Even our ministers in America and elsewhere, under the pressure of the modern age of science, are weakening their zeal for ministry. They perform divine services indifferently, without zeal or enthusiasm. For example, some of them serve only pictorial services, instead of serving the full liturgy on Sunday. By doing so, they insult the canonical rules. If you ask them why they do this, the answer is usually that sometimes few believers come, and sometimes there are no believers at all; For whom, then, is the Eucharist celebrated? They forget that the liturgy is served not only for the sake of those present, but also for the sake of those who are absent. Remember that it is also served for the sake of the dead, whose number is immense, and whose souls are present at the service together with the angels. There is no church in the world that could accommodate all those who were invisibly present at every liturgy if they appeared in their bodily form. Where the Lord Jesus Christ is, there are the heavenly hosts that accompany Him.In addition, the priest must offer sacrifices for sins both for the people and for himself (Hebrews 5:3). Where, then, is the sacrifice in the figurative? Nowhere. And how can a priest give communion to a believer who suddenly comes during the pictorial services and waits for communion? Particles prepared for the sick, they will say. But you can't do that. Such priests also make mistakes in preaching. For they do not preach Christ crucified and the power of God. Their sermons are empty, they are rather scientific and humanitarian, and any Mason could subscribe to such sermons. People listen to them and forget them. One of these priests who served in America, when he was still very young, told me why he refused to preach such sermons. An elderly man was stricken with paralysis and his death was near. The doctor warned the relatives not to leave the patient's side: "If he dies in the evening, look after him." The old man was lying with his eyes closed, his heart slowing down. His wife put on his lips an icon depicting the Resurrection of Christ. He opened his eyes and tried to cross himself before kissing the icon. His wife raised her right hand to help him. Praying, she did not leave his bed until midnight. Then she left. At dawn, his family heard his voice. When they entered, they saw him sitting on the bed. Everyone was amazed. The old man said to them, "I don't feel any pain anymore, I feel quite well." When the priest came to him, he said, "Father, tell all the people what the Lord has done to me." "So I did," said the priest, "for the following Sunday in church I spoke of prayer and of the power of God, giving this example as proof; It made a deep impression, people told and retold it everywhere. And of what I've been preaching for years, they don't remember a word. And since then, in every sermon I have given some example of the power of God at work, whether it be from the lives of the saints or from our own personal experience. The world is full of such examples. Even the newspapers of this country write about some amazing and wonderful events." Here's one of them. Recently, Florida was threatened by a terrible hurricane. Frightened people took to the streets with church hymns and prayers. And contrary to the forecasts of weather forecasters, the hurricane changed its direction: there was no catastrophe.

