A Day in the Life of an Orthodox Christian

Father David Belden

Source: Orthodox Light, Vol. 4, 1988

(Presented at an Orthodox conference in 1987)

 

 

I would like to talk to you about what should be a typical day in the life of an Orthodox Christian, only it will not be exactly typical; we will have to make it a composite: that is, a day on which we would go to Liturgy, Confession, Vespers, etc. and since we probably would not do all these things on the same day, we will put them together on one day for the purpose of the talk.

Every Orthodox Christian should know that he has a definite purpose in life and that is to prepare himself for the Kingdom of Heaven. This is not some distant place far removed from our life here on earth. In the Gospel our Lord says clearly: “Behold, the Kingdom of God is within you....” St. Seraphim of Sarov, the great Russian saint of the nineteenth century says the same thing but in another way. He said that our purpose here on earth is to acquire the Holy Spirit and we know from St. Paul that the fruit of the Spirit is “love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance” (Gal. 5:22). If we were filled with these virtues, we would indeed experience the Kingdom of God within us. Instead, we bear grudges against our neighbor; our tongues wag with gossip; we barely keep our mind on our prayers; we have ready excuses for missing church services or for not being able to help our less fortunate brother. Our hearts are filled with good intentions; we are drawn to that which is good. Why then is it so hard for us to make any progress toward our goal — the acquisition of the Holy Spirit?

The devil, you know, is a very smart and crafty enemy. Using the pleasures and riches of this world, he will do all in his power to take us away from God. The holy Fathers compare this life to a river. The Kingdom of Heaven is upstream. If we do not paddle very hard, we are going to move in the wrong direction. In fact, we have to paddle very hard if we do not want to stand still. If we choose to follow Christ, we must struggle to go in the opposite direction of the current. Again, we can think of life as riding a down escalator. If we do nothing, we shall have an easy ride to the bottom. How many of us have tried to run up a down escalator? It requires quite an effort to get to the top. The minute you stop, you are pulled down. This is how it is in the spiritual life. We must constantly strive and struggle. The minute we stop we do not just stand still; the minute we relax our efforts we are pulled down.

The idea of spending your life racing up a down escalator is pretty grim. If we had to depend on our own strength, we might as well give up in despair. But God is a God of love and does not expect the impossible from us. He is stronger than all the devil’s schemes put together and will give us the help we need if we ask him. It is unimportant whether we see any progress or not. Let God be the judge of that. Our judgement is not very accurate; if we think we are making progress, we better watch out. If we have repented, we should forget our sins. When God forgives, unlike us, he forgets. St. Paul says: “Forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before” (Phil. 3:16).

St. John Chrysostom says: “Lord if I have done nothing good in Thy sight, yet grant me according to Thy Grace to make a beginning of good.” When it is vacation time, we may be tempted to think we can take a little vacation from going to Church, saying our prayers, fasting, listening to our consciences, putting God first in our lives, leading an Orthodox way of life. If we give in to these thoughts, we are going to be carried to the bottom of the escalator and have to start all over again. We cannot take a vacation from God or the spiritual life. Our efforts must be constant. For example, it is better to pray briefly but regularly than to say lengthy prayers once in a while. The same applies to spiritual reading and fasting tell us that we should keep our rule of prayer "even if the world comes to an end". Do we even have a rule of prayer? If not, we must make up a rule of prayer for ourselves and ask our spiritual father's blessing on it. Do we have a spiritual father? Once we have found our spiritual guide, we should not move from one to another. It is alright to "shop around" in the beginning, but when we settle on someone, that is it. We must be obedient in all things save sin, knowing that by obeying our spiritual father we are doing the will of God. Even if he should be mistaken about something, God will make it right because of my obedience. My conscience will tell me if my spiritual father is asking me to do something which is not right. Obviously, if he falls into heresy, then, just as in the case of a bishop who has fallen into heresy, I am no longer bound to obey him.

Thus, before we can talk about a "Day in the Life of an Orthodox Christian", we must have a rule of prayer and before we can set up a rule of prayer, we must have a spiritual father who will help us.

When I open my eyes in the morning, my first thoughts must be of God. I must adore Him, thank Him, express repentance for my sins, and lastly, ask Him what I need. When most people think of God, it is to ask. There is nothing wrong with petition, but it must always come last. First, in my own words I must adore, thank, repent, and then request. God, I adore you. I thank you for your mercies, known and unknown; I am sorry for all the sins of my past life; help me to do better today; please give me what I need today. Make the sign of the Cross; let that be the first thing you do with your hands. Did you ever try to keep track of everything that you do with your hands in a day? Washing, dressing, eating, driving, writing, working ... let the sign of the Cross be the first conscious thing that you do with your hands. Someday I will not be able to make the sign of the Cross for myself and someone else will have to do it for me or over me. Some of us are on a roller coaster from the time we get up — sometimes very much against our will; we just do not have any choice. If we do not pray before we get out of bed, we may not pray again. As soon as I can organize my thoughts, they must be of God. My coming-to thought might be of the cat that has been yowling outside my window all night, but as soon as I am conscious enough, my thoughts must turn to God.

