How many people go to church?
According to statistics, about 1% of the population goes to the temple, of which only 10% do it "with knowledge of the matter", and the rest go without delving into the processes, but "simply because it is necessary." That is, only 1 in 1,000 understands the business of attending church.

What are dark forces (demons) and how do they affect people?
Dark forces, like light ones, can influence people only by way of suggestion. That is, first a person must be inspired, and only then a person will do. That is, thoughts come to mind, they come, and not themselves are born in the head.

Why go to church if God is in my soul?
Even if God is in the soul, but it is necessary to serve him in the church. And in the temple there is grace that strengthens faith. No matter how hard you try with your "faith in your soul", you will not be able to sanctify Communion. One must go to church regularly, because in church a person receives protection in the form of grace. Sitting at home, a person wastes his grace on transgressions, and demons will have more influence on a person. By the way, the reluctance to go to church is also a demonic suggestion.

Who is affected by love spells, corruption and other witchcraft?
A person who goes to church is practically not affected by love spells and other types of witchcraft. Because witchcraft is an instilled spirit into a person, and the church takes such spirits out of a person (from someone earlier, from someone later). Wearing a cross, visiting a temple and a pious (sinless) lifestyle create an aura around a person that will not allow any imp to be settled.

What happens to a person when he prays?
There is an opinion that just reading a prayer is enough to be closer to God. This is not true. Scientists conducted experiments by examining the biorhythms of people during prayer. So, for those who thought about everyday problems during prayer, the biorhythms during prayer almost did not differ from the biorhythms ordinary life. In more deeply religious people, the biorhythm of the aura changed significantly.

Why go to church if priests are just collecting money from people?
First, you go to church in God, not to the priest.
And secondly, the priest is a man of society. I (the author of the site) compare priests with representatives of the army. After all, the military, no matter how good or bad they are, but their main business is to protect their homeland, which they have been successfully coping with lately. So are priests, as people, they may not be “saints”, but they fulfill the task of “serving God” and “looking after the temple”.

By the way, the dinner of “non-covetousness” (lack of dependence on money and the desire to be richer) is given only by monks (respectively, monks-priests).
But the bulk of priests, even those married with children, are examples of leading an Orthodox family.
Priests "with sin" and with "inappropriate behavior" are usually no more than 1 out of 10, or even 20 priests.

By the way,
Priests and their families are especially hunted by dark forces in the form of temptations. And not all priests cope with this. If one demon follows one person, then seven of them follow the priest. It is better not to condemn the priest, but to pray for him so that God strengthens his spiritual strength. After all, the priest, no matter what he is, leads the service to God and prays (asks) for our well-being.

Even if the priest, for one reason or another, does something wrong in the church rite, the person still receives everything in full. After all, grace from communion, baptism, confession, etc. comes not from the priest, but from God. God will give to the layman according to his faith and efforts, as well as to the priest.

What happens during church sacraments?
Almost no one sees it. The main work is done by angels.
There is such a parable: “Grandmother baptized her little granddaughter in the church ...

After some time, they saw the priest, who was baptizing this child on the street.
The grandmother told her grandson to "say hello to the one who baptized you."
The granddaughter replied: “This father was lying tied up on a bench, and the angels baptized me.”

Conclusion: what we see during the mystery may not always coincide with what is actually happening. Perhaps the priest from the parable was not entirely pious, but the angels did his work for him, although it seemed to people that the priest himself did everything.

There is an opinion that the higher the rank of the elder, the worse the person.
This is not always the case, but it happens. Again, because of the number of temptations that fall on the fate of senior priests and metropolitans. At the same time, management and financial positions should be occupied by people with appropriate education. It is for professional merits, and not for church ones, that sometimes people are put in such positions (not always). That is, often the heads of dioceses are more business executives, and not super confessors.

People go to church, but sometimes they also behave “not in the Orthodox way.”
The Church is not a place where a person is completely changed beyond the threshold. Some people generally go to church for self-interest - to pray for success in business among competitors.
But in the church, grace and strengthening of spiritual strength are given. And we must also be able to take it with our appropriate behavior and faith.
"According to your faith, be it to you." If a person comes to church just to stand “what if something falls over”, then life around him will not change much. It is even possible, on the contrary, that the demons will decide to “teach him a lesson” once again for going to the temple.

Some believe that Orthodoxy is not a native Russian religion.
Orthodoxy in Russia is over 1000 years old. How much more time is needed for it to become "one's own"? Many princes (for example, Alexander Nevsky in 1238) went to fierce battles under the banner of Christ and the Mother of God. In Russia there are temples and monasteries, the foundations of which are about 1000 years old (Borisoglebsky Monastery in Torzhok, founded in 1015). It is unlikely that these temples were built by the Jews on the sly, while the Russians were sleeping. That is, our ancestors long ago accepted this religion as their own.

We must believe in God, not believe in God! We are on Earth (in life) as in a school. Orthodoxy gives direct instructions on how to live in order to create more, and not to consume.

ACCORDING TO THE MATERIALS OF THE ORTHODOX PRESS

It also happens: you sit at home, enjoy yourself, think about how correct, smart and in general you are ... Then, getting into a more or less normal Christian church, you realize that it was self-deception. Suddenly, it turns out that there is not enough self-control, love, and all sorts of such qualities. And if in such a situation we are honest, then we can sufficiently realize what it means: ‘Iron sharpens iron, and a man sharpens his friend’s gaze’(Prov. 27:17). Human beings are social beings, and need healthy relationships; therefore, it is so important to have such an environment that will help you become a more adequate, perfect personality.

The most dangerous scourge of most Christians is conceit and pride. We will not talk about apostates and heretics, everything is clear with them (Tit. 3:10,11.); but if someone begins to differ from us, and thinks differently from us, then without thinking too much about how right he is, we put him in the category of a misunderstanding and a goat-like brother. But it should not be so, my friends; the apostle Paul wrote:

‘’And why are you judging your brother? Or are you also, that you humiliate your brother? We will all stand before the Judgment Seat of Christ. For it is written, As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow before me, and every tongue shall confess God. So each of us will give an account to God for himself. ...let us seek that which serves for peace and for mutual edification” (Rom. 14:10-12,19.).

And again it is worth repeating that such qualities can only be learned in the church. Ecclesiastes - means "Convener of the Assembly"; What do you think he meant when he wrote:

‘’Two are better than one; because they have a good reward for their labor: for if one falls, the other will lift up his companion. But woe to one when he falls, and there is no other to lift him up. Also, if two are lying, then they are warm; How can one keep warm? And if one begins to overcome one, then two will stand against him: and the thread, twisted three times, will not soon break '' (Eccl. 4: 9-12)?

In most cases, in Christianity it is considered that this speaks of a family - but where is the logic when Christ Jesus and the apostle Paul argued that it is better for a person to remain alone (Luke 19:10-12. 1Cor.7:32-35,38 .)?.. No wonder the Great Shepherd Christ compared His followers with a flock of sheep, because. outside the herd, they subsequently die. Indeed, it has already been proven by many cases and experiments that a person is one of the most vulnerable and unviable creatures if he does not receive education. And the more perfect a person you want to become, the more perfect your environment must be; therefore it is said: “He who associates with the wise will be wise, but he who associates with fools will become corrupt” (Prov. 13:21).

