7/7/2010
Archimandrite John (Krestiankin)
The main calamity of our times is in just this—people’s extraordinary spiritual blindness.
All three events occurred at different times, but all three confirm one thing: Human life goes on in the flow of God’s Providence, and the Creator wondrously takes care of His creation.
“Now do I begin to be Christ’s disciple, now that I desire neither what is seen or unseen, but only to reach Christ.”
The human heart should also in the brief moment of its life become an image of the Bethlehem cave, where Christ—God and Man—is born, grows, lives, and reigns.
Thus, my dear ones, let these two salvific names—Jesus Christ and the Theotokos Mary—ever be inscribed upon the tablets of our hearts; let them be the beginning and end of our prayers.
But let us fear even the shadow of “Thank God, that I am not like other men.” Terrible to the soul is self-appreciation; it is destructive to the soul to evaluate others by comparing them to yourself.
The Sign of the Cross is the only seal that has spiritual power. Our cross-bearing, our struggle with sin, our endurance of sickness, anguish, co-suffering with others, and much more—life according to God—is a witness to the fact that we bear God’s seal on ourselves. What is technology, computers, someone’s human or even diabolical desire to make us submit to his influence, to his seal? Nothing compared to that great seal which the Savior has given us for salvation.
The seal of antichrist will come when antichrist comes to reign and receives power, and becomes the one and only ruler on the earth. Right now every nation has its own head. Therefore, do not panic before the time, but fear now the sins that open and pave the way to the future antichrist.
I know that we have One support, and our strength is in One, and our salvation is in One—everything is in our Lord and Savior Christ.
Nowadays everyone is silent about the Lord, about His omnipotence, mercy, and love. Only one thing is heard: that the enemy is deceiving now, and if not now, then definitely tomorrow.
I will only add that many are worried about this issue, but precious few of those who talk and think about it hysterically have actually begun to live in accord with such thoughts, and few of those wringing their hands are worrying about their soul’s salvation.
Love, joy, peace, mercy—God will never put these to shame under any state system. But if a person has forgotten God and lives by unrighteous gain, if television and various unseemly videos have squeezed prayer and church out of even clergymen’s lives, then believe me, S., the seal is already on many, even with the old passports.
The seal will come only after an individual’s personal renunciation of God, and not by trickery. Trickery has no significance. The Lord needs our heart, loving Him.
My dears, how have we fallen into such a panic that we can lose our Christian name by exchanging it for a number? Could this really happen in God’s eyes?
The event that took place twenty centuries ago was so great that it has no equal in all of history.
Pentecost continues, and over the years and up to our days it happens with each of us if only we would truly strive with all our souls for God and seek Him.
My dears, our friends, children of God, children of the holy Orthodox Church! Today is a special day—the day of the Triumph of Orthodoxy, the day of the triumph of the Holy Orthodox, Catholic, and Apostolic Church; of the Heavenly Church Triumphant and the earthly Church Militant.
Rating: 9.5|Votes: 57
Love for God and love for mankind was the true meaning of her life, and it led the Grand Duchess to the cross. And her cross grew and met the Cross of Christ, and became her delight.
Rating: 10|Votes: 8
O Life-bearing Tree of the Cross! O thrice-blessed Tree of the Cross! O honorable Cross, joyous sign of our redemption! Show us sinners the path to the salvific life.
Rating: 7|Votes: 3
Yet again have we reached the bright days of the Nativity of Christ! This feast is one of the great twelve feasts—it has five days of forefeast and six days of afterfeast, and in the divine service books it is called the three-day Pascha.
Rating: 8.7|Votes: 6
The Old Testament Temple of God accepted into itself the seed of new life, the divine maiden in whom will spiritually sprout and grow the New, saving Covenant of man with God. The Old Testament Temple of God took into itself the sacred Ark of the New Testament, the animate temple of the Savior, the precious bridal chamber and Virgin—the sacred treasury of the glory of God.