Either at this time or later at the icon corner I should pray for those near and dear to me, beginning with my own family; for all for whom I am bound to pray; for those who have asked for my prayers unworthy though I am; for those who have none to pray for them; and for those whom I have forgotten. Then, when I am washed and dressed, I should say my morning prayers using the Church's prayers from the Prayer Book. These are time honored, used by generations of Orthodox Christians including the saints — Holy God, the Lord's Prayer, the Six Psalms, a Supplicatory Canon of a Saint, Christ is Risen (during Pascha), O Lord and Master of my life (during the Great Fast) — as many of the morning prayers as I have time for, but unhurried and with as much attention and devotion as possible. Do not be upset when you are distracted and find your mind wandering. As soon as you are aware that this is happening to you, come back to your prayer. Prayer is not for our own self-satisfaction but for the glory of God and communion with Him. The prayer which costs me the most is the most acceptable to God. When I am fighting distractions; when I am fighting sleep; when I find it hard to pray and still do so: this is the prayer which is most acceptable and pleasing to God, not necessarily the prayer which makes me feel good.

Use prostrations, as many as I have time for. Maybe our spiritual father will give us a set number, in which case we should not do less because then we will not be fulfilling our obedience to our spiritual father and we should not do more because then we will be tempted to pride. Also, our prayer rule must include the Holy Scriptures; no day should go by in which the Orthodox Christian does not read the Bible, however briefly. A prayer rule is vital, it must have the blessing of our spiritual father, and it must be kept even if, as the holy Fathers say, the world comes to an end. The only way you can do that is to do it at the same time every day. Make the time. We cannot say: I am too busy right now, maybe later. Later never comes. Remember what Archbishop Antony of Los Angeles said last year? You find time to eat, don't you? If you don't eat your body will die. Well, you have got to find time to pray or your soul will die.

There should be spiritual reading each day. The Holy Scripture is minimal; it is a must. But there should be time to read from the lives of the Saints, the Fathers of the Church, etc. Maybe I will have an hour, a half-hour, fifteen minutes, or only five, but make use of the time. Do not waste your time. Every moment of our lives flies to God with our use of it or misuse of it or abuse of it. My life is made up of just so many moments, God alone knows how many, and I shall be judged on how I used those moments — for good or ill. Then, from the perspective of eternity, I will see how precious those moments were. Even if I only have five minutes, five minutes of attentive reading can be worth a half-hour of distracted reading in which I let my mind wander. If we do not have as much time to read as we like, many hours of tapes are now available. We can listen to these tapes while driving or walking. I can listen to the same tape three and four times and get something else each time that I missed before.

If our day is a fast day, we will eat accordingly. Remember the time-honored custom among the Orthodox during the fasts to eat only once in the day, not to eat between meals, and to have small portions when we do eat. We could spend much more time on the subject of fasting, but let us just say that there is no Orthodox life without fasting. “This kind is cast out only by prayer and fasting”, our Lord tells us in the Gospel. Our fasting is something we must work out with our spiritual father.

If we are going to Liturgy, then we should be fasting and prepared to receive Holy Communion. Canon 9 of the Holy Apostles says: “All the faithful who enter and listen to the scriptures, but who do not remain for prayer and the partaking of the Holy Mysteries must be excommunicated.” According to the explanation of the canon in a book called The Rudder, this means that all who remain after the exclamation “Catechumens depart” must receive Holy Communion. Our holy and God-bearing Fathers, who gathered in the Holy Spirit at Antioch, have directed us: “And those persons who enter the Church and listen to the Sacred Scripture but shun the participation of the Eucharist, we decree that these people be separated from the Church until they confess and exhibit the fruit of repentance.” (Canon 2 of Antioch). This canon is explained in The Rudder as referring to those who excuse themselves from receiving Holy Communion “on account of humility or reverence” but goes on to say that such humility is false since the greatest act of reverence to the Eucharist is to partake of it. So, according to Holy Tradition, the Holy Fathers, and the Canons of the Church we should be receiving Holy Communion at every Liturgy.

