The Essential Work of the Bishop

Protopresbyter Dionysios Tatsis | May 17, 2026

 

 

We often read comments about various secular activities of new metropolitans, undertaken in order to support purposes which they themselves choose. Usually, they organize musical events in order to satisfy their ambition, to present themselves before the people as being concerned for them and standing by their side. At the same time, they do not neglect to sell tickets for the needs of the institutions of their metropolises!

In recent years they have been transferring holy relics, sacred icons, or copies of them from various well-known places of pilgrimage, so that the faithful may receive blessings and, naturally, given the opportunity, may also drop their obol into the “sacred” collection box.

Also, these particular metropolitans accept sums of money from wealthy people who, evidently, do not possess a Christian ethos, but seek through their donations to present themselves to the people as religiously devout and philanthropic. The metropolitans publicly bestow honors upon them, decorate them with distinctions, and maintain social relations with them. They present them to the people as examples to be imitated, while the people usually face many problems in their lives!

Other hierarchs likewise have an entrepreneurial spirit and make use of abandoned ecclesiastical pasturelands by keeping animals and employing foreigners as shepherds and workers, exploiting the difficult circumstances they face. Their pastoral work is livestock farming!

Some progressive metropolitans take the lead in creating Non-Governmental Organizations for various purposes which have no relation whatsoever to their pastoral work. Their purpose is to secure significant sums from various sources, which they manage as they themselves wish, without any essential oversight.

These methods of financing the metropolises must not be regarded as pastoral activities. They have a negative impact on faithful Christians, who expect other things from their spiritual fathers. The ever-memorable Elder Theokletos Dionysiates describes the essential duties of the bishop as follows: “The Church is inconceivable without a bishop; and if the unity of the bishop with the people, as an unbreakable relationship, entails the direct transmission of the spirit of the former to the latter, one easily understands how much responsibility the bishop has with regard to what he transmits to his people. And naturally the greatest of contradictions is produced when the bishop does not impel his children toward higher spiritual ascents, through the traditional upbringing of unceasing prayer, the study of the Holy Fathers, ascetic practice, humility, and love, all of which presuppose a monastery and monasticism.”

The faithful do not want the bishop to have close cooperation with politicians and to serve their transient aims, that is, their reelection and the satisfaction of their various interests. Nor should they themselves seek favors and funding from them. Dignity does no harm, and respect for the person of the bishop is preserved when he is the humble shepherd of the Church, who leads people on the path of God by his word and his virtue. But if the bishop has a worldly mindset and regards his office as worldly, which people must accept because it is authority, matters become complicated, and the only way to be free from his activities is to distance oneself from his environment. Faithful people do not want other tyrants. They have the politicians, who continually trouble them and wound them with easy promises for the improvement of their life, which, however, are never put into practice. If the bishop also collaborates with them, woe! His metropolis will be in decline, even if there are some works of social benefit. The chief work of the bishop is spiritual and presupposes unceasing struggle. The high office alone does not make the bishop either virtuous, or humble, or an affectionate father.

 

Greek source:

https://orthodoxostypos.gr/%cf%84%cf%8c-%ce%bf%e1%bd%90%cf%83%ce%b9%ce%b1%cf%83%cf%84%ce%b9%ce%ba%cf%8c%ce%bd-%e1%bc%94%cf%81%ce%b3%ce%bf%ce%bd-%cf%84%ce%bf%e1%bf%a6-%e1%bc%90%cf%80%ce%b9%cf%83%ce%ba%cf%8c%cf%80%ce%bf%cf%85/

 

Error as Justice

Metropolitan Cyprian of Oropos and Phyle (+2013)

Sunday of the Blind Man, May 23 / June 5, 2005

 

 

One diamond from the countless treasures of patristic wealth is also the following saying of Anthony the Great: “From one’s neighbor come life and death.” Do you treat your brother with love, humility, and respect? The streams of life in Christ will be opened to you by the divine Comforter. Do you wound the conscience, scandalize, condemn, and belittle your neighbor? The gate of the Kingdom closes for you. A particular weakness that marks the pious is condemnation, especially that which is based on a superficial judgment, chiefly on the basis of suspicions. We have referred many times to this subject, but now we shall approach another aspect of the matter.

Condemnation certainly comes from a lack of love and brotherly affection. Further, however, as the Holy Fathers teach, man’s superficiality and his proud confidence in his critical ability lead him to judge, belittle, and despise his brother. But who are you, wretched man, who anticipate the judgment of God? Do you forget that only our Lord, the Knower of hearts, sees the unseen and hidden things of man, and that only His judgment is infallible?

Let us set forth here the holy thoughts of Abba Dorotheos, so that we may deeply realize the whole matter and at last fear the great sin of condemnation. “It happens that a certain brother does some things with simplicity... Yet this simplicity is more pleasing to God than your whole life... But you sit and condemn him, and you condemn your own soul... And if it should happen sometime that the brother falls into sin, how do you know how much he struggled and how much blood he shed before doing the evil, so that ‘his error is almost found as justice before God’?...

For God sees the toil and the affliction which the brother endured before falling, and He has mercy on him and forgives him... And while God has mercy on him, you condemn him and lose your soul... How do you know also how many tears he shed before God for this?... And you saw the sin, but you are ignorant of the repentance...” Let us therefore avoid soul-destroying condemnation, and let us not become hasty judges, and especially strict judges, of others.

Let us do what that holy Elder did when he saw the brother sinning: “Woe is me, for today he has fallen; tomorrow it will certainly be I... And he will repent of his sin, but I will not...” Let us not be superficial and quick to judge; as we have seen, a fall of our fellow man may be, before God, almost as justice. No one knows the disposition of another except our Lord alone; and it is the disposition that gives weight to our actions.

 

Greek source: https://353agios.blogspot.com/2019/01/blog-post_11.html

 

Let us not show indifference during the time of repentance

St. Ephraim the Syrian

 

 

He who wishes to be saved, beloved, let him hasten; and he who desires to enter the Kingdom of God, let him not be indifferent. He who wishes to escape from the fire of Gehenna, let him struggle lawfully; and he who does not desire to be cast into the sleepless worm, let him be attentive. He who wishes to be exalted, let him be humble; and he who desires to be comforted, let him mourn. He who longs to enter the Bridal Chamber and to experience its joy, let him take a shining lamp and oil in his vessel. He who hopes to recline at those wedding-feasts, let him acquire a splendid garment (Matt. 22:11, 13).

The city of the King is full of gladness and exultation, full of light and sweetness, and for those who dwell within it, sweetness springs forth together with eternal life. If, then, anyone longs to become a fellow-citizen of the King, let him quicken his step, for the day is already nearly at its end, and no one knows what he will encounter on the road. For just as a certain traveler, who knows the length of the road, lies down and sleeps until evening draws near; then, after waking, he sees that the day is nearly at its end; and as soon as he begins to walk, suddenly clouds, hail, thunder, lightning, and afflictions come from every side, for he neither manages to reach the lodging-place nor is he able to return to his own place—so also we, if we show indifference during the time of repentance, will suffer the same thing; for we are strangers and sojourners.

