acquisition of the Divine Grace of the Holy Spirit.
Posts are one-day and multi-day.
One-day fasts are every Wednesday and Friday throughout the year, with the exception of Christmas time (the period between the holidays of Christmas and Epiphany), Easter and "solid" weeks (weeks).
In addition, one-day fasts are: Epiphany Christmas Eve (Eve of Theophany), the Beheading of John the Baptist - August 29 (September 11, according to a new style) and the Exaltation of the Holy Cross - September 14 (27).
Fasts of many days: Great Lent before Easter, Petrovsky Lent, Assumption Lent and Christmas.
Fasts vary in severity: strict fast - only plant foods (vegetables, fruits) are allowed to be eaten; a less strict fast - vegetable oil is allowed, on Sundays and holidays - fish.
Many beginners are horrified: "How? Do not eat meat? But where then will the forces work, do anything at all?"
I would like to remind them that the largest and strongest animals on earth: elephant, bull, buffalo are herbivores and do not eat meat at all.
Also, a person, during the period of fasting, not only does not lose physical strength and working capacity, but, due to the cleansing of the body of toxins and excess proteins, he feels significant relief in the whole body, both his mental and physical activity noticeably increase.
Earlier we said that God did not command man to do anything that would not be useful to him.
Nowadays, many doctors note the positive impact of fasting on the human body, and some even recognize the system of Orthodox fasting as an optimal diet.
For pregnant women, the elderly or the sick, the Charter provides for some relaxation of the severity of fasting.
You also need to know that the Charter exempts from fasting people who are on the road and are forced to eat the food that they can get on the road (they can also include people who are in hospitals, prisons or forced to dine at work and are not able to bring with is lean food).
All the rest must observe fasts in accordance with the Charter and the blessing of the confessor.
Question: How often does a Christian need to partake of the Holy Mysteries of Christ, and how should one prepare for Communion?
Answer: You need to take communion at least four times a year, during all major fasts: Veliky, Petrov, Uspensky and Rozhdestvensky.
In general, the frequency of a Christian's participation in the Sacrament of Communion is set individually, with the blessing of the confessor.
Some Christians commune extremely rarely, citing their unworthiness.
It is not right. No matter how much a person tries to purify himself before God, he will still not be worthy of accepting such the greatest shrine as the Body and Blood of the Lord Jesus Christ.
God gave us the Holy Mysteries of Christ not according to our dignity, but according to His great Grace and Love for His fallen creation.
And a Christian should accept the Holy Gifts not as a reward for his spiritual exploits, but as a Gift from the Loving Heavenly Father, as an advance payment that still needs to be “worked off,” as a saving Means of sanctification of the soul and body.
"The servant of God partakes ... of the Honest and Holy Body and Blood of the Lord and God and our Savior Jesus Christ, for the remission of his sins and for eternal life."
This prayer is said by the priest, giving the Holy Gifts to the Christian who takes communion, and if the Christian diligently prepares for this great Sacrament, then the Grace given to him through Communion accomplishes a miraculous transformation of the whole nature of man and makes it worthy of life Eternal.
In order to properly prepare for the Sacrament of Communion, a Christian needs to "pray", that is, fast for several days and read the prayer rule laid down by the Church - "Adherence to Holy Communion."
More details about how the canons and prayers are read before Communion are written in the "Orthodox Prayer Book".
The main thing during the period of "fasting" is to review your life for the period that has passed since the last confession, to realize and repent of your sins, to forgive all those who offended you, the offenses inflicted on you, to ask for forgiveness from those whom you offended, immediately before taking communion, go to confession to the priest and even then, reconciled with God, neighbors and one's conscience, with the fear of God and reverence, partake of the Holy Mysteries of Christ.
Remember that if a person comes to Communion with an unclean heart, hiding in it envy, resentment and other spiritual impurity, then Communion will serve him not for salvation, but for judgment and condemnation to eternal torment as having offended the Holy Body and Blood of the Son of God.
So, you have read this work and got acquainted with the basics of Orthodox church life.
Your further relationship with God and with the Church depends only on you, on how much you yourself want to live with Christ and become a full and full member of His Holy Catholic and Apostolic Orthodox Church.
