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From the Bible it is known that there were seven days and every day the Lord worked miracles. He left only one day for rest. Many people ask the question of how to spend Sunday as an Orthodox? The answer is that you can work on this day, but first of all this work must be spiritual. That is why it is worth dedicating it to God and establishing a connection with him, which could weaken due to constant fuss. Many priests recommend spending the day in prayer, visiting the temple and worship, as well as reading spiritual literature.

How to spend Sunday

Believers often ask priests if Orthodox Christians can work on Sunday? No one dares to give a definite answer to this question. Of course, according to the Holy Scriptures, it would be better to put off all things for other days, and spend this one in communion with the Lord. This prohibition dates back to ancient times.

The clergy consider it an ideal day if you put aside all your affairs and devote the whole Sunday to works of mercy and prayer. It would be nice if a person went to the church for the Liturgy in the morning, then took communion and came home. There he had breakfast with his family and visited all his relatives, as well as people whom he had not seen for a long time.

In the evening I again went to the evening service and dined with my family. And after praying, he calmly went to sleep. It would be an ideal Sunday for an Orthodox person. But we all know that not everything and not always depends only on us.

There are certain requirements and we must fulfill them. This may be due to both our work and our position in society. After all, you must admit, it would not be Christian if the mother refused to cook dinner, because it was impossible to work and her family remained hungry.

Or another case when a person cannot properly plan his day. He doesn't want to do anything and just spends his time drinking or watching TV. In this case, it is said that it is better to work than to spend your time like that.

Do's and Don'ts

There is an opinion that there is a certain list of things that Orthodox cannot do on Sunday, as in. It is said that it is impossible to work on this day for the sake of profit. And also you can not do the work that can be postponed for other days. The list of such cases includes:

• do not mow
• do not reap
• do not erase
• do not sew or do other household chores,
• do not quarrel
• don't pick up
• do not do needlework,
• don't work in the garden.

We can definitely say that it is impossible on Sunday to commit those acts that will provoke the corruption of the soul. It can be, for example: watching TV shows, computer games, carnal entertainment. It is especially forbidden to enter into conflicts.

But there is another side of the coin, what can Orthodox do on Sunday? IN modern world so many professions have appeared whose work cannot be transferred to other days or be stopped. The Church is tolerant of such activities. But still draws attention to the fact that the day must begin and end with prayer.

It is also worth remembering that in our time there is a replacement of some concepts. Many people think that doing nothing on Sunday equals laziness. So this is the kind of manifestation the church condemns. She considers it necessary to spend this day with her family. You can also visit the sick, people who have not been seen for a long time, go to a Sunday school lesson. This will help you connect with the Lord.

But also the church does not forbid to put things in order in the house and, for example, wash soiled children's things or clean up broken dishes. This will not be considered a sin, unlike laziness. The Church allows housework to be done if not doing it can lead to sin. And so, it is necessary to devote one's time to the development of personality in spiritual terms.

The answer to the question why it is impossible for the Orthodox to work on Sunday is that most Christians do not correctly understand the meaning, and do not interpret this prohibition in the way the church implies. Everything depends on us. If a person works at work six days a week, then on Sunday he will want to clean up the house.

In this case, this will not be considered a sin, since he will have no other time for this. But if a person has not done anything all week and then on this day decided to show what he is capable of, then this is not necessary. In the word to work the church means doing something physically, but not spiritually.

That is why they believe that on this day it is worth directing all your strength to spiritual enrichment. After all, it is on this day that you can find out all the questions that you may worry about and get answers to them. It will also be useful to help those who need it.

Remember that laziness, and quarrels on Sunday, and not only, lead to the destruction of a person’s personality, and also deal a heavy blow to his spiritual state. That is why it is advised on this day to think only about the good and spend time with nice people.

The Lord is always with you!

Remember the Sabbath day, keep it holy: six days
do, and do thy works in them, on the same day
the seventh is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God

Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy
(i.e. hold it holy): six days work and do
in their continuation, all your works, and the seventh day is the day
Rest (Sabbath) consecrate to the Lord your God

By the fourth commandment, the Lord God commands six days to work and do one's own business, to which one is called, and devote the seventh day to the service of God, to holy and pleasing deeds.

The holy and pleasing deeds of God are: caring for the salvation of one’s soul, praying in the temple of God and at home, studying the Law of God, enlightening the mind and heart with useful knowledge, reading the Holy Scriptures and other soul-beneficial books, pious conversations, helping the poor, visiting the sick and prisoners in prison, the consolation of the sad and other good deeds.

In the Old Testament, the seventh day of the week was celebrated - Saturday (which in Hebrew means "rest") - in remembrance of the creation of the world by the Lord God ("on the seventh day God rested from the works of creation"). In the New Testament, from the time of the holy apostles, the first day of the week, Sunday, began to be celebrated - in remembrance of the Resurrection of Christ.

By the name of the seventh day, one must mean not only Sunday, but also other holidays and fasts established by the Church. As in the Old Testament, under the name of the Sabbath, other holidays were also understood (the feast of Easter, Pentecost, Tabernacles, etc.).

ORTHODOX HOLIDAYS

The most important Christian holiday is "holidays Feast and Triumph of celebrations" - Bright Resurrection of Christ, called Holy Pascha, which is celebrated on the first Sunday after the spring full moon, from March 22 (April 4 n/s) to April 25 (May 8 n/s).

Twelfth holidays

Then follow the Great, so-called Twelve Feasts, established in honor and glory of God and our Lord Jesus Christ and His Most Pure Mother, the Virgin Mary.

7. Annunciation(angelic announcement to the Blessed Virgin Mary about the incarnation of the Son of God from Her) - March 25 (April 7 n/s)

8. Entry of the Lord into Jerusalem(Palm Sunday) - the last Sunday before Easter

9. Ascension of the Lord on the fortieth day after Easter.

10. The Descent of the Holy Spirit on the Apostles(Pentecost, or the day of the Holy Trinity) - on the fiftieth day after Easter

Other most honored holidays

Posts established by the Church

1. Great Lent, or Holy Forty Day(before Easter). It lasts seven weeks: six weeks of fasting itself and the seventh Holy Week - in remembrance of the suffering of Christ the Savior.

2. Christmas post(before the feast of the Nativity of Christ). It begins on November 14 (November 27 n / s), from the day of the holy Apostle Philip, which is why it is otherwise called Philip's fast (forty-day fast).

3. Assumption post(before the feast of the Assumption of the Mother of God). It lasts two weeks, from August 1st (Aug. 14 n/s) to August 14. (27 Aug. n/s) inclusive.

4. Apostolic, or Petrov, post(before the feast of the holy apostles Peter and Paul). It starts a week after the Holy Trinity Day and lasts until June 29 (July 12 n/s). Its duration depends on whether Easter is earlier or later. Its longest duration is six weeks, and its shortest is a week with one day.

One day posts

Christmas Eve (the day before Christmas)- December 24 (b Jan. n/s). Particularly strict fasting among the days of Advent (the custom is not to eat before the appearance of the first star).

Day of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, in remembrance of the sufferings of Jesus Christ on the cross, September 14 (September 27 n/s).

Wednesday and Friday of every week. Wednesday - in remembrance of the betrayal of the Savior by Judas. Friday - in remembrance of the crucifixion and death of Jesus Christ for us.

Fasting on Wednesday and Friday does not happen only in the following weeks: on Easter week, on Christmas time (from the day of the Nativity of Christ to Epiphany), on Trinity week (from the feast of the Holy Trinity to the beginning of Peter's fast), on the week of the publican and the Pharisee (before the Great Lent) and on the Cheese week, or butter week, just before Great Lent, when only milk and eggs are allowed.

During fasting, you must resolutely tune in and fight all your bad habits and passions: anger, hatred, enmity, and the like .; you need to get away from a distracted, cheerful life, from games, spectacles, dances; no need to read books that arouse impure thoughts and desires in the soul; you should not eat meat, milk, eggs, but you should limit yourself to lean food (i.e., plant foods and, when allowed, fish), using it in a very moderate amount. During a multi-day fast, one must confess and partake of the Holy Mysteries.

DEFINITION OF SINS ACCORDING TO THE FOURTH COMMANDMENT

Did you spend your time in a Christian way on holidays and on the eve of them? Did you attend church services these days and pray at them with attention?

Did he visit the sick, the prisoners, the suffering and the mourners on the days of bright holidays?

Did not indulge in drunkenness and overeating on these holy days?

Was he not fond of idle talk, condemnation, sinful amusements, gambling, watching indecent television programs, reading obscene books - especially on church holidays?

Didn’t he work on holidays, as on ordinary weekdays, didn’t he force his subordinates or relatives to work at this memorable time?

Was he not lazy to work on weekdays?

Have you tried to shift the dirtier, harder work onto others?

Was he hiding from social labor under the pretext of an imaginary illness?

When working at a church or a monastery, did you fulfill the obedience entrusted to you with love and zeal?

Do you use the time of the holy holidays for reading the Word of God and spiritual books, for prayer, spiritual reflections and good deeds?

Do you sincerely love our holy mother - the Orthodox Church? Did he prefer any non-Orthodox churches, Christian societies or self-organized meetings to her?

Did he strictly adhere to fasts and fasting days? Didn't he break these days by eating fast food, participating in various worldly entertainments?

Have you not defiled feasts and fast days with conjugal intercourse or any other kind of carnal intemperance?

Did you grumble about the length and severity of the fasts and the large number of fasting days?

Sins against the fourth commandment

Ignorance of Sundays and church holidays, non-attendance of church services on these days.“Holy him,” it is said in the commandment about the Sabbath day, which for us Christians, after the Resurrection of Christ, replaced the first day of the week - the resurrection. Not honoring Sundays and holidays means not going to services on these days, not devoting holiday time to pious deeds (prayer, spiritual reading, singing, visiting the sick, the poor and prisoners). This means spending the holy days as usual, in social and domestic work, secular amusements, simply in idleness, or, even worse, in drunkenness. On the last sinful pastime, I would like to dwell especially. Many people think that they glorify God and celebrate holidays by drinking in honor of these days. Complete madness. The more one can offend the goodness of God than by drunkenness and the indecent behavior that flows from it. It is painful to see how, for example, on the day of the Holy Trinity, churches, especially rural ones, are half empty, but there is a general booze in the cemetery, after which the insensible bodies of the “celebrating” rest there until the evening. Not to visit the temple on a holiday or Sunday means not to love Christ, not to strive for communion with God. No home prayer can replace church prayer. “Where two or three are gathered in My name, there I am in the midst of them,” says the Lord. “My house will be called a house of prayer,” Christ foretells in another place. According to church canons in the old days, if a person missed three Sunday services without a good reason, he was excommunicated from the church. Such severity was due to the fact that a zealous Christian simply physically could not miss so many services, for he had an extraordinary craving for public prayer. If an Orthodox allowed himself to miss three services, this meant that inwardly he had already cut himself off from the church long ago, and the church, by excommunication, only outwardly signified this long-established fact.
Orthodox fasts and holidays (.pdf)

Disrespect for the day of your Angel. Homework or visiting the bath these days. In holy baptism, everyone from the font receives a guardian angel and a special heavenly intercessor and intercessor, a saint, in whose honor it is named. The day of memory of the saint, whose name the Christian bears, is the day of his Angel. On this day, every Orthodox should be in the church at the service, strive to confess and partake of the holy Mysteries of Christ, read the akathist and serve a prayer service in honor of his saint. Ordinary, indifferent spending the day of this spiritual holiday offends the saint whose name we bear, deprives us of his spiritual protection and prayer intercession. Moreover, it is unacceptable to go to the bathhouse on the day of your Angel, on Sundays and holidays. By doing so, we express our disdain for God, for the memory of our saint, we show complete indifference and oblivion of the spiritual side of life. Showing special care at this festive time for the flesh, which will still someday rot and be eaten by worms, we forget about the soul, an immortal essence, the afterlife fate of which depends on how this earthly life was lived.