Let us therefore take care to enter the city and our homeland with riches. We are spiritual merchants, my brethren, seeking the precious pearl (Matt. 13:45–46), which is Christ our Savior, our boast and inviolable treasure. Therefore, let us acquire Him with great diligence. Blessed and thrice-blessed is he who took care to make Him his possession; but thrice-wretched is he who neglected to make the Creator of us all his possession, and at the same time to become the possession of this treasure.

Do you not know, brethren, that we are a branch of the true Vine (John 15:1), which is the Lord? Take heed, then, lest anyone be found to be fruitless. For the Father of truth is the husbandman. He cultivates this Vine, and those who bear fruit He tends, so that they may bear more fruit; but those who do not produce fruit He cuts off at the root and casts outside the vineyard, to be burned in the fire. Take heed, then, to yourselves, lest you be found fruitless and, having been cut off at the root, be delivered over to the fire.

We are also good seed, which the Creator of heaven and earth, Christ the Master of the house, has sown. Behold! The harvest has arrived, and the reapers hold the sickles in their hands, awaiting the Master’s signal. Take heed, therefore, lest anyone be found to be a tare, and, after being bound into a bundle, be burned in the eternal fire (Matt. 13:30).

 

From Venerable Ephraim the Syrian, Works, vol. I, published by “The Garden of the Panagia,” Thessaloniki 1995, p. 130.

Greek online source:

https://imlp.gr/2026/05/15/%ce%bc%ce%b7-%ce%b4%ce%b5%ce%af%ce%be%ce%bf%cf%85%ce%bc%ce%b5-%ce%b1%ce%b4%ce%b9%ce%b1%cf%86%ce%bf%cf%81%ce%af%ce%b1-%ce%ba%ce%b1%cf%84%ce%ac-%cf%84%ce%bf%ce%bd-%ce%ba%ce%b1%ce%b9%cf%81%cf%8c-%cf%84/

The Frequency of Holy Communion

By St. Pachomios (+1905)

Founder of the Skete of the Holy Fathers of Chios and Spiritual Guide of Saint Nektarios of Aegina

Greek source: https://www.imoph.org/Theology_el/3d5035OsPaxomiosXiou.pdf

English source: The Faithful Steward, Issue 21, 2005, pp. 1-2.

 

 

Who would not weep at the ignorance and wretched state of contemporary clergy? Where has it ever been heard, that the Christians should go to Church, seeking to receive Holy Communion, and the priests hinder them, saying to them, “Is Communion soup? Forty days have not yet passed since you received Holy Communion, and you come to receive again?”

In like manner regarding the first week of the Great Lent, I know of many men and women who keep the three-day fast, [an optional tradition of fasting from food and water] and they go to church on Wednesday for the Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts, and the clergy do not allow them to receive Holy Communion, saying, “Just the other day you were eating meat, and today you come to receive Communion?”

“And secondly,” they say, “the Presanctified is for the priests, and not for the laity.” Pie! on our ignorance and lack of understanding! You on the one hand, O ordained man, are eating meat the night before, and many times you are even drunk, and perhaps also irreverent, and you go to serve the Liturgy, and you hinder the one who has been fasting with so much reverence? And you deprive him of so much benefit and sanctification?

Do you see what lack of learning our priests have? “The Presanctified,” say they, “is for the priests, and not for the laypeople.” St. Basil [the Great] says, “I commune my parishioners four times a week.” [St.] John Chrysostom and the entire Church of Christ do likewise. They had this custom of Communion four times a week. And since the Liturgy is not served during the weekdays in Great Lent, the Holy Fathers in their wisdom devised to have the Presanctified, only so that Christians might have the opportunity to commune during the week; and you say the Presanctified is [only] for the ordained?

And observe, O reader, that as long as this discipline prevailed, and the Christians communed frequently, their hearts were warmed by the grace of Holy Communion, and they ran to martyrdom like sheep. Therefore, the priests who hinder the Christians from receiving the Immaculate Communion should know well that they sin greatly. I do not say that the people should commune simply and indiscriminately, but that they should approach with the fitting preparation.

However, I heard what some priests say: “I” (say they) “am a priest and I serve the Liturgy frequently, and I commune, but the layman does not have this permission.” In this matter, O priest, my brother, you are greatly mistaken. Because, in the matter of Holy Communion, the priest differs in nothing from the layman. You, O priest, are a minister of the Mystery, but this does not mean that you have the right to receive frequently, and the layman does not. In this matter I can bring you many proofs from the Saints, [demonstrating] that it is permitted equally to bishops and priests and laypeople, both men and women, to partake of the Immaculate Mysteries continuously—unless they have been married a third time. As many as have married three times commune three times a year.

I have myriads of proofs concerning this issue, but which one should I present to you first? Chrysostom, Clement, Symeon of Thessalonica, David? As I said, which one should I mention first? In this matter, I can bring you so many proofs, I could fill a whole book! For this cause, I cut short what I am saying and tell you only this in brief. If you don’t want the Christians to commune frequently, why do you hold the Holy Chalice, and display it to the Christians, and cry out from the Holy Bema, “With the fear of God, faith and love, draw near, and approach the Mysteries that you may commune”? And yet again, you yourselves hinder them, and you lie openly? Why, on the one hand, do you invite them, and, on the other, do you push them away?...

Intercommunion Between the Greek Old Calendarists and the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad (1987)

An Official Statement from the Deputy Secretary of the Russian Synod

 

The readers of Orthodox Tradition are familiar with the long years of cooperation between the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad and the Old Calendar zealots of Greece. When, in the mid-'50s, the last Old Calendar Bishop died in Greece, a number of courageous and far-sighted Bishops of the ROCA consecrated Bishops for the movement. These consecrations, initially undertaken without the full consent of the Synod of Bishops, were finally recognized in an official encyclical from the Russian Synod in 1969. The traditionalism of the Russian Church Abroad was joined to that of the Old Calendarist strugglers in Greece —as Sister Churches.

In subsequent years, not wholly independent of unfortunate actions by extremist circles within the Russian Church itself —who have now separated from that Church [i.e., the Panteleimonites]—, the Old Calendar movement broke into several factions, separated between the moderates (now aligned with Bishop Cyprian of Oropos and Fili), who refuse to deny Grace in the ailing Mother Church of Greece and who have walled themselves off, calling for a general synod of the Church to overturn the calendar innovation and to disavow the excesses of political ecumenism; and the extremists, who deny the existence of Grace in the Mother Church and who have embraced a largely sectarian ecclesiology. In view of this, the Russian Synod has not taken a direct stand favoring any one Old Calendarist group, though its own ecclesiology is essentially that of the Synod of Metropolitan Cyprian of Oropos and Fili.

