Everything in the world affects the priest. For example, the pre-revolutionary pastor was everywhere in a cassock - that was the law. Today's priest most often wears civilian clothes. And it cannot be said that such a seemingly trifle did not affect the way of his life. It is the same in everything. The laws of civil society, written and unwritten, affect us. It would be foolish to deny it. Leisure activities, leisure, worldly gossip and rumors, politics, television news ... - all this and much more affects the priest. Let's try to highlight some of the brightest phenomena public life acting on the shepherd.
Money
The easiest way to start this chapter is with the scathing and just statement of the apostle Paul: “The root of all evil is” (1 Tim. 6: 10). But let's try to start from afar. Money is not just and not only the root of all evil. It is also the blood of the state body. It is also the blood and sweat of a toiler, drop by drop turned into a coin or banknote. A superficial attitude towards money is a superficial attitude towards life in general. And the first thing worth mentioning is the need for the right attitude to money. A child, for example, earns far from immediately, not from the dawn of his life. However, he uses other people's earnings constantly. The teacher's task is therefore simple: to teach little man take care of other people's work and gratefully use its fruits. Not only a priest (future priest), but every Christian should see traces of other people's labors in the world around him and treat them accordingly. Someone glazed window, someone arranged a flower bed, someone painted a bench in the park - this is an object of respect for the fact of someone else's work. The same goes for money. They are not god, but they are not rubbish either. They should not be worshiped, but they should not be neglected.
Many of Christ's teachings and parables (about a widow and two mites; about debtors and a lender; about a crazy rich man, etc.) use the theme of money. This is either an image of increased grace, or a real picture of sacrifice, or an example of spiritual blindness. Taking into account the fact that since ancient times it is the accusation of love of money that turns the embittered world into a battering ram against the Church, the clergy is called to be attentive and responsible in this matter.
You need to be able to receive and be able to give. And remember: what is given sanctifies what is left
Not a value in and of itself. Otherwise they would be a substitute for the True God. Money must be able to receive and be able to give. You need to be able to do not one thing, but exactly both. The priest lives on charity. Like no one else, he should feel it. Therefore, he himself should learn to share and give. The meaning of giving (tithing at least) is, for example, in the fact that what is given sanctifies the rest. Let's say a man has harvested a potato crop. It turned out to be forty sacks. He, in the form of tithes, can carry four of them to the temple. As a result, the thirty-six remaining sacks of the worker become holy. What is given sanctifies what is left. The priest, who received four bags of potatoes, gives (takes) part of the parish received by the poorest people. This is not a picture of a potato exchange. Before us is life itself, the meaning of which is to give without pity. “God loves a cheerful giver” (2 Cor. 9: 7).
All organs in the human body work for bestowal. To receive in order to give is the principle of life and health. According to this principle, the eyes, kidneys, stomach, heart act in the body. To accept (food, blood, air) and not to give is death. Not to accept, because someone did not give their part for the benefit of the common, also death. If the egoism of individual organs were possible in the organism, the life of the organism would become impossible. But, unfortunately, a person can be selfish. Selfishness can even become ideological. The theory " reasonable selfishness"Nurtured the entire 18th century, the 19th lived in accordance with this theory, the 20th exploded into two world wars. Reasonable egoists easily turn into cannibals. And then societies and states die, decaying. They wither and disappear. The reason for stuntedness is self-obsession and, as a result, inability (unwillingness) to share.
In sacred geography there is a vivid image that confirms what has been said. The Jordan River flows into and out of Lake Galilee. Lake of Galilee is bustling with life both in depth and on the surface. Then Jordan flows into the Dead Sea and does not flow anywhere. The Dead Sea is truly dead. There is no seaweed, no fish, no shellfish. The lesson is simple. You accept and give (like the Lake of Galilee) - you are alive. You accept and do not give (like the Dead Sea) - you are dead. Any priest should be imbued with the deep simplicity of this image. Experience says that many who complain about the scarcity of income are simply greedy and not only do not want to share, but do not even want to hear about it. Spiritual truth is unpleasant to them. This topic was deeply and capaciously revealed to blessed memory by His Holiness Alexy II in his conversations with the Moscow clergy. The hand of the giver really does not fail, and this should be tested on own experience.
The love that a priest enjoys from people is only partly love for him personally. Basically, this is love for Christ, the image of which is worn by the shepherd. If you do not mentally separate yourself from the One Whom you serve, then the priest runs the risk of being in the position of the gospel donkey. He, according to the apt expression, at the entrance to Jerusalem thought that it was he who was waving palm branches and spreading clothes under his feet. Smiling bitterly and realizing the meaning of what was said, the priest should eventually learn to give and share just as easily and pleasantly as he easily and pleasantly accepts gifts and offerings. This is, perhaps, the extreme or the lowest point of Christian morality. If morality is not noticeable in relation to money, you should not look for it elsewhere: in chastity, scholarship or asceticism. There is hardly anything authentic there, since the lowest rung is correct attitude to money - not passed. On the contrary, every debauchery and every villainy like to get along side by side with the love of money.
Judas was near Christ. Near Elisha, like a mirror image Old Testament in the New, Gehazi was. Both were near apparent holiness. Both were at the service of the saint. But both formed a special way of thinking for themselves, a kind of their own "catechism", according to which they allowed themselves to enrich themselves or simply steal, using the authority of the teacher. Is this not a threatening image for all who are ordained? After all, it is easier than easy, being near the shrine, to ascribe to oneself personally some special rights and, on the basis of these invented rights, to sin with a sense of permissiveness. Such temptations threaten the shepherd especially, since the devil cannot stand the work of grace and seeks to extinguish its burning by any means. The love of money is one of the most effective.
