When we help someone, we are helping God Himself

"Church and World". About single women

Good afternoon, dear visitors to our Orthodox site “Family and Faith”!

The video below is intended more for our visitors than for visitors. But men can also gain a lot of educational information from this TV show.

The theme of the television program “Church and the World,” hosted by Metropolitan Hilarion, today is devoted to the problem of single women. This is a very big problem, since the majority of churches are women, they all want believing husbands, and therefore they are not looking for them on the side. As a result, the church stands on the shoulders of single women.

Let's see what Metropolitan Hilarion (Alfeev), who has been invested with the rank of bishop, will tell us and advise us. Grant you, our dear visitors, Lord, good Orthodox and loving husbands!

O observer Ivan Semenov. Vladyka, we received a letter (and we receive quite a few such letters) from Nadezhda from Moscow. She writes: “How can I find out God’s plan for me and my life? What does the Lord want from me? I am 34 years old and I have been praying for several years that the Lord would send me a life partner. But this doesn't happen. I believe God, but I don’t understand, maybe I’m going to have a monastic path instead of a married one? Is there an elder now who could explain to me God’s plan for me?” These are the questions we receive from the best, most beautiful and, I would say, probably more than half of our viewers. And let's try to answer these questions.

Metropolitan Hilarion. Firstly, there is no more than half. Half is always half. Secondly, there is no universal answer to this question, but there are some things that could be said here.

Firstly, no elder can decide a person’s fate for the person himself. No elder can tell you whether to marry or become a monk. Or marry this or that person. This is a matter of individual choice. Not every person gets to meet their other half. But you should never despair and you should never stop praying about it.

Next point. You shouldn’t think that if you couldn’t get married, that means you have to become a monk. There is no such alternative for humans. To be a monk or nun requires a special calling. And you cannot become a monk or nun just because your family life has failed. This requires much more serious reasons and much more serious internal motivation. First of all, a person must have an inner feeling that he is destined for a lonely life. But our TV viewer does not have this feeling.

And it must also be said that some of our parishioners live in their own closed world. And some, for example, think that the Church generally prohibits dating men. I don’t mean any sinful relationships, but simply meeting for communication. Or that the Church forbids dressing beautifully, or that the Church forbids smiling. These are false ideas. In fact, the Church does not forbid a person to be beautiful, joyful, to enjoy those blessings of life that are not sinful. And in this regard, I think that every person should look for his other half, if he wants it, and never despair.

O observer Ivan Semenov. Well, you say that a person should go into monasticism if he feels destined for a lonely life. But what is the situation with many Orthodox women: they do not feel destined, but in fact they live this lonely life. It turns out this is the separation of actual life and the inner feeling of one’s purpose.

Metropolitan Hilarion. Unfortunately, our actual life does not always correspond to our inner feelings. And if such a situation arises as a result of circumstances that we are unable to overcome, then we should perceive it as a cross. Like the everyday situation that God has entrusted to us, and which we must bear with patience and humility. But again, even without being a family man, you can still have many of the joys of family life. For example, a woman who does not have children, she can adopt a child, and thereby create, albeit not a complete, but a family, and be happy herself and give happiness to another person.

O observer Ivan Semenov. We have an example of such a woman who agreed to tell us about her fate. An Orthodox Christian who lives neither a monastic life nor a married one, who has come to terms with her loneliness in this world. But at the same time, she manages to live an extremely fulfilling and successful, I would say, Christian life. Let's show our viewers this story.

Tatiana Sveshnikova. I try to go to every service there is. And if they give me a watch to read, that’s also a great joy. And I clean up after every service and before every service. Well, at least a little. And besides this, I visit nursing homes. And I also go to the homeless at the station in the evenings. And if the homeless have any problems, I solve them during the day. And I also feed five women who have AIDS, hepatitis, and small children. Now there are eight of these children, soon there will be ten. Well, I also go to a psychiatric boarding school. It's actually a pleasure to be in a psychiatric boarding school. There are such wonderful women there. I go to them when I’m probably completely tired of everyone. If you take a baby for yourself, so that I feel good, so that I feel like a mother, then it seems to me that it may not turn out very well. But if you take it because a child needs help, every child needs a mother, then everything will work out fine. In total, I had 11 children, and many considered me a mother. The girls, my daughters, have all grown up.

