| Thou Who by Thy most glorious Ascension didst deify the flesh that Thou hadst taken, and didst honour it with a seat at the right hand of the Father, vouchsafe me through partaking of Thy holy Mysteries to obtain a place at Thy right hand among them that are saved. O Thou Who by the descent of Thy Spirit, the Comforter, didst make Thy holy disciples worthy vessels, show me also to be a receptacle of His coming. Thou Who art to come again to judge the world in righteousness, deign to let me also meet Thee on the clouds, my Judge and Creator, with all Thy saints; that I may endlessly glorify and praise Thee, with Thine unoriginate Father, and Thy Most-Holy and good and life-creating Spirit, now and ever, and unto the ages of-ages. Amen. Prayer of the Divine Damascene, 4 O Master Lord Jesus Christ our God, Who alone hast authority to remit the sins of men: Do Thou, as the Good One and Lover of mankind, overlook all mine offences, whether committed with knowledge or in ignorance. And vouchsafe me to partake without condemnation of Thy Divine, glorious, immaculate, and life-giving Mysteries; not as a burden, nor for punishment, nor for an increase of sins, but unto purification and sanctification, and as a pledge of the life and kingdom to come, as a bulwark and help, and for the destruction of enemies, and for the blotting out of my many transgressions. For Thou art a God of mercy, and compassion, and love for mankind, and unto Thee do we send up glory, with the Father, and the Holy Spirit, both now and ever, and unto the ages of ages. Amen. Prayer of St. Basil the Great, 5 I know, O Lord, that I partake unworthily of Thine immaculate Body and Thy precious Blood, and that I am guilty, and eat and drink damnation to myself, not discerning the Body and Blood of Thee, my Christ and God; but taking courage from Thy compassion I approach Thee Who hast said: He that eateth My Flesh, and drinketh My Blood, abideth in Me and I in him. Show compassion, therefore, O Lord, and do not accuse me, a sinner, but deal with me according to Thy mercy; and let these Holy Things be for me unto healing, and purification, and enlightenment, and preservation, and salvation, and unto sanctification of soul and body; unto the driving away of every phantasy, and evil practice, and activity of the devil working mentally in my members; unto confidence and love toward Thee, unto correction of life, unto steadfastness, unto an increase of virtue and perfection, unto fulfillment of the commandments, unto communion with the Holy Spirit, as a provision for life eternal, as an acceptable defense at Thy dread tribunal, not unto judgment or condemnation. |
| In One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church. I confess one baptism for the remission of sins. I look for the resurrection of the dead, And the life of the age to come. Amen. Prayer I, of St. Macarius the Great: O God, cleanse me a sinner, for I have never done anything good in Thy sight; but deliver me from the evil one, and let Thy will be done in me, that I may open mine unworthy mouth without condemnation, and praise Thy holy name: of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, now and ever, and unto the ages of ages. Amen. Prayer II, of the same saint: Having risen from sleep, I offer unto Thee, O Saviour, the midnight hymn, and falling down I cry unto Thee: Grant me not to fall asleep in the death of sin, but have compassion on me, O Thou Who wast voluntarily crucified, and hasten to raise me who am reclining in idleness, and save me in prayer and intercession; and after the night’s sleep shine upon me a sinless day, O Christ God, and save me. Prayer III, of the same saint: Having risen from sleep, I hasten to Thee, O Master, Lover of mankind, and by Thy loving-kindness, I strive to do Thy work, and I pray to Thee: Help me at all times, in everything, and deliver me from every worldly, evil thing and every impulse of the devil, and save me, and lead me into Thine eternal kingdom. For Thou art my Creator, and the Giver, and Provider of everything good, and in Thee is all my hope, and unto Thee do I send up glory, now and ever, and unto the ages of ages. Amen. Prayer IV, of the same saint: O Lord, Who in Thine abundant goodness and Thy great compassion hast granted me, Thy servant, to go through the time of the night that is past without attack from any opposing evil: Do Thou Thyself, O Master, Creator of all things, vouchsafe me by Thy true light and with an enlightened heart to do Thy will, now and ever, and unto the ages of ages. Amen. Prayer V, of St. Basil the Great: O Lord Almighty, God of hosts and of all flesh, Who dwellest on high and lookest down on things that are lowly, Who searchest the heart and innermost being, and clearly foreknowest the secrets of men; O unoriginate and everlasting Light, with Whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning: Do Thou, O Immortal King, receive our supplications which we, daring because of the multitude of Thy compassions, offer Thee at the present time from defiled lips; and forgive us our sins, in deed, word, and thought, whether committed by us knowingly or in ignorance,. |
