The Life of St. Paisius Velichkovsky

Venerable Paisius Velichkovsky

Saint Paisius Velichkovsky was born in Poltava in Little Russia on December 21, 1722, and was the eleventh of twelve children. His father John was a priest, who named him Peter at his Baptism, in honor of St Peter the Metropolitan of Moscow, on whose Feast he was born.

After the children’s father died, their mother Irene raised them in piety. Peter was sent to study at the Moghila Academy in Kiev in 1735. After four years, Peter decided to leave the world and become a monk. At the age of seventeen, he went in search of a monastery and a good spiritual Father. For seven years Peter visited various monasteries, including the Kiev Caves Lavra, but he did not feel drawn to any of the monasteries of Ukraine.

After being made a rassophore monk (one blessed to wear the rasson, but not yet tonsured “into the mantle”) at the St Nicholas Medvedevsky Monastery with the name Platon, he found that there was no experienced Elder there who could teach him obedience or give him spiritual direction. Not wishing to begin his monastic life without such guidance, he left the monastery a week after his tonsure with the blessing of his Elder.

Orthodox Marriage & Its Misunderstanding- By: Bishop Hilarion Alfeyev

The love that exists between a man and a woman is an important theme in many books of Scripture. The Book of Genesis, in particular, tells us of holy and pious couples, such as Abraham and Sarah, Isaac and Rebecca, Jacob and Rachel. A special blessing, bestowed on these couples by the Lord, was made manifest in the multiplication of their descendants. Love is praised in the Song of Songs, a book which, in spite of all allegorical and mystical interpretations in patristic tradition, does not lose its literal meaning.

The very attitude of God to the people of Israel is compared in the Old Testament with that of a husband to his wife. This imagery is developed to such an extent that unfaithfulness to God and idolatry are paralleled with adultery and prostitution. When St Paul speaks about marital love as the reflection of the love which exists between Christ and the Church (cf. Eph.5:20-33), he develops the same imagery.

The mystery of marriage was established by God in Paradise. Having created Adam and Eve, God said to them: ‘Be fruitful and multiply’ (Gen.1:28). This multiplication of the human race was to be achieved through marriage: ‘Therefore a man leaves his father and his mother and cleaves to his wife, and they become one flesh’ (Gen.2:24). Marital union is therefore not a consequence of the Fall but something inherent to the primordial nature of human beings. The mystery of marriage was further blessed by the Incarnate Lord when He changed water into wine at the wedding in Cana of Galilee. ‘We state’, St Cyril of Alexandria writes, ‘that He (Christ) blessed marriage in accordance with the economy (oikonomia) by which He became man and went… to the wedding in Cana of Galilee’.

Secularism in Theology- By: Metropolitan Hierotheus (Vlachos) of Nafpaktos

Holy Silence (Hesychia)

Since theology is the voice and faith of the Church, it follows that what has been said about the Church so far applies to theology too. We will attempt to discuss this particular subject a little more in order to see the way orthodox theology is secularized in more detail.

Theology is the logos of God (theo-logia in Greek). It is assumed that someone who talks about God must know God. In the Orthodox Church we say that the knowledge of God is not intellectual but spiritual, that is, it is connected to man’s communion with God. In St. Gregory Palamas’ teaching, the vision of the uncreated Light is closely connected to man’s divinization, to man’s communion with God and the knowledge of God. That is why theology is identical to the vision of God and the theologian is identical to the God-seer. Someone who talks about God, even reflectively can be called theologian, and this is why the Fathers attribute the term theologian to the philosophers too. Eventually, though, from an Orthodox standpoint a theologian is someone who witnessed the glory of God or, at least, accepts the experience of those who reached divinization.

In this sense, theologians are the God-seers, those who achieved divinization and received the Revelation of God. St. Paul is one such theologian. He went up to the third heaven and on several occasions he describes and reveals his apocalyptic experiences. This occurs to such an extent that St. John Chrysostom, talking about St. Paul and about the fact that in his Epistles there are greater mysteries than in the Gospels, argues that “Christ declared more important and unspoken things through St. Paul than through Himself”.