Rating: 4.8|Votes: 29
In the opinion of the teachers of the Church, man was created in order to replace the fallen angels. That means that we are supposed enter into the Synaxis of Angels.
Rating: 8.3|Votes: 3
And does not there arise in us the question of why the Lord united these two elect of His here on earth, if not because it was by one heart and by one mind that they lived, although in different times and circumstances—the same work they fulfilled, living on earth so as to unite themselves in eternity and on earth in the memory of the people? Let us look closer at their lives and draw from the fountain of ever-present living water which grants immortality to the soul.
Rating: 10|Votes: 3
Fr. John talks about our apocalyptic times, and our calling to submit to God’s will as it is expressed in divine Providence.
Why do we love Orthodoxy and the Orthodox Church? During the days of His earthly life, pious listeners, our Lord Jesus Christ united around Himself all those who believed in Him, and among these believers He drew the apostles particularly close to Himself.
Rating: 8.8|Votes: 21
“I will tell you from experience that the sooner we accept what God has given us, the easier it will be to bear God’s good yoke, His easy yoke. It becomes heavy from our inner resistance.”
Rating: 10|Votes: 4
The Lord gave us a commandment: do not unto others as you would not have them do unto you. This commandment is also always with us, always before us, like a vigilant and impartial watchman who exposes and unmasks both our knowledge and our cunning.
Rating: 9.1|Votes: 20
This single meeting between Christ and the Samaritan woman turns into a meeting with the living God for both the sinful woman and for the entire world, inasmuch as here, at the well of temporal water, the hitherto unknown source of Eternal Life was first secured. Here Christ for the first time reveals Himself to be the new, inexhaustible well of living water, flowing into Life Eternal.
Rating: 9.9|Votes: 13
This judgment of ourselves will tear a living, saving cry from our hearts that will reach the heavens: “Lord! Have mercy on me. O God, be merciful to me, a sinner!” And the miracle of our salvation will begin. The Lord will console our repentant souls and hearts with peace, calm, and love. In the words of our dear elder, St. Seraphim of Sarov, “Acquire the spirit of peace, and thousands will be saved around you”—transformation will begin in life around us.
Rating: 10|Votes: 2
But during this present, difficult time, when the earth has grown old, is burdened by faithlessness, lawlessness, and ignorance of the knowledge of God’s commandments, has our Fervent Intercessor turned away from us in her zeal for the glory of her Son and God? No, my dears, this could not be. Needy children are dearer to a mother.
Rating: 7|Votes: 1
The historical flow of Russian life has been varied: there were times of thunderous activity, there were lulls, and even complete halts. The river of Russian national life that gave birth to saints flowed in the given direction; this flow, however, was sometimes rapid and fruitful, sometimes slow, and sometimes so quiet that it was hard to tell whether it was flowing forward or backward. And now, 1,000 years later, we can mark the main periods of Russian religious history from the time of St. Vladimir to the present day.
The Patriarch was the spiritual leader of the Russian people during a very difficult time. He continues to be so during our difficult time in Russia—a time of schism, separation, and falls. The Church's duty in such trials is to inspire and unite the people for the sake of saving their native land, faith, and truth, serving for unification.
We know that it was Divine will. But our heart—the human heart—remains as if unsatisfied: could there really not have been a single person with the resolve to say a kind word for the Lord before His judges, or testify in His defense?.. We are shocked by this spectacle of the ingratitude, blindness, madness, and cruelty of Christ’s contemporaries.
Rating: 10|Votes: 1
Our illnesses are the result of a sinful life, and healing has to begin with repentance and Unction—this is for the soul. After Unction you need to go to the doctors, so that with God’s help they would also help your ailing body.
What are you saying about God, and what are you doing, all the while reproaching everything and everyone for not opening fatherly embraces, or teaching you how to live? What human embraces do you want, when the Father, God, has received you in His embrace, and you have brought Him three such clear and simple vows: obedience, non-acquisitiveness, and chastity?