| About Pages Проекты «Правмира» Raising Orthodox Children to Orthodox Adulthood The Daily Website on How to be an Orthodox Christian Today Twitter Telegram Parler RSS Donate Navigation The Savior of the Hopeless, or Is It Possible to Be a Good Person and Not Be Saved? Source: Foma (Russian) Alexander Tkachenko 24 June 2022 Alexander Tkachenko Good people are saved. The bad ones, respectively, die. This understanding of salvation is not uncommon in today’s world. Everything here seems to be clear, logical and needs no explanation. But let’s try to figure it out: who is this good person exactly? By what signs can one determine that this person is good and worthy of salvation, and that one over there is a mediocre one and does not deserve salvation? Here we immediately run into a number of problems. For example, let’s suppose a certain plumber Vasya regularly spends his salary on drinking and beats his wife. And his neighbor, a professor of mathematics, is a non-drinker, a conscientious worker and a wonderful family man. Which one is good and which one is bad? The answer, it would seem, is obvious: of course, the professor is good, and the plumber is a rare piece of rubbish. But there are the students, whom the professor ‘treats unfairly’ at every term for every little mistake, who are unlikely to agree with such an assessment of the teacher they dislike. And the plumber’s drinking buddies, on the contrary, are convinced that Vasya is a wonderful person, and his wife is a cobra that interferes with the cultural recreation of real men. Photo: Iain Harper The reason for such confusion, oddly enough, is the lack of objective criteria for the concept of a “good person”. The ideas of good and evil in the mass consciousness today, unfortunately, are very unsystematic, poorly understood and have no basis, except for personal preferences, common stereotypes and opinions that have developed due to the influence of the social environment, received upbringing and education. What one person considers decent for himself, another, perhaps, will evaluate as an improper and dishonest act. Therefore, the categories of “good-bad” in secular ethics today are more and more reminiscent of the wording of Leskov’s character: “What is good for a Russian equals death for a German.” One can, of course, try to derive clear ethical criteria from the opinion of the statistical majority. But the twentieth century has convincingly proved that even entire nations can make mistakes in dividing people into good and bad. And mistakes of this magnitude are always fraught with the barbed wire of a new Gulag, or the ovens of another Auschwitz. |
| The part which does not pay heed to reason includes the nutritive and generative and pulsating faculties: and the name «vegetative(9a)» is applied to the faculties of increase and nutriment and generation, and the name «vital» to the faculty of pulsation. Of the faculty of nutrition, then, there are four forces: an attractive force which attracts nourishment: a retentive force by which nourishment is retained and not suffered to be immediately excreted: an alterative force by which the food is resolved into the humours: and an excretive force, by which the excess of food is excreted into the draught and cast forth. The forces again, inherent in a living creature are, it should be noted, partly psychical, partly vegetative, partly vital. The psychical forces are concerned with free volition, that is to say, impulsive movement and sensation. Impulsive movement includes change of place and movement of the body as a whole, and phonation and respiration. For it is in our power to perform or refrain from performing these acts. The vegetative and vital forces, however, are quite outside the province of will. The vegetative, moreover, include the faculties of nourishment and growth, and generation, and the vital power is the faculty of pulsation. For these go on energising whether we will it or not. Lastly, we must observe that of actual things, some are good, and some are bad. A good thing in anticipation constitutes desirë while a good thing in realisation constitutes pleasure. Similarly an evil thing in anticipation begets fear, and in realisation it begets pain. And when we speak of good in this connection we are to be understood to mean both real and apparent good: and, similarly, we mean real and apparent evil. Chapter XIII. Concerning Pleasures There are pleasures of the soul and pleasures of the body. The pleasures of the soul are those which are the exclusive possession of the soul, such as the pleasures of learning and contemplation. The pleasures of the body, however, are those which are enjoyed by soul and body in fellowship, and hence are called bodily pleasures: and such are the pleasures of food and intercourse and the like. But one could not find any class of pleasures belonging solely to the body. |
