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Day-be-Day. February 29th (16th)

2012-02-29T13:21:00Z

The Bond of Perfectness

And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another,
even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you. (Ephes.4, 32)

Kindness and compassion – is a great power in life. The evil that is done but sharp tongue, coldness to your neighbor, not understanding the feelings of others, constant suspicion – all these can be soften and covered only by kindness and expression of love. Love looks for kindness, not evil, in people; and where it does not find kindness, it laments evil and tries to correct it, instead of judging it. The abundance of our best feelings streams down onto our neighbors. By loving them, we put ourselves into their shoes and treat them the way we would want to be treated. We suffer their sorrows and needs, like our own.

“Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering…and above all these things put of charity, which is the bond of perfectness” (Col.3, 12, 14)

No earthly good can be compared to that spirit, which is described by Ap.Paul in these words. How often we have experienced the mightiness of charity and longsuffering! How often, in difficult times of our life, being warmed up by a kind and tender word, we saw the light again, which had been long gone for us!

Charity, which is called the “bond of perfectness”, - is a life source and joyful spring. It pours its fullness onto others and turns itself into endless stream of love. Never dying, it rushes further and further to eternity, bringing more and more fruits on its way.

One famous elder-missionary once had many people gathered, who devoted themselves to serving poor and willing to hear words of instruction from him. He spoke long, with an amazing power, and concluded his speech with these words: “Do you want to know three conditions of your success of your labors amongst the people who are perishing in body and spirit? First condition – be kind, second – be kind, third – be kind. This is what I learned in my experience of many years”.

(Translated by Tatiana Rozzell from “Every Day is a Gift from God. Diaries of an Orthodox Priest” (1905), author unknown)

Day-by-Day. February 28th (15th)

2012-02-28T13:18:00Z

The Presence of God

Surely the Lord is in this place; and I knew it not. (Gen.28, 16)

A tired traveler is walking the road late at night. He’s in exile from his parent’s house, is hiding from revenge of his brother, separated from his parents for a long time already, and all because of his own fault. He lied to his elderly father, and the bitter fruit of this lies makes the beloved son to run away, suffer the difficulties and be a lonely traveler. He is tired, it’s dark, he lied down in the open and put a rock under his head for a pillow. He dreamed about a ladder “set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven”; and he heard the voice of God: “I am with thee… and I will not leave thee”. Jacob awaked and said: “Surely the Lord is in this place; and I knew it not”.

On the place of exile, where sin lead you, where you are alone, on your own, and where, maybe, you did not even searched for God, - He is present there and searching for your soul, because He loved it and wants to bring it to repentance and to His Love.

“I will not leave thee”, until you turn to Me, until you set up an altar for Me in your heart, which did not know me. It was very uncomfortable to sleep on a rock, but when a heavenly light enlightened him and he heard the voice of God that hard rock turned into a monument, got softened by oil, the desert place got enlightened and received a name of “House of God”.

Read that place in the Bible and put upon your hearts the message that it brings us. Amen.

(Translated by Tatiana Rozzell from “Every Day is a Gift from God. Diaries of an Orthodox Priest” (1905), author unknown)

The Prayer of Saint Ephraim

2012-02-27T22:13:51Z

This prayer is characteristic of Lent. It is repeated many times (*always* with
prostrations) throughout the weekday services of Lent.

Saturdays (Sabbath) and Sundays (Resurrection) are not strictly Lenten. The
Prayer of Saint Ephraim is therefore not said after Vespers on Friday,
through the weekend to Sunday evening, when it is again said at the end of
Sunday Vespers.

In services this prayer is appointed to be read either "once" (in three parts),
or "twice" (in three parts and then once more in its entirety)

This Prayer is an important part of the Lenten discipline and so it is also
always said at home, at the end of the Morning Prayers, and again at the end of
the Evening Prayers.

When said at home the Prayer of Saint Ephrain is said "twice" according to the
structure below:

O Lord and Master of my life, a spirit of
idleness, despondency, ambition and vain
talking give me not

[prostration]

But rather a spirit of chastity, humble
mindedness, patience and love bestow
upon me, Thy servant

[prostration]

Yea, O Lord King, grant to see my own
failings and not condemn my brother, for
blessed are Thou unto the ages of ages.
Amen

[prostration]

O God cleanse me a sinner [poklon]
(12 times)

O Lord and Master of my life, a spirit of
idleness, despondency, ambition and vain
talking give me not. But rather a spirit
of chastity, humble mindedness, patience
and love bestow upon me, Thy servant, Yea,
O Lord King, grant to see my own failings
and not condemn my brother, for blessed are
Thou unto the ages of ages. Amen

[prostration]

----------

Prostration – means to cross yourself, then bow down all the way to the floor -
touching your forehead to the ground.

Poklon – cross yourself and (only after the cross is completed) bow from the
waist (not a squat) and touch your fingers to the ground.

Do not begin to bow or prostrate while you are still crossing yourself. Remain
vertical until after your left shoulder is touched by the sign of the Cross.
Only then should you bow, or prostrate.

Additional prostrations are also performed as guided – by your prayer rule, as
discipline, or by your conscience to help weaken the body against sin. As an
example, the "Prayers for Purity" booklet calls for 50 prostration after
several/many of the prayers.

