By the bookshelf. Metropolitan Athanasius of Limassol. The Open Heart of the Church

Orthodox Life

Pravoslavie.Ru

Self-knowledge is another step on a person’s path to God. Knowing God leads to correct knowledge of ourselves and to the correct formation of our image in the image of God in order to be able to meet our Creator.

Many people today consider self-knowledge very important and make great efforts for it. And this is really important! However, not to the extent that certain groups of people are often represented, considering the person himself to be the center of everything that exists. For us Christians, our “I” or our existence is not the center, only God is the center. We explain man not through man, but through God. God is the only criterion for us.

When a person begins to delve deeper into himself, the first thing he encounters will be his inner image. A person must be very well prepared because there are two dangers. On the one hand, a person may see himself as bad and spoiled compared to the way he should be, and here lies the danger of despondency and despair. On the other hand, he may see himself as good and wonderful when he is not, and here lies the danger of delusion. A person thinks about himself that he is good, that he is great and correct, and so he becomes confused in himself and can no longer correct anything about himself. These are all two sides of the same coin. Just as a person who falls into despondency and despair is unable to do right by himself, so a person who is in a selfish sleep and thinks that he is so wonderful is also unable to change anything. A person must be somewhere in the middle. He must try to see himself as he is. Of course, this is not easy, because human criteria are subjective, and we must try to find objective criteria, gospel criteria, according to the word of Christ spoken immediately after Baptism: “Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand” (Matthew 4:17).

What does repentance mean? This is not just regret about mistakes or remorse that I said something rudely or acted badly, it comes from a feeling of guilt, and I want to confess, repent so that this burden goes away. Yes, all this is also present, but, essentially, this is not what repentance consists of. Repentance means a person’s work on himself and a change of mind. It is necessary to change our thinking in such a way that the criteria on the basis of which we have until now built our attitude towards life, our actions, and everything that surrounds us, change completely, so that we acquire new criteria.

Let me give you one simple example. A man comes to church and says that this man insulted me, or, let’s say, humiliated me, or is bothering me. He begins to get angry, indignant and demand justice. His desire to protect himself is completely human, and there is nothing wrong with that. However, the way you react to what is happening around you, your irritation, anger, when you lose peace and become angry against another person, is unacceptable. You will tell me: “Okay, but am I wrong?” Let's say you're right, let this other person really be as you describe him: bad, spoiled, a real beast. You, a Christian, how should you behave now? Should you become twice as bad with every bad person? After all, bad people will not disappear from our lives, situations will not stop happening when people blame us, upset us, slander us, put pressure on us, etc. If in each such case we become the same, then what will happen to us?

I remember when we were on Holy Mount Athos, something happened, and the protesting monks went to the geronda. They ask him: “Geronda, why are you silent, why don’t you say anything?” He answered them: “If I react the way you say, then I will be anxious all day and will forever lose my inner peace. Leave it as it is." Therefore, if we also begin to get irritated, then nothing good will come of it.

“Then how should I respond when I feel that my inner self is rebelling and demanding justice, and logically my inner self is doing the right thing?” But the Gospel has a completely different logic, and we need to learn it. We need to change our way of thinking. The Gospel does not give you the right to behave this way. If you fail because you have lost control, then you must repent of what you did, you must humble yourself and say: “Yes, I did wrong.” You need to judge yourself and try to justify your actions. You will say, “So-and-so has done injustice to me.” - Yes, indeed, he did badly. “Another slandered me.” – Let’s say this is so, you are absolutely right, everything is exactly as you claim. But let's look differently. Are you living according to the Gospel? Are you listening to the Gospel? Is this what the Gospel teaches? What did Christ himself do? Is this how Christ taught us to perceive human evil and cope with troubles? Here there is a clash between our worldly logic and the logic of the Gospel.

But you will tell me in response: “Okay, what should I do now, always be a victim, be that lost sheep who constantly sacrifices himself?” Worldly logic rebels against the logic of the Gospel, and a person needs to grab hold of faith, put Christ before him and ask himself: “Do you want to follow Christ?” If you want this, then you must be like Him. If you are still unlike Him in some way, then you must repent of it. But if you don’t want to follow the path of Christ, then that’s a different matter; no one forces us to follow Him. If we decide to be Christians and follow Christ, then our life must change, our life criteria must change.

Sometimes you say: “Now, if I had lived before Christ, I would not have endured various humiliations, shame and slander.” The fact is that after the coming of Christ, circumstances change. Christ should be the point of reference in our lives. If this does not happen, then what does our connection with Christ and with the gospel matter? We must acquire objective criteria that are essentially evangelical. These gospel criteria will reveal us to ourselves. We must judge ourselves based on the criteria of the Gospel. What does Christ tell us to do? So what are we doing? This judgment is a spiritual work that helps us in two important ways. Firstly, in the matter of repentance, in the search: where God is, who He is, where I am and what I am. Seeing the distance that separates us, I begin to feel pain, melancholy, but this does not make me a depressed person, but gives me the right incentive so that I can take a step forward, cover this distance and meet Christ. And secondly, self-judgment, together with repentance and pain, ignites that fire inside me that will give impetus to work hard and reach Christ.

When we meet ourselves, it is most typical for us Christians to see ourselves not as good, but as sinners, from which comes the other extreme - despondency. Seeing what we are and what a monster that destroys our spiritual world lives inside us, we experience a loss of spirit. This is one of the most powerful weapons of our enemy, who seeks to deprive us of courage, zeal, to convince us of our powerlessness, that we will not succeed. He tells us: “Well, every day you try to change something, but every day you only get worse.” This kind of discouragement is a terrible thing because it does not allow us to move forward, it seems to hint that prosperity depends solely on our strengths, and not on God. Here, my dears, there is one difference in how the Church treats a person and how the worldly science of psychology perceives him.

In our Church there is Divine grace that can transform the whole person. No matter how many arguments you have against yourself, what you need is grace that will completely change you. Of course, you will have to work hard and suffer, because no one has canceled the feat. However, you must know that in the end the transformation of your being will happen not only through your efforts, but thanks to the Grace of God, which has the power to transform you. Through humility, through awareness of one’s position, through repentance, God’s Grace settles in a person’s heart, and the person slowly changes, this great miracle of renewal occurs. Therefore, when we see ourselves as terrible, exhausted, dirty, let us suffer, be upset, be traumatized, but we should not lose courage, but turn to God and ask to have mercy on us. Only God can restore us from our broken pieces.

One day a young man came to his confessor and said: “Father, I am broken to pieces.” The confessor answered him: “Listen, this is above you. After all, as the Scripture says: the Lord “will not despise a contrite and humble heart” (Ps. 50:19). The Lord collects these pieces and builds a new person. This is a miracle of God that takes place every day in the church, in a place where Divine grace operates.”

Sometimes this may not happen abruptly, little by little, other times it is really like a knife that cuts through a person, his old age, so that a completely new person grows. In both cases, by the grace of God in combination with human freedom, through ascetic feat, renewal and transformation of our existence occurs.

A much-suffered person has an open heart to God. Another person thinks that he is good, that everything is going as it should, he talks about his boundless kindness and does not know if there is another one like him on the entire planet (everyone laughs). You laugh, I don’t know if you’ve met such people, most often they are people my age (everyone laughs again). Such insanity begins somewhere after 40 - at 50–55 years old. How can you now tell such a person about repentance when he does not know what to repent of? He may have made mistakes, but they were so insignificant and justified, in his opinion, that now he does not consider it necessary to deal with them.

In these cases, cure is impossible. For a person in the state described above, only contrition will be a cure. Who will crush him? Lord? No. As a rule, life itself crushes us. There are so many turns in life, and it’s fortunate that they exist and that these troubles in life break us. David in his psalms says: “It is good for me that I suffered in order to learn Your statutes” (Ps. 119:71). That is: “Lord, I truly thank You, it was good for me that You humbled me, crushed me, broke me into pieces, because only in this way was I able to know You, Your Grace and Your statutes.” Being broken into pieces is a fateful event: if you are saved, you are saved; if not, then you are lost. There is no intermediate point, but those people who survive will find a new and beautiful life.