St. John of Kronstadt wrote: “The Divine Liturgy is truly a heavenly service on earth.” He himself celebrated the Liturgy daily. The holy Mysteries of Confession and Communion are not bound together in such a way that Confession is a necessary condition for admission to Holy Communion. If, however, you only go to Holy Communion two or three times a year contrary to Holy Tradition, then Confession should be obligatory before Holy Communion. A person who receives Holy Communion frequently goes to Confession only when he feels a special need for it or at his spiritual father's direction. Again, the frequency of our confession will depend on the direction of our spiritual father. We will never be worthy to receive Holy Communion; we pray only that we may receive not unto condemnation.

The Liturgy is much more than the receiving of Holy Communion. It is making present to us the events which we remember — not only the Passion, Death, and Resurrection of Christ but also the Ascension, the Descent of the Holy Spirit, and the Second Coming. “As oft as ye eat this bread and drink this cup ye show forth the Lord’s death until He comes" (I Cor. 11:26). The Liturgy is the greatest Mystery that we can participate in; we should not come unprepared. At the Liturgy we are not simply remembering something which happened 2,000 years ago — that is Protestant theology; nor are we repeating something which cannot be repeated, which happened once and for all — that is Roman Catholic theology; we are present at the actual event we remember whether it be the Nativity, the Resurrection, or Pentecost. Actually, all these events are made present to us and we to them in a mysterious but nonetheless real way. God, Who is outside of time, sees all eternity at once. For Him the Passion, Death, and Resurrection of Christ are now and He unites our poor worship to the event which we remember.

When the priest, at the beginning of the Liturgy, opens the Royal Doors and lifts the Gospel Book and says, "Blessed is the Kingdom of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit," that Kingdom is opened to us. The Liturgy is the door between this world and the next. When the curtain is drawn back, the veil which separates heaven from earth is drawn back. When we are present at Liturgy, we should forget time; what we are going to do later; what is in the oven. Forget all of that and be taken for a while from time into eternity, from the here and now into timelessness. We say the same thing about the holy icons — that they are windows into heaven. When the curtain of the icon screen is drawn, we are admitted to eternity and that which has happened in the past is made present to us and we participate in it in a mysterious but nonetheless real way.

The Liturgy is the corporate worship of the people of God; most days we will be praying privately or, at most, as a family. Of what should this prayer consist? We have talked about our morning prayers and we will talk about our evening prayers; I would now like to talk about the Jesus Prayer. This kind of prayer is the duty of all Orthodox which must not be neglected. In order to begin the practice of the prayer of Jesus, Bishop Ignatius Brianchaninov teaches us that we must first lead a wise and disciplined life, avoiding all luxuries and carnal pleasures. We must watch over our sight, hearing, and other senses and limit our speech to the needful. This does not mean, however, that we should all retire into solitude. He who truly learns the prayer of Jesus learns well how to live in a true solitude. Several Fathers, like St. Alexis the Man of God, St. John the Hut-dweller, and St. Vitalius, practiced solitude of the heart and true seclusion while living in the world.

The words of the prayer are: "Lord, Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me a sinner". We can set aside special times to say the Jesus Prayer; we can include it in our prayer rule; we can substitute it for our prayers if we do not have a book or even if we do, if our spiritual father blesses this. The Jesus Prayer is meant to be said not only at fixed times but always and everywhere. If you have not yet read The Way of the Pilgrim, you should do so. This little book has done much to acquaint many with the Prayer of Jesus in particular and with Orthodoxy in general. The holy Apostle says in I Thess. 5:17 to "Pray constantly." There are many, many times in the course of the day in which we can use the Prayer — washing, dressing, eating, etc. The main thing is remembering to pray. We can wear our Prayer Rope, which will remind us to use it. We can only touch on the Prayer of Jesus now, but we must mention it in discussing a day in the life of an Orthodox Christian. It is a means of remaining in the presence of God during the day between our morning and evening prayers. Whatever occupies our time — whether we are students, housewives, executives, laborers, clergy — this prayer is for all Orthodox. Recently, a non-Orthodox came to me and wanted to discuss the Prayer of Jesus. I read him the following from an introduction to The Way of the Pilgrim: "The key for understanding the Prayer of Jesus is given first and foremost by belonging in doctrine and worship to the Church which gave it birth."

Let us not forget our prayers at meals, especially if we are eating out. We must not be ashamed to make the sign of the Cross in public: "Whosoever shall be ashamed of Me and of My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him also shall the Son of Man be ashamed when He cometh in the glory of His Father with the holy angels." (Mark 8:38). Recently, all the crucifixes in a Toronto Roman Catholic hospital came down because a rabbi complained that they were offensive to Jews. There used to be one in every room. Remember also that the time is coming when I will no longer be able to make the sign of the Cross and someone else will make it over me.

