SYNAXIS OF THE MOST-HOLY THEOTOKOS

On the second day of Christ’s Nativity, the Church unites its joy over the newborn Saviour of the world with a fervent glorification of the Mother of God. And throughout all the days of the celebration of Nativity, this joy is indivisible for us. In venerating the Lord, we venerate His Mother. In worshipping the Sun of truth in the Orient from on high, we glorify the One Who, like the dawn, precedes this sun. And not only precedes, but carries within Herself and bears into the world this Divine life and light. Heaven and earth gaze in awe upon the incomprehensible honor of the Virgin Who is called the Mother of God – the Mother of the One Who created heaven and earth. “Behold the handmaiden of the Lord,” – says the Holy Virgin, but God calls Her His Mother. She is the Mother and a handmaiden at the same time, always the Mother and always a handmaiden, just as Her Son – God and Man – is always God and always Man.

Just as She attains Her majesty through humility, so She attains Her motherhood through virginity. She retains virginity and becomes a mother, uniting two mysteries of life that never exist simultaneously. Mankind stands before these two mysteries, unable to comprehend them without Her. In Christ’s Nativity Her virginity is not only preserved, but it is elevated, it is crowned, it blossoms through Her motherhood. And Her motherhood is sacredly prepared, blessedly attained, and divinely perfected by Her virginity. All virgins and mothers participate to some degree in this mystery – sacred motherhood is attained only through chastity, while chastity is affirmed by motherhood, not to mention the fact that true chastity is revealed in spiritual nativity and spiritual motherhood. It is written: “More are the children of the desolate than the children of the married wife” (Isaiah 54:1).

Today we celebrate the feast of Nativity in a world where motherhood is desecrated and virginity is derided, where the routine killing of one’s own unborn children – a Bethlehem-type massacre of infants on a planetary scale, – and the everyday commonness of depravity attest more clearly than the most terrible prophecies to the fact that man without God cannot be man. There are many people who welcome the Lord and the Holy Virgin, beginning with the manger at Bethlehem (where, as the Gospel tells us, one can see the Infant and His Mother) and ending with the Cross, from which the Saviour of mankind says to His disciple: “Behold thy Mother!” (John 19:27). And yet there are many people who pass by, trampling upon everything! To be chosen as the Mother of God signifies the bearing of a cross. No one knows the mystery of birth, life, and death of each person as She does. And no one can pray for mankind with such compassion and such love as She, because She is the Mother of all living persons and the Mother of the Living God.

Let us try today to ponder as deeply as possible the mystery of the Mother of God’s intercession. Here, in the manger of Bethlehem, for Her He is simultaneously the Saviour of the world and a growing infant. An infant similar to others, yet at the same time the pre-eternal Son – the One Who, at the Pre-eternal Council, chose to take upon Himself the burden of the world. Thus She carried Her infant like any other mother carries her firstborn. However, She had to be prepared by the Holy Spirit for the burden of the world’s sins, which Her Son was due to carry.

Through Her faith She can clearly understand what it all means. She, Who never sinned even in Her thoughts, according to St. Siluan the Athonite, knows what sin means. She knows exactly the degree of insult to God that sin represents, and from the moment when She began to carry Her Son within Her, sin became more than just an outward manifestation for Her, because He Who will take upon His shoulders the sins of all men is living inside Her. It was as though She carried within Herself the penitence of the whole world. In every sin She comes across, She sees and knows: for this He has come, this will be the cause of His suffering, because of this He will die.

And on the day of Christ’s Nativity, when in a gladsome light the power of Divine forgiveness is revealed to Her, She stands before this ocean of grace in a totally different manner. Up to now She carried grace concealed within Herself. Although She was surrounded by the breath of the Spirit, She did not know Him before as well as She does now. She sees God with Her own eyes and touches Him with Her own hands, and She prays for everyone. And the satanic depths of sin are bared before Her as never before in the spiritual light of Nativity, and Her prayer becomes invincible like the weapon of the cross, which even at this moment pierces Her heart.

Christian mothers, Christian maidens, and all Orthodox Christians! Among the terrible temptations of the world, when almost everyone cedes without any resistance to insolent and shameless sin, the Church repeats over and over again the words of St. John Chrysostome: “All tasks in life should retreat before the task of rearing children,” and the words of the Holy Optina elders: “To preserve chastity in our times is to preserve everything.” And when your hearts despair from the hopelessness of doing something good, – turn to the Mother of God. Her prayer truly performs the impossible. Amen.