What to do when there is a quarrel in the church?

It is good if a certain denomination has a well-established legal order. And when [and this is more common in Protestant churches] there are no “random” pastors, then serious problems do not arise so often. But still, when quarrels and problems arise in relationships with shepherds and simply fellow believers, or we observe a problem from the outside, how will we behave ourselves? Sometimes we hear that some stop attending church, believing; ‘‘Since someone offended me, it means that there is no truth there’’. Well, sometimes it happens… However, it should be understood that problems can arise sooner or later, in any church and any denomination. Remember that among the apostles there was a thief (John 12:4,6.); but you, first of all, come to worship the Father, and glorify the Lord Christ.

There is also another side of the problem, and there is an interesting statement about it: if the first husband beat his wife, he is a bastard; if the second one beat her, we don’t understand someone else’s life; well, if the third one beats, then it’s not the wife’s face to see ... The moral of this statement is absolutely not for assault, but if someone has problems, often with many, then you should pay attention to the fact that there may be a problem in in the first place in himself? And then it is important to remember that this is also NOT a reason to give up and leave the church - this is a reason to hold on even tighter and work hard on yourself; ask your shepherds to help you.

When the question arises: how to find the right religion?

Sometimes it happens that a Christian cannot decide what denomination he should be in. If you lived around the 13th century, then you would not have a great choice: either remain in traditional Orthodoxy or Catholicism, or become a ‘heretic sectarian’’. Now, with a relative religious democracy, there is a huge selection of various directions of Christianity, and everyone is trying to prove their case. But no matter how wide and varied the choice of religious movements is now, the paradox is that until the beginning of the 21st century, the triumph of truth has not yet come. ''How! Why!’’, you may ask indignantly. Yes, all because by replacing the totalitarian and tyrannical regime of the ruling religions with freedom, in which demonism and sectarianism can sometimes be present, [in general] we have only come a little closer to the truth.

History often repeats itself, and little has changed since the time of the prophet Ezekiel; and he wrote: ‘And they were scattered without a shepherd, and being scattered, they became food for every beast of the field. My sheep wander over all the mountains and over every high hill, and My sheep are scattered over all the face of the earth…’’ (Ezek. 34:5,6). Yes, our Lord Christ cleansed the church with His blood; and while His apostles lived, through [the laying on of hands] by whom the Holy Spirit was given (Acts 8:14-18.), it was one and true. However, the apostle Paul prophesied: ‘For I know that after my departure, fierce wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock; and men will arise from among yourselves, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after them” (Acts 20:29,30). And today, Christianity is still in a state of division—i.e. ‘’Babylon the Great’’ - compare: Gen.11:9. [Also, more information about this in the article: ‘’What is Babylon the Great? - Secrets of the Bible.

So, what to do if a Christian is not satisfied with his denomination in terms of understanding the truth; should he, in this case, also create his own trend and look for followers? We will answer right away that this is of course not worth doing, because. you will not solve the problem; but not only that, you will make it even worse by repeating what you have already done before you ... What can the Word of God teach us on this issue?

Let's start with the fact that the problem of divisions was still during the life of Christ's apostles, and Paul wrote: "I beseech you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you speak one thing, and there will be no divisions between you, but that you be united in in one spirit and in one mind" (1 Corinthians 1:10). But what's already done is done and now it only remains for us to choose the church that is closer to us in spirit and understanding. The letter to the Hebrews says: “Let us be attentive to one another, encouraging love and good deeds. Let us not leave our assembly, as is the custom of some; but let us exhort [one another], and the more so, the more you see that day drawing near” (Heb. 10:24,25).

Some may say: ‘‘But what about the call to come out of Babylon the Great?’’ (Rev. 18:4.). The expression of Ecclesiastes [Convener of the Assembly] is also relevant in this matter, as he wrote: ‘To everything there is a time, and a time for every thing under heaven. A time to tear apart, and a time to sew; a time to be silent, and a time to speak” (Eccl. 3:7). And the most striking example that can teach us (Rom.15:4.) Is written by the prophet Jeremiah that the Jews were supposed to take care of the well-being of Babylon: ''thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the captives whom I have resettled from Jerusalem to Babylon: take wives and bear sons and daughters; and take wives to your sons, and give your daughters in marriage, that they may bear sons and daughters, and multiply there, and do not diminish; and take care of the welfare of the city in which I have moved you, and pray for it to the Lord; for with his well-being you will also have peace. For [only] I know the intentions that I have for you, says the Lord, intentions for good, and not for evil, to give you a future and hope. And you will seek Me and find Me when you seek Me with all your heart. And I will be found by you, says the Lord, and I will bring you back from captivity and gather you from all the peoples and from all the places where I drove you, says the Lord, and I will bring you back to the place from where I removed you '' (Jer. 29: 4,6,7,11,13,14). The Jews, on their own, could not leave Babylon until the time came for the end of the 70-year captivity; Likewise, we cannot solve this problem on our own. Moreover, not resigning ourselves to what we have today [by the will of the Almighty], we become like those Jewish rebels who refused to go to Babylon - see: Jer.27:1,6-8. Jer.24:1,3-10. It is important to understand that our 'coolness' and superiority is not about striving to rise above [as some try to claim] the ''pathetic crowd of believers''. But our strength is in wisdom, and this is confirmed by the ever-present words: ‘For thus says the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel: if you remained in place and at rest, you would be saved; in silence and hope is your fortress; but you would not' (Isaiah 30:15).

Jewish scholars of Scripture have already made the mistake of trying to go deep into the knowledge and fulfillment of the Law in order to justify it; but Christ came and showed that the “letter” of the law does not save. So what is our salvation?.. Of course, God must always be sought; if you truly love someone, then you try to get to know him, understand him, remain faithful; this is the fulfillment of the first most important commandment (Matt. 22:37,38.). And when the last time comes, the Most High will reveal himself to everyone who sincerely sought Him (Acts 17:27.); the prophet Zephaniah also confirms this: ‘Wait for me, then, says the Lord, until the day when I arise for desolation, for it is determined by me to gather the nations, to call kingdoms, to pour out on them my indignation, all the fury of my wrath; for the whole earth shall be devoured by the fire of my jealousy. Then [at that time] again I will give the nations clean lips, so that they all call on the name of the Lord and serve Him with one accord” (Zeph. 3:8,9). How will it happen? The Lord will send His witnesses (Rev. 11:3-8.) to teach humanity the one truth; This is how the apostle Paul wrote about it: “until we all come into the unity of faith and the knowledge of the Son of God, a perfect man, to the measure of the full stature of Christ; that we should no longer be babes tossed about and carried away with every wind of doctrine, by the craftiness of men, by the cunning of deceit” (Eph. 4:13,14). *** More detailed information can be found in the article: ‘Christianity in last days- Secrets of the Bible. New Understanding of Scripture.

