Temptations during the holidays. Why do we get sick: about the spiritual pattern of the occurrence of illness Why are we in a bad mood on church holidays?
“Three rings cling to each other: hatred from anger, anger from pride.”
“No one should justify their irritability by some illness - it comes from pride.”
The elder, as usual, spoke briefly and aptly, aphoristically:
“The home of the soul is patience, the food of the soul is humility. If there is no food in the house, the tenant gets out.”
The Monk Nikon wrote to his spiritual child about touchiness:
“You consider yourself to be insensitive. But you are not offended by things that you are not interested in. If it touches what you value, you will be offended.”
Anger destroys health and shortens life
He warned: not only the soul, but also the body suffers from anger and irritability. The elder wrote:
“From the action and disturbance of these spiritual passions, disorder also falls on the body, and this is already God’s punishment: both soul and body suffer from our negligence and inattention.”
Elder Anthony called irritability a mortal poison that destroys health and shortens life:
“In terms of irritability, I advise you to protect yourself as if from a mortal poison, which significantly destroys health, renders medical remedies ineffective and shortens life itself.”
How to heal from anger and irritability
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“Multiple experiences should teach you how to restrain yourself from irritations, through which peace of mind is lost.”
The elder wrote about irritability:
“It is healed not by solitude, but by communicating with one’s neighbors and enduring annoyance from them, and in case of defeat by them, by knowing one’s weaknesses and humility.”
The Monk Macarius warned that the fight against anger and irritability requires “a lot of time, willpower, heroism and labor”:
“...this is not a matter of a single day or month, but a lot of time, will, effort, labor and God’s help is required to eradicate this deadly root.”
The monk taught that in life one cannot avoid incidents that give rise to anger, but one can only heal from this passion in one way - through humility and self-reproach:
“This mental illness is not healed by the fact that no one disturbs or insults us - this is impossible: in life there are many unforeseen, unpleasant and sorrowful cases, sent by God's Providence to our test or to punishment. But we must seek healing for this passion in this way: with good will, accept all cases - reprimands, humiliation, reproaches and annoyance - with self-reproach and humility.”
The elder instructed, when indignant and insulted, to refrain from nasty words and to reproach yourself for not being able to maintain peace in your soul, then passions will gradually be exterminated:
“...become observant and attentive to your heart and, when insulted and indignant, refrain from using nasty words and reproach yourself for being indignant, then you will calm down, and your passions will little by little be destroyed.
The Monk Zosima writes: when we, when we are insulted, grieve not for the fact that we were insulted, but for the fact that we were insulted, then the demons are afraid of such a dispensation, they see that they have begun to move towards the extermination of passions.”
Reverend Ambrose, as always, advised briefly and with humor:
“When you get upset, reproach yourself - say: “You damned one!” Why did you disperse, who is afraid of you?”
And here is some brief but very effective advice that the Monk Joseph gave to those who suddenly became angry:
“...When you feel anger and excitement from the power of the enemy, quickly take the water of Epiphany, drink a sip with the sign of the cross and prayer, and moisten your chest with holy water.”
If we offended someone
Elder Leo advised to quickly reconcile with those whom you have offended:
“It is much better to make peace and say “guilty” to the one you offended, rather than to start litigation, for it is said: “Let not the sun go down on your anger” (Eph. 4:26). Rather, make peace with those you offended.”
Sometimes our anger is not without reason; we can be angry with a brother who has committed an unworthy act. But even then we must refrain from anger, because evil cannot be healed with evil, but only with love. Elder Leo wrote this to his child, who was angry with his brother:
“...we do not praise your action, because St. Macarius the Great writes: “If someone heals a brother with rage, he is not healing him, but he is fulfilling his passion,” but what comes out of his mouth, we will not catch him. And with all this, let us recognize our weakness and insignificance.”
If they offended us
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“But we should not dare to accuse someone who insults us, even if it seems to be a wrong insult, but consider him an instrument of God’s Providence, sent to show us our dispensation.”
“And no one can offend or annoy us, unless the Lord allows this to be for our benefit, or for punishment, or for testing and correction.”
About offenders, about those who unjustly insult, the Monk Joseph wrote:
“Our offenders are our first spiritual benefactors: they awaken us from spiritual sleep.”