 

  Protopriest Alexander Shargunov

 

 

 

THE ADORATION OF THE MAGI

 

Nine months before the Nativity of Christ, during the Archangel Gabriel’s annunciation to the Holy Virgin Mary concerning God’s incarnation within Her, a new star of the east appeared in the heavens. This was an extraordinary star indeed. According to the Holy Fathers (Sts. John Chrysostome and Theophilactus), this star was not one of the regular celestial bodies, but a certain divine and angelic power which appeared in the form of a star. All other stars have their own place in heaven, while this star could also be seen in the air; all stars usually move from east to west, while this star moved unusually from east to south, in the specific direction of Jerusalem; all stars shine only in the night, while this star shone like the sun even during the day; all stars are in constant movement, while this star sometimes moved and sometimes stopped, i.e. when the magi traveled, then the star traveled with them, and when they rested, then the star stood, too.

This extraordinary star was seen by three magi, or wise men, in three different countries – Persia, Arabia, and Ethiopia. Being learned men, they knew astronomy and studied the stars, and thus, seeing such an unusual phenomenon in the skies, they realized that something supernatural had taken place in the world. Then, inspired by God, they remembered the ancient prophecy of another stargazer, Valaam, who had said: “A star will shine forth from Jacob, and a man will arise from Israel.” The magi realized that the time had come for the Lord and King of the universe to be born, and that this was His star, foretold ages ago. Then each one of them left his own country and embarked upon travel to Judea, in order to worship the newborn God. During their travel they met one another and continued on their way in unison.

Traveling thus for several months, the magi finally came to Judea and reached its capital – Jerusalem – on the very day of Christ’s Nativity. However, when they approached Jerusalem, the star that was leading them suddenly disappeared from view. This happened so that King Herod and the envious Jewish priests would not be able to find the Christ-Child and kill Him prematurely, and also because the Jewish populace was not worthy of seeing the wondrous star: the magi were pagans, and yet had come from afar to worship Christ, while the Jews had Him right beside them, and yet disdained Him.

Upon entering Jerusalem, the magi began asking: “Where is the newborn King of Judea? We have seen His star in the east and have come to worship Him.” This news amazed the populace and shook up King Herod and all the Jewish leaders. Deciding to kill Christ, in Whom he saw a future rival for himself, Herod summoned the magi, questioned them about the appearance of the new star, and cunningly sent them to discover the location of the newborn Child, in order to subsequently pass on the information to Herod.

When the magi left Jerusalem, the familiar star again appeared right away and went before them. It led them all the way to Bethlehem, to the cave, and stopped over the Christ-Child. And then an extraordinary event took place: the star left the firmament and came down to earth, and showed the magi the exact location of Christ. Here was further indication that this was not an ordinary star, but a special divine power.

Finding Christ in the cave, the magi knelt down to the ground before Him, worshipping Him as God, and gave Him their gifts. What gifts did they bring? Gold, incense, and myrrh: gold for Him as King, incense for Him as God, myrrh for Him as a mortal man. The first magus – Melchior, old and grey, with long hair and beard, – brought the gold. The second magus – Gaspar, young and beardless, with a rosy face, – brought the incense. The third magus – Balthazar, with a dark complexion and a long beard, – brought the myrrh.

Several church canticles movingly describe this wondrous moment, depicting the Virgin Mary as though speaking to Her newborn Son: “Having recognized Thee as a King just born, the oriental kings have come, bringing gifts to Thee, My Son, – incense, myrrh, and gold. And now they are standing at the entrance. Bid them enter and look upon Thee, an Infant in My arms, yet more ancient than Adam.” “'Come and enter carefully, – said the Virgin to the magi – and ye will see the Unseen One, Who can now be seen as a Child.’ And they entered assiduously and knelt down, and presented their gifts, fulfilling the divine prophecy.”

Afterwards, being instructed by an angel not to return to Herod, who was planning to kill Christ, the magi went another way and returned each to his own land, and there became teachers and preachers of Christ. They taught people to believe in Christ as the Son of God, just as they believed in Him themselves, and after their repose they became numbered among the saints.

 

  Father Rostislav Sheniloff

 

 

 

 

HOMILY FOR THE SUNDAY OF THE PRODIGAL SON

 

The preparatory weeks for Great Lent have now arrived, dear brethren. Each one of them offers us some touching instruction. Today we are presented with the prodigal son. The Gospel tells us of how a certain son demanded his inheritance from his father. The father was kind: he did not argue, nor did he object, but gave his son that part of the estate to which he was entitled.