Though we moderate Old Calendarists acknowledge a debt to the Russian Synod and highly revere many of her clergy and Hierarchs, the integrity and authenticity of our movement rests not on relations with the ROCA, but on the Patristic grounding of our resistance to innovation and compromise within our Mother Church. We have never, therefore, based our legitimacy on recognition or a lack of recognition by the Russian Church Abroad.

Recently, however, some divisive forces have begun to misrepresent the official stand of the Russian Church Abroad, suggesting that the present circumstances of non-concelebration (though this, too, at times takes place, as our readers have seen in photographs) are evidence that the ROCA and the Greek Old Calendarists are not in communion. Particularly misleading statements have been made about our own Synod, suggesting that our moderate ecclesiology has separated us from the Russian Bishops. Since many of our Faithful attend Churches of the ROCA and regularly commune, we feel obliged to correct this misapprehension and to point out that it is precisely the Synod of Metropolitan Cyprian which most closely adheres to the ecclesiology of the ROCA —a point, once again, intentionally and openly misrepresented by extremists now in schism from the ROCA.

We print on the foregoing page a clarification by Bishop Hilarion, provided expressly for publication here, explaining the circumstances of relations between our Churches and clearly stating that, indeed, intercommunion has not been broken, except in cases, of course, where communicants are canonically excluded from the Mysteries. Given the very difficult problems which face the ROCA at this moment, we can understand the reticence of its Bishops to side with any Old Calendarist group in Greece. The situation in Greece is confusing, just as present circumstances in the ROCA occasion great confusion for us Old Calendarists. Nonetheless, it is quite obvious that the ecclesiological ties between our own moderate Synod and that of the ROCA bespeak a very favorable future. It is the firm belief of our Bishops that, with an end to the misrepresentation of the official ecclesiology of the Russian Church Abroad by extremists in its midst who have now entered into schism, full ties between the Greek Old Calendarist moderates and the ROCA will be renewed. This will benefit both Churches, the huge number of Greek Old Calendarists adding to the small and dwindling Faithful of the ROCA, the history of courageous resistance to innovation and modernism in world Orthodoxy of the ROCA serving, in turn, to inspire the Greek Old Calendarists.

In the meantime, however, let us put an end to untrue and harmful rumors that communion no longer exists between the ROCA and the Old Calendarists. These self-serving claims, advocated by those who see the Church in a sectarian and limited way, violate the very catholicity which the triumphant traditionalism of both us Greek Old Calendarists and the Russian Synod Abroad aims ultimately to preserve.

 

Source: Orthodox Tradition, Vol. IV (1987), No. 3, pp. 9-11.

 

 

Pearl of Wisdom from St. Leo the Great, Pope of Rome (+461)

To seek what has already been found, to reassume what has already been achieved, to re-open discussion on what has already been defined, is not this to be ungrateful for the truth which has been acquired and to be guilty of the deadly covetousness of the forbidden fruit?

- P.L. 54, 1144 (Epistle 142, 1)

 

Saint Peter the Aleut

Source: The Faithful Steward, Issue 8, 1999, pp. 11-12.

 

 

Alaska, twice the size of the state of Texas, was the birthplace of Orthodoxy in America and the home of America’s second martyr, Saint Peter the Aleut.* In 1794, eight monks including the future Saint Herman of Alaska left the Valaam Monastery on Lake Ladoga in Russia and, traveling through Siberia, made the grueling journey to America in order to spread the light of Orthodoxy among the pagan inhabitants of what was then called “Russian America.” When the party landed on Kodiak Island, they met the local Indians and began immediately converting them to the Faith.

The Orthodox monks taught by personal example and with much love and gentleness they encouraged the people to learn about Christ. As they spread among the Aleutians and through the Alaskan mainland, the monks worked hard and learned the local languages. Through patient teaching they were able to convert whole tribes of these Indians, including the Aleut tribe inhabiting the Aleutian Island chain that stretches southwest from the Alaskan mainland.

Aleut Indians were often hired by Russian fur traders to hunt sea otters, whose pelts brought high prices in China. With their ships, the fur traders would bring the hunters to islands or coastal areas where otters abounded. During the day the hunters stalked the beautiful animals in bidarkas (hunting kayaks) and brought their prey back to land each evening. They would remain in an area as long as the hunting was good. When otters diminished in that area, the hunters would move on to new territory.

Not many details of Saint Peter’s life are known to us. For example, we do not know his date of birth or when he was converted to the Faith. We do know that in 1813 the future Saint Peter was one of 50 Aleuts who agreed to sail down the coast of North America and hunt with the Russians. At that time, much of California was claimed by Spain. The Spanish believed that Russia was preparing to attack them and did not want Russian ships or people anywhere near their territory.

The hunting party sailed south along the coast with little success until it reached the area of San Francisco, which was guarded by the Spanish. There four Indian hunters were captured by Spaniards when their bidarkas overturned. But the Russians continued to sail south to hunt, even though they were moving ever deeper into Spanish territory. Nearing Santa Barbara, their supplies ran low and several Russians and Aleuts, including Saint Peter, landed to hunt for fresh meat. The entire party was captured by soldiers on horseback, who bound them together with ropes. The prisoners were forced to march, first to Santa Barbara, then south all the way to Los Angeles. While being held captive, the men were treated as slaves. They were beaten frequently, received little food or clothing, and were forced to perform labor in the fields. After about a year, they were marched back north to the mission in San Francisco.

California’s Spanish missions at that time were actually forts for Franciscan missionary priests and for the soldiers who protected them. The Franciscans usually built their forts with the help of trusting Indians, who were paid in food, clothing, and trinkets. Only after the chapel, barracks, and dwellings had been circled by a high, strong fence did the natives realize that they had built themselves a prison. Since the missionaries felt that they had “converted” the Indians to the Catholic faith, they kept a very close watch to prevent their return to their native religion, in which they worshipped the sun, moon, and earth, as well as animals and plants.

The Indians received from the Franciscans little religious instruction in their own language, and few of them understood much about their supposed new faith. The Franciscans tried to “civilize” the Indians by requiring most of the men to work in the mission’s extensive agricultural holdings. Under Mexican rule the missions were secularized during 1833 and 1834 and the Indians released from servitude. Many mission lands were subsequently given to settlers from Mexico, who established vast cattle-raising estates. The colonization of California remained largely Mexican until Americans began arriving in the 1840s.) Others they taught useful trades. The women were kept separate from the men and were taught to cook and weave. Indians who ran away were usually caught by the soldiers and punished severely. For any disobedience or sin the monks whipped the Indians or punished them in other ways. The Franciscans regarded the Indians as children who could not understand any other treatment.

The Catholic priests at the mission in San Francisco were especially notorious for their cruelty toward the Indians. And not surprisingly, these same priests were perennially eager for “converts.” As well as losing many workers in an epidemic, their mission compiled a high rate of runaways. When Saint Peter and his fellow prisoners arrived, after receiving beatings along the way, the Franciscans pressured the Aleuts to become Catholic. The Aleuts answered, “We are Christians, we have been baptized,” and showed the crosses they wore on their necks. But the Franciscans responded, “No, you are heretics and schismatics, and if you do not agree to accept the Catholic faith, we will torture you to death.”