When a person surrenders his contrition to the Grace of God, there is great benefit from this. This is the only chance for a person suffering from narcissism to understand something. Contrition can come through illness, difficulties, slander, and any unforeseen situations. An earthquake occurs, and all his idols are crushed, the idol of his “ego”, which he admired for so long, falls, and when this idol falls, the person finds himself at the limit of his strength. This is the most painful experience for a person. And where he finds himself, in the depths of hell itself, there he will find God. Like the prophet Jonah, being in the belly of a whale, he cried out to the Lord, and the Lord had mercy on him and saved him from that torment. However, not all people manage to survive after such a crash, because a person can be destroyed both mentally and physically.

As we said at the beginning, the first criterion is the Gospel. If we want to be Christians, we must judge ourselves by the Gospel.

Another criterion that we cannot neglect is other people, because man is a social being. When other people have a hard time with us, we should not think that, they say, “I have such a peculiar character,” or “he doesn’t want to communicate with me,” or “he doesn’t understand me, doesn’t love me, doesn’t accept me,” - it is not always so. When we inconvenience other people, we must deeply examine ourselves: maybe other people are right, or, if they are not completely right, then maybe they are partly right? You say: “My mother-in-law treats me badly,” but you also have difficulties with other people. Let's judge ourselves and take other people's opinions into account.

You cannot neglect other people's opinions of yourself. You must accept the person, listen to what he tells you, and try to hear what exactly he means. In the context of marriage, this is very important. For example, a wife says to her husband: “I feel bad about the way you act.” And the husband replies: “Why would that be? I do everything: walk with the children, help around the house, bring money...” - plus ten more logical arguments: “How am I causing you inconvenience? It’s you who is weird, it’s you who don’t understand me.” You may be right, but the other person is having a hard time with you, even if he has no arguments to prove it to you. You must listen to what he is telling you and think about what you can do in this situation. If you can’t do anything yet or have done everything that depends on you, take on the burden of this whole situation and say: “Listen, I’m very sorry that I, without meaning to, am making you suffer.” Very great humility lies in accepting what another person tells you when, given all the logical arguments, you are actually right.

After all, in society, at work, in the family, we are often surrounded by people who are dissatisfied with us. We look at ourselves and say that he is wrong, that we are not like that and have not done anything bad to him, rather, it is he who is somehow wrong. This situation can be settled here, but we need to use self-reproach, as the Fathers of the Church say, in order to help another person through our humility. I think this is how our meeting with another person happens. We become softer and thereby attract the Grace of God to ourselves.

Venerable Paisiy Svyatogorets

Once a twelve-year-old boy came to Elder Paisius, who was sick and hoped for the elder’s help, since the adults told him a lot about him. So, he comes to the elder and says: “Father, heal me, I ask you.” Elder Paisius understood that he was not a magician and could not perform miracles, at least publicly. Then he hugged the boy and said: “My God, what is this child’s fault that I cannot heal him?” He didn’t say: “I can’t perform miracles, why are you asking me to do this?”, but he took upon himself the entire burden of the situation and said: “You know, I can’t do a miracle, but I should be capable of it and I should be able to heal you, but I can’t do it, and I’m very sorry.”

Another time a young man came and said:

- I want you to keep me with you.

“But I can’t leave you.”

- Everyone is chasing me. Why can't you give me a roof over my head?

“I can’t leave you because you are a disorderly person.”

“Then what kind of saint are you that you can’t tolerate me?”

“Oh, if I were Anthony the Great, I would be able to tolerate you, but since I am not, I am very sad about this and, unfortunately, I cannot leave you.”

When a person comes to you and says: “You know, you’re torturing me,” you tell him: “I’m doing everything I can so as not to torture you.” And you really try to do it. However, if he is uncomfortable with your very presence, then you should not say: “You are crazy, leave me alone, I don’t care about you,” but say: “I am very sorry that I am not able to comfort you. I pray to God that He will comfort you or that He will help me be able to comfort you.”

I remember those charming women who come to me and tell me about their problems, for example, with their neighbors, and ask: “What should I do with my neighbor? We fight all the time." I tell her:

- We need to pray.

“So I pray that the Lord will forgive her.”

– But maybe it’s not just her?

After all, we are also to blame. We too must ask the Lord for forgiveness. After all, if we were as perfect as we are called to be, we could be of great help to our neighbor. The fact that we cannot help him is also our fault, although we do not realize it. If we understand this law, then in our relationships with other people, in marriage, at work, it will become easier for us to resolve conflicts.

Everything begins to change from the moment we realize our guilt. Once Elder Paisius was asked: “Father, why is this world so terrible?” The elder replied:

– And you fix part of this world.

- What part?

- Myself. After all, you are part of this world.

For example, there were problems in marriage. Take and change one part of it, which is yourself. The other part of it will slowly pull itself up, level out and come into balance.

Taking into account what other people say about us, we begin to realize that if our neighbor feels bad around us, then we ourselves are to blame. Even if the other person is reckless and makes absurd demands, sometimes sinful, then you can find your guilt here too. After all, if I were what I should be and had a perfect connection with God, then this person would feel good next to me.

If a person is rude to us, then we should turn to God with prayer for him. We need to ask that God’s love overcome the internal difficulties that a person faces, so that God gives him all the best, and not condescendingly say: “Lord, forgive him that he is so bad and makes me suffer.” When we pray for other people with all our hearts, prayer shakes stones and softens a person, no matter how hard he may be.

I remember one girl who was assigned to work at school. She had a class, a real zoo. These children tormented her so much with their behavior that she even decided to leave school. Then I told her: “Start praying for them every day.” And so, after 15 days the animals became quiet. Everything has changed. This is how important it is to pray for others. And here the point is not in the power of your prayer, but the Lord, seeing your love for another person, softens him with His grace. After all, this is not a demon, but a human being. The Lord will always find a way to somehow help him. Our prayer will have a beneficial effect on him, no matter how negative he may be. You yourself will benefit from this, because the path of unity with another person will open before you. Having prayed earnestly, with tears for him, expect the result, which is not that you will feel better, but that your neighbor will find peace.

We must listen to people who express their opinions about us and be able to hear them. After all, often after some time, much of what they said turns out to be true. A person's character is revealed through various life circumstances. Some aspects of our character are a consolation for some, and torment for others. Our job is to notice this. After all, next to other people, with the right spiritual attitude, we begin to change ourselves, cut off the sharp corners of our character, soften our “I” and become more comfortable in communicating with other people.

The elders do not give their blessing to a young man who wants to become a monk to immediately go into hermitage. First, for many years he will live in a communal monastery along with the rest of the monks, cutting off his desires, smoothing out the sharp corners of his character, and then, at least 20 years later, subject to internal changes, he can go alone to live in the desert. After all, there is no healing for a person in loneliness. He can have a very good time on his own, everything seems to be fine with him until someone invades his life.

It is necessary to look around: do I bring people comfort, do they feel good around me, do they rejoice? If on the contrary, then look inside yourself and you will see that in many ways it is your fault. Thus, other people's opinions of us play a very important role in our self-knowledge. And let’s not forget about the first criterion - the Gospel, which changes our consciousness and the way we live, when we, gaining humility, live in joy next to our neighbors.

Metropolitan Athanasius (Nikolaou)

Born on February 8, 1959 in the family of a successful Limassol entrepreneur. From a young age, his living environment was the Orthodox Church.

At the age of 14, Andrei leaves his parents' home and enters school at the Paphos Metropolis.

On April 18, 1976, after graduating from the First Gymnasium of the city of Paphos, he was ordained to the rank of deacon by Metropolitan Chrysostomos (Aristodimou) of Paphos.

In the same year he continued his studies at the Faculty of Theology of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. The church life of Thessaloniki pleasantly surprised the young man: “I remember how in 1976 I went to study in Greece, and I was unusually amazed when, on the first Sunday I came to church, I saw young people there. It was the first time I saw young people in church.” Studying in Thessaloniki allowed him to regularly visit nearby Mount Athos.

In 1980 he graduated from the university and arrived on Athos, where he joined the brethren of the Nea-Skiti (Bulgarian) Russian monastery, whose confessor was the famous elder Joseph of Vatopedi, a disciple of the Athonite elder Joseph the Hesychast.

In 1982, he accepted the great schema and in the same year, on May 29, he was ordained a presbyter by Metropolitan Nicodemus (Anagnostou) of Ieris.

In 1983, Metropolitan Paul (Giannikopoulos) of Veria was elevated to the dignity of confessor.

Since 1987, the brotherhood of Elder Joseph took upon itself the work of renewing monastic life in the Vatopedi monastery, in connection with which Hieromonk Athanasius was elected assistant abbot, and then the representative of the monastery in the Holy Kinoto of Holy Mount Athos.

