| Accept The site uses cookies to help show you the most up-to-date information. By continuing to use the site, you consent to the use of your Metadata and cookies. Cookie policy Dostoevsky and the Gospel A lecture by Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk, chairman of the Moscow Patriarchate’s Department for External Church Relations, rector of the Theological Institute of Postgraduate Studies, president of the Scientific and Educational Theological Association, delivered at the National Research University “Moscow Power Engineering Institute” “I am a child of this age, a child of unfaith and doubt, up to this day and even…to the coffin lid… And yet God gives me sometimes moments of perfect peace; at such moments I feel that I love and believe, that I am loved by others; and during such moments I formulated a creed of my own wherein all is clear and holy to me. This creed is as simple as this: I believe that there is nothing and no one more beautiful, deeper, more sympathetic and more reasonable, courageous and more perfect than Christ…” That was what in February 1854 Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoyevsky said in his letter to Natalia Dmitrievna Fonvizina, the wife of a Decembrist, who had followed her husband to Siberia. Four years earlier, when Dostoevsky, convicted to penal servitude, shackled, arrived at the Tobolsk prison, she had got permission to see him and other convicted Petrashevtsy. She handed each of them a copy of the Gospel, the only book that the inmates of the penal colony were allowed to have and read. So, writing his letter four years afterwards, having served his sentence of penal servitude and while waiting for the departure to Semipalatinsk for the military service as a common soldier, Dostoevsky was telling Fonvizina about his “creed,” that was not just a read-out fr om her gift-book, but an outcome of his horrible experience gained through suffering. The copy presented to Dostoevsky by Fonvizina was the first edition of the Russian translation of the Gospel done under the leadership of Archbishop Philaret (Drozdov) later to become the Metropolitan of Moscow and Kolomna. The translation came out in 1823, during Emperor Alexander I’s reign, two years before the Decembrists uprising. Before the appearance of the Russian translation, the Gospel had been available only in Slavonic, while the educated class had been using the French version. |
| The Ukrainian Church Has Blessed Reading the Psalter for Peace in the Ukraine Metropolitan Onufry, Locum tenens of the Kievan Metropolitan Chair blessed monks, clergy and laity to read one or more of the Kathisma from the Psalter for peace in the Ukraine during the Great Fast. RAVMIR . An announcement about this was published on the official website of the UOC. The Chancellery of the Kiev Metropolitanate of the UOC informs of the blessing of His Eminence, Metropolitan of Chernovtsy and Bukovina Onufriya, locum tenens of the Kievan Metropolitan Chair, for monks, clergy and laity of the UOC to read one or more Kathisma from the Psalter for peace in Ukraine, daily during the Great Fast, when possible. With the blessing of +Anthony, METROPOLITAN of BORYSPIL AND BROVARY, CHANCELLOR OF THE UKRAINIAN ORTHODOX CHURCH » – given in an announcement. Code for blog Since you are here… …we do have a small request. More and more people visit Orthodoxy and the World website. However, resources for editorial are scarce. In comparison to some mass media, we do not make paid subscription. It is our deepest belief that preaching Christ for money is wrong. Having said that, Pravmir provides daily articles from an autonomous news service, weekly wall newspaper for churches, lectorium, photos, videos, hosting and servers. Editors and translators work together towards one goal: to make our four websites possible - Pravmir.ru, Neinvalid.ru, Matrony.ru and Pravmir.com. Therefore our request for help is understandable. For example, 5 euros a month is it a lot or little? A cup of coffee? It is not that much for a family budget, but it is a significant amount for Pravmir. If everyone reading Pravmir could donate 5 euros a month, they would contribute greatly to our ability to spread the word of Christ, Orthodoxy, life " s purpose, family and society. Also by this author Today " s Articles Most viewed articles Functionality is temporarily unavailable. Most popular authors Functionality is temporarily unavailable. © 2008-2024 Pravmir.com |
| Calculating the number of Orthodox believers in Russia is not easy, because this question is more political than sociological, in the mind of Alina Bagrina. At the same time, as noted by this specialist, this situation also lies in the fact that the Orthodox identity in Russia is both based on religious and cultural recognition. This may explain why only 5% Russian believers read the Gospel. “It’s sad, but it’s okay”, said the Head of the Information-Analytical Department of the Russian Orthodox Church, Vakhtang Kipshidze. “Before the Revolution, only very few people read the Gospel. The population was illiterate. But this does not mean that it was not Orthodox. We believe that 80% of the Russian population is Orthodox today. That’s the number of Russians belonging to the Orthodox culture and potentially belonging to the Russian Orthodox Church.” There is the same kind of argument with the estimation of Russian Muslims. Islam is the second religion in the country. Believers are estimated at between 9 million (6% of population) and 28 million (20%) people. Such different numbers can partly be explained by the frequent confusion that is made between ethnic roots and religious faith. In the traditional representation of Russian society, there is a correlation between