(Graciously contributed by fr.Mark, St.James the Apostle Orthodox Chruch)

Sunday of Forgiveness. February 26th (13th)

2012-02-26T03:30:00Z

Sunday of Forgiveness and Beginning of the Great Lent

The Lord Confronts the Disobedience of Adam & Eve; "The Expulsion from Paradise",
Nave Mosaics from Palatine Chapel, Palermo, Sicily. Mid 12th Century.

The Sunday of Forgiveness is also known as Cheesefare Sunday. This is the last day that dairy products can be eaten before the Lenten fast. The full fast begins the following day on Clean Monday, the first day of Great Lent. On the evening of the Sunday of Forgiveness the Church conducts the first service of Great Lent, the Vespers of Forgiveness, a service that directs us further on the path of repentance and helps us to acknowledge our need for forgiveness from God and to seek forgiveness from our brothers and sisters in Christ. This is the first time that the Lenten prayer of St. Ephraim accompanied by prostrations is read. At the end of the service all the faithful approach the priest and one another asking for mutual forgiveness.

"...To what end do fasting and petinence lead? For what purpose is this trouble taken? They lead to the cleansing of the soal from sins, to peace of heart, to union with God: they fill us with devotion and sonship and give us boldness before God. There are, indeed, very important reasons for fasting and confession from the whole heart.

There shall be an inestimable reward given for conscientious labor.

Have many of us the feeling of sonlike love to God? Dare many of us, without condemnation and with boldness call upon the Father and say: "Our Father!".... Is there not, on the contrary, no such sonlike voice to be heard in our hearts, which are deadened by the vanities of this world and attachments to its objects and pleasures? Is not our Heavenly Father far from our hearts? Is it not rather an avenging God that we should represent to ourselves, we who have withdrawn ourselves from Him into a far-awau land?

Yes, by our sins all of us are worthy of His righteous anger and punishment, and it is wonderful how long-suffering and forbearing He is to us - that He does not strike us like the barren fig trees. Let us hasten to propitiate Him by repentance and tears. Let us enter into ourselves; let us consider our unclean hearts in all strictness, and when we see what a maltitude of impurities are keeping them from the reach of Divine grace, we shall ourselves acknowledge that we are spiritually dead."...

St.John of Kronstadt

Day-by-Day. February 25th (12th)

2012-02-25T15:14:35Z

Inheritance, Given Unto Us

For all the land which thou seest, to thee will I give it…
Arise, walk through the land in the length of it and in the breadth of it.
(Gen.13, 15-17)

Lord gave Abraham the Promised Land into ownership. And Lord gives you the same in the spiritual meaning. So you need to comprehend, on this spiritual ground, what is given to you by this unshakable promise. This is your inheritance, your good part, which can easily satisfy your soul. Arise and walk in faith through your own land, come into its ownership. Arise and walk in the length and width of Love, given to you, look into it, comprehend it and start walking in the power of that Love.

You might come across a tribulation or even a sorrow. Call then upon the depth of Love of Jesus Christ! It is your inheritance. And it penetrates to the bottom of your sorrow.

Are you worried about someone dear to you? Want to help them? Arise, arise and walk thought the iheritance given unto you. Allow the breadth of Love of Christ to consume you; the Love, which encloses all the souls, the souls that you are worried about and your own; Love, which is ready to pour blessings and peace onto them and unto you. Call upon it, its breadth, all the treasure of its compassion, immerse into its abundance and walk in it.

Are you bothered by separation from your beloved ones, between you and the one whose every step you wanted to watch and can’t, because they are far away? Think then about the length of Love of Christ, which is everywhere and reaches everyone, goes where your hands can’t reach. Give all your worries to the Love and find peace.

Are you sorrowful about someone who departed this life already, would want to unite with them in the eternal homeland and rush the hour? Hold on to the height of Love of Christ, which, while abiding with those in Heaven, is still present with those on earth, and connects them all. This Love comes down from above, and lifts you up to there, where God Himself wipes off every tear off every eye. Hold on tight to that Love, let it hug you with your beloved ones and find consolation for yourself.

(Translated by Tatiana Rozzell from “Every Day is a Gift from God. Diaries of an Orthodox Priest” (1905), author unknown)

Day-to-Day. February 24th (11th)

2012-02-24T04:14:10Z

Lead Me, o Lord, to Yourself!

The Lord upholdeth all that fall, and raiseth up all those that be bowed down. (Ps.144, 14)

O Lord, the eternal Love, the Lantern, that lights up the way of every man coning into the world, - enlighten the darkness of my soul, take every evil from my soul, fill me in with Your light, so that in your light I’d see the Light! Fill me with Your love, so that in it I would love everything that is created by You. “Even so, come, Lord Jesus Christ”! (Rev.22, 20)

Open up our spiritual eyes and allow us to understand the comprehensive truth of Your commandment, which will lead us all, rich and poor, smart and not, noble and simple, equally to that eternal life that Your prepared for those, who love You. Cleanse me, o Lord, wash me thoroughly and only then I will be clean! Because You don’t need the external beauty, but true righteousness, which is penetrated deep into thoughts and feelings.

