Orthodox mission today. Collection of articles and publications

Orthodox mission today. Collection of articles and publications

Real "virtuality"

I became acquainted with the Internet in the mid-90s, as soon as it became available to ordinary Russian users. In 1996, the first issue of the Foma magazine was published, and its website appeared around the same time, but I still did not have the understanding that it was possible to conduct a mission on the global network. The fact is that the Internet is such a multifaceted system that one can discover its properties and capabilities only over time, gradually plunging into it. The discovery of the missionary component of the Internet for me personally began with the discovery of sites on which I could independently publish my works. At that time there were not so many social networks, blogs, forums, but the portals “Proza.ru” and “Samizdat.ru” appeared. They were intended for the publication of literary and artistic works, but I took the risk of introducing journalism and materials from “Foma” there.

And it worked. Gradually, communication began with users of these sites, discussing issues of faith, materials from our magazine, stories, articles, notes. Such conversations were not slow to bear fruit: I noticed that the Foma Internet resource was gaining not only new readers, but also people who began to help, and even those who strive to work in joint Internet projects. So, gradually, I began to realize a new property of the global network - a live dialogue about faith with non-church people and live co-creation in missionary work with those who are already in the Church.

If an Orthodox person writes about faith online, he is one way or another a missionary and testifies to Christ. But here serious dangers may await him. The fact is that in virtual space words can easily be turned into a game. Some people, without thinking properly, without praying, instantly enter into a fierce verbal skirmish - and thereby violate the commandment of Christ: “Love one another... By this everyone will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another” (John 13:34–35). If this commandment is violated, the entire mission is crossed out. But many Orthodox bloggers simply do not understand this and do not think about the threat and harm they cause to the Orthodox mission. After all, it has wider boundaries than is sometimes imagined: any person who indicates online that he is a Christian testifies to Christ. But what kind of testimony this will be—repelling or bringing people to the Church—depends on his behavior and words. The main criterion here is love. And it doesn’t matter whether a person speaks in front of a real audience or writes on the Internet.

But, nevertheless, several features of communication in virtual space can be identified.

First, you need to clearly understand: the Internet is nothing more than a tool. A serious journalist (and just a serious user) never hangs out on the Internet - he works there, exchanging information, finding new topics, new interlocutors, new ways to convey something important to his target audience. Unfortunately, it happens differently: the Internet becomes an end in itself for a person, literally sucks him in, “virtualizes” him. The person loses self-control and sense of reality.

It seems to him that his interlocutors “on the other side of the monitor” are not living people, brothers and sisters in the Lord, but nothing more than toys, some kind of Tomagotchi, existing only on the global network. Of course, you understand intellectually that this is not so, but you cannot feel it emotionally. And then a serious face-to-face conversation turns into a game.

Secondly, the possibility of keeping a diary, open to other people, participating in discussions and quickly receiving feedback, often leads to the fact that a person forgets (or does not have time) to think about his words, forgets the proverb “measure seven times, cut once.” In other words, there is a danger of rashly throwing out your emotions, your immature thoughts, sharing something that is harmful not only for yourself, but also for others, showing something that is absolutely not intended for prying eyes. Before you say anything on the Internet, you need to clearly understand that this is not a toy hockey field. Online errors are very real and costly, and sometimes irreparable. A word spoken in virtual space is actually no different from the words that we consider real: imprinted on paper, in the heart or in thoughts. Therefore, I think we should be afraid not of the virtuality of the Internet, but of its reality... We must remember that the global network is an information weapon that a person often uses to pour out thoughts and feelings. And, as you know, not only good but also evil nests in the soul. And from your remarks on the Internet, your attitude towards people, the depth of your faith, and the degree of bitterness are clearly visible.