Finally, I would like to give you some practical advice based on pastoral experience:
Coming to the temple, do not be offended by the elderly women you meet there, who may not quite correctly remark to you that you got up in the wrong place, took the candle with the wrong hand, put it in the wrong way, etc., in most cases these women lived a hard unhappy life, suffer from illnesses and diseases.
Treat them with understanding, without judgment, tell them: "Forgive Christ for Christ's sake, but how to do it right?"
Or step away silently, saying to yourself: "Lord! Forgive me my sins, as I forgive her!"
Do not take from anyone homemade, handwritten or typewritten prayers and spells, even though the giver will convince you: "This is a very strong prayer!"
If you nevertheless took something similar, go up to the priest and show him, the priest will tell you how to deal with this manuscript.
In general, listen less to various "grandmothers" who teach you how to live and spread a bunch of superstitions, and listen more to the sermons of priests and read Orthodox spiritual literature, in which you will find answers to all questions related to spiritual life.
With all problems, contact your confessor or a priest serving in your church; and do not be offended by the priest if you meet, as it may seem to you, not enough attention, because for the most part, priests are heavily loaded with services, requirements, besieged by spiritual children.
God forbid you from falling into the sin of condemning the clergy! (according to church canons, a layman who condemns a priest is excommunicated from the Church).
Priests themselves will answer for their sins before God, and the demand from them will be a hundred times more severe than from a layman.
Do not enter into disputes and do not listen to various sectarians who convince that their faith is the most correct: they are all outside the Church, outside Grace, and therefore outside the Kingdom of God.
Before you enter a church you are unfamiliar with, find out if it belongs to the Moscow Patriarchate, or if any schismatics "serve" in it.
You can’t go to schismatic churches: anyone who visits them is automatically excommunicated from the Church of Christ and falls under God’s curse.
The same applies to the so-called "non-Orthodox" (ie, heretics preaching a false doctrine of Christ); Catholics, Protestants, Monophysites, etc.: their faith is not salvific and the "sacraments" are without grace.
As if from fire, run away from the bred occult "White brotherhoods", "Mother of God centers", Eastern and pseudo-Eastern Hare Krishnas, Roerichs, psychics, sorcerers and "grandmothers": communication with them is a reliable path to hell.
Do not get carried away by political passions - the people have such rulers as they deserve according to their spiritual state; you need to change, first of all, your own sinful life; If we improve ourselves, the world around us will also improve.
Remember that you have nothing more precious than your own soul, and do not allow yourself to be carried away by the unrestrained pursuit of worldly values, which takes away your strength and time, devastates and kills your soul.
Thank God for everything sent to you: joys and sorrows, health and sickness, wealth and need, since everything that comes from Him is good; and even sorrows, like a bitter medicine. The Lord heals the sinful sores of our souls.
Having embarked on the path of Christian life, do not be faint-hearted, do not fuss, "... seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness ..." - the Lord will give you everything you need in due time.
In all your actions and words, be guided by the main Commandment of Love - and the Grace of God will be with you forever and ever. Amen!
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"Orthodoxy and the World. Electronic Library" ().
Dear reader! Before you is not an article, but a small manual, which I compiled at the request of one parishioner. He asked: “Here, I am just beginning my journey in the Orthodox faith. I don't know what to read? Which authors can be trusted and which ones should be avoided. Could you, father, make a list of authors you recommend for reading?
I fulfilled the request of the young man. And then he gave this memo to other people. And she helped a lot.
I'll warn you right away: this is subjective. No need to quibble if I have lost sight of one of the most worthy authors. But still, in my opinion, this memo gives an idea of what to read to a person who wants to get acquainted with Orthodoxy.
The most important book for a Christian should, of course, be. You need to start reading the Bible from the New Testament. Then you can get acquainted with the Old Testament. With regard to the New Testament, there are a lot of wonderful ones, and he himself is not difficult to understand. But the Old Testament without explanation is difficult to read. The best guide in this matter will be the excellent three-volume book by Archpriest Alexander Men, "How to Read the Bible." Father Alexander made a selection of the most important Old Testament texts (a kind of an anthology) and commented on them. This work is also available online.