Cleanse me, wash me! Rid me of my secret sins and fill by being with Your eternal truth!

Do with me what You please, - test me, punish me; but also uphold me, as I often fall.

(Translated by Tatiana Rozzell from “Every Day is a Gift from God. Diaries of an Orthodox Priest” (1905), author unknown)

Day-by-Day. February 22nd (9th)

2012-02-22T12:47:00Z

Will Find an Answer in Prayer

And the word of the Lord was precious in those days. (1 Sam.3, 1)

There are times in the history of mankind when the glory of God is manifested more clearly. Then the kingdom of God appears in full power. And the people are having a sort of visible communication with God; miracles and prophesies happen more often. Like during creation of the world, God separated light from darkness and stars lit up in the sky, same way spiritual world gets lit up with heavenly light, which directs us to the right path. But then there are times, when people don’t hear the Voice of God, when His mightiness is not manifested in full Power.

Such times are given to us as the greatest test of our faith: heaven is as if shut for us and we constantly hear cries of unfaithful, who demand signs from sky and constantly repeating: “Where is your God?” Even though, in our times, we don’t see sick are healed momentarily and dead are risen – the power of God did not weaken; the voice of God sounds even when we don’t hear it: “My Father worketh hitherto, and I work” (Jn.5, 17) – sais the Lord.

What happens in the history of mankind is also repeated in our lives. And in our spiritual world, abundant harvest is replaced with a drought and hunger, our soul is thirsty and loans for truth, and our supplies are insufficient.

Often, after spiritual bliss and joy that we experienced, we suddenly think that God left us, that His Word became silent, and a desperate cry is heard in our soul, and we cry out with David: “Return, O Lord, deliver my soul” or “Arise, O Lord, and awake for me”!

We understand, that Jesus was not answering to Pilate, but when we, with a great faith, call upon Him and do not receive an immediate answer, when our Master is as if asleep – at the time when only He could calm a fearsome storm around us, this seems hard and incomprehensible for us.

But even though Lord is not responding to us at this particular minute, He will talk in His time. If only we call upon Him in faith, and patiently wait for a response to our prayer, we, undoubtedly, will receive it when we need it the most.

(Translated by Tatiana Rozzell from “Every Day is a Gift from God. Diaries of an Orthodox Priest” (1905), author unknown)

Day-by-Day. February 21st (8th)

2012-02-21T00:23:48Z

If You Pity the Careless Ones…

And I wept much, because no man was found worthy to open and
to read the book, neither to look thereon. (Rev.5, 4)

John is not weeping about himself, but the whole world, which has deprived itself of the Savior; he is weeping about the whole mankind, like Christ wept about Jerusalem, he is not grieved about material needs of his brothers, rather that there was no man found worthy to respond to the call of the Angel and “to open the book, and to loose the seals thereof”.

This is the book of God’s Revelation, God’s love, which was manifested in redemption of the mankind, and it is shut and sealed for those people, who live by their flesh and for this world only. While they are covered in this unrepented, and unwashed sin, they can not and want not to even look into this book. They are blind and powerless.

But glory be to God, when awareness of this spiritual blindness finally comes, then the Holy Spirit opens up the internal eyes of a humble soul and points to the Lamb, Who, like a Victor over sin and death, takes the book in His Hand and opens it up. The soul sees the Only Worthy One, sings a new song of praise to Him and accepts from Him, one by one, words from that sacred book, which was sealed by sin. And the Lamb puts in and carves in the holy Words into those hungry souls.

Are you, together with John, weeping that small amount of those converted? If you pity so many careless and false Christians, then call them to Christ by a live, humble word and example of your own life, devoted to Him.

(Translated by Tatiana Rozzell from “Every Day is a Gift from God. Diaries of an Orthodox Priest” (1905), author unknown)

"Suffer the Little Children..."

2012-02-20T00:18:26Z

"Suffer the Little Children..." An excerpt from the diary of Sergei Nilus, On the Banks of God's River.

Nilus' diary was first published in 1916 by Holy Trinity-Sergius Lavra. When it was later sent for publication abroad, the author supplied names of people who had died, which he had originally noted simply by initials. "Vera" was in fact Seraphima Nikolaevna Vishnevskaya, from Tambov, as indicated in the 1975 edition published by St. Elias Publications, Forestville, CA

June 1, 1909. Today there left Optina our new acquaintance who, in the brief time she spent at the monastery, became close to us like a sister-closer still, like a sister in Christ.

I shall call her Vera, for her faith is great. [Vera in Russian means "faith"].

In early January of this year I received a letter from the city of T., in which some womanly Christian soul wrote some warm words encouraging my labors in Christ's vineyard. The letter bore the woman's full signature, but I didn't recognize the name.

On May 25 my wife and I were at Liturgy. Before the Cherubic Hymn a lady passed by where we were standing; she was modestly dressed and led by the hand a boy of about five. For some reason she attracted our attention. At the end of the service, before the royal moleben (it was the birthday of the Empress Alexandra), we saw her again as she went to get a candle.

Now that's a servant of God! I thought to myself. One of her children from his early years and another still in the womb-both are sanctified by the mother's prayers and holy contemplations. Smart woman! May the Lord and the Mother of God bless her!