I sometimes crave solitude. Sometimes I say: “That’s it, I can’t, I don’t want to, let me be alone. But it never succeeds, neither day nor night. I don't know what it's like to be alone. No, I don't refuse to get married. I just don't want to get married in the abstract. There are girls who say, “I just want to get married.” I just don't want to. If I met a person and fell in love with him, I would probably want to marry him. This happened once, but it didn’t work out. But in the abstract, I don’t want to get married. It’s just that my life is actually full of some continuous joys. Therefore, there is nothing to be particularly offended by. You need to thank God. Father John Krestyankin once wrote me a letter. He wrote: “Tanya, thank God, because His mercy towards you is obvious.” And in fact, I see this mercy all the time. I never forget. Well, everything is really good.

Metropolitan Hilarion. Here you see a clear example of how an unmarried woman was able to realize her feminine and maternal potential. And here there are a lot of opportunities for a person, there are a lot of opportunities for a woman. Including, of course, creative opportunities. They can also be realized, sometimes even more fully, by a person who does not have a family than by a person who has a family. That is, if a person wanted to start a family, but he did not succeed, then he must adapt to this situation, he must perceive it as the will of God, and he must do everything to ensure that your life is fulfilled and that you can bring joy to others to people.

On the video - section >>

Relationship between faith and superstition

Head of the Synodal Department for External Church Relations, Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk in the program “Church and the World”. The issue is dedicated to the topic “Relationships between faith and superstition.” A material was prepared based on the results of a sociological survey: “What our compatriots believe and how they believe.”

TV channel “Russia-24”.

Video transcript

Hello, dear brothers and sisters, you are watching the program “Church and the World”. Columnist Ioann Semyonov helps me run it.

Hello. Send your questions to Metropolitan Hilarion to the website of our program “vera.vesti.ru”. Vladyka, we have accumulated many questions that can be united under one big topic: the relationship between faith and superstition. And I want to start this program by inviting you and our viewers to watch the material prepared based on the results of sociological surveys: what our compatriots believe and how they believe. Let's get a look.

According to VTsIOM, over the past 16 years, Russians have begun to visit places of worship such as temples, mosques and synagogues more often. Those who do not visit the temple have decreased by 16%. 11% of the total number of people who visit churches are non-believers; they light candles, venerate relics and icons, give alms, talk to God, and make donations to the needs of the church. At the same time, according to the Sreda service, the number of superstitious people has also increased. Thus, more than half of the respondents believe in the possibility of the evil eye and damage. Women turned out to be much more suspicious than men: 69% versus 44%. Low-income citizens believe in the possibility of the evil eye and damage, while the higher the education, the less respondents believe in the evil eye and damage. 37% of respondents listen to astrological forecasts, and 21% of respondents resorted to fortune telling. 2/3 of respondents who believe in the evil eye and corruption profess Orthodoxy and actively participate in parish life, but Orthodox Christians resort to fortune telling no more often than others.

First of all, I would like to say that faith and superstition are exactly opposite concepts. In the era of the struggle against religion, everything was very often lumped together: superstitions and various objects of faith. But in reality, who struggled most with superstitions? — First of all, the Church. After all, the Church fought against superstitions, because superstition is the opposite of the truth. That is, a person is asked to believe in something that he should not believe in. And that’s why, for example, so many people believe in damage or the evil eye, even among believers? Because even among believers, we, unfortunately, have not eliminated superstitions. And we have people who consider themselves Orthodox Christians, but at the same time they believe in the evil eye and corruption, at the same time they believe in astrological forecasts, and this Orthodoxy and superstition seem to coexist within them. I think that a person cannot be Orthodox as much as he is superstitious. That is, if a person tries to combine both, these two things are incompatible.