With regard to today, it is important to remember this... Our Lord Christ, in the image of Melchizedek [cf. Hebrews 7:1,2.], is:

1. Tsar.
2. priest

Therefore, he who opposes the authority opposes God's ordinance. And those who oppose themselves will bring condemnation upon themselves. For those who are in authority are not terrible for good works, but for evil ones. Do you want to not be afraid of power? Do good, and you will receive praise from her, for [the boss] is God's servant, good for you. But if you do evil, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain: he is God's servant, the avenger in punishment for the one who does evil. And therefore it is necessary to obey not only out of [fear] of punishment, but also according to conscience. For this you also pay taxes, for they are God's servants, constantly busy with this” (Rom. 13:1-6). From this passage of Scripture, it is clear to us that the rulers of the world, despite their obvious imperfection, are a kind of substitute [for the time being] for the King of kings, Christ, and maintain, well, at least some kind of order. But our Lord is not only a King, but also a Priest; and He is also, for the time being, replaced by the pastors of the churches, who are also worth obeying [if they follow the sound doctrine of virtue]. Collecting [as written in Romans 13:6.] offerings and tithes, they are required to keep the churches in proper order until the time comes, about which the prophet Daniel wrote: ''And he answered: "Go, Daniel; for the these words until the end time: many will be cleansed, whitened, and refined [in temptation], but the wicked will do wickedly, and none of the wicked will understand, but the wise will understand” (Dan. 12:9,10).

So: ‘By this all will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another’(John 13:35). Today, too, the manifestation of love for God and neighbor remains an urgent matter, and those who do so will not stumble (Psalm 119:165.). Wait for the Lord friends, He will come again and teach us the truth; but not in the body, but through His “little brothers” (Matt. 25:31-35,40.). And in order not to miss His coming in truth, remember the principle: ‘Do not forget hospitality, for through it some, not knowing, have shown hospitality to Angels. Remember the prisoners, as if you were in bondage with them, and the afflicted, as you yourself are in the body” (Heb. 13:2,3). Peace to you.

S. Yakovlev (Bokhan)

Pay attention to these two pictures. Compare - what would you like more? To eat everything that, for example, accidentally falls on Internet forums? ..

Or still receiving spiritual verbal milk by providing shepherds at meetings? (1 Peter 2:1,2. Hebrews 13:17).

Why go to church

if you can pray at home?

“God made the church like a harbor, so that in it
sheltered from the noise and anxieties of life
sea ​​people enjoyed great peace.

John Chrysostom

Many modern people consider themselves believers, but do not participate in church life, arguing like this: “Why go to church, because you can pray at home.” And yet, for some reason, it’s impossible to pray at home, and in the church there are long services, complex and incomprehensible, as V. Vysotsky sang, “... no, everything is wrong in the church, everything is wrong, guys.” These lines are addressed to people who do not see the point in visiting the temple, who consider faith without the Church possible.

Several generations of Soviet people grew up without a church. The Bolsheviks tried to replace faith in God with faith in communism. Temples were destroyed, believers were persecuted, they were laughed at, but, nevertheless, it was not possible to destroy the faith among the people. The Church, having passed the most difficult trials, withstood, and now we see its revival. In itself, this is already the greatest miracle, which is worth thinking about. It is difficult for people who are not familiar with Orthodoxy, who have not received a religious upbringing, to change their lives, much in the church service remains unclear. The liturgy and everything that happens in the church seems strange and as if taking place in a foreign language. Therefore, for many modern people, all faith is expressed in "going into the church to put a candle." And a whole layer of culture, a unique spiritual experience that saves a lost soul, remains on the sidelines. Participation in church life requires effort, it is spiritual work, and one does not want to work. Simpler and more affordable means are always at hand: you can drink, have fun, go somewhere - and the person forgot for a while, and it’s better not to think about death at all. But the human soul is so arranged that it still reaches upward, looking for some kind of higher justice, tired of deceit and fuss.

HOLY GIFTS

In the temple, time seems to have stopped. The Orthodox Church, as the greatest shrine, has preserved the spiritual experience accumulated over the centuries. The whole order of the church service, way of life, even the language remained unchanged. Times changed, authorities changed, but the Liturgy was still going on in the churches. It did not stop even despite the persecution of believers by the Soviet authorities. Because the Divine Liturgy has always had and has for believers not a conventional, but a very real meaning. During the Liturgy, a person not only remembers the earthly life of Christ, not only prays to God about his worldly needs, but, most importantly, he really unites with Him in the Sacrament of Communion.

This sacrament was instituted by the Lord Himself during the Last Supper. “And taking bread, and giving thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, This is my body, which is given for you; do this in remembrance of me. Likewise the cup after supper, saying, This cup is the New Testament in my blood, which is shed for you” (Luke 19-20). The significance of the Eucharist lies in the fact that it opens up access to God for a person, gives him the opportunity to sacrifice to his Creator, and gives him the opportunity to participate in the Calvary sacrifice.

The sacrament is the most important concept in the Christian life. During the Eucharist, wine and bread are transubstantiated into the Blood and Body of the Lord. “Near the Eucharist, the whole circle of world existence completes its course,”- wrote about. Pavel Florensky. Just as bodily diseases need healing, so our spiritual being, damaged by sin, also needs medicine. And such a “medicine” is the Communion of the Holy Mysteries of Christ. “Energy is wasted, everything is destroyed. If there is no Communion on earth, the world will fall apart” - this is how L.N. Gumilyov considered Communion.

EXCUSES

Modern man, surrounded by all the "benefits" of civilization, gets used to spiritual laziness, inaction, and deprives himself of this living communion with God. Sometimes, due to habit or the prevailing way of life, he passes by the temple, justifying himself with all sorts of excuses. And only when fate presents him with an unexpected blow, he thinks about God, about eternity, about his soul, and, without further ado, goes to the temple. Because "the soul itself tells" where to seek salvation. Of course, this is not always the case. A person is endowed with free will, he always has a choice: to go to the temple or not to go. It is free choice that God needs. Making this choice is sometimes difficult. Sometimes the Lord leads a person to this step all his life through trials, disappointments, successes and failures, happiness and illness, losses and gains. In trials, the human soul is either tempered or broken. The temple, the help of a priest, prayer help to withstand life's difficulties, to adequately endure the blows of fate, too big ups and downs, wealth and poverty. The Church teaches wisdom and patience.

The Church has accumulated precious spiritual experience and wisdom. "Lives of the Saints", legends, miraculous images that bring people miraculous help and healing in illnesses, thousands of phenomena that are inexplicable from the point of view of logic are gradually revealed to a person who has come to the temple and gained faith. The Orthodox Church, by the example of its numerous ascetics, shows the lofty ideal of Christianity, the goal of a person's spiritual life and his existence on Earth, teaches to endure difficulties with dignity, tempers the soul, gives support and protection. Christianity teaches true, self-sacrificing love. Orthodoxy provides examples of such love. Suffice it to recall the Reverend Seraphim of Sarov, John of Krondstadt, the elders of the Optina Hermitage, so loved by the people. Without knowing the Orthodox Church, it is impossible to understand what is the strength of the Russian spirit, it is impossible to fully understand either Russian history or Russian literature.