Rating: 5.5|Votes: 2
Your heart is more inclined towards family life; this is also a podvig, like monastisicm, if not even more complicated. After all, you would be responsible not only for yourself, but for your wife and children. But you must decide. There is no salvation in life without podvig.
Rating: 6.5|Votes: 2
You are impatient. For, only those who endure to the end will be saved. Yes, and after all, there is reason to endure. The Holy Fathers say that the living children of mothers who killed their own infants take revenge upon their mothers for their brothers and sisters who never saw God’s light. Yes, and there are many other sins, known and unknown, and sorrows are a penance from God, but you have to bear them without murmuring.
We are obligated to pray for baptized people, for they received the seal of the gift of the Holy Spirit at baptism. We cannot pass judgment on these people before God’s judgment, and only the Lord sees the inner man. How did they live, what made them tick, whose prayers upheld them in this life?
You want to introduce a monarchical-patriotic spirit into the monastery. This would be wittingly destroying the monastic spirit, and therefore I have only one piece of advice for you — live at home and do the work God has blessed you to do for the moment: teaching.It is better to participate in something constructive bit by bit than by one broad sweep; you might even demolish it by your ignorance or misunderstanding.
How orphaned you have become, and not only you, but we, too. Godly people are departing for another world—those who have witnessed by their lives that they are indeed Godly people. Such people are becoming rarer and rarer, and the world is becoming empty.
I am even afraid to call you by this name. Matushkas are coming up with new “batiushkas,” and batiushkas are looking for adventure. And the children? The children are not wanted by anyone, not by matushka, even less by batiushka — they are raised by the streets and television, or their parents’ example. That is how it is, Matushka.
Fr. Hierodeacon is alive and well, and continues to carry his obedience on the holy hill. (This is a hill in the Pskov-Cave Monastery, located over the Holy Caves, where the reposed fathers are buried [trans.]). What do you have to be afraid of in the monastery? Be obedient to Matushka Abbess and save yourself.
Rating: 8|Votes: 6
How orphaned you have become, and not only you, but we, too. godly people are departing for another world—those who have witnessed by their lives that they are indeed godly people. Such people are becoming rarer and rarer, and the world is becoming empty. What the next generation has to say for itself is not yet clear, but so far life does not console us with good expectations.
It is necessary and important on our part to have an inner spiritual yearning and desire to fulfill God’s will in our lives. Believe me, the Lord accepts and justifies our sincere feelings. Beyond our understanding and comprehension, He leads our rickety little boat with His firm hand.
God’s blessing to you. Well, the time has come for us to live not as we want, but as God commands. This is God’s blessing for us. Just think, dear Matushka, about how just a half-step is left of our earthly trek, and now we are nearing the end. God’s mercy will cover our infirmities.
Rating: 7.7|Votes: 3
Heartfelt congratulations to you, my dear eldress, with your eightieth birthday. Well, you and I have lived to see this blessed time, when the field of our lives is white with the harvest, and the stalks heavy with grain are leaning toward the earth.
I read the prayer [of absolution] in absentia over your head, thanking the Lord that He gave you the opportunity to open up, and not be disturbed by the present temptations—this is a redoubled monastery attack. Confess, repent, and be more attentive to yourself and to your thoughts. All the rest has been written to you already: strive to live in the presence of your Guardian Angel, and you will see how wondrously he will arrange everything.
Rating: 7.1|Votes: 8
I am forwarding to you my gratitude for the signs of attention and love which I received from you just after your departure. But sorrow casts a shadow upon my joy over your magnanimity, because I was not able to give you a warm welcome and hospitality. My aged infirmities have become stronger than my hearty spirit, and this is a cause for no little sorrow. I love to be cheered and to cheer, but lately it’s been mostly the former.
I received your letter and will fulfill your request for prayer. May God give you patience in bearing your heavy life’s cross; but I cannot prompt you on what you should be repenting of. God’s magnificence plunges us monastics into repentance every minute, and not just every day.