| A Just War? The assassination of Reinhard Heydrich raises troubling theological and ethical questions. St. Paul in his epistle to the Romans wrote “Repay no one evil for evil…..Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. (Romans 12:21) This Biblical teaching is clear but the question remains: is an act of violence ever permitted to stop greater evils from occurring? Was the act of the Czechoslovak partisans necessary to try to stop the Nazi atrocities against Jews and others? Some theologians and ethicists refer to these questions as the “just war theory”. This theory holds that war is always an evil act to be avoided but there exist exceptions such as to defend the innocent or to prevent greater evils and violence. While the just war theory was proposed by St. Augustine, a 4 th century bishop in North Africa the other Fathers of the early Church agree that war and violence are always evil but at times they are the lesser of greater evils. The Church has always advocated for peace and seeks the peaceful resolution of differences. However throughout history there exist many examples of the unfortunate need for war and acts of violence to protect the innocent and to stop evil. The Church, following the teaching of St. Paul, has canonized as martyrs Sts. Boris & Gleb who in the 11 th century accepted a violent death at the hands of their brother rather than defend themselves against him with violence. These two brothers are honored with the title “Passion-bearers” meaning they imitated the Lord Jesus in the acceptance of His passion and death. My own patron saint: the 10 th century King Edward of England is also honored with the title “Passion-bearer” for his refusal to defend himself with violence. On the other hand, the Church also honors soldiers who gave their lives in battle and has canonized numerous warriors as saints such as the early Christian martyrs St. George and St. Demetrios and St. Alexander Nevsky, the warrior-prince of Russia. The Church remembers the words of our Lord: “Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends”. (John 15:13) |
| Glory…: With divine hymns we all hymn Thee as God: the Father, the Son and the divine Spirit, the tripartite Might, the single Kingship and Dominion. Now and ever…: O Mistress, Mother of the Deliverer, accept the supplications of thine unprofitable servants, and thereby grant deliverance of sins and the acceptable correction of a God-pleasing life. Prayer to the Ail-Holy Spirit O Master, all-good Paraclete, Who art One of the holy and worshipful, consubstantial and indivisible Trinity, accept this poor entreaty which Thou hast allowed to be offered unto Thee by a man sinful and condemned; and forgive me mine offenses, voluntary and involuntary. Cleanse me of my hidden [sins], and take pity on Thy servant [in the face of the sins] of others. Extend Thy favor to me, the sinful and unworthy, visit the infirmity of my soul with Thy grace, and heal its broken state. Have mercy on me, O Master, Paraclete and God! Have mercy on me, sanctify my soul and body, enlighten my mind and reason, and cleanse the conscience of my soul from all defilement. And from impure thoughts, from the plottings of the wicked and the intentions of the bad, from all vainglory, pride and self-aggrandizement, from arrogance and audacity, from satanic insolence, and from all pharisaical hypocrisy and mine every evil habit, do Thou utterly deliver me for the sake of the glory of Thy name. And grant me sincere repentance, contrition and humility of heart, meekness and serenity, and all Christian reverence, understanding and spiritual skill, with all nobility, thankfulness and perfect patience. Yea, O God, for the sake of the glory of Thy name hearken unto me, the sinful one who prayeth to Thee, and vouchsafe that for the remainder of my wretched life I may sincerely repent of mine iniquities with all humbleness of mind, chastity and true temperance, having put away all doubt, double-mindedness and insensitivity; and fully preserve me in a pious and Orthodox confession of the Christian Faith, O Master, that I may be vouchsafed all the days of my life to hymn thee without doubting, to bless and glorify Thee, and to say: O holy God, unoriginate Father! O holy Mighty One, His Son Who is equally without beginning! O holy Immortal One, Holy Spirit Who proceedest from the Father and abidest and restest in the Son! O most Holy Trinity, glory be to Thee! Glory to Thee, O Holy Trinity, Who art consubstantial, life-creating and indivisible! |