The elder considered it useful to be insulted “when we are pushed”:
“And it’s good for us when we are pushed. The tree that is swayed more by the wind is strengthened by its roots, but the tree that is in silence immediately falls.”
Sometimes, after an insult inflicted on us, we cannot come to our senses for a long time and find peace of mind. The soul is exhausted from meaningless memories, the mind idly replays the unpleasant situation over and over again. The Monk Ambrose advised in such situations:
“If a thought says to you: why didn’t you tell this person who insulted you? Then tell your thoughts: now it’s too late to talk - I’m late.”
“If they really catch your eye, tell yourself: not calico, you won’t fade.”
In order to learn to endure insults patiently, the Monk Ambrose advised remembering your own wrong deeds:
“Don’t complain, but bear this blow patiently, putting your left cheek forward, that is, remembering your wrong deeds. And if, perhaps, you are now innocent, then you have sinned a lot before - and thus you will be convinced that you are worthy of punishment.”
One sister asked Elder Ambrose:
“I can’t understand how one can not be indignant at insults and injustices.” Father, teach me patience.
To which the elder replied:
– Learn and start with patience when you find and encounter troubles. Be fair yourself and don’t offend anyone.
If you can't make peace
Sometimes we wish for peace, but reconciliation does not happen. Elder Hilarion instructed in this case:
“...if you reconcile your own heart towards someone who is angry with you, then the Lord will command his heart to be reconciled with you.”
The Monk Joseph advised to pray for those with whom you are angry in order to crush your embittered heart:
“Pray harder and more often for those towards whom you will feel anger and resentment, otherwise you will easily perish. Through patience and thanksgiving to the Lord for everything, you will be saved more easily.”
The teachings of the Optina elders on the fight against the passions of anger, irritability and resentment are useful to always have on hand and re-read in difficult times, when the soul is indignant at these passions.
The first opinion is that, supposedly, in any Orthodox holidays occultists are “locked up,” that is, they lose the ability to cast spells, engage in clairvoyance, or otherwise manifest their paranormal activities. This point of view is based on the cognitive model. A kind of “pseudo-Orthodox monism” - when they believe that God is against any magic, no matter what it consists of. At the same time, it is not so important what exactly is called “magic”. “Foreign gods are demons,” Apostle Paul. Consequently, any occultists lose the ability to turn to their gods and their rituals during Orthodox holidays in Russia, Greece, etc.
The second point of view claims that church and religious holidays do not have any influence on magic. Moreover, these things are in no way connected with each other.
And the third statement says that during especially major church holidays, the witchcraft abilities of adherents can intensify.
Where is the truth? Let's try to figure it out. To find the grain of truth, let's look at these three statements in more detail. The first point of view warms the hearts of people who believe that “beyond the threshold of the church there are only demons,” which the Lord naturally influences with his will, but does not withstand the slightest critical analysis.
So, despite the fact that Orthodox Christianity is not widespread in Japan, it is still possible to imagine, say, a shugeja - an adept of shugendo who knows at least something about the great days of the Christian cult. But imagine Indian tantriks resurrecting corpses with an eye on orthodox christmas and Easter or followers of Vamachara and Abhichara, checking their actions with the Orthodox calendar, is a bit complicated.
At the same time, no one doubts the strength of the followers of the Indian branch of Tantric Buddhism in any day and month of the year. There is a fairly popular saying in India: “If God is angry with you, then a tantrik will save you. But if a tantrik is angry with you, then no god will save you!” It would not be out of place to add that the very name of Jesus Christ often says nothing to both the first and the second. The imagination also fails when trying to imagine an Ifa clergyman somewhere in the region of Nigeria who cannot make a man’s volt for Orthodox Easter.
As practice shows, it is Orthodox holidays and sacraments that influence only baptized sorcerers and magicians. (Despite the fact that we baptize very young children without asking their consent, which within the purely Japanese, for example, spiritual tradition is considered black magic, essentially damage; this is about the relativity of the concepts of good and evil in different cultures). There is no magic for unbaptized adepts and practitioners of magic. orthodox calendar Holidays don't have the slightest impact. Moreover, there are cases when the baptismal ceremony was performed incorrectly, that is, not completely according to the canon of the church.