In general, two faiths are characteristic of Russian Orthodoxy. In Novgorod they unearth crosses, where on one side there is a cross and an icon, and on the other side a talisman. This has been the case, it turns out, for centuries?

It was, of course, characteristic of Russian people in the era of the Baptism of Rus', and in the era after the Baptism of Rus', when old superstitions continued to live out their days. But it is interesting that the modern era is a time of revival of many superstitions, and even a revival of some purely pagan rituals and beliefs. And in this sense, it is very paradoxical that in parallel with the religious revival there is also an increase in interest in various superstitions - this is a sad fact. But I think that the Church should make even more efforts to explain some very simple things to people. For example, people often ask me - just as a priest, they ask: how can a person protect himself from the evil eye and damage.

We received this question from our viewer. “Hello, lord, please tell me, can black magic act on a believer, how can it act, and how to protect yourself from it?” This is a question that our viewer sent directly to you.

This is the question from our viewer, but I receive the same questions very often from my parishioners. And the answer here is this. We do not believe that a person can be spoiled with the help of, for example, a glance - that is, that he can be jinxed; but we know that in addition to the good forces, which we call angels, there are also evil forces, which we call demons or demons. And this demonic world, this world of evil power - it invades a person’s life. But it invades only when the person himself allows it to invade his life. That is, for example, if a person wears a cross on his body, if he regularly goes to Church, if he confesses and receives communion, then this itself, that is, a kind of church way of life, is already protection from evil forces.

But if a person, for example, participates in spiritualistic seances, or if he goes to fortune-tellers, or if he goes to some healers, that is, he himself gives access to his inner world to those forces whose nature he does not know - then, indeed, he may be a victim of these dark forces. Moreover, he will suffer not from other people, but he, first of all, will suffer from his own carelessness. Why does the Church always warn people that they should not go to fortune-tellers or healers, that all this is from the evil one.

Okay, sir, but is it always possible to draw a clear line between faith and superstition? Here is a very interesting question sent to us by our viewer Nikolai. He writes: “Please tell me how powerful the miracle worker St. Nicholas is? They say that he even appears personally to some people and helps them in troubles. And here’s what’s not entirely clear: does he help his namesake better, or all people equally? I wouldn’t want to invent some kind of superstition (our viewer, who is writing us a letter, is worried about this). Recently, on a holiday in his honor, I suddenly thought: maybe I have some kind of advantage like his namesake?”

I think that there may be some advantage, because we honor the saints whose names we bear. And every person has a namesake day - at least in the Russian Orthodox Church. With us, at Baptism we receive the name of a saint, and then the day of remembrance of this saint is the day of our namesake, or in common parlance, name day. This day is also called Angel Day. And sometimes people confuse their heavenly patron saint with their Guardian Angel, and say that, for example, my Guardian Angel is St. Nicholas. In fact, we believe that each of us has a Guardian Angel, but each of us also has a heavenly patron whose name we bear. But St. Nicholas, of course, helps not only people who bear the name Nicholas, and there are thousands of testimonies that St. Nicholas helped people. I could tell many such stories, but for me personally it is enough that he helped me many times - and in a variety of circumstances.

And my personal experience, which absolutely corresponds to the experience of so many people I know, testifies that St. Nicholas, for some reason known to God, helps people in a variety of circumstances, including everyday needs, including when people are in danger: for example, they are shipwrecked. I know from my own experience: at least once, I was saved from death by St. Nicholas. When I was driving in a car, there was an inexperienced driver behind the wheel, the car drove into a strip of fog at a fairly high speed, the driver lost control, and we fell off a cliff, and the car turned over several times. And by all indications, we should have died there, because there was nothing left of the car. But Saint Nicholas miraculously saved us from death. And why it was St. Nicholas, I cannot tell you, but I know that it was him. Because at the very moment when this happened - and when such things happen to you, it’s all in a matter of seconds, you don’t even understand what’s happening - you’re driving, and suddenly some blows suddenly, everything turns over somewhere , and then you find yourself in a ravine. But at that moment I absolutely clearly knew and felt the presence of St. Nicholas, and I am absolutely convinced that it was he who then saved me and my companion from death. Of course, I can’t prove this in any way, because it wasn’t some kind of vision, or it wasn’t some kind of, say, voice, but it was a distinct feeling of his presence.