The son took the paternal inheritance, and very soon he departed for distant lands in order to squander this inheritance. Far away from the father, the son lived quite willfully, did not work, did not labor. In this manner his inheritance was soon spent, and he became poor, he went hungry, he became totally unwanted. All his former friends, who had so assiduously helped him fritter away his inheritance, now turned away from him, and he was barely able to find the demeaning work of a swineherd.

And at this point, dear brethren, this prodigal son – beggared, hungry, tattered, unwanted – underwent a complete transformation. He came to his senses, experienced an enlightenment of the soul. He recognized his mistake, he realized how lost he was, he remembered his former pleasant and bright life in the care of his affectionate father, and he felt a strong desire to return to this kind and merciful father.

The prodigal son underwent such a strong transformation that not only did he recognize his mistake, but he recognized it precisely as being a sin, and this realization brought him to the same remorseful state of humility that we saw in the publican the previous week. The publican humbly asks God the Father to forgive him his sins; the prodigal son humbly asks his father to take him back – no longer as a son, but as a lowliest servant.

Thus, as we see from these two parables, – humility and repentance are the royal way directly to God. The publican left the temple justified and spiritually-uplifted, while the returning prodigal son was met halfway by the father, who lovingly embraced him and restored him to his former dignity to an even greater degree.

Well, my dear brethren, as every parable recounted to us by the Lord, this parable of the prodigal son moves us and penetrates to the depth of our souls. But it also bears a very direct relation to us: the prodigal son is each one of us, each person who distances himself from the Lord God. Each time we sin – we abandon God; like the prodigal son we take our inheritance, i.e. all that we have in our lives, and we go away to squander our earthly lives, since we do not live in accordance with our calling as Orthodox Christians. We, humans, are the sons of God. We do not have anything of our own except sin. All that we have has been given to us by God. But we forget that. We live very willfully, we do not pray, we do not keep the fast, we give ourselves over to our passions. Like the prodigal son we fritter away our inheritance when we distance ourselves from the Orthodox Church, when we pray together with heretics, when we disdain the wealth of church sacraments, especially the sacraments of confession and communion.

At the same time, as we ourselves try to return to the heavenly Father, we should not condemn other lost people, but should pray for them daily. There is a very simple and potent prayer: “Remember, o Lord, those who have broken away from the Orthodox faith and have been blinded by destructive heresy; enlighten them with the light of knowing Thee and add them to Thy holy church.”

As in the parable, our Heavenly Father does not impede our going away, because we have been given free will. He only sorrows over us and waits for our return. The prodigal son came to a realization of his sin before his father. Thus we, too, should constantly do the same: recognize our sins before God the Father; for this reason we are now given the special season of repentance known as Great Lent.

However, we must recognize our sins and repent of them sincerely. How many times the priest hears the following words during confession: “Well, I really have not done anything terrible…” No, dear brethren, that is precisely what is terrible – not to recognize one’s sinfulness. This comes from extreme pride. And at this precise point we must learn humility from the publican and the prodigal son. We must say together with the publican: “Lord, have mercy upon me, a sinner.” We must say together with the prodigal son: “I have sinned, Father, before heaven and Thee.”

The Lord allows us to go away and sin as we wish, but He waits for us to return to Him. And when we come back to Him, He goes out to meet us halfway, showers us with spiritual gifts, gives a spiritual feast for us. Let us hurry, dear brethren, to our most precious Heavenly Father, Who is so generous and merciful and long-suffering. Let us recognize the entire sinfulness of our lives, let us lave ourselves in the tears of repentance, let us unite with God in the sacrament of communion. The Lord Himself has said that there is great joy in heaven among the angels over even a single repentant sinner. Amen.

 

     Father Rostislav Sheniloff

 

 

 

CHRISTIAN TEACHING

 

Spiritual life according to St. Seraphim of Sarov

 

God is a spirit, and the life of the Divinity is spiritual. This spirituality is founded upon the essence of the Divine nature, in which unity is combined with diversity.

The Lord wished to have man, whom He had created, also live a spiritual life, and for this He gave him His own likeness as the basis of Godliness in spiritual life. The Lord created for man a body out of dust, but elevated it by life given through an act of creation. This body is essentially similar to the body of animals, but differs from it in its form and beauty, which are a symbol of perfection.

God gave man a soul, this conscious force that is like unto the soul of animals, which guides the instincts of nourishment and self-preservation, but is elevated above it by the capabilities of its vital manifestations.