The Pharisees were money-lovers, and the Lord, knowing well, indicated to them a cure for passion, namely, alms. “Now you, Pharisees, cleanse the outside of the cup and dish, but your inside is full of robbery and deceit. Unreasonable! Is it not the same who created the external, created the internal? Better give alms from what you have, then everything will be clean with you ”(Luke 11: 39-41). The Lord unambiguously promises that “everything will be clean” if a person learns to give charity. And if a crafty mind comes up with an excuse like the one that, they say, let the rich give out of their excess, then the case of the widow and two mites will devalue this cunning. Charity is an obligation for everyone: the poor and the rich. Therefore: poor parishes and rich. And the fact that the words of Christ: “Give, and it will be given to you” (Luke 6: 38) - were said for a reason, the merciful pastor will have to find out on himself and in his parish.
Finally, one should firmly keep in mind the idea that the wealth of the Church is not material values, but people. The Church minted gold chalices into money, because even liturgical vessels are not as expensive as living souls for which Christ died. In response to the order to bring the treasures of the Church, the Martyr Archdeacon Stephen brought many beggars to the doors of the authorities, who were fed at the expense of the Church. “Look not for human beings, but for people,” said St. Tikhon of Zadonsk. These are paraphrased words of the apostle Paul: “I am not looking for yours, but for you” (2 Cor. 12:14).
The spirit of careerism and profit
What is called modern civilization is, figuratively speaking, the "Judas culture". Money and worldly success are the "gods" of our time. People recognize as great and significant those who collected (no matter how) capital and climbed to the top of the social pyramid. With regard to the priesthood, there is a temptation to also try to climb higher in order to satisfy pride and enjoy the benefits that are not always spiritual. People very quickly recognize such phenomena and attribute their indignation to the entire Church in general. People mistakenly think that the whole Church is a bunch of careerists and money-lovers. This is a serious challenge to the entire spiritual community. In order not to give an excuse to "those who are looking for an excuse" and to be free from this evil age, the priesthood should distance itself from the pursuit of power and easy money. The power over the flock belongs not to the one who is strongly connected with those in power, but to the one who is completely free from them. Likewise, a pastor should not regard his ministry as a means of earning money. “Those who serve the altar are fed from the altar” (cf. 1 Cor. 9:13). This is the law. But it is one thing to serve and eat, it is quite another thing to dream of luxury and make money. Proceeding from the fact that the wealth of the parish is the people, and not their wallets and pockets, it should be recognized that a shepherd who has dedicated himself to serving the people of God is richer than a shepherd who feeds himself. Experience only proves this word taken from Ezekiel (see: Ezek. 34: 2).
The spirit of incessant joy and the cult of pleasure
The days of old Rome have returned to our streets. The plebs of the world capital demanded bread and circuses. The same is demanded by the "civilized" peoples. We live in an atmosphere of pleasure-seeking. Pleasure may not be due to poverty or disease. But they can be desired without having, and most of them want them. modern people... Getting pleasure, as one of the subspecies of life in a consumer society, has become the goal and raison d'être. Needless to say, knowledge about the world to come, about the Kingdom of Heaven comes into sharp conflict with this spirit of incessant pleasure and search for entertainment? The priest, too, does not have an initial immune inoculation against the desire for worldly goods. The vaccine needs to be educated. In the meantime, there are venerable archpriests keenly watching fashionable TV shows. There are people in dignity who are passionately in love with mobile equipment and have given their hearts not to the Service Book and the Psalter, but to catalogs of new cars and who understand them at the level good manager... wrote in the book “At the Walls of the Church” that a note-request could be submitted to the altar from the choirs with the following content: “Do not delay the service. Hockey in the evening! " We see all this today in different forms with my own eyes. There was a time when in Jerusalem, not far from the walls of the Temple, young people were engaged in gymnastics. And then the priests were in a hurry to leave the service to watch the competition of javelin throwers or runners. So the world captivates through the doors of the eyes of the human heart with sports, technology, various types of recreation and other pleasures. The shepherd is no exception. But people still expect freedom from the world from the shepherd, they expect holiness.
You can love theater, sports, travel, but let these "hobbies" become a resource for preaching
Therefore, a shepherd should strive to live in the world, but not in a worldly way. To be here, but not from here. You can go to the theater, but then knowledge of the theatrical repertoire and the subtleties of drama should serve the cause of preaching among educated people who love the stage. You can love sports, but here, too, there will be a resource for communication with both young people and people. mature age remembering the sporting greatness of their country. It is the same in everything: in science, in travel, in any hobby. Otherwise, anything will swallow the shepherd - be it a card game, or a fitness club, travel, or a movie hobby. He will not accumulate a resource for influencing the flock, but will satisfy his passion, taking away time and energy from serving the Church.
We deliberately single out profit and idle pleasures in the category of the main life goals of humanity, which has abandoned Eternity or has not heard about it. All other sins and addictions can be easily associated with those already mentioned. A priest, living in the world, needs to know the world well, but be free from it inwardly. This sounds like a super task, since it is much easier to dissolve into the world without a trace or to run away from it altogether. And Chrysostom said that, based on the greatness of the ministry, the number of those who are saved in the priesthood is small. Nevertheless, the center of a pastor's life should be the Eucharist, and he should evaluate everything that happens around him through the eyes of a person who brings the Bloodless Sacrifice to God. Christ will not leave or forget His servant, but will keep, guide and admonish him. Thus, we hope that he will be given the strength to accomplish this unimaginable thing: to live in the world without mixing with the world; love people, knowing their deeds, but not participating in their sins.
