A GIFT FOR THE FEAST OF CHRIST'S NATIVITY

 

“And they presented unto Him gifts: gold, and frankincense, and myrrh” (Matt. 2:11). It was customary in the East, when visiting prominent people, to come with rich gifts. Thus the Queen of Sheba visited Solomon and brought him spices and a great amount of gold, precious stones, etc. For this reason the magi, too, brought gifts for the Infant Christ and gave them to His Mother. And currently there is also the custom to give presents to each other on Christmas day. But what gift could be the most pleasing to the Lord? Let us look at the treasures brought by the magi – could we not follow their example?

Firstly, they brought gold – the most precious metal. However, King David says that the word of God is more precious and desirable than the richest metal. Thus, if we study the word of God and retain it in our hearts, we have a gift that is more precious for the Lord than gold; this gift for Him is – the knowledge of truth; there is nothing more precious.

Secondly, the magi brought frankincense. This is the aromatic incense which, by God's command, was used in the Old Testament tabernacle and church. It has a most pleasant fragrance; in rising to the heavens like clouds, it serves as a gift of gratitude that is pleasing to God. If we offer thanksgiving to God, according to the words of the Psalmist will it not be more pleasing to God than incense? Is not our soul, offering up the frankincense of thanksgiving to heaven, more precious than incense?

And, finally, the magi brought myrrh. Like incense, it is extracted from trees that grow primarily in Arabia. For this purpose the bark of the tree is cut, and an aromatic juice flows out of it, which becomes part of the fragrant oil with which kings and high priests were anointed. The word myrrh means grief, sorrow. Cannot we, too, offer this gift to the Lord? Do we not sorrow and grieve over our sins? Heartfelt grief over sin – this is our myrrh.

Thus we, too, may offer our King the same gifts that the magi brought Him – gold, frankincense, and myrrh. We can offer Him the truth of God in our hearts, as King David said: “I retained Thy word in my heart.” We can sincerely thank Him for having come down to save us. We can confess to Him our sorrow over our sins, for which He died. If we do so, we will be as wise as the magi, and we will offer Him real gifts – true gold, frankincense, and myrrh.

 

 

HOMILY FOR THE BAPTISM OF OUR LORD

 

Have you noticed, dear brethren, how the Church ties in our lives with church life, with events in the life of Christ? During the days of Christ's Nativity we knelt before the manger of Christ, we became the sons of God. Then, beginning the civil New Year, a new circle of time which brings us ever closer to eternity, we were summoned to renew ourselves as well, to renew our souls by cleansing them of sin and passion, and to renew our hearts by filling them with virtue and love for God and our brethren.

And now today the Church calls us to the shores of the river Jordan, where the great sacrament of Theophany, or the appearance of God, will be revealed to us. Today, dear brethren, we are celebrating the great feast of the Baptism of our Lord Jesus Christ. And we must understand it properly, we must properly prepare ourselves.

The holy Evangelist Mark describes the event very briefly and simply. “And it came to pass in those days that Jesus came from Nazareth and was baptized by John in Jordan. And straightaway, coming out of the water, John saw the heavens opening, and the Spirit descending upon Jesus like a dove. And there came a voice from heaven, saying: Thou art My beloved Son, in Whom I am well pleased” (Mark 1:9-11).

This sparse description reveals to us, however, the depth of our salvation. First of all, for the first time in the history of mankind, the Lord God shows Himself fully – that is, openly reveals the mystery of Himself as God the Trinity; for this reason the holiday is also called the Theophany.

In the Old Testament, the people of Israel were primarily exposed to the fact of One God, in order to closely guard this principle in the midst of the paganism of the surrounding peoples. But even in those days there were hints of the triunity of God. Thus, for example, the Lord appeared to Abraham in the guise of three angels or three strangers. And in the Book of Genesis Moses describes the creation of man by saying “And God created man in His image,” but earlier, while holding council over this matter, God says: “Let Us create man in Our image and Our likeness.”