Going to the theater, cinema or sports performances on church holidays- spending time specially dedicated to God and spiritual affairs in secular amusements is a significant sin. Such a pastime testifies to our lack of spirituality, to the fact that the center of our being is in the world of carnal pleasures, that the Divine and spiritual are far away from us. How can a believing person, for example, at football and look with passion at the kicking of the sword, while in the temple they glorify the Holy Trinity or offer prayer in honor of the feast of the Assumption Holy Mother of God? Man's indifference to God also causes a corresponding retreat of grace from blasphemers. Let us recall at least 1999, when during the feast of the Holy Trinity in Minsk, a beer festival was held near the cathedral with a rock concert. During this sacrilegious deed, thunder roared, lightning flashed, and torrential rain poured down. The godless crowd rushed to escape from the thunderstorm into the underground passages of the subway and suppressed each other, killing and injuring hundreds of people.

A lot of watching TV and reading empty, depraved literature, especially on holy holidays. Watching a lot of TV and reading such literature is in itself a sin, as it corrupts a person and leads him away from spiritual life. If this happens on the days of holy holidays, then the person falls into a deep sin. For the time dedicated to God, he spends in the service of his passions, that is, the deeds of Satan. Christian! Beware of offending the goodness of God with lust, voluptuousness, the desire for empty entertainment. Remember that time passes quickly, and a person for an aimlessly lived life will have to give an answer in his hour of judgment.

Fuss about worldly affairs on holidays. Non-visiting of the sick, grieving, wretched, suffering at this memorable time. Some people, although formally adhere to the rule not to work on holidays and Sundays, but on this day indulge in the fuss around the household. How many visits and lengthy conversations on economic, commercial and official matters happen on holidays! Don’t many also guess on Sundays when they move to another apartment or dacha, don’t they leave all the accumulated correspondence with relatives and friends on this day? And all these classes do not somehow happen unexpectedly, but are already planned in advance. Isn't all of the above a household chore, or at least the end of a week's work? Yes, this is the same work, only in its own way festive. No, Sunday should be free not only from hard work, but also from all sorts of worldly fuss, worries and anxieties. Its main goal is to spend the whole day in a spiritual way. For example, to devote to prayer and deeds of piety: to visit the grieving, the sick, the wretched - to make life easier for them and sorrows at this holy time.

Guests and entertainment on the eve of church holidays. Singing songs and dancing under and on Sunday itself and church holidays. The church day begins in the evening (18.00) according to the order of creation: “And there was evening, and there was morning: one day” (Gen. 1, 5). So every Sunday, which replaced the Jewish Sabbath in the New Testament, as well as every holiday, are counted from the evening and end in the order of worship in the evening, that is, a day later. Although there are also “forefeasts and afterfeasts” for some great holidays. This is why the Christian's first step toward honoring the feast refers to the evening of that day: the evening here is part of the feast itself. How are we spending this evening? It’s good if everything in our rooms is tidied up by Saturday evening, when a lamp is glowing in front of the icons, and after attending the evening service, we indulge in spiritual reading and contemplation. Unfortunately, it happens that others, as if on purpose, invite guests to their place on the eve of the holiday or go to the theater, cinema or club themselves. The Church calls Orthodox Christians to her for an all-night vigil, and these people gather for carnal evening entertainment. The church strikes the bell for matins, and they only begin to disperse from the party or sleep soundly, tired of the nightly entertainments. A pious Christian does not allow such abuse of Sundays and holidays! Remember the words of Holy Scripture: “God is a jealous God! You cannot serve God and mammon."

The joyful expectation of a bright holiday is not with the thought of the Lord, but out of a desire for idleness, intemperance and sensual amusements. Others are waiting for the holiday not because of the spiritual greatness of the event being celebrated, but because of the desire to quickly end the fast or “legally” indulge in carnality and worldly entertainment. Such people must understand that God needs our heart, sincere love for Him, and not the formal observance of external rules with the passionate desire of the heart of worldly vanity. For such a state is disastrous, and only external observance of the rite is useless.

Feasting and participation in amusements after midnight. Those who feast and drink at night are likened to the Babylonian king Belshazzar, who, having forgotten God and having lost the memory of death, spent many nights in crazy fun. One night he saw a hand on the wall writing a judgment (verdict) on him (Dan. 5). Worldly conversations, feasts and amusements after midnight, undoubtedly, constitute a special guilt, since, in addition to the sins of drunkenness, overeating, and often debauchery, they are connected with forced night wakefulness. The latter often gives a person a headache, reduces his performance for the current day, causes lethargy and apathy. If anyone can get up at night, let him devote this time to night prayer, remembrance of the coming Judgment of the Lord.

Rural work on Sundays and holidays. Often, under the pretext of good weather and the urgency of business, peasants go to hay or other agricultural work on church holidays. Here we see a clear manifestation of lack of faith, distrust of God's providence for a Christian. God will always help the believer, and his work will not be in vain, especially if he honors God and His holy holidays. And when there is no hope in the Creator and a person relies only on his own strength and ingenuity, he is often put to shame. Often, seduced by good weather, people on Sunday go for haymaking. And what? Not once did the Lord allow an Orthodox who violates the feast of God to take advantage of the fruits of illegal labor. Either it will suddenly rain and the hay will get wet, or the hay mowed on Sunday will then rot from prolonged rains and the like. The peasant must always remember that he is working, and the result depends only on the grace of God. And the mercy of God is most often poured out on people who love the Lord and honor His holy feasts.

Trade and markets on Sundays and church holidays. This, which has become for some an everyday, ordinary matter, is an insult to God and an insult to the holy Church. Thus, those who trade in shops and bazaars do not distinguish church holidays from everyday life in any way. Instead of God Christ they serve mammon; but it is known: whoever serves whom, he will be with him in the time of eternal life.

Excess in pleasures and drunkenness under the pretext of a church holiday. Drunkenness under the pretext of a church holiday is the greatest sacrilege. God is served by abstinence, humility and prayer, and the devil is served by drunkenness, debauchery and gluttony. He who gets drunk on holidays profanes the day of the Lord, is a stumbling block and a bad example for others. A person who forgets God on holy days and indulges in worldly pleasures will also defile a church holiday. The essence of the latter is spiritual work, inner standing before God with a contrite and grateful heart. And, does the drinker and the one who is having fun remember about God and His holy commandments?

Non-Christian celebration of Christmas. Non-Christian celebration of Easter. Some people in Christmas time and Easter indulge in uncontrollable carnal fun. They overeat, get drunk, sing worldly, passionate songs, perform immodest dances. Say, the time for abstinence is over, let's have fun. Such people are like crazy people trying to apply water in a sieve. Just as those, having drawn water into a sieve, immediately spill it, so foolish Christians who indulge in carnal amusements after fasting lose grace and good habits acquired with such difficulty during ascetic work. Some during Christmas time adhere to the pagan, sinful custom of dressing up in costumes of evil spirits, hooliganism (this is especially common in the village), scattering other people's firewood, breaking fences and gates. What, besides the wrath of God, can cause such behavior, causing offense and material loss, usually to lonely and defenseless old people. On holidays, a Christian should indulge in spiritual fun and works of mercy: visit and feed the poor and the poor, help the sick and lonely: by deed, in a word, just by a kind, caring attitude, so that they, feeling love and care, glorify God.

Celebrating name days and birthdays is not Christian.“Herod, on the occasion of his birthday, made a feast ...” (Mark 6:21). Name day for a Christian is, first of all, a collection of the most important memories dedicated to the main events of his spiritual life: his birth into the world, as a rule, close to the day of his name day; holy baptism, at which a name is usually given; the first communion under the named holy name, as well as the day of memory of the holy heavenly intercessor of the Christian, in whose honor he was named. It is best to spend the name day like this: to confess and partake of the Holy Mysteries of Christ on this day, serve a moleben to the saint of the same name, pray especially fervently in his heart and ask him to be able to "unite with him in the next century." It is advisable to repeat the reading of the life of your saint, read an akathist to him (in church or at home), do all possible alms or any other charitable deed. You can celebrate the name day and hosting guests, lunch or a dinner party. But at the same time, it is necessary to observe a spiritual mood, honor the holiness of the day, and not abuse wine. Many, unfortunately, spend this day in idleness, without a special prayer, without communion. They take care of a rich treat, a “worthy” reception of guests, they fuss in every possible way, and behind this worldly bustle the main spiritual essence of the holiday passes imperceptibly.

Drinking and eating before the end of the festive liturgy in the church. Fasts do not constitute a festive time, but they either prepare for some great holiday, or in themselves constitute a service to God. Therefore, where it is said about serving God on Sundays and holidays, it should always be about fasting. First, let's talk about short govein hours. So, one should not eat and drink on holidays until the end of Mass. These days, although fasting is not required in its entirety (that is, in the quality, quantity of food and the time it is taken), fasting until a certain hour is necessary as an aid in prayer (remember the folk wisdom: “a full belly is deaf to prayer "). The feast is celebrated with prayer, and prayer is strengthened by fasting (Matt. 17:21). This means that it is necessary to abstain from food and drink every time until the end of mass on Sundays and holidays. Orthodox Christian! Do not humiliate yourself with gluttony for early tea or early eating of food on holidays, just for the sake of being a humble servant of your habit and bodily pleasure.

Visiting the cemetery, instead of the church, on holidays (on the Trinity, parental Saturday) and drinking there. It has already been mentioned above that visiting a cemetery on holidays, instead of a church, is a sin and does not bring any benefit to the departed. Only the Lord and church prayer for them can help the dead, which propitiates God, and therefore benefits the departed. When on Trinity, instead of church, we go to the cemetery, and even drink there, this only causes bitterness and regret among the dead about our madness.

Drowsiness, habit of getting up late in the morning.“How long will you sleep, you lazy one? when will you rise from your sleep?" (Prov. 6, 9). How do we enjoy the blessed morning? Is it following the example of the Old Testament righteous, such as Joshua (Joshua 7, 16; 8, 10), Abraham (Gen. 19.27), Job (Job 1.5), who got up early in the morning and began to work, and got up sooner than more important things awaited them. Unfortunately, for many of us, early morning (5-6 o'clock) does not exist at all, many get up after seven, and others even at 9-10 o'clock. What is harmful and contrary to the law of God in this? From drowsiness comes forgetfulness: those who are drowsy in the morning do not enjoy the best time, when mental strength and spirit are especially fresh. A time that is best spent in prayer, spiritual reading, mental work. In addition, excessive sleep contributes to the development of sensuality and carnal passion. Late risers often wake up church services, hurrying to work, omit prayers and the like.