We are used to drawing a clear dividing line between monasticism and family life, but there is no fundamental difference between them simply because they are one and the same path - the path to God. 
St. blgv. book Peter and Fevronia of Murom Today they often say that today's Christianity is very different from the Christianity of the past, because the world has radically changed and modern civilization leaves a powerful imprint on the existence of the Church. Therefore, the conditions of salvation now for us are somewhat different than those that were suggested and offered by the holy fathers. In my opinion, such a judgment is deeply mistaken, because the world changes only in its external and, I must say, its insignificant forms, no matter how paradoxical it sounds, since the essence human life after the fall it remains the same.
The Christianity of past centuries and the present time is not at all different. The tasks of Christians in the matter of salvation remain the same: to fulfill the commandments of the Lord, to pray, to fast, to participate in worship, to do good deeds. All this leads to the acquisition of a peaceful spirit, about which the Monk Elder Seraphim once spoke. The history of Christianity has not changed, and the main thing is to try to avoid two main sins: condemnation (“ Do not judge so you will not be judged ”, Matt. 7: 1) and ingratitude (“Always rejoice. Pray incessantly. Thank you for everything for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you, ”1 Thess. 5: 16-18). If there is gratitude in your heart, if you do not condemn anyone, then the “spirit of peace” slowly comes into your soul.The Christianity of the previous centuries and the present time is not at all different
Condemnation recedes when a person loves not with abstract love all of humanity [i], but loves everyone an individual, and already through this love learns to love the whole world, of which every person is a part. The holy Apostle John the Theologian has remarkable words: "Do not love the world, nor that which is in the world: whoever loves the world, in him is not the love of the Father" (1 John 2:15). What does this mean, one should not love the creation of God? No, on the contrary, you need to love him, you need to admire him and rejoice in him. But the "world" here means sin who distorted the beauty of the created world and ruins it. Then, of course, this sin and the life of sin must be renounced. After all, the real content of worldly life does not consist in being in any clubs, cafes - in doing something that devastates the soul ... Labor, childbearing, raising children, work - this is what our worldly life implies, that is its true goal. And this is not only possible - you need to love! And thank God for everything He gives you.
How should such love be manifested? In our attitude towards those who are next to us. We must constantly cultivate benevolence. We should try to be an example loving person... At the same time, we must treat everyone peacefully, be able to distinguish dogmatic truth, the truth of Orthodoxy from human relations.We must constantly cultivate benevolence
Look, Orthodox Christians have to communicate with by different people, of different denominations. Here I had a Muslim neighbor - Ahmed. We always communicated well with him, one might even say we were friends. I have always treated him with love. I also had many Jewish acquaintances, and I loved them too, but this does not mean that I fulfilled the Law of Moses. Another example: a rabbi lives in my house, but I treat him with love. We have never had any disputes with him, we have always simply and humanly sincerely treated each other.
The Lord says that you must love not only your neighbor as yourself (Matt. 22:39), but also your enemies (Matt. 5: 43-45), but here we are not enemies. Therefore, I teach all my students: let's, as they say, share, one thing is our love, which should be manifested in our entire being. And quite another is our convictions in faith, which should remain our convictions, which we should keep regardless of good and good relationship to people of a different faith or nationality. 
Reverend Cyril and Maria of Radonezh We can learn such a friendly, peaceful and amicable attitude towards people by examples, absorbing the wisdom of the holy fathers and ascetics of the Church. There is excellent spiritual literature, for example, "Lavsaik, or the story of the life of the saints and blessed fathers" or "Ancient Patericon", which shows that humility, humility, good relations, The "spirit is peaceful", which we talked about, is what we are obliged to learn. This is very clearly manifested in monastic writing. Monastic writing, I would say so, is the focus of all our spiritual experience. We gain this experience, first of all, on a personal path, but we simply need to learn from the experience of the holy fathers, so that we do not stumble in haste and fervor.
At the same time, of course, reading monastic literature does not mean that we should all become monks. You can often hear that there are two paths: monastic life and family life. However, I usually say to my seminarians: we sometimes do not understand who a monk is. A monk is not so much "one", "lonely" as "one." This means that he is ideally one with himself and with God. But unity with God is the ideal not only of monastic life, but of all Christian life in general. And I would even say this: monasticism and family life are not two different paths, but two different sides of the same road. What is very important, both paths lead to a common goal. And the experience of achieving this goal is precisely concentrated mainly in monastic books.Monastic writing is the focus of all our spiritual experience
Of course, we must admit that the monastic path is shorter. The worldly path, which, for example, I have walked and continue to follow until now, is associated with many everyday concerns. Whether you like it or not, you have to do a lot. If you are a family man - you have a wife, children - you have to take care of them, and there can be all sorts of difficulties and even troubles. It is especially important for family people to understand and always remember that childbearing is a great feat and necessary condition for salvation. The monk has his own worries and his troubles. Once I asked one: "Well, father, are you praying?" And he answered me: “What kind of prayer there is! My stomach hurts so much that there is nothing on my heart (I mean prayer). " Disease is also a monastic activity.
However, in worldly life, every kind of concern abounds and continually distracts from God. Get up in the morning evening prayer Sometimes it is very difficult for God to visit a church, to pray, to receive communion, having received communion. Our worries pull us apart, distract us and prevent us from concentrating. The Fathers called this phenomenon "περισπασμός", that is, actually "entertainment" and "distraction." 