This is exactly your spiritual feeling.

Yes, such a spiritual feeling. But there were other cases. When, for example, I served in Lithuania, and I had four parishes at a distance of one hundred kilometers from one another - and the roads were country roads, there was no transport - and the only way to get from one parish to another was to go and vote, that is so that passing cars pick you up. And it happened that you were walking, a kilometer passed, a second, a third - everyone was moving and no one stopped. You start to pray to St. Nicholas - a car stops and they give you a lift. Of course, someone may say: this is a coincidence, of course, someone may start trying and it won’t work out - I don’t know.

Well, that’s it, Vladyka, you understand: if this prayerful appeal to a saint in everyday need turns into some kind of technological move for a person, and the person, perhaps, is not very churchly - well, you need to call St. Nicholas for help, he may does not know his life, and rarely comes to Church. But now he turns to St. Nicholas - isn’t this some kind of step bordering on superstition?

It depends on what purpose a person is applying for.

Now he needs to leave, he’s tried everything - at least I’ll pray to St. Nicholas...

Yes, but, for example, I do this often. If I'm late for a plane, I start praying to St. Nicholas. And I don’t remember a time when this prayer didn’t help - one way or another, it helps. Believe it or not, believe it or not. Let our TV viewers try it.

No, okay, I’m willing to believe you. It’s just that such a prayer practice is of a purely everyday nature - if a person limits himself to it, does it lead him to spiritual life as a result?

This does not lead to spiritual life; it can even turn into some kind of paganism. When, for example, books even appear: which saint helps in which matters. And, for example, they say that John the Baptist helps with headaches. And why does it help with headaches - because his head was cut off. But forgive me, these things, of course, are already superstitions that arise on religious grounds. And the Church suppresses such superstitions. On the other hand, we know that some saints have certain gifts. That is, they help in some specific situations. For example, when a person is sick, he turns to healers with prayer, let’s say - I don’t mean traditional healers, but I mean holy healers - such as, for example, the Great Martyr Panteleimon. And again, the experience of a huge number of people shows that through prayer to these saints they receive healing.

Mikhail asks you from St. Petersburg. “Please tell me, after death, the souls of relatives and friends who were on earth will see each other in heaven, is anything known about this?”

According to the teachings of the Church, after death a person meets with his family and friends who passed into the next world before him. And these family ties and bonds that are created here on earth, they are preserved there too. And this is confirmed by the experience of people who have experienced clinical death. There is a very interesting book by Hieromonk Seraphim Rose - called “The Soul after Death”. Here he compares evidence from lives, from hagiographic sources, from the works of the holy fathers, with the testimonies of people of our time who have experienced clinical death. And there are striking parallels, including this meeting of a person with his deceased relatives. It is both an experience attested in patristic writing, and it is evidenced by the experience of people who experience clinical death.

Asks Arsen from Tashkent. “How does the Church relate to the interpretation of dreams, as far as I know, the interpretation of dreams is not recognized by the Church, but on the other hand, there are specific references to this in the Old Testament?”

In the vast majority of cases, dreams are something that we should ignore, because a dream is a kind of parallel reality that somehow reflects the reality of our life. But at the same time, this is an illusory world. It is no coincidence that sometimes in a dream we begin to ask ourselves: are we dreaming or not? And sometimes in reality a person begins to think: is this what is happening to him a dream? And this borderline state between sleep and wakefulness, when a person is either asleep or awake, when he imagines or sees something - this is a very interesting state, which even scientists are studying and trying to understand the nature of this state. But there is no doubt that dreams reflect the reality of our lives, and in this sense, sometimes dreams can turn out to be prophetic. That is, a person seems to think about some things, and then in a dream he sees what will subsequently happen in reality. That is, dreams always do not coincide with reality - they coincide in some way.