And if, in the future, such a “baptized” person becomes a sorcerer, then his baptism may be, as it were, “fake” for higher powers and spirits. Such a person will be able to cast magic on the most important church holidays without any interference or harm to yourself and your loved ones.
As we see, both first opinions - that on Orthodox holidays all magic disappears from the world, and that church holidays and dates do not have any influence on arbitrary witches and sorcerers - turn out to be equally inaccurate. What about a third opinion?
Russian People's Black Book
To people far from the world of magic, the very statement about the possibility of increasing harmful, dark magical influences precisely during church holidays, as well as the postulate about the possibility of imposing damage or a curse by a dark practitioner in the church itself, may seem at least extremely strange. And at the most - shocking.
Extremely common among people not only churchgoers and believers, but also those who are extremely far from Orthodoxy is the point of view that “a sorcerer cannot enter a church.” And even devilry cannot enter the church. The power of the Holy Spirit will not allow dark spirits into the church building. This postulate is almost universally accepted, paradoxically, not thanks to the fiery sermons of the clergy of the Russian Orthodox Church from the pulpit, but due to the fact that the story by N.V. Here in the former Soviet Union, Gogol’s “Viy” was read not only by Orthodox Christians, but also by Catholics, Protestants, Muslims, Buddhists, and Jews. It is included in the compulsory school literature curriculum. And in this story there is a very vivid and imaginative episode where various evil spirits freeze in front of the threshold of the church, unable to cross it, until the moment they bring Viy. But “Viy” is a work of genius, but it is artistic, and as another great genius, Stanislav Jerzy Lec, used to say, “In life everything is not as it really is.”
Let's try to figure it out. There is such an extremely harmful and extremely dark witchcraft tradition in Rus', called Russian Folk Warlock. Little is known about it reliably, but de facto the ideological basis of this witchcraft movement is nothing more than a type of extremely extremist Satanism, nurtured not on Western, but on Russian soil and directed exclusively against Orthodox Christianity. Although, de jure, warlocks do not call themselves “Satanists”. Accurate historical roots and the circumstances of the emergence of this tradition are lost in the darkness of centuries. But due to the fact that, according to some data, warlocks worship the fallen angel Satanael (or Satanael in another transcription), this is how, very characteristically, calling him, it would be most logical to assume Bogumil roots.
The peculiarity of Russian folk witchcraft is that its adherents and followers prefer to inflict damage, quarrels, curses, challenges and other extremely negative influences and things on major church holidays. They learned to collect, transform into something else and use not just anything, but the powerful energy of Orthodox prayers generated by believers during these periods, so to speak, “to the left” in every sense of the word. Warlocks also carry out a number of their damages in the church, during services. But, by the way, this is not typical of only Russian warlocks: “white magicians” can also put a photograph of a person on the altar in order to determine the presence of damage on a person by bribing the servant.
As we see, the opinion that on church holidays and fasts magic may not weaken or disappear, but, on the contrary, intensify, also has the right to exist, but only within the framework of one, separate magical tradition - the Russian People's Black Book, and at all not for all".
Finally
From here it is obvious that all three opinions - and the fact that witches and sorcerers can be “locked up” (but not all!) with the loss of abilities; and the fact that church holidays may not have any influence on magicians (but only on those who are not baptized and not associated with Christian culture!); and the fact that the blackest magic can be performed, and successfully, just on major church holidays (but only in one, separate tradition!) - in some way, privately, is right, and all three, again, in particulars and details are wrong.
More about. John of Kronstadt noted that on holidays the enemy tries especially hard to tempt: either to upset the peaceful mood with irritation, or to introduce some supposedly “urgent” “matter” in order to dispel the concentrated prayerful attention before the service, or even during the liturgy itself instills what -or cooling thoughts. And in general, he talks about. John, it’s as if you’re walking uphill, but the sand under your feet wears down and makes it difficult to climb. “On the feasts of the Lord, the enemy takes his dues from Christians, an extremely great dues; and the larger the holiday, the more rent Christians pay to the enemy, for what do we see on holidays? Complete idleness, unbridledness of the flesh, drunkenness, debauchery, fights, thefts, amusements. My God!.. What zealous service to the devil! Are these people Christians... redeemed by the honest blood of the Son of God? Do you live in Christian times, or in pagan ones?<…>Lawlessness spreads across the earth; The kingdom of the enemy is spreading, - Thy kingdom (Lord. - M.V.) is shrinking..."