The Gospel and Psychotherapy

When the Lord Jesus Christ sent His twelve Apostles to serve, He commanded them to do five things: "As you walk, preach that the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand; heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out demons; freely we have received, freely give (Matt. 10:7-8).Mentioning the same commandment, the Apostle Mark says: "He began to send them out two by two, and gave them power over unclean spirits" (Mark 6:7). The holy Evangelist Luke expressed this even more vividly: He gave power and authority over all demons and to heal from illnesses, and sent them to preach the Kingdom of God and heal the sick (Luke 9:1-2). And the Lord says to the Seventy: "Behold, I give you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and on all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall hurt you" (Ee. 10:19; cf. Ie. 16:17-18). In all these words of the Saviour, the gift of omnipotence is especially emphasized.This same power, granted by the Lord to His apostles, is a testament inherited by our ancient Church as a precious treasure that has not lost its value in the least, has not become impoverished, has not been taken away. It is with us and in us, we just need to know how to use it. Did not the Lord Himself say the great words: Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on Me, the works which I do, he shall do also, and greater than these" (John 14:12). Of course, he will do this not by his own strength, but by the power of Christ, which dwells in him, for Christ has power over all flesh (John 17:2). And did not the Lord say: "All things are possible for him that believeth (Mark 9:23), even to move mountains?" [1] Yes, mountains, mountains of evil and sorrow. Knowing this power, the holy Apostle Paul writes: "Our gospel was with you not only in word, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit" (1 Oan. 1:5). Saints Anthony the Great, Paul the Simple, Mary of Egypt and many other holy men and women did not know how to read and write, but they were given to know the power of the Gospel and to test the power of God. St. Seraphim of Sarov was not a learned man in the modern sense of the word, but he had access to many things that are incomprehensible to us. The Apostles Peter and John healed a man who was lame from birth, who was already more than forty years old, and the people were filled with wonder and admiration [2]. The people were amazed and admired, but the chief priests and leaders of the people did not share such feelings. They did not know how to explain this miracle, for they did not know the Holy Scriptures and the power of God. Some of our contemporaries would explain this healing by suggestion (Dr. Emil Koo and his school) or by autosuggestion (Winfred Rohde, Dr. Siburi, and others). Psychotherapy has now become fashionable in the West as the science of "salvation". But here again the initial perplexity about the power of God arises between priests and scientists. On the one hand, these powerful intellectuals demanded a sign or miracle from Christ in the temple in order to believe in Him, and on the other hand, they asked each other: what should we do? This Man works many miracles (John 11:47). Modern psychotherapists behave in a similar way. While some of them recommend autosuggestion as a way to get rid of all ailments, others advise resorting to prayer along with it. Is it possible that this question will confuse us, the Orthodox? Will we also deserve the rebuke of our Lord addressed to the Sadducees: "You err, not knowing the Scriptures, nor the power of God"? Ni.: Io. 17, 20. ^ Ni.: Acts. 3, 1–10; 4, 22. ^ Io. 22, 29. ^