And now, in the New Testament, the Lord finally reveals Himself openly – in the feast of the Theophany we witness the Trinity: God the Father gives His blessing from heaven, God the Son is baptized for our salvation in the river Jordan, and God the Holy Spirit descends as a dove – the symbol of meekness and purity.

In the feast of the Nativity the Church pointed out to us that since the Saviour of the world has been born on earth, there is salvation for us, we all have the opportunity to be saved. Now, in the feast of the Theophany the Church shows us how to achieve this salvation: just as people once came to John the Baptist, were baptized in the waters of Jordan, and were cleansed of their sins, so we should come to the church of Christ and purify ourselves through the church sacraments. And in order to help us, and also as tangible proof of the grace of God, there is the great blessing of water on the feast of the Theophany.

By His Baptism the Lord Jesus Christ drowned our sins and blessed the very element of water. Thus, when the priest blesses any water, the grace of the Holy Spirit descends upon it, and this formerly plain water becomes a sources of healing and salvation for us, and when we are baptized – it even washes away our sins. But the rite of blessing the water in honor of the Lord's Baptism is called the Great Blessing of the Water because of the truly great power which Epiphany water possesses. While blessing this water and summoning the unique grace of the Holy Spirit upon it, the priest prays that all who drink this water be cleansed in body and spirit, that they be healed of illness, and that they keep this water for the blessing of their homes.

Make sure to come to church, dear brethren, on the day of the Baptism of our Lord, in order to become participants in the great mystery of the revelation of God as Trinity, and in order to receive the visible grace of Epiphany water. Amen.

 

 Father Rostislav Sheniloff

 

 

HOMEWARD TO THE HEAVENLY FATHER

This month, dear brethren, we celebrate the great feast of the Meeting of our Lord, as well as the Sunday of the Prodigal Son, in which the Church teaches us the second step of preparation for the Great Lent – repentance. These two events, seemingly so different from one another, are yet symbolically joined in a wondrous manner.

Central to the feast of the Meeting of our Lord is the righteous Simeon, who was one of the seventy learned Jewish elders, knowledgeable in the Holy Scriptures, who were called upon to translate the Old Testament for the Egyptian king Ptolemy. This took place some hundreds of years before the birth of Christ. The righteous Simeon had to translate the book of the prophet Isaiah, which contains the following words: “Behold, a Virgin shall conceive, and bear a Son, and He shall be given the name Immanuel, which means – God is with us.” When Simeon came to these words, he wanted to replace the word “virgin” with the words “a young married woman,” since She was due to give birth. But an angel stayed his hand and said to him: “Believe in what is written and you shall see it happen.” Simeon then translated as was written and, having received the promise, he waited.

270 years passed. And finally, moved by the Holy Spirit, Simeon goes to the temple, where he sees a young Mother with a 40-day-old Infant in Her arms. And here the Lord revealed to Simeon that this Infant, Who had been brought to the temple in accordance with the Jewish law that all the first-born must be consecrated to God, is the One Whom Simeon has long awaited with such strong and ardent faith. The righteous old man took the Infant in his arms and proclaimed that in Him lies the salvation of all men.

Simeon uttered his prophecy in moving words which are now repeated at every evening service: “Lord, now lettest Thou Thy servant depart in peace (into the next world), according to Thy word, for mine eyes have seen Thy salvation.”

But the prodigal son at first ran away from salvation. As long as he lived with his father, he had all that was needful. The only thing he lacked was faith, faith in that the life he had would lead him to salvation. He turned away from true life and went far away into the realm of sin and despair. And it was only after experiencing grief, hardship, and suffering that he finally came to his senses, came to an awareness of what he had lost. And then, through humility and through repentance he set out on the long and arduous journey of return to his father, a return to bliss, to salvation, to true life. And what do we see? His return journey was not all that long, because the father himself hurried out to meet him, hurried out to shorten and alleviate the way back, hurried out to embrace his lost son.