religion and ethnic roots. The majority of ethnic Russians are said to be Orthodox Christian, the majority of ethnic Ukrainians, living in Russia, are said to be Catholic Christian, when they are actually mainly Orthodox Christians, and people with Tatar or Caucasian roots are said to be Muslim. However, the ARENA study tends to defy this cliché on religions and faith in Russia and to define religion as a more personal and individual choice. This just goes to show how complex the processes of religious identification are in Post-Soviet Russia. Source: Voice of Russia Code for blog Since you are here… …we do have a small request. More and more people visit Orthodoxy and the World website. However, resources for editorial are scarce. In comparison to some mass media, we do not make paid subscription. It is our deepest belief that preaching Christ for money is wrong. |
| Antiochian Archdiocese of America Publishes Service Texts for Faithful Home Reading Source: Basilica.ro During the coronavirus outbreak, the Archdiocese has given the blessing to its faithful to read the texts of religious services at home. The faithful participation to church services has been banned in the United States during the instated state of emergency. Therefore, the Department of Liturgics of the Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America has published online the texts of the religious services and instructions for the faithful on how to read them at home. “The faithful can stand in front of their icons at home and still participate in the life of the Church during this difficult time”, mentions the Archdiocese on its website . “Even if we cannot sing the words, we can certainly read them plainly and reverently.” During the Great Lent, the order is as following: The Great Compline for Mondays-Thursdays, Little Compline with the Akathist Hymn for Fridays, and Vespers, Orthros and the Service of Typika on Saturdays and Sundays. The Akathist Hymn praises the Holy Mother of God and Ever-Virgin Mary and is especially recommended in times of great affliction. In the United States only the clerics and the chanters can participate in the religious services held in churches, with a maximum attendance of 10. But the services will be streamlined live and, during weekdays, churches are open for individual prayer. Photo: Basilica.ro/Mircea Florescu Code for blog Since you are here… …we do have a small request. More and more people visit Orthodoxy and the World website. However, resources for editorial are scarce. In comparison to some mass media, we do not make paid subscription. It is our deepest belief that preaching Christ for money is wrong. Having said that, Pravmir provides daily articles from an autonomous news service, weekly wall newspaper for churches, lectorium, photos, videos, hosting and servers. Editors and translators work together towards one goal: to make our four websites possible - Pravmir.ru, Neinvalid.ru, Matrony.ru and Pravmir.com. Therefore our request for help is understandable. For example, 5 euros a month is it a lot or little? A cup of coffee? It is not that much for a family budget, but it is a significant amount for Pravmir. If everyone reading Pravmir could donate 5 euros a month, they would contribute greatly to our ability to spread the word of Christ, Orthodoxy, life " s purpose, family and society. Also by this author Today " s Articles Most viewed articles Functionality is temporarily unavailable. Most popular authors Functionality is temporarily unavailable. © 2008-2024 Pravmir.com |
| For these things happened not only before Christ had begun to teach, but before He was even born of the Virgin. If, then, they dare not impute to their gods the grievous evils of those former times, more tolerable before the destruction of Carthage, but intolerable and dreadful after it, although it was the gods who by their malign craft instilled into the minds of men the conceptions from which such dreadful vices branched out on all sides, why do they impute these present calamities to Christ, who teaches life-giving truth, and forbids us to worship false and deceitful gods, and who, abominating and condemning with His divine authority those wicked and hurtful lusts of men, gradually withdraws His own people from a world that is corrupted by these vices, and is falling into ruins, to make of them an eternal city, whose glory rests not on the acclamations of vanity, but on the judgment of truth? Chapter 19.– Of the Corruption Which Had Grown Upon the Roman Republic Before Christ Abolished the Worship of the Gods. Here, then, is this Roman republic, which has changed little by little from the fair and virtuous city it was, and has become utterly wicked and dissolute. It is not I who am the first to say this, but their own authors, from whom we learned it for a fee, and who wrote it long before the coming of Christ. You see how, before the coming of Christ, and after the destruction of Carthage, the primitive manners, instead of undergoing insensible alteration, as hitherto they had done, were swept away as by a torrent; and how depraved by luxury and avarice the youth were. Let them now, on their part, read to us any laws given by their gods to the Roman people, and directed against luxury and avarice. And would that they had only been silent on the subjects of chastity and modesty, and had not demanded from the people indecent and shameful practices, to which they lent a pernicious patronage by their so-called divinity. Let them read our commandments in the Prophets, Gospels, Acts of the Apostles or Epistles; let them peruse the large number of precepts against avarice and luxury which are everywhere read to the congregations that meet for this purpose, and which strike the ear, not with the uncertain sound of a philosophical discussion, but with the thunder of God " s own oracle pealing from the clouds. |