| If I have sworn by Thy name, or blasphemed it in my thought; or grieved anyone, or have become angry about anything; or have lied, or slept needlessly, or if a beggar hath come to me and I disdained him; or if I have grieved my brother, or have quarreled, or have condemned anyone; or if I have been boastful, or prideful, or angry; if, as I stood at prayer, my mind hath been distracted by the wiles of this world, or by thoughts of depravity; or if I have over eaten, or have drunk excessively, or laughed frivolously; if I have thought evil, seen the beauty of any other and been wounded thereby in my heart; if I have said improper things, or derided my brother’s sin when mine own sins are countless; if I have been neglectful of prayer, or have done some other wrong that I do not remember, for all of this and more than this have I done: have mercy, O Master my Creator, me Thy downcast and unworthy servant, and loose me, and remit, and forgive me, for Thou art good and the Lover of mankind, so that, lustful, sinful, and wretched as I am, I may lie down and sleep and rest in peace. And I shall worship, and hymn, and glorify Thy most honorable name, together with the Father and His Only-begotten Son, now and ever, and unto the ages. What shall I offer Thee, or what shall I give Thee, O greatly-gifted, immortal King, O compassionate Lord Who lovest mankind, for though I have been slothful in pleasing Thee, and have done nothing good, Thou has led me to the close of this day that is past, and established the conversion and salvation of my soul. Be merciful to me a sinner, bereft of every good deed, raise up my fallen soul which hath become defiled by countless sins, and take away from me every evil thought of this visible life. Forgive my sins, O Only Sinless One, in which I have sinned against Thee this day, known or unknown, in word, and deed, and thought, and in all my senses. Do Thou Thyself protect and guard me from every opposing circumstance, by Thy Divine Authority and power and inexpressible love for mankind. |
| Thus, the most proper time for the enlightenment of the soul is early childhood. In fact, the ethical foundation of a person is laid during this period. The soul of a child, until six to seven years of age, resembles clay, from which one can mold his personality. After that age, the main characteristics have been established, and it is almost impossible to change them. A mother does the right thing when she brings her child to the icons, when she blesses him with the sign of the cross, when, overcoming her tiredness, she holds him in her arms during church services, and when she prays over his crib. With all of these actions she prepares him to be a good Christian. The struggle with bad inclinations Parents make a mistake when they consider their child to be completely free from evil. Experience shows that a child comes into the world not only with good tendencies but with bad ones also. Science calls them inheritances, and the Church, the seeds of original sin. Everyone is born with his nature partially corrupted by sin. That is why the education of a child should include some basic training on how to struggle against bad inclinations. Without this, the child will grow unarmed against temptations. When a child is abandoned to his own desires, then, no matter how talented he might be, his good qualities may become completely overwhelmed by his evil inclinations. Every child bears some resemblance to his parents and relatives. Together with their physical characteristics, he assumes some of their spiritual qualities as well, which in general are a mixture of good and bad. The problem is that the bad predispositions often develop and strengthen much faster than the good ones. For example, in the herbaceous world, weeds are more robust and aggressive than garden and vegetable plants. In order to grow something worthwhile, one must constantly fight weeds. Observing a child carefully, one can notice in him some germinating negative characteristics: occasionally he is capricious, or becomes angry, or may insist on doing something forbidden. At an early age children become lazy, are prone to slyness and deceit, and manifest greed and cruelty toward other children. At five years of age one can already see hints of his future character. If the parents do not teach him to overcome his bad inclinations, these may grow into passions and vices. Sometimes parents occasionally lament about their children: “Where does he get such stubbornness, capriciousness, and inclinations toward the forbidden? He does not see any of this in us.” Actually, there is no need to teach a child evil – it is already rooted in him. A mother observing her child said, “He clearly manifests the negative characteristics of his father.” Unfortunately, the good qualities are acquired with effort and constancy, while their opposites, as weeds, flourish on their own. |