Sometimes a person who crosses the threshold of a temple for the first time and is trying to find the truth hopes to see saints and perfect people in the temple, but stumbles upon some old woman who pulls him up and makes comments. A person immediately feels like a stranger here. He is confused by the fact that people in the temple, sometimes even the priests themselves, have the same worldly shortcomings. And then the most important thing is called into question, why he came here - is it necessary to seek salvation here? But we must remember that when a person comes to church, he comes to God, he comes to pray, to confess to God Himself through a priest, to lighten his soul. Look into yourself, into yourself, and not into the soul of another person. Priests, whether they are good or bad, and other servants of the temple, only God can judge. And even if they have human flaws, they are ordained by God to carry out their ministry.

We bring the child to school, despite the fact that some teachers are far from perfect. After all, we must give our child an education. Or the doctor who prescribes the medicine we need can be stingy, for example. We don't care. We think about how to get rid of the disease, and not about what qualities this doctor has, whether he is an ideal.

And yet, if in our unjust and cruel world there are islands of purity and goodness, then where to look for them if not in the temple.

Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol, in response to the attacks on our Church by Western Catholics, wrote the following lines: “How can we defend our Church, and what answer can we give them if they ask us such questions: “Has your Church made you the best? Does everyone among you do his duty properly?” What will we answer them then, when we suddenly feel in our souls and in our consciences that we have been walking past our Church all the time and hardly know her even now? We own a treasure that has no price, and not only do we not care to feel it, but we don’t even know where we put it. The owner is asked to show the best thing in his house, and the owner himself does not know where it lies. This Church, which, like a chaste virgin, has been preserved alone from the time of the apostles in its immaculate original purity, this Church, which, with its deep dogmas and the slightest external rites, is, as it were, taken down straight from heaven for the Russian people, which alone has the power to solve everything knots of bewilderment and our questions, which can produce an unheard-of miracle in the sight of all Europe, forcing our every class, rank and position to enter their legitimate boundaries and limits and, without changing anything in the state, give Russia the power to amaze the whole world with the harmonious harmony of the same the very organism with which she has hitherto frightened—and this Church is unknown to us! And this Church, created for life, we still have not introduced into our lives!

No, God bless us to protect our Church now! It means to drop it. Only one propaganda is possible for us - our life. With our life we ​​must defend our Church, which is all life ... ”(N.V. Gogol. A few words about our Church and the clergy. (From a letter to Count A.P.T.).

Sometimes everyday routine prevents a person from devoting Sunday to visiting the temple. “Six days you work, and the seventh - to the Lord your God,” says the commandment. Six days a week is enough to solve all the problems of life. On Sunday, not to the store for shopping, not to the concert, but to the temple, the soul should strive.

CAN YOU PRAY AT HOME?

Prayer at home is different from common, conciliar prayer. “Where two or three are gathered in My name, there I am in the midst of them,” the Lord taught. If He dwells among two or three, then where tens and hundreds of people are gathered in His name and pray together, He must undoubtedly be present, and such a prayer has tremendous power.

Staying in the temple, you need to understand that something very important is happening here, you need to take care to preserve reverence in your soul. Sometimes habit kills reverence, fearlessness comes and the feeling of the holiness of the place weakens. This leads to a cooling of faith and indifference to the sacraments of the Church. “I know your deeds, you are neither cold nor hot; Oh, if you were cold or hot! But since you are lukewarm, and not hot or cold, I will spew you out of My mouth” (Rev. 3:15,16). Such are today the relations between people - in the family between spouses, between parents and children. The cold in the soul becomes habitual, and so the whole life gradually passes. But the Lord does not expect such a life from us, life is not given to a person so that he spends it in pursuit of material goods, having received which the soul will not be satisfied anyway, because it was created for a higher purpose.

Spiritual laziness is usually the reason why a person does not go to the temple. Those who believe that it is possible to pray at home, usually do not pray at all. TV today for many drowns out the spiritual need for the improvement of the living soul, communication with God.

SPIRITUAL EXPERIENCE

Examples of ardent faith, true love, and active prayer give an Orthodox person the lives of saints, of whom there have been many in the history of the Church and who, like lamps, illuminate his path. Thousands of cases of healings and help in spiritual needs have been recorded and described in Orthodox literature. Now these books are available, in every church there is enough educational literature for readers of different backgrounds, people of any age and education. A person who has received a brilliant education, in a spiritual sense, can be a child. And vice versa, a person who is not too educated can be spiritually wise, and even perspicacious (as, for example, the holy elders). This is why temple-going Christians have their own spiritual mentor. A person who is inexperienced in the spiritual realm needs spiritual advice. It is mysteriously revealed to the believer that only for one obedience to his spiritual father, God shows his mercy to a person.

Through the confessor, the confessor brings repentance to God for the sins he has committed. And only a priest, as God's anointed on Earth, has the power to forgive sins. This is indicated in the Gospel. Jesus Christ, addressing his disciples, said: “Truly I say to you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven” (Matthew 18:18). “To whom you forgive sins, they will be forgiven; upon whom you leave, on him they will remain” (John 20:21-23). The apostles transferred this power to the successors of their ministry - the pastors of the Church of Christ. It is they, the priests, who are appointed in the temple to receive our confession.

Confession and preparation for it are sometimes painful. It is scary to decide on the first confession, a person feels shame and embarrassment. But if we recall the words of the Savior, then false fear gives way to the determination to cut off sin from oneself, to separate oneself from it. The secret of confession is immutable. For divulging the secrets of confession, a priest can be excommunicated from service.

God Himself has given man the opportunity to purify his soul from sin. Isn't this a generous gift?

GIFTS OF HEALING

Philosophy professor V.N. Lossky writes about the Church that it is “the center of the universe, the environment in which its fate is decided. All are called to enter the Church<...>The world is aging and decaying, but the Church is constantly quickened and renewed by the Holy Spirit, the source of her life.<...>The Church is something greater than an earthly paradise.” (V.N. Lossky. "Essay on the mystical theology of the Eastern Church").

There are seven church sacraments: Baptism, Confirmation, Wedding, Eucharist (communion), Repentance (confession), Priesthood (ordination) and Unction (unction). Each sacrament performed in the church is a gift of God to man, an important event in life, giving grace and spiritual strength. What gives a person the sacrament of Unction?

The Apostle James says to Christians: “Is anyone among you sick, let him call for the elders of the Church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer of faith will heal the sick, and the Lord will raise him up, and if he has committed sins, they will be forgiven him (James 5:14 and 15). Those who are ill resort to the sacrament of unction (unction), because sometimes (the holy fathers teach) sickness is sent by God for unconfessed and forgotten sins. This sacrament has great power, which is why there are so many believers in the temple during the Unction.

In the sacrament of the Unction of the Unction, two gifts of God are sent to man from above: bodily healing and remission of sins. Are not both these gifts great?

And now to the question “Why go to church when you can pray at home?” - you can answer: "To receive great gifts, which we, people, may not deserve for our sins, but which God generously gives to everyone who sincerely turns his heart to Him." In the Church, a person seeks salvation, healing, reconciliation with God - and finds it.

They say that when churches close, prisons open. “Come to church,” teaches John Chrysostom, “to remain unharmed in any situation, so that, armed with spiritual weapons, you become invulnerable and not subject to the devil.”