| 1F. Authority for Forgiveness (20:23) Immediately after breathing on them and announcing the Spirit, Jesus grants them the authority of representative forgiveness. 10720 It is anachronistic to read into this passage the later Catholic doctrine of penance or others» views about admission to baptism; 10721 it is likewise anachronistic to read into it Protestant polemic against the Catholic interpretation of the passage. Read on its own terms, the passage makes good sense as it stands. Because the Spirit would continue among them (20:22), they would be able to carry on Jesus» work (cf. 16:7–11); 10722 given the backdrop of 16:7–11, which explains the meaning of the Spirit " s coming here, the disciples announce both righteousness and judgment based on peoplés response to Christ (cf. 14:6). 10723 Although the promise is given directly to those present at the time (20:19), it will no more exclude later generations of Christians (such as John " s audience, 17:20–22) than it would Thomas once he believes (20:24). If the Spirit is for later Johannine Christians as well as for the first ones (3:5; 1 John 2:20, 27), then they, too, will bear witness (15:26–27) and be recipients of the Spirit (16:7), who prosecutes the world concerning sin, righteousness, and judgment (16:8–11). 10724 The passive is a divine passive; forgiveness comes from God; further, in John " s perspective, only Jesus» sacrifice takes away sin (1:29). In the perspective of Johannine Christians, however, believers can play a role in other believers» forgiveness, at least by prayer (1 John 5:16–17); 10725 the present passage speaks of believers» ministry to nonbelievers, mediating God " s forgiveness through the word they bring (20:21; 16:8–11). 10726 (We mean «word» in its Johannine sense; by proclaiming the message of Jesus, to whom the Spirit testifies, believers proclaim Jesus the word himself, who is revealed by the Spirit to unbelievers.) In the Synoptics, the disciples had already exercised such discretion based on evidence of repentance ( Mark 6:11 ; Matt 10:14; Luke 9:5); John has, however, omitted that preresurrection ministry of the disciples, probably to avoid playing down the full role of Christ before the resurrection and the full role of the Spirit and believers after 20:19–23. 10727 Some take the perfect tense as meaning that «the apostolic sentence is forthwith confirmed–is effective as soon as spoken.» 10728 Others suggest that the perfect tense here, like the future perfect in Matt 16:19; 18:18, may be intended literally, that is, that those who pronounce forgiveness are merely confirming what has already taken place from God " s perspective. 10729 |
| Tweet Нравится About Archimandrite John Krestiankin On February 5, 2006, Russia " s beloved elder, Archimandrite John (Krestiankin), reposed in the Lord. The Pravdoliubov family, full of priests and even new martyrs, lived in Ryazan Province, where Fr. John served for many years in various parishes. This family has produced even more priests, one of whom serves in the Resurrection Church in Moscow, and has written his recollections of a life-long relationship with the wise spiritual instructor. Archimandrite John (Krestiankin). For a long time, I did not write my recollections of Fr. John (Krestiankin). It seemed to me that everyone was writing their own. I thought, they will write everything they can! But when I read what many people really did write, I also wanted to write—especially since throughout many years of hearing confessions, I often cited Fr. John " s opinion on the most varied issues. I worked on my recollections throughout Great Lent of 2005, finished them on Pascha, and sent them to Pechory. Fr. John read these notes and approved them. He did not ask that anything be removed, had no problems with them, and now these notes are very, very dear to me. After all, Fr. John read them himself, and agreed with everything! He did not say that I wrote anything from my own self… Thus, these recollections are valuable no matter how they have been written in that Archimandrite John (Krestiankin) himself approved of them. My parents, Archpriest Anatoly and Olga Mikhailovna Pravdoliubov, were always very close to Fr. John (Krestiankin). When Fr. John served in the village of Troitsa-Pelenitsa (Yasakovo) in Ryazan diocese, my father was serving during those years in the town of Spassk-Ryazansky. These parishes were very close to each other and my parents often visited with Fr. John. Even then, they related to him as to an elder, although Fr. John was only four years older than my father. They were especially close during the time that Fr. John served at his last parish in Ryazan diocese—the St. Nicholas Church in the town of Kasimov. We children also remember that time well, for we were already sufficiently grown. We remembered the long Church services Fr. John served—All-Night Vigil with a litya, akathists, and very long sermons. |