St. Paul, as he himself says in third person, was captured “up to the third heaven” (2 Corinth. 12,2). At this point I would like to remind us of St. Maximus the Confessor’s interpretation, according to which the three heavens are in reality the three stages of spiritual life. The first heaven is the end of practical philosophy, which is the purification of the heart, the expulsion of all thoughts from the heart. The second heaven is the natural theoria, that is, the knowledge of the inner essences of beings; when man through God’s Grace becomes worthy of knowing the inner essences of beings; to have ceaseless inner prayer. The third heaven is theoria, theology, through which, and by divine Grace and the capture of the nous, one reaches, as is possible, the knowledge of God’s mysteries and knows all the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven. This is “the ignorance superior to knowledge”, according to a characteristic saying by St. Isaac the Syrian. This ignorance, relative to human knowledge, is the true knowledge of God. Therefore, theology is the third heaven which is a fruit, an outcome of the purification of the heart and the illumination of the nous.

Life of St. John Kochurov of Chicago & St. Petersburg

St. John Kochurov of Chicago

On October 31, 1917, in Tsarskoye Selo, a bright new chapter, full of earthly grief and heavenly joy, was opened in the history of sanctity in the Russian Church: the holiness of the New Martyrs of the twentieth century. The opening of this chapter is linked to the name of the Russian Orthodox pastor who became one of the first to give his soul for his flock during this twentieth century of fighters against God: Archpriest John Kochurov.

Father John Kochurov was born on July 13, 1871, in the village of Bigildino-Surka of the district of Danky in the Ryazan region, into a pious family with many children. His parents were the priest Alexander Kochurov and his wife Anna (Perehvalskaya). Father Alexander Kochurov served almost all his life in the Church of Theophany in Bigildino-Surka village in the Diocese of Ryazan from the time of his ordination on March 2, 1857, combining his years of service in the parish with the fulfillment of his obligations as a teacher of God’s Law in the Bigildino public school. His example was imprinted in the conscience of his sons, and particularly John, the most spiritually sensitive of them. They regarded their father as a radiant image of the parish priest, full of deep humility and high inspiration.

Fr John’s upbringing, based on the remarkable traditions of many generations of the clergy and bound with the people’s natural following after Orthodox piety, foretold that he would set out on the path of preparation for pastoral service. Father John’s study (initially at Danky Theological School and afterward at Ryazan Theological Seminary) was marked not only with outstanding success in the mastery of theological and secular disciplines, but with remarkable examples of churchly piety which he demonstrated at a time when the everyday life of a provincial theological school was not always spotless in the moral sense.

The future Father John successfully graduated from the Theological Seminary in Ryazan in 1891. Having passed the entrance exams for the St Petersburg Theological Academy, he became a student at one of the best theological schools in Russia.

Icon of St. John of Chicago

During the time that Fr John studied at the St Petersburg Theological Academy, his inclination to regard theological education as a preparation primarily for future service as a parish priest became clearly defined. Already during his student days Fr John combined the possibility of his service as a parish priest with that of missionary activity, which he saw as the embodiment of the ideal of an Orthodox pastor. After his graduation from St Petersburg Theological Academy (1895) with the distinction of a true student, Fr John was sent to the Diocese of the Aleutians and Alaska in accordance with his long-standing desire for missionary service.

Soon after his marriage to Alexandra Chernisheva, Fr John’s arrival in Protestant America put him in touch with a life dissimilar in many respects to his accustomed life in Orthodox Russia. For his first sojourn in the U.S.A. Fr John arrived in New York, which with its mundane ways, was so different from the spiritual life of the Russian cities. Though he had not yet learned the English language, Fr John, thanks to the brotherly support of the New York Orthodox community (of modest size at that time) did manage to adjust himself to the life of the country, till then unknown to him, without any particular psychological or other complications. It must be noted that Church life in the Diocese of Alaska and the Aleuts was very different in character from that in other parts of the country, which was vast in its territory but rather small in the number of clergy. Specifically, the Russian Orthodox missions in Northern California, on the Aleutian Islands, and in Alaska had at that time already existed for about a hundred years, and Church life was conducted on a foundation of rather numerous parish communities which possessed significant financial resources. After several generations in America, the parishes had become accustomed to life in their new home. Orthodox life in the rest of the country, however, was only in its initial stages. It required a great deal of evangelical activity by the clergy to create normal Orthodox parishes within the multinational and multi-confessional local population. It was precisely to that part of the diocese that Fr John was destined to be sent when he was ordained to the holy priesthood on August 27, 1895, by the Most Reverend Nicholas, Bishop of Alaska and the Aleuts.