In 1991-1992 - proto-epistate (manager) of Mount Athos. On Mount Athos, it is customary to entrust this position to elderly monks who have high authority and extensive experience in monastic life. Father Afanasy became the youngest Proto-Epistat in the entire thousand-year history of Athonite monasticism.

Archbishop Chrysostomos I of Cyprus, who visited Athos in 1991, invited Hieromonk Athanasius to return to Cyprus. In 1992, together with three other Vatopedi monks, he entered the “Priestly” monastery of St. Nicholas in Paphos (also known as “Agia Moni”).

In November 1993, the entire brethren of the monastery moved to the monastery of the Mother of God of Mahera, and on November 4 of that year, Father Afanasy was elected abbot of this monastery.

Since 1993, four times a month, Metropolitan Athanasius has given open talks in the churches of the Limassol Metropolis and the University of Cyprus.

On February 11, 1999, by decision of the Holy Synod, he was unanimously elected Metropolitan of Limassol. On February 14 of the same year, his episcopal consecration with elevation to the rank of metropolitan and enthronement took place.

At the time of his installation at the Limassol See, the diocese was burdened with huge debts. Due to a series of financial scandals and abuses, most local residents had a negative attitude towards the Church. To solve the accumulated problems, Metropolitan Athanasius appointed a special commission of professional economists, which in a short time helped the diocese get rid of heavy debt oppression. Based on the idea that every layman has the right to know everything about how the Church is governed, Metropolitan Athanasius introduces the tradition of annual reporting press conferences, at which the income and expenses of the metropolis are made public, its undertakings and programs implemented during the year are described. A third of the income of the Limassol Metropolitanate is invariably allocated to charitable needs.

Through the efforts of Metropolitan Athanasius, existing monasteries are being spiritually revived, and monastic life is also being resumed in three ancient monasteries.

On November 22, 2005, together with Archimandrite Isaiah (Kikkotis), he represented the Cypriot Orthodox Church at the enthronement of Patriarch Theophilos III of Jerusalem.

On July 15-20, 2008, he accompanied Archbishop Chrysostomos II during his visit to Moscow.

Objected to Pope Benedict XVI's visit to Cyprus in June 2010, saying that Catholicism is a heresy and the Vatican has never had a positive impact on the problems of Cyprus. On the other hand, he emphasized, the pope’s visit should not become a pretext for any obscene antics on the part of the Orthodox.

On October 8-9, 2014, he took part in the first meeting of abbots and abbesses of the Russian Orthodox Church in modern history, held in the assembly hall of the Moscow Theological Academy.

In October 2022, together with Metropolitan Nikephoros (Kikkotis) of Kykkos, Metropolitan Isaiah (Kikkotis) of Tamas and Chorebishop Nicholas of Amathunta (Timiadis), he was one of the four hierarchs of the Cypriot Orthodox Church who criticized their primate Chrysostomos II for recognizing the autocephaly of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine, granted by Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople.

Lock your heart in the desert

Metropolitan Athanasius of Limassol

The first book of the famous Cypriot preacher was published in the Sretensky Monastery.

“I don’t think I can say anything new or valuable,” Metropolitan Athanasius of Limassol, a famous preacher whose name is familiar to every resident of Cyprus, began his conversation with journalists. The Bishop had never published his works before; however, his conversations and instructions, recorded on a tape recorder by parishioners, had already spread throughout the Orthodox world. Despite his extreme busyness, the bishop regularly confesses himself and for more than 10 years has been giving open talks four times a month in the churches of the Limassol Metropolitanate and the University of Cyprus.

The book “The Open Heart of the Church,” published by the Sretensky Monastery publishing house, is the first publication blessed by Metropolitan Athanasius. The Bishop only laughed it off when asked why he chose the Russian Orthodox flock: “I myself didn’t understand how this happened, now we can’t do anything except thank God,” and noted that this book “was published with great care.” love."

Its first part is a collection of memoirs about the elders with whom Metropolitan Athanasius had the opportunity to communicate closely on Mount Athos, Cyprus and Greece. Among them are living and intimate stories about Joseph the Hesychast, Paisius the Holy Mountain, Porfiria Kavsokalivite, Joseph of Vatopedi and others. “Of course, just meeting holy people does not immediately make a person a saint; on the contrary, it increases my responsibility for myself and before the Church,” the Metropolitan admitted at the presentation. “The presence of modern elders in our Church testifies to the constant, continuous presence of Christ in our lives,” he added.

“The main call of the saints to the world is that Christ is the center of life. If a person has everything, but there is no Christ, it means there is nothing; if there is nothing, but there is Christ in life, it means the person is filled,” the bishop emphasized. Each of the elders expresses this in their own way through their lives. “We saw many signs and wonders. But the most important miracle is how a person can become a true child of God. This is the greatest sign we can see in our lives.”

The second part of the book contains the bishop's sermons. To show people just beginning their life’s journey the joy of life with Christ, to heal the wounds of modern society, where there are more divorces than marriages, and children are not protected from serious temptations and are often not brought up in the Christian tradition, is the main desire of the author of the book.

“Thank God for everything,” Metropolitan Athanasius constantly reminded during the two-hour meeting. The journalists did not let Vladyka go and were no longer interested in the book as much as they asked questions about their own difficulties in spiritual life.

An experienced confessor, Bishop Metropolitan easily destroys in his book many of the usual cliches about spiritual life. For example, he gives a witty answer to a question that is often asked, especially by women. “Some note a certain stage in spiritual life that people reach and then do not grow. These people may have been going to church for ten years or more, but they seem to go in circles. What to do if there is no spiritual growth? – one of the journalists asked at the presentation. In response, Metropolitan Athanasius told a story from his life: “In the first or second year of my monasticism, I once approached Elder Paisius and complained that I had been on Mount Athos for quite some time, I was trying to pray, but I didn’t see any results. Geronta was surprised: “What result do you want?” “The one we read about in books,” I answered. Then the elder said: “Here, my cat has died, go and resurrect her! What do you want: to create miracles?

All these thoughts - “I’m rising”, “I’m developing”, “I’m not rising” - are a little artificial. When I say that I did something, it means that I immediately lost everything!

Once, Elder Paisius and I were sailing on a ship from Mount Athos. One ascetic approached him, who was a real ascetic and had not left the Holy Mountain for many years. This monk kept repeating: “Now we are moving away from Athos, now we will come to the world and everything that we have acquired will be lost.” He repeated this a hundred times and then directly asked the elder what to do now. Geronta replied: “But I have nothing, so I won’t lose anything!”

The Saints Are Proof of the Gospel

The book of Metropolitan Athanasius is a sincere story about one’s own spiritual quest, about the gracious help of the saints, about how they constantly participate in our lives. “The saints are proof of the gospel,” he reminds. “We get great benefit from reading lives. Our saints - Russian, Greek, ancient and modern - are the fathers of each of us. We must try to become their true loving children,” notes the author of the book. Metropolitan Athanasius said that in the Greek world, St. Sergius of Radonezh, St. Seraphim of Sarov, and other Russian saints are very loved and revered. “We feel that these are our common fathers, such saints belong to the whole world, to Ecumenical Orthodoxy,” he said.

– When I first met the Athonite elders, I was 19 years old and I had a lot of questions. But when I lived next to Elder Paisios for 16 years, I realized that everything Christ said was true. Everything the saints have done is true. I have no doubts.

Why should I doubt whether Christ performed the miracles described in the Gospel if I observed them every day on Mount Athos?

Once a university teacher, an atheist, came to the Holy Mountain to visit Elder Paisius. They sat down to talk with the elder. The scientist said that he did not believe in God because he taught physics, and “his science does not help faith.”

“Even a lizard has more brains than you,” Elder Paisios answered him. He beckoned to one of the lizards that were crawling around (there are many of them in our climate), and asked her: “Is there a God?” And suddenly the lizard rose on its hind legs and nodded its head affirmatively - everyone around saw it.

Without the saints the Gospel could not have any proof. The Church has been giving birth to saints all the time: before, now, and tomorrow.

How to choose your life path?

The sermons of the Metropolitan of Limassol, a monk with Athonite experience, are often addressed to young lay people. It was the misfortunes of those who live in the stormy sea of ​​life - modern Europe - that especially touched the Bishop when he received the obedience to say goodbye to his beloved Holy Mountain and go to serve in Limassol - the second largest city of Cyprus, a major economic and cultural one, - the preacher recalls.