| 2. Novitiate Period On the next day the three pilgrims met with the Abbot. He received them lovingly and accepted them into the monastery. He paid particular attention to Prokhor, since he himself was from Kursk and knew the young man’s parents personally. Seeing in him the great soul of a future ascetic, he committed him for spiritual direction into the experienced hands of his co-struggler and friend, the wise and loving treasurer, Fr. Joseph. Prokhor received from him his first obedience, as cell attendant. This was only an introduction. Soon the novice Prokhor, in accordance with the general rule, was given various difficult obediences—he served in the bread and prosphora bakeries, in the furniture shop, performed the task of waking the monks, was church sacristan, sang on the cliros, and participated in the general obediences of cutting wood, maintaining the grounds, etc. Prokhor worked in the carpentry shop longer than anywhere else, where he became very experienced, and was known as “Prokhor the carpenter.” Above all, brother Prokhor distinguished himself by his unmurmuring obedience and meticulous character, wholeheartedly carrying out all that was asked of him, as perfectly as possible. He was later to say to the Diveyevo sisters that there is no sin more deadly than murmuring, judging or being disobedient to your superiors. “Obedience is the foremost virtue, before fasting and praying.” From his advice to monastics one can discern his own life as a novice. Second to obedience he placed labor. “If you have handiwork,” he instructed one monk, “work on it alone; if you are in your cell without any handiwork, engage in some reading, in particular the psalter. Try to read every line several times in order to concentrate it in your understanding.” He also considered reading to be a special ascetic labor, which he called “vigil.” The Gospels and the epistles of the Apostles he read before the icons, and always standing erect as in prayer. He sometimes allowed himself to read the Psalter sitting down. “Such reading produces an enlightening of the reason, which brings about a Godly change.” |
| The elderly sisters lived in the almshouse, which was the old hospital. There were two buildings there that were joined by a walkway (on the second floor), so that it would be more convenient to go to the “Joy of All Who Sorrow” church without going outside. Otherwise, many older sisters lived in the bread bakery and other smaller buildings spread throughout the monastery. Whoever had the strength would perform the Psalter reading obedience, reading two hours per day in specific hermitages. The hermitages and readers were supervised by the monastery treasurer. She kept an account, received lists of names for eternal and temporary commemoration of the living and the dead. The commemoration books were maintained there. Every sister had the right to enter five names of their relatives into the eternal commemoration (at the Psalter reading). Beyond this, each had a card with the names of reposed relatives for whom a separate prosphora was taken each day at the Liturgy. The sisters’ cards and generally all the commemoration books were read by special acolyte nuns. They read and served as acolytes. The St. Petersburg Metochion. Some people who were zealous for the Monastery donated houses in various towns, and thus metochions were created. There was a large metochion in Petersburg a spacious one in Moscow at One Meschanskaya Street. There was a chapel there, and Vigils were served on feast days; on weekday mornings and evenings Molebens were served to St. Seraphim, and in the evenings Akathists were also sung. All the rest of the time the Psalter was read. There was a large metochion in Nizhny Novgorod on Kavalikha Street that had a church dedicated to St. Seraphim, and a large prosphora bakery. Many sisters lived there. A smaller metochion, also in Nizhny Novgorod, was located on Kanavina Street, near the Moscow railroad station, and in the station itself was a chapel dedicated to St. Seraphim. There was also a metochion in Kharkov, with five or six sisters, as well as in Arzamas. |
| What one discovers as one comes more and more into Orthodoxy is that the Church does not exist to entertain people, as some churches attempt to do in efforts to “grow” their congregations on corporate models, nor is the Liturgy simply about “making people feel good”, but it is about renewal through and in and by our life in Christ. This lifelong transformation in the image of God is, in all humility, richer and more transcendent than any of the non-Christian Eastern practices I have read about, participated in, or witnessed. I have read and experienced so much of other faith traditions, and there is truly nothing else like Orthodoxy. If you come to the Liturgy, you will experience what I describe with your own senses, your own soul. Sts. Vladimir and Olga In order to give you as clear as possible an impression of how beautiful Orthodox worship is, and how it has been transforming and satisfying its faithful for millennia, it makes sense to recount to you one of the most important stories in the history of the Church. The Russian Primary Chronicle recounts that late in the tenth century in the eastern European lands inhabited by the Rus, a Slavic tribe of peoples rumored to be descended from Vikings, one local knaz, Prince Vladimir of Kiev , desired to know which of the world’s religions he and his people should adopt. His grandmother Princess Olga had adopted Orthodox Christianity late in her life around 955 after visiting Constantinople, and Orthodox missionaries Cyril and Methodius , known as the ‘Apostles to the Slavs’, had introduced a Slavonic translation of the Bible using a newly devised Cyrillic alphabet, which borrowed heavily from Greek characters. While Christianity had already made limited inroads in the lands surrounding Kiev, the principality’s most recent ruler, Vladimir’s father Svyatoslav, had been a pagan. Vladimir sent his envoys abroad to look into the religions of the world and recommend the one they found most fitting for the Rus. After experiencing the Divine Liturgy in Constantinople, the envoys were moved to choose Orthodoxy after previously having witnessed Muslims, Jews, and Catholics at prayer. Describing the liturgy celebrated in the Great Church of the Holy Wisdom (Hagia Sophia) in the Byzantine capital, the envoys wrote to Vladimir: |
|
|