We, too, dear brethren, are like the prodigal son, we lack faith in God’s providence, we alienate ourselves from God through our sins. Let us look at the two wondrous examples which the Church now offers us. Here is the prodigal son – poor, ragged, starving, hurrying back to his kind father. And here is the righteous Simeon – firm in his faith and hope, hurrying to the temple to see the promised salvation – the God Who has become man.

Let us, too, dear brethren, hurry back to God, to our merciful Father. Like the father who came out halfway to meet his lost son, so the Lord came out to us – lost men, – came down to earth and became a man, in order to save us all.

Let us hurry to church, in order to receive salvation through the Holy Mysteries, through union with God Himself. Let us repent wholeheartedly and let us say to the Lord in the words of the righteous Simeon: “Lord, now Thou absolvest the sins of Thy servants in peace, according to Thy word, for we have repented and our eyes have seen the salvation which Thou hast prepared for all people.” Amen.

 

Father Rostislav Sheniloff

 

 

CHRISTIAN TEACHING

 

On the dread judgment of God, truly coming and approaching

And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away, and there was no more sea. And I, John, saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying: Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself shall be with them, and be their God. And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes: and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain, for the former things are passed away. And He that sat upon the throne said: Behold, I make all things new. And He said unto me: It is done! I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely. He that overcometh shall inherit all things, and I will be his God, and he shall be My son. (Rev. 21, 1-7).

 

I greet you, dear brethren, with a new and unusual greeting: congratulations on a new heaven and a new earth! Do not be surprised and do not say that it is too early to greet us with what does not yet exist. But the word of God is true, and the mystery-seer John speaks of a new heaven and a new earth as of something real, for the former heaven and former earth have passed. Heaven and earth will pass away, says the Lord, but My words will never pass away (Matt. 24:35). Look at how the world is nearing its end; look at what is going on in the world: everywhere there is a lack of faith; everywhere our All-Merciful Creator is being disparaged; everywhere our Creator is being blasphemed; everywhere there is insolent doubt, unbelief, and disobedience; everywhere in the world there are armaments and threats of war; in many places in Russia and other countries there is acute hunger; everywhere are threats of death and killings; everywhere there is misappropriation of funds and looting of private property; everywhere there is a loss of striving for lofty spiritual interests, because practically the entire intelligent world has lost faith in the immortality of the soul and its eternal ideals, or a striving for the God-like perfection that the Lord talked about: Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect (Matt. 5:48); everywhere there is only a desire for the satisfaction of carnal passions, a greed for gain and enrichment by predatory means, wholesale alcoholism, disrespect of marital unions. Look and judge for yourself: the world has become totally depraved and needs a decisive renovation, as formerly through the worldwide deluge.

The end times have come, of which the Apostle Peter says: “In the last days scoffers will come, mocking the truth and following their own desires. They will say: What happened to the promise that Jesus is coming again? From before the times of our ancestors, everything has remained the same since the world was first created. The ones that think so, – continues the Apostle, – do not know that God made the heavens long ago by the word of His command, and He brought the earth out from the water and surrounded it with water. And thus the ancient world was destroyed with a mighty flood. And by the same word, the present heavens and earth have been stored up for fire. They are being kept for the day of judgment, when ungodly people will be destroyed. But you must not forget this one thing, my beloved: a day is like a thousand years to the Lord, and a thousand years is like a day. The Lord isn’t really being slow about His promise, as some people think. No, He is being patient for your sake. He does not want anyone to be destroyed, but wants everyone to repent. But the day of the Lord will come as unexpectedly as a thief. Then the heavens will pass away with a terrible noise, and the very elements themselves will be set on fire, and the elements will melt away in the flames. But we are looking forward to the new heavens and new earth He has promised, a world filled with God’s righteousness. And so, my beloved, while you are waiting for these things to happen, make every effort to be found living peaceful lives that are pure and blameless in His sight. And remember, our Lord’s patience gives people time to be saved. So, my beloved, being forewarned of this, be on guard, so as not to be carried away by the errors of these wicked people and lose your own secure footing. Rather, you must grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. All glory to Him, both now and forever. Amen. (2 Peter 3, 3-18).