Often a novice Christian has a question - how often do you need to go to church? Is just Saturday and Sunday sufficient? What to do if acquaintances start to look askance and call you a fanatic who goes to the temple at every opportunity? What if you don't feel like going to church because you don't trust the priest? Is it necessary to go to the temple if you do not feel the need for it? Why is it impossible to pray at home, but you must definitely go to the temple? And what if I meet your "Orthodox grandmothers" again? Nothing is clear in the temple, why serve in an incomprehensible language?

Below are the answers to these and other questions:

- I believe in God, but I don’t believe in priests, and therefore I won’t go to church.

But no one asks a parishioner to believe a priest. We believe in God, and the priests are only His servants and instruments for the fulfillment of His will. Someone said: "the current goes through a rusty wire." So also grace is transmitted through the unworthy. According to the true thought of St. John Chrysostom, “we ourselves, sitting on the pulpit and teaching, are intertwined with sins. Nevertheless, we do not despair of God's philanthropy and do not ascribe hardness of heart to Him. For this, God allowed the priests themselves to be slaves to the passions, so that from their own experience they would learn to treat others condescendingly.” Imagine that not a sinful priest, but the Archangel Michael, will serve in the temple. After the first conversation with us, he would have flared up with righteous anger, and only a pile of ashes would have remained of us.

In general, this statement is comparable to the rejection of medical care because of the greed of modern medicine. The financial interest of individual doctors is much more obvious, as everyone who has been admitted to the hospital is convinced of this. But for some reason, because of this, people do not refuse medicine. And when we are talking about much more important - about the health of the soul, then everyone remembers there were fables, just not to go to church. There was such a case. One monk lived in the desert, and a priest went to him to give him communion. And then one day he heard that the priest who communed him was fornicating. And then he refused to take communion with him. And on the same night he saw a revelation that there was a golden well with crystal water and from it, a leper draws water with a golden bucket. And the voice of God said: “You see, how water remains pure, although it is given by a leper, so grace does not depend on the one through whom it is supplied.” And after that, the hermit again began to take communion with the priest, not arguing whether he was righteous or sinful.

But if you think about it, then all these excuses are completely insignificant. After all, is it possible to ignore the direct will of the Lord God, referring to the sins of the priest? “Who are you, condemning another's slave? Before his Lord he stands, or he falls. And will be restored; for God is mighty to raise him up."(Rom. 14:4).

“You don’t understand anything in the temple. They serve in an incomprehensible language.

Let's rephrase this objection. A first-grader comes to school and, having overheard an algebra lesson in the 11th grade, refuses to go to classes, saying: "There's nothing clear there." Is it stupid? But it is also foolish to refuse to study the Divine science, referring to incomprehensibility.

On the contrary, if everything was clear, then learning is meaningless. You already know everything the experts are talking about. Believe that the science of living with God is no less complex and elegant than mathematics, so let it have its own terminology and language.

I think that we should not refuse temple education, try to understand what exactly is incomprehensible. At the same time, it should be taken into account that the service is intended not for missionary work among unbelievers, but for the believers themselves. For us, thank God, if we pray attentively, everything becomes clear after a month and a half of constant going to church. But the depths of worship may be revealed years later. This is truly an amazing mystery of the Lord. We do not have a flat preaching of Protestants, but, if you like, an eternal university in which liturgical texts are study guides and the Teacher is the Lord Himself.

Church Slavonic is not Latin or Sanskrit. This is a sacred form of the Russian language. You just need to work a little: buy a dictionary, a few books, learn fifty words - and the language will reveal its secrets. And God will reward this work a hundredfold. – During prayer, it will be easier to collect thoughts on the Divine mystery. Thoughts will not, according to the laws of association, slip away somewhere into the distance. Thus, the Slavic language improves the conditions for communion with God, and this is precisely why we come to church. As for the acquisition of knowledge, it is transmitted in the temple in Russian. It is difficult to find at least one preacher who would preach in Slavonic. In the Church, everything is united wisely - both the ancient language of prayer, and modern language sermons.

And, finally, for the Orthodox themselves, the Slavic language is dear because it gives us the opportunity to hear the Word of God as accurately as possible. We literally can hear the letter of the Gospel, because the grammar of the Slavic language is almost identical to the grammar of the Greek, in which the Revelation was given to us. Believe me, as in poetry and jurisprudence, as in theology, shades of meaning often change the essence of the matter. I think that anyone who is fond of literature understands this. And in the detective, a random match can change the course of the investigation. So for us, the opportunity to hear the words of Christ as accurately as possible is priceless.

Of course, the Slavic language is not a dogma. Divine services are performed in more than eighty languages ​​in the Ecumenical Orthodox Church. And even in Russia, it is theoretically possible to abandon the Slavic language. But this can happen only when it becomes as distant for believers as Latin is for Italians. I don't think it's even a question for now. But if this happens, then the Church will create a new sacred language that translates the Bible as accurately as possible and does not allow our minds to slip away to a far country. The Church is still alive and has the power to revive anyone who enters Her. So start the course of divine Wisdom, and the Creator will lead you into the depths of His mind.

I visit the temple for prayer and confession only when I feel a spiritual need for it, considering that visiting the temple without such a need is an empty formality. Am I doing the right thing?

Think about this: the Church is not a psychological help service in spiritual discomfort, but a Divine-human organism, through participation in which humanity is freed from enslavement by the devil and inherits the blessed promises of God. The lack of need for God is called “spiritual death” in the language of the Bible; read the Gospels carefully and you will understand why this death is more terrible than bodily death. The Christian is constantly with God, and does not wait for some abstract inspiration or importunate need to communicate with Him. In the end, all the “imminent need to go to Church” is not so much a desire to hear and listen to God, but a common human need to speak out.

The Path of Salvation does not provide for episodic participation, but requires constant conscious progress along the steps of perfection. Somewhere you are right: it is better not to come to the Temple at all than to turn prayer into hypocrisy and a profane formality. But, if you have already come to the Temple, then after telling God about yourself and asking for help, open your ears and start doing what He tells you about, and do not run away until the next “necessity”.

— Many of my acquaintances condemn me for the fact that I often go to the temple. Calls me a fanatic. They say something like this - well, you believe in God, well, why do you run to the temple at every opportunity?

– Answering briefly, we can say that if the Creator says so, then the creation must unquestioningly respond with obedience. The Lord of all times gave us all the days of our lives. Can't He demand that we separate 4 out of 168 hours of the week? And at the same time, the time spent in the temple is good for us. If a doctor prescribes procedures for us, then don't we try to follow his recommendations exactly, wanting to be healed of the diseases of the body? Why do we ignore the words of the Great Physician of souls and bodies? Is the fulfillment of the supreme Will fanaticism? According to the dictionary, "fanaticism - (from lat. fanaticus - frenzied) - is an extreme adherence to any beliefs or views, intolerance to any other views (for example, religious fanaticism)". Here the question arises, what is the "extreme degree". If this is understood as the original term "frenzy", then it is unlikely that most of those who visit the temple weekly, lash out at everyone in a frenzy of delight or rage. But often ordinary decency is an extreme degree for people. If not stealing or killing is fanaticism, then we, of course, are fanatics. If we admit that there is only one way to the One God - fanaticism, then we are fanatics. But with such an understanding of fanaticism, only "fanatics" will get the Kingdom of Heaven. All the "moderate" and "sane" awaits eternal darkness. As God said: “I know your works; you are neither cold nor hot: oh that you were cold or hot! But since you are lukewarm, and not hot or cold, I will spew you out of my mouth” (Rev. 3:15-1b).