Everything, even the most beautiful things in this world, can be used for both good and evil. The Internet is no exception here: it can both unite and separate, it can provide a person with tremendous support, become a storehouse of friends with whom you can meet, covering vast distances in a split second, making geographic boundaries meaningless, collaborating and creating for the glory of God. Or you can lock yourself in an apartment, isolate yourself and, not seeing living people behind your blogs, end up literally getting online, turning into a toy to which the Internet begins to dictate its rules, command and suppress the will, turning a person into an instrument and conductor of evil.

Features of the mission on the Internet

Based on the reality of communication in the virtual space, one can get an idea of ​​the features of the mission on the Internet. Firstly, I think that in modern RuNet it is hardly possible to create a specifically missionary portal. The fact is that today there has been a sharp blurring of the boundaries between those who consider themselves Orthodox (70–80%) and those who are truly churchgoers (3–5%). Therefore, a problem arises: are you working for 5 or 80 percent, because often the questions of both are very similar, for example, interest in name days, love and marriage, raising children, Orthodox traditions, holidays, etc. I know of only two resources that have come closest to becoming specifically missionary: the Realists.ru network by Dmitry Semenik and the website of deacon Andrei Kuraev. The target audience is really reaching them.

Secondly, every word spoken online receives (or does not receive) instant feedback, which can be analyzed and quickly understand exactly how people feel about your texts and what you do. Once upon a time, only newspapers that received bags of letters had such a serious and rapid degree of feedback. But in this sense, the global network cannot be compared with any print publication. A good and strong Internet project receives hundreds or even thousands of responses a day, and even if you don’t respond to them, you need to remember that in fact the dialogue has already begun.

Thirdly, the global network very clearly shows the structure of interests of various groups in society. This is clearly seen in the example of Internet blogs, where you can actively pursue a mission and receive huge responses. A blog is an opportunity to create something similar to a website, with little effort, but using all modern advances: audio, video, multimedia products, beautiful design, illustrations, photo albums. You can communicate with people who are interesting to you, join various communities of interests: “Orthodoxy”, “Church”, love”, “family”, etc. There are a huge number of them, right up to the community of “cutting and sewing lovers”. And then you can analyze and see how the message of Christ, missionary ideas and texts are perceived depending on what kind of people are in a particular community, what their age is, their area of ​​interest, and so on. And after analyzing, you can try to find the right words specifically for a given community, and answer their questions in an accessible and understandable way.

How to “package” an Internet mission?

In this sense, almost all missionary projects - magazines, books, other media, which perform their functions well in the real world, when moving to the Internet space, completely stop working there. For example, I don’t think that our website Foma.ru is a strong missionary resource. Once online, the Thomas magazine immediately involuntarily switches to an audience deeply entangled in religious problems. Moreover, these people can be both supporters and opponents of the Church, but still this is a very narrow environment that the site attracts, and it ceases to be interesting to the audience to whom we really want to appeal and still make our way into the printed version of “Thomas” .

Much more successful are those missionary Internet projects that are created and “tailored” directly to their target audience. If the global network provides a means to track people's problems and experiences, we should not miss this unique opportunity. For example, many have a serious and pressing problem - a break with a loved one. Internet users who have it, type the corresponding keywords into search engines: “Separation from a loved one (beloved)” and try to find information on this topic. Using the technical capabilities of the network, you can easily calculate what percentage of people using the Internet (and there are millions of them) are interested in a given problem, for which social groups it is most relevant, and then make sure that in search of an answer they come to your resource.

And such an Internet project already exists, and it is in no way connected with the activities of the Orthodox media, but was thought out and created by virtually one person - Dmitry Semenik. This is a network of sites, but the word “network” can be used here in the literal sense - capturing a person’s sorrows and joys using key search words. For example, today it has become fashionable to play very dangerous pagan games associated with conspiracies, prophecies, fortune telling, damage, etc. In search of how to bewitch a loved one, a person types the word “conspiracy” and ends up on the website “Conspiracy.ru”, but unexpectedly he is faced with the fact that he is offered not a recipe for a black magic session, but real stories and experiences of people who faced conspiracies, examination and evaluation of this occult practice. The posted materials make a person seriously think about whether it is necessary to get involved with conspiracies at all. I have witnessed how much people are shocked by what they see and read, saying that they will never do this again, and many write that they will go to church and pray for the person they wanted to bewitch, although there is no direct call to go to church on the resource.