| Blot out, O God, Blot out the multitude of my sins. Be pleased, O Lord, to deliver me from the net of the evil one, and save my passionate soul, and overshadow me with the light of Thy countenance when thou shalt come in glory; and cause me, uncondemned now, to sleep a dreamless sleep, and keep Thy servant untroubled by thoughts, and drive away from me all satanic deeds; and enlighten for me the eyes of my heart with understanding, lest I sleep unto death. And send me an angel of peace, a guardian and guide of my soul and body, that he may deliver me from mine enemies; that, rising from my bed, I may offer Thee prayers of thanksgiving. Yea, O Lord, hearken unto me, Thy sinful and wretched servant, in confession and conscience; grant me, when I arise, to be instructed by Thy sayings; and through Thine angels cause demonic despondency to be driven far from me: that I may bless Thy holy name, and glorify and extol the most pure Theotokos Mary, whom Thou hast given to us sinners as a protectress, and accept her who prayeth for us. For I know that she exemplifieth Thy love for mankind and prayeth for us without ceasing. Through her protection, and the sign of the precious cross, and for the sake of all Thy saints, preserve my wretched soul, O Jesus Christ our God: for holy art Thou, and most glorious forever. Amen. Prayer V O Lord our God, as Thou art good and the Lover of mankind, forgive me wherein I have sinned today in word, deed, and thought. Grant me peaceful and undisturbed sleep; send thy guardian angel to protect me from all evil. For Thou art the Guardian of our souls and bodies, and unto Thee do we send up glory: to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, now and ever, and unto the ages of ages. Amen. Prayer VI O Lord our God, in Whom we believe, and Whose Name we invoke above every name, grant us, as we go to sleep, relaxation of soul and body, and keep us from all dreams, and dark pleasures; stop the onslaught of the passions and quench the burnings that arise in the flesh. |
| Question 30. Are the Words Foreknowledge, Predestination, Providence, of the same Signification in Divinity? Answer. Foreknowledge, Predestination, and Providence have different Signification in Divinity. Providence respects Things which are already created, but Foreknowledge and Predestination were in God before any Thing was created, but in a manner distinct from each other; Foreknowledge being the bare, simple knowing of a future Thing, without any determinate Specification of it: that is, not necessarily determining that this or that should be. But Predestination, joined with Foreknowledge, is a determining the Species, or what a Thing must be absolutely; only, always determining Good, and not Evil. For if Predestination were to appoint Evil, it would be contrary to the essential Goodness of God: Therefore, in like manner, as we first conceive a Thing, and then appoint concerning it, so may we speak with Regard to God: First in order is his Foreknowledge; then his Predestination; and lastly (things being brought into actual Being) his Providence. As the Apostle plainly teaches (Rom.8:29), For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate; whom he did predestinate, them he also called; whom he called, them he also justified; and whom he justified, them he also glorified. But this is only to be understood of Man, for other created Beings (except the Angels, who are settled in a State of Certainty and Safety) are not the objects of the Divine Predestination; For, as they had no free Will, so they are without Imputation whatever they do, being done by the Impulse of natural Instinct; wherefore they are neither chastised with Punishment of any kind, nor crowned with the Rewards of Glory and Praise. Question 31. What doth this Article farther teach, concerning God and his Creation? Answer. Whatever your Mind can possibly imagine good, that consider as appertaining to God, the supreme Good, as its Origin and Source; and whatever you can figure to yourself of Evil, consider as the most opposite and remote from God: Not so much as being distant in Place, as being different in its very Essence. Of created Things, think thus: That they are good, as being produced by an infinitely good Maker; only with this Difference, that rational Beings, who are endued with Understanding and free Will, are bad when they depart from God. Not that they were so created, but for that they became so by acting contrary to their Reason. Of irrational Beings, that as they are without free Will, they are in their Nature Good. |
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