  Saint John of Kronstadt

 

 

HOW SHOULD A CHRISTIAN REACT TO DREAMS?

Even among the pagans there was a difference of opinion about dreams. One pagan sage (Protagoras) stated: “Each dream has its own meaning, its own significance, and it is useful in life to heed them.” Another pagan sage (Xenophon) explained that all dreams are vain and deceptive, and that whoever pays attention to and arranges his affairs based upon them, is going astray. One must seek the truth between the two, i.e. first of all, one need not pay attention to all dreams, and secondly, one should not necessarily disregard all dreams as vain and empty of meaning.

Firstly, we said that one need not pay attention to all dreams. Through Moses, God Himself admonished the people “not to use dreams for fortunetelling.” Sirach says that “the hopes of a man void of understanding are vain and false: and dreams lift up fools. Whosoever regardeth dreams is like him that catcheth at a shadow, and followeth after the wind. The vision of dreams is like the reflection of a face in a mirror.” Most dreams are simply the natural result of an active imagination. Man dreams of whatever is of great interest to him, of what he passionately wants or does not want. St. Gregory tells of a certain man who foolishly believed in dreams, and who was told in a dream that he would live a long life. He saved a vast amount of money, to provide resources for a long and happy life. However, he suddenly fell ill and soon died. Thus, he was unable to use his treasure, and at the same time, was unable to bring any good works with him into eternity. It follows that there are many vain and deceptive dreams which are devoid of meaning, dreams to which we should pay no attention.

However, secondly, there are dreams which are of significance to us, and which we should heed One example is that dreamed by Joseph, one of the twelve sons of the Patriarch Jacob. Joseph dreamed that he and his father and brothers were collecting the harvest in the wheat field. Joseph’s shock of wheat stood up straight, while those of his father and brothers surrounded him and bowed down before him. Some time later, that came to pass: Joseph, sold by his brothers into slavery in Egypt, became Egypt’s ruler, and his father and brothers, who had moved to Egypt, had to bow down before him and treat him with respect. In like manner, a dream which came to Pharaoh, king of Egypt, proved to be prophetic and came to pass. Had Pharaoh paid no attention to that dream, had he not prepared stores of grain from years of bumper crops to use in the lean years, he would have come to bitterly rue that decision: all those who lived in Egypt, and Joseph’s father and brothers, would have starved to death.

There are many people, perhaps even those among us, who have reason to repent of having failed to heed certain dreams. For example: a certain wayward youth did not listen to the admonishments of his best friends, who wanted to direct him onto a different, better path. One time he dreamed of his father, who in the dream strictly ordered him to give up his dissolute and atheistic way of life, and to live a better life. However, as Jesus Christ told us, “If they hear not the law, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead…” The young man paid no attention to his dream. Later he had a similar dream: he again saw his father, who told him that unless he mended his ways, he would meet death on a certain day, and would have to face the Judgment of God. The young man joked about the dream to the friends who shared his way of life. Not only did he give no thought to amending his way of life, but he even wanted to mock the threat he had received in the dream. He scheduled a big drinking party with his friends, to be held on the very day his father had warned him he was to die. What followed? While drinking wine, the son was struck with a fit of apoplexy and died minutes later! From the stories related here, we can see that not all dreams are vain and deceptive. There are dreams which do come true

Some recommendations on how to regard dreams

 

If your dreams inspire you to do good and keep you from evil, you should consider them to be the hand of God, pointing out the way, indicating the path to heaven, and directing you away from the road to hell.