Then they put the men in prison, two to a cell, to give them a chance to ponder this threat. In the evening, the Franciscans came with lanterns and lighted candles and again began pressuring the Aleuts to renounce Orthodoxy and become Catholic. All repeated that they were already Christians and would not change their Faith. The Franciscans took Saint Peter and began to torture him slowly in the hope that the others would be terrified into apostatizing and joining Rome. They cut off the first joint of his toes, one toe at a time, and then the next joint. He endured everything, constantly repeating, “I am a Christian and will not change my Faith.” Then they cut off one joint from each of his fingers, then the next joint, then the next. Finally, they cut off his hands and feet. With the help of the Holy Spirit he endured heroically, like Saint James the Persian who also was slowly chopped to bits by his executioners. While still undergoing torture, the soldier for Christ Peter gave up his spirit from loss of blood. Until the end he continued to repeat this one phrase, “I am a Christian and will not change my Faith.” Saint Peter reposed on September 8/21, 1815.

The Franciscans left the other prisoners to mull over the atrocity until morning when they, too, the Franciscans promised, would die by torture unless they converted. But that night the soldiers received orders to send the Aleut prisoners under guard to Monterey, the capital of Upper California. In the morning the surviving Aleuts left for Monterey. Eventually Saint Peter’s former cell mate escaped and spread word about his friend’s martyrdom.

Since the bodies of Indians at the San Francisco mission were thrown into unmarked graves, the site of Saint Peter’s burial is not known. Thus unless God chooses to reveal them, we are deprived of his holy relics. But the courageous example of this Aleut Indian who loved Christ more than his own life has survived to inspire the Orthodox in America and across the world.

Holy New Martyr Peter the Aleut, pray unto God for us!

 

* The first Orthodox martyr in America was Hieromonk Juvenaly, who, after converting some 5,000 inhabitants of the Alaskan mainland, was slain for the faith in 1796 near Lake Iliamna.

A (Small Yet) Bold Step Against Ecumenism (2006)

May every Orthodox jurisdiction follow the OCA Diocese of the Midwest’s lead and withdraw their participation, affiliation and any type of dialogue with the National Council of Churches (NCC) & World Council of Churches (WCC).

***

Diocese of the Midwest
Orthodox Church in America
45th Diocesan Assembly, October 10-12, 2006-09-23
Resolution Form

Title of Resolution: Leaving the NCC & WCC
Origin of Resolution: Reverend Bartholomew Wojcik

† † †

WHEREAS, the World Council of Churches affirms a heretical ecclesiology which states that, “Each church is the Church catholic and not simply a part of it. Each church is the Church catholic, but not the whole of it. Each church fulfils its catholicity when it is in communion with the other churches” (source: Called to be the One Church statement adopted at the Ninth WCC Assembly, February, 2006, Porto Alegre, Brazil); and

WHEREAS, the National Council of Churches and the World Council of Churches, have confused liberal political ideology and sexual immorality with the truth of the Gospel and freedom in Christ; and

WHEREAS, V. Rev. Fr. Leonid Kishkovsky, as the Orthodox Church in America’s representative to the NCC & WCC has participated in, and promoted, this supplanting of the Orthodox Faith with political disputes, particularly through his formal reading of the letter from the US Conference for the WCC to the 9th Assembly, Porto Alegre, Brazil; and

WHEREAS, the Bible directs us to “Receive one who is weak in the faith, but not to disputes over doubtful things” (Romans 14:1); and

WHEREAS, these repeated and ongoing public confusions and misrepresentations of the Orthodox Faith and Church has scandalized and offended numerous God-fearing Orthodox Christians; and

WHEREAS, this mis-characterization has led the Church to be falsely perceived as being a politically oriented denomination rather than the holy, sacramental Body of Christ whose faith and morals remain changeless; therefore be it

RESOLVED, that the Diocese of the Midwest calls upon His Beatitude, Metropolitan HERMAN to recall Fr. Leonid Kishkovsky as representative of the Orthodox Church in America to the NCC and WCC; and be it further

RESOLVED, that the Diocese of the Midwest calls upon the Orthodox Church in America to withdraw from formal membership, and active participation, in the National Council of Churches and the World Council of Churches forthwith.

 

Source: Orthodox Heritage, Brotherhood of St. Poimen, Vol. 04, Issue 12, December 2006, p. 13.

Contemporary apostates and the generation of indifference

Hieromonk Martirie Păduraru

 

 

You often encounter in life people who, carried by the waves this way and that, concerned only with their daily bread and the comfort of their family, melt their days away in the cloying routine of the joy of merely existing. They do not trouble their hearts with the sufferings of others, they do not ask awakening questions, they do not torment their souls with hidden inner struggles: they float inertly in the torpor of a placid life without problems.

Well then, these contemporary apostates are ever more numerous among the Christians of our days; Christians of circumstance, people who have become Christians by descent rather than by the conscious assumption of the sanctifying labors of personal and social life, so characteristic of the true Christian.

We ask, somewhat rhetorically, yet seized by a deep pain of heart: do the generations of our age no longer bear within themselves the seed of truth, do they no longer cherish the dowry of the calling to the Christian life, a dowry dearly defended and sealed with blood by our forefathers? Has the spark of holy aspirations been extinguished from the nature of our people, the martyric outburst against lawlessness that shatters our strength, mounted upon the tribunal of justice?

Has the Romanian wholly forgotten the vocation of holiness, the unwavering powers in the struggle with sin? Has he entirely lost the desire for another order, other than that imposed upon mankind by the great ones of the world, with the political support of the sellers of nation and country?

Behold questions that ought to shake the shameful complacency of every Romanian and of every Christian—questions which, if we, each one individually, do not put to ourselves, we shall perish as a nation and as Christians. These are questions by which we shall be judged before God, both by our forefathers and by our descendants; they are questions which, one day, at the judgment of the nations, will accuse us of having left them unanswered because of the tearing ignorance that gnaws at our existence.

The faces of apostasy can be sweet or bitter

But perhaps some, perplexed, ask: “In fact, what are the dangers that lie in wait for us, how do they attack us, where do they aim, where do they end, etc.?” The dangers are many. Their faces are even more numerous. Some are sweet, others bitter. Some repel, others attract, depending on the forms they take and on each person’s disposition to be enticed. Yet, the ones who know them best—because they struggle against them—are those who live the truly Christian life: those who do not fear the pains of Christian living; those who long for the joys of suffering, who do not flirt with the harsh commandments of the Gospel, but fulfill them with holy zeal, without crafty modernist and ecumenist concessions.

Following the thread of the problem, I believe that the most terrifying danger, both for all Christians and for each one individually, is apostasy.