Well, and finally, there are cases when the Lord Himself resorts to this method of revelation to a person, when He reveals something to a person in a dream. When people ask me in confession, or people just come and ask whether it is possible to believe dreams, I say that it is better not to believe dreams, because a prophetic dream comes to a person in the rarest of cases, and as a rule, the person himself then feels that he dreamed something special. But in most cases, dreams are still a product of our own imagination, and often a person becomes frightened by dreams, and it is especially dangerous when he begins to try to interpret his dreams, when he turns to all sorts of dream books, that is, books where certain dreams are interpreted. This is entering a very dangerous path, because this is precisely the direct path to superstition, and therefore to great spiritual danger for a person.

Our viewer Makarios asks us. “Can one person communicate directly with God, and how can one correctly understand God’s words addressed to you? Thank you".

This is precisely prayer - it is a person’s communication with God. When we pray to God, we communicate with God directly. Moreover, prayer is not a monologue, prayer is a dialogue. We turn to God, but we also receive an answer from God. This answer comes in very different forms. It may be some kind of inner conviction that we have received the answer to our question; this could be a real event in our life, when we turned in prayer and asked for something specific, and then we receive this specific thing, and it happens. And there are many different other ways for God to answer man. But the entire centuries-old experience of prayer is based precisely on man’s absolute conviction that he is not praying somewhere into the void, but that he is turning to a real being who hears him, who answers him, who helps him. This Being, this Person we call God.

Dear brothers and sisters, at the end of our program, I would like to remind you of the words from the Old Testament Book of Exodus. “Do not listen to empty rumors, do not give your hand to the wicked to be a witness of unrighteousness.” May the Lord protect you all.

All the best.

See also the site Superstition.Net on the ABC of Faith portal.

When we help someone, we are helping God Himself

On January 7, 2021, in the program “Church and the World,” aired on the Russia-24 channel on Saturdays and Sundays, the chairman of the Department for External Church Relations of the Moscow Patriarchate, Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk, answered questions from the channel’s presenter Ekaterina Gracheva.

E. Gracheva: Hello! This is the “Church and the World” program on “Russia-24”. We ask our questions to the Chairman of the Department for External Church Relations of the Moscow Patriarchate, Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk. Hello, lord!

Metropolitan Hilarion: Hello, Catherine! I congratulate all our television viewers on the occasion of the Nativity of Christ. I wish this holiday to bring joy, peace and consolation to every family and every heart. May the Incarnate God, born in Bethlehem, our Lord Jesus Christ, help us in this difficult time to overcome all the difficulties, challenges, illnesses and trials that befall us. Happy Christmas!

E. Gracheva: From the latest news: it became known that Vladimir Putin is preparing to be vaccinated against coronavirus, developed by domestic doctors. I would like to ask: do you or Patriarch Kirill have any intention of injecting yourself with the vaccine? Do you know anything about this?

Metropolitan Hilarion: As for His Holiness the Patriarch, I have no information whether he was vaccinated or not. And I got this vaccination at the end of August, when the vaccine was not even fully certified and was only being tested. I considered it necessary to do this because, although by that time I had already recovered from coronavirus, the level of antibodies in my blood was quite low, but it turned out that it was enough for me to give only one injection: after it, the level of antibodies rose, and a second injection was no longer necessary . For most people who have not had coronavirus, two shots are needed.

I still believe that the coronavirus vaccine is today the most effective remedy against the terrible pandemic that has befallen us. I believe that the faster and the more people can be vaccinated, the faster we will defeat this terrible scourge. I think that at the moment there is no alternative to the vaccines that we have. Therefore, I recommend that everyone who can and who has no contraindications get vaccinated against coronavirus.

E. Gracheva: Your Eminence, the Pope called on countries to share coronavirus vaccines with each other. Do you think, given Russia’s existing interstate relations with other countries, is such an option possible with the Sputnik V vaccine?

Metropolitan Hilarion: I believe that the exchange of vaccines is the call of the time. The political situation now is such that the world is very polarized and everything is used to increase this polarization. The vaccine was no exception. There are countries that accept the Russian vaccine, and there are countries that will not accept it, not for medical reasons, but for political reasons - this is the reality in which we live today.