Finally, the Lord gave man a spirit, one in essence with God’s spirit, but differing from It in its dependence and limitations.

This simultaneous unity and diversity of all parts permeated man’s entire nature. The body was subordinate to the soul and was tended by it, the soul was subordinate to the spirit which provided guidance for the soul, while the spirit was subordinate to the Lord God in His creative concern for all. Despite the diversity of his parts, man was nevertheless conscious of himself as a single entity. This unity in man’s nature was the first condition of his spiritual life. The diversity of the parts did not disturb this unity; on the contrary, it stimulated man to aspire upward to perfection for the sake of such unity.

The body, experiencing sweetness, found well-being and goodness in it, and thus aspired in its life to soulfulness and united with it. The soul found a certain spirituality in the pleasantness of life and thus elevated itself to the level of the spirit and united with it. The spirit, in its divergence from God, aspired towards Him and in the divineness of sensations elevated itself to union with Him. Aspiration towards perfection, founded upon diversity and motivated by a desire for unity, was the second condition of man’s spiritual life.

This aspiration was expressed in obedience to God. Man constantly had to coordinate his will with the will of God, which he knew directly from God and also from moral law. His accord with the will of God was always confirmed to him by his clear conscience. Necessary obedience to God was the third condition of spiritual life.

Finally, the Lord breathed into man the breath of life and animated him with the grace of the Holy Spirit. The power of Divine grace helped man maintain unity and accomplish this aspiration towards perfection through constant obedience to God. The state of being filled with the grace of the Holy Spirit was the last and major condition of spiritual life.

But, unfortunately, this spiritual life did not last long. Man sinned and in his sinfulness was deprived of the aid of the Holy Spirit, without which unity was destroyed, aspiration towards perfection ceased, and obedience vanished. Man fell, and in his fall he distanced himself from God, forgot Him, ceased to thank and glorify Him. Unity and obedience in nature were destroyed by the fact that the body ceased to be subordinate to the soul, the soul to the spirit, the spirit to God. Aspiration upwards, to perfection, was replaced by a pull downwards, to perdition. The spirit descended to the level of the soul, and the soul to the level of the body. Instead of aspiring towards God, the spirit took upon itself the functions of the soul and became worldly in its manifestations. The soul weakened in its awareness of its difference from animals and descended to their level. The body in its natural needs was reduced by a weakened spirit to a state of senselessness and was punished for natural and unnatural sins by grave illnesses.

Obedience was replaced by consistent defiance against God the Holy Spirit. Spiritual life ceased to exist and became replaced by spiritual distortion and physical depravity. Godliness also vanished, life became senseless and existence aimless. Man no longer wished for good, and even had he wished it, he did not do the good he wished, but committed the evil he did not wish.

Who could deliver him from such misery? Only the Creator, Who knew how much good was incorporated into man’s nature and how perfect man can be in union with Him. And thus this Creator, our Lord Jesus Christ, comes down to earth, takes upon Himself the image of man, and becomes like unto him in all but sin. He – the God-man – calls people to repentance and to union with God, in order to return them once again to the Kingdom of God. Through personal example, miracle-working, and Divine teaching He enlightens their minds with the light of truth and fills their hearts with belief in Him as the Redeemer and Saviour. Inspired by such faith, people draw near to Christ, and from God’s enemies they turn into His children, brothers, and friends. Christ’s compassionate love pene-rates their hearts and evokes love for Christ in response, uniting them with Him in a single community of believers.

Christ passes through His life’s path by combating evil and ends by vanquishing it, for He does not sin, but ascends into heaven. Together with Him He elevates human nature, still pure and unmarred by sin: the angels are amazed at such a transformation of humanity and worship it in the person of the God-man – Christ.

The people remaining on earth do not sever their connection with Christ. Ardent faith elevates them into heaven, too, while love unites them with Christ in one unbroken whole – a living organism – the one Holy Church headed by Christ, in which they all are members. This church is spiritualized by the grace of the Holy Spirit and through its sacraments offers a holy and immortal life in constant unity with God. By confessing his Orthodox faith in Christ and making use of these sacraments, each member of the Church becomes a participant in this grace-filled life and is spiritually reborn.

Thus, in cleansing himself of the original sin through the sacrament of baptism, man restores his spiritual purity, while in the sacrament of anointment with myrrh he receives strength for a virtuous life and the attainment of perfection.