There exists today more than ever a mentality and a society with an astonishing predisposition toward apostasy. But what kind of apostasy? Is it identical to the apostasy of the first Christian centuries, as it appears in the manuals of church history and in the Lives of the Saints? Only partially. It resembles the historical one in that it separates from Christ, from the Church, from salvation. But the apostasy of our times, besides the classic forms of manifestation, also presents new, “attractive,” “benevolent,” “humanistic and protective” faces.

The old apostasy was tyrannical, crude, but above all open, in such a way that it demanded your opposition, your firmness, your capacity for resistance, giving you the possibility to identify it directly and implicitly, to counteract it. The pressures being of an external nature, the tortures aiming at the physical destruction of the Christian, the soul preserved a certain independence and power of rebellion, which was, and is, fundamentally important for a Christian in the struggle with sin and with the apostasies of the age.

Apostasy works in us like woodworm in timber

But today? Apostasy, in some of its most refined forms, is omnipresent and insinuates itself stealthily into each one of us and into every corner of society. Even through those of our own household, confirming the word of the Gospel, apostasy works patiently in us like woodworm in timber. But this does not mean that we cannot resist it. Considering that apostasy slips into our hearts through body and soul, it is these that we must guard first. This guarding Christians call self-restraint. We exercise self-restraint against every sin. We make use of self-restraint against all the sins with which contemporary apostate society tempts us.

We must know, however, that those most protected from apostasy are the Christians who, daily, nourish their souls not with newspapers or television, not with the vain preoccupations of this world, not with gluttony, fornication, vainglory, or the love of money, but who nourish themselves with the love of God, with the unceasing reading of the Holy Gospel and of the Lives of the Saints, with meditation on the words of the Holy Fathers, which give vigor and manliness to the soul so as to resist sin and apostasy.

A “humanistic,” social, and conciliatory theology

Harassment comes today from all directions, with catlike steps, and sin strikes with lightning speed. It spares no one. Neither the president, nor the mayor, nor the deputy, nor the scholar, nor the common man—absolutely all of us are tested by sins. Some may believe that renunciation of Christ is more forgiving toward the prelates of the Church.

Well then, it is not quite so. No one is infallible in the face of modern aberrations. Renunciation or apostasy, today as always, can even take on the face of Christ—a peaceful and gentle face, conciliatory and loving. We encounter this face both in pan-Orthodox conferences, in “peace” alliances, in “banks” of religions, in foundations of an ecological or humanistic character, in gatherings, rallies, and debates with aims, of course, among the most “noble.”

Could this be the face of Christ? Certainly not. Was it for this that Christ was incarnate, crucified, and risen—for concessions, compromises, and petty calculations, for progress, comfort, for diplomacy, or for a “better world” and “peace among peoples”? But every right-believing Christian knows that the answer is no. If I am saved through prosperity, why do I still fast, why do I still practice self-restraint, why should I still struggle? If I am saved through “progress” and “social order,” it means that our forefathers, who did not know “progress” nor modern “social order,” were not saved.

This “humanistic,” social, and conciliatory theology places the emphasis on this age, toward the passing enjoyment of the body, but it saddens the soul, for it robs the Orthodox Christian of the longing for and expectation of eternal life. It was perceived and harshly criticized by the great ascetic saints of the Orthodox Church (in our time by Saints Theophan the Recluse, Ignatius Brianchaninov, John Jacob of Hozeva, John Maximovitch, Seraphim Rose, etc.).

Man – a “good” of a commercial oligarchy

This “universalist humanism,” Catholic-Protestant in origin, with distant echoes from the world of ancient Greece (Protagoras: “man is the measure of all things”), which places man above all things, is encouraged and sustained unconsciously by all of us, lovers of the senses and enslaved to the “consumer society.” But what this “consumer society” is, it is very good for us to know, so that we may be watchful. It is the society that turns man into a “good” of a commercial oligarchy. It is the society that has made marketing its sole principle—religious, moral, social.

We must acknowledge that the man of our days does not distinguish between the social and the moral. If a Christian commits an immoral act, but one not condemned constitutionally and socially, he does not perceive that he has sinned before God, that he has transgressed the commandment of Christ, that he is in renunciation toward the Church and toward the laws of salvation; he does not perceive his apostasy. For this man, God is no longer Christ, but the State, the Government, the Constitution, or the people, the world and its laws. This sort of man commits sin, attentive only to his public duty, and then can return home calmly, take his lunch, enjoy his family peacefully without inner reproaches and spiritual turmoil. It is the type of one who, having committed sin, is cheerful, satisfied, well-disposed that he has conscientiously done his “duty.” It is the type of one who, in the face of reproaches, responds serenely and candidly: “I was at work,” “I acted according to the law,” “I had orders,” “I did my duty,” “the boss answers,” etc.

The generation of indifference

This kind of people were the ideal tools of political tyranny, from communism to any satanic regime; this sort still swarms among us today—some even call themselves “believers”—but they will be our executioners tomorrow. Guilty are all of us who take such morals as examples, favoring their spread, yielding before power, blackmail, a petty interest, the securing of a job, an undeserved profit, etc.

All these together—every insecurity, every hesitation, every fear out of fear itself and for the sake of the world—are daughters of apostasy; they are renunciations of truth, renunciations of justice, renunciations of courage, renunciations of martyrdom, renunciations of love for the human soul, renunciations of nation, renunciations of faith, renunciations of God, renunciations of salvation, of paradise, of eternity.

Yes, indeed, in indifference toward God lies the entire disaster of our world, all our failures, all our despair, all our fear of life and of death. If sloth and unbelief have brought such a cloud of indifference and numbness into our souls, what then will become of future generations? Will they not come to hate their own life, will they not hate their parents, will there not be a demonic world upon the earth? Woe to those of tomorrow, and woe to us, those of today, for we are the enemies of our children, we are the enemies of our forefathers, enemies of the salvation of the human race, enemies of Christ the Crucified.

 

Source: “Despre chipul omului nou.” Translated from the original Romanian.

Obituary of St. Seraphim (Rose) from “Orthodox Life”

Eternal Memory!

Hieromonk Seraphim of Platina

1934-1982

St. Seraphim in repose, with Fr. Alexey Young, Archimandrite Chrysostomos, and Hieromonk Auxentios (now Bishop of Etna and Portland) of St. Gregory Palamas Monastery, Etna, CA.

 

Hieromonk Seraphim (Rose), co-founder and co-editor of The Orthodox Word and co-founder of the St. Herman of Alaska Brotherhood and Monastery at Platina, California, reposed in the Lord on September 2, 1982 N.S. Born in 1934 in California, he was raised in a typical American Protestant family. He graduated from Pomona College in the Los Angeles area, and later received his M.A. in Chinese (Mandarin) from the University of California at Berkeley.