At that moment she approached the icon of the Mother of God "Quick to Hear", before which we usually stood in the church of the Entrance of the Mother of God into the Temple, and she kneeled down to pray. By chance I caught sight of her expression, directed at the icon. And what an expression it was, what faith emanated from it, what love for God, for what is divine, what is holy!... Oh, if only I could pray like that! Mother of God, my heart prayed for her, answer her prayers according to her faith!

In leaving the church through the north doors, in front of the icon "Surety of Sinners", we again saw the woman. She was holding a prosphora.

"Are you not Sergei Aleksandrovich Nilus?" she asked me with a shy smile.

"Yes. With whom have I the honor...?"

It turned out that it was the same woman who wrote to me in January from T.**

This was that Vera with her five-year old son Seryozha, whom we saw off today from Optina.

It's worth focusing one's attention on this God-loving pair, to return love for love, to preserve in our grateful memory their pure image, with its illuminating rays of otherworldly light.

"Today," said Vera, "Seryozha and I will be preparing to receive Holy Communion and Holy Unction tomorrow. After the unction service, allow us to pay you a visit. It is such a joy to find people who share the same spirit. One wants so much to rest from the oppression of the world. Don't refuse us your hospitality."

And what a joy it was, this new acquaintance.

The day we met Vera in front of the icon of the Mother of God, "Surety of Sinners," my wife and I were walking past the dear graves of Optina's great elders, and we stopped in to venerate them as usual. Entering the chapel over the grave of Elder Ambrose we found Vera and her Seryozha. The boy stretched his hands in front, palms up, and said, "Batiushka Amvrossy, bless!"

Just then the boy's mother noticed us.

"Seryozha and I have this custom. After all, Batiushka Amvrossy is alive and is present here invisibly with us. And one should ask his blessing, as one would of a hieromonk."

I barely restrained my tears... Continue...

Quote of the Day. St.John of Kronstadt.

2011-10-07T22:34:00Z

...It is especially necessary for Christians to have a pure heart, so that they may be able to see God with the eyes of the heart, as He is, with His love to us and with all His perfections, as well as to be able to contemplate the beauty of the angels, all the glory of the Holy Virgin, the beauty of Her soul and Her greatness as the Mother of God, and the beauty of the souls of God’s saints, and their love to us; we must see them as they are in themselves, we must contemplate the truth of the Christian faith, with all its sacraments, and feel their greatness; we must see the state of our own souls, and especially sins.

An impure heart – that is a heart occupied with earthly passions – feeds itself on the carnal desires of the eyes and worldly pride; it can not see any of the things we have indicated...

Quote of the Day. St.John of Kronstadt.

2011-10-05T22:32:00Z

...Sometimes in his heart a man draws near to God, sometimes he goes far from God, and therefore he experiences either peace and joy, or fear, disturbance and oppression. The first one is life, the other is spiritual death.

We draw near to God mostly in times of affliction, from which no one can save us but God, to Whom we then turn with our whole heart, and thus approach Him sincerely; whilst we go far from God in times of ease and abundance of earthly blessings, which make the old carnal man proud of himself, and -especially when he thirsts for riches, glory and distinction, and has attained all these – he loses faith from his heart and forgets God, his Judge and Recompenser, forgets the immortality of his soul, and his duty to love God with all his heart and his neighbor as himself...

Quote of the Day. St.John of Kronstadt.

2011-10-03T22:32:00Z

...Is it possible to pray rapidly without injuring the effect of the prayer? It is possible for those who have learned to pray inwardly with a pure heart.

During prayer it is necessary that your heart should sincere desire that which you ask for, should feel the truth of what you are saying, and this comes naturally to a pure heart. That is why it is capable of praying even rapidly, and at the same time agreeable, to God, as the rapidly in this case does not injure the truth (sincerity) of the prayer.

But for those who have not attained the capability of praying sincerely it is necessary to pray slowly, waiting for a corresponding echo in the heart to each word of the prayer. And this is not always soon given to men unaccustomed to prayerful contemplation. Therefore, for such men, it must be laid down as an absolute rule to pronounce the words of the prayer slowly, and with pauses. Wait until every word gives back its corresponding echo in your heart...

Quote of the Day. St.John of Kronstadt.

2011-09-30T21:41:00Z

...Sometimes in the affliction of your soul you wish to die. It is easy to die; but are you prepared for death? Remember that after death the judgment of your whole lofe will follow.

You are not prepared for death, and if it were to come to you, you would shudder all over. Therefore do not waste words in vain. Do not say: “It is better for me to die”, but rather say. “How can I prepare for death in a Christian manner?” By means of faith, by means of good works, and by bravely bearing the miseries and sorrows that happen to you, so as to be able to meet death fearlessly, peacefully, and without shame, not a rigorous law of nature, but as a fatherly call of the eternal, heavenly, holy, and blessed Father unto the everlasting Kingdom.

Remember the old man who, being weary of his heavy burden, called for death. When it came, he did not wish to die, and preferred to go on carrying his heavy burden...

Quote of the Day. St.John of Kronstadt.