Personal sinfulness on the path to such perfection is cleansed by the grace of penitence, while in the sacrament of Holy Communion man unites with Christ and emerges a new creation. The original desire for good is revived in him, and he gathers strength for the realization of this desire in a virtuous life. Man becomes Christian, and shining thoughts, pure feelings, and lofty desires reappear within him. A new spiritual life is revived, and unity in his nature and in his attitude towards God and others is restored. In his obedience he acknowledges the will of God, while in fulfilling it he gradually draws near to Him and spiritually improves.

His entire life revolves around God; he lives for His sake and is constantly sanctified by the Holy Spirit. This power of the grace of the Holy Spirit fills his entire being, and makes him, while he is still here on earth, a participant in celestial joy and spiritual bliss. Such was the salvific spiritual life led by all our hierarchs and ascetics, such was the life led by St. Seraphim, and to such a life he called all those who came to him for guidance.

St. Seraphim believed that every Christian should maintain within himself this internal unity and establish spiritual orderliness. This is best achieved by fasting. Lent tames the body’s sensuality, restrains the soul’s worldly busyness, and provides the spirit with the freedom to pray. In this manner the subordination of the body to the soul, the soul to the spirit, and the spirit to God, which had been initially established by God, is restored and maintained in man’s nature.

Unity with people is maintained by manifesting love through deeds of charity. In each person we must see a creation of God similar to ourselves, filled with grace through the gifts of God’s love and mercy, and thus meriting also our own love and charity. Such commonality of God’s mercy should unite us with other people, while the only difference we should find between us is that we are sinful, while they are more virtuous. This will encourage us to be humble and meek, and will lead to unity with others in following the example of their virtuousness.

Unity with God, on St. Seraphim’s advice, is maintained through constant remembrance of Him. We should become used to having the Lord in our thoughts, and then we will grow close to Him and will love Him, and in loving Him we will become capable of self-sacrifice for Him. Constant remembrance of God is stimulated by prayer, which encourages the growth of the fear of God in our hearts for the sake of our love for Him, so that sin does not separate us from the Lord. Sincere prayer brings forth tears of repentance and remorse, and illuminates the heart with the rays of Christ’s truth. When encountering distraction in prayer, we must humble ourselves and ask God for forgiveness. A prayerful mood also comprises genuine Christian hope, when a person seeks the Kingdom of God and is convinced that all that is needful for salvation in this earthly life will be given to him; this differs from the hope of vanity, in which a person believes in his own powers and turns to God only in case of failure.

Aside from unity, spiritual life also requires a striving for perfection. This striving, according to St. Seraphim, should be for the sake of Christ, because only such a striving brings us close to God and is salvific for us. Perfection without Christ is regarded by God benevolently, but does not bring salvation; in order to be salvific it should lead to belief in Christ and perfection for His sake, just as it did in the life of the centurion Cornilius. In like manner good deeds without Christ are simply pleasing to God, while if done for the sake of Christ – they bring salvation, for they fill a person with the grace of God. It is to such perfection that every person must aspire in his spiritual life. This aspiration should be expressed in constant obedience to the will of God.

St. Seraphim teaches us that there are three wills: one is Satanic – destruc        tive, which encourages the doing of good for the sake of vanity and pride; the second is human – neither salvific, nor destructive; and the third is the will of God – salvific. We can know this will from reading the word of God. Such reading brings forth tears, warms the soul with tenderness, and fills the heart with the gifts of a spiritual, grace-filled life. Such a life finds its meaning only in the acquisition of the Holy Spirit. The grace-filled power of the Holy Spirit maintains within us internal unity and spiritual purity, gives us strength for an unimpeded striving towards perfection through constant obedience to the Creator, fills the soul with the joy of being, and leads us to God, in order to live an immortal life together with Him.

Such is salvific spiritual life according to the teaching of St. Seraphim. If we were to ask ourselves – do we live such a life? – we would find an answer in the following example. If someone, standing and praying in church, is unable to overcome physical weakness and goes out, as an obedient servant of his body, for a smoke or idle talk, – such a one does not lead a spiritual life. If someone, getting up from sleep, is unable to overcome the soul’s attraction for material concerns and carelessly leaves his bed without the sign of a cross and a prayer to God, – such a one does not lead a spiritual life. If someone does good only for the sake of vanity and strives for perfection without Christ, – such a one does not lead a spiritual life. If someone has not acquired the habit of testing the will of God in his actions and making sure they are pleasing to Him, – such a one has not yet stepped onto the path of spiritual life.