– If a person does not know what to do in life, let him not despair. What do we know about our future? Only the fact that we want to be with Christ, no one can take that away from us. The rest is secondary: whether we start a family, go to university, or go to a monastery.

If we talk about the spiritual path, then, of course, we should not belittle the value of the desert, which is very great and helps. But nevertheless, we cannot limit the power of God to any one place.

Elder Paisios said: “We must enclose our hearts in the desert, distant from passions and sin.” This is the real desert. There are people who live in the world, but their hearts are in the desert. There are people who live in the desert, but their hearts are in the world. Therefore, you need to be careful and understand that the way of thinking and the way of life saves a person, and not a geographical place.

The goal is not just to mortify your selfishness, but to put on Christ. Man is saved by Christ through the Church, and if we are united with Him through the Church, then we will not only be freed from the old man, but also clothed in the new. This can happen both in the monastery and in the world.

Every day we have many opportunities to get rid of selfishness, especially in the society in which we live. This can be done through the patience and love that we must show to our neighbors.

But we must try not only to kill our egoism, but also to look for a way to let Christ into our hearts. If this happens, He will heal our heart. Sin is a disease, and if we acquire immunity, all pathogenic microbes will die.

Elder Paisios noted: let us strive conscientiously and of good will - not in order to avoid hell, but so as not to upset the Lord. For him, Christ was father, brother, and friend, and he did everything out of love for God.

The ascetic did not ask Christ for anything for himself: neither to be healed when he was sick, nor to rest when he was tired. He wanted only one thing: not to upset Christ.

In his book, Vladyka shares his memories of how he overcame embarrassment and despondency when he first encountered the difficulties of pastoral service in his diocese.

– The day after I was elected Metropolitan of Limassol and my consecration took place, I served the Divine Liturgy in the cathedral. The celebrations are over and it's time to face reality. During the Liturgy, I felt my heart ache, and I thought: “Now we will be in a city where there are many problems.” I myself come from Limassol, so I have the right to describe the city as it is, without the risk of being accused of condemnation (...) I asked God to help me, strengthen me. One of the priests came up to me and said: “We haven’t had a metropolitan for a long time, and people are very worried, so we urgently need to sign some papers.” - “I’ll sign with pleasure, dear father.” And I thought to myself: “I wonder where I will put my first signature?” I looked and saw a stack of documents with divorces. Then I said, “My dear, take this away from me. Bring me something else to sign.” After all, I shouldn’t put my first signature on divorces?!

Then they brought me other papers. "What is this?" – I asked. "Checks." - “I don’t want to start with this either!”

Over time, I realized that there are two problems in our diocese: bills and divorces. This is the sad reality.

However, Metropolitan Athanasius did not succumb to despondency for long. He set out to reach the hearts of modern young people, and now his efforts have borne fruit: more and more young people are coming to the churches of Cyprus.

– In fact, man is always looking for his Father - God, but looking for Him in the wrong places. Alcoholism, drug addiction, cigarettes - these are all the wrong places. We, the shepherds of the Church, must show: what you are looking for is here: come and taste! And when a person sees, his soul will gain peace and the meaning of life. This is the main thing that I learned from all my very little life experience,” the Metropolitan noted.

– Sometimes people hesitate to go to church. They are like those who want to be healed first and then go to the hospital. Do not worry! It is not through our own efforts that we are freed from sin; remember how Jericho was taken by the name of God alone, despite seven rows of defensive walls and a huge army. Go to the hospital and the Doctor will heal you. Have trust in God. He didn't make our life difficult, He made it easy. In such cases, Elder Paisios reminded: “The Lord is air, do not make carbon dioxide out of it.”

“Currently young people in Cyprus are suffering from many problems. Most of them, I think, are common to different countries,” notes Metropolitan Afanasy. – These are problems in families, drugs, violence, denial of everything, depression, and also the fact that we live surrounded by Turks and therefore many feel insecure. But all these sorrows have one source - the absence of God.

For example, if I take off my glasses, I won’t see anything, life will seem completely different to me. And if I put it on, I will again be able to clearly distinguish objects. If God is present in our lives, then we interpret everything that happens to us in a completely different way, and we cope with difficulties differently.”

According to Metropolitan Athanasius, modern technologies, especially the Internet and social networks, are very dangerous not only for children, but also for adults. “It is unreasonable to give children unlimited access to the Internet and place a computer in the children's room,” he reminds parents.

– I don’t know what this development of information technology will lead to. In a few years, it will be impossible to do anything without the Internet! Let the parents do everything that depends on them now. But, of course, a ban is not the answer. The child will enter a transition period, will resist, rebel. On the other hand, it is unreasonable to allow unlimited use of the Internet and place a computer in the children's room. Place it in a place where you can keep an eye on it. You need to teach your child to set boundaries for himself.

However, first of all, we must devote our time to children, talk to them, so that they tell us everything that worries them, and have trust in us. Take care of your children, and don’t make excuses for being in a hurry. Otherwise, the time will come when it will be too late and it will be not the Internet that is to blame, but ourselves.

Will the economic crisis lead to the Church?

Metropolitan Athanasius is distinguished by good managerial abilities. To address the problems that had accumulated in the diocese, he appointed a special commission of professional economists, and in a short time the diocese was able to get rid of the heavy debt burden. At the same time, in his sermons he urges you to always be very careful with money, because it’s so easy to become a fan of the golden calf.

– Now the economic crisis is at its peak in Cyprus. I don't know when it will decline. But I wouldn’t want people to come to Church precisely because of the crisis. Of course, they will be received there with great love. But if someone turns to God because of a crisis, then as soon as the crisis passes, he will forget the Church. It is very difficult for such people to understand that money is not an idol, not a value. Only God has true value. This crisis is artificial, it was created for us in Europe. If we want, we can use it spiritually and come out of it stronger and wiser. But if we are not reasonable, we will suffer damage - both spiritual and material. I will tell you a story about Elder Sophrony (Sakharov) from Essex. One millionaire from Cyprus helped his monastery a lot. At the same time, the benefactor wanted that every time he visited the monastery, the elder would meet with him and devote time to him; he also wanted to stand in a place of honor in the temple and have the monks serve him. One day the priest could not accept him, and the rich man began to grumble: “I donated so much money, why doesn’t the elder accept me?” Having learned about this, Elder Sophrony went to the treasurer and found out exactly how much money had been donated to the monastery by this man over the entire period. It was a lot of money, but he took out a bank loan and returned everything to the Cypriot. This was his relationship with philanthropists. The elder, without losing his freedom, brought spiritual benefit to his benefactor. Of course, every gift is accepted. God blesses people who give to the Church and we thank them, but that doesn't mean we have to change our lives because of money. For us, all people are the same. And our love and respect should be shown to everyone.

We love all people. But we must keep our faith

It is a widely known case that the Metropolitan, known for his kind attitude towards people regardless of their religion, refused to meet with Pope Benedict XVI, who arrived on a visit to Cyprus in 2010.

– As Christians, we must love and respect all people, respect the religion of any person. But this does not oblige me to believe what they believe. I have my own faith. I will give love to every person who is the image of God.

For example, I love the Pope as a person, but when he made his visit to Cyprus, he did not come as an ordinary person - and I did not meet with him.

He himself said when he stepped off the plane that he came as the successor of St. Peter. We know what this means: the Pope believes that he is the representative of Christ in the world, that he is the first bishop of the whole world, that he is the mouth of Christ for the world, and most importantly, that he is infallible. I don't want to meet such a dad. I love the person in him. If he comes to my diocese, I will treat him, lodge him, I will give him everything. But I don't believe he's infallible. I don't believe he is a bishop. I don't believe he is a "representative of Christ." I believe that the Vatican is the cause of the huge problems that we have in the world right now because papism has driven Christ out of the hearts of many people.

This is my faith. But that doesn't mean I hate someone. We love all people. But we do not share everyone’s faith.

I'll tell you one story. On the Holy Mountain we lovingly received a Catholic monk - I accompanied him to the elders. While he was on Mount Athos, Pope John Paul I died, and our guest was very upset. In order to somehow console him, I took him with me to Elder Paisius. The elder began to calm him down: “What do you want: Dad was a man.” The Catholic monk answered: “Yes, but the Pope was a very good man.” The elder said: “Darling, don’t be upset, pray that the next Pope will be good too. Don’t worry: whichever Pope is elected, he will be “infallible.”

