In this Issue:

— Message from the Rector

— Announcements

— A Request from Our Starosta

— From the Rector’s Bookshelf

— Lenten Meditations

— March/April Calendar

— Russian Corner

This newsletter is published by the

Holy Theotokos of Iveron

Russian Orthodox Church

A Parish of the Western American Diocese

Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia

ROCOR Official Website: http://www.rocor.org

Parish Website: http://www. orthodoxhawaii.org

All services are held at 845 Queen Street,

Honolulu, Hawaii

���� Our Church

Our church is located at 845 Queen Street just a block and a half Ewa of Ward Avenue.

The Sunday services are as follows: Hours at 9 a.m. followed by the Divine Liturgy at 9:30 a.m. All Saturday evening services begin at 6:15 p.m. unless otherwise specified in the calendar.

Confessions are heard after the Saturday evening Vespers services or by special prior arrangement during the Hours on Sunday.

Parking is a problem at the church during the week. There are only three reserved parking places for us there. On Saturday evenings and on Sundays, however, only a few neighboring businesses are operating.

Good news! James Lee has negotiated nine parking

spaces for us from our neighbors at Chuck’s Corvette,

corner of Queen and Kamani. Ask Jim for details.

Parish Dues:

$25/month for families; $15/month for single members; $10/month for students. In addition, members are encour-aged to pledge monthly contributions towards paying the church’s expenses; all donations are tax deductible.

Dues and pledges may be mailed to our treasurer: Dr Na-talia Zagorski, 329 Ilimalia Loop, Kailua HI 96734. Checks should be made out to: Russian Orthodox Com-

munity of Hawaii.

March/April 2013

��

ORTHODOXORTHODOXORTHODOXORTHODOX HAWAIIHAWAIIHAWAIIHAWAII��������

Holy Theotokos of Iveron

Russian Orthodox Church

845 Queen Street #101

Honolulu, Hawaii 96813

Priest Anatole Lyovin, Rector

(808) 947-9093

2

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ!

Another Great Lent will soon begin for us even though this year our Paskha is very late and will come only in the beginning of May.

I find it most touching that the Church lets us hear the trium-phant Paschal hymns just as the Great Lent begins — these hymns are intended for those of us who will depart from this life before the services of Easter Sunday, but all of us who hear them are reminded thereby that eventually we, too, shall one day depart from this earth and that one day there will come the last Paskha that we shall be celebrating on this earth with our fellow parish-ioners. As I listen to these hymns this year I shall remember John Belt, our starosta, who departed this life last fall. May his mem-ory be eternal!

Please keep in mind that abstaining from meat, dairy products, and eggs is not all that ‘fasting’ is all about. We should also be abstaining from worldly ‘entertainment’ especially the kind that in-cludes violence and sex for our ‘amusement’. And , in addition, we must remember that we are called not only to abstain from something but to act positively in order to improve our spiritual state by performing acts of charity, by reading spiritually uplifting literature, by learning about the lives of saints, the ‘heroes’ of the Church, and by improving our prayer life.

Right now, and until March 23, there is a photo exhibit in the Hamilton Library at UH Manoa which focuses on the White Rose movement which was formed in 1942 by a group of students at the University of Munich which became known for its leaflet and graffiti campaign denouncing the Nazi regime and calling for active opposition to Hitler and his government.

Alas, in 1943 the six most recognizable members of this group were arrested by the Gestapo and beheaded as ’traitors’. One of these, a medical student Alexander Schmorell, was an Orthodox Christian who was born in Russia in the town of Orenburg (where our own Marina Lee is from) and who was basically brought up by his Russian nanny who came together with the Schmorell family when the family left Russia as the Reds took over that country.

The organizers of the exhibition did not know that Alexander Schmorell was proclaimed a holy martyr of the Russian Orthodox Church in February 2012. (He is commemorated on the same day as Blessed Xenia of Saint Petersburg. February 6, according to the Gregorian calendar.) He was only 23 years of age when his life was so cruelly ended, but if you read his farewell letter to his sis-ter you will be surprised how spiritually mature this young man was! So, do not wait too long, go to see this exhibit and be inspired and uplifted by his example!