2011-09-28T21:39:00Z

...The only means by which you can spend the day in perfect holiness, peace, and without sin, is the most sincere, fervent prayer as soon as you rise from sleep in the morning. It will bring Christ into your heart, with the Father and the Holy Spirit, and will thus strengthen and fortify your soul against any evil; but still it will be necessary for you to carefully guard your heart....

Quote of the Day. St.John of Kronstadt.

2011-09-26T21:42:00Z

...Do not spare yourself, but pray earnestly, even if you have been toiling all day. Do not be negligent in holy prayer; say it to God unto the end from your whole heart, for it is a duty you owe to God. Having put your hand to the plough do not look back.

If you allow yourself to pray carelessly, and not from your heart, you will not fall asleep (if you pray at night) until you have wiped out by tears your sin before God. This is not so with everybody, however, but only with the more perfect. Take care, then, not to put your flesh before God, and disdain, for His sake, bodily repose. If you have made a rule to read so many prayers (whether they be long or short, fulfill the reading of all of them well), read the prayers with all conscientiousness, and do not do God’s work with your heart divided in two, so that only one half belongs to Him and the remaining half to your own flesh. God is a jealous God, and will not suffer your duplicity, your self-pity.

He will deliver you up to the Devil, and the Devil will not let your heart rest for your neglect of God, Who is the true peace of your heart, and Who will always do that which is for your own good, so as to keep your heart near Him; for every insincere prayer removes your heart from God and sets it in opposition to you yourself, whilst every earnest prayer draws your heart nearer to God and makes it perpetually godly. Thus, be assured, if you hurry over your prayers, to give rest to your body, you will loose both spiritual and bodily rest.

Oh! By what labor, sweat, and tears is the approach of our heart to God gained! It is possible that we should again make our very prayers (when careless) the means of our estrangement from God, and that God should not be jealous of this? For He pities us and our former labors, and He desires that we should again unfailingly turn to Him with our whole hearts. He wishes that we should always belong to Him...

Quote of the Day. St.John of Kronstadt.

2011-09-24T21:45:36Z

...During prayer there sometimes occur moments of deadly darkness and spiritual anguish arising from unbelief of the heart (for unbelief is darkness). Do not let your heart fail you at such moments, but remember that if the divine light has been sent off in you, it always shines in all its splendor and greatness in God Himself, in God’s church, in heaven and on earth, and in the material world in which “His eternal power and Godhead are visible”.

Do not think that truth has failed, because truth is God Himself, and everything that exists has its foundation and reason in Him. Only your own weak, sinful and darkened heart can fail in the truth, for it can not always bear the strength of the light of truth, and it is not always capable of containing its purity, but only it is being or has been purified from its sins, as the first cause of spiritual darkness. The proof of this you may find in yourself. When the light of faith or God’s truth dwells in your heart, only then it is tranquil, firm, strong, and living; but when this is cut off, then your heart becomes uneasy, weak as a reed shaken by the wind, and lifeless. Do not pay any attention to this darkness of Satan. Drive it away from your heart by making the sign of the life-giving Cross!...

Quote of the Day. St.John of Kronstadt.

2011-09-19T12:56:00Z

...The inner man, amidst worldly vanity, amidst the darkness of his flesh, is not so bound by the temptations by the evil one, and looks out more freely early in the mornings, just after waking up, like a fish, which sometimes throws itself up playfully on the surface of the water. All the remaining time he is enveloped in almost inpenetratable darkness, his eyes are covered by a bandage, which conceals from him the true state of things spiritual and physical. Take advantage of these morning hours, which are the hours of new life, or of a life renewed by temporary sleep. They show us in part that state in which we shall be when we shall rise up renewed on that great and universal morning of the nightless day of resurrection, or when we shall rid ourselves of this mortal body...

St.John of Kronstadt

The Intercession of the Most Holy Mother of God

2011-09-16T18:01:00Z

The Meeting of the Icon of the Vladimir Mother of God.

In the summer of 1395, an event occurred which left a deep mark in the spiritual and historical life of the Russian people, and which became an eternal example of faith and hope in the Providence of God, and in the intercession of the Most Pure Mother of God.

The news reached Moscow that moving from the south to the city was Tamerlane's army—the army of an invincible and cruel conqueror. He was literally invincible—throughout his long life, he never suffered a single defeat. Tamerlane had conquered Persia, Iraq, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Mesopotamia, Georgia, India, and Syria. By the end of his life in 1405, his territory stretched east to west from the Black sea to the banks of the Ganges, and north to south from the Aral Sea to the Arabian Sea.

In 1395, this terrible conqueror of nearly all of Asia Minor and the Caucasus was advancing upon Russia, had reached the borders of Riazan, razed the town of Yelets, and turned towards Moscow, nearing the upper Don River. Grand Prince Vasily Dimitrievich courageously went out with his Muscovite army to Kolomna to meet the enemy, but everyone knew that their forces were not equal.

At that great and decisive moment in history, not only was the continued existence of Moscow under question, but also of the entire Russia nation. Metropolitan Cyprian of Kiev and All Russia, the primate of the Russian Orthodox Church, understood this better than anyone did. After blessing Prince Vasily to go to war, he called all the Muscovites to repentance, fervent prayer, and fasting. Then, by divine inspiration, he sent ambassadors—priests and boyars to Vladimir for the greatest sacred shrine of Russia—the Vladimir icon of the Mother of God.