Introduction to Russian monasticism

Metropolitan Athanasius visited a Russian monastery for the first time when he came to Russia for a meeting of abbots and abbesses of monasteries of the Russian Orthodox Church, which was held at the Trinity-Sergius Lavra on October 8–9, 2014, chaired by Patriarch Kirill.

Vladyka said that he touched the relics of the Lavra with special trepidation, and also reverently visited the Sretensky Monastery at the relics of Archbishop Hilarion of the Trinity: by the providence of God, Vladyka read the life of this particular Russian new martyr before traveling to our country.

He shared his impressions of his meeting with Russian monasticism:

– My soul feels that a great sacrament is taking place in Russia - the sacrament of the Church of Christ. She gives birth to the children of God, who, of course, grow, go through all the stages of maturation until they become perfect people. We went through some of these stages in the Greek world. Therefore, I want to say that you need to have trust in Christ, because He directs His Church and the people of the Church so that they do His will.

Antonina Maga

Brief information

Metropolitan Athanasius of Limassol, in the world Andrei Nikolaou, was born in 1959 in the family of a successful Limassol entrepreneur. Already at the age of 14, he began to think about serving the Church and entered school at the Holy Metropolis of the Cypriot region of Paphos. At the age of 17 he took holy orders and continued his education at the Faculty of Theology at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki.

In 1980, he entered the brethren of the Athos New Skete, whose confessor was Elder Joseph of Vatopedi, a disciple of Joseph the Hesychast (1897–1959). In 1982, he took monastic vows with the name Athanasius and was ordained a presbyter.

In 1992, with the blessing of Archbishop Chrysostomos I of Cyprus, who noticed the spiritual talents of the hieromonk on Mount Athos, he was sent to the monastery of St. Nicholas in Paphos. He restored the monastery of the Mother of God Mahera, and in 1993 he was elected its abbot.

On February 14, 1999, he was consecrated Metropolitan of Limassol.

We remind site visitors that this material was first published in the 11th issue of the Monastic Bulletin magazine. The electronic version of the magazine can be read here.

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December 21, 2014

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Peresvetovsky Metochion of the Holy Trinity Sergius Lavra

The presentation of the first book in Russia by Metropolitan Athanasius of Limassol, “The Open Heart of the Church,” took place at the Sretensky Monastery in Moscow. Bishop Athanasius labored for many years on Holy Mount Athos, staying close to the elders Joseph of Vatopedi, Paisius the Svyatogorets and many other ascetics. The first part of the book is devoted to stories about the elders. The second part consists of conversations and sermons by the Bishop about the main topics of a Christian: faith, family, relationships, raising children, interaction with the outside world. At the presentation of his first book, published in Russia, the bishop shared his life observations. During the meeting, various questions were raised: about monasticism, people of other faiths, the salvation of the soul and the mortification of pride, about life in the family, about elders, saints, about universal Orthodoxy.

The Metropolitan said with a smile that he did not bless the publication of his book: “I did not think that I could say anything valuable and I still don’t understand how it happened that it was published in Russia... I did not write any of the conversations which are published in this book. These were oral conversations addressed to the youth of my flock. Some young people were inspired, decided to make audio recordings, put these recordings on the Internet and thus, fortunately or unfortunately, they became famous. Now we can no longer do anything except thank God, who tolerates us, and wish that the Lord bless our path, the abbot and the brethren of this monastery.”

20 truths from Bishop Athanasius of Limassol:

1. Christ is the Meaning of Life. If a person has everything and does not have Christ, the person has nothing. But if a person has Christ, but nothing else, he has everything;
2. Elder Paisios often said: “Let us strive conscientiously. Not to avoid hell, but not to upset God.” And this was the center of his teaching;
3. Every day we have many opportunities to get rid of our egoism. We can do this through patience and love, which we need to show to those around us;
4. We need to look for a way to let Christ into our hearts. When this happens, Christ will heal him. If we gain health, all germs will disappear;
5. Christians must learn to make everything around them beautiful, to thank God for His great love, to say throughout their lives: “Glory to God!”;
6. If a person does not know what to do in life, he should not despair. How many of us know what he wants to do? We know one thing: we want to be close to Christ. No one can take this away from us;
7. It is absolutely necessary for a Christian to love and respect all people, as well as the religion of any person, no matter what he believes;
8. There is no need to look at accepting Christ into your heart as something difficult. You need to have trust in God. Elder Paisios said: “The Lord is air. Don’t make carbon dioxide out of Him.” The Lord liberates and gives us the joy of life in Christ;
9. When I lived with the elder for 16 years, I realized: everything that Christ said was the Truth. The saints are proof of the gospel. Why should I doubt miracles? Every day I saw miracles performed by Elder Paisius for the glory of God;
10. Without the saints, the Gospel would have no proof. The Church gives birth to saints all the time;
11. The Internet is dangerous for all of us. But we must understand that in our era it is impossible to live without the Internet. The solution is not a ban. We must teach the child to use the Internet correctly, without becoming its slave, and maintain distance as much as possible. A parent must monitor his child and do everything that depends on him;
12. It is necessary to talk to your children, devote time to them so that they have trust in us. Don't frighten children with your threats;
13. Once Elder Paisius and I were traveling on a ship from Athos. A very serious ascetic who had labored on Holy Mount Athos for many years approached Father Paisius. He complained all the time and repeated: “Everything that we have acquired spiritually, we will lose everything in the world.” Then he turned to the elder and asked what he thought about this. The elder replied: “I have nothing, I don’t lose anything. Maybe you have something and you lose it.” Then the ascetic understood and replied that he also had nothing;
14. Our assessments of our own spiritual level are a little artificial. When I was a monk for the first 2 years, I approached Elder Paisius and said that I was trying very hard to pray and did not see any results. He asked me what result I wanted. I replied that it is what we read about in books. Then the elder offered me to resurrect his dead cat. “Do you want to create miracles?” - the old man asked me. This was the end of my question;
15. Pride is a disease. When someone wears artificial jewelry and thinks that he has become a king, he is sick. But dignity and nobility is wearing gold jewelry and not attaching importance to it;
16. Some man came to the elder and complained that he was suffering from pride. The elder answered him: “Of course, it is very good that you are proud. After all, it was you who created heaven and earth, and everything around.” That is, the elder made it clear that a proud person is a sick person;
17. A worldly person needs to take care of what his family will eat. But you can't be enslaved by it. The Divine Liturgy must unceasingly be celebrated in the center of the heart. Christ will bless everything that we do not have time to do from our many important affairs;
18. Many people say that they believe in God, but do not want to go to the temple. This happens because they are afraid of the doctor. They prefer to buy aspirin at a kiosk, but are afraid to go to the doctor. The church is an operating room, it is a real hospital that will heal a person. Sometimes this process can be very painful. It is impossible to heal without admitting your illness;
19. We must pray for those who do not go to church and have open arms to receive them. The Apostle Paul became an apostle when he was ready for it. The Lord respected his freedom and was patient;
20. The Lord is waiting for us to come to him. This is His call to the whole world.

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Spiritual life begins with tears. Metropolitan Athanasius of Limassol (Nicolaou)

You should know that no one prays in exactly the same way as another, absolutely no one. Just as no one talks like another, no one feels like another, no one thinks like another, and no one is like another. In the same way, prayer, which is the expression of a person, the aspiration of the whole person to God, cannot be similar to the prayer of another. Therefore, the Fathers of the Church always, when giving certain practical advice, leave it to a person to apply them, and prayer itself becomes a mentor for a person. If we want to preliminarily determine some kind of pattern of prayer, a method of prayer, then there will be a danger of reducing everything to a method and forgetting about the essence and goal, because prayer is nothing more than a means, while the goal is Christ, the person of Jesus Christ.

Prayer does not have an abstract goal, it is not some vague human action, but a concrete, determining action, a meeting, a path and a meeting, the unity of God and man - naturally, to the extent that you can imagine and understand it. It is such a powerful experience that no other experience in this world, no matter how deep, can withstand the power of prayer.

Therefore, the power and action of the Church, which really changes, transforms and heals a person, lies essentially in prayer. For us, who are within the Orthodox Church, it is very joyful that we are members of the Church of Christ, the Apostolic Church of Christ, which has faithfully preserved prayer. The Orthodox Church is a praying Church, it is a Church whose highest task is worship. Whereas in the West, where the apostolic tradition was lost, the Church turned into a secular system in a secular state, prayer disappeared and was replaced by works: good deeds, activity, preaching, movements, charity, social service supplanted this highest work of the Church - prayer.