Know, that for every child that is unborn due to his mother’s will, each child to which she later gives birth for her own “joy” will take revenge upon her with sorrows, sicknesses and psychological oppression. This is a law. You cannot expect happiness in earthly life after infanticide, and as for life in eternity, well it’s terrible even to think about it. In a word - hell.
God’s strength is made perfect in weakness; I have seen this in actuality all my life, and we are only strong in God’s strength. As Holy Hierarch Benjamim of Petrograd said on the threshold of death, we need to abandon learnedness and mind, and arm ourselves with faith. We need faith!
Rating: 7.3|Votes: 7
Proof of our rightness in God is a peaceful spirit, which the Holy Spirit generates in the righteous soul. You do not have this peace, which means that you have no rightness. You are governed by fleeting impressions, and do not delve into the depths of God’s judgments, Holy Scripture, and the whole history of the Church which witnesses to them.
Rating: 3|Votes: 8
Batiushka, how is it that you do not hear God’s will for you, spoken by the head of the Church: “It means you’ll have to remain here!” It is all the more valuable having been pronounced without any judgment from one or another interested party. You correctly thought at that moment that the question was resolved. But then … then egoism and self-will began their underground work. While His Holiness [the Patriarch] repeatedly confirms what he said according to inspiration: “It’s better for you to stay here.”
Receiving the monastic tonsure should be preceded by our resolve for it, expressed not only in the mind and heart, but by our life itself. Therefore, do not rush to take the tonsure, but labor with firmness of will for self-crucifixion, and live monastically in the world, knowing only the institute, home, and church.
However, let Holy Hierarch Theophan [the Recluse of Vysha] give you an answer about monasticism. I am sending you his book, Wise Counsels. Read pages 66 through 95 carefully. With respect to work—just as the Lord did not abandon us before, neither will He now. Pray to Holy Martyr Tryphon, and everything will be all right. Do not lose your equilibrium, little one.
Your question about enclosing yourself in a monastery falls away immediately. One should join a monastery not because his family has broken up, but because his heart is burning with the desire to be saved by a hard way, and to serve God undividedly. Seeing as you have not excluded the thought of starting another family, you obviously do not have this desire.
God bless you to finish the education you have started; artists are not only needed in the theatre. But the Lord will determine this in the future. For now, study and make progress, study with love and output, study as an obedience. Do not torment yourself with distracting thoughts.
Thank God that you are with the Church, and you are carrying your heavy cross, albeit with murmuring. The enemy is watching your good intentions, but you are not entirely plundered, I can assure you of that. Your repentance and ceaseless struggle is accounted to you as deeds done for God’s sake. This is your life’s cross.
Rating: 6.4|Votes: 9
You know from your own life what can be accomplished by praying to the Lord. Continue living this way, tangibly sensing the presence of God in your life. Pray!
Rating: 9.7|Votes: 3
A. has not made his life’s decision, you are not yet free, and everything is still ahead of you. Everyone has to make his own decision. Therefore, enjoy life, do what God has blessed you to do with love and eagerness: warm the souls of the sick and suffering, and paint icons.
Rating: 9.3|Votes: 4
Pray to the Holy Martyr Tryphon, and through his intercessions you will always have work. Go to church to pray, and help whomever you can, but your main work should be your occupation in the world.
C., every man has to choose his own life’s path. This is so that no one can hide behind another person’s back.
There is Someone who knows about all our troubles. Not one troubled thought of ours slips by Him. He knows that troubles cause suffering. That is why He always wants to help us. He promises to take all our troubles upon Himself. Could we have anything better? He wants to take away everything that weighs upon us. He wants to pave a pathway for us in those regions where we do not see any way out. He wants to change all the conditions that burden us. He wants to send us help.
The old Russian saying is not without wisdom: measure seven times and cut once. This is something that we have forgotten how to do.
Rating: 8|Votes: 4
Everything will be very simple and easy if you decide to do it unto God, for God’s sake, and to the glory of God. Everything in life and in the soul will immediately come together. Do not leave your job, live on your salary from the museum, and work at home for your soul. Do not accept gifts, and do not count on getting your only profit from payment for icons.