Some people now often say that it is necessary to "have fun" and "be distracted." In fact, on the contrary, you need to connect with yourself. Monk why "one"? Because he prays with his mind and heart, he focuses on the fact that he is the image of God. We spend a lot of effort to restore this image in ourselves in worldly life, but we are constantly distracted from this main goal. For example, you have to go to the store: buy something for your wife, for example, a dress or boots - the old ones have already become unusable. It happens that you stand in prayer, and in your head you have all these worries, all this petty "rubbish", and all this disturbs you. And the monk has those perfect examples that holy monks, such as the Monks Pimen the Great, Arsenius the Great and others, show us — there was no such concern.
But the host of saints is huge. It contains not only those saints who were glorified for performing monastic deeds, but also many of those who lived in the world, family people, raising children, etc. But these people, devoting their lives to their relatives and friends, were rewarded with spiritual heights, for example, as the holy Apostle Peter. Saint Melania the Elder at first lived a worldly life, and after being left alone with the only surviving child, she gave him into the care of God and chose the monastic path. She combined two paths in her life, having survived the tragedy (the death of her next of kin), and took monasticism. Saints Peter and Fevronia also lived at first in marriage, and then took tonsure.
Moreover, we know examples of the holiness and height of spiritual life, manifested by the laity, to which God Himself pointed out so that the monks could imitate their perfect life. We meet with such a case in the life of the Monk Macarius of Egypt.
It seems that real Orthodox worldly life should sooner or later lead to monasticism. It's not even a formal tonsure. We are used to drawing a clear dividing line between monasticism and family life, but, as I said, there is no fundamental difference between them simply because they are one and the same path - the path to God. The main thing is that everyone should be one. And in the Church we are exactly one. We, according to the apostle Paul, are one body (1 Cor. 12:13). You need to understand that each of us in the Body of Christ fulfills his purpose, if only it was for the sake of God, for the glory of God and, of course, for the sake of our neighbor.
This is the truth of Christianity that has not changed over the centuries.
Alexey Ivanovich Sidorov,
candidate historical sciences, PhD in Theology,
Doctor of Church History,
Professor of the Sretensky Theological Seminary
Keywords: family, faithfulness, love, monasticism, path, salvation, Christianity[i] “Love for humanity is a verbal fornication. Love for a specific person, on our life path Given by God, it is a practical matter, requiring work, effort, struggle with oneself, one's own laziness "(Archimandrite John (Krestyankin).
Father Seraphim Rose described three types of monasticism, as he called,
"Three types of monastic situation."
The first situation
This is an old monastery already built. This is what is usually meant by the words "go to the monks." To become a monk - for many it means to go to a monastery. And Fr. Seraphim writes that spiritual fruit in such a monastery is achieved through the suffering associated with being in such a place, as well as through continuous connection with the past. Such a monastery, as it were, pulls a thread from the past, people join it, due to this, spiritual fruit is obtained, and plus the suffering associated with staying in such a monastery.
Here Fr. Seraphim talks about monasteries in the tradition of the Church Abroad. In August of this year, just a month ago, Abbess Alexandra from ROCOR (A) made a report on the monasteries of the Church Abroad. She visited all the historical monasteries of the ROCOR. She describes four convents of the Church Abroad and the main male monastery ROCOR Jordanville. Her report carefully examines the routine of life and worship in such monasteries, but the whole report does not mention anywhere, even briefly, the main activity of the monk - the Jesus Prayer. Maybe she has her own opinion, of course, but from other eyewitnesses who visited these monasteries, I also heard that the main efforts there are aimed at receiving pilgrims and maintaining ancient buildings. Usually, these monasteries have rather large real estate, which is difficult to maintain, monks work for this, and I have never heard of the Jesus Prayer in the monasteries of the Church Abroad.
Although there is a slightly different monastery, different in spirit, it is located in Boston. In the USA, there are even several such monasteries in the Church, which is friendly to us, where there is a completely different attitude to the Jesus Prayer, but they are all English-speaking, a little in a different, Greek tradition, but there are such monasteries.
The second type of "monastic situation"
about which Father Seraphim writes, arises when a person begins to ascetic himself, according to his understanding of the examples of the great ascetics of the past. Father Seraphim explains that this is the most dangerous of all monastic paths open today. And it's understandable why. Father Seraphim gives many reasons why this is dangerous, and explains what qualities a person must possess - an almost impossible combination of qualities - in order to survive in this way. And, besides, such a hermit in Russia is also a physically dangerous path. If in America, where Father Seraphim lived, you can fence off the territory, write "private territory", and it will be well guarded, then in Russia all this is much more dangerous.
But there is one more thing that did not exist in the time of Father Seraphim, which is both good and evil. it modern facilities communication. If such an ascetic really tries not to use the Internet, then he chooses the second type described by Father Seraphim with all the dangers. If he uses the Internet, then he approaches the third type, because he has some like-minded people with whom he can communicate, and then what Fr. Seraphim called the third type of "monastic situation."
The third type of "monastic situation"
arises when a group of several people begins to ascend, supporting each other. This is a very frequent case for true Orthodoxy in Russia. There are parishes here, they are either apartment-type or temples (but the TOC managed to keep quite a few temples), in these communities there are people who try to live like monks, they usually stick together, and later one of them is tonsured. Thus, when a parish is received, a small monastic community is formed, usually of an urban type, which is often called monasticism in the world.
There are many problems here, but four are on the surface. The first is how to keep in shape, the second is how to maintain some isolation from the world, the third problem of female monasticism is how to deal with lust (this is the flip side of the problem of obedience), and the fourth problem is collective pride.
1) How to keep in shape
What is this problem? At first, and even long time, for several years, a person who tries to live like a monk retains some understanding of why this is necessary. A person tries to ascend, and then over time, some getting used to such a life develops, efforts begin to weaken, life enters its own channel, and the initial understanding begins to fade and become clogged with vanity.