“The church is not made of logs, but in ribs,” others say, “that’s why you can pray at home.”

This again refers to the question - "How often and why should I go to the temple?". This proverb, supposedly Russian, actually goes back to our homegrown sectarians who, contrary to the word of God, separated from the Church. God does indeed dwell in the bodies of Christians. But He enters into them through Holy Communion given in churches. At the same time, prayer in church is higher than prayer in homes. St. John Chrysostom says: “You are mistaken, man; Of course, it is possible to pray at home, but it is impossible to pray as in a church, where there are so many fathers, where a song is unanimously lifted up to God, at home. You will not be heard so soon, praying to the Lord at home, as praying with your brothers. There is something more here, like this: unanimity and harmony, the union of love and the prayers of the priests. For this, the priests are coming, so that the prayers of the people, as the weakest, uniting with their strongest prayers, ascend together to heaven ... If the prayer of the church helped Peter and brought this pillar of the church out of prison (Acts 12:5), then how are you, tell me, you neglect its power, and what excuse can you have? Listen to God Himself, Who says that the reverent prayers of many propitiate Him (Jon. 3:10-11) ... It’s not only people who cry terribly here, but angels fall down to the Lord and archangels pray. The very time favors them, the very sacrifice assists. How people, taking olive branches, shake them before kings, reminding them with these branches of mercy and philanthropy; so exactly the angels, presenting instead of olive branches the very Body of the Lord, implore the Lord for the human race, and as if they say: we pray for those whom You yourself once honored with such Your love that You gave up Your soul for them; we pour out prayers for those for whom You shed blood; we ask for those for whom you sacrificed your body” (Word 3 against the anomeans).

So this objection is completely unfounded. After all, how much holier the house of God is in your house, so much higher is the prayer offered in the temple, the prayer at home.

- Sunday is the only day off, you need to sleep, be with your family, do homework, and then you have to get up, go to church.

But no one forces a person to go to the early service. In the cities, early and late Liturgy is almost always served, and in the countryside, no one sleeps for a long time even on Sunday. As for the metropolis, no one bothers to come on Saturday from evening service, talk with family, read interesting book and after the evening prayers, go to bed at about 11-12 at night, and in the morning get up at half past eight and go to the Liturgy. Nine hours of sleep can almost anyone restore strength, and if this does not happen, then we can "get" the missing daytime sleep. All our problems are not connected with the church, but with the fact that the rhythm of our life does not correspond to God's will and therefore exhausts us. And communication with God - the Source of all the forces of the Universe - of course, can only give a person both spiritual and physical strength. It has long been noticed that if you work out internally by Saturday, then the Sunday service fills you with inner strength. And this strength is also physical. It is no coincidence that the ascetics who lived in the inhuman conditions of the desert lived to be 120-130 years old, while we barely live up to 70-80. God strengthens those who trust in Him and serve Him. Before the revolution, an analysis was carried out that showed that the longest life expectancy was not among nobles or merchants, but among priests, although they lived in much worse conditions. This is a visible confirmation of the benefits of going weekly to the house of the Lord.

As for communication with the family, who prevents us from going to the temple with a full team? If the children are small, then the wife can come to church later, and after the end of the Liturgy, you can all take a walk together, go to a cafe, and talk. Can this be compared with that “communication” when the whole family is drowning together in a black box? Often those who do not go to the temple because of the family do not exchange even a dozen words a day with their loved ones.

As for household chores, the word of God does not permit the performance of those tasks that are not essential. You can not arrange a general cleaning or washing day, canned food for a year. Rest time lasts from Saturday evening to Sunday evening. All heavy work must be transferred to Sunday evening. The only kind of hard work that we can and should do on Sundays and holidays is works of mercy. Arrange a general cleaning for a sick or old person, help in the temple, prepare food for an orphan and large family- this is a true and pleasing to the Creator rule of observance of the holiday.

– I can’t go to the temple because it’s cold or hot, rain or snow. I better at home I will pray.

But what a miracle! The same person is ready to go to the stadium and cheer for his team in the open air in the rain, dig in the garden until you drop, dance all night at the disco, and only he does not have the strength to reach the house of God! The weather is always just an excuse for your unwillingness. Is it really possible to believe that God will hear the prayer of a person who does not want to sacrifice something small for His sake?

- I won’t go to the temple, because you don’t have benches, it’s hot. Not like the Catholics!

Of course, this objection cannot be called serious, but for many, considerations of comfort are more important than the issue of eternal salvation. However, God does not want death and the outcast, and Christ will not break even a bruised rod and will not quench the smoking flax. As for the benches, this is not a matter of principle at all. Orthodox Greeks have seats all over the church, Russians don't. Even now, if a person is sick, then no one prevents him from sitting on the benches located at the back in almost every temple. Moreover, according to the liturgical Rule of the Russian Church, parishioners can sit seven times during the festive evening service. In the end, if it’s hard to stand the whole service, and all the benches are occupied, then no one bothers to bring a folding stool with you. It is unlikely that anyone will condemn for this. You just need to get up for the reading of the Gospel, the Cherubic Hymn, the Eucharistic Canon, and about a dozen more important moments of the service. I don't think this will be a problem for anyone. These rules do not apply to people with disabilities.

I repeat once again that all these objections are absolutely not serious and cannot be the reason for violating God's commandment.

– In your temple everyone is so angry, angry. Grandmothers hiss and swear. And also Christians! I don’t want to be like that, and therefore I won’t go to the temple.

But after all, no one requires to be angry and angry. Does anyone in the temple force you to be like that? Are you required to wear boxing gloves when entering the temple? Do not hiss and do not swear yourself and then you will be able to correct others. As the apostle Paul says: “Who are you who condemns another's servant? Does he stand before his Lord, or does he fall? (Rom. 14:4).

It would be fair if the priests taught to swear and quarrel. But it's not like that. Neither the Bible, nor the Church, nor Her servants have ever taught this. On the contrary, in every sermon and in hymns we are called to be meek, merciful. So that's not the reason for not going to church.

It must be understood that people come to the temple not from Mars, but from the outside world. And there it’s just customary to swear in such a way that sometimes you won’t hear a Russian word among peasants. One mat. But in the temple it just does not exist. We can say that the church is the only place closed to swearing.

It is in the world that it is customary to be angry and pour out your irritation on others, calling it a struggle for justice. Isn't that what the old women in the clinics do, washing the bones of everyone from the president to the nurse? And can these people, having entered the temple, as if by magic, instantly change and become meek, like sheep? No, God gave us free will, and nothing can change without our efforts.

We always remain in the Church only in part. Sometimes this part is very large - and then the person is called a saint, sometimes less. Sometimes a person clings to God only with his little finger. But we are not the Judge and Evaluator of everything, but the Lord. As long as there is time, there is hope. And before the end of the picture, how can you judge it, except for the finished parts. Such parts are sacred. It is by them that the Church must be judged, and not by those who have not yet completed their earthly journey. No wonder it is said that "the end crowns the deed."