Now as for the acts of charity, Rita (Hermione) Madden has done some research about what we can do for our wider community and will be posting various tasks and jobs on our bulletin board for which you may sign up. (For example, volunteers are needed to prepare and serve food to the

Message from the Rector

Holy Martyr Alexander (Schmorell)

3

homeless and destitute. So, as the Lent begins, keep your eye on our bulletin board. I may join you also if only as a dishwasher. Matushka Emiko will vouch for me that I do a good job!)

Some time just before Paskha we shall need volunteers to do a thorough clean up of our church. This, too, will be announced as the time approaches.

As for spiritually uplifting literature to read, we have plenty of it in both English and Russian. If you haven’t already done so, I recommend that you read the immensely popular book Everyday

Saints –we have a copy of that in our little library. Also, we have a number of DVD’s both in Rus-sian and English on various religious themes; just ask me if you want to borrow them.

May the Lord give us strength and determination to uplift our lives during this Great Lent! re-member that we are ALL called to struggle against sin and to help each other in this struggle in-stead of judging them and comparing ourselves to them. As someone said, ‘Don’t compare your-self to other Christians. Compare yourself to Christ. He is the one you are following!’

Priest Anatole, Rector

A Request from Our Starosta

Aloha brothers and sisters in Christ. The parish and specifically its council needs your help. We are in the

process of creating the parish’s first ever formal budget. We are very excited about furthering our mission and growing the true faith here in Hawai’i. In order for us to

responsibly prepare for the upcoming year(s) we need to be sure that we are able to keep our doors open to con-tinue sharing the treasures of the Orthodox faith with everyone. Parish council has been actively seeking many

things (additional parking, a building of our own, etc.) that require us to make sure we have the funds to sustain them.

Currently, our total monthly pledges amount to $2,086. However, our rent alone is $3,031.62; this leaves us with

a DEFICIT of nearly $1,000/month even before we factor in other expenses such as the priest’s salary, insurance, utilities, mandated donations to the diocese, etc. We are

humbly asking that each and every one of you complete and return a pledge

form. Please only pledge what is realistic for your situation. Every little bit is truly helpful. For "Every man shall give as he is able, according to the blessing of the LORD thy God which He hath given thee” (Deuteronomy 16:17). Please fill out the form —

copies are available on the table below the candle box — even if your finances do not allow you to pledge anything at all. We still need to know that everyone has at least considered the possibility of pledging even a small amount.

4

If you have any questions or concerns please do not hesitate to speak with Father Anatole or any member of the parish council. Thank you for your assistance with

helping the parish progress. “So let each one give as he purposes in his heart, not grudgingly or of necessity; for God loves a cheerful giver” (2 Corinthians 9:7)

In Christ’s love,

Herman (Todd) Madden, starosta

Announcements

� Sunday of the Prodigal Son, March 3: On Sunday, March 3, His Grace Bishop Maxim and Fr Blashko of the Serbian Orthodox Church will again celebrate the divine liturgy in our church. After the service the refreshments will be provided in our trapeza by the Serbian community of Honolulu.

� Spring Clergy Conference: This year the Spring Clergy Conference and Retreat will take place in San Francisco beginning on Monday, April 1 and ending on Wednesday, April 3. Normally, Fr Anatole would leave for San Francisco after the liturgy on the preceding Sunday and be back well before the following Sunday, but this year the organizers of the conference did not take into ac-count that the immediately preceding Sunday happens to be the Western Paskha and that airlines would jack up their prices by about 80%. In order to avoid paying an exorbitant price for the air-line ticket, Fr Anatole will leave Honolulu on Wednesday, March 27 and return on Thursday, April 4. Although this itinerary costs less and allows Fr Anatole to visit his relatives in California before the conference, the unavoidable consequence will be that he will not be able to serve the liturgy on Sunday, March 31, the Sunday of Gregory Palamas.

Since other priests from the Western Diocese will also be attending the clergy conference in San Francisco we cannot invite anyone to replace Fr Anatole for that Sunday’s service. However, Fr John Kuehnle of the Greek church is kindly inviting all our parishioners to come to Sunday’s ser-vices at his church on that day. Another possibility is that Very Rev. Fr Jerome Cwiklinski, the newly arrived military chaplain — see the last announcement in this section of the Bulletin— will be able to serve the liturgy in our own church on that day. More announcements about that will be made as the time approaches.