Psychotherapy and the Church

Is psychotherapy something new? For the Orthodox Church, of course, no. It may be a novelty or something long forgotten for the West or, alas, for some Orthodox. The well-known New York priest Norman Vincent Peale [1] writes in his book "The Power of Positive Thinking": "In modern religious practice, which is ready to help people find a remedy for diseases of the heart, soul and body, there is an increasing emphasis on a return to the authentic Christian tradition. Only now do we know that for centuries faith has been the source of healing. This applies both to early Christianity and to our Orthodox Church." Dr. Peale favors the early Christian practices and faith of the early Church. The real and profound meaning of the "return to the authentic Christian tradition" can only mean a return to the Apostolic Church, to which all Christianity, East and West, belonged for a thousand years, before the fatal schism between Constantinople and Rome. Here is what Professor Jung [2] from Zurich, one of the most famous psychoanalysts and opponents of the infamous Freud [3], says: "Our knowledge has increased, but our intellectual potential has not increased. Knowledge has increased, but we have not become wiser" ("Psychology of the Unconscious"). And here are the words of Dr. Winfred Rhodes, another psychotherapist: "The treatment of the mind and soul is much more important than the treatment of the body" (in his book "The Person with Whom You Must Live"), which are reminiscent of the thoughts of St. John Chrysostom, set forth in his stern moral sermons, for the Orthodox Church from time immemorial, throughout the entire time of its existence, has been the bearer of such a teaching, but at a much higher level. spiritual level. It preached the value for a person not only of physical health (which is mainly the goal of modern psychotherapists), but above all of preparation for the Kingdom of Heaven and for eternal life.Recently I read about a certain priest, an adherent of the Community of God faction, who personally felt the power of God. He was sick with tuberculosis and was healed by prayer. Now he tells everywhere how God delivered him from tuberculosis through prayer. This personal experience of his became one of the main themes of his sermon. And while Protestants and Catholics are showing an increasingly sincere interest in such manifestations of the power of God, our Orthodox priests indifferently pass by such phenomena, which occur among Orthodox believers much more often and with greater obviousness. How infinitely many grace-filled manifestations we Orthodox have! In Russia, in the Balkans, in Asia! Unfortunately, we lack attention to them or the willingness to announce them. And when we do this in preaching, in books, or simply tell one another about them, how the people rejoice, for we cannot but say what we have seen and heard (Acts 4:20)!Silence about the works of God testifies not to humility, but to fear of the lack of faith of those around us, or to the unscrupulousness of the fulfillment of Christian duty. Our Lord Jesus Christ Himself said to the healed and freed from demons: "Return to your house, and tell what God has done for you" (Luke 8:39). The Holy Apostle Paul says: "Though I am nothing, the signs of the Apostle have been set before you in all patience, signs, wonders, and powers" (cf. 2 Corinthians 12:11-12). Look at the humility of the great Apostle before the all-powerful majesty of Jesus Christ, and what courage he is in proclaiming the great works that God has done through him! And the holy Apostle Peter said to the paralytic: Aeneas! Jesus Christ heals you; Get up from your bed. And straightway he arose (Acts 9:34).The holy apostles well remembered the words of the Lord, which every priest should remember: "Without Me ye can do nothing" (John 15:5). They experienced the facts, and when they spoke of the facts, they preached them. The apostles did not have a personal offering, nor should the priests. But no matter how small and unworthy a priest may consider himself, he is a king and a priest before God in His spiritual Kingdom (Rev. 1:6).A high representative of the Episcopal Church wrote to me: "I think that the Orthodox Church possesses more facts and proofs than any other." In other words, the Orthodox Church is confident that all the facts of healings and miraculous phenomena that she announces belong entirely to the power and wisdom of our Lord Jesus Christ and our faith in Him. Norman Vincent Peel (1898–1993) was the creator of the philosophy of "positive thinking". ^ Carl Gustav Jung (1876–1961) was a representative of the psychoanalytic trend in the study of cultures. He developed the content of the concept of the "collective unconscious". He considered the crisis of European culture to be a natural consequence of its technical progress, the desire to master the world by improving technology. Protestantism played an important role in this process, according to C. Jung. ^ Freud Sigmund (1856–1939) was an Austrian physician, neurologist and psychiatrist, the creator of psychoanalysis, which he developed first as psychotherapy for the treatment of various forms of hysteria, and then transformed into the doctrine of the universal law and action of the unconscious, especially in the sphere of drives and instincts. According to his theory, the suppression of powerful natural instincts gives rise to a religion in which 3. Freud sees a universal obsessive neurosis and at the same time an illusion. ^

Today and yesterday

"Our faith is true, but your faith also has power" is a familiar statement by Balkan Muslims to their Christian neighbors. This is the reason why they bring their sick to our well-known monasteries: in Montenegro – to Ostrog to St. Basil of Ostrog, in Ohrid – to St. Naum, in Albania – to St. John Vladimir. They know that their faith, which they call "true", has no power, so they take the sick not to the mosque, but to Orthodox churches. Our Orthodox people know that only the true faith can be strong. For him, the church is the house of God's power, he goes there to receive help, and he receives it through the word of the Gospel, from icons and crosses, from every church shrine, in every sacrament and in each of its symbols. People expect various help from church prayer: spiritual and physical help, help in reconciliation with relatives, pray for success, for deliverance from fear of the unknown, and for much more. Let us be in constant communion with the saints of our Church, with the saints of all times, from ancient to present. Saints are spiritual heroes and bearers of the power and wisdom of God. Let the new generation remain faithful to the old, for all Christian generations are one, one family of God, and the entire Christian calendar is like one day. There is nothing outdated and nothing new in our Church, it is the sacristy of the ineffable treasures of Christ. And, as we have already mentioned, drawing from it, we get the opportunity to give, not just receive, to be doers, not observers. Today's priests, together with the people, must be the guardians of the convictions of yesterday's priests, and not only yesterday's, but also of older ones, up to the apostles, in order to say with certainty: "I can do all things through Jesus Christ who strengthens me" (Phil. 4:13), so that we may look with joy into the future, which, in the Church's understanding, is only a component part of the past and the present. oversaturated with technical civilization, fears and sin, instability and uncertainty. The world yearns for a higher, supernatural power. The serious task of the Orthodox Church is to be able to prepare a bountiful meal and feed the people who hunger for heavenly food and wisdom.