We have mentioned morning prayers, Confession, reading, Liturgy, the Prayer of Jesus, prayers at meals; before we come to evening prayers, let us talk about Vespers. Apart from the Prayers Before Holy Communion, Vespers, along with Matins, is the best possible preparation for Liturgy. If we are absent from these services for a cause worthy of a blessing, as the prayers say, we should pray at home. Vespers is the evening worship of the Church and commences a new day. At Vespers we hear of the Saints we are remembering on the following day so we can read in the Lives of the Saints about them. If we do not attend Vespers or look at our calendar or read the troparia and kontakia of the day, the day will pass without our knowing of the Saints of the day. Vespers is the key to the forthcoming day. Every Orthodox Christian should know on any given day at least the names of the saints of that day, if nothing more. Perhaps we have Vespers only once or twice in the week, perhaps more often. We should avail ourselves of this service. It is sad to see Roman Catholic churches with their daily mass and Anglican churches, in downtown Toronto at least, with daily Morning and Evening Prayer, while the so-called Orthodox churches remain locked up tight from one Sunday to the next.

Now we come to the end of the day in the life of an Orthodox Christian, the time in which we say our evening prayers. We must have an icon corner not only where we can pray together as a family, but where we can pray privately. Again, as in our morning prayers our prayer should consist of Holy God, the Lord's Prayer, Christ is Risen (during Pascha), O lord and Master of my life (during the Great Fast), and as many of the evening prayers as I am moved to say — but unhurried and with as much attention and devotion as possible. We can make use of the Jesus Prayer; of the reading of Scripture, however brief, especially if you have missed it up until now; and of the Communion prayers.

Do not be upset when you are distracted and find your mind wandering due to fatigue or for whatever reason. As soon as you are aware that this is happening, come back to your prayer. Prayer is not an exercise in self-satisfaction, it is for the glory of God and communion with Him. The prayer which costs me the most is the most acceptable to God. This bears repeating. When I am fighting distraction, when I am fighting sleep, when I would rather do almost anything than pray and still do pray or try to pray: this is the prayer which is most acceptable to God, not necessarily the prayer that makes me feel good. Distrust your feelings. When you feel that you are making progress in the spiritual life, be wary! Let God be the judge of that; I am not capable of doing that. Do not let the devil deceive you by thinking that if I do not feel I love God, then I guess I do not. If I do not feel I am sorry for my sins, I guess I am not. The Christian life is never a matter of feelings, but of heart, mind, and will. I will to love God with all my heart and soul and being. I will to be sorry for my sins, whether I feel sorry or not. I must pray when I feel nothing. I must move my lips and form the words. Often, it is a case of the heart, mind, and will catching up with the mouth, as it were. If I do not even pray with my tongue or use a book when I feel nothing, there will be nothing for the heart, the mind, and the will to catch up with. Let us hear no more denigration of formal prayers, of formulas, of Prayer Books. I may be able to pray with my heart, mind, and will off the top of my head once in a while, but not all the time and for most of us, not most of the time. If we only pray when we feel moved in heart to do so, we will not "pray constantly" as the holy Apostle instructs us to do.

One of my favorite evening prayers, which should be said immediately prior to getting into bed, is the prayer of St. John of Damascus: "O Master that loveth all men, will not this bed be my grave? Or will Thou again enlighten my condemned soul with the day? Behold, the grave lieth before me. Behold death standeth before me."

This is one of the secrets of the Christian life — to live each day as though it will be our last. Not that we can literally do that, but that can be our goal, our aim. You will be amazed at what this attitude can do for you. Suddenly everything will take on its proper perspective. Everything will fall into place. One day it will be my last day and I do not know when that day will be. It could be in fifty or sixty years from now or it could be today or tomorrow. This does not mean that I have to be morbid. If I am trying to live each day as though it might be my last, far from being morbid, I will be filled with joy because my conscience will be right before God and that will produce peace and happiness in my soul.

Speaking of conscience, now is the time, at the end of the day to examine my conscience, to ask how I have sinned in the course of the day, how I have offended God and my neighbor. Now is the time to look into my soul and not to close my eyes in sleep until I have asked for God's forgiveness for whatever sins I have committed in the course of the day and to promise to try to do better. That is repentance. It will do no good to examine my conscience if I do not intend to do better. Then we have no real repentance. That is morbid!

Thus we come to the end of a day in the life of an Orthodox Christian. Just as my waking thoughts were of God, so now, as I close my eyes, my thoughts must be of Him. I can continue the Jesus Prayer; I may use the words of our Lord on the Cross: "Father, into Thy hands I commend my spirit" or the words of the holy first martyr, St. Stephen: "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit."

"This is the day which the Lord hath made, let us rejoice and be glad in it."