This is where it is very important to keep in shape. For this, the five main activities of a monk and every Christian are important. It is important to learn these activities even before the tonsure, so that they become familiar and so that they create shape.
What are these activities that keep this way? I will list them in no particular order.
a) Psalm singing
Psalm is worship. And here it is very important for monastics to get used to the daily service even before the tonsure. At least to the minimum. It can be performed at home, it can be performed without a priest (a priest is not even needed at such monastic services). This is some part of the services of the daily circle, at least it is vespers. This is a certain backbone, which simply must be, without which everything will be washed out.
b) Reading
Daily reading of the holy fathers. The reading can be very small, but attentive. First, these are ascetic readings, about how to change oneself, because it seems to a person that he knows exactly what he needs to do in order to change, but the holy fathers find how to do it better. And another reading is reading that helps many, this is the reading of some living books about Orthodoxy, which remind of why all this is needed, some lives, but not verified, but written "in hot pursuit", which describe and pros, and cons, and mistakes, which tells how people who tried to ascetic actually lived. So we just end up in good company... Because when a person lives in the world, he inevitably communicates with people, and with good people, but they have a slightly different constitution. And when we see the life of holy people who have labored and tried before, they become some of our company, with which we communicate.
c) Reflection
Thinking, first of all, about your sins. There is one very good trick here. This is difficult to force yourself, because our inner man will not want to do this, but if you get used to it, then this is a very good habit. Once a day, or better twice a day, carry out a mechanical "inventory" of sins in a day or in half a day: what have I done bad during this time, this, this, and this. And to think how I could next time, when I find myself in this situation, not to step on this rake.
Here, of course, it is better not to think for yourself (and this is very important point), you cannot believe your own ideas about your mistakes, but you need to consult with someone. Having a good and experienced priest is good, but not necessarily a priest. It is enough that there is a single-minded person with whom it could be discussed and who can suggest something from the outside. From the side it is sometimes visible that which is not visible from the inside. I myself have nothing, but my neighbor always sees not only what he has, but also how he can correct himself! But it is actually useful to discuss everything. Here, of course, the thought arises that I myself know, but if I know myself, and this does not help, then it means that I know something wrong.
d) The fourth lesson is what is called prayer
This is the same Jesus prayer, some special rule associated with the Jesus Prayer. This is a completely separate topic. But how does it help? Unlike the three previous activities, which create a kind of skeleton, it creates the joy for which all this can be done. As one modern leader of the Jesus Prayer said, our day is like smoked glass, and the monastic rule, the Jesus Prayer, is like a small window rubbed in this glass through which you can see the light.
e) Needlework
This is a job. Its main goal is to prevent thoughts from wandering, it is such an anchor for the mind, but it is also needed in order to live by one's own labor. Because monastics often have a special kind of temptation: the world begins to help monks very much, completely undeservedly. All sorts of sponsors appear, and then there is a temptation to live at the expense of sponsors, somehow rely on them, somehow communicate with them. But this is a big trap, it very much corrupts a person. Of course, it is better, like the Apostle Paul, who made his own tents, to work and earn a living himself. And this is in the catacomb traditions: the catacomb monks did not hesitate to work in secular jobs. But organizing your own business for a monastery or for a small monastic community, even in the world - doing and selling something - is very troublesome and unsafe in Russia. And it's easier when people, having some kind of skills, just quietly work in their fields in secular jobs.
This is about how to keep in shape.
2) The second problem is how to maintain some isolation,
or, in worldly terms, how not to hang out. And now there is not only ordinary communication with people, but also communication on the Internet.
But have different people a different psychological structure, a different need for communication, therefore, each person must come up with some kind of system for himself, how, in the absence of the external walls of the monastery, he can organize some kind of internal fence, some kind of isolation, otherwise unsanitary conditions will develop.
3) How to deal with lust,
with a desire to command. Highly a big problem female monasticism. These nuns often find themselves involved in parish or diocesan activities, or in general church activities. It is very difficult to resist not to start to boss, especially if you are the boss by position (all the more, you need to restrain yourself harder), and there can be several tricks here.
One very good rule to keep in mind is "keep your head down." And you just need to remember about the very danger of commanding. And we are happy to meet cases that allow us to humble ourselves a little. To rejoice in every such unpleasant incident, and these include the need for some kind of work, and harassment from the authorities. And, again, here you need to develop some kind of scheme for yourself how to put the right shutters on your desire to command. It is advisable to develop not on your own, but in consultation with someone who sees it from the outside.
4) The next danger is collective pride
This is not only among monastics, but in general for the CPI it is a very dangerous thing. I myself am a sinner, but what a good organization I belong to! .. Fr. Seraphim writes separately about collective pride just in relation to that group of people who organized their monastic community practically from scratch. He says that "the appearance of 'rightness' can produce spiritual complacency and disdain for those who, not being a member of their group, are not so 'right'."
Father Seraphim gives advice on how to deal with this. He writes: "The less such a group is in the center of public attention, and the less it focuses on its 'correctness' and its differences from older institutions, the greater the chance it has to maintain its spiritual health." That is, such a group should be in the center of public attention as little as possible.
Here we smoothly moved on to the lateral, but burning issue of female monasticism, to the problem of appearance,
Clothing problem
I am not talking here about those who live in monasteries, but those who live in the world. There are two approaches here. Someone thinks that one should always wear a cassock, while others think that it is not necessary.
Whoever walked down the street in a cassock knows that this is very strong attraction attention, attention of two types. The first is drunkards, who immediately have a great religious impulse, and when drunk they have a need to communicate on religious topics. And the second is, again, very undeserved good attention from the side of people. Sometimes, on the contrary, it is aggression, but more often it is some kind of signs of attention: they give way, skip the line. Do you need it?