Angels are our older brothers

"Our faith is true, but your faith also has power" is a familiar statement by Balkan Muslims to their Christian neighbors. This is the reason why they bring their sick to our well-known monasteries: in Montenegro – to Ostrog to St. Basil of Ostrog, in Ohrid – to St. Naum, in Albania – to St. John Vladimir. They know that their faith, which they call "true", has no power, so they take the sick not to the mosque, but to Orthodox churches. Our Orthodox people know that only the true faith can be strong. For him, the church is the house of God's power, he goes there to receive help, and he receives it through the word of the Gospel, from icons and crosses, from every church shrine, in every sacrament and in each of its symbols. People expect various help from church prayer: spiritual and physical help, help in reconciliation with relatives, pray for success, for deliverance from fear of the unknown, and for much more. Let us be in constant communion with the saints of our Church, with the saints of all times, from ancient to present. Saints are spiritual heroes and bearers of the power and wisdom of God. Let the new generation remain faithful to the old, for all Christian generations are one, one family of God, and the entire Christian calendar is like one day. There is nothing outdated and nothing new in our Church, it is the sacristy of the ineffable treasures of Christ. And, as we have already mentioned, drawing from it, we get the opportunity to give, not just receive, to be doers, not observers. Today's priests, together with the people, must be the guardians of the convictions of yesterday's priests, and not only yesterday's, but also of older ones, up to the apostles, in order to say with certainty: "I can do all things through Jesus Christ who strengthens me" (Phil. 4:13), so that we may look with joy into the future, which, in the Church's understanding, is only a component part of the past and the present. oversaturated with technical civilization, fears and sin, instability and uncertainty. The world yearns for a higher, supernatural power. The serious task of the Orthodox Church is to be able to prepare a bountiful meal and feed the people who hunger for heavenly food and wisdom.

The Host of Angels

The Holy Scriptures begin with the words: In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth (Gen. 1:1)." The "sky" here does not mean the vast expanse of air above us, but the world of invisible creatures. These words could be paraphrased as follows: in the beginning God created the invisible and visible world, as it is said in the first article of our Creed, or as in the Psalmist: "By the word of the Lord the heavens were established, and by the spirit of His mouth all their power" (Psalm 32:6). The prophet Isaiah saw the Seraphim (Isaiah 6:2), and Ezekiel saw the Cherubim (Ezekiel 9:3; 10:1-9) and other mysterious creatures surrounding the throne of the Most High. And the prophet Micah said to King Ahab, "I saw the Lord sitting on His throne, and all the host of heaven stood with Him, on His right hand and on His left" (3 Kings 22:19). that in them, Thou also dwellest all these things, and the heavenly hosts worship Thee (Neh. 9:6).The holy Apostle Paul said, speaking of the power of Christ: "Who is the image of the invisible God, born before all creation; for by Him all things were created, both in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones, dominions, principalities, or powers, all things were created by Him and for Him; and He is before all things, and all things stand by Him. And He is the head of the body of the Church (Col. 1:15-18; cf. 1 Iao. 3:22).Naming all the names of the Angelic ranks, St. Dionysius the Areopagite enumerates them according to their merits: they are Seraphim, Cherubim, Thrones, Dominions, Principalities, Powers, Powers, Archangels and Angels. In the Book of Job we read how the Lord responded to the complaints of this sufferer: the Lord answered Job out of the storm and said, "Who is this that darkens Providence with words without meaning?" Thou shalt now gird up thy loins as a man: I will inquire of thee, and thou shalt explain unto me, Where were thou when I laid the foundations of the earth? Tell me if you know. Who has set a measure for it, if you know? Or who stretched the rope along it? On what are its foundations established, or who laid its cornerstone, with the common rejoicing of the morning stars, when all the sons of God shouted for joy? (Job 38:1-7) Our Orthodox Church has dedicated Monday to the Holy Angels. And every Monday during the church service, we remember the holy Angels and magnify them in prayer: "Holy Angels and Archangels, pray to God for us!" God created the host of Angels before people, and this is the first reason why we call Angels elder brothers. According to St. Dionysius the Areopagite, a disciple of the Apostle Paul, there are nine faces, or ranks, of the Angels: "These nine ranks are divided into three hierarchies, containing three ranks each: the highest, the middle, and the lowest." In the highest hierarchy are the six-winged Seraphim, the many-eyed Cherubim, and the God-bearing Thrones; in the middle – Dominions, Powers and Powers; in the lower one are the Principalities, Archangels and Angels. The host of Angels is numerous, but the personal names of only eight of them are known: 1) Michael — "he who is like God"; 2) Gabriel — "man of God", or "fortress of God"; 3) Raphael — "the healing of God"; 4) Uriel — "the fire of God" or "the light of God"; 5) Salafiel — "God's prayer book"; 6) Jehudiel — "glorifier of God"; 7) Barachiel — "the blessing of God"; 8) Jeremiah — "the exaltation of God." For more details see: St. Dionysius the Areopagite. About the heavenly hierarchy. ^