The Church itself calls itself a hospital (the Confession says “because you have come to the doctor’s clinic, so that you will not be healed”), so is it reasonable to expect that it is filled with healthy people? There are healthy ones, but they are in Heaven. That's when everyone who wants to be healed will use the help of the Church, then she will appear in all her glory. The saints are the ones who clearly show the power of God at work in the Church.

So in the temple one should look not at others, but at God. After all, we do not come to people, but to the Creator. How often and why do you need to go to the temple?

“I am ready to go to church every week, but my wife or husband, parents or children won’t let me.

Here it is worth recalling the terrible words of Christ, which are often forgotten: “Whoever loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me; and whoever loves a son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.”(Matthew 10:37). This terrible choice must always be made. The choice is between God and man. Yes, it's hard. Yes, it can hurt. But if you have chosen a person, even in what you consider small, then God will reject you on the Day of Judgment. And will a loved one help you with this terrible answer? Does your love for your family justify you when the Gospel says otherwise? Will you not remember with longing and bitter disappointment the day when you rejected God for the sake of imaginary love?

And practice shows that the one who chose someone instead of the Creator will be betrayed by them.

– I will not go to this church because the energy is bad there. I feel bad in the temple, especially from incense.

In fact, any church has the same energy - God's grace. All churches are sanctified by the Holy Spirit. Christ the Savior abides in all churches with His Body and Blood. Angels of God stand at the entrance to any temple. It's just about the person. It happens that this effect has a natural explanation. On holidays, when "visitors" visit temples, they are packed with people. Indeed, there are very few sacred places for such a multitude of Christians. And so it really becomes stuffy for many. Sometimes it happens that poor-quality incense is burned in poor temples. But these reasons are not the main ones. It often happens that people feel bad even in a completely empty church. Christians are well aware of the spiritual causes of this phenomenon.

Evil deeds, in which a person does not want to repent, drive away the grace of God. This is the resistance of the evil will of man to the power of God and is perceived by him as "bad energy." But not only does man turn away from the Lord, but God Himself does not accept the egoist. After all, it is said that “God resists the proud” (James 4:6). Similar cases are known in antiquity. So Mary of Egypt, who was a harlot, tried to enter the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem and worship Life-Giving Cross. But an invisible force threw her away from the gates of the church. And only after she repented and promised never to repeat her sin again, God allowed her into His house.

Also now there are cases when hired killers and prostitutes could not bear the smell of incense and fainted. Especially often this happens to those who are engaged in magic, astrology, extrasensory perception and other devilry. Some force twisted them into the most important points services, and they were taken from the church in an ambulance. Here we are faced with another reason for the rejection of the temple.

Not only man, but also those behind his sinful habits do not want to meet the Creator. These beings are rebellious angels, demons. It is these impure entities that prevent a person from entering the temple. They also take away strength from those standing in the church. It happens that one and the same person can sit in a “rocking chair” for hours and is not able to spend ten minutes in the presence of the Creator. Only God can help someone who is captured by the devil. But He helps only those who repent and wish to live according to the will of the Lord Almighty. Otherwise, all these arguments are just an ill-conceived repetition of satanic propaganda. It is no coincidence that the very terminology of this objection was taken from psychics (and the Church knows that they all serve the devil), who are very fond of talking about certain energies that can be “recharged”, as if it were a battery, and not a child of God. .

Here are the symptoms of spiritual illness. Instead of love, people try to manipulate the Creator. This is just a sign of demonism.

The last objection, related to the previous ones, is most often encountered:

“I have God in my soul, so I don’t need your rituals. I do only good things. Is God going to send me to hell just because I don't go to the temple?

But what is meant by the word "God"? If we are talking simply about conscience, then, of course, in any person this voice of God sounds in the heart. There are no exceptions here. Neither Hitler nor Chikatilo were deprived of it. All the villains knew that there is good and evil. The voice of God tried to keep them from iniquity. But is it really just because they heard this voice that they are already saints? Yes, and conscience is not God, but only His speech. After all, if you hear the voice of the President on a tape recorder or on a radio, does this mean that he is in your apartment? Also, having a conscience does not mean that God is in your soul.

But if you think about this expression, then Who is God? This is the Almighty, Infinite, Omniscient, Righteous, Good Spirit, Creator of the universe, Whom the heavens and the heavens of heaven cannot contain. So how can your soul contain Him – Him, Whose Face the angels fear to see?

Does the speaker so sincerely think that this Immeasurable Power is with him? Let us doubt. Let him show Her manifestation. The expression "God in the soul" is stronger than trying to hide a nuclear explosion in oneself. Is it possible to hide Hiroshima or a volcanic eruption in secret? So we demand such evidence from the speaker. Should he perform a miracle (like resurrecting the dead) or show God's love by turning the other cheek to the one who hit him? Will he be able to love his enemies - even a hundredth of that, as our Lord, Who prayed for them before the crucifixion? Indeed, to truly say: “God is in my soul,” only a saint can. We demand holiness from the one who speaks like this, otherwise it will be a lie, whose father is the devil.

They say: “I do only good, will God send me to hell?” But let me question your righteousness. What is considered the criterion of good and evil, by which it can be determined that you or I are doing good or evil? If you consider yourself as a criterion (as it is often said: “I determine for myself what good and evil are”), then these concepts simply lose any value and meaning. After all, Beria, and Goebbels, and Pol Pot considered themselves absolutely right, so why do you yourself think that their deeds deserve censure? If we have the right to determine for ourselves the measure of good and evil, then the same must be allowed for all murderers, perverts and rapists. Yes, by the way, let God also disagree with your criteria, and judge you not by yours, but by His standards. Otherwise, it turns out somehow unfairly - we choose the yardstick for ourselves, and we forbid the Almighty and Free God to judge ourselves according to our own laws. But according to them, without repentance before God and Holy Communion, a person will end up in hell.

To be honest, what do our standards of good and evil stand in the face of God, if we do not even have the right to legislative activity. After all, we have not created for ourselves either a body, or a soul, or a mind, or a will, or feelings. Everything that you have is a gift (and not even a gift, but property temporarily entrusted for preservation), but for some reason we decide that we can dispose of it with impunity at our will. And to the One who created us, we deny the right to demand an account of how we used His gift. Doesn't this requirement seem a bit daring? What makes us think that the Lord of the Universe will fulfill our sin-damaged will? Have we violated the Fourth Commandment and at the same time we believe that He owes us something? Isn't it stupid?

After all, instead of devoting Sunday to God, it is given to the devil. On this day, people often get drunk, swear, debauchery, and if not, then they have fun in a far from nice way: they watch dubious TV shows, films where sins and passions overflow, etc. And only the Creator turns out to be superfluous in His Own Day. But doesn't God, who gave us everything, including time, have the right to demand from us just a few hours?

So hell awaits those despisers who ignore the will of God. And the reason for this is not God's cruelty, but the fact that they, having left the fountains of the water of Life, began to try to dig empty wells of their excuses. They have refused the sacred Chalice of Communion, have deprived themselves of the word of God, and therefore wander in the darkness of this evil age. Moving away from the Light, they find darkness, leaving love, they gain hatred, leaving life, they throw themselves into the arms of eternal death. How can we not mourn their stubbornness and wish they would return to the house of our heavenly Father?