A Call for an Orthodox Approach to Scripture- By: Fr. Lawrence Farley

The Holy Gospel

The much needed ‘return to the Fathers’, Fr. Alexander Schmemann said, “means, above all, the recovery of their spirit, of the secret inspiration which made them true witnesses of the Church” (quoted in Liturgy and Tradition, p. 84f). That is, what is needed is a return to the mind-set, the inner attitude and spiritual world-view of the Fathers.

This return to the Fathers is nowhere needed more than in a return to their view and veneration of the Divine Scriptures. The Church is now suffering from a low and deficient view of the Scriptures, one gained from the liberal world of western Academia, one which feels itself free to dissent from the received meaning and interpretation of the Scriptures in favor of more modern and politically-correct views.

In the writing of ostensibly Orthodox authors, in casual conversations with some clergy, in letters to the editor in our Orthodox journals, one can often find evidence of this alienation from the attitude of the Fathers. In one article, supporting references to the Scriptures are pilloried as “biblical literalism”, in another, Pauline use of the Old Testament is discounted as “rabbinic exegesis”, in yet another, one is warned against “the hazards of appealing too quickly to patristic testimony”. Anyone who is a convert from liberal Protestantism can easily identify the common disease which produced all the above citations: a low view of the Scriptures in which they are praised as sources and authorities but ultimately discounted as products of their age rather than as living oracles of Truth.

Sayings of St. John of Kronstadt

St. John of Kronstadt

“When some inward disturbance or weakness of the heart prevents your pronouncing the words of the prayers during Divine service, then consider such disturbance and weakness as an illusion of the enemy, of the demon; throw aside the despondency, the faint-heartedness, and timidity, and speak concerning the name of the Lord without hurrying, calmly and intentionally louder; you will thus overcome your disturbance and weakness, and will obtain courage and strength. Everything is possible unto those who believe and trust. We must struggle and conquer.”

“When your heart is touched by thoughts of fornication, or impurity, evil, or blasphemy, or when thoughts of malice, envy, avarice, covetousness, gluttony, darken, wound, and oppress you, then say to yourself, with firm, heartfelt conviction, that all this is an imagination of the Devil, and all such ideas and thoughts shall immediately vanish. Blessed is he that ’speaketh the truth from his heart’. [Psalm xv. 2,3.] Tortured will be he who imagines or thinks of evil and sin in his heart! ‘Tribulation and anguish upon every soul of man that doeth evil.’ [Romans ii.9.] Despise the carnal delight of sin, for it is a provocation of the perishable flesh. When a thought of doubt in the truth comes to you, say, that this thought is an illusion, whilst the truth remains-eternal truth.”

“When you are in the temple, remember that you are in the living presence of the Lord God, that you stand before His face, before His eyes, in the living presence of the Mother of God, of the holy angels, and of the first-born of the Church that is, our forefathers, the prophets, Apostles, hierarchs, martyrs, reverend Fathers, the righteous, and all the saints. Always have the remembrance and consciousness of this when you are in the temple, and stand with devotion, taking part willingly and with all your heart in the Divine service.”