� Father Anatole’s vacation: Although Fr Anatole has not yet received Archbishop Kyrill’s blessing for this, he and matushka Emiko have already more or less made their plans for their vacation this year. They will leave Honolulu on May 26 after the Sunday liturgy and will be back on Monday, June 10. (Fr Anatole and matushka will be attending Fr Anatole’s 50th class reunion in Princeton University and then visiting relatives in Toronto, Canada, where he grew up.)

Several clergy have already expressed some interest in replacing Fr Anatole during his absence but so far nothing has been set up. As soon as something is set up, you will be notified.

� Sunday of Orthodoxy, March 24: As last year, we are all invited to the SS Constantine & Helen Greek Orthodox Church for the Sunday evening’s Great Vespers at 6:30 p.m. After the

5

service, in which Fr Anatole will participate, there will be a short program and some Lenten re-freshments will be served.

All our parishioners are also invited to attend the Presanctified Liturgies at the Greek church on Wednesday, March 27, and Wednesday, April 3, at 6 p.m., when Fr Anatole will be gone to the clergy conference. Reader Nectarios informs us that he is willing to organize lay services should such become necessary.

� Lectures and discussions: On Tuesday evening, February 19, Fr Anatole tried to organize a regular schedule of talks, lectures, discussions and study groups, but only one interested person showed up — our starosta, Todd Madden. Accordingly, it became clear that at this time people are either too busy or not that interested. We shall try again to set up something just before Sep-tember. In the meantime, we can point out that the Greek church offers a course entitled Ortho-

doxy 101, which meets in the Greek church on the first and third Thursdays of each month at 6:30 p.m. (That course is given in English, and Fr John Kuehnle has kindly invited all those of our pa-rishioners to attend. This course also begins anew in September, and Fr Anatole has copies of the course outline for all those who may be interested.)

Here is a short list of some of the activities that Fr Anatole was going to propose:

• A fairly brief overview (at most three sessions) in both Russian and English of the Divine Liturgy using our newly available liturgy booklets in the two languages.

• A survey of Russian literature written by Russian Ortho-dox believers like Alexander Solzhenitsyn, Gogol, et al. Be-sides outright lectures we could read together some of these works and have discussions about them. (Most of these works are available here in both Russian and English.)

• Ad hoc mini courses on such things as preparation for adult baptism, preparation for weddings in the church, the Or-thodox view of the many Protestant sects, etc. These can be set up as the need for them arises. � Our seminarian John Adrian Martin: Congratulations to our seminarian, John Adrian Martin, who recently has been tonsured as a reader in Jordanville. This is the first step in becoming an ordained clergyman. The next step is ordination

as a subdeacon. John still has a couple of years to go before graduation and ordination, but per-haps he will some day soon be able to replace aging Fr Anatole as the rector. He will be the first Orthodox priest of Hawaiian extraction once he is ordained and we wish him well.

6

� New Military Chaplain: On Sat-urday, March 23, our church was visited by Very Rev. Fr Jerome Cwiklinski who has recently been assigned as a military chaplain to Hawaii. He is an OCA priest previ-ously based in California, and his matushka and children did not join him here. We very much hope that he will be willing to serve in our church when he has no other duties elsewhere, so please welcome him with aloha to our humble but amply blessed little parish.

From the Rector’s Bookshelf

As the Great Lent is about to begin we should start planning what kind of books we should read and what kinds of movies we should be seeing which would be good for our souls rather than depending on secular entertainment media to provide something suit-able. When in doubt, do not hesitate to ask someone to recommend a book, a film, or a drama that may inspire you to greater spiritual growth. Here I shall recommend only two books, but there are many more that are available in our small church library or for purchase.

The first is the recent runaway best seller written by Archimandrite Tikhon (Shevkunov) of the Sretensky Monastery in Moscow. There is now an English transla-tion entitled, Everyday Saints and Other Stories, a copy of which we have in our church library. Everyone who has read it has nothing but praise for it for it is a deeply inspiring book with its stories about the martyric struggles by many clergymen, monas-tics and lay people to preserve their Orthodox faith in the face of aggressively atheistic government which tried by all means to destroy religion in the Soviet Union for over sev-enty years. However, it is not only inspiring — it is often very amusing and entertaining as well since it has stories about Communist Party officials acquiring faith in God sim-ply through questioning the validity the nonsensical anti-religious propaganda with which they had been brainwashed.

One of my favorite stories is that of a simple Russian Orthodox monk forcing the KGB official in charge of religious matters in the region to recite aloud — in front of Soviet tourist witnesses no less — the Nicene Creed in order to be admitted into the monas-tery.