Slowness, lethargy in deeds and actions."Help the time..." (Sir. 36:9). When we get up in the morning, we begin to carry out our tasks and duties. But in our very activity, are we not wasting a lot of time? Are we not fussing, trying to complete the necessary work as quickly as possible, while at the expense of its quality and good quality? The Lord, Who could create the world instantly, creates it within six days, teaching us gradualness and attentiveness in our affairs. At the same time, those who unnecessarily delay and delay in the execution of their work are preying. Who simply sits, or stands, or remains waiting for someone or something, delaying the execution of the necessary work. This often leads to the fact that the successful completion of the work begun becomes simply impossible. Slowness, lethargy and carelessness (frivolity) in business is a vicious quality. Christian! Do not let your days and hours, but also minutes be wasted in vain. Let us procrastinate, let us stand in vain in some business, and then we will hurry and do everything with omission and considerable harm to him.

Unreasonable and frequent visits to acquaintances, the habit of being away from home.“The foot of a fool hurries into a strange house...” (Sir. 21:25). There are visits: on official duty, honorary (mainly on holidays), friendly and relatives. All such visits are necessary and sometimes useful. Even saints visited each other (for example, Paul of Thebes Anthony the Great). But you need to do them during leisure hours, and not when you need to do business (this is especially true for women who often have empty meetings, idle talk on the phone takes up almost all their free time). Domestic location or work necessity can also be a motive for a visit or a visit, but not idle fuss or compulsion. Time is fleeting, it is irrevocable and changeable: we cannot return a single hour from the past, and the future is beyond our control. Cherish the time, "...because the days are evil" (Eph. 5:16), we can use the present time alone as we see fit. For the earthly life lived, it will be necessary to give an answer to God, and if it is wasted, then we will become like the negligent servant from the parable of the talents, who buried the good that was given to him in the ground and was condemned to eternal torment for this.

Irresponsibility is the unwillingness to take responsibility for one's own words and actions. In external behavior, it is often revealed by the expression of obviously unacceptable proposals and intentions, which the speaker is not at all going to put into practice; attempts to make sure that the desired decision or opinion is put forward, expressed by other people and accepted by the majority of people participating in the discussion (all kinds of meetings, voting, “the will of the people”); the desire to evade responsibility, explaining their behavior or statement by the pressure of circumstances or their own inability, powerlessness to do otherwise; diligence not to reveal one's goals and plans, so as not to be blamed not only for deeds, but even for thoughts. Irresponsibility is manifested by unwillingness (and later inability) to predict and foresee the consequences of one's feelings, thoughts, statements and actions. It can also be revealed by a tendency to engage in activities that do not lead to any tangible result for which one would have to be responsible (for example, computer games). Often, irresponsibility is nurtured by improper parental upbringing, direct pampering of the child, for example, permission to do whatever he wants, the absence of punishment not only for disobedience, but even for frankly dissolute behavior, an attempt to protect others from fair reproaches and claims. Like all sins, irresponsibility stems from pride through pride - self-pity - self-justification and leads to aimlessness and meaninglessness of life (loss of purpose and meaning in life), reducing all human activity to the satisfaction of everyday, momentary everyday needs.

In medicine, the state of the human soul, determined by irresponsibility, is commonly called infantilism. In those around an irresponsible person, any qualities that can make him responsible for his actions are rejected, and above all, purposefulness, certainty, exactingness. By the way, the last feature (quality) is often characteristic of the most irresponsible, but not in relation to himself, but only to others. An irresponsible person easily violates his obligations (“my word: I want to give, I want to take back”), assumes obligations that are obviously impossible to fulfill, does not appear on time for meetings, including business ones. Most of all, adherence to the Hindu doctrine of karma and the reincarnation of the soul serves to educate irresponsibility in people, in which a person is not subject to final responsibility for his life for an indefinitely long time. An irresponsible person takes everything lightly enough and is often prone to irony, which greatly diminishes those difficulties that an irresponsible person cannot avoid. It is easiest to resist irresponsibility with those qualities that are most actively rejected by those suffering from this sin, this is an unconditional recognition that even “for every idle word” a person will be held accountable on the Day of Judgment and that from his words and deeds “you will be justified or condemned.”

Excessive fussiness in business.“The heart of a wise man knows both the time and the rule” (Ec. 8:5). Some people are literally overwhelmed with various worries. But these numerous cases they are gaining on themselves. Such people want to be everywhere, to know everyone and everything, they are listed as members of various societies and committees. This would be permissible if it were done out of jealousy and for the glory of God, but this is done, as a rule, out of vanity or out of a desire to have influence on the affairs and certain persons. Excessive care leads to oversights, harms the success of the work, leaves little time for prayer, and generally diverts a person from the main goal in his life.

Disgraceful labors and trades.“Honor the Lord with your possessions and with the firstfruits of all your gains...” (Prov. 3:9). But the works that give a person the necessary means of subsistence must be of a charitable nature, be useful to people and society. According to the rules of the church, the so-called "playing exercises" are directly called "impurities" and are punishable by six years of excommunication from the church (Carthage. 74). "Playing exercises" include circus performers, buffoons (modern parodists, clowns), artists, professional athletes and others. In Orthodox Rus', these activities were considered shameful, since they serve only to kindle human passions and do not create anything useful for society. People who earn money in this way are engaged in “dishonest labors and trades” and, of course, they do not fulfill the above rule (Prov. 3, 9). In our time, a time of global distortion of spiritual truths, the above-mentioned artists are considered almost the best people in society, while others worship them as idols. But this does not mean that the church rule is wrong, but that the consciousness of people has undergone terrible pathological changes.

Being late for work and generally negligent attitude to work.“Cursed is everyone who does the work of God negligently,” says the Holy Scripture. Any work, whatever we do, we must do as if before the eyes of God, to the glory of the Lord. Lateness and negligent attitude to business are an indicator of relaxation, pampering of the human soul, which in turn can be a sign of spiritual obsession. A Christian, everything that he does not do, must do to the fullest extent of his strength “very good”, diligently and on time.

Parasitism or complete idleness.“Some of you act disorderly, do nothing, but fuss. Such we exhort and convince by our Lord Jesus Christ, so that they, working in silence, eat their own bread ”(2 Thess. 3:11-12), - says the Apostle Paul in relation to lovers of idleness. These people, who have neither a trade nor a position, spend whole months and even years in thought: where would they attach themselves. Many of them frankly do not want to work, but want to live in idleness at the expense of others. Life is activity, and therefore an inactive life does not even deserve the name "life." God created man to work, not to be idle. Even before the fall, God indicated to man the occupation of "cultivating and keeping paradise" (Genesis 2:15). And after the fall, when sin became a common penance for all (Genesis 3:19), there appeared a special commandment about working six days a week. Thus idleness is guilt. Being a vice of the soul, it corrupts it even more and introduces "friends" (that is, other vices) with it. “Idleness has taught many evil things” (Sir. 33, 28), says the Holy Scripture, and folk wisdom testifies to the same: “idleness is the mother of vices.” In addition, a parasite burdens his neighbors, some of whom give him food and shelter, others - clothes, others - money to fulfill everyday needs, and so on. But even if they live in idleness on inheritance or interest, all the same, physical or spiritual labor is the duty of every person, under all circumstances of life and at all times, excluding illness or old age. It is known according to legend that our Lord Jesus Christ, before entering the worldwide sermon, shared carpentry work with Elder Joseph. The apostles said of themselves: “They have not eaten bread from anyone for nothing” (2 Thess. 3:8).

Vagrancy (homelessness)- these are not just lazy people or parasites, but people "walking" who have abandoned their homes, families, work. When several such persons appeared among the Thessalonica Christians (2 Thess. 3:11), the apostle Paul wrote about them with all severity, so that they would certainly correct themselves and so that others would not be carried away by their bad example. What motivates some people to start such a life? Usually it's some kind of misdemeanor. They are ashamed of their act, which everyone knows about, they are afraid of punishment for it - and hide. Then, the reason may be flight from military service, sometimes avoiding family strife or oppression, sometimes unrestrained drunkenness or drug addiction. As for the punishment for a misdemeanor, it would almost always be less than the execution to which a homeless person dooms himself with his life. But, there is some demonic attraction to vagrancy, and many quickly get used to this relaxed and irresponsible life.

Begging and begging because of unwillingness to work."My son! do not live the life of a beggar ... "(Sir. 40, 29), - says the Holy Scripture. Beggars, however, have always been and will be. The Lord allows such a state of people both for their personal salvation and for the benefit of those around them, so that it would be more convenient for the latter to show their mercy. Forced poverty is not a vice. It is pleasant for a true beggar to give alms. Meanwhile, how many such beggars who could work and - do not work! They could still be in the service, nannies, housekeepers, servants in the country, but they simply do not want to work. Instead of labor, they collect alms from the church, from door to door, in public transport and at train stations. There are also so-called professional beggars who, standing, for example, in the subway, collect alms in a day, equal to the weekly earnings of a worker. There are especially many of those who turn the collected alms into wine and, not by sight already, but by real need, remain in dirty, worn out clothes. All this false poverty accustoms people to hypocrisy, to trying to hide their true physical strength, to cover up their vices, to arouse pity in compassionate people with their supposedly existing illnesses and sufferings. How far such beggars have strayed from the true path of life. How they dishonor the name of Christ, defrauding, in fact, alms they do not need! Everyone should eat from their labors. It is said: “it is more blessed to give than to receive” (Acts 20:35), therefore many saints, in their apparent poverty, refused alms, earning their livelihood by needlework. Some beggars who beg from the church, justifying themselves, say: "Our work is that we pray for those who give us alms." But they are not priests to take on the work of praying for others and do nothing else when they still have the strength for various works. In addition, when praying, you can also have manual work; prayer is strong only with sobriety and a good life. And yet, on the part of the poor, this is a simple self-justification; for they often cannot and do not want to pray for themselves, because they have become lazy and practically do not go inside the church, but always remain on the porch, waiting for alms. Abusers of Christ's alms! Why do you refuse the Kingdom of Heaven, turn from parasitism to feasible work, or, if you have no strength to work, spend your life in abstinence, and not drunkenness and vice, because Christ Himself stands invisibly behind your shoulders, when for His sake you ask yourself alms , and good Christians for the sake of Him give it to you.

Neglect of simple, hard, dirty work, the desire to avoid it or blame it on someone else. There are people who would rather starve and sell their last things than get a black, low, in their opinion, work. Great delusion! Every necessary labor in life is, at the same time, honest labor. Our Lord washed the feet of His disciples when there was no servant to wash the feet and when none of His disciples volunteered to do so. The angels of God also condescend for simple work - when they leave the bright abodes of heaven and move to our land in order to protect us according to God's dispensation. No, only low motives can humiliate simple or black labor, and in itself every cenobitic labor is honest. Whoever tries to avoid hard work or dump it on others is guilty of the sin of conceit, vanity, self-pity and laziness.