And finally, whoever lives outside the true, holy, and orthodox Church, without confession and communion, without the grace-filled aid of the gifts of the Holy Spirit, – such a one cannot lead a salvific spiritual life. A salvific spiritual life is possible only within the church community and with the aid of the grace of the Holy Spirit.

This is the kind of life that our Lord Jesus Christ has restored to us, and the kind of life to which we are called by the glorified saint of God – St. Seraphim.

 

(Reprinted from “Orthodox Life”)

 

 

 

LIVES OF THE SAINTS

 

On January 15^th (the 2^nd by the old calendar) the Church commemorates the great Russian saint, the venerable Seraphim, wonderworker of Sarov.

St. Seraphim was born in the city of Kursk. His father, Isidor Moshnin, owned a bricklaying plant and accepted orders to build churches and houses. He and the saint’s mother Agafiya were very kind people, pious and loyal to God’s churches. On July 19, 1857 a second son was born to Isidor and Agafiya Moshnin. He was called Prokhor. At the age of three little Prokhor became orphaned after the death of his father.

The widow Moshnina did not abandon her husband’s business and continued to build churches, including the one that later became the Kursk Cathedral of our Lady of Kazan. St. Seraphim’s mother personally oversaw the construction of the church. Once, when her second son was 7 years old, she went up to the very top of the belfry to look at the construction. Little Prokhor ran up to the edge and fell down to the ground from a great height. Great was the mother’s gratitude to God when she ran downstairs and found her son standing unharmed on the ground.

There was another case of God’s special benevolence towards little Prokhor. Several years later he became very sick. His mother expected him to die, but fervently prayed to God to grant health to her son. And a miracle occurred: in his dreams little Prokhor saw the Mother of God, Who promised that he would be well. Several days later the miraculous icon of the Kursk Mother of God (which is now the Protectress of our Church Abroad) was carried in a procession along the street where the Moshnin house stood. Suddenly there was a downpour, and the people who were carrying the icon took a shortcut through the Moshnin estate. The mother carried out her sick son to the icon. The icon passed over the sick boy, and from that moment Prokhor began to get well and was soon in good health. Afterwards he embarked upon school studies. He studied well, and the reading of the Bible and church books gave him the greatest pleasure. He liked to go to church and did not miss a single service.

Prokhor’s older brother owned a store. They wanted to train young Prokhor for the trade too, but he begged his mother to let him go into a monastery. The pious mother agreed and, when saying farewell to him, blessed him with a large copper cross which he wore his entire life. Prokhor was 18 years old at that time. He was a very strong and healthy young man, quite tall, but meek and humble, had a straight nose, very expressive and penetrating light blue eyes, bushy eyebrows, and light blond hair.

Taking leave of his mother, Prokhor went off to Kiev to venerate the holy relics. Here a certain clairvoyant ascetic advised Prokhor to go to the Sarov hermitage and remain there for good. That is what Prokhor did. In 1770 Prokhor came down with a very grave illness. At that time he was already so respected for his ascetic life, that the monks and the abbot himself took care of him. They offered prayers for him in church, and he took Holy Communion. And after that he had a vision: the Most-holy Theotokos appeared to him together with the apostles Peter and John, touched his feet with Her staff, and placed Her hand on his head. Prokhor got well.

In 1786 Prokhor was tonsured with the name of Seraphim, which means “flaming,” and two months later he was ordained a hierodeacon. St. Seraphim’s spiritual feats of prayer were so great that the Lord visibly manifested His benevolence towards him. Once, during the first week of Great Lent, St. Seraphim saw a vision in church: the Lord Jesus Christ entered the church with a host of angels, blessed all who were praying, and then entered His icon on the iconostasis. The vision so astounded St. Seraphim that he became numb: he was rendered immobile and had to be led into the altar, where he stood in a stupor for two hours.

In 1793 St. Seraphim was ordained a hieromonk and soon received blessing to live in solitude in a dense forest located approximately six kilometers from Sarov. The saint’s cell was a small, simple hut surrounded by a vegetable garden. For many years he lived in this desolate place, which was later called the outer hermitage. He wore the same clothes in winter and summer: a white linen coverall, leather mittens, bast sandals, an old kamelaukion (priest’s headgear) on his head, and his mother’s blessing – the copper cross – on his chest. Living in the forest, St. Seraphim prayed and labored continuously. Often he made a thousand prostrations. On Sundays and holidays he went to the monastery to take communion and sometimes conversed with the monks. His main instruction to them was concerning the need for constant prayer, either the Jesus prayer or the Theotokos prayer.