It seems to me that in the current situation, interaction between countries should be closer and more tangible, because we are talking about saving people’s lives. Every day in different countries people die: in singles, tens, hundreds, and sometimes in thousands. This is a very serious challenge for all humanity. There are countries that are able to produce a vaccine for the first shot, but have difficulty producing vaccines for the second shot on a mass scale. Here, of course, it is important that countries that have other opportunities come to the aid of these countries. That is, wherever such mutually beneficial cooperation is possible, it would be welcomed, because, I repeat once again, we are talking about saving people.

E. Gracheva: Priests have been vaccinated free of charge in Moscow for two weeks now. Do you have information on how actively clergy use this right? How many people got vaccinated in the first days?

Metropolitan Hilarion: We do not yet have statistics on how many of our clergy have been vaccinated and how many have not been vaccinated, but I know of priests who, as soon as this opportunity arose, went to vaccination points and got themselves vaccinated. I think that this testifies to the responsible attitude of our clergy not only towards themselves, but towards their parishioners, because, as I have repeatedly reminded, including in our program, and when addressing priests, each clergy bears responsibility not only for his own life, but also for the lives of his parishioners. If a priest becomes infected with coronavirus or only becomes a carrier of this virus, but does not observe hygiene measures - does not wear a mask, communicates with a large number of parishioners - he can become a carrier or carrier of this virus. This is why it is very important that priests get vaccinated against coronavirus.

It is no coincidence that the state, having started mass vaccination, first provided this opportunity to doctors and teachers, then to other groups of social workers, and then it was the turn of the clergy. They all work with a large number of people, and therefore, accordingly, the degree of threat that may arise when communicating with them increases. I say this with regret, because a priest is a person who brings goodness and light to people, and the last thing I would like is for someone to be afraid of a priest. But the current situation is completely special, and every person who has a wide circle of contacts due to his profession, his calling, unfortunately, is at risk and himself poses a certain risk to the people around him. That is why it is very important for us to take responsibility for our own health and the health of others.

E. Gracheva: Just before the New Year, the Federation Council approved the law on regulating social networks. Starting from February 1, the administration of social networks must block illegal content: posts posted should not contain insults based on gender, age, race, or attitude to religion. Is this initiative useful, in your opinion? If yes, then to whom first?

Metropolitan Hilarion: I think that this initiative is very useful and important, because, unfortunately, the Internet still largely exists outside the legal framework. There are laws that are executed by all people living in real space, and if people do not comply with them, then they bear criminal and administrative liability for this. But there are people who live in virtual space, hide behind nicknames or nicknames, who believe that laws are not binding on them, and commit crimes only in virtual space. They can even commit real crimes by recording them on video, posting the video on the Internet and receiving additional subscribers for this. Recently there was a case when a blogger, right in front of his computer screen, abused a girl, beat her, and drove her out into the cold. In the end, this girl died, and the blogger gained additional subscribers.

This kind of illegal content, as well as calls for extremist activity, incitement to hatred based on race, nationality, religion or any other affiliation - all this must be blocked by Internet providers. If this does not happen, then both the distributors of illegal content and the providers who allow this content to exist on their platforms must bear responsibility. Therefore, the law is timely and correct.

Another question is how this law will be used, because, unfortunately, it happens that the right law is adopted, and then it is used incorrectly or all sorts of abuses occur. I think we will see all this after the law is adopted and begins to be implemented.

E. Gracheva: One of the innovations of 2021 is an increase in taxes on the income of rich Russians who earn more than 5 million rubles a year: for them the income tax will now be not 13, but 15 percent. This additional money will be used specifically for the treatment of seriously ill children, for these purposes only. Do you approve of this law? Do you agree with the 15 percent rate or, in your opinion, could it be higher?