The Mystery of Knowledge- By: St. Justin Popovich

St. Justin Popovich

Man has always been fascinated by ultimate things–life, death, the origin of the world–and his discoveries in other fields of knowledge have given him confidence to assume that some day these mysteries will also yield to the power of his intellect. Such pride of mind, however, can only lead away from the truth, which, according to Orthodox teaching, is the aim and foundation of all true knowledge. How is such knowledge acquired? Here we have part of a longer essay by the renowned Serbian theologian of blessed memory, Archimandrite Justin Popovich (+1979), in which he distills the writings of Saint Isaac the Syrian on the Orthodox theology of knowledge. Briefly, he explains that because man’s understanding became darkened through sin, through consorting with evil, he became incapable of true knowledge. Man can come to this knowledge only when his soul (the seat of understanding) is healed. This is made possible by means of the virtues, and the primary virtue in this remedial process is faith. ‘Through faith, the mind, which was previously dispersed among the passions, is concentrated, freed from sensuality, and endowed with peace and humility of thought …. It is by the ascesis of faith that a man conquers egotism, steps beyond the bounds of self, and enters into a new, transcendent reality which also transcends subjectivity.” In separate sections, Fr. Justin discusses prayer, humility, love and grace, all requisite companions of faith, before leading the reader into “The Mystery of Knowledge,” which we have reprinted below with slight abbreviations.

According to the teaching of St. Isaac the Syrian, there are two sorts of knowledge: that which precedes faith and that which is born of faith. The former is natural knowledge and involves the discernment of good and evil. The latter is spiritual knowledge and is “the perception of the mysteries,” “the perception of what is hidden,” “the contemplation of the invisible.”

Nationalism, Man and Orthodoxy-By: Fr. Gibran Ramlaoui

An ancient problem, yet still fresh and relevant, stands as an insurmountable wall in the face of the process of Orthodoxy in America. This problem is ethnic nationalism.

Nationalism is not an empty word. It is as true as the individual who is seeking himself outside himself. There is nothing authentic outside man, who is the image of God. However, the individual-wrapped up in his limited self-has the illusion that he might find his self where there is no real self; in the nation or the mass to which he belongs. The nationalistic man might be honest in putting his hope in his nation, because he is trying to establish his identity and find security for himself. Nevertheless, his point of departure is erroneous. Whenever we build the roof before the foundation, then the house is liable to fall. And the eyes cannot be placed in the back of our head, if we expect to move ahead and reach forward. Therefore, when we discuss nationalism, we ought to pose the real problem, in order to find the real answer; The problem is the meaning of Man. And any attempt to solve this problem outside this man-perspective is condemned in advance to failure.

Then, let us put the picture within its real frame. We shall essay in this short paper to establish the fact that man is not only more important than nationalism; but we shall state with assurance and certainty that Man is both the source of every meaning, and the end of all ends.

Rapid Prayer

Saint John of Kronstadt

“Is it possible to pray rapidly without injuring the effect of the prayer? It is possible to those who have learned to pray inwardly with a pure heart. During prayer it is necessary that your heart should sincerely desire that which you ask for, should feel the truth of what you are saying, and this comes naturally to a pure heart. That is why it is capable of praying even rapidly, and at the same time agreeably, to God, as the rapidity in this case does not injure the truth (sincerity) of the prayer. But for those who have not attained the capability of praying sincerely it is necessary to pray slowly, waiting for a corresponding echo in the heart to each word of the prayer. And this is not always soon given to men unaccustomed to prayerful contemplation. Therefore,

The Church of Christ Shall Not Be Impoverished- By: St. John (Maximovich)

St. John the Wonderworker

(Sermon on the feast day of Apostle Matthias)

Holy Apostle Matthias, during the earthly life of Christ, was among the seventy apostles, not among the twelve.

This even occurred after the Ascension of the Lord into heaven: During a prayerful gathering, at which some one hundred people were in attendance, Holy Apostle Peter said to all that Judas Iscariot had fallen away from the ranks of the apostles, having become a betrayer, and recalled the words of the 109th psalm, in which the Holy Spirit, through the words of the psalm-singer David, speaks of the unrighteous one: “his bishopric let another take,” meaning that another should assume his office. In fulfillment of the words of the psalm, Apostle Peter offered to elect two candidates before the Lord, whom the Lord would then select, and include him among the twelve. Elected were Matthias and Joseph, who was also called Barsabas, and when the Lord, through the drawing of lots, indicated Matthias, he was included among the twelve.

So the number of twelve apostles of Christ was restored, and Matthias, after the Ascension of the Lord to heaven, took his place on par with the other apostles in grace and authority, and also, as did they, he preached, healed the sick, performed miracles and suffered for Christ.

It is a profoundly instructive event for us. It teaches us that the Church of Christ shall never be impoverished and shall not remain without the servants it requires. “I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it” (Matt. 16:18), said Christ.