He first encountered true Orthodoxy as a result of the lecture tour of newly-graduated Jordanville seminarian Gleb (Abbot Herman) Podmoshensky in 1961. By 1963 the establishment of the St. Herman of Alaska Brotherhood, as a missionary endeavor toward the conversion of English-speaking people, under the aegis of Blessed Archbishop John (Maximovitch) (+1966) had been decided upon. The brotherhood began with headquarters on Geary Boulevard in San Francisco next door to the Cathedral which was then in process of construction. The Orthodox Word began publication with the January-February issue of 1965. The first issues were handset and printed on a hand-operated and hand-powered press. In addition to the publication of the magazine, an icon and book store was operated. Father Seraphim, with his modest smile and meek manner, was there to greet customers and answer questions, and let his “light shine!”

By 1967, in pursuance of long-range and long-standing plans, search began for a suitable location for a skete, so that full-fledged monasticism could be undertaken. Vladika John having reposed in 1966 the brotherhood now had a heavenly patron to assist them in all their righteous endeavors. After considerable searching throughout northern California, the present location of the St. Herman of Alaska Monastery was decided upon. Living quarters and the printing shop were made ready so that the two-hundred-and-fifty-mile move northward from San Francisco was accomplished by Dormition of 1969. For one year the two members of the brotherhood labored in solitude and silence before they received tonsure to the small schema in October of 1970. In the previous August of 1970, St. Herman of Alaska had been glorified in the Cathedral of the Holy Virgin, the Joy of All That Sorrow, in San Francisco. The brotherhood had labored long and tirelessly to bring this about, and to make known the wonders worked by St. Herman, and his importance for the Orthodox Church, especially in America.

Father Seraphim belonged to that rare species, the ascetics. His labors who can tell? Perhaps only Abbot Herman. But others have been witnesses. Many were the nights when his attention could be had only with difficulty, because he was so enwrapped in the Jesus Prayer even while at table. He demonstrated the virtues as few people in our time are capable of doing. He believed implicitly in the teaching of the Fathers that obedience to one’s spiritual father and director must be given without question. He seldom ever allowed himself to become aroused enough for one to call it anger.

He built a small hut, approximately 6×10 feet, on the mountainside, so that he had a refuge from ever-increasing numbers of visitors. He was blessed to enjoy this refuge for seven years, where he prepared many articles for publication, where he prayed and prepared himself to leave this world where he was indeed a stranger and a pilgrim, and to enter his heavenly homeland. He was ordained hierodeacon in January 1977 and was raised to the rank of hieromonk on the Sunday of the Myrrhbearers the same year, so that after eight years of desert-dwelling he and Abbot Herman were able to celebrate the Holy Mysteries.

Father Seraphim was an inspiration for thousands of people. He gave some of the most inspiring sermons ever uttered in the English language. His constant counsel was: “Censure yourself. Never excuse yourself. If you must, or think you must, give way to a weakness, then be certain that you recognize it as a weakness, and a sin. But see your own faults and condemn not your brother!” During the latter portion of his life, Father Seraphim continually emphasized the need for spiritual attentiveness in preparation for struggles to come. He seemed to have an awareness, a foreknowledge, of apocalyptic times ahead. His message was conveyed in the well-known phrase: “It is later than you think.”

Writing both in Russian and in English, Father Seraphim was able to produce a torrent of articles and books in a relatively short span of time — only 17 years — covering every conceivable subject of interest and importance to the Orthodox reader, including lives of saints, divine services, contemporary problems, and theology. He also translated many works, making them available in English for the first time — an incomparable service to English-speaking Orthodox Christians.

Father Seraphim accomplished more for the glory of God and the spread of true Orthodox Christianity than any other person born on the American continent. May God grant him rest with His saints, where the light of His countenance shall visit him, and may his memory be eternal!

 

Source: Orthodox Life, Vol. 32, No. 4, July-August 1982, pp. 31-34.

Do not be proud if you stand firm, but humble yourself and fear.

Hieromartyr Varlaam of Perm (+1942)

 

 

Let us suppose that your life is going more or less properly, that you have no great sins, and that for the small ones you bring repentance. Do not even think of ascribing your good order to yourself, to your own effort, attentiveness, or zeal—you are deeply mistaken: before all our efforts goes grace, and without it we are nothing but weakness, nothing but a festering abscess. Therefore, do not be proud of another’s gift, since good order is from God; rather, fear lest you offend God by self-esteem and pride, and receive condemnation like the Pharisee.

You, who are orderly, are sometimes disturbed by the faults of those around you, by their disorderliness, self-love, and inattentiveness toward you, especially if they are your relatives; and you become grieved at them, condemn them in your soul, and perhaps even openly hurl arrows, reproaches, and irritation. But stop, and know yourself: why do you condemn your neighbor for a fault? Perhaps he has not been given the corresponding talent, and so he sins; whereas it has been given to you—but it is not you, but the grace of God, that upholds you. And for what purpose? Is it really so that you may engage in the forbidden condemnation of your neighbor and exalt yourself above him? You are mistaken: every gift is given for the benefit and service of one’s neighbors. By reproach we destroy our neighbor, increasing his wounds and the infirmities of his soul. In such a state, your orderliness is occupied with the destruction of your neighbor. Be horrified at yourself and remember the words of the Apostle: We who are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak, and not to please ourselves (Rom. 15:1), but our neighbor, for his salvation (Rom. 15:2).

In self-justification, you may perhaps say: “I do not condemn my neighbor, but when I see that people, even those close to me, treat me unjustly, I leave them in peace and, as far as possible, try to keep away from them.” But tell me: for what was the gift of good order given to you? Was it so that you might complacently admire it and become vainglorious, while despising your neighbor? Then you have neither love for your neighbor nor concern for his salvation; you are occupied with self-admiration. You are an idol to yourself, demanding worship and respect from others. It is not in vain that it is said: he who does not love his neighbor does not love God either; he loves only himself and is a self-idol, abiding in virtuous self-delusion, while in essence remaining far from God and from love for Him.

If you are a father or mother, perhaps in justification of your strictness and exactingness toward your children, you will say: “It is written, Honor thy father and mother, that it may be well with thee” (Deut. 5:16). Yes, but this was said to children; to you something else was said, namely: Fathers, provoke not your children to wrath (Eph. 6:4). And will your proud reproaches and condemnation of their faults awaken love for you in them? By no means. Love is born only through love and condescension, through forgetfulness of one’s “I,” through the crucifixion of one’s self-love for the sake of love for one’s neighbors and care for them.

Therefore, examine yourself: are you serving God with your talent, or have you buried it in the earth of self-love and negligence? If so, fear the lot of the slothful servant.

You will ask: “How am I to serve? Must I really indulge the sinner and make peace with these sores?” Yes, make peace with them; you are not higher than God, and He makes peace with them and even bestows prosperity upon the wicked, waiting thereby to call them to repentance. And who are you? A proud man and a lover of self. For if grace is taken away, you too will prove to be an abyss of vice. It is not in vain that the Holy Church shows this to everyone at Communion in the words: “Of whom I am first” — that is, of sinners. Therefore, use your talent of an orderly life for the knowledge of your own sores and those of your neighbors—not for condemnation, but for healing, as a physician. And if you do not do this, then know: you are already condemned, despite all your orderliness, as a wicked servant who used the gift for evil toward his neighbor, thereby offending the One Who gave it.