God speaks once, and if man does not perceive it, He speaks twice, “in a dream, in a vision of the night, when deep sleep falleth upon men, in slumbering upon the bed; then He openeth the ears of men, and sealeth their instruction…” to keep man from his purpose and separate him from his pride. “He keepeth back his soul from the pit, and his life from perishing by the sword…” (Job 33:14-18).

St Barsanuphius teaches that when you see the image of the Cross in a dream, know that the dream is truly from God, but strive to receive an interpretation of its meaning from saints, and not rely on your own ideas.

If you are not sure if a dream is from God, or if you have no intelligent basis to think that it is, especially if it deals with unimportant matters, there is no need to pay heed to such dreams or to base your actions upon them. Be careful, lest, by paying attention to every one of your dreams, you become superstitious and fall prey to sin.

Finally, if a dream tempts one to sin, it is the result of our corrupt, disturbed imagination, our fantasy, or it comes from the one from whom may God through His grace keep us, i.e. from the devil.

 

Priest Gregory Dyachenko

 

 

 

LIVES OF THE SAINTS

 

On February 6^th (January 22^nd according to the old calendar) the Church commemorates Saint Blessed Xenia of Petersburg.

St. Xenia is one of our most beloved and closest Russian saints. She was born in St. Petersburg in the first half of the 18^th century and was married to a singer in the royal court choir. The unexpected death of her young husband, without church prayer and benediction, so deeply affected St. Xenia that she completely changed her way of life. She took on all that was great and divine, and discarded all that was trivial, unnecessary, temporal. At the age of 26 she left court life and took upon herself the enormous spiritual feat of foolishness-for-Christ, enduring mockery and beatings from other people and all kinds of tribulation. The blessed Xenia walked all over the city in all kinds of weather, even in the bitterest cold, dressed in old garments and with painful feet swollen from the cold. At the Smolensk Cemetery, where she was later buried, St. Xenia secretly carried bricks at night to the top of the church that was being built. During the night she also often went out into the fields at the outskirts of the city and spent entire nights in prayer. Thus for 45 years the blessed Xenia engaged in her spiritual labor. For her endurance the Lord granted her the gift of clairvoyance and love. She foresaw the death both of royal personages and of common folk, and helped people in settling their lives. At the age of 71 she peacefully reposed, and immediately after her death there were many occurrences of miraculous help from her. And even to this day the faithful bring their needs and sorrows to the blessed one and receive great comfort from her. St. Blessed Xenia especially helps in daily life and family affairs: to set up one’s life, to create a family, to earn one’s daily bread, to have one’s children well-established, to find housing, to be successful in one’s studies, and all other needs.

 

 

CONTEMPORARY ISSUES IN THE LIGHT OF ORTHODOXY

 

Introduction

 

At the end of the 19th century Saint Nilus of Mt. Athos prophesied about the moral condition of humanity towards the second half of the 20th century. His prophecy is as follows:

“The people of that time will become unrecognizable. When the time of the appearance of the Antichrist will be near, people’s reason will be darkened because of carnal sins; criminality and impiety will increase more and more. The world will become unrecognizable; people’s appearance will change, and it will be impossible to distinguish men from women because of the shamelessness in fashions and hair styles. These people will become coarse, wild, and cruel like animals because of the temptations of the Antichrist. There will be no respect for parents and elders, love will disappear. Then Christian tradition and manners will change. Modesty and chastity will disappear; instead, fornication and dissipation will reign among the people. Deceit and avarice will reach unbelievable levels. Woe to those who gather riches. Fornication, adultery, homosexuality, crafty deeds, theft, and murder will dominate society.”

At first one thinks that the saint is speaking about society as a whole and is not referring to our flock, to the social condition of the Church. The following words of his prediction prove to the contrary, for here his words speak exclusively about people who are at least formally in the Church. Saint Nilus continues: “At that time in the future (to be understood as our time), due to the strength of such great criminality and dissipation, people will lose the Grace of the Holy Spirit which they received in baptism; their conscience will also cease to trouble them. The Church of God will be deprived of God-fearing pastors. Woe to the Christians left in the world at that time. They will completely lose faith, since they will have no opportunity to gain the light of understanding of spiritual matters from anyone.”