I studied the arguments for walking in a cassock on the street. There are several arguments.
a) the first argument,
which is most often found, was formulated by one of those present here as follows: "He called himself a load - climb into the back." Yes, a monk takes certain vows during the tonsure, but among them there is no vow to wear medieval everyday oriental clothing. Because the cassock and the apostle are common clothes in the East, they have been preserved there as everyday clothes to this day.
But how important is it to walk the streets in eastern medieval dress? In the service - there is a ceremonial, ritual, but in everyday life?
b) second argument:
One Greek priest in America told me, emphasizing why it is important to walk in a cassock, how he stood somewhere on the street, and young people stood nearby, they did not see him and used some kind of swear words. Then they saw him, apologized and began to speak in good English language... And so, this is an argument in favor of the cassock. In fact, Orthodoxy does not have the goal of teaching people to express themselves this way, and not that way, and whoever tried to teach young people not to use obscene language, he knows how much it really is violence against them, how much it is a serious compulsion for them. But is it necessary with the help of a cassock to transform Orthodoxy into some kind of system of restrictions and coercion?
c) one more reason:
I preach Christianity when I wear a cassock. It seems to me that this is absolutely not a sensible reason. If a person seriously thinks that he is preaching Christianity with his appearance, then this is a reason to hit himself on the forehead and somehow treat himself more soberly.
d) fourth reason:
I do not feel like a monk in secular clothes. No matter how ridiculous it sounds, but, in fact, this is a serious reason, because in different clothes a person feels differently. In shorts, they say, in some one way, in a strict suit - some other dispensation. And the cassock helps someone to maintain the correct dispensation. So maybe this is an argument for someone, I don’t know and I don’t presume to judge here. They say, "the spirit protects the form," but here we can also say that the spirit does not always protect the form, but sometimes replaces. And, perhaps, “less masquerade” is better, so as not to draw attention to your own monastic persona.
Now we can talk about landmarks, not problems. The Highest Landmark - this is understandable, I take it outside the parentheses, but as for earthly landmarks, it is better for us in Russia to focus not on the monasteries of the Church Abroad, but on catacomb monasticism. They walked down the street in secular clothes.
In catacomb monasticism there were different options, there was no desire to drive everyone under a single charter. They wore secular and still walk the streets in secular, modest decent clothes that do not attract attention. They do not hesitate to work in secular jobs. They did not always live together in one single place. But they had their own monastic rules. And it is the catacomb traditions that can be a reference point for us.
And in conclusion, I would like to say that the most important thing is not to condemn other types of monastic life. When a person chooses monasticism, then, in my opinion, it is very healthy, and other monks should rejoice. And if it seems that it would be worth organizing it somehow wrong, but otherwise, then, in fact, thank God that there is at least somehow.
Monks, after all, they are all a little like relatives, they should rejoice at each other - even if in some way they understand monastic practice in different ways.
Guys, we put our soul into the site. Thank you for
that you discover this beauty. Thanks for the inspiration and the goosebumps.
Join us at Facebook and In contact with
There are films as finished canvases: the picture is completely clear, the story is outlined, the answers have been received. And there are paintings that hide behind a second layer of paint, to which a person must eventually reach it.
site has compiled a list of such films with connotations. They will nudge you into thinking that will help you understand the behavior of others and answer your own questions.
New Testament
Don't believe in God? But in vain. He exists: he lives in Brussels, he has a wife, a well-known son and daughter. Moreover, the latter, disobeying her father, sends all people SMS with the dates of their death, and then completely escapes into our world, where this whole mess begins. This cheeky parody of modern world from the director of "Mr. Nobody" will definitely kick you in the ass!
Returned
What would you do if a deceased loved one suddenly knocks on your door? If you are at a loss to answer, watch the movie Returned, where everyone dead people suddenly returned to their small town, wedged themselves into the lives of their shocked loved ones and began to wait for something ... This is not a zombie horror at all, but a very intense film-reflection about memory and grief.
Wild stories
This absurd black comedy begins with a miniature, where the passengers of the plane suddenly realize that they are all indirectly familiar due to the savagery of one person. Then there are 6 short stories with the same idea: the whole world is a zoo, and the people in it are animals. Each story culminates in breakdown a hero who crossed the line between reason and savagery - all this provokes, annoys, but at the same time is familiar to any of us.
Entering the void
At the beginning of this film, one of the heroes talks about the Tibetan book of the dead, the adaptation of which, in fact, will be "Entering the Void". This slow, but at the same time shocking youth arthouse tape with the atmosphere of neon Tokyo can be considered a kind of tribute to Buddhist philosophy or just a bad trip from LSD - in any case, it is difficult to remain indifferent to it.
And everything lit up
No matter how paradoxical it may sound, but in the film Ukrainian open spaces merged, a break dancer, Elijah Wood, a dog in a white T-shirt and the theme of the Holocaust, which strikes emotions no worse than Schindler's List. In general, you can laugh at the picture, then cry, and at the end burn with a thirst to find the history of your family and find out who you are.
Asphalt
Before us is a multi-storey gray house, whose inhabitants lead a gray life. But one day, 3 funny stories happen inside it, which literally fill the house with warmth. After looking at this picture, you will understand why it is so important to find a common language with this world. Even if the heroes in the person of the Algerian grandmother and the American astronaut coped with this task, then you can do it too.
Live
"To Live" is another film from our selection, which touches on the theme of the sudden return of the dead. Only this time there is no French atmosphere here. There are no stars. No special effects. There is no mysticism. There is only one rigid, unforgiving personality psyche. The genre here is tragedy. The mood is Dostoevsky.