7

The other book that I highly would recommend is perhaps not so spiritually edifying as highly informative. It is called Orthodoxy and Heterodoxy: Exploring Belief Sys-

tems Through the Lens of the Ancient Christian Faith. It s author is the Rev. Fr An-drew Stephen Damick, a priest of the Antio-chian Orthodox Church in Emmaus, Pennsyl-vania. He lectures widely on Orthodox evangel-ism, ecology, comparative theology and local-ism. In addition, he is a founding member and one of the associate directors of the Society for Orthodox Christian History in the Americas.

Basically, this work is a well written overview of the history of the Christian Church —something that all of us, both clergy and lay-men should be thoroughly familiar with. Oth-erwise, how can we talk to our heterodox breth-ren, to the seekers who come to find out more about our church, and to various sectarians who want to convert us to their views? Lest you be frightened off by thinking that this is a highly scholarly work with many footnotes in ancient languages, let me assure you that it is a very clearly written explanation using simple language.

Before we challenge those who knock on our doors and try to convince us that we are here-

tics, idolaters and worse, we should be well informed about the origins and the basic ideas of the various Protestant groups that are actively proselytizing in the United States. We should be especially aware of those groups that have gone so far as to change the text of the New Testament in order to justify their differences from the more conservative Christian denominations. (This is what apparently happened in the case of the Mormon Church and the Jehovah’s Witnesses.)

Below, we shall quote from this book a short excerpt dealing with the Orthodox view of the various so-called ‘Revivalist’ Protestant denominations:

‘Some groups of Pentecostals will go so far as to claim that if a believer does not speak in tongues, he is not really “saved.” The first time a person speaks in tongues may be called a “baptism of the Holy Spirit,” which is considered separate from and more crucial than water bap-tism.

Such supposedly miraculous happenings are often manifested by people being overcome with

emotion, perhaps knocked to the ground, jumping up and down, running in circles around the church, and even in some cases, barking, growling, and making other animal sounds. To those inex-perienced in Pentecostal forms of religion, such people may appear to be having seizures or to be possessed.

8

The Orthodox have never put a strong condemnation on the practice of speaking in tongues, but at least one Orthodox saint, John Chrysostom, said that such things were no longer needed, be-cause the Church had come fully into the world. Even then, many Orthodox do not regard modern Pentecostalism as exhibiting what happened on Pentecost itself, which was sober and focused on preaching the Gospel to other people in their own languages. The Scriptures say to “test” the spirits (1 John 4:1), but most of what happens in Pentecostal congregations is accepted as being from the Holy Spirit without any stable process of discernment. One twentieth-century Orthodox writer who studied the modern charismatic phenomenon in some detail in the early 1970s, Fr Seraphim Rose, said there was certainly a supernatural spirit involved in the Pentecostal movement, but it was not the Holy Spirit (in his Orthodoxy and the Religion of the Future).

This strong emphasis on the Holy Spirit, sometimes to the detriment of the Father and the Son,

may be understood as a reaction against the dryness of much of Western theology, born out of the acceptance in the West of the Filioque clause added to the Creed by the Roman Catholic Church, which makes the Holy Spirit subordinate to the Father and the Son. It is a theological backlash against academic theology and rationalism.

Even if a particular Revivalist congregation does not practice these so- called “gifts of the Spirit,” there is often still an anti-intellectualist streak in its religious culture. Especially in many rural congregations, if the preacher never went to any seminary or even to college, it is to his credit, be-cause such things just confuse you and rob you of true faith. As we saw earlier, this is the natural fruit of Pietism with its insistence on personal spiritual experience rather than on adherence to doc-trine. This anti-intellectualism fits in well with a denial of the importance of history for Christian life, as well as bolstering the doctrine of sola scriptura, where it’s just “me and my Bible,” without any interference from snobbish academics or authoritarian figures.

Besides Pentecostalism, the desire for personal experience coupled with individualism has

birthed another strain in Revivalist religion, the shift toward making Christianity into a self-help program. This approach is particularly seen in many modern mega-churches, which try to appeal to "seekers,” giving them whatever they might want to bring them through the door. This kind of reli-gion, shaped not by Holy Tradition but by Madison Avenue, offers dozens of carefully tailored programs to meet the “needs” of individual believers.