Indiscriminate giving of alms to those who abuse it (drunkards, parasites, of whom this is known), on the one hand, stinginess and non-giving of alms with condemnation of those who ask, on the other. “Each one give according to the disposition of the heart, not with chagrin and not with compulsion; for God loves a cheerful giver” (2 Cor. 9:7). It is necessary to give alms with an inner disposition, with good will, with pity for the situation of your neighbor, out of a feeling of Christian mercy and with such an idea that Christ Himself accepts our alms in the face of the poor. But can there be an inner disposition to alms if we know for sure that the beggar will drink away our alms? And we do not refuse him only for the sake of accepted custom or fear of slander on his part. What pity can there be for those whose condition is not at all pitiful, who only beg and do not need, who, due to their age and health, could still work and not beg. Is it mercy to feed the well-fed, often ungrateful, and console the merry? Is it a reverent attitude towards the name of Christ when we allow an intoxicated tongue to pronounce this sacred name for begging for alms, when we allow ourselves to be deceived under this name and, as it were, pay alms for the fact that it is unrighteously pronounced? - No! Christ the Savior showed us people whom we should help with alms, only in the face of the hungry, thirsty, naked - in the face of forced and actual poverty. It is better to help the poor and those with many children, whose need we really know, to help even once every six months, but significantly, than to distribute copper coins to false brethren. And it will not be repugnant to Christian love for one's neighbor if, by our non-giving, we force a person who does not want to work to starve a little in order to incline him to work. Giving alms indiscriminately and every time means littering with it, sometimes you yourself become poorer from this and do not actually help the poor. Often this means to encourage the lazy to further laziness, the drunk - to further drunkenness. Some Christians will argue that their business is only to give, and where the beggar will use their alms, who he is, why he is poor, whether he deserves alms, is not for them to sort out. Behind such reasoning often lies formalism in the fulfillment of the commandments of the Lord: he gave alms, he fulfilled the commandment, but there is nothing to do with the fate of this person, and there are enough worries without him. Such reasoning is initially wrong, since every Christian virtue must be combined with prudence and experience. However, the Word of God says: “But ye, brethren, do not lose heart in doing good” (2 Thess. 3.13). These words of the Apostle Paul are addressed to those who give alms, so that they do not grow cold in their zeal and do not allow the thought that their merit is not accepted by God and goodness is wasted. After all, no one will leave his own brother hungry, even if the latter himself was to blame for his poverty. Also, it is not always possible to quickly and correctly determine the state of the asker, therefore, if the heart does not protest and there is an opportunity, one should give it to him. In addition, we may not give alms because of stinginess, justifying ourselves with the fact that it may fall into unworthy hands. To avoid this, you should not serve to obvious parasites, but serve to those who, in your opinion, really need it, without getting into the study of his personality.

The opinion that a large number of church holidays harms the national heritage.“They are idle, that's why they cry: let's go, let's offer a sacrifice to our God” (Ex. 5:8), - Pharaoh reproached the Jews about their prayers and sacrifices. And now some say and write: “Russian Orthodox have many holidays; Holidays take away their time for work and lead them to drunkenness.” The fallacy of such reasoning is obvious. Even in the Old Testament, the Lord, except for Saturday, established other holidays. In the New Testament we read that Jesus Christ used to attend all the feasts in Jerusalem. Church holidays, such as the Twelfth, are the most important reminders and spiritual consolations for a Christian. They are established by the Church, consecrated for centuries, supported by folk tradition and custom. These are the days when people can feel their soul with special power, realize their heavenly destiny. Few people can, on a weekday, due to their busyness, visit the temple and completely indulge in prayer. In addition, the annual Church holidays perfectly bring together Orthodox Christians of different states and estates, here both friends and enemies come together in the name of Christ. They congratulate each other, often forgive and get closer. If someone allows himself to get drunk on the days of church holidays, then he does this not at the behest of the church, but at the suggestion of the enemy. The Church always stands for sobriety and moderation. And for those who want to get drunk, any occasion will do. They say: "The people need bread, not holidays." If holidays and Sundays are abolished, then only the manufacturers and capitalists will become richer from this, in whose hands are the enterprises in which the poor people would work without rest, who in such a situation would simply turn into draft animals. For a spiritual, moral life, a person, like air, needs prayer and communion with God.

Non-participation in the burial of loved ones, as well as the poor and lonely. To pay the last debt to the deceased, to lead him into eternal life with a feasible prayer at the funeral service is the duty of every Christian. The body is the temple of the soul, has a certain connection with it even after death. Therefore, to bury a person according to the Orthodox: "thou art the earth and to the earth thou shalt depart", to help organize the funeral service and the installation of a cross on the grave is the sacred duty of every Christian. Helping or even organizing the funeral of a poor or lonely person whom the Lord has destined us to meet in this life is also a necessary Christian virtue. In the ancient Church there were even special associations of "grave-diggers" who were engaged in the funeral of the lonely and wanderers. These people were universally respected. If someone, due to laziness, coldness or negligence, evades help in the funeral of lonely and poor people, he sins before the Lord.

Eating fast food after midnight on a fast day. The church day begins at 6:00 pm, and after midnight, the natural day begins. It's already the next morning. After midnight, the myrrh-bearing women appeared at the tomb of the Lord, and the Lord was already resurrected. Eating fast food and drinking wine on Wednesday or Friday, or on the first of the days of fasting, at the expense of the previous day, is deceit of conscience and neglect of church statutes.

Failure to fast on Wednesdays and Fridays. Lenten and no other food has been accepted by the Church in these days from the very first centuries of Christianity. On Wednesday we remember the betrayal of Jesus Christ by Judas. Friday is the suffering on the cross and the death of the Savior for the sins of the human race on the cross. Whoever does not fast these days is like those who betrayed Him and crucified Him. The enemies of Christ indulged in these days of fun, and his disciples fasted and wept. Let us hallow these days in our hearts with intense fasting and prayer.

Non-preservation in strict fasting of the days of the Beheading of John the Baptist, the Exaltation of the Cross, and on Christmas Eve and Epiphany Eve. The Lenten Charter on the first of these days defines: "Even fish is not appropriate, so as not to be accomplices of Herod's gluttony." Here, in one day, two memories converge: the birth of Herod and the death of John the Baptist; the last event was a consequence of the first. The beheading of the Forerunner is a holiday, but can a Christian, setting up a festive meal for himself on this day, not meet with the thought of Herod's feast, which ended in a bloody sacrifice? Therefore, for a Christian there is a strict fast on this day, which expresses the liveliest participation in the suffering and death of the Baptist. Concerning this day, the Lenten charter says: “We will not dare to touch cheese, and eggs, and fish.” Such strictness is connected with the remembrance of our sins, which were brought to the cross of the Savior, with the remembrance of the sufferings of Christ for the human race. Regarding fasting on the eve of the feasts of Nativity and Theophany, in addition to the above, the Lenten Rule adds: “We eat food only after the dismissal of Vespers.” These are the so-called Christmas Eve. The first of them, Rozhdestvensky, speaks of the evening star, by the appearance of which, according to legend, our fasting may end and which recalls the zealous search by the magi for the born Christ. The second, Epiphany, brings to mind the baptism of the Lord in the Jordan (according to legend, it also followed in the evening) and, at the same time, requires fasting until the consecration of the Epiphany water.

Perversion of the purpose of cheese week (Shrovetide). Cheese Week does not belong to the number of church holidays at all. Its purpose is to serve as an easy transition from a meat-eater to a strict fast. In the synaxarium for the cheese week it is said: “The cheese week was established by the holy fathers for the sake of some pre-purification, so that we would not fall into despondency, suddenly passing from meat-eating and poly-eating to extreme abstinence in food, also so that there would be no harm to our body ". Since the Lent of Fortecost is the strictest of the fasts, the Church prepares the spirit of a Christian for it even before Cheese Week with her readings and hymns, which awaken the feeling of repentance. During Cheese Week, the Church would like to prepare our body itself for the exploits of fasting. Therefore, this week, a half-fast is generally supposed: “we eat cheese and eggs twice a day.” On Wednesday and Friday it is permissible to eat the same food, but only once a day, in the afternoon. On these days, the liturgy is no longer supposed and Lenten bows begin. In reality, many people spend Cheese Week in such a way that not only does not prepare for Lent, but, on the contrary, destroys the preparation for it. They overeat pancakes and other dairy products, indulge in festivities and various kinds of entertainment. And now, those who have become accustomed during the week to such satiety, to drunkenness, amusements, absent-mindedness, fasting suddenly overtakes with its dry eating, bows, repentance and solitude. How difficult it is for a temperate person to calmly endure such a transition from contentment to poverty, from laughter to weeping for sins. Christian! Remember in the cheese week, the suddenness of Noah's flood and the days of Lot. The flood unexpectedly overtook people who were "eating and drinking," so the fire of Sodom fell when people "eat and drink." This means that in both cases, terrible events presented themselves with particular surprise to those who were given over to intemperance, who did not remember God in their vanity.

A fish table and wine on fasting days when there is no permission for this. According to the rules of the Church, those Christians who, without any urgent need, consume fish and wine during fasting and fasting days, “to rebuke their voluptuousness,” are not deigned to partake of the Holy Mysteries on Easter (Nomocanon at the Great Britanary, pr. 225). This penance was especially sensitive for the ancient Christians, who, in addition to communion during Great Lent, communed on Pascha. Indeed, is this a feat of fasting, if only we do not eat meat and dairy, but we always allow ourselves fish and wine, not only on the Assumption, Petrov and Filippov fasts, but even on Lent, during which the fish table is allowed only twice: on a holiday Annunciation and Palm Sunday? This is another step towards full abandonment. Fish food only makes the body less fat than meat food (until the 16th century, it was generally not considered a lean food in Russia). Others resign from their exact performance of posts according to the charter due to "illness and weakness of strength." For the sick and weak, fasting is indeed weakened, for example, pregnant and nursing mothers. But, in any case, to weaken the fast, you need to take a blessing from the priest.

Satiation with lean food. In the Orthodox Church, fasting must be observed not only in terms of the quality of food, but also its quantity. Lenten food itself should be consumed no more than is required to maintain life and in proportion to the physical labors incurred or only expected. Working people are allowed a larger amount of lean food than people of mental labor. Therefore, fasting will not be perfect if you use lean food to the point of satiety, even to the point of illness, if you come up with many lenten dishes with various spices and sweets, if you use them in an immoderate amount. The saints ate during Lent so that when they got up from the table, they felt slightly hungry. It is very important to observe fasting in the fasting itself, in other words, not to eat or drink often and much.

Self-pity in relation to fasting, rejection of dry eating."Dry eating" is called food from dried fruits with bread, and sometimes boiled vegetable food, also "dill with honey", which we can correspond to tea. Its highest degree is bread and water. Such a strict fast is inculcated to be observed especially on the days of Great Lent. Then, according to the rules, one should eat only once a day. So, for example, on the first two days of the initial week of Great Lent, food is not allowed at all for those people who are healthy and can endure such abstinence. On Wednesday, after mass, during this period, the first dinner is served (from the beginning of Lent), but only from bread and boiled vegetables; the weak and the elderly are allowed to refresh themselves with bread earlier, on Tuesday after Vespers; on Thursday again no food is allowed, on Friday - the same meal as on Wednesday, with the addition of only boiled grain (kutia). In the following weeks, except for Saturdays and Sundays, it is supposed to eat food every day, but once and then not before evening. Wine and oil during Lent are allowed only on Saturdays, Sundays and holidays. These rules about the strictest observance of Great Lent go back to the times of the apostles. We have pointed out to you the strictest rules of fasting and lofty examples of fasting, so that those who do not fast will be ashamed of their deviation from strictness. church post and would try, to the best of their ability, to approach the exact fulfillment of the church charter of fasting. Let us remember that even now there are people who, out of their great need, eat as if the Great Lent were eternal for them. But during fasting, as with all ascetic feats, sobriety and obedience to the instructions of the confessor are needed. The severity of fasting should be consistent with the age, sex, health, work and intensity of the spiritual life of a Christian.