Metropolitan Hilarion: Any initiative of the state aimed at helping sick children should be welcomed. Of course, the Church warmly approves of the state's care for sick children. The only thing that needs to be carefully thought about, and probably experts should calculate this, is how the tax increase will affect Russian business and, in particular, the desire of Russian businessmen to invest in their country. The danger with this kind of increase in luxury or wealth taxes is that it could encourage an outflow of business from Russia to other countries. If this happens, it will hit the economy and turn out to be the other side of the coin. It is very important that experts carefully consider all the possible risks associated with the introduction of this type of tax.

E. Gracheva: Russia returned the ancient icon of St. Nicholas, which was presented to Sergei Lavrov by the Bosnian authorities. After our minister was presented with this gift, Ukraine suddenly declared that the icon was an object of its cultural heritage. In essence, Bosnia was accused of theft. Tell us what kind of icon this is, and in general, what is the background to this diplomatic scandal?

Metropolitan Hilarion: As far as I know, no evidence has yet been presented that this icon is the property of Ukraine. Experts need to work here. If this is indeed the case and the icon is stolen, which the donor of this icon may not have known about, then, of course, it must be returned. But if this is not the case, then, again, there must be an expert opinion that will confirm the origin of this icon.

E. Gracheva: Thank you very much, Vladyka, for answering our questions.

Metropolitan Hilarion: Thank you, Catherine.

In the second part of the program, Metropolitan Hilarion answered questions from viewers submitted to the website of the “Church and the World” program.

Question: How did it happen that the Catholic clergy followed the path of celibacy, while in Orthodoxy the clergy are predominantly married (with the exception of monks)? And why are bishops in the Russian Church elected only from the black clergy?

Metropolitan Hilarion: This is a very long and ancient story, which I can only tell here very briefly. Initially, the Church had one rank of pastors, it was called bishops or presbyters. In the letters of the Apostle Paul we see the use of these two terms as synonyms. The Apostle Paul says about both this and the other rank: “a bishop (or presbyter) must be blameless, the husband of one wife” (1 Tim. 3:2), and then various qualities are listed. Monasticism as an institution in the Church appeared only in the 4th century, although ascetics who took a vow of celibacy existed in the Church from the very beginning. Gradually, monasticism began to gain more and more strong positions in the Church. These positions became especially strong after the period of iconoclasm, that is, after the 8th and 9th centuries, when it was the monks who began to defend icon veneration.

If we talk about celibacy for the clergy, then in the Eastern Orthodox Church celibacy (celibacy) has never been mandatory for the clergy at the level of presbyters, that is, priests. From the very beginning, priests were married, and still most parish priests are married. As for the episcopal service, for some time now, namely since the 4th century, preference began to be given to celibate bishops, while they were not monks, but simply did not marry. Until now, in a number of Local Orthodox Churches, bishops are not monks, but simply people who have not married - celibate clergy.

The most interesting question: why did it happen that celibacy became actually mandatory at the episcopate level in the Orthodox Church, while the Apostle Paul himself said that a bishop should be married? I think there must be several reasons here. Firstly, the high authority of the monastic and celibate clergy, which was higher than that of the married clergy. Secondly, this is the authority of monasticism itself, that is, if they were elected to episcopal service, then they elected the most authoritative shepherds who were precisely in the monastic environment. Thirdly, there is also an interest related to protecting the Church from possible attacks on its property.

What I mean? Imagine, let's say that a bishop is a married man, he has a wife and five sons. He will probably want to place his five sons at key points in the diocese, in the richest parishes, to make them rectors of these churches, and perhaps his wife will play some special role in this entire structure. Imagine what the diocese could become. That is, if a person, in addition to the ministry itself, which should occupy all his thoughts and feelings, also has various kinds of family interests, then these interests can intertwine and lead to a big crisis in the diocese. That is why the Orthodox Church, at a fairly early stage, began to give preference to celibate clergy for election to bishops, and subsequently, no later than the 10th century, made celibacy a mandatory condition for accepting the episcopal rank.

Question: Your Eminence, how should we understand the doctrine of the end of the world? What is this and how will it happen?