Being consumer-oriented and consumer-driven, Christianity as self-help appeals to the selfish-ness of believers and caters to the cafeteria mentality of most American Christians. Instead of the Church transforming them, they are defining and transforming their churches, such that many of them appear not as houses of worship but as theatres, coffeehouses, and shopping malls. In this consumerist Christianity, Christ is there to “help” me with what I want. He is not there so that I may enter into His crucifixion and die and rise with Him, being transfigured into His likeness and becoming a partaker of the divine nature.

This kind of religion, which is focused on self-fulfillment rather than repentance, has also been successfully removed from the explicitly religious context and remarketed with great success. Per-haps the most successful example of this kind of religion is the spirituality offered by people like

9

Oprah Winfrey, but what she offers is almost indistinguishable from what is sold by many televangelists and other mega-church pastors like Joel Osteen and Rick Warren, whose books are bestsellers and whose churches are packed with hordes of people looking to “feel better.”

Another offspring of this breed of spirituality which is often crossbred with the others is called the prosperity gospel, or sometimes the “health and wealth gospel.” This teaching has its origin in a strain of Calvinism that linked earthly prosperity with faith. For those Calvin-ists, a sign that you were among God’s "elect” was that you enjoyed success in the earthly life. For prosperity gospel preachers, earthly success is directly linked to how much “faith” you have, which is often demonstrated by sending in donations to their ministry. The ostentatious and luxurious lives of such preachers are put forth as “proof” of their great faith.

Yet Christ’s instruction to His Apostles and the witness of the saints is that those with true faith are often persecuted, poor, and hated by the world. For Orthodoxy, true faith is not measured by any of these things, certainly not by earthly riches. It also has nothing to do with

being able to perform signs and wonders. True faith is a life of repentance of sins and participation in the grace-giving sacraments of the Church. True faith is humble, never making a show of any-thing, especially not miracles. When Jesus performed miracles, He used no emotionally manipulat-ive music or over-anxious preaching. Indeed, He often sent everyone out of the room, and then after He was done told those He had healed not to spread the news to anyone.

Orthodoxy is marked by sobriety, not by emotional enthusiasm. It is also marked by a quite “ordinary” persistence in living the humble, consistent life of Christ, not by seeking out extraordi-nary experiences, especially supernatural ones. To the true believer, those experiences sometimes do come, but they are rare, and the example of the saints is that they are often suspicious of them. It is better accidentally to reject an angel by being overly vigilant than to embrace a demon through undiscerning enthusiasm.’

(The above quote is from Orthodoxy and Heterodoxy, pp118-120.)

10

Lenten Meditations

True love is like a flame of a candle. However many times you light from the flame, the initial flame remains unaffected; it doesn’t lessen at

all. And every freshly lit candle has as much flame as the others do.

-Elder Epiphanios

The more a person loves God, the more he loves other people. He loves them with holiness, respect and refinement, as images of God.

-Elder Amphilochios Makris

The man who cries out against evil men, but never prays for them will never know the grace of God.

-St Silouan the Athonite

Only struggle a little more. Carry your cross without complaining.

Don’t think you are anything special. Don’t justify your sins and weak-nesses, but see yourself as you really are. And especially, love one an-

other.

-Father Seraphim Rose of Platina

11

Oáúÿâëåíèÿ

� ������� ���� � ���� �: ��� �������� � (� ����) ���� �� �� ������ �� �, ��� �� � �������� ��� �� � �� �������!� ������ � ��������� � ��� ��� " ������ "� , ������ #�$�����". &�� �� ��� �� �� � ���� � � � �, ��� ����� � �� � �������� ��� � ���" ���' �� ( �����? * �� � ���, ��� ��� ( �����'" ��� � ����� ��! ��������� +, � �� ���� $� — � ��'" +, � � ������� ��� " ( ���� — � ( �������� ��� �� �� �� �����, �� ����, ����� �� ��������" �� �� �� ������'����.

*� ��� ���, ������ �� �� ��� ����! $�������� ����� ����� �� ��������� ��� ��� ��, � �'����, ��� � ��� +� � +�����" .�(�� � ���� $��. Правда, к нам приходят пожертвования не только от прихожан, но мы не можем расчитывать на них как на ежемесячные пожертвования от наших прихожан. Поэтому, не стесняйтесь, даже если вы нам скажете, что не в состоянии обещать ни одного доллара, мы об этом не будем распростроняться, и не будем просить больше. Это нам даст знать, что вы не просто случайно забыли о нашей просьбе.