The saint’s life in the forest was very difficult. He suffered terrible temptations from the demons. In order to vanquish them, St. Seraphim embarked upon the following endeavor for one thousand days and nights: during the day he stood on his knees on a large stone in his cell, while at night he stood on a large stone in the forest, and continuously said the Jesus prayer. Such an extreme feat of prayer caused severe suffering in his legs for the rest of his life. Evil persons increased the saint’s suffering even more. In 1804 he was attacked by three peasants who demanded money from him. St. Seraphim was very strong and could have easily repulsed the attack, but he did not defend himself. The villains hit him over the head with an axe, stomped on him with their feet, and beat him with a cudgel, then wreaked havoc on his cell, searching for money, but did not find anything except some icons and a few potatoes in the oven. St. Seraphim, in a horrible state, was barely able to reach the monastery. His head was broken and his body was covered with terrible wounds. Physicians were immediately called to his side, but while they consulted over how to treat him, the saint had another vision: once again the Mother of God came to him with the apostles Peter and John. St. Seraphim then refused all medical aid and soon got well, although he remained forever hunchbacked. The villains who had beaten up the saint were soon found, but he forgave them and asked that they not be punished; however, the Lord Himself punished them: their huts and all their property burned down in a fire.

Some time later St. Seraphim returned to his deserted cell and took on a new spiritual labor – that of silence. He lived thus for three years. But then the monastery’s council of elders decided that the saint should come back to the monastery. St. Seraphim obeyed, but took on an even more difficult labor – that of total seclu sion, never leaving his cell and never allowing anyone in. After the first five years of seclusion St. Seraphim began to open the doors of his cell, but did not speak to anyone, and only after the second five years he began to reply to questions and to talk to the monastery brethren.

In 1825 the Mother of God appeared to the saint in a vision and commanded him to leave his seclusion and to receive everyone. At that time the saint was 66 years old. During the next 7 years St. Seraphim received all who came to him and gave spiritual help to all, healing many people of illness. The saint had a daily quota of 2000 visitors, and on holidays there were 5000 and more. One can confidently say that during the last 7 years of his life, all of believing Russia visited St. Seraphim. With extra kindness the elder received those who wished to abandon their sinful lives, and gave them miraculous help. All people – rich and poor, noble and common – were received by the saint equally, while through his gift of clairvoyance he revealed to many people right away why they had come to him and what their need was. He greeted everyone with the words: “My joy, Christ is risen!”

Shortly before his death the saint once again saw a vision: the Mother of God came to him together with St. John the Baptist, St. John the Theologian, and several holy virgins. Blessing the elder, the Theotokos said to him: “Soon, My beloved one, you will be with us.” On January 1, 1833, on New Year’s day, the saint took communion and bid farewell to all the monks, while early in the morning of January 2nd the monks entered the saint’s cell and found him reposed. He was standing on his knees in a prayerful position, in his usual place before his favorite icon of the Mother of God, with his hands folded in the form of a cross and an expression of wondrous tranquility on his face.

Remembrance of the wondrous elder spread throughout Russia. Crowds of pilgrims thronged to the Sarov monastery to his grave, and many received miraculous aid through prayers to St. Seraphim. On July 19, 1903 the great Saint Seraphim was glorified among the saints. The Tsar-Martyr Nicholas II and the Royal Family attended the festivities in honor of the saint’s glorification, and the Tsar personally carried the saint’s honorable coffin.

 

 

THE CALENDAR ISSUE

 

Against the background of all the world events of the 16th and 17th centuries, when Byzantium collapsed, when the Orthodox Russian Empire grew and became stronger, when Western Europe underwent reformation, there occurred yet another event that had extremely important consequences.

Pope Gregory XIII, having been persuaded that the solar calendar was inaccurate and required correction, decided to correct the calendar with the help of his two Vatican astronomers. By means of a narrow ray of sunlight, which fell across the floor of the so-called “calendar room” in the Vatican, it was proven to the Pope that the real length of the tropical solar year is not 365 and a quarter days, as it is counted in the Julian calendar, but slightly less. In reality, the tropical solar year is equal to 365 days, 5 hours, 48 minutes, and approximately 46 seconds. In the Julian calendar it is counted as 365 days and precisely 6 hours.