“Before the onset of great holidays, you need to be especially attentive to yourself. The enemy tries in advance to cool the heart towards the subject of the event being celebrated... Here he acts on us either through the atmosphere (bad weather.- M.V.), either through food and drink ingested, or through one’s kindled arrows, thrown in abundance into the heart and strongly scorching the whole person, at the same time one feels evil... and blasphemous thoughts and (even. - M.V.) heartfelt disgust for the subject of celebration. We must overcome the enemy by forcing ourselves to think about God and pray.”
About the holiday itself, he writes: “You will spend the holiday well, for the glory of God and for the salvation of your soul, if you abstain from passions... and... practice... in virtues.” “You will have a good holiday,” “if you are reborn, you will be renewed with grace.”
And finally: “On great holidays, our enemy and envious devil insults, saddens and plunges us into extreme despondency, either with bodily illnesses, depressing and suppressing the spirit, or with his spiritual kindled arrows, or with extreme insensibility and coldness. It will soon become clear that (this... M, V.) the enemy in you was deceitful, and not... it was (this.- M.V.)… natural state of mind."
All this was written by him from experience.
And I knew in my life one monk who, after holy communion, did not walk anywhere, did not speak, did not even go to a meal, but shut himself up in his cell, preserving holy grace.
Published according to the publication: Metropolitan Veniamin (Fedchenkov). From the Nativity of the Virgin Mary to the Presentation. M., 2008.
Asked by: Alexander
Orthodox
Hello. It’s difficult to remember all the events, especially since I didn’t immediately start paying attention to the strange coincidences. But, since there are no accidents, I had to think about what was happening in my life. Troubles are associated with cars and church holidays. It seems that everything should be bright and joyful on a holiday, but for me it’s a little different. My wife's grandmother dies. And on the day of the funeral, when we were driving, I made a comment about the bad weather and the road (there was snow). My wife only had time to mentally protest that the road seemed normal when we were spun around (4 turns, good thing at least no one crashed). Negative energy on this day - and then the thoughts materialized. In another car with my wife and daughter, after the service we go out onto the road. The road at the intersection is empty, I start moving and a car appears out of thin air, and we miraculously managed to miss each other. Another car. The road is empty. It's a church holiday, but we have to go early in the morning. The result is a severe head-on collision. I have about 20 years of driving experience. I consider myself a careful driver. But after this accident I started thinking about troubles with the car. They cannot be accidental, since everything happens according to the will of God. But I still can’t understand this lesson. It was a miracle that we survived. We recovered after the accident and are taking another car. Again, the accident was not my fault, like the previous ones, fortunately it was minor. But it happens on the 40th day after my father’s death. We are going to church with our family for Christmas, and when we approach the car, the tire has been punctured. Another time we can’t go on a holiday because of disagreements at home. If we managed to leave, we may be late, although we leave with plenty of time to spare. And there were more such cases than I described. At the same time, on a non-holiday day we get to the temple without any problems. We began to understand the significance of God in our lives recently, especially after we survived the accident and noticed a certain connection between us and cars and holidays. Our heads are a mess from a lack of understanding of God’s will for us. What lessons should we learn from all these events? To be honest, on a holiday you subconsciously expect some kind of trouble. My wife, daughter and I are afraid to ride in cars. You have to gather all your willpower during the trip. The problem is not only psychological (the consequences of the accident will take a long time to affect). How to overcome negativity? Why do such significant events occur on church holidays, or during mourning? Thank you for your time. Sincerely, Alexander.
Answers: Hegumen Daniil (Gridchenko)
Dear Alexander! In the spiritual world, as in the physical world, there are laws and patterns. Laws are determined by the commandments of God, first of all, and violation of them, like violations of any law, as a consequence entails destruction of the order of life, and of life itself, one way or another; patterns - a certain collective spiritual experience. One of them, by the way, connects the temptations that God allows to a person with significant events that in one way or another relate to spiritual life - for example, church holidays, anniversaries of the memory of loved ones of deceased people.