The book of the Acts of the Holy Apostles speaks precisely about this: the first Christians were constantly in prayer, the teaching of the apostles and the breaking of bread, that is, in the Holy Eucharist. These are the three signs of the work of the Church - prayer, apostolic teaching, the teaching of the Church on prayer, and the Eucharist - our participation in the Lord's Body and Blood. Therefore, our Church has many liturgical meetings, and it is, first of all, a Church serving God.

In past years, the foundations of the Church were shaken, because Western models poured in and we judged everything by them. We stopped paying attention to worship and looked at things, so monasticism faded into the background, and only an idealistic—on the surface missionary—movement in the Church developed, which was essentially an imitation of Western models; with good intentions, but according to alien patterns.

But in the end it became obvious that this phenomenon could not be maintained in the Church. So we all gradually return to our roots and learn that grace is drawn from prayer, and the content of our Christian life is the grace of the Holy Spirit. The goal of our life, as the Russian saint Seraphim of Sarov said, is the acquisition of the Holy Spirit.

If we understand this and pass it on to our neighbor - a child, a colleague, then we will give him something tangible; if we start talking to him about values ​​and ideals, then we will be speaking philosophically, not theologically. Theology is experience, and philosophy is speculation and ideas. Therefore, the Fathers of the Church, who completely, with all their might, devoted themselves to the work of prayer, spoke to us - naturally, as much as they could - and passed on their experience and knowledge about prayer.

First, let's talk about a few theoretical points. Everything in the Church has the goal of healing man, and since this healing consists in our return to the state before the Fall - for the Fall damaged our nature, distorted the image of God in us, perverted our natural energies and darkened the beauty of creation - now the Church as a spiritual hospital is anew recreates this image.

The main thing that was affected by the Fall was our mind, our heart. When we say “mind,” in the Church we do not mean the brain, the mind, but the totality of mental and physical forces, spiritual forces, what is also called the heart. Through the Fall, man's heart was broken, passions surged into him, and since then man has suffered from spiritual schizophrenia. He wants one thing, does another, thinks about a third, asks for a fourth, he changes, changes, sometimes to such an extent that he cannot understand himself and feels inner confusion.

The Fathers of the Church, relying, of course, on the philosophical knowledge of their era, distinguish parts in the human soul - a philosophical division, but which fully expresses the teaching of the Church. They teach that the soul has irritable, concupiscible and rational parts. The first is the power of anger, justice, courage. The lustful part is a person’s desires - bodily, material, and even spiritual. The rational part is the reason, the intellect, as we say today.

After the Fall, these forces in man were dispersed, damaged and began to function in an unnatural way, but they all must return to their natural state and unite, become one, man must become uncomplicated, as God created him. That's why you sometimes hear that ordinary people are exalted in the Church.

When we say “simple”, “this man is simple”, “a very simple man”, then, at least when we speak among spiritual people, we do not mean a simple person, in other words, not a stupid person, and not some person in power a person who looks very democratic and is very simple in his manners; These are all sociological schemes. The person who does not think cunningly is simple: he is like a small child, his heart is simple, a kind heart, there is no cunning in him, no selfishness, no suspicion, no secrets behind seven seals. Accordingly, the person who has acquired God’s grace and all his spiritual powers are united is simple.

The fathers contrast the irritable part with God's justice, God's wisdom, and God's courage. As an antidote for the rational part, they offer spiritual reading, spiritual research, contemplation of the Divine mysteries, and for the concupiscible part - abstinence, asceticism and chastity, with the baptism of everything in the font of prayer. In other words, prayer is the movement of all human powers towards God. This, however, is far from simple and does not come unexpectedly; for example, I sit at home, do all sorts of things, have all sorts of ideas in my mind, but I turn off the TV, go to pray - and now I am in a spiritual state. It doesn't happen that way. Prayer needs preparation, it needs an environment, conditions in which it can develop.

At the level of practice, we first need a rule. That is, a person should have a rule - every day to do a small rule for a few minutes, small, because if he takes on a big one, he will not be able to keep it. As the fathers say, it is better to go with little but constant effort than with great effort and stop quickly. Better a little work, something small, but so that it is constant, than something big that will end quickly.

You need to start praying for a few minutes - five minutes in the evening, two in the morning. Then gradually increase the time - add two minutes per week, one minute per week. If you add a minute per week, in a year you will come to the point where you will pray for an hour or more every evening.

However, as I said earlier, prerequisites are needed, that is, not a single person will be able to pray correctly if he does not try to observe everything that is said in the Gospel and what the Church teaches, because prayer is “concentrate.” It’s as if we put all of Christ’s commandments, all the struggle that we are waging, into one vessel, we squeeze everything out, and it turns out to be one drop. This drop is called prayer.

To be more specific, let's talk about what everyone more or less knows. I mean the so-called monologue prayer “Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me” - mental prayer. This prayer is truly the secret of the Church, it is a very terrible prayer. She is like a bomb that may look so small, but blows up the entire building. And it really is a bomb, because as soon as a person acquires and assimilates it, he begins to see how a hole opens up in the depths of his heart, through which all the dirt, all passions, all sins begin to flow out. Deep probing takes place inside a person, and at the same time Divine grace penetrates into the depths of his being.

You need to know that only God enters a person’s heart, no one else! Even the mind does not enter the depths of our heart, but only God, because He created the human heart. Therefore our depths, our hearts are deep

, as Scripture says, are known only to God, the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit reveals Himself to people who pray.

A person begins to gradually say a prayer, repeat it in a simple way: “Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me,” but under certain prerequisites. Which one is the first? Extreme humility, that is, he must understand that he is turning to God, and turning to God is not done in a hurry. God is the One who created heaven and earth, who holds them in His hand, who brought us from non-existence into being; This is God, who for our sake at a specific historical moment became Man, was crucified, died for us, so that we too would receive salvation. The first thing is to realize who we are turning to: God.

And then - “have mercy on me,” that is, a feeling of Divine mercy. We need God's mercy. If we continue like this - with the awareness of the greatness of the Divine and our urgent need to receive God's mercy - then we can say that, on the level of practice, we have acquired two wings on which to fly, and now we begin to fill our time with prayer.

Initially, this prayer is pronounced orally, out loud, out loud. When we are alone, it is not difficult for us to whisper or even say aloud a prayer many times, extremely many times, because each prayer is like a blow to the rock that covers our heart, the rock that is our heart. Because a person's heart is sometimes so hard that it resembles granite, and a person who prays is like holding a big hammer and hitting this rock to break the stone of the heart. Every time he strikes, a piece breaks off, the stone collapses; he hits, hits, hits until your heart breaks; and when it breaks, man becomes man. And so he fills his empty time (with prayer). Whether walking, waiting, driving, driving - everywhere. Fills empty time.

Quantity is important first, not quality. He tends to say the prayer many times. If he can do it qualitatively - that is, with attention, tenderness - then it’s good, but if he can’t, it doesn’t matter, just let him say the prayer. And let him not look at his mind: his mind can hover somewhere, wander, think about shameful things, think about anything and be anywhere - let him continue to say prayer. The Fathers even say that when we sin, it is something daring, but they said so: the moment a person sins, commits the most terrible sin, even then he must pray. In other words, you must have the courage to direct your mind to God and say:

“You see what I’m doing, but in spite of it I’m praying!”

That is, I cannot do anything else, but at least my lips cry out to God. And that's already something. It's like someone falling into an abyss and catching a rope. He holds the rope, does not let go, and the hour will come when God will have mercy on him. God will help, and he will rise.

It often happens that many people pray, but are immersed in darkness, they do not see the light, do not feel consolation, do not hear the answer, their prayer is spiritual darkness and hell. A person who feels this way should naturally have boldness, because he is like a cancer patient who is going through chemotherapy, his hair is falling out, he is vomiting and other things, but this is also a condition of healing.

A person must go deep within himself, because two things happen there. And the first thing is this: in the depths of his soul lurks a colossal egoism, hidden from his eyes. When prayer strikes within, darkness creeps out, and this darkness living within him must come out. Unfortunately, this is the most difficult experience for someone who begins to pray. Instead of finding light, he meets darkness, instead of meeting God, he sees hell, instead of swimming out, he drowns, and those of you who have read the life of St. Silouan of Athos will remember that he also drowned in hell, in the hell of despair, destruction, but the Lord appeared and said to him:

- Keep your mind in hell, you should be in hell, but don’t despair!