Impressed by such obvious inaccuracy, the Pope decided to correct a calendar that had been working perfectly for over 1,200 years. In the Julian calendar each fourth year is a leap year, i.e. there are three consecutive years of 365 days each, while in the fourth year an extra day is added at the end of February (February 29th). In order to reduce the average length of the year and have it approximate the tropical year, the Pope decided to abolish some of the leap years.

In the Gregorian reform the leap year is abolished in those century years whose centuries are not exactly divisible by 400, i.e. 1700, 1800, 2100, 2200, etc. In the century years that are exactly divisible by 400, the leap years are not abolished, i.e. in 1600, 2000, 2400, etc. Aside from this “correction,” nothing has changed in relation to the Julian calendar, i.e. every fourth year (besides those mentioned above) is a leap year just as in the Julian calendar.

Why has this “correction” been made and to what has it led? Let us look at the explanation provided by Pope Gregory XIII himself in his famous papal bull Inter Gravissimas, issued on February 24, 1582. In it he says: “It has been our concern not only to restore the equinox to its erstwhile appointed place, from which it has moved approximately ten days from the time of the Nicean Council (A.D. 325), and to return to the 14th Moon its proper place, from which it currently digresses by four or five days, but also to establish means and rules by which it could be achieved that in the future the equinox and the 14th Moon would never move from their places.” It is hard to imagine that Pope Gregory XIII did not know that what he had expressed in his bull was, firstly, absolutely impossible, secondly – totally unnecessary, and thirdly – extremely detrimental.

All the prominent scientists of those times, including the great Copernicus, decisively refused to participate in preparing this Gregorian reform. It was sufficiently clear to everyone that the length of the day, the length of the year, and the length of the month are magnitudes that do not divide among themselves exactly. That is, the result of their mutual division, or their quotient, always produces an irrational number. Therefore, one cannot speak of absolute accuracy in the matter of the calendar. And to secure something forever, to make sure, for example, that the equinox and the 14th Moon would never move from their places, is mathematically absolutely impossible. Even in the Gregorian calendar the equinox still moves a whole 24 hours in the course of every three thousand years or so.

Furthermore, no calendar has an essential value per se. Every calendar is valued only for the convenience of its applicability. A calendar’s most important value lies in its practicality and not in its abstract “accuracy.” No calendar can be “accurate,” and the accuracy of all calendars is always only relative. Fortunately, this circumstance does not prevent a calendar from being useful and applicable. The calendar which Pope Gregory decided to correct had been quite useful for more than 1,200 years, while the Pope’s “correction,” though it gave the solar calendar an extra degree of relative accuracy, made it totally unfit for use in the Church.

The question arises: what was that ancient calendar like and in what way was it useful? That calendar was and is the church calendar. It is one of the greatest achievements of ancient astronomy and one of the most glorious masterpieces of calendrical science. One must note that the church calendar is not simply the Julian calendar, and it uses the Julian solar calendar only partially in order to intertwine into a single whole, firstly – the tropical solar year, secondly – the monthly course of the moon, and thirdly – the weekly circle of days. This interweaving into a single whole of three magnitudes that are indivisible among themselves is what precisely constitutes the church calendar and is called the “Paschalion” (or paschal cycle).

In this church calendar one cycle comprises 532 years and one such cycle is called the “Concordant Circle.” In this brilliant Concordant Circle all errors in the interrelation between the year, the month, and the day of the week are mutually canceled out in the course of each cycle, so that at the end of one Concordant Circle and at the beginning of the next one the year, the month, the lunar phase, and the day of the week fall exactly on the same dates. In other words, every 532 years the church calendar begins anew at the same point.

From this point, where the dates of the year, the month, the lunar phase, and the day of the week coincide, the calendar once again unrolls through the course of 532 years, in order to return to the same exact point, only in a different time. This amazing cyclicity describes a wonderful spiral through time and, from the point of view of astronomy, leaves nothing better to be desired. This calendar is the only calendar that provides the opportunity for uninterrupted chronology both into the past and into the future. For this reason astronomy could never accept and will never be able to accept any other calendar, including, of course, the Gregorian one. It was, therefore, absolutely unnecessary and quite ludicrous to “correct” a calendar of such a degree of perfection.

 

Father Nikita Grigoryev

 

 

 

 

THE NATIVITY OF CHRIST

 

Those were indeed miraculous times, The words of prophets came to pass, Angels descended from above, The star moved forward from the East, The world awaited its redemption – And in the humble Bethlehem manger, With Eden’s laudatory singing, The wondrous Infant dazzled forth…   – L. Mey – Translated by Natalia Sheniloff