The fact is that the spiritual world is heterogeneous. And along with God, there is a force opposite to Him, the goal of which is the destruction of the human soul in eternity. And often, when a person turns to God, some kind of opposition arises through obsessive thoughts, internal mental states, and sometimes external circumstances. However, it is necessary to make a reservation: if all this happens, it is only with God’s permission, and, as a rule, with some intelligible or educational purpose. As the Gospel says, without the will of God and no hair will be lost from your head(Luke 21:18). So, you need to look for the reasons for your life’s upheavals in life itself. Moreover, cause and effect may not be connected in any way outwardly. Roughly speaking, a person sins in one thing, but is punished in areas of life, apparently with his previous sin, which are in no way connected with his previous life. So, for example, a woman who has an abortion to make her life easier is almost guaranteed to make her unhappy. For, whether they believe in it or not, whether they want it or not, the Lord God participates in people’s lives, without taking away their freedom, but still allowing human evil only to a certain extent...
What happens to you should not embarrass you. For the nature of God's punishment is akin to parental punishment - it is driven by love. Figuratively speaking, the Lord has not given up on you, but wants your salvation... Maybe now it would be worth taking your past more seriously, confessing more carefully, and trying not to repeat past mistakes. Then, God willing, the life of your family will improve, be formed, and be peaceful. In what ways may the Lord strengthen and help...
Many churchgoers consider any work on Sunday or on church holidays to be almost a sin. This, apparently, dates back to those times when, on Sunday or a holiday, peasants went to work with their whole family in the morning, and preferred to rest for the rest of the day, because there were so few days when they didn’t have to work for the master.
Perhaps the superstitious tradition prohibiting work on God's days has a different origin, but now it has been distorted to such an extent that in some families even a flower pot knocked over by a cat on Easter Sunday or another twelfth holiday lies untouched until a weekday. For if you touch a broom and dustpan on this day, “God will punish you.” Let's figure out what you can and cannot do on church holidays.
What do Orthodox people not do on holy holidays?
“Six days you shall work, and do all your work; and the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God” - this was one of the 10 commandments given by the Lord to Moses.
Believers believe that cleaning, washing, or gardening and field work are the lot of weekdays. They rush to finish these vain activities by Sunday, and even more so by church holidays, in order to devote time to God and loved ones. So what don’t Orthodox Christians do on God’s days?
Physical labor on many church holidays superstitious people equated to mortal sin
They don't swear
Orthodox people really should not quarrel and swear on holy days, just like on any other day. After all, the Bible equates foul language with a mortal sin. The Word is given to a person for prayer, communication with God and neighbors.
By swearing, whether on church holidays or on weekdays, a person defiles part of his soul. It is difficult to call the ban on swearing and quarrels on holy days a superstition, because this should be the norm for a Christian.
They don't clean up
Most of us will probably remember how our grandmother once said, “Today great holiday, don’t sweep,” and the unmotivated prohibition was tempting to act contrary.
The tradition of not cleaning the house, not working in the garden and not doing handicrafts in holidays dates back to the days of the emergence of Christianity in Rus', when religion was imposed by force. In order to gather newly converted Christians in the temple at the height of the harvest, it was necessary to prohibit them from working under pain of God's punishment.
The ban worked, and every Sunday morning the peasants began with a service in the church. This tradition has survived to modern days in a somewhat distorted form - as a ban on any physical activity, for example, cleaning. Moreover, the explanation of the ban by visiting a temple during the years of Soviet atheism was somehow obscured.
From the point of view of the clergy, it is better to complete putting the house in order on weekdays, so as not to be distracted from prayer on holidays, but they do not see any crime in doing worldly affairs after the service.
“He who works, prays” - this is how priests in the Protestant church instruct their parishioners. Orthodox priests say that any work, including on Sunday, done with prayer on the lips is an activity pleasing to God.
They don't wash
On God's days, it is better not to do laundry, but to postpone it until another day, if possible.
Physical work that is prohibited on church holidays also includes washing. Fortunately, the appearance automatic washing machine Orthodox people were freed from this prohibition - working on their own, having such an assistant in the house, was no longer necessary.
But in the villages you can always catch sidelong glances from your neighbors while hanging out your laundry on a good day. Washing by hand has been and will always remain hard work, especially when you have to carry water from a well. And it takes up the whole day - once you do the laundry in the morning, you won’t even have time for church.