Who am I
If you love films like The Illusion of Deception, Hackers, Ocean's Friends, and another one that cannot be named so as not to spoil the essence (guess after watching), then this movie is definitely for you. In him in question about a sort of "hacker Cinderella" who plays virtual tricks together with her "hacker fairy". Although this picture is less known than the above films, believe me, in the twist of the plot it is not inferior to one iota.
The Stanford Prison Experiment
The film is based on a real experiment in 1971, during which several students of the same social level assigned to the roles of guards and prisoners. The experiment had to be stopped quickly, as everything turned out in such a terrible way that it was difficult to imagine. We can say that the picture reveals the whole psychology of a person. Plus, Ezra Miller plays here - you know, yes, which will be epic?
Lobster
The entire film is a fantasy about "what would happen if popular stereotypes about relationships suddenly became true." In this dystopia, all single people are sent to a dating hotel, where they must find a mate in 45 days. If they fail, they are turned into an animal. The main character just finds himself in such a situation, already ready to turn into a lobster, since 45 days are ending, and there is no place for lonely people in his world ...
No connection
If you have already watched all the series of "Black Mirror" and want more, then we present to you the picture "No connection". It also plays up the relationship between people against the background of all kinds of gadgets and the Internet. Before watching you a question for reasoning: why technologies designed to unite people, on the contrary, in fact only create a chasm between them?
Frequencies of love
Imagine there is a reality where all people, while still in primary school, take a test that determines their fate. The questions of this test are not known to anyone in advance, but it is its passing that determines whether the child has a grand future or the life of a loser. No matter how trite it may sound, but there are a couple of heroes who decide to correct the results. Look: there is an option to change fate even in a world where it is unquestioningly predetermined.
Wanted Sheldon and J.D. in the same movie? Get it! The latter, by the way, is also the director of this sad comedy. Maybe a story about a husband and a father, who is faced with a dozen problems simultaneously with the search for the meaning of their existence, seems to have been told a hundred times already, but it lifts the mood perfectly. So in a state of "decay and despair" feel free to include this film, and the realization of your own idiocy will cheer you up 100%.
Photos from open sources
- What is the significance of the human etheric body?
The human etheric body has a very important role. If the physical body consists of organs that complement each other, then
The etheric body has the radiant nature of the combined spirits of nature that determine the entire diversity of the environment. natural world... The spirit of Water, the spirit of Fire, the spirit of the Earth, the spirit of Air - all four natural spirits make up the human etheric body and all together create a basic intelligent-electromagnetic field that literally holds the entire cellular community of the most diverse organs all together and in full cooperative complementarity.
Natural spirits always cooperate in natural environment and all together determine the composition of the flora and fauna of natural complexes. Living and healthy spirits of nature have the properties of living beings, but their nature is field. It has a difference in phase manifestation, and only in the community of the four elements a multidimensional composition of field significance is created, capable of accepting and giving growth energy to physical subjects.
The ethereal spirits that make up a particular species community of plants or animals always have the ability to distribute roles among themselves and never try to prevail over each other, violating the harmonious forms of mutual cooperation. But these conditions take place in the conditions untouched nature, where someone else's will does not interfere in order to gain their own benefit or dominance. Man in all natural complexes on Earth managed not only to intervene, but also to make these places defective, having lost their individuality. Therefore, the etheric layer of the Universe on Earth has ceased to be harmonious and, for some time now, is even malignant and aggressive towards the person himself.
- How is a person connected with the natural Etheric field?
The etheric part of the human body, consisting of a community of natural spirits of the elements - Water, Air, Fire and Earth is wholly and completely connected with the spirits of the elements in nature.
If between the etheric body of a person and the etheric body of Nature there is a violation of communication for some reason, then human body loses its vitality, and the etheric matrix, which dictates the unity and mutual cooperation of cellular life to the physical body, is completely lost, but before that it degrades for a long time. A person has the ability to eat food, drink water, bask by the fire, work with the earth, and this saves many city dwellers from the complete degradation of their physical bodies in urban conditions.
In big cities, the human etheric body is separated from the natural elements, and the physical body begins to ache and decay.
Diseases of big cities are known to everyone. This is the lack of fresh air, and the complete lack of communication with the living Earth. And people hardly see an open fire. And the Water in the water supply taps - killed by harsh cleaning and all kinds of pollution from the water supply systems themselves. Thus, the life of a person in big city becomes fatal to his etheric body and the degradation of his physical body.
If a person changes his place of residence to a natural one, then the physical body often recovers very quickly and becomes harmonious and beneficial for the person himself and his environment.
The reason for this is the recovery of the etheric body, which falls into a native element close to each of the elemental spirits that make up the human etheric body, which means that a healing impulse comes for all cellular systems of each of the organs.
- And how does killed Nature affect a person?
The killing of the natural spirits of the Higher Elements turns the area into a desert. Deserted places on the planet are increasing in size and it is obvious that the elemental spirits of Nature have a hard time next to the human constructions of large cities and military training grounds. Military affairs on Earth create such terrible disasters for the elemental Spirits that a separate and long conversation on this topic is required.
Let's say that the dark forces by the hands of people organize nuclear explosions: in the air, in the water, in the ground and even in the vents of volcanoes. It would seem that this is an accident, but in fact it is not. The dark forces hate the Natural Spirits and know that if they disappear, humanity can fully acquire the properties of biorobots that they need in order to control the masses and demand from them those actions that are beneficial to them.
The dark do not need Nature. They live in technocratic hells, inside which there is no place for nature spirits, and a person is deprived of his etheric body matrix.
Is it possible to change the structure of a person? If he is supposed to have an etheric matrix for the formation of a physical body, then what can replace it?