Therefore, having the gift of good order, labor without sloth unto the glory of God, and for this purpose:

a) Do not be grieved at anyone: this is the voice of sinful self-love, hateful to God.

b) Do not be surprised when you encounter malice and injustice toward yourself. Remember: you are a physician, and those around you are sick; you are called to heal their souls and morals by sympathy, prayer, and the like, and not to seek love in return.

c) And if there is love in return, do not take consolation in it, lest you lose heavenly love and forget your calling.

d) Forget even yourself and your own happiness, as the Lord commanded, but seek the good and benefit of others in the name of God, and you will be warmed, as by a heavenly sun, by Divine love.

e) Watch not how others treat you, but how much you have succeeded in moving your neighbors toward good, in diminishing their malice and guile, and in warming their cold hearts with Christian sympathy.

f) When you see fruit, again do not exalt yourself, lest you ascribe God’s work to yourself and become clouded in mind to please the demon.

g) Blessed will you be if you love God with all your soul and your neighbor as yourself, while denying your very self; then with joy you will give yourself over to every labor and deprivation, consumed by holy love for people as children of God, in faith that by this you are serving God Himself, according to His unfailing word, and He Himself will love you and make His abode with you.

 

Russian source:

Господь не осудит смиренного: наставления преосвященного старца / архиеп. Варлаам (Ряшенцев), Samara Printing House, Samara, 2008.

Notes on Spiritual Direction

The precepts outlined in the paragraphs below have been taken from instruction given to the sisters of the Convent of the Annunciation in Willesden, during their days of training in the Holy Land under the direction of Archbishop Anthony of Los Angeles and the late Father Lazarus (Moore). They were preserved in the notes of one of the sisters and prepared for publication by Mrs. Tanya James. This article was first published in the June 1996 issue of ‘The Shepherd’.

 

 

THE NEED OF A SPIRITUAL GUIDE

The young Tobias, when told to set out on his journey, said, ‘I have no knowledge of the way.’ His father Tobit replied: ‘Go and seek one man to guide thee.’ Do you wish to set out on the way of God? Find some man to guide and conduct you. You will never find out the will of God so surely as by the way of humble obedience, so much recommended and practised by all the holy fathers. The world defames the good life and especially spiritual guidance, saying that it is wretched and unbearable to be ‘under the will of another’. But the Holy Spirit assures us by the mouth of all the Saints, and our Divine Saviour does by His own, that the good life is sweet, happy and agreeable (Matt. 11:28-30), in fact a triumphant progress from strength to strength, from victory to victory. Thanks be to God Who in Christ ever leads us in His triumphal procession (2 Cor. 2:14).

THE GOOD OF A SPIRITUAL GUIDE

A faithful friend is a strong defence; and he that hath found him hath found a treasure. A faithful friend is a medicine of life; and they that fear the Lord shall find him.

(Ecclesiasticus 6:14,16)

Those divine words refer to life, as you see, and chiefly to eternal life, for which it is necessary to have a faithful friend to indicate our delusions from the evil one. He will be a treasure of wisdom in our affliction, in our doubts, in our sorrows and in our falls. He will serve as a medicine to ease and heal our hearts in our spiritual sicknesses. He will keep us from evil and, if we stumble and fall, he will lift us up and set us on our feet again – our two feet, of love of God and of our neighbours, by which we run to our heavenly home.

But who will find this friend? God has given us the answer: They that fear the Lord, that is to say, the humble, who sincerely desire their spiritual progress, and who fear to displease their Lord. As it is so important to go with a good guide on this holy journey, pray to God with great earnestness to provide you with one, and have no doubt; for even if He has to send an Angel from heaven as He did to Tobias, He will give you one that is good and faithful and suitable to your needs.

HOW TO REGARD YOUR SPIRITUAL DIRECTOR

This guide ought always to be an Angel in your eyes; that is to say, when you have found him, do not look upon him as a mere man, but put your trust in God, Who will bless and speak to you by means of this man and will put into his heart and mouth whatever is necessary for your salvation and happiness. ‘A priest is an angel and not a man,’ says Father John of Kronstadt.

THE CHOICE OF A CONFESSOR

Let those that are at peace with thee be many, but thy counsellors one of a thousand.

(Ecclesiasticus 6:6)

Though you may have many teachers in Christ, you should only have one father for the direction of your soul. Bearing in mind that God chooses the weak to be vessels of His grace that all the glory may go to Him (cf. 1 Cor. 1:27).

Choose if possible a confessor who is not afraid to humiliate his penitents, and who takes care at the same time to support them in the war to the death against their corrupted nature and passions. Pray to God to give you such a guide, and when you have found him, thank God and remain constant and do not seek for any others, but go on your way humbly and trustfully, sure of a prosperous journey.

DUTIES OF CHRISTIANS TOWARDS THEIR SPIRITUAL FATHER

1. Faith

If you know the gift of God and Who it is that speaks to you by the mouth of the priest, you would always listen to him as to an Angel given you by God to guide you to Heaven. Faith is a gift of God, obtained by prayer. Even our Lord Jesus Christ could do nothing when people had no faith in Him.

2. Respect

You should think of your confessor as a Judge, Physician and Representative of God, as well as a Shepherd, Guide and Father. Your confidence must be combined with a holy reverence for him. In a word, this friendship must be strong, holy and spiritual.

3. Humility

This will prevent you from regarding rebuffs, reproaches or marks of indifference as a great misfortune. You will desire healing, sanctification and direction rather than comfort and tender words.

4. Simplicity

The more you become like a little child, the more you will enter into the Kingdom, the Power and the Glory, and the more will the confessor be your father. You must have an open heart with him, and tell everything with all frankness and simplicity.

5. Constancy

You should confess only to your own spiritual father and, without previously asking his blessing, should never think of confessing to another priest. This is because

(a) penances (such as deprival of Holy Communion) may have been given of which the other priest knows nothing;

(b) spiritual food and direction should be regular and progressive, and another priest cannot know where you stand and what you need in the same way;

(c) it is more crucifying to repeat our sins and show our wounds and weaknesses to the same priest, and therefore that act of confession is a more purifying process and a means to greater grace, for only if we suffer with Christ are we glorified together (Rom. 8:17).

6. Obedience

Love is shown by obedience. We should follow the advice of the Mother of God: ‘Whatever he saith, do it.’ (John 2:5).

7. Prayer

The more you offer fervent prayer to God for your spiritual father, the more abundant will be the light and grace which God will give for the direction of your soul.

CONCLUSION

Let those who complain that they do not meet with direction much as they desire, turn to their own hearts. The confessor will be judged at the Supreme Tribunal if he has carried out the work of God carelessly. But how many Christians will have to answer for want of faith, humility and obedience which they have shown in their relations with their spiritual father.