AT recent times A lot of different books by Orthodox authors appeared on the book market. And, of course, you need to remember that not all of them are equally valuable. Among these books there are those that are completely non-Orthodox in essence, there are those in which genuine Orthodox teaching is mixed with occult or pseudo-scientific ideas. I advise you to read the excellent work of Deacon Andrei Kuraev about this:.
Some believers are guided by this principle: they look to see if there is an inscription on the book: Published with blessing…
But this vulture Published with blessing does not protect against forgery. I personally know publishers who cynically put this stamp on all their publications, saying that no one will check anyway. But I must say: there is a stamp that is placed on books that have passed real church censorship at the highest level. This is the inscription on the title page: Publishing Council of the Russian Orthodox Church. These are the kind of books you shouldn't be afraid of.
I offer you a list of the best Orthodox authors.
For convenience, I rate the works of authors on the subject of theological complexity on a five-point system:
Of the Russian ascetics of faith and piety, I recommend St. Theophan the Recluse (, ), St. Tikhon of Zadonsk, St. rights. John of Kronstadt (, ), St. Seraphim of Sarov (), saint. Ignatius Bryanchaninov (,).
Arseniev Vladimir. Theologian. 2,3,4.
Afanasiev Nikolai, archpriest (,). Liturgist, theologian, historian. 3-4.
Bulgakov Sergiy, archpriest. Theologian. Of his works, I recommend primarily the book -3-4. There are non-Orthodox thoughts in his other works.
Vasily (Krivoshein), archbishop (). Theologian. 3-4.
Voznesenskaya Julia. Contemporary writer, author of remarkable popular fiction novels. 2.3.
Glubokovsky Nikolay. Bibleist. 4, 5.
Dvorkin A. Specialist in sects ( , ). 2,3,4.
Elchaninov Alexander, priest. I especially recommend his book. 3.
John (Shakhovskoy), archbishop (,). Theologian. 3.
Justin Popovich, Archimandrite (, ). Excellent Serbian theologian and writer. 3.4.
Kallistos (Ware), Bishop. ( , ). Theologian. 3-4.
Kartashev Anton. Church historian. 3-4.
Cassian (Bezobrazov), bishop (). Bibleist. 4, 5.
Cyprian (Kern), archimandrite (). Theologian, pathologist. 3-4.
I fulfilled the request of the young man. And then he gave this memo to other people. And she helped a lot.
I'll warn you right away: this is subjective. No need to quibble if I have lost sight of one of the most worthy authors. But still, in my opinion, this memo gives an idea of what to read to a person who wants to get acquainted with Orthodoxy.
The most important book for a Christian should undoubtedly be the Holy Scriptures. You need to start reading the Bible from the New Testament. Then you can get acquainted with the Old Testament. There are many wonderful commentaries on the New Testament, and it is not difficult to understand itself. But the Old Testament without explanation is difficult to read. The best guide in this matter will be the excellent three-volume book by Archpriest Alexander Men “How to Read the Bible”. Father Alexander made a selection of the most important Old Testament texts (a kind of an anthology) and commented on them. This work is also available online.
Recently, a lot of different books by Orthodox authors have appeared on the book market. And, of course, you need to remember that not all of them are equally valuable. Among these books there are those that are completely non-Orthodox in essence, there are those in which genuine Orthodox teaching is mixed with occult or pseudo-scientific ideas. I advise you to read the excellent work of Deacon Andrei Kuraev about this: The second coming of the Apocrypha, or a sermon about corruption instead of a sermon about Christ .
Some believers are guided by this principle: they look to see if there is an inscription on the book: Published with blessing…
But this vulture Published with blessing does not protect against forgery. I personally know publishers who cynically put this stamp on all their publications, saying that no one will check anyway. But I must say: there is a stamp that is placed on books that have passed real church censorship at the highest level. This is the inscription on the title page: Publishing Council of the Russian Orthodox Church. These are the kind of books you shouldn't be afraid of.
I offer you a list of the best Orthodox authors.
For convenience, I rate the works of authors on the subject of theological complexity on a five-point system:
Of the Russian ascetics of faith and piety, I recommend St. Theophan the Recluse (, ), St. Tikhon of Zadonsk, St. rights. John of Kronstadt (, ), St. Seraphim of Sarov (), saint. Ignatius Bryanchaninov (,).