That is why on holy days it was forbidden to wash clothes, and if there was a need in the form of a pile of diapers from small child, who cannot be forbidden to defecate on God's day, then this work was done after the service. So today, instead of prayer, the church does not allow doing laundry, and after or together with prayer - for God’s sake!
They don't wash
Everyone understands something different by “washing”, but no one is forbidden to take a shower on holy days
Don’t wash on the holiday, otherwise you will drink water in the next world - this explanation of the ban on washing on God’s days can be heard from our contemporaries. From a logical point of view, its interpretation is as follows: in order to heat a bathhouse, you need to chop wood, apply water, monitor the stove for several hours - quite a lot of work. In the old days, peasants tried to wash themselves before Sunday or before a holiday in order to devote time to God and not to troubles.
In the 17th century, a royal decree was issued according to which all bazaars and baths were closed before the all-night service, so that Christian believers would certainly get to the church, and not turn off somewhere along the way.
Today, washing does not present such difficulties, so it is quite possible to take a bath or go to the shower even before the service and go to church with pure thoughts and body.
Priests consider all speculations about the ban on swimming to be superstitions.
Do not do handicrafts
Women are most annoyed by the older generation's ban on needlework on Sundays, church holidays and, moreover, on holy evenings.
When there was no factory production and ready-made clothes in stores, handicrafts were the only opportunity for a housewife to dress her family for all seasons, and for a girl to prepare a dowry, all those sheets, pillows, towels, rugs that her future family would use. Of course, needlework was perceived as work, and even tiring and harmful to health!
The clergy allow handicrafts on church holidays, the main thing is not to forget to visit the church
In Rus', the “woman’s saint” and patroness of needlework was Paraskeva Pyatnitsa. Honoring her memory, peasant women did not spin, weave, sew or knit on Fridays. And on her name day, November 10, the needlewomen showed each other everything they had created during the year.
The Church considers handicrafts to be a godly activity; it is not without reason that the simplest handicrafts are commonplace in monastic practice. And the clergy consider the association of a needle or knitting needle with nails that pierced the body of Christ, and other speculations of our grandmothers, as superstition. There is no church ban on needlework on holidays, so modern craftswomen who enjoy this activity can create on any day, not forgetting the Creator and the need to visit his temple.
They don't work in the garden
Gardening and field work also falls under the prohibited activity for Christians on church holidays. As is the case with other physical labor, agricultural labor takes a lot of energy and time, which on God’s day is better devoted to prayer. Of course, it is quite possible to postpone planting potatoes or sowing spring crops in honor of a holy day, but not milking a cow, or watering a horse, not feeding a poultry house, citing the fact that work is prohibited, is unlikely to occur to anyone.
According to the Gospel of Luke, Jesus healed a man with dropsy in the house of one of the Pharisee leaders. This happened on Saturday - the day of the Lord, when the Jews did not work. Having healed the sick man, Jesus said: “If one of you has a donkey or an ox that falls into a well, will he not immediately pull it out on the Sabbath?”
God allows you to work on God's day, the main thing is that the work is carried out with prayer
Among agricultural work, there are those that can be postponed and find time to visit the temple, but there are always things to do after prayer.
The church and clergy are loyal to any work on Sunday and holy holidays. Modern society has given birth to many professions whose work activities cannot be stopped for God's sake. And a person will not always find the strength to give up the income with which he feeds his children in order to pray in church every Sunday as a true Christian.
The Church advises celebrating holidays with prayer. And, as on any other day, do not scold and try to do good, godly deeds. But the clergy do not see anything sinful in the need to defend their work shift, clean their own house, or water their livestock after prayer.
Now there is a substitution of concepts when a ban on work is perceived as permission to be lazy. From the point of view of Christian teaching, one of the seven deadly sins is laziness. Therefore, when a person does not attend church on Sunday or holy holidays, but spends the day in idleness, for example, in front of the TV or drinking, citing the fact that there is nothing he can do anyway, this is perceived by the church as a greater sin.
Of course, it is better for a believer to spend a holiday with his family, not forgetting to visit the temple in the morning, but also to wipe the dust and remove the broken flower pot, swimming or washing soiled children's pants is not forbidden by the church, and moreover, by God.