 

Source: The Shepherd: An Orthodox Christian Pastoral Magazine, Vol. XLVI, No. 9, May 2026, pp. 3-6.

 

The Soul Becomes Distracted on its Own – the Enemy is Not Invincible.

 

How insensitive I am! How coarse, how earth-like has my soul become! O dissolute heart, O lips filled with bitterness, O throat which is an open grave!

Why dost thou not remember, O soul, that thy departure approaches inescapably? Why dost thou not prepare for this journey? Why dost thou, with no pity for thyself, pursue ruin? Why dost thou bring upon thyself eternal torment? What art thou doing, O soul, that thou livest like a beast lacking reason and understanding?

Alas, how I choose darkness instead of light! How I prefer that pleasure which I have today and which tomorrow will be gone, above eternal and unutterable bliss!

Alas, how I agree to be dressed in a dark and gloomy garment rather than in a robe radiant like the sun! How I prefer the miserable dwelling places of hell over the heavenly kingdom!

Woe is me, a sinner! I on my own, voluntarily, knowingly cast myself into utter ruin.

Come at last to thy senses, O my soul; fear God and bravely take up the journey along the path of His commandments.

Understand, O soul, that this age is like unto a battlefield, and the cunning serpent endeavors to secure victory by any means. He is overthrown and reviled by some, but others does he himself overthrow and subject to reviling.

Some, who are deceived by him, are overcome; and others enter into battle with him and are crowned. Some, having tasted his bitterness, attain the delights of eternal life; and others, who have tasted his sensual sweets, obtain the bitterness of eternal torment.

Some, through their extreme abstinence, readily take the upper hand against him; and others, because of their attachment to earthly things, are easily overcome by him. For those who love God with all their heart, warfare with him means nothing at all; but for those who love the world it is difficult and insuperable.

Comprehend, O pitiful soul, that the joy, splendor, and leisure of this age are filled with sadness and grief; but sorrows, deprivation and self-disparagement gain unutterable joy and eternal life.

Resolve to step upon the path that is strait and sorrowful and labor in silence, that when the hour of death and departure comes thou wilt not be found unprepared.

 

Source: Spiritual Psalter of St. Ephraim the Syrian, St. John of Kronstadt Press, 1997, pp. 147-148.

Notes of a Parish Priest (1986)

Fr. Alexey Young

 [now Hieroschemamonk Ambrose]

 

The patron icon or “Directress” of the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad is the Kursk Mother of God. This miracle-working “Icon of the Sign” has a recorded history of 700 years (see OA #55), but is probably older. Permeated with the prayers and tears of countless generations, the Icon bears a consoling grace experienced by many fortunate to come in contact with it. For centuries it was an object of pious pilgrimage for people from all over Holy Russia. But for two generations, now, it is the Mother of God who-through this precious Icon–has gone on pilgrimage to her faithful children throughout the free world, Traveling ceaselessly to one parish after another, she is taken to the homes of parishioners and to the sick in hospitals, where special services of intercession are served.

In my own life, both as a layman (since 1970) and as a priest (since 1979), the Kursk Icon has frequently appeared at critical moments of difficulty or times when important decisions had to be made, as if to say, “I, the Queen of Heaven, am always with my children, guarding, guiding, and comforting; I am the Directress,” This is an experience many others have shared.

This fall I was privileged to be with the Icon for about ten days. It began in St. Louis at the parish of St. John Chrysostom, where a clergy conference for our diocese had been convened. All of our discussions and deliberations took place before this holy Icon, as did all divine services, including the moving tonsure of the pastor, Fr. Constantine, to the Small Schema (he is now Hieromonk Kallistos), In the days immediately following, the Mother of God continued to bless the parish through the tonsuring of two Readers and the investment of two women with the “apostlenik” (the monastic veil worn by female novices).

With the Icon at his side, we also received instruction from our Archpastor, Bishop Alypy, who reassured us that in spite of all the difficulties occurring throughout worldwide Orthodoxy, our Synod of Bishops of the Russian Church Abroad does not judge any other jurisdiction as being without grace or in heresy. This was, for us, an important clarification at a time of much confusion, disorder, and rumor.

From St. Louis, the Kursk Mother of God was brought to Colorado by Hieromonk Gregory of Dormition Skete. After a few days, during which the Mother of God presided over the Skete, the Icon came to our parish of All the Saints of Russia in Denver. Even before the Icon’s arrival, many of us felt that the Mother of God would bring, through her Icon, an outpouring of blessings–and indeed, she did. From the moment the Icon arrived on Saturday, parishioners began to make quiet pilgrimages to the church to pray, to pour out their hearts, to spend some time alone in the divine tranquility and spiritual warmth that radiates from this Icon. Small groups came even late at night, in order to sing an akathist. During the regular vigil service that night and Divine Liturgy the next morning, it was as though the Mother of God herself served with us, majestically presiding, a great but loving Abbess.

In the course of five days Fr. John Ivanov (one of our deacons) and I were able to bring the Kursk Mother of God to no fewer than twenty-five homes where we witnessed, time after time, the age-old piety of Holy Russia still burning in the hearts of her offspring. More than once the Icon was greeted at the door by tears and prostrations, as old and young welcomed the Queen of Heaven with a humility and awe seldom encountered in this sophisticated and decadent world of ours.

I remember in particular visiting the home of two of the founding members of our parish. The husband was in his late 80’s and had been in failing health for some time. As ill and feeble as he was, when we arrived he struggled to rise from his chair in his desire to show respect to the Mother of God. A few days later his long life, which had begun in Russia and had known much adversity and sorrow, came peacefully to its close, having been wonderfully blessed in its last days by this visit of the Mother of God.

At the end of our too-short time with the Icon, I was privileged to fly with it to Cleveland, its next stop. The Icon, which is quite heavy, never seemed lighter, nor a journey safer. And there, at our Saint Sergius Cathedral, as a guest of Bishop Alypy and the rector, Hieromonk Averky, I was present as the Mother of God again presided at a monastic tonsuring, Riassaphore-nun Paisia (Reid), a contributor to “Orthodox America,” received the Small Schema from the hands of our Bishop just in front of this Icon of the Queen of the Heavenly Host, with the name Michaila (for Archangel Michael). There was not a dry eye in the cathedral. Clearly, the spiritual significance of all this was lost on no one.

The Holy Fathers say that there is a certain knowledge that is not to be found in books but only in direct experience, and which is capable of transforming one’s whole being. Such knowledge warms the soul. To stand before a wonder working Icon such as the Kursk Mother of God–with all of one’s being concentrated and gathered into a single, living, and focused prayer–is to ascend to such knowledge. To understand this from the Outside is impossible. But anyone who has had such an experience himself will agree that there is more greatness in the act of a weary, old lady laboriously making her way to church in order to heartfully venerate an icon, then there is in man setting foot on the moon.

 

Source: Orthodox America, Vol. VII, No. 4, October 1986.