Arseniev Vladimir. Theologian. 2,3,4.
Afanasiev Nikolai, archpriest (,). Liturgist, theologian, historian. 3-4.
Bulgakov Sergiy, archpriest. Theologian. Of his works, I recommend primarily the book Orthodoxy-3-4. There are non-Orthodox thoughts in his other works.
Vasily (Krivoshein), archbishop (). Theologian. 3-4.
Voznesenskaya Julia. Contemporary writer, author of remarkable popular fiction novels. 2.3.
Glubokovsky Nikolay. Bibleist. 4, 5.
Dvorkin A. Specialist in sects ( , ). 2,3,4.
Elchaninov Alexander, priest. I especially recommend his book. Entries. 3.
John (Shakhovskoy), archbishop (,). Theologian. 3.
Justin Popovich, Archimandrite (, ,). Excellent Serbian theologian and writer. 3.4.
Kallistos (Ware), Bishop. ( , , , ). Theologian. 3-4.
Kartashev Anton. Church historian. 3-4.
Cassian (Bezobrazov), bishop (). Bibleist. 4, 5.
Cyprian (Kern), archimandrite (). Theologian, pathologist. 3-4.
Clement Olivier. Theologian. 3.4.
Kontsevich I. M. Researcher of Russian eldership and holiness. 2.
Kuraev Andrey, deacon. Church publicist, theologian (,,
First of all, all students of the faith need to attend the service and participate in the sacraments. On emerging issues, personal communication with a person practicing the faith - a priest or a pious layman - is very useful.
2. The gospel is the Holy Scripture of Christians. The Gospel, or in other words, the New Testament, is a book that tells about the teachings of the Lord Jesus Christ, written by the holy apostles in the first centuries of Christianity (a little less than 2000 years ago.) The Holy Church commands her children (that is, you and me) to read the Gospel and understand it. Every baptized person should be familiar with the teachings of Jesus Christ, set forth in the 27 books of the New Testament. The gospel is part of the Bible. In addition to the Gospel (New Testament), the Bible also includes books (chapters) of the Old Testament. The study of the books of the Old Testament (telling about the life of people from the creation of the world to the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ) should be started later, after you are familiar with the books of the New Testament.
3. Reading book about Orthodox faith for beginners "The Law of God" - according to such books all beginners study in Sunday schools. We recommend the book "The Law of God" by Hieromonk Job (Gumerov) and his sons, priests Paul and Alexander. However, it is quite the "Law of God" of any other authors (Slobodsky, Sysoev).
Books with an inscription on the title page "Publishing Council of the Russian Orthodox Church" can be safely read.
The inscription on the title page "Published with the blessing of ..." - does not protect against forgery.
For convenience, we evaluate the complexity of the book on a five-point system:
1-2 - very simple, accessible compositions;
3 - works written for the mass reader;
5 - complex theological works, it is difficult to read without some preparation.
First, all the writings of the holy fathers.
Of the Russian ascetics of faith and piety, we recommend books: St. Theophan the Recluse (“Four words about prayer”, “What is spiritual life and how to tune in to it”); St. Tikhon Zadonsky; St. rights. John of Kronstadt ("In the world of prayer. Selections from his writings", "Holy Righteous John of Kronstadt. Memoirs of contemporaries."), St. Seraphim of Sarov ("Reverend Seraphim of Sarov. Life. Seraphim-Diveevo Traditions."), St. Ignatius Bryanchaninov ("To Help the Penitent", "Paternal Father", "Word of Death").
Anthony (Bloom), Metropolitan ("Steps", "Prayer and Life", "Joy of Repentance", "Life. Sickness. Death", "Spiritual Journey. Reflection before Great Lent", "Learn to Pray"). Difficulty level - 2.3.
Arseniev Vladimir. Theologian. Difficulty level - 2,3,4.
Afanasiev Nikolai, archpriest (“On Church Education”, “Ecclisiology of Entry into the Clergy”). Liturgist, theologian, historian. Difficulty level - 3-4.
Bulgakov Sergiy, archpriest. Theologian. Of his works, I recommend above all the book Orthodoxy. There are non-Orthodox thoughts in his other works. Difficulty level - 3-4.