� ������� ��� , ������ �� �����������: /���� �������� 0 ����" &���. & � ������, � ����� � �� 17 �����, ���� �����!�'��' ����� �� ��+���,��! �������� ���� ���(� � +������! 4��!

& ��� ����� � �� 0 ����$� &���� — �� ���� &���������!. 0 ���� �� ���$� ��! ��� ��� ���+�, � � ��, �� �� � ��$��� ����������'�� �+������. ��� ���$����� �� ����, ��� +� $� � ���" ��!� ����, �� ( 5���� 6,�� , � ������ $� � ���" ( ���� � ��������. 0 ����! 0 � ��! ��������! � 6:30 � � �� (� $� � ���" ( ����), � ���� ���� ����" ��� +' +� � �����'" � �� � ��������. &��� � ��� +� � ��� ����! ���$����� �� � ��$�����, � ��. (&��� ��� � � � �� +� � �� ��� ������ ��� +� � ������� .����.)

� ����� ������: 6 ��� � ��� ��� ��� ���'" �� ��'" ��� ���, ������ � " * ��� ;���������", �����'" ���+� � ����� $�� �� �� ���" +�� � �� � ��������. <� � ��$������! ����� ��� � ��� " ( ����, ��$� � +� � �� �� ��$�� �+!������ " �� �� ��'� +����, � �� � +'�� �� ��� � ��� ���� ��(� =������!, ��$� ���� ��" +� � � ���> � . (������ �, � ����� � �� , 30 �����, �� ( =������" +� � � 6���.����� �� �> � ���� ����� � � ��� � ��� ��� �

������� ������

12

��� �� �����$�, � ��� " ( ����.) <+ ���� +� � �+>!�� �� � ������ +��� �.

� ��� ���� � «����� ����» � �������! "������ � �: � � (�� $ � ������ ����������� � $. /�� ?���(���� �������� �� ����"� �'������ � �� ��� «A ��! B���», ������ ���������!���� ���� �� � $� ��(������" +�� � $��� �,�� � � 1943- � $��. A�����! ����� ���������� ���$� �� ��! +'�� ��� ��' � ���. ����� �,�� ����$� ���� ���� ��. <��� �� ��$���������� ���$� �� ��! +'� =� ����� G��� ��, ��� �� � �(��', � � ( ������"�! � <� �+��$ � ���+��� $����!��" ��-������ �.�. $� �'������� $� ������! �!�!, ������! �� �� � � �� " G��� �! �' ���� �� B����� � � �����, ���� $�� �����" ��"�'. 6 ���� �� +'� � ��,��� ����������'� ������������ � �� �� �,+�� *���� ����$�.

4�', � ����� ��"���� ����� �� � ���������� ���$� �� ��!, � �� � �� ����+��� $����' ��� ��� ������. =� ������ G��� �, ��$� +'�� ������ 23 $��. /���������� $� �� �� ���$�� ���' ���� �� ������ ����� ���� �!� � � ��� , � �����'� �� ����� ��! �� �� ���� � �, ��� �� �� � ���� �����!�� �� ����� � ��������� ��� ��� ��� �� I�����, ���� ���������! ;������! � + ���$�, � ������� ����� � � +! ��������'� � ���� � � +�����! �� ���.

G ���$� . ����! 2012 $��, � � � (��� $��� �,�� � �����!���� �������� �� ��!��$� ������� ���� =� ������ G��� �! � ������ � � �������� ����������'� ���� � �. �� .���$��.�� ������ � " ������" =������ �

13

� ������'" ��!� ���� �'���!� ����� ������� ���� =� ������ �� �����! �! � ������!.

<�$��������' ���" �'������ � �����, ��� � ������� $��, � ����� . ����!, B�����! &����������! ; ����� #���+ �� ������ � ���� ��!�'� ��� ����� =� ������ G��� �!, � ��� � ����'� � ���� ������ � ��' ��� +' � �����'� ��������! ��! ���� ���'" ��!��". <� ( =������", ���! �+ ����, ���+��� ��� �,��� ���" �'������, � ��� ����� ��� ������� ���' ��������' ���,��! � ����� ��!��$� ������� ���� =� ������.