Non-observance without food Great Heel.“But the days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast in those days” (Mark 2:20). So the Savior foretold about his disciples, who began to fast in their sorrow when He was gone from them. But we are all also followers and disciples of the Lord God and our Savior Jesus Christ. Therefore, on the day of His crucifixion, we do not have a liturgy, and on this day it is not supposed to eat or drink, except perhaps for the very weak. Is it possible to feast in those hours when Christ accepted beatings, abuses and death on the cross itself for the sake of us? Christian! Do not spare your flesh on this day, force it for the sake of Christ to complete abstinence.

Violation of all fasts, except for the Great, fast food.“If anyone does not keep the fast of the holy Apostles, and the Nativity of Christ, and the Mother of God, do not accept this into the Church” (Nomocanon pr. 228), - this is the verdict of the universal Church to the violators of the fasts. “This kind is driven out by fasting and prayer,” says Jesus Christ about the fight against the demonic kind, and the one who does not observe the fasts becomes powerless before the demonic power. Also in the physical sense, each of the four fasts in the year has its own beneficial effect on a person. For example, the time of fasting coincides with the time of the restructuring of our body in the summer-autumn, autumn-winter, winter-spring and spring-summer mood. Thus, Filippov's fast protects against inflammatory winter diseases; Petrov and Uspensky are very helpful in enduring the summer heat, because when a person eats plant foods or fish, the body is less slagged, the level of metabolism and energy (heat) release is not so high; Lent after strict days of abstinence and purification of the body increases the importance of meat food for the body, gives it a special taste and pleasure when eating. A person who does not observe fasts tramples on church laws and regulations, renounces patristic tradition, and therefore falls away from the Church and dooms himself to eternal death.

Only partial observance of fasts (for example, the first and last weeks).“If anyone does not fast on Holy Forty Day, except for an obstacle from bodily weakness, let him be excommunicated” (Apostolic Pr. 69), such is the will of the Church about Great Lent. In our time, there are not a few among Orthodox who, even during Great Lent, allow themselves a meat table, with great sorrow abstaining from meat only in the first and last week of Lent. In Orthodox Rus', eating fast during Great Lent was recognized as criminal and strange to such an extent that such breakers of the fast were looked at only as “blameless Jews.” But gradually acquaintance with European countries, free-thinking, atheism led many to fall away from life according to church canons.

Fasting with murmuring.“When you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, so that you may appear to those who are fasting, not before men, but before your Father who is in secret; and your Father, who sees in secret, will reward you openly” (Matthew 6:17-18). Indeed, fasting at first seems to our flesh a difficult and unpleasant occupation, the flesh hardly obeys it. We sigh when fasting time approaches, we miss it when it comes, we carefully calculate the days and weeks until it ends. But this burden occurs only until a person experiences real benefits from fasting, does not feel the grace and peace of mind that come with its proper observance. From fasting, the body and spiritual perception are refined, passions subside, and sleep often normalizes. Murmuring at fasting often means the victory of the flesh over the spirit, it means that a person lives entirely by material interests and faith still illuminates only a small part of his soul.

Murmuring against the fasts, the assertion that they are superfluous, the search for pretexts for breaking them. An indication of the need for fasting is found in all the books of the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments. Even the very first commandment to man was given in relation to fasting: “You will eat from every tree in the garden, but you shall not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil” (Genesis 2:16-17). According to the book of Genesis, we see that in the beginning, plants, for example, fruits from trees, were food for man. The Lord Himself showed us the necessity of fasting when he fasted for 40 days before going out to public service. The Church, by the Holy Spirit, affirms the need for fasting. Therefore, whoever rejects their necessity opposes the divine commandments and ordinances of the Church. The search for pretexts for breaking the fast is a sin of self-justification, it shows the complete lack of spirituality of a person.

Distracting others from fasting (by persuasion, by example in hospitality).“He who eats, do not humiliate the one who does not eat; and whoever does not eat, do not condemn him who eats” (Rom. 14:3). Sinners also have one more vicious property: by sinning themselves, they try to drag others into the same sin. This property is especially pronounced in hardened violators of fasts. The latter, at a meeting, persuade relatives or friends to relax their fast (to eat fish or drink wine, saying: “God will forgive”), or to stop fasting altogether so as not to damage their health. Others (for example, spiritually authoritative people or clergy), knowing that their weakening of the fast or its violation will encourage the weak to do the same, still act according to their whim. Still others, having invited guests to their place, indiscriminately serve modest dishes even on a fast day, tempting those invited to sin. These violations are not to blame for compelling circumstances, but a frivolous attitude to fasting, a desire to captivate others into their sinful way of acting and thinking.

When fasting bodily, not trying to keep the fast of the soul. Every person is made up of a soul and a body. Therefore, fasting applies to the soul of a person, and not just to his flesh. By refining the body with fasting, we facilitate our spiritual perceptions, we force the body to obey the spirit, but by fasting the soul, we refrain from any sensual, emotional entertainment, we concentrate its forces on repentance, prayer and spiritual reflections. If a person fasts with his body, and his soul is in entertainment (watching TV, going to the theater, guests and other secular entertainment), then such fasting will not bring any benefit to the person. Spiritual fasting is also made up of angerlessness and humility (David humbled his soul through fasting (Ps. 34:13)), almsgiving and other virtues in relation to neighbors. Lenten starvation with one body, without the spirit and warmth of the heart, only more strongly develops spiritual passions in a person, and especially pride.

Omission to read spiritual books during fasting.“All the children of Israel gathered together, fasting and in sackcloth, and with ashes on their heads ... and they rose up and confessed their sins and the crimes of their fathers ... and read for a quarter of the day from the book of the law of the Lord their God” (Neh. 9:1-3). Reading sacred and spiritual books during fasting (to get more spiritual benefit from fasting) is a necessary part of spiritual work. According to the church charter, during Great Lent it is commanded to read the books: Genesis and Proverbs, conversations of St. Ephraim the Syrian, St. Ladder John, Studites, the life of Mary of Egypt, as well as writings that help repentance, reverent confession and communion. During Passion Week, one should listen to the Gospel in church, read it with appropriate interpretations at home, meditate on the suffering and death of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Participation in secular pleasures during fasting, especially Great.“We sang songs of sorrow to you, and you did not weep” (Matthew 11:17). Similarly, those who respond to the call of the Church to weep over their sins with joy and laughter, who in no way distinguish the penitent days of Great Lent from a meat-eater, act in the same way. Sincere fasting requires both soul and body to fast. So, for example, for the eyes - this is not watching TV, for hearing - this is the rejection of secular music and songs that relax the soul. This is a rejection of vain entertainment (reading secular books, going to theaters, cinemas and others). Especially in such strictness, the Orthodox should spend the entire Great Lent from the first to the last day of it. Our Lord during these days and nights (i.e., Fortecost), followed by the days of His suffering, did not drink or eat. If, due to our weakness, we cannot fully imitate Him in this, then we can, for the sake of Christ, completely abandon all worldly amusements.

Neglect to strengthen the spiritual life during Great Lent, non-fulfillment of Lenten prostrations at home and neglect to strengthen prayer. As we said above, the refinement of the body and the cutting off of vain pleasures during fasting help us to concentrate our spiritual efforts on repentance and prayer. Proper fasting helps us to better see our passions, bad habits, sins and begin an intense struggle with them. If, during fasting, we simply eat plant foods, and live as always, then there is no benefit to us from carrying it. A bodily fast must necessarily be combined with a spiritual fast and an active strengthening of one's spiritual life. For this, the Church invites us to bow not only in church, but also at home, to increase the time for home prayer and spiritual reading. Remember, fasting formally will not bring any benefit and is unlikely to be pleasing to God.

Intemperance from marital relations during fasting, fasting and holidays. During fasting, a person should refrain from fast food and vain entertainment, as well as from marital relations, which belong to the sphere of sensual pleasures. Indeed, can a person indulge in lustful pleasures and at the same time maintain a high prayerful attitude and a sense of repentance? Hardly. The feeling of repentance requires perfect abstinence and aspiration to God. The life of the future age will completely exclude intimate marital relations: then "they do not marry and do not get married, but they remain as angels who are in heaven," says Jesus Christ. Any holiness and high asceticism also make these relationships unnecessary. A person receives much greater happiness and pleasure from communion with God than from marital relations. Therefore, when a person fasts, preparing for a worthy meeting of the holiday, observes fasting days or honors the memory of the church holiday itself, intimate communication at this time is unacceptable and is a sin of intemperance.

Many novice Christians ask themselves the question - How to spend Sunday in an Orthodox way? Let's try to answer this question. The time of the holiday is a time of special service to God. And since God especially dwells in the temple, then on holidays it is necessary to visit the temple of God.

With what zeal should we respond to the invitation of the Heavenly King, to whom every holiday, every Sunday, with special strength and perseverance, the Holy Church calls us to the house of God, where the Heavenly King Himself is present by His grace! “For those people, says Metropolitan Philaret of Moscow, who, out of weakness, out of need, out of duty of obedience in sacred times, are forced to stay in their homes, it must be said: at least when they hear the exalted voice of the bell announcing the high minute of bloodless sacrifice, let them send into the church a reverent thought, a pious desire, let them sanctify themselves with the sign of the cross, as if together with those who are coming to the altar; the angel of the temple will meet them and count them from a distance among those really coming and will offer their memory to the altar of the Lord.

Returning home from the church, a Christian must maintain a prayerful mood here too.

If on weekdays, when a person is entertained by worldly cares and labors, he cannot always devote much time to prayer, which is so necessary for his soul, then on Sundays and holidays he must devote most of his day to this pious and saving occupation.

Saint Tikhon, Bishop of Voronezh, went to church almost every day for Liturgy and Vespers, and he himself sang in the kliros. He spent his nights without sleep and went to bed at dawn.

Prophet David prayed at the beginning of the night, got up for prayer at midnight, prayed in the morning, in the evening and at noon.

That is why he said: in the seven days of the day praise Thee (Ps. 119:164).

Abba Dula, a disciple of the Monk Bessarion, said: “I went into my cell to my elder and found him standing at prayer; his hands were stretched out to heaven, and he remained in this feat for fourteen days.

Prayer is a reverent conversation between the human soul and God. Quite decent on holidays and conversation with people, but, of course, not all, but only about divine objects.

The soul after pious conversations is filled with holy thoughts, feelings and desires. The mind becomes clearer, brighter; regret about the badly spent past penetrates into the heart - the will would still want to do only one thing that is pleasing before God.

Oh, that each of us would love to speak and hear more about things that concern God and the soul; then faith and virtue would not be with us only in words, but would be the life and property of the heart, of our whole being.

It is equally useful and salutary both to conduct soul-saving conversations and to read soul-saving books. The Holy Apostle Paul commands his beloved disciple, Bishop Timothy, to read holy and soulful books as one of the main means for success in the spiritual life. Attend to reading (1 Tim. 4:13), he writes to him. And the holy fathers, following the apostle, command everyone to read the holy books as one of the important means for spiritual perfection.