It is truly amazing how accurately Saint Nilus foresaw the modern moral crisis. On the other hand, it is not surprising that he concentrated his attention on the members of the Church and not on society in general. The Church throughout the course of its history, beginning from the times of the Old Testament, made no attempt to change society as a whole. Quite the opposite, it concentrated all its efforts on the flock which belonged to it. This principle is of the utmost importance in our discussion of the topic of contemporary moral issues. We concern ourselves with these questions only to the extent that they affect the flock entrusted to us.

Firstly, it is necessary to clarify the Orthodox meaning of the word “morality,” in view of the fact that it has been totally distorted now. In the first chapter of his textbook Orthodox Christian Moral Theology, Professor Ivan Mikhaylovich Andreyev gives a precise answer to the question, “What is morality?” He writes: “Morality is that activity or behavior of a person which depends on his relation to the greatest good and greatest happiness. The greatest good determines the way, the greatest happiness is the goal of moral activity. The foundation of the Christian moral activity is faith in Christ as the Son of God, the Redeemer and Saviour. The second foundation of Christian life and morality is the Orthodox Church, which was founded by the Saviour of the world for our salvation. Having founded the Church, the Saviour infused into it all that is necessary for our salvation and the moral life which leads to salvation.”

From the above definition of Prof. Andreyev it immediately becomes clear that our worry, our pastoral concern, and the topics we touch upon in this paper do not affect those members of our flock who are solidly confirmed within the boundaries of the Church. Our concern is for those whom we rarely see, who almost never take part in church life. Our problem is not that our flock is surrounded by moral deterioration, as has always been the case to one degree or another with the flock of Christ; our calamity is that although the majority of those under spiritual care hover somewhere near the Church’s enclosure, their lives are deeply entrenched in the moral swamp that surrounds the Church’s walls.

Here a very difficult paradox arises for the pastor to solve: he must preserve himself from the destructive influences of the modern world around him, but he must also study those influences, that murky swamp which we speak of above, in order to defend his flock from them, in the hope that he might be useful to them in the struggle for salvation. “Acquaint yourselves with the spirit of the times,” writes St. Ignatius Bryanchaninov, “in order to escape its influence.” Let us then look at contemporary conditions, examining in detail some of the latest movements and questions which trouble and oppress Christ’s flock.

We shall organize our investigation according to the following plan: let us take the life of a hypothetical Orthodox Christian; let us follow this life from before its conception up to the deathbed. In our examination we will come across two series of questions. In the first series are those questions which the Church has already faced and on which it has already given an answer. In such cases we will provide a summary of Church laws and teachings. In the second series are those questions which the Church has not yet faced head-on, i.e. questions which arise as a result of the so-called “progress” of science and the moral ineptitude of today’s scientists. In examining these questions we can only suggest some guidelines or some decisions of the Church on similar issues.

We must remember that the methods of the forces of evil in destroying the world remain the same. An obvious lie stubbornly asserts and repeats itself, repeating and asserting itself in different variations until people begin to believe the lie, and to repeat and assert it themselves. Therefore, pastors must always be prepared to give answers or rebuttals to generally accepted lies.

We will start with questions concerning conception and birth.

Contemporary medicine gives couples many possibilities which did not exist in previous generations:

Couples can choose the time of conception (planned parenthood) by means of various contraceptives.

In case of an unwanted conception it is now completely legal to correct the situation by abortion.

Amniocentesis, whereby couples can check on the health of the fetus in the mother’s womb, whether it has any genetic defects.

If one of the couple is found to be infertile, there is already the widespread practice of various types of artificial fertilization, including even fertilization in a test-tube.