Metropolitan Hilarion: The Lord Jesus Christ Himself spoke about this in sufficient detail. The Gospel of Matthew devotes an entire chapter to explaining what He said about the end of the world. He said that the end of human history will be preceded by various disasters. “Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; and there will be famines, pestilences and earthquakes in places” (Matthew 24:7); “The love of many will grow cold” (Matthew 24:12). But the Lord also predicted that He would appear Himself in order to judge all people, but He would not appear as the first time - in a humble human form, but He would appear in glory: He would be accompanied by the angels of God and He would place some people on the right side , and others to the left. On the right side will stand those who fulfilled His commandments and did good to people: they fed the hungry, clothed the naked, visited the one in prison. And those who did not do good, the Lord will place on the left hand, because, as He said, the good that we do or do not do in relation to a specific person, we do or do not do in relation to God Himself.

The Lord identified Himself with a person who needs our help, that is, whenever we help someone, we provide help to God Himself. Not because God needs this help, but because He sends us a person who needs our help, sympathy, and participation. This is, in fact, what the Lord is talking about in this teaching about the Last Judgment - that every person will face retribution for his life. Each person is responsible for his actions and the posthumous fate of people will depend on how they lived on this earth. Those who did good, fulfilled the commandments of God, will inherit the Kingdom of Heaven, and those who deliberately resisted God and did not use the opportunity to do good will inherit eternal torment. This is what the Lord Jesus Christ reminds us of in the Gospel.

But the Lord warns us not to think about when the end of the world will happen, because for each of us the end of life can come at any moment. As for the end of human history, there are words about this with which I will conclude today’s broadcast, these are the words from the same 24th chapter of the Gospel of Matthew: “But about that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, but only My Father alone” (Matt. 24:36).

I wish you all the best and may God bless you all.

Superstitions associated with the Church

Christ is Risen, dear brothers and sisters!
Many situations in life are overgrown with all sorts of superstitions. Buying or selling an apartment, having children, death, etc. - all this is often accompanied by a huge number of prejudices that have nothing to do with the Orthodox worldview.

In this article, Orthodox priests will help our dear readers debunk some of these superstitions.

Purchase of apartment number 666 on the 13th floor

– We are going to buy an apartment in a building under construction, but almost all the apartments have been purchased, and according to our money there is only one apartment left on the 13th floor and number 666. Is it worth agreeing to this option?

Hieromonk Sergius Volkov: Lucky you! It will be possible to take tours and say: “See what kind of apartment? But nothing happens here. Move away from superstitions!” Just, as is usually done, after moving in, invite a priest to bless the apartment.

Pectoral crosses are lost

– My pectoral crosses constantly get lost (somehow they fall off my neck unnoticeably). Is this a bad sign or a curse?

Priest Yaroslav Erofeev: Buy a stronger cross and put it on a strong rope, now the quality of products is often not very high.

The soul of the deceased and the prayer of relatives for him

– To read prayers for my recently deceased grandfather, I light a lamp. It burns all day long and I turn it off at night. My mother also reads, and her lamp is burning. And the grandmothers told us that we couldn’t light a lamp in two apartments – it seemed like our soul was tossing about. Is it true? And what is the correct way to read the prayer in this case? Light a candle or not light anything at all?

Hieromonk Savva (Markov): Do not listen to any superstitions. Whatever we light here, it has no effect on the souls of the dead. Lamps and candles are lit by worshipers for themselves, as a symbol of their prayerful mood. If they want, they light it up; if they want, they don’t. The only thing that matters to the soul of the deceased is sincere prayer for it.

Live next to a cemetery

– Is it possible to live next to a cemetery?

Priest Yaroslav Erofeev: Well, try moving the cemetery... But seriously, this is very good for the soul: I looked outside the window and remembered that we are not eternal.

Life without God, away from the Church, deprives a person of basic guidelines. And human life, deeds, thoughts are overgrown with numerous superstitions that completely confuse him and interfere with him. In order not to get lost in life and to follow the path that leads to God, it is important to know the Holy Scriptures, read the Holy Fathers, and live a church life. Then answers to all life's questions will definitely be found.

Superstitions associated with unction