Nature of Angels

The nature of the Angels is in some ways completely different from human nature, and in some ways similar to it. Angels are incorporeal and therefore invisible to our physical vision. Having no bodies, as a result they have no bodily needs – for food, drink, clothing, shelter, they have no passions, cares, sorrow; they do not marry or are given in marriage (cf. Matt. 22:30). They do not care about the future, do not experience fear of death. And although they were created before man, they have not grown old and will not grow old, they are unchanged in their youth, beauty and strength. Nor do they care about salvation and immortality, for they are already immortal. Unlike humans, they do not hesitate to choose good and evil, for they are already good and holy, as they were when God created them.On the other hand, angels are similar to humans in that they are personalities and each of them is aware of himself as a separate person. Like humans, they have reasoning, feelings, free will, and the ability to act. They, like people, also have their own names, some of them are named in the Holy Scriptures or in Church Tradition, here they are: Michael, Gabriel, Raphael, Uriel, Salathiel, Barachiel, Jeremiah, Jehudiel.Comparing man to angels, the holy Apostle Paul writes in his Epistle to the Hebrews: "Thou hast not humiliated him much before the angels; with glory and honor He crowned him, and set him over the works of Thy hands, He subdued all things under his feet (Heb. 2:7-8), remembering the words of the Old Testament prophet addressed to the Lord: "What is a man, that thou rememberest him; Or the Son of man, who visited him? Thou hast humbled him with a small number of angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honor; and Thou hast set him over Thy works; Thou hast subdued all things under his nose (Psalm 8:5-7).Truly, God gave great power to sinless man over the works of His hands: Adam had power over every earthly creature, until he violated the commandment of God and obeyed the devil, God's enemy. Nature ceased to be obedient to him, because he also ceased to be obedient to God.However, man, in his fallen nature, preserves in his soul the hope of God's help: For the creation awaits with hope the revelation of the sons of God, because the creation did not submit to vanity voluntarily, but by the will of Him who subdued it, in the hope that the creation itself will be freed from slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that all creation groans together and is tormented until now (Romans 8:19-22).Transfigured by Christ and clothed in His glory, man will again be like an angel. His elder brothers, holy and sinless Angels, help him in the same way as doctors help a sick person to be healed. In the New Testament it is said: "Are they not all ministering spirits, sent to serve for those who have to inherit salvation" (Heb. 1:14). Next, we will talk about this in more detail.

Apparitions of Angels