The icon was carried to Moscow in a grandiose procession that lasted ten days. During the entire way, the icon was surrounded by a huge crowd of people, who knelt before it with continual cries of "Mother of God, save the Russian land!" The people of Moscow with the Metropolitan at the head, the entire family of the Grand Prince, clergy and boyars met the icon of the Most Holy Theotokos on Kuchkova field.

Today that road upon which the procession came from Vladimir is called Sretensky, (from the Slavonic word meaning "meeting"), and the gates that were erected later on the site of Kuchkova field were called the Sretensky Gates.

All of Russia prayed during those days before the icon of the Mother of God to be saved from inevitable destruction.

And a miracle happened.

Tamerlane reached the town of Yelets, and for a reason unknown to historians did not go further to Moscow, although a nearly unprotected city lay before him—easy loot and military glory. This happened on August 26, 1395.

The Chronicles, however, explain this strange move thus: in the same hour that the inhabitants of Moscow met the icon and prayed before it, Tamerlane was dozing in his tent. Suddenly in a dream, a Majestic Lady appeared surrounded by a radiant light, who threateningly told him to leave the threshold of Muscovy. Awakening in terror, Tamerlane called his advisors and inquired what this vision meant. They answered him that the Majestic Lady is the Mother of God, the great intercessor for Christians. That is why, according to the Chronicles, the frightened Tamerlane turned toward the south the next day.

On the place of the meeting of the Vladimir Mother of God, Metropolitan Cyprian founded the Sretensky Monastery, and on August 26 (September 8 according to the civil calendar), this event is still celebrated as the day that Moscow and Russia were saved from Tamerlane.

This dramatic event is well known to the Orthodox, but the rest of the story is less known, although the outcome was also the result of the people's prayers, and amazingly influenced the whole course of Russian history. Turning from Moscow to the south, Tamerlane began his grandiose crushing of the Golden Horde. All the cities of the steppe, at enmity with Russia at the time, were looted and destroyed over the course of the year. Khan Tokhtamysh in 1382 had burned Moscow out of revenge for his defeat at Kulikovo, and run off to Lithuania. After their total defeat the Golden Horde in fact cease to exist as a steppe civilization and united nation. For Russia, these events were of colossal significance.

From pravoslavie.ru

A Quest for Truth on the Path of Reason. Igumen Nikon (Vorobiev)

2011-09-15T19:42:00Z

Igumen Nikon (Vorobev)

It is impossible that man should never be troubled, if only for fleeting moments in his life, by these questions: Why do I live? What is the meaning of all existence? Where does everything end up? What is truth? For many, these questions have been questions of life and death.

It was for one twentieth-century ascetic of piety, Igumen (Abbot) Nikon (Vorobiev, †1963).^{^[1]} His thirst for answers to these questions was so great that when he was a student he would spend his last dime, literally going hungry, in order to buy books. He was able to read only at night. At first he immersed himself entirely in science. He followed all of its latest achievements. He yearned for the moment when science would give the final word, and all truth would be revealed. But alas, the more he learned, the more disappointed he became in the ability of science to explain anything about the meaning of life. He found that science was not at all interested in this question.

He turned to philosophy. At one time he became particularly interested in Henri Bergson.^{^[2]} He studied the French and German languages. Thanks to his astounding intellectual stamina and talent, he attained such success in philosophy that even his teachers would sometimes come to him for consultation. Even so, his immersion in philosophy never brought him the desired results.

“The study of philosophy,” he said at the end of his life,

Showed me that each philosopher considered he had found the truth. How many philosophers have there been? But there is only one truth. My soul yearned for something else. Philosophy is but a surrogate; it is like chewing gum instead of bread. Can chewing gum satisfy your hunger? I understood that just as science says nothing about God or the future life, neither does philosophy. It became perfectly clear to me that it was necessary to turn to religion.^{^[3]}

In 1914 he graduated brilliantly from realschule [secondary school emphasizing hard sciences —Trans.] and made a final attempt to find meaning in life without God, without the Church, entering the Petrograd Psychoneurological Institute. But there he met with no less disappointment. “I saw that psychology does not study man at all, only his ‘packaging’—the speed of mental processes, perception, memory.… Such nonsense; it was just as repugnant.” He left the institute after the first year. Soon he experienced a serious spiritual crisis. He began to have thoughts of suicide.

Then one day in the summer of 1915, in the town of Vyshny Volochok, when he suddenly felt a particular sense of total despair, a thought struck him like lightning about his childhood faith: What if God really does exist—shouldn’t He reveal Himself? But he was not a believer! From the depth of his soul, in his desperate state, he cried, “Lord, if You exist, reveal Yourself to me. I am not seeking You out of some earthly desire. I only need to know one thing—do You exist, or not?” And the Lord revealed Himself! He revealed Himself [so convincingly], that he said, “‘Lord, let anything happen to me, any sorrows, any tortures, only do not turn me away, do not deprive me of eternal life.’ With my whole soul, completely consciously, I said, ‘I don’t need anything, not family life, or anything else; only make it so that I should never fall away from You, that I should always be with You.’”