It is especially useful to read the Holy Scriptures. “If we read the Holy Scriptures with faith,” says St. Basil the Great, “we feel that we see and hear Christ Himself. What needs, whether by a living voice, or through scripture, who speaks to us? It's all the same. So in Holy Scripture God speaks to us as truly as we speak to Him through prayer.”

It is very useful and saving for the soul to do good on holidays. The holy apostle Paul advised the Christians of the Corinthian church to establish a permanent collection for the benefit of the needy: do as I have established in the churches of Galatia. On the first day of the week (that is, every Sunday - Approx. Ed.), Let each of you save and collect as much as his condition allows (1 Cor. 16: 1-2). St. John Chrysostom, inspiring this commandment to the Christians of Constantinople, says: “Let us arrange in our house an ark for the poor, which should be located at the place where you stand for prayer. Let everyone put aside the money of the Lord at home on Sunday. If we make it our rule on Sunday to set aside something for the benefit of the poor, we shall not break this rule. The craftsman, having sold something from his works, let him bring the firstfruits of the price to God and share this part with God. I do not demand much, only I ask you to set aside at least a tenth. Do the same not only when selling, but also when buying. Let all those who acquire righteousness observe these rules.”

The ancient Christians lovingly honored the holidays with abundant offerings to the church, of which one part went to the maintenance of church employees and church needs, and the other to help the poor. “These offerings,” says one ancient Christian writer, “serve as a pledge of piety; because they do not go to feasts, not to drunkenness, not to overeating, but to feed and bury the poor, to youths and maidens who have lost their property and parents, to old men who, due to weakness, can no longer leave their homes and do work, also those who suffered misfortune and imprisoned for their faith in ore-digging, on islands and dungeons.

Many of the people sufficient in respect for the holidays themselves distributed generous alms to the poor brethren, fed the hungry, looked after the strange and went to hospitals, trying with words of consolation and various services to alleviate the suffering of the sick. So the writer of the life of St. Martha, talking about how she honored the divine holidays, among other things, says: “She was inexpressibly merciful to the poor, feeding the hungry, and clothing the naked. Often entering hospitals, serving the sick with your own hands, giving burial to the dying from your labors, and giving white clothes to those who are baptized from your needlework.

The common custom of ancient Christians was to arrange festive meals for orphans, wanderers and all the poor during the days. In the early days of Christianity, this kind of meal was established at churches and the tombs of martyrs; but subsequently they began to be arranged by benefactors only in their own homes. The generosity of some Christians extended to the point that sometimes, due to the large gathering of beggars, on one holiday they arranged several meals one after another. So it is known that one Christ-loving brother, named Isaiah, was distinguished by special charity during the holidays: having created a hospice and a hospital, he tried to put to rest all those who came to him and served the sick with all zeal: three, and four meals representing the poor for the sake of. If one of your relatives or friends is sick, go to the sick person, comfort them as much as you can. Maybe someone close to your heart lies in the cemetery. Go to the grave of the deceased, pray for him. Now, in many churches, on holidays, extra-liturgical interviews of pastors with the people are arranged. It's good to visit them.

This is how a Christian should spend a Sunday or a holiday. But is this really how we do it?

Many of the Christians, dissatisfied with their constant earnings, also devote time of sacred rest to their work, thinking through this to increase their fortune. But in vain they think so. The Prologue contains such a story.

Two artisans lived side by side, both of whom were engaged in the same craft: they were tailors. One of them had a wife, father, mother and many children; but he went to church every day. However, despite the fact that through this he took up a lot of time for work in the craft, he adequately supported himself and fed himself with the whole family, thanks to the blessing of God, daily requested for work and for his home. The other one devoted himself too much to the craft, so that often on holidays, which should be devoted to the service of God, he was not in the temple of God, but sat at work, but was not rich and hardly fed himself. So he began to envy the first; one day he could not stand it and asked his neighbor with irritation: “why is this and how do you get rich? for here I work harder than you, but I am poor.”

And he, wanting his neighbor to remember God more often, answered: “Here I am, going to church every day, often finding gold along the way; and so little by little I acquire. If you want, we will go to church together, I will call every day; but only everything that each of us would not find - to divide in half. The poor man believed, agreed, and together they began to visit the temple of God every day, where the soul involuntarily disposes itself to prayer and where the grace of God invisibly touches the heart of man; the other soon became accustomed to such a pious custom. But what? God apparently blessed him and his work: he began to get better and grow rich. Then the first one, suppressing a good thought, confessed to his neighbor: “I didn’t tell you the whole truth before, but from what I said for the sake of God and your salvation, what good is it for your soul and for your estate! Believe that I did not find anything on earth, no gold, and did not visit the temple of God because of gold, but precisely because God said: Seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all this will be added to you (Matt. 6: 33). However, if I said that I found gold, I did not sin: after all, you found and acquired. - Thus, the blessing of the Lord on those who revere the Lord sacredly serves as the best and most reliable companion for labors.

Those who disrespect the holy holidays can always be comprehended by God's punishment. After all, having a holiday completely free from work, they are too lazy even to go to the temple of God, and if they come, they stand absent-mindedly in the church of God, praying unzealously, thinking about how they could spend the holiday more cheerfully. And when they come home, they indulge in unbridled fun.

Of course, there is no sin in innocent pleasures and complete rest from constant work. The Monk Anthony the Great often said to his disciples: “just as one cannot constantly and strongly strain the bow, otherwise it will burst, so it is impossible for a person to be constantly in tension, but he also needs rest.” But the best joy for a Christian is in God; - therefore, the best joy of a Christian on the day of the holiday should be the joy of reading soul-saving books, conducting pious conversations and doing godly deeds. However, not only is a Christian not prohibited on this day from any reasonable entertainment - visiting any museum or exhibition, relatives or friends, etc., but even these healthy and useful entertainments are strongly recommended. But completely inconsistent with holiness sunday to indulge in drunkenness, to sing outrageous songs, and to indulge in excesses of every kind. St. John Chrysostom says: "The feast is not for us to act outrageously and multiply our sins, but to purify those that we have."

Once upon a time the Lord God, through the mouth of His prophet, spoke to the Jews, who spent their feast days in the service of one sensuality: My soul hates your feasts (Isaiah 1:14). This is a terrible word. Let us fear the wrath of God, let us spend the feasts holy, not indulging in feasting and drunkenness, nor sensuality and debauchery, nor strife and envy (Rom. 13:13), but let us spend the feasts in purity and righteousness.

ABC of Faith

On the entire globe, among all peoples, there is no religion without public worship, combined with solemn rites. No one excludes himself from participating in such worship.

And why is it that among Christians, an enlightened people, there is sometimes negligence in worship?

Why do some appear among Christians who seem to be trying to distinguish themselves from their millions of brothers and sisters by not doing what they do? Isn't our faith as holy, as beneficent as the faith of other peoples? Are not our temples able to arouse sublime feelings?

Test yourself, do you think correctly, are your reasons smart? Is it not from a lack of pious feelings that the holy and beautiful seem to you empty, dead, superfluous? Is it not out of vanity that you want to appear smarter in front of some people?

You say: "They would laugh at me when I went to church, they would call me a hypocrite."

So, vanity keeps you from fulfilling the office that you are obliged to fulfill before people. Let you be more learned than they are, you know more than they, so that you can learn little new in the church; but when you think that you are being looked at, that you are revered, why are you setting a bad example for them? ..

You say: “Yes, I can pray on Sunday at home as well as in church.”

Yes, it's true, you can; but will you pray? Are you always up for it? Are household chores distracting you?

Sunday is a holy day for all Christians.

Thousands of nations in thousands of languages ​​glorify God on this day and pray before His throne, and only you stand like an idol, as if you do not belong to the great sacred Family.

When the solemn ringing of bells was heard from the bell towers of churches, did it not sometimes reach your heart? Haven't you often thought he was saying, "Why do you exclude yourself from Christian society?" When your gaze, wandering without thought through the gloomy vault of the temple, saw in the distance the font in which you were initiated into Christianity as a baby; when you saw the place in the temple where you first communed the Holy Mysteries of Christ, when you saw the place where you were married, didn’t all this make the temple more sacred for you?!

If you didn't feel anything here, then my word to you is in vain.

The establishment of the observance of Sunday is worthy of all respect. The Mohammedan considers Holy Friday, the Jew considers Saturday, the Christian every Sunday remembers the Resurrection of Christ - the Savior of the world.

Sunday is the Lord's day, that is, the day of rest for all Christians from work and work. The farmer's plow is resting, the workshops are quiet, the schools are closed. Every state, every rank shakes off the dust of everyday life and puts on festive clothes. No matter how unimportant, at first glance, these outward signs of respect for the day of the Lord, nevertheless, have a strong effect on the feelings of a person. He internally becomes more cheerful, contented; and rest from weekly labors brings him to God. Destroy the resurrection and public worship, and in a few years you will live to the savagery of the nations. A person oppressed by worldly concerns or motivated to work out of self-interest will rarely find a moment to seriously think about his high appointment. Then such a person will not act justly. Everyday activities entertain the feeling, and Sunday gathers it again. On this day, everything is silent and at rest, only the doors of the temple are open. Although a person is not disposed to pious reflection, in a large assembly of Christians he will not be carried away by the power of example. We see hundreds and thousands of people gathered around us, with whom we live in one place and experience joy and sadness, happiness and misfortune common to our native land; we see around us those who, sooner or later, carry our coffin to the grave, mourning us.

We all stand before God here as members of one big family. Here, nothing separates us: the tall one is next to the low one, the poor prays next to the rich one. Here we are all children of the eternal Father.

Look, the ancient Christians treated Sunday and other feast days as days that were primarily designated for the service of God. Their reverence was combined with reverence for the temple as a place of God's special grace-filled presence on earth (Mat. 21:13; 18:20). And that is why the ancient Christians usually spent holidays in the temple of God, in public worship.

One Sunday, the Christians of Troy, when the Apostle Paul was with them, gathered as usual for public prayer. The apostle Paul offered a lesson to the congregation that lasted until midnight. Candles were lit, and the apostle continued his holy discourse.

One young man named Eutychus, sitting at the open window and poorly listening to the Word of God, fell asleep and fell out of the window from the third floor. Sleepy was raised dead. However, the pious assembly was not upset. Paul descended and fell on him, and embracing him, said, Don't worry, for his soul is in him. And having gone up, and having broken bread and eaten, he talked enough, even until dawn, and then he went out. In the meantime, the lad was brought alive, and they were much comforted (Acts 20:7-12).

The very persecution of those who profess the name of Christ did not cool the zeal of Christians for public Divine services during the holidays.

In Mesopotamia, in the city of Edessa, the emperor Valens, infected with the Arian heresy, ordered to lock up Orthodox churches so that worship would not take place in them. Christians began to gather outside the city in the fields for hearing Divine Liturgy. When Valens found out about this, he ordered to put to death all Christians who would gather there in advance. The head of the city Modest, to whom this command was given, out of compassion, secretly informed the Orthodox Christians about this in order to turn them away from meetings and threatening death; but the Christians did not cancel their gatherings, and on the following Sunday they appeared in greater numbers for corporate prayer. The chief, passing through the city to perform his duty, saw one woman, dressed neatly, although poorly, who hastily left her house, did not even bother to lock the doors, and was carrying a baby with her. He guessed that this was an Orthodox Christian woman hurrying to the meeting, and stopping, he asked her:

Where are you hurrying?