The etheric matrix of a person is a composite conglomerate of living intelligent-electromagnetic fields, which have their own glow, their own temperature, and their own composition of the cellular community in each organ. The cells of the body are fundamentally different from each other and perform very different work for the mutual coexistence of each individually, but also all together in complete unity.
In a dark system, there is an aspiration to equalize everything cell structures into one general, universal species, which is very similar to the versatility possessed by biorobots - slaves of the dark world. Gray ones are gray because they have completely destroyed the field forms of etheric diversity and the entire cellular system is reduced to a gray uniformity. This is comparable to what the rulers of the system of Darkness are calling for and already being implemented in practice, forcing people to mix in marriage, diluting their genes with alien inclusions of other races and species. The end result of such zealous mixing is bound to be gray man, which does not have its own personality, but will be a complete set of well-controlled slave and victim of energy vampires.
Killed nature is not an accidental result in the system of Darkness.
Currently, there is a purposeful separation of man from the natural complex. People live in big cities. Food is produced by huge corporations that exploit natural forces the planet, growing GMO products and animals, and then a person eats all this and becomes sick and weak. Is there a connection between pharmaceutical production and the predatory use of natural resources?
The direct link is obvious.
If a person completely breaks away from the natural complex, or cannot visit a healthy nature, then his etheric body is depleted and ceases to serve as a binding and forming healthy relationship cell communities in his body with each other.
The person starts to get sick! Diseases are very different, but they all also have to do with the elements, depending on which organ is sick. For normal treatment it would be necessary to send a person to the conditions of domination of one element or another in order for his weakened organ to receive the necessary dose of elemental energy, and such treatment would be sufficient. But in the human environment, everything is done completely differently.
The person fell ill, and they begin to feed him with all kinds of medications that have a difficult chemical composition, which, once and for all, completely and completely changes the conditions of metabolic processes in the intercellular environment and completely isolates the effect of the etheric matrix influence on the organs, replacing this effect with artificial interference chemical elements... They also, to some extent, have natural properties in their origin, but being artificially created, synthesized in laboratory conditions, they create conditions for the same artificial field composition.
In other words, if a person is treated with pills, then he radically changes his human nature to the nature of a biorobot. Such a person can no longer live in nature, he suffers from clean air, he is deeply indifferent to the Sun, and he can no longer understand another person who lives in nature and feels his kinship with the elements of nature. Such a rebirth has become ubiquitous on Earth, and people who were once considered such have already become non-humans, biochemical conglomerates of artificial field structures that feed on refined food, dietary supplements, drink alcohol as the main energetic of life, and use all kinds of means to satisfy their intimate needs.
This kind of people no longer have problems with high emotions, which include Love and compassion for others. Egocentrism becomes the only form of existence among the same egocentric individuals. And all this happens in one or two generations of people.
The world is reborn from natural to artificial the human community who cannot live in the New era due to the impossibility of adapting to new energies that do not just come to the surface of the Earth, like new reality, but also dictate the conditions of a new life both to nature itself and to man in it.
What to do for people who cannot themselves influence the realities of life. They live in the conditions that statehood provides them. And statehood is ruled by those who are not dear to nature and its natural elements - Supreme Spirits... Nobody even thinks about it. And the result was that the Earth becomes barren, Water - poisonous, Air - poisonous, and Fire - hostile to man and nature! How can this situation be changed?
Without the change of the system of Darkness to the system of Light, such changes will only grow like an avalanche. The death of all life on the planet can happen spontaneously, and no one can stop an avalanche of destructive changes, inside which a person will simply become that grain of sand or a splinter that will be carried by a stream to a deserted coast where there are no conditions for life. Man was created as a part of nature, and if he destroys this nature with his own hands, then he himself has nothing else to do on this planet.
The ugly caricature that a person can become is reflected in many UFO filming. These are the descendants of the same people who once destroyed their planets, turned into freaks of biorobots, capable only of carrying out other people's commands. They roam the Universal Bottom and fly to planets such as Earth to take part in the predatory analysis of human souls after the next planetary Great Transition.
They can gather a harvest of souls who have not passed the evolutionary exams, profit from the psychic energy of negative content and arrange a couple or three provocations for the fastest destruction of the planet - they know how, because they are taught by their entire demonic anti-hierarchy to act only this way and not otherwise.
Earthly humanity in currently there is a choice, and it has not yet been made on the main points by the majority of the inhabitants of the Earth.
The announcement of the need for such a choice is slow and not widespread. And according to this, people are marching in orderly ranks towards the final demonization of their world, towards the complete degradation and death of their nature and its higher Spirits: Water, Earth, Fire and Air. This will be followed by a massive death of animals, the destruction of flora and fauna, which is already happening rapidly. But a person will begin to live without nature exclusively on pills, which will make him a biorobot - a freak without feelings and soul. The sad outcome is that the world is developing in a dead-end direction, which is invisible and unconscious within the enormous scale of the Universe by each and every one. Only very rare people now can realize all the tragic consequences of mass indifference to everything that happens.
The world faces a choice between Light and Darkness, and this is not a speculative choice, but a life-giving one.
Can't lose another planet in Solar system, because its death will entail a violation of the Cosmochemistry of the Galaxy itself, and after it the Universe. Therefore, we give people some more time to think, and then we will have to stop the growing chaos on the planet with our own methods, which in ancient times were called the wrath of God.
I believe that it will not reach the wrath of God! The people wake up and take action. He needs a little more to understand how important it is for everyone to participate in the choice, on the Great Transition, of the direction of life on the Planet. A little more and the people will wake up completely and begin to participate in the affairs of the Light. I am sure of this!