Let us look at these questions individually.

 

Contraception

 

First let us enumerate several important facts related to this question.

Fact 1:

The true Church of Christ has never in the past given her blessing for such a practice. This is clearly stated in the Book of Needs, where, in the Order of Confession, among the questions addressed to women we find the following: “Did they wear herbs so as not to have a child… or whether someone poured something in her womb so as not to conceive, or ate some herb… She is to desist and to be excluded for six years.” Here the Book of Needs draws support from a ruling of the Sixth Ecumenical Council. Thus, the use of contraceptives goes against not only the spirit and purpose of the Christian marriage and the teachings of the Church Fathers, but also goes against the clear and direct decrees and laws of the Church.

 

Fact 2:

As far as I know, all the bishops of our Church Abroad are in full agreement that such practices are not permissible.

 

Fact 3:

Although they cannot be considered in any way an authority for us, it is nevertheless altogether indicative that the Roman Catholics, despite their other errors, have always absolutely forbidden contraception.

 

Fact 4:

Unfortunately, in recent times, so-called teachers in the more liberal Orthodox jurisdictions, in their explanations of Orthodox marriage, give some sort of “sacramental” significance to physical union, and because of this consider the use of contraceptives altogether permissible. The fact that the Church’s understanding throughout history contradicts their new thinking they explain as being due to an excessive influence of monasticism on the Church’s historical understanding of the question. Of course we can hardly agree with these modern theologians, but must take into consideration that it is these ideas which are published in the English language, and it is these which fall into the hands of our youth.

 

Fact 5:

Contraceptives can be divided into two groups. The first are those which physically prevent the actual conception. The second are those which pretend to be contraceptives, but actually do not allow for development after conception. This is already no longer contraception, but automatic abortion, i.e. murder.

 

 We find an ambivalent attitude in the Orthodox flock on the question of the use of contraceptives. Church-oriented people who are obedient to the Church’s teachings do not require such things, but those who do not live a Church-oriented life are incapable of understanding why such things are prohibited. If you try to explain why, they consider that you are interfering in something that is none of your business.

First we will explain how it is that Church-oriented people do not require contraceptives. Intercourse is not sanctioned during the four periods of fasting, similarly on Wednesdays and Fridays, from the eve, for the whole year. This eliminates some 180 days of the year. In the Instructional Notice found at the end of the Service Book, in Rule 18 we read the following: “Any priest or deacon who has a wife must abstain from intercourse with her several days before serving, also, after serving, for that day. Anyone not abstaining but serving, sins gravely. Not only priests, but also all Christians who are to partake worthily of the Divine Mysteries of Christ must keep themselves from this impediment…” If we were to interpret this rule minimally, i.e. that abstinence is required two days prior and one day after Communion, and suppose that a pious couple might commune at least once a month outside of Lenten periods, also on holidays, then at least another thirty days are eliminated. If we take into account the biological fact that the right conditions for conception are normally present in a woman only four days a month, it becomes obvious that those who abstain according to Church rules do not require any artificial means.

Taking these Church limitations on married life into account, it becomes obvious that the errors of the modern theologians are logical. Having relaxed or completely abolished fasting, they now have to make the next relaxation, justifying it in all manner of wisdom foreign to the Church.

But what can we do with those members of the flock who do not fast, do not often commune, do not practice abstinence? How is a pastor to guide those who are not fully obedient to the Church? Our only hope is somehow to convey to these people that the very crux of Orthodox Christian marriage, the common end of all our sacraments and the whole Christian life is the attainment of salvation. If couples could understand that their marriage bond is nothing other than their means of salvation, the limitation of the will, obedience, raising of the spirit above the flesh, then they would see that, contrary to what the world asserts, the physical component is not really the pivotal point of their union; then they could follow the Church’s teaching in this sphere.

 

(To be continued)

 Father Gregory Naumenko

 

 

SPIRITUAL POETRY

 

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