Vasily (Krivoshein), Archbishop ("Angels and Demons in the Spiritual Life"). Theologian. Difficulty level - 3.4.
Veniamin (Fedchenkov), Metropolitan (" God's people"). Author of books on Orthodox life, piety. Difficulty level - 2.3.
Voznesenskaya Julia. Contemporary writer, author of remarkable popular fiction novels. Difficulty level - 2.3.
Glubokovsky Nikolay. Bibleist. Difficulty level - 4.5.
Dvorkin A. Specialist on sects (“Ten questions for an obsessive stranger or a guide for those who do not want to be recruited”). Difficulty level - 2, 3, 4.
Elchaninov Alexander, priest. I especially recommend his book "Records". Difficulty level - 3.
Zenkovsky Vasily (“Fundamentals of Christian Philosophy”, “On the threshold of maturity, conversations with young men about gender issues”, “On religious education in the family”). Theologian, philosopher. Difficulty level - 3-4.
Hilarion (Alfeev), Bishop. Theologian, pathologist. For new Christians, I especially recommend his book The Sacrament of Faith. Difficulty level - 2,3,4.
John (Shakhovskoy), archbishop ("Apocalypse of petty sin", "White monasticism"). Theologian. Difficulty level - 3.
Justin Popovich, archimandrite (“Christianity according to the teachings of St. Macarius of Egypt”, “Our venerable and God-bearing father Nil, the ascetic of Sorsky and his charter on skete life”, “Original sin, its causes and consequences”). Excellent Serbian theologian and writer. Difficulty level - 3.4.
Kallistos (Ware), Bishop. (“The Inner Kingdom”, “How to Read the Bible”, “The Power of a Name”). Theologian. Difficulty level - 3-4.
Kartashev Anton. Church historian. Difficulty level - 3-4.
Cassian (Bezobrazov), bishop ("Christ and the first Christian generation"). Bibleist. Difficulty level - 4, 5.
Cyprian (Kern), archimandrite ("Eucharist"). Theologian, pathologist. Difficulty level - 3-4.
Clement Olivier. Theologian. Difficulty level - 3.4.
Kontsevich I. M. Researcher of Russian eldership and holiness. Difficulty level - 2.
Kuraev Andrey, deacon. Church publicist, theologian ("Gifts and Anathemas. What Christianity brought to the world", "Answers to the Young", "The Challenge of Ecumenism", "The Legacy of Christ. What was not included in the Gospel?"). Difficulty level - 2.3.
Lossky Vladimir ("Essay on the mystical theology of the Eastern Church", "Dogmatic theology"). Theologian, very high level. Difficulty level - 5.
Lewis Clive ("Mere Christianity"). English thinker. Very bright and useful work. Difficulty level - 2,3,4.
Meindorf John, Protopresbyter ("Marriage in Orthodoxy"). Theologian, historian, patrologist Difficulty level - 3-4.
Men Alexander, archpriest ("Answers to questions"). Theologian. Historian, biblical scholar. Difficulty level - 2,3,4.
Nikolai Velimirovic (Serbian), Bishop ("Proceedings" - "Missionary Letters", "Indian Letters"). Theologian. Difficulty level - 3.4.
Paisius Athos, schemamonk (“On the Christian Family”, “Spiritual Struggle”). This is a modern ascetic (died in 1994). I recommend all his books and also books about him. Difficulty level -3.
Sophrony (Sakharov), archimandrite ("Elder Siluan", "Seeing God as He is", "On Prayer"). Theologian. The first book, Elder Silouan, is especially valuable. Difficulty level - 3.4.
Fedotov Georgy. Historian. Especially valuable is his book Saints of Ancient Russia. Difficulty level - 3-4.
Florovsky Georgy, archpriest (“On the Death of the Cross”). Theologian. Some of his works are 4 in difficulty, some are 5.
Schmemann A., Protopresbyter (“The Historical Path of Orthodoxy”, “Great Lent”, “ Orthodox Divine Service. Liturgy"). Theologian. Difficulty level - 2,3,4.
Reliable that you will succeed
priest Oleg Barkov.
The article was compiled on the basis of the post of the priest Konstantin Parkhomenok "What to read to a Christian"
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