And so man continues to dig and strike, penetrating the depths of his being with prayer, showing patience, he cherishes hope, hopes that he will really receive God's mercy.

After all, Christ Himself in the Gospel tells us that whatever we ask in prayer, we will receive. It is impossible for Christ to utter a lie! He told us: knock and it will be opened to you

,- the door will open; ask and you will certainly receive. If you do not receive, it means that you still need to ask, insist, be patient, not lose courage - strike the stone of your heart, and the Holy Spirit will certainly break it.

There is no need to despair when you see this darkness, when you see that your mind is not gathering itself. Many young people who struggle say:

- Father, I pray, but I can’t gather my mind, it’s rushing here and there. I can't hold him at all!

Do not be afraid! Elder Paisios gives the following example: the mind can run, but Christ holds the ball. He told how in their village children caught sparrows, tied a thread to their leg - it was fun for them - and let them go, but they held the ball in their hands. They, poor things, flew and thought that they were free, they felt something on their legs, but since they were flying, it did not bother them: their wings were free. When, after some time, the children began to wind up the ball, the sparrows returned back. Elder Paisius likens them to a person who prays, and his mind rushes here and there. He said:

- It’s nothing, my child! Let Christ have the ball, and let it fly! Where will he go? Will come back at some point.

This is what happens to a person who calls on God's mercy. While he is drowning in this space, but showing patience, hope arises in the depths of his being - hope for God's mercy. This hope begins to dawn gradually, and through his work, urgency and strength, this light gradually overcomes the darkness.

The fruits of prayer are abundant and endless. There are great fruits of prayer that have adorned the saints: great gifts of grace, miracles of the saints, which we, of course, cannot achieve, but at least we will know about them theoretically. A person receives a prophetic gift and becomes perspicacious. Everything that Christ told us about in the Gospel is confirmed in the lives of people who pray. But here, in everyday life, we are young people with great weaknesses, what happens to us?

Whoever really prays achieves one great result - he becomes a social, sociable person, since prayer has this property of leading a person out of his individualism and connecting him, first of all, with God. When she connects him with God, then at the same time the person easily connects with everyone else and no longer suffers from loneliness. If someone suffers from loneliness, it means that he does not pray. He who prays may be completely alone, he may be a hermit, live in a remote desert, he may be alone in Nicosia, Athens and not have a single friend, but the consolation of prayer abides in him.

He who prays truly communicates with others. His heart communicates, he does not feel lonely, and then he ceases to have absurd claims against others, which was the product of his individualism and selfishness. When he wants to be understood, he does not say:

- They don’t understand me! No body understands me!

These painful words are spoken by a person who has not tasted what the Holy Spirit means, what prayer means. Because how can you expect to be understood? Who should understand you? Let's turn the question around: who did you understand? Who did you accept? Have you understood yourself? Have you accepted yourself? How can someone else understand you? And who is the other one? The same person as you! What is another person? Why are you looking for something from him that he cannot give you? You want him to understand you, to accept you. That’s why painful sentimentality then begins:

- I love you, but you don’t love me! I can not live without you!

And the unfortunate girls cry, and all these injuries and tragedies happen that we sometimes see. Why? Because we have high expectations for people.

The moment a person feels this way - and it is very natural for you young people to feel such things - he must begin to think humbly and pray, in fact - to direct his whole heart, his whole wounded heart to Christ, he must learn not to expect from others what they cannot give him, because they do not have it.

Whatever the other does, he is human. No person can completely comfort another person. It is a mistake to want to find peace in any person. Any person, no matter how much he loves you and no matter how much you love him - look inside yourself - has limited capabilities. He is a man, he has little strength, he has a small capacity, only God gives complete peace to man, and only God never pushes man away and will never disappoint us! And he will not betray us, he will not abandon us.

Therefore, what we seek from others must be sought from God; and having stopped expecting this from others, we will understand that the other exists not only to give to us, but also to take from us, and we must not only ask from him, but also give to him. We want him to listen to us, so that we speak out to him. Why don't you let someone else talk to you? Why don't you talk to yourself first? That's the problem. You don't give anything, but you want to take everything! For example: “Here and now! I want to talk to you here and now!” And complaints begin, and then illnesses appear, psychological traumas, breaks, everything that we fall into and from which we then cannot get out at all; we burst into tears and become heroes in our own minds because we suffer from the oppression of people. And no one suffers from our oppression? God knows. It is we who imagine ourselves as heroes.

Did you know that prayer is truly the most effective remedy for what is afflicting young people today? A person who prays does not struggle with all this. Otherwise, he does something else - he does not pray, that is, he does not seek God, but seeks something else - he seeks human consolation, he has not learned to seek God's mercy. Because the only way is possible: either God is a liar, or we are worthless. God is not a liar. This means something is wrong with us.

As for the question: does anxiety mean a lack of faith?.. Even the fact that the question is written on such a piece of paper... is already a sign of anxiety. A tattered piece of paper, which, even if nothing was written on it, gives rise to a whole conversation. Hastily torn out of some notebook.

Anxiety is not only a sign of lack of faith, but also a sign of disorder. Do not laugh. You know, a person is sometimes visible in the little things; and if you met the saints, you would see that they are perfect even in their particulars. We saw holy hermits, people who had nothing in their cells - where they lived, in their deserted places - they had this order of residence. And everything they did, they really did as best as possible, even the simplest thing. You need to cut the tomato - they cut it perfectly. Therefore, be attentive to details. Especially girls.

Anxiety is conquered and destroyed by prayer, because anxiety essentially comes from the pressure of the environment, the pressure of the events of this world: lessons, haste, our infirmities, passions, everything pile up - and we are overcome by anxiety. Prayer has the following property: as soon as it begins to take place in a person, it takes him out of all this, gives him a different sense of time, a different sense of the things of this world. She makes him rise above all this - makes him not insensitive, but sensitive, but invulnerable to the events of this world.

The first thing the fathers say is that it frees the mind and heart from the environment, and since it is the environment that gives rise to anxiety, prayer really frees us from anxiety. So a person who prays, and prays with feeling, gets rid of all this, because no matter what happens in his life, even death - in all its forms, not only as a biological fact - he is enlightened by the presence of Christ.

I will say one more thing: it is in the Church, where a person spends many hours, that the onslaught of the environment disappears, because the Church gives a person the strength to push away the things of this world, especially the holy liturgy. Therefore, it is important to learn how to go to church. Church, worship are like an airplane, you really feel like that: you go there and you want it - you don’t want it, you understand - you don’t understand on airplanes, but you fly with others. The plane takes off with everyone inside. This is what worship is like.

So you came to the liturgy and stood like a tree stump. Let it be so, even if you don’t understand anything, but just come, and even if you are a stump, a dry log, and let your mind, if it wants, soar, wander and rush somewhere there... But even the tree in the Church is consecrated, and the stones , and dust. Therefore, when we sweep the temple in the monastery, we do not pour the dust into the trash can: we have a special place where we throw it, because in the temple even dust is sacred. In the same way, every thing that was in the temple is no longer used for any common purpose. You can no longer take this table and go to barbecue with it: it is consecrated.

So, we are talking about a practical level: a person constantly repeats a prayer and reaches a certain point - do you know what? He learns to cry. Tears are a sign of prayer. Prayer works in a person through tears. As long as you don't cry, you will suffer. If you learn to cry, you will begin to rest your soul. That's why fathers talk a lot about tears.

You will tell me: “Why should we, grown-ups, start crying like children now?” Okay, women can cry, their tears are not worth much. I'm not saying this because I have anything against women! But the fact is that it is easy for them to cry, and they can use their tears for good. That is, when they cry like this, then these tears that easily roll down a woman’s face can be planted in prayer. They really bear great fruit. And that’s why women pray exceptionally a lot, with great power. But men should also have something similar, because if a person does not learn to pray with tears, he will not be able to find the essence of his prayer.

Therefore, every day, every evening, when we are alone in our room, we need to take a little time for ourselves and begin to pray with the consciousness of the greatness of God and His mercy, and so that we begin to cry. When you learn to cry, then you have truly entered into spiritual life. Saint Isaac the Syrian says that spiritual life begins with tears. It sounds paradoxical and absurd today: “go to pray and cry.” But there is no other way.