0'������ ���+� � � ������������" +�+���� � ����"���$� 4��� ���� �� � 23-$� �����. � ������� ���� ������� �� �� ��� �'������!

� Во вторник вечером, 19-го февраля, отец Анатолий предложил всем, кто желает посещать какие ни будь лекции или дискуссии, прийти в церковь и договориться с ним о том, что будет наиболее интерсно для наших прихожан. К сожалению, на его приглашение отозвался лишь один единственный человек —наш староста. Это значит, что наши люди слишком заняты своими делами или не очень интересуются лекциями.

Для англоязычных, которые интересуются историей нашей Церкви или вообще Православием два раза в месяц по четвергам есть лекции в греческой церкви на Луналило Стрите, и греческий священник приглашает всех, кто хотел бы прийти на его лекции. К сожалению, он не умеет говорить по-русски, и его лекции только по-английски. Настоящее начало этого курса в сентябре месяце. (У отца Анатолия есть конспект этого курса и он вам может показать его, если вы интересуетесь.)

Ещё один возможный вариант — это кратковременные курсы о литургии поскольку у нас теперь есть брошурки о литургии и на русском и на английском языках, или же кратковременыые курсы для тех, кто приготовляется быть крещенным или венчаным в нашем приходе. Конечно, эти курсы состоятся только если на них будет спрос. А покамест, никаких собраний и курсов в нашей церкви не предвидится.

� Во время Великого Поста верующим христианам полагается не только поститься, но и делать добрые дела. Наша прихожанка Рита Мадэн, жена нашего старосты, узнала, где есть нужда в помощи бездомным или вообще бедным людям. Например, нужна помощь стряпать еду и кормить бездомных в разных благотворительных учреждениях. Когда начнется пост она нам даст нужные детали о том, где, когда, и в чём особая нуждя, и мы сможем группами пойти делать, что нужно. Отец Анатолий может быть тоже с вами пойдёт хотя бы мыть посуду. (Матушка Эмико может вам отрекомендовать его как хорошего «посудомоя».)

Великопостные душеполезныя чтения

Есть старое присловье о том, что никто не может отвернуться от греха, от

старой неправды, если не увидит в глазах или на лице хоть одного человека

14

За веру его избивали камнями, и свидетели говорили, что его лицо просияло, как солнце: радостью, верой - да; но еще и чем-то иным: сиянием вечной жизни.

Я не раз ставил себе вопрос: что бы это могло быть? Каким образом лицо человека может просиять?.. Мы все знаем, как человек просиявает радостью, когда он полюбит кого-нибудь, его лицо делается совершенно иным, когда он встретит любимого человека, в его глазах свет. Но я думал о чем-то другом. Мне казалось, что должно быть что-то иное, более властное, более сильное, что могло поразить людей, встречающих христиан.

И раз в жизни я столкнулся с этим с такой ясностью, с такой силой, что никогда не смог этого забыть. Мне тогда было 17 лет. Я пришел в церковь, где никогда раньше не бывал. Она находилась тогда в подвальном помещении, я ее долго искал и опоздал. Служба отошла, люди уже уходили. Одним из последних поднимался по лестнице из бывшего подземного гаража, где тогда ютилась наша церковь, широкоплечий священник высокого роста; и когда я взглянул ему в лицо, я обомлел: я никогда до того не встречал такой абсолютной внутренней собранности и такого света. На его лице не было улыбки, - он меня тогда не видел, не было экстаза, восторга. Была только глубочайшая собранность, и что-то из него сияло: не вещественный свет, а какое-то внутреннее сияние. Я помню, как я тогда к нему подошел и сказал: я не знаю, кто вы, но хочу вас просить быть моим духовным отцом... И затем, в течении одиннадцати лет, до его смерти, он был моим духовником.

Я думаю, что нечто в этом роде происходило с язычниками, когда они встречали христиан, людей, которые стали собранными, все силы которых нашли свое средотоие, которые стали цельными, то есть были исцелены, исцелились. И вот эта цельность, эта собранность, которая собирала все силы ума, воли, сердца, все, что в человеке было, в одну точку, откуда они могли действовать, несомненно доходила до сознания язычников, потому что они видели в христианах людей другого рода.

И действительно, христиане должны быть людьми другого рода. Наша родина - Царство Божие. На земле мы находимся как Божии посланники, жизнь наша, как говорит апостол Павел, со Христом сокрыта в Боге, мы всецело должны быть погружены в тайну общения с Живым Богом, Который является и Создателем нашим, и Спасителем нашим, и любовью нашей, и исцелением нашим, и радостью нашей, и цельностью нашей.