At a meeting of the Orthodox, - answered the wife.

But don't you know that everyone gathered there will be put to death?

I know, and therefore I hasten, so as not to be late in receiving the martyr's crown.

But why are you bringing a baby with you?

In order for him to participate in the same bliss (“Christian reading”, part 48).

Public worship represents to us the original state of all mortals. It inclines the proud to humility, the oppressed to cheerfulness. Only the church and death equalize people before God.

Sinners can only find peace in the temple; only here do the life-giving streams of the Holy Mysteries exude, having the power to purify the conscience; here a propitiatory sacrifice is offered, which alone can quench justice.

But if neither this spectacle of those praying can arouse reverence in you, nor solemn singing, then imagine that on the same day and hour, on the far side of the earth, every Christian prays; imagine that countless nations are praying with you; even where a Christian ship rushes along the waves of a distant ocean, singing and glorifying God are heard over the abyss of the sea. How? And you alone on this day can be silent! You alone do not want to take part in the glorification of the Creator!

“People pray in the churches, but while the priest lifts up his hands and prays for those who are coming, while he cries out to God for the salvation of the soul, how many people participate in these prayers with attention and reverence? Alas! Instead of our prayers supposed to return to us the red days of rest and bring down peace from heaven to earth, the days of misfortune still continue; times of confusion and destruction do not cease; war and atrocity, apparently, have forever settled between people. The lamenting wife languishes with grief over the unknown fate of her husband; a sad father waits in vain for the return of his son; brother is separated from his brother ... ”(Selected words of Massillon, vol. 2, p. 177.) Imagine: in the place where you stand in the church, your grandchildren, your descendants, will once stand and pray, when you and will not be here - they will still remember you!

Perhaps the place on which you are now standing will be watered more than once by the tears of your family, remembering you. Can you, after these memories, be indifferent in the temple of God? Remembering all this, you will involuntarily be carried away by the lofty goal to which public worship is destined.

Say no more: “I can pray to God even in a solitary room; Why else should I go to church?” - No, these feelings, this inspiration can only be delivered to you by the temple of God. The Word of God is preached in the church from the elevated pulpit. Beliefs and examples penetrate your soul. Let the sermon not always be in accordance with your real needs, let it not produce in you the edification that you desired; but it had an effect on others; it is useful to others. Why are you dissatisfied with this? Is it possible for all parishioners to find all this important and entertaining? The day will come when your soul will have a word. If the sermon was not useful to you, then you yourself have benefited by your example. You were in church, so you didn't seduce anyone.

To all these inner dispositions of the soul, which the sanctity of the temple requires, one must also add a specious appearance, simplicity and decency in clothes. Why are these magnificent outfits in the house of prayer and weeping? Are you going to the temple in order to distract from Jesus Christ the eyes and tenderness of those who worship Him? Do you come to swear at the shrine of the Mysteries, trying to trap and corrupt hearts even at the foot of the altar on which these Mysteries are offered? Do you really want that no place on earth, not even the temple itself - a refuge of faith and piety - could protect innocence from your shameful and voluptuous nakedness? How little does the world have for you in spectacles, how few merry gatherings where you boast of being a stumbling block to your neighbors? Is it necessary to desecrate the shrine of the temple with your outrage?

Oh! If you, entering the halls of the king, show respect by decorum and the importance of clothing, which you owe to the majesty of the royal presence, will you appear to the Lord of heaven and earth without fear, without decency, without chastity? You confuse the faithful, who hoped to find a peaceful refuge here from all vain things; break the reverence of the servants of the altar with the obscenity of your decorations, offending the purity of your eyes, deepened in heaven (selected words of Massillon, vol. 2, p. 182).

But not one hour in church should be devoted to God, but the whole Sunday day. The day of the Lord is a day of rest. On this day you must leave all your ordinary occupations; your body must rest, and your spirit must gather new strength. After resting, you will be more cheerful and diligently set to work again. Let your family rest too. You must calm down from everything except good deeds. Always hasten to help where the extreme need of your neighbor calls you; beneficence is the most beautiful divine service.

Leaving your weekly studies, take a divine book and read edifying stories to yourself, or let someone read the Holy Scripture aloud, while the rest listen attentively. Thus, Sunday will indeed be the day of the Lord, that is, consecrated to the Lord. These pious conversations will cheer you up. You will become a better person, you will find more consolation in the day of misfortune, you will act more prudently in merry hours, and you will always remember God with greater joy.

But this, however, does not mean that on Sunday you are constantly engaged in pious reflections, leaving all pleasures and amusements. No, man has a certain measure of strength. Go and have fun, but only then run away from amusements when they turn into violence, give rise to quarrels, lead to sin and temptation.

And here are some examples from the Holy Tradition of how God punishes those people who do not honor holidays.

On the feast day of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker, deeply revered by all Orthodox, a certain poor woman worked in her hut during mass, when all good Christians prayed in church. For this, God's punishment befell her. During her studies, the holy martyrs Boris and Gleb suddenly appear to her and say menacingly: “Why are you working on the feast of St. Nicholas! Do you not know how angry the Lord is with those who do not honor His holy saints?

The wife died of fear, and after a while, having come to her senses, she saw herself lying in the middle of a suddenly broken hut. Thus, her poverty was increased by homelessness and a serious illness that lasted a whole month. But that was not the end of her punishment. During her illness, her hand dried up, which for three years was incurable and did not allow her to get to work. The rumor about miracles taking place at the relics of saints Boris and Gleb, inspired her with the hope of healing; determined not to work on holidays, she went to the miraculous relics and was healed (Thursday, May 2).

In close proximity lived two tailors who knew each other well. One of them had a large family: a wife, children, an elderly father and mother; but he was pious, went daily to the divine service, believing that after fervent prayer any work would go more successfully. He never went to work on holidays. And indeed, his labors were always rewarded, and although he was not famous for the art in his craft, he not only lived enough, but still had an excess.

Meanwhile, another tailor had no family, was very skilled in his work, worked much more than his neighbor, sat at work on Sundays and other holidays, and during the hours of the festive divine service he sat at his sewing, so about the Church of God he didn't even have a trace; however, his strenuous labors were not successful and barely delivered him his daily bread. Once, prompted by envy, this tailor says to his pious neighbor: “How did you get rich from your labors, while you work less and have a larger family than I do. For me, this is incomprehensible and even suspicious! .. ”The good neighbor knew about the impiety of his neighbor and, pitying him, decided to take this opportunity to reason with him.

Speaking about the pious pastime of the holidays, one cannot but notice the pastime in general. Prayer, like all good deeds, is not the exclusive property of Sunday and feast days. Our whole life should be accompanied by prayer and good deeds. Let us not be embarrassed by the imaginary incompatibility of deeds of piety and prayer with worldly occupations on duty; one can ascend in prayer to God in the midst of the very worries about the means of temporal life.

Blessed Jerome says the following about the contemporary Bethlehem farmers: “In Bethlehem, apart from psalmody, silence reigns; wherever you turn, you hear how an oratay sings hallelujah behind a plow, how a reaper drenched in sweat is engaged in psalmody, and a vinedresser, cutting grapes with a crooked knife, sings something from David. (Memorial of the ancient church, part 2, p. 54.) A touching picture! This is how we ought to spend our time in the midst of our daily activities! And why not sing to God at any time, in any place, if not with your voice, then with your mind and heart!

“Every place and every time,” says St. John Chrysostom, “is convenient for us to pray. If your heart is free from impure passions, then wherever you are: whether at the marketplace, on the way, in court, at sea, in a hotel or in a workshop - you can pray to God everywhere. (Conversation 30 on the book of Genesis.)

One day, neighboring hermits came to a certain holy elder for a word of edification. But these hermits, like many of us, did not understand how it was possible to combine the unceasing prayer commanded by the apostle with the affairs of life. The holy elder enlightened them on this in the following way. After a mutual greeting, the holy elder asks the visitors:

How do you spend your time? What are your activities?

We don’t do anything, we don’t do any manual work, but according to the commandment of the apostle we pray without ceasing.

How is it? Do you not eat brasna and strengthen your strength with sleep? But how do you pray when you eat food or sleep? - asked the old man of the aliens.

But they did not know what to answer to this, and they did not want to admit that, therefore, they did not pray without ceasing. Then the old man said to them:

But praying without ceasing is very simple. The apostle did not say his word in vain. And I, according to the word of the apostle, pray without ceasing, doing needlework. For example, while weaving baskets from reeds, I read aloud and to myself:

Have mercy on me, God - the whole psalm, I read other prayers. So, spending the whole day in labor and prayer, I manage to earn some money and give half of it to the poor, and use the other for my own needs. When my body requires reinforcement with food or sleep, at this time the lack of my prayer is filled by the prayers of those to whom I gave alms from my labors. In this way, with the help of God, I pray, according to the word of the apostle, without ceasing.

(“Honourable Tales of the Ascetic St. Fathers”, 134).

Saint Tikhon, Bishop of Voronezh, says about prayer: “Prayer does not only consist in standing and bowing with the body before God and reading prayers written; but even without that, it is possible to pray with the mind and spirit at any time and in any place. You can walk, sit, lie down, go by, sitting at the table, doing business, in the people and in solitude, raise both your mind and heart to God, and so ask Him for mercy and help. God is everywhere and in every place, and the doors to Him are always open, and access to Him is convenient, not like to a person, and everywhere, always, out of His philanthropy, He is ready to listen to us and help us. Everywhere and always, and at any time, and in every need and case, we can approach Him with faith and our prayer, we can everywhere say to Him with our mind: “Lord, have mercy, Lord, help!” (“Instruction on the Duty of a Christian,” p. 20.)

Sunday prayer time, according to the charter of our Holy Church, does not begin in the morning of the weekday (that is, on Sunday), as we think, but on Saturday evening. Before the solar setting of the Sabbath day, says the church charter on its first line, there is a good news for Vespers. This Vespers does not refer to Saturday, but to Sunday. Therefore, Sunday reading, or at least Sunday thoughts and feelings, should begin with a Christian before sunset on the Sabbath day. We Orthodox have a great many holy churches in towns and villages; they are tall and magnificent, they rise like an earthly paradise for pious people and like a Last Judgment for the wicked.

Every Saturday you hear, and you cannot but hear the gospel for Sunday evening. But have you thought at least once that this evening ringing of the bell on Saturday announces to you and all Christians the end of your six-day fuss and the beginning of memory and thoughts about the truth of the very important, very deep - about the resurrection?

I know that the ringing of the evening bell in crowded cities is often heard as in deserted deserts. Therefore, I remind you and say: the voice of the temple bell is an inexorable accuser of your life, if you hear it, but do not listen; if, because of his cry, on the Sabbath you do not take up the work that is fitting for the day and for the thought of Sunday.

As soon as the sun sets a little, - it is said in the 2nd chapter of the church charter, - another evangelism begins for the all-night vigil and Sunday matins.

I will ask you: “What are you doing during this second evangelism? Maybe you are sitting at the card table, or scouring other people's houses, otherwise you are reading a poster for tomorrow's performance? You are lost with your heads, proud of the youth of this century! Saying be wise obyurodesha.