Let's remember what the old people did, who were so kind and wise and began to cry so easily. Do you remember funerals in the old days? What a good funeral it was then! You go there and hear sobs and crying. But now the burial is over - and people are already calmly eating and sleeping. And now: the funeral begins - people take antidepressants, when it ends - they go to a psychiatrist. 15 liras for 45 minutes - poor doctors, they also need to earn their bread - and now people’s pockets are already filled with pills. Because they don’t cry, they don’t even cry at funerals today.

When I was studying at the university in Thessaloniki, I somehow found out that an accident had occurred and two people had died. I haven’t heard funeral lamentations for a long time and said to myself: I’ll go and listen to people cry, and I’ll cry too, so to speak. I came to the funeral service at the Metropolitan Church of St. Gregory Palamas in Thessaloniki and began to wait, as in Cyprus, for the coffin to appear, to hear these heartbreaking screams. And so they bring in the coffin, and nothing. I won’t say that it was full of flowers and some kind of wreaths. At first I even thought that there would be a wedding here. But then the funeral service ended, the priests called the name of the deceased, sang troparia - and that’s all. It's horrible.

They don't cry, and then they don't laugh either. He who does not cry does not laugh. And if he laughs, it’s somehow, not at full strength. He does not laugh from the heart, with his whole being, so much so that he bursts with laughter. Everything becomes superficial: he cries superficially, laughs superficially, loves another superficially, everything happens somehow and does not reach the depth of his being.

Metropolitan Athanasius of Limassol
Translated from the Bulgarian Machine of Kosovo
Doors.Bg

I

Metropolitan Athanasius from Limassol (Cyprus) is one of the most respected bishops of the Cyprus Church. He is famous both for his firmness in Orthodoxy and for his conversations, which reveal the essence of our faith and the spiritual foundations of life as clearly and simply as the conversations of his spiritual father, Elder Paisius the Holy Mountain, under whose leadership the bishop grew up while asceticizing on Mount Athos.

A person who seeks God and strives to have a connection with Him is saturated with God’s presence, in the words of David: “But I will look upon Your face in righteousness; Having awakened, I will be satisfied with Your image” (Ps. 16:15). That is, he will be satisfied when he sees God’s presence and tastes His existence. And experience has proven that a person who has a personal relationship with God does not feel emptiness within himself. The grace of God has an amazing property: regardless of whether a great saint strives to meet God, or an ordinary person, everyone receives knowledge and experience of grace, tastes it, experiencing the Divine presence. Regardless of whether a person has a lot of grace or a little, he does not feel as if there is a vacuum in his soul. A person who lives with God feels completeness, absolute completeness. Therefore, he does not feel a craving for something else that he needed before in order to fill his emptiness, waste time or satisfy his interest.

We often ask whether this or that is a sin. For example, is it a sin to smoke? Is it a sin to drink? Is it a sin to go to discos or do you know where they go now? Is all this a sin? We cannot answer these questions because they are the wrong questions. If you answer them directly, the answer will be wrong. But we can say that a person who has a connection with God has no need to smoke, drink or roam the streets to kill time. He feels complete, balanced, and this encourages him to protect himself from everything unnecessary in order to remain balanced and happy.

We worry a lot about filling our lives with a thousand things. For example, there are people who, out of emptiness within themselves, succumb to the mania to buy. This, of course, supports trade quite well, but for the person himself it becomes a spiritual problem. The Church tells us about non-acquisitiveness: do not strive to possess anything, so as not to depend on anything; be content with what you have; you don't need other things. Non-covetousness is considered the main virtue of monasticism - monks cannot have anything. Why? To learn not to base your life on props, to learn to stand upright. So that there is no worry about how to fill the emptiness with some low things and garbage, or, in the words of Elder Paisius, not to accumulate ballast in your heart, so that later you do not have to look for a whole brigade to clean up the garbage that you have collected in yourself .

One day they brought a coffee maker to Elder Paisius. He didn't have anything like that because he didn't cook. There was only a milk can, which he used to boil water to make tea for guests. Having seen how he was preparing tea, they brought him a coffee maker. Elder Paisios said to the donor: “Why did you bring me a coffee maker if I don’t even have anywhere to put it? This means that I need you to bring me a shelf for her, and I will also need nails to nail the shelf to the wall. Then you will need a detergent to wash these dishes, and you will also need to find out which one... So keep the coffee maker, and I can continue to be content with the can that has served me for a very long time.”

When I came to Elder Paisius, I was both surprised and horrified by his complete lack of wealth. He had nothing. I don’t know if you can imagine that a person lives in a house where there is absolutely nothing. In his little room there were several wooden boxes with two or three old blankets on top. Paper icons hung on the walls. When he moved, he took two bags and left. In winter, when it was cold, he dressed in all his clothes and said jokingly that if he went somewhere, he did not need to return for anything, since all his clothes were with him. After his death, they looked for what could be taken from his things, and found nothing.

One day a certain man came to him. Seeing that the visitor was cold, the elder gave him some clothes, and the guest had a “brilliant idea” to cut off the buttons and take them for himself as a blessing. So he took them with him. The elder then saw that there were no buttons - not a single one... And what did he do? I cut some twigs and attached them instead of buttons.

It's a big problem when a person has emptiness in himself. It arises from an excess of things, those simple things that, if asked, will not be answered. This is emptiness in a person’s spiritual world. You shouldn't leave anything unanswered. We must be careful in our answers when asked. It is especially necessary to answer when children ask. Don't ignore your young children's questions. Answer them seriously, and not naively and childishly, with excuses. Seriously, but like children, so that they can understand that the answer will be serious and correct. When we do not have an answer to everything that surrounds us, then voids appear in our spiritual world.

And when a person establishes a relationship with God, the search that he had before ceases. Then he asks himself: “Why did I do all this before, rushing left and right, going out to have fun to pass the time, needing all these things, sitting in front of the mirror for an hour, standing here and there for so many hours?” – and finds no reason for this. Sometimes this fuss looks a little funny. Once, standing at a crossing waiting for a traffic light, I noticed a hairdressing salon and saw through the window poor women coming there. You can feel sorry for them, seeing what they endure there and how much time they spend on it. And quite often, more often, probably, than once a year. And there are people who go there every day or every other day. It’s painful to watch. Not to mention that this is not necessary... The main thing I want to say is: a person cannot get enough of artificial food. Even baby food is not enough for him. Even in spiritual things.

A person becomes internally stable when he eats solid food. This solid food is God's presence. Indeed, then a person feels fullness, richness and happiness. Only then can he feel the true joy, freedom and greatness of his human life. I don’t know if you have ever felt that you can look at yourself and rejoice in your existence - not out of pride, not out of narcissism, but seeing with what wisdom and grace God created the world and man, each of us and ourselves. In such a state, a person goes to God with great gratitude, and when he feels this completeness, then he does not experience such painful emotions as jealousy, envy, fearfulness, suspicion, all these “he told me,” “he did to me,” “he took me away." Objectively, it all may really be like this: he said it, did it, took it away - but in our spiritual world all this does not leave any voids, because it means nothing to us. The important thing is that we have within ourselves the fullness of connection with God and we are filled with the words of Christ. Man is saturated and filled with the Divine presence.

When we feel the need to do something, we need to ask ourselves why we are doing it. For example, why do we need this thing? To fill our emptiness? To give meaning to your life? To confirm your existence? Or because we submit to external needs, since our connection with God is not the only thing that should be? And so, if you analyze all the problems: social, family, personal, then a person ultimately comes to himself. And having reached himself, he continues further and finds where all this stems from - from the lack of connection with God. From this comes all other evil, and everything becomes as we know it. External world problems: wars, hunger, poverty, crime, drugs are the fruits of this tree. The problem of a person who takes drugs is not only the use of drugs - it is just the fruit. There are thousands of other things hidden behind the drugs, a whole story. Why is this person taking drugs? How did he get to this point? Why does it need them? If you have inner completeness, will you begin to look for them? When he falls, he loses his freedom and becomes a slave to drugs. It's the same with any passion. Speaking about “the fight against passions,” we testify to slavery to passion, to the need for it, which means: everything inside us is not arranged in such a way as to act perfectly. This means that you have voids, and therefore there is a need for substitutes to satisfy your hunger. This means that you have a theological problem - a problem of relationship with God Himself.

Based on materials from the website www.pravoslavie.ru