“It is impossible to relate,” said Fr. Nikon,

That action of grace which convinces a person of the existence of God with the power of something obvious, that leaves no room for the slightest doubt. The Lord reveals Himself as, for example, a bright ray of sun suddenly shines after dark clouds. You no longer doubt: was it the sun, or did someone shine a light? The Lord revealed Himself to me in such a way, that I fell to the ground with the words, “Lord, glory to Thee, I thank Thee. Grant me to serve Thee all my life. May all the sorrows and suffering on earth come upon me, only don’t let me fall away from Thee, or lose Thee.”

Then I heard the ringing of a large church bell. At first I paid it no attention. Then, when I saw that it was already almost three o’clock in the morning and the ringing continued, I remembered my mother’s words when she told me about the old people who would visit them and say that spiritual people sometimes hear bells ringing from heaven.

He was very unsure about this bell ringing, worried that it might have been a hallucination. He was reassured when he read the autobiography of Sergei Bulgakov, who related concerning his conversion experience that, “Not in vain did I hear the ringing of bells from heaven all that summer.” “Then,” remembers Fr. Nikon, “I also recalled Turgenev’s story ‘Living Relics,’ in which Lukeria also said that she heard ringing ‘from above,’ not daring to say, ‘from heaven.’” From this, Fr. Nikon came to the conclusion that “together with this spiritual experience, the Lord also allowed me to perceive my communion with heaven in a sensory way.” The Lord reveals Himself to some people in an internal way and at the same time, through special outward signs to assure and support them.

A radical change in world view happened in just one moment; it seems a miracle clearly occurred. Just the same, this miracle was the natural, logical completion of his search for truth on the path of reason. The Lord revealed the meaning of life to him, let him taste and see that the Lord is good, and let him know the Truth. This is what Fr. Nikon said about his first experiences after conversion:

After this, the Lord begins to lead a person along a complicated path, a very complicated path. I was amazed when I entered a church after this Divine revelation. I used to go to church earlier—out of compulsion; we were taken to church during high school also. But what did we do there? I would stand there like a pillar, without any interest, thinking my own thoughts.

But after my conversion my heart opened up a little, and the first thing I remembered when I entered the church was the story about Prince Vladimir’s ambassadors [to Constantinople], who upon entering the Greek Church did not know where they were—on heaven, or on earth. So the first perception in the church after experiencing such a state is that you are not on the earth. The Church is not the earth—it is a little piece of heaven. What joy it was to hear, “Lord have mercy!” This had an amazing effect on my heart; all the Services, continual remembrance of the name of God in various forms, the singing, the readings. It evoked a sort of ecstasy, joy; it filled me.…

When a person comes and falls down before the Lord, saying, “Lord, do as Thou wilt; I know nothing (and truly, what do we know?), do as Thou wilt, only save me,” then the Lord Himself begins to lead that person.

That young man really didn’t know anything about the spiritual path at that time, but he fell down with tears to God, and the Lord Himself led him. “He led me in such a way after this; I lived two years in Volochok, read books, and prayed at home.” This was the period of his “burning” heart,” as Fr. Nikon recalls. He did not see or hear what was happening around him. At that time he was renting half of a private house in Sosnovitsy (near Vyshny Volochok). He was twenty-two years old. On the other side of a thin dividing wall were dancing, song, laughter, and youthful games; they were having fun. They tried to invite him, too, for he was an interesting person—intelligent, attractive, and educated. But he had lost his taste for the world.

The next two years of his life were a time of unceasing spiritual labors, true asceticism. He was acquainting himself for the first time with the writings of the Holy Fathers, and reading the Gospels for essentially the first time. This is what he said about this period when he had reached the end of his life:

It was only in the Holy Fathers and the Gospels that I found something truly valuable. When a person begins to struggle with himself, when he tries to travel the path of the Gospels, then the Holy Fathers become something he needs, they become his family. A Holy Father becomes his closest teacher, who speaks to the soul; and the soul receives it with joy and is consoled. Those philosophers and various disgusting sectarian teachings evoked boredom, depression, and nausea; but I came to the Fathers as to my own mother. They soothed me, gave me wisdom, and fed me.… Then the Lord gave me the thought to enter the Moscow Theological Academy (in 1917). This meant very much to me.

From Chapter 3:2 of The Search for Truth on the Path of Reason, by Alexei Osipov (Pokrov Press/Sretensky Monastery, 2009)

A Biography of Abbot Nikon

Abbot Nikon (in the world, Nikolai Nikolaevitch Vorobiev) was born in 1894 into a large peasant family, in the village of Mikshino, Tver Province. Ever since childhood, he excelled in seriousness, impeccable honesty, remarkable warmth, concern for everyone, and an unquenchable thirst for ultimate truth, a thirst to comprehend the purpose of human existence.