Вот что, верно, люди видели в христианах. И это их озадачивало, они ставили себе, а затем и им, вопрос: откуда у вас это? Что вы собой представляете? Почему в вас радость, когда во-круг все так темно? Почему вы

15

.

бесстрашны, когда вокруг все так страшно? Почему вы живе-те чистой жизнью, когда так легко жить грязной жизнью, когда мы разбиты, когда ум и сердце, и воля и плоть рвутся в разные стороны и раз-рывают нашу цельность, - в чем дело? Почему, когда вы приходите, делается вдруг мирно тихо? Каким это образом?.. И христиане, вероятно, могли бы ответить так же, как я вам сейчас отвечу, примером. Как-то пришли ко мне два человека. Они были во вражде и искали случая друг другу все высказать, что только могли, вылить весь свой гнев, вылить весь яд, который накопился в их душах, и решили это сделать в моем присутствии, в надежде, что я не дам одному перебивать другого, что они все смогут сказать, всю ненависть вылить. Они начали говорить. Я слушал и чув-ствовал, что никакими силами я не смогу их убедить в том, что вражда разрушает их самих, что единственное спасение для каждое из них - примирение с другим. Меня охватило тогда почти отчаяние (я был молодым священником, это было больше 35-и лет назад). И вдруг мне пришла мысль, что Христос в Евангелии приказал ветру и волнам в буре притихнуть, и они умолкли и притихли. И я тогда обратился ко Христу: Господи, я ничего не могу сделать - Ты прийди и произнеси слово мира, а я буду с Тобой, я буду молиться так, чтобы Ты мог быть среди нас и мог совершить чудо... Помню, я сидел и говорил: Господи! Будь с нами, дай Твой мир нам, мир, который ничто на земле не может дать... И вдруг я заметил, что спор начал утихать, что горькие слова перестали ранить другого, и что в какой-то момент оба человека начали говорить о том, что - не пора ли примириться, не пора ли из безумия вернуться к чему- то более разумному.

Вот тот мир, который христиане, верно, вносили, куда бы они ни пришли, путем своего бесстрашия, внутренней тишины, любви, - вот чего никто у нас не может отнять. И для этого не надо ходить и говорить: Я Я Я Я христианин! - для этого надо быть быть быть быть христианином. И каждый из нас может этого добиваться, а силой Божией этого и достигнуть, потому что, как говорит апостол Павел, сила Божия в немощи совершается, как ветер может заполнить собой парус и пронести через буйное море самый тяжелый корабль. И еще в другом месте он говорит: все мне возможно в укрепляющем меня Господе Иисусе Христе. Но начать надо изнутри, не заботясь ни о чем внешнем.

(Митрополит Антоний Сурожский, Беседы о молитвеБеседы о молитвеБеседы о молитвеБеседы о молитве. Эта книга есть в нашей церковной библиотеке.)

16

Holy Theotokos of Iveron Russian Orthodox Church

c/o Rev. Anatole Lyovin

500 University Ave., #310

Honolulu, HI 96826-4903

E-mail: lyovin@hawaii.edu

Forwarding Service Requested

Если мы являемся духовными родителями—восприемниками от купели при Таинстве крещения, то есть являемся крестными отцами и матерями,—выполняем ли мы свои обязаности восприемников или только стали кумовьями с родителями для улучшения приятельских отношений? Помогаем ли родителям воспитывать детей, крещенных нами, в вере и благочестии?

Мы же у купели отреклись за них от сатаны и всех дел его. Мы не должны забывать об этом, и если обстоятельства не позволяют принимать непосредственного участия в воспитании крестников, то обязаны молиться за них, как должно. И если они выростают хулителями Бога или просто неверующими людьми, то мы, нерадивые христиане и восприемники, в этом виноваты не меньше самих родителей по плоти.

До могилы есть еще надежда на исправление. Может быть, если сегодня Господь простит наше прежнее нерадение и мы будем впредь молиться со всем усердием и верой за своих крестников, мы еще вымолим их для блаженной вечности.

Архимандрит Иоанн (Крестьянкин), Опыт построения

исповеди. (И эта книга есть в нашей церковной библиотеке.)