We, together with King David, will say: "According to the multitude of Thy mercy, I will enter Thy house; I will worship Thy holy temple in Thy fear"(Ps. 5:8). After all “We entered into fire and into water, and You brought us out to freedom. I will enter your house with burnt offerings; I will pay you my vows, which my mouth has spoken and my tongue has spoken in my affliction.”(Ps. 65:12-14).

The questions were answered:
priest Anthony Merculo
priest Yaroslav Fateev
priest Daniil Sysoev
other

At present, a large number of people who have understood in their minds or felt in their hearts that God exists, who are aware, albeit unclearly, of their belonging to the Orthodox Church and who want to join Her, are faced with the problem of churching, that is, entering the Church as a full and full member of Her .

This problem is very serious for many, because, entering the temple, an unprepared person faces a completely new, incomprehensible and even somewhat frightening world.

Clothes of priests, icons, lampadas, chants and prayers in an obscure language - all this creates in the newcomer a sense of his own alienness in the temple, leads to reflections about whether all this is necessary for communication with God?

Many say: "The main thing is that God is in the soul, but it is not necessary to go to church."

This is fundamentally wrong. Popular wisdom says: “To whom the Church is not the Mother, God is not the Father.” But in order to understand how right this saying is, it is necessary to know what is the Church? What is the meaning of her existence? Why is Her mediation necessary in man's communion with God? In order to answer these and many other questions that arise in a person standing in front of the opened gates of the Church, this work has been written.

The basis of this work was the material collected and processed during the lectures delivered during the two-year Sunday School courses for adults.

Since this material was formed on the basis of the questions of the Sunday School listeners and the answers to them, it became expedient to use the form of presentation in the form of questions and answers in this edition.

Due to the fact that this publication is intended for people who already recognize the existence of God and want to know Him, people who are interested in Orthodoxy and feel, albeit unconsciously, their inner connection with Him, in this work we will not consider evidence of the existence of God and discuss with atheists or adherents of other faiths.

The purpose of this publication is to help a modern person understand the meaning of the inner life of the Church, to consciously become its full and full member, a citizen of the Heavenly Kingdom, that is, to become a church member.

I apologize in advance to those who read for the shortcomings of this work that it contains, and if it helps anyone to get even one step closer to God and the Church, I ask you to remember the author in your prayers.

1) For the Church to solve their problems, both internal and external;

2) for national-patriotic (less often - aesthetic, political, etc.) reasons, returning to the "faith of the fathers"

3) by virtue of the religious search for truth.

Let's take a quick look at the first two groups I named.

Many people, having a religious feeling and faith in God (mostly vague and indefinite), enter the Church, hoping that this will make their lives easier, those problems that people could not solve on the physical level will be solved on the metaphysical level.

But the thing is that the Church does not solve any problems, it is about something completely different. Protopresbyter Alexander Schmemann writes that it is a mistake to reduce faith “to oneself and one’s own problems. The essence of Christianity ... is that it does not solve problems, but removes them, transfers a person to a plane where they do not exist. In the same plane in which they exist, they exist because they are insoluble.

The catechetical setting (for such “unfamiliar” words, such as: Catechesis, you can put links for clarification, IMHO) to “solving problems” removes responsibility for one’s life from a person, and, in exchange for freedom, shifts it to the Church. But this is an incorrect and, in fact, magical approach, which will inevitably fail sooner or later.

A person must solve his problems himself, and only himself, with his moral and spiritual work. Undoubtedly, the Church helps to see these problems and their roots, strengthens a person with the grace of God in his free and responsible action; But the main thing is still that the Church introduces a person into the life of the Kingdom of Christ, into union with God, into heavenly reality, in the light of which problems lose their meaning of problems for a person and become a field for the fulfillment of Christ's commandments, on which the most precious pearl is hidden (Matt. 13:44-46), those inevitable tribulations by which we must enter the Kingdom of Heaven (Acts 14:22).

So, in no case should churching be based on the postulate "The Church will solve all your problems." It is necessary to begin churching from a completely different point of view - with a person's awareness of the freedom he receives in God and the personal responsibility for his life inextricably linked with it.

Many enter the Church under the influence of statist and patriotic ideas. If, in the case of the “domestic impulses” we have considered above, a person comes to the Church under the influence of a vague and unclear, but obvious religious feeling, then here people may not have a religious impulse at all.

Patriotism and the revival of Great Russia are wonderful things; but let them run their course; The Church, after all, is about something completely different: it is a Kingdom not of this world (John 18:36).

The Church is by its nature universal, it is addressed first of all to the individual, to individuality, and then, in the second place, the people of God (which is by no means identical with the nation) are made up of these individuals.

The task of the Church is not to provide people with an earthly existence, but to introduce them into the reality of the Heavenly Kingdom, the path to which is exclusively the observance of the commandments of Christ, and not at all any kind of “state building”.

But now the man crossed the threshold of the church. And here we are faced with a very big problem, namely, the leveling of evangelical morality. For a person who goes to church (following the majority of the Orthodox), ritual, external discipline, asceticism, near-church ideology are much more important - but by no means evangelical values!

There are many examples of this; I will limit myself to a few.

Here a man comes to confession before Communion and lists his sins to the priest: he looked in the wrong place, he ate the wrong thing, I quarrel with my mother, I quarrel with my relatives, I watch TV a lot, and so on. Batiushka wearily and somewhat distantly nods his head at each uttered sin and repeats automatically: the Lord will forgive.

The listing is complete. Here the priest perks up and begins meticulously asking the confessor how he prepared for Communion: did he read the three canons and the following for Communion, did he fast for three days, with or without fish, and it’s bad that with fish, it was necessary without fish, but better without oils; did he go to church these days, was he at the service the day before, and why did he leave after being anointed, it’s not good, this is laziness, you need to force yourself, etc., etc ...

But the priest does not ask with the same captiousness - what is behind the words of the confessor "I quarrel with my mother, I quarrel with my relatives." Whether the quarrel is accidental, whether the swearing is constant, what caused the conflicts, whether efforts were made to be peaceful with everyone, and what kind of efforts - none of this is discussed. A person departs from confession - what has he learned? That subtracting the canons for spiritual life is much more important than not quarreling with your mother. In this spirit, people are brought up with us before they come to the Church, and very often already in the Church.

By evangelical values ​​I mean the following. There is a Value that enlivens and spiritualizes any earthly existence. This is the only Value that can change a person's life, give it meaning and satisfaction. Moreover, it is generally the only Value in the world. This is God incarnated for our salvation. Everything that is outside of Christ cannot be called a value at all. On earth, that, and only that, is valuable, which ascends directly or indirectly to Christ the Savior. Everything in the world is verified by this Value; by her and for her the world lives. We commune with Christ on the paths of the gospel life, fulfilling His holy commandments, including the commandment of baptism, repentance, communion of His Body and Blood. The realization of these commandments, together with the experience of the moral evangelical life and the right dogmatic teaching, constitutes the essence of the Church. Gospel values ​​cannot fail to attract people. The appearance of Christ, His deeds, His words have an irresistible effect on the human soul, and people and social and cultural phenomena through which Christ is revealed cannot but win hearts.

Hegumen Peter (Meshcherinov)

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