Ask at least the church bell ringer what to do during the evangelism for the Sunday Vigil. He will tell you: “When I slowly strike the big bell, I quietly sing the Immaculate or the 50th Psalm twenty times.

Immaculate we call the God-wise and great 118th psalm. It begins with the words: "Blessed are the blameless in the way that walks in the law of the Lord," and ends with the verse: "I have gone astray like a lost ram." Do not joke, this psalm will be sung or read at your burial; but what good is it to you if, during your lifetime, you will not heed him both in thought and in deed, if you spend your whole life in vain!

Psalm 50 is David's most tearful repentance. Why don't you read this confession? Maybe you are smarter than King David, more righteous than him, and therefore you don’t want to cleanse your weekly and daily sins with his prayer? It has become a custom among us to consider ourselves smarter than all times and peoples; but this is our only pride; by this we only show that we did not have a true mind, and even now we do not.

Listen further. Our all-night service, hours, and liturgy open up a number of profound truths for the pious reflection of a Christian, and many scriptures for pious reading. Beginning with the creation of the world, the divine service takes a Christian through all past and future ages, everywhere tells him the great deeds and destinies of God, stops only at the doors of eternity and tells you what awaits you there. You will not follow me through the whole series of divine truths - out of laziness; Therefore, I will only point out to you the general and main thing that you should pay attention to on Sundays.

The composition of the Sunday service primarily includes the Word of God - these are psalms, sometimes proverbs, the Gospel and the apostles. When do you read the holy Bible?

At the very least, do you read passages from it that are designated by the Church for Sundays?

Read! This is not your newspaper, not a theater poster - this is the word of your God - or the Savior, or the terrible Judge.

Read. I'm not afraid of your objections that this is old. If you were smarter, you would be satisfied with one word: old, useful and holy, better than new, useless and windy. But I will honestly ask you: what do you know of the old?.. If you know nothing or very little, then why judge it? You say: "A lot to read." No, the daily lesson for this or that Sunday, appointed by the Church from the Bible and from the works of the Holy Fathers, is very small, it is not even enough for an hour.

The composition of Sunday worship includes New Testament hymns and prayers, such as stichera, canons, and so on. If you don't read them at home, do you even listen to them in God's temple? Listen and reflect. Here's what they teach you:

1) The death and resurrection of our Savior is your own death and resurrection, in this life - spiritual, in the future - bodily, the fate of the whole human race and the whole world, heaven and hell, judgment and eternity. Do you read pious writings on these and similar subjects? Read, for God's sake read, because you must die, and you will certainly rise again. Why do you live only for today? If you are smart, then tell me: what is the name of that animal that does not think, does not want or does not know how to think about its future?

2) Sometimes on Sundays there are feasts of the Lord and the Theotokos. Each holiday is a special book about this or that great work of God, revealed and explained in many holy and God-wise writings. Do you read such scriptures? Read; otherwise there are no bright holidays for your soul in the Christian world.

3) There are holidays and commemorations of the holy saints of God. How many sacred stories do you know? I think which ones I knew and those I forgot. Read at least the lives of those saints whose memory falls on Sundays; even in this way you would have collected a lot of pious information, and believe me, you would have become more sedate and kinder. At least for the sake of Sundays, give up for a while your secular books and stories, behind which you spend your nights without sleep, and take up the Prologue or the Cheti-Minei.

So here you are, Christian, Sunday reading. I have said and pointed to many things. If you want, listen and do it, if you don't want it, it's your business. But you are lost if you do not do anything, and what I say to you so bravely, do not be angry.

Martyr Justin left us a precious monument of how the leading Christians spent Sunday. Here are his words: “On the day dedicated by the pagans to the sun, and we call it the day of the Lord, we all gather in one place in cities and villages, we read from the prophetic and apostolic writings as much as the time appointed for Divine services allows; at the end of the reading, the primate offers a lesson, the content of which is taken from what was read before this; then we all rise in our places and together say prayers not only for ourselves, but also for others, whoever they may be, and conclude the prayers with a brotherly greeting and kissing each other.

After this, the primate takes bread, wine and water and, having given praise to the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, thanks God for these gifts with which He has generousd us, and all the people proclaim: "Amen." Then the deacons divide the consecrated bread, wine and water among the faithful present and refer them to those who are absent. We accept these gifts, - says the martyr further, - not as ordinary food and drink, but as the true body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ. At the end of this sacred meal, the rich allocate alms from their excess, and the primate distributes it to widows, the sick, prisoners, strangers, and in general to all the poor brethren ”(“ Resurrect, Read. ”, 1838, p. 266).

I never want to offend God on the Lord's day; I never want to defile myself with bad behavior that day. I must glorify the Lord not only with my mouth, but also with deed and will. And especially such great holidays as the Nativity of Christ, Easter, the Holy Trinity, should be dedicated to serving the Lord with complete reverence and held in Christian piety.

Your Holy Spirit, O God, enter my heart as I stand in the temple! Where can it be more joyful for us than there, in Your presence? Where do I feel more vividly both Your greatness and our insignificance, if not where the rich and the poor pray next to me, bowing before You? Where, besides Your temple, can anything remind me that we are only mortal children of the Heavenly Father? Let that place be a sanctuary for me, where your ancestors worshiped you and where my descendants will also turn to you!

In the temple, the voice of grace strikes my ears from everywhere. I hear, Jesus, Your words, and my heart silently ascends to You. There You are my Guide and Comforter; there I, redeemed by Thee, may well rejoice in Thy love; there I learn to be devoted to You (priest N. Uspensky).

Why is it customary to go to church on Sunday in Orthodoxy? What is the history of Sunday? Are Sunday and Sunday connected? Why do we consider this day a day of rest and joy? How and why is this day called in other countries?

Sunday is the Sabbath day?

The veneration of Sunday has a rather long and complex history. There is disagreement about whether Sunday is the first or the seventh day of the week. It is sometimes said that Sunday completely replaced Saturday.

If we turn to the text of the Old Testament, we will find the following words: “And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it, for in it he rested from all his works, which God created and made” (Genesis 2:3). It turns out that Saturday is the seventh day of the week, a day of rest, abstinence from worldly affairs, a day of rest. Among the Commandments of Moses, which he received from the Lord on Mount Sinai, we read: “Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. Six days work and do all your work; and the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God: on it you shall do no work, neither you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your servant, nor your maidservant, nor your livestock, nor the stranger that is in your dwellings. For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them; and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it" (Ex 20:8-10).

We also remember that the murder of Christ took place on Friday - "the day before Saturday" (Mark 15:42). The myrrh-bearing wife could come to the tomb of the Teacher only after the Sabbath day -. And after that, on the third day, the miracle of the Resurrection happened: « Rising early on the first day of the week Jesus appeared first to Mary Magdalene, from whom he cast out seven demons. (Mark 16:9).

Faith in the Resurrection of Christ is the foundation of faith in Christ in general. The Apostle Paul in the First Epistle to the Corinthians says: "But if Christ is not risen, then our preaching is in vain, and your faith is also in vain" (1 Corinthians 15:14).

On this day, everything that the people of the Old Testament were waiting for happened - but there is a rethinking of it: the day dedicated to God is now the one on which Salvation happened.

Birthday Sunday as a day off

Sunday received the status of a festive day off thanks to the holy emperor Constantine the Great. It was he who issued the Edict of Milan on religious tolerance, according to which Christianity acquired the status of the state religion.

In 323, when Constantine began to rule the entire Roman Empire, he extended the Edict of Milan to the entire eastern part of the empire.

March 7, 321 Emperor Constantine issued a decree according to which Sunday (in the Roman pagan tradition it was the day of the Sun) became a day of rest. Now on this day it was necessary to put aside all worldly affairs: the markets were closed, government offices stopped their work. Only land works were not subject to any restrictions.

The importance of Sunday was confirmed by further decrees. In 337, a law was passed on the mandatory participation of Christian soldiers in the Sunday liturgy. Later, Emperor Theodosius issued an edict forbidding public spectacles on Sundays. This decree has not survived, but the edict of 386 forbade legal proceedings and trade on Sundays.

Who calls Sunday?

Sun Day

In the languages ​​of many peoples, the day corresponding to resurrection is called the day of the Sun. This tradition is clearly visible in the languages ​​of the Germanic group. In ancient Rome, the name of the day - dies Solis - "day of the Sun" was borrowed from the Greeks and is a literal translation of the Greek heméra helíou. The Latin name, in turn, passed to the Germanic tribes. So, in English, Sunday will be "Sunday", and in German - "Sonntag", in Danish and Norwegian - "søndag", in Swedish - "söndag", which literally means "day of the Sun".

In most languages ​​of India, Sunday is called - Ravivar (from "Ravi") or Adityavar (from "Aditya") - derived from the epithets of the solar deity Surya and one of Aditya.

Chinese uses characters for the numbers one through six to represent all days of the week, and Sunday is written with the character for "sun."

In Japan, the days of the week are also named using hieroglyphs, while their meaning is associated more with the traditions, life, historical past of the Japanese than with any particular system (Friday is written with the hieroglyph "money", and Saturday - with the hieroglyph "earth") . However, in writing Sunday, like the Chinese, there is a hieroglyph for "sun".

In a number of languages, the days of the week are named in order and the tradition of honoring Sunday as the first day is preserved. In Hebrew, Sunday is called "Yom Rishon" - the first day.

Day of the Lord

In Greek, all the names of the days of Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday are translated as "second", "third", "fourth" and "fifth". Sunday was once called the "beginning", but today the name "Kiryaki", that is, "the day of the Lord", has stuck to it. It is the same in Armenian - Monday is already the “second day”, and Sunday is “Kiraki”.

There is also a group of names that come from the Latin word Dominica (Lord). So, in Italian, Sunday sounds like "la domenica", in French - "dimanche", and in Spanish - "domingo".

In Russian, the day of the week "Sunday" is named after the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. The word originated from the Old Slavonic resurrection, resurrection, and came into the Russian language through Church Slavonic.

Day "week"

In other Slavic languages, names have been preserved that come from the Slavic ne dělati “not to do” and thus signify a “day of rest”: in Ukrainian this day is called “week”, in Belarusian - “nyadzelya”, in Polish - “niedziela”, in Czech - "neděle". Similar names exist in all Slavic languages. In Russian, such a meaning for the word "week" has not been preserved, however, it is present in church life: when we say "", "Fomin's week", etc. – .

Sunday's place on the calendar

Currently, in most European countries, Sunday is considered the final day of the week. There is an international standard ISO 8601, according to which the first day of the week is Monday, and Sunday is the last. However, Sunday officially continues to be the first day of the week in Poland, the USA, Israel, Canada and some African countries.

Sunday - little Easter

Every Sunday for a Christian is a small Easter. The main thing of this day is the presence at the liturgy in the temple. It is with this that the rule of not doing (see above the origin of the word week) ordinary everyday affairs on this day is connected - they should not interfere with prayer. Sunday is always a holiday. At the same time, the memory of the special status of the Sabbath is also preserved in the Orthodox tradition.

The festivity of these days is reflected in church canons. Some of them are unknown even to many church people - for example, on Sunday and Saturday it is not supposed to bow to the knees.

This is most clearly seen in the example of order, the main tone of which is repentance.

Sundays and Saturdays are distinguished from the days of Great Lent. In them, a festive, non-fasting service is performed. A full Liturgy is served, and not, penitential is not read, prostrations are not made.