Like most ordinary people of that time, he was brought up with only external, traditional religiosity, with no firm spiritual foundation or clear understanding of the essence of Christianity. Such an upbringing could at best instill in one only a healthy sense of morality; the future spiritual struggler very quickly lost his childish faith. With true zeal, he immersed himself in the study first of science, then philosophy, in the naive belief that truth was hidden therein. He quickly came to understand that that was not the case. Later he confessed "I came to understand that, just as science tells [us] nothing of God, of the life to come, neither will philosophy give us anything. The conclusion became absolutely clear: I had to turn to religion." His education at the Petrograd Institute of Psycho-Neurology brought him nothing but disillusionment: "I saw that psychology studies not [the whole] man, but only his "skin" - the rate of processes, perception, memory ... It was such nonsense, that it was repugnant to me." After tortured searching, and already with a feeling of total hopelessness, the 20-year old suddenly remembered the faith of his youth and, from the depths of his being, began to call out, almost in despair, "O Lord, if You exist, show Yourself! I am not seeking You for some mercenary reason. I need [to know] but one thing: do You exist, or not?" The Lord mysteriously showed Himself, and from that moment on, everything in Nikolai Vorobiev's life radically changed: Years of constant spiritual struggle and true asceticism followed. Cautiously and carefully, he used the Sacred Scriptures, which had become a source of real joy and comfort for him, to guide him in his spiritual life.

At the age of 36, after most serious testing of his powers, Nikolai Nikolaevitch Vorobiev accepted monastic tonsure, taking the name Nikon. One year later, Nikon became first a Hierodeacon, and soon thereafter, a Hieromonk. On March 23, 1933 (the anniversary of his tonsure) he was arrested and sentenced to 5 years in a Siberian camp. For several years after his release, deprived of the possibility of continuing to serve as a priest, Fr. Nikon worked as a physician's assistant in Vyshnyaya Volotchka. During World War II, many church buildings were returned to the Russian Orthodox Church, and it once again became possible for him to serve as a priest. In 1944 Hieromonk Nikon was appointed rector of the Annunciation Church in Kozelsk, where he served until 1948. Thereafter, he was transferred, first to Belev, then to the town of Efremov, then to Smolensk, and finally, in what he considered to be exile, to a then impoverished and run-down parish in the town of Gzhatsk.

At his new post, he at first had to endure incredible social and material difficulties. Almost immediately after receiving any money, batiushka would distribute it [to the needy], so he never had any money at all. His only possessions beyond the barest essentials consisted of books, primarily the writings of the Holy Fathers of the Orthodox Church.

In the last years of his life, when already an Abbot, Nikon was afflicted with a multitude of sorrows, secular difficulties, and vanities. Before his death, he said "That vanity allowed me to see that we ourselves alone are incapable of doing anything good." By his own admission, during that period he came to understand and to experience the beginnings of Christian humility, to experience what shows us "…that in and of ourselves, we are nothing; we are merely God's creation. Thus, of what do we have to be proud, and what do we have to compare with God?"

Before his death, Nikon endured one final trial, that of severe illness. For over three months prior to his death he was unable to ingest any food other than milk. Yet, he uttered no complaint, remained ever calm and focused, and most of the time had a little smile on his face. Right up to his death, he remained fully conscious and lucid, and expended all his energies on instructing those around him. He adjured them to preserve the faith by keeping the commandments and repenting; follow in all ways possible the teachings of Bishop Ignaty Biranchaninov; and take special care to avoid the vanities, that utterly desolate the soul and draw it away from God. To the mourners around his bed he would say: "There is no reason to feel sorry for me. Thanks be to God that I have already completed my earthly path. I never wanted to live; I did not see anything interesting in this life, and I was always amazed that others would find something in it and cling to it with all of their might. Although I have done nothing good in my life, I have always sincerely striven [to move] toward God. Therefore, with all my soul, I place my hope in God's mercy. The Lord cannot spurn one who always did as much as possible to strive toward Him. I feel sorry for you. What else are you to face? The living will envy the dead."

Abbot Nikon (Vorobiev)'s peaceful end came on September 7, 1963. He was buried in the town of Gzhatsk (now called Gagarin).

In the minds of those contemporary Orthodox Christians who sincerely seek after salvation, Abbot Nikon has deservedly become one of the great teachers of repentance in recent history. "Here, as I am dying, is my last will: Repent, think of yourselves as that publican, as sinners, implore God for His mercy and take pity on one another."

From pravoslavie.ru

Quote of the Day. St.John of Kronstadt

2011-09-14T15:44:00Z

Do not forget yourself in looking upon the beauty of the human face, but look upon the soul; do not look upon the men’s garment (the body being his temporary garment), but look upon him who is clothed in it.

Do not admire the magnificence of the mansion, but look upon the dweller who lives in it and what he is – otherwise, you will offend the image of God in the man, will dishonor the King by worshiping His servant and not rendering unto Him even the least of the honor due to Him.

Also – do not look upon the beauty of the printing of a book, but look upon the spirit of the book; otherwise you will depreciate the spirit and exalt the flesh; for the letters are flesh, and the contents of the book is the spirit.

Do not be allured by the melodious sounds of an instrument or a voice, but by their effect upon the soul, or by the words of the song, consider what their spirit is: if the sounds produce upon your soul tranquil, chaste, holy feelings, then listen to them and feed your soul with them; whilst, if they give rise in your soul to passions, then leave off listening to them, and throw aside both the flesh and the spirit of the music.

St.John of Kronstadt