This kind of mission path is called typological, when we take an already existing familiar form as a basis. There is, for example, the format of Internet radio or television. We do the same thing, while aesthetically, ideologically and meaningfully we create a completely different product, very different from secular projects of the same form.

The most important thing (this is probably where the mission begins) is that a non-church person receives new content, information that would be a surprise and, perhaps, a shock for him, in a package that is familiar to him. But at the same time, the material must be supported both by what is authoritative for a non-church person and by personal experience. Responses to the website “Conspiracy.ru” indicate that it is very effective to speak “from your own bell tower” on topics that are interesting to Internet users. They wanted to get information on a specific subject - and they get it, but suddenly they discover that they are interested because the site is well and lively, they are familiar with it, because there is no propaganda or clumsy materials there. But most importantly, people see an alternative to sin, and in the form in which they are accustomed to receiving information about how to fall into sin.

Often, the creators of Orthodox websites are afraid of comparisons with secular resources. But we must pose the question differently: is this or that secular portal made well, professionally? If so, then in format it should become an example for Orthodox resources.

As for the content, which is “packed” into a form familiar to non-church people, here you need to see what issues are most important for a person. Dmitry Semenik’s websites seem to answer local problems of people in narrow groups that arise in different local life situations, but in fact are of interest to many people. For example, a considerable number of people have suicidal tendencies, and they look online for various communities based on their “interest”, where they can be told how to commit suicide faster and better. They type a keyword and end up in Dmitry’s “network”. And there is an interview with a forensic expert, telling how he identifies the corpses of “heroes”.

After this, many people give up suicidal thoughts.

Orthodox Internet forums: a school of “internecine warfare”?

One of the main problems of a mission on the global network is the selection and attraction of competent authors and experts. That is why, having encountered this and caused a lot of trouble, “Foma” closed his online forum and is trying to limit and streamline communication on his portal. Much that is written on the Internet about Orthodoxy, including by people who consider themselves church members, is complete nonsense.

Often a person does not bother checking facts and references, and if you look at most religious forums, it turns out that discussions are conducted without serious study of the material, and leading experts of the Orthodox community are not invited to participate in them.

Meanwhile, one can only participate in such work on a serious basis, having a colossal resource (human, expert, financial, etc.). If it is not there, everyone who believes that they have the right to do so begins to answer the questions. It’s good if such remarks contain at least some quotes and references, but often a person makes a gag, having neither sufficient communication experience nor a serious store of knowledge.

Moreover, many answer without even understanding what they were actually asking and what the problem is. In order to hear the essence, professionalism is also required, and when people are not able to understand each other, their dialogue develops into a conflict associated with fierce (sometimes obscene) swearing. It’s bittersweet to see when some serious question receives 200–300 responses, but despite this, there is no normal answer anywhere, but there is “internecine fighting” or the conversation is diverted in a completely different direction.

The leadership in such discussions is taken either by charismatics who, apparently, have nowhere to spend their free time, or by completely ill people, or by the unemployed who have received unlimited access to a computer. For them, swearing on the Internet becomes the main reason for their existence. In my opinion, apart from specialized forums (for example, “Ustav.ru”, etc.) in the modern RuNet there is not a single forum platform where a person would be guaranteed an answer from serious experts to his no less serious question. To do this, it is necessary to create a help desk, but such resources do not yet exist. Of course, on many sites there are sections: “Question to a priest,” where you can quickly get an answer, but a priest is not necessarily an expert in some specialized field of knowledge and in this case does not express the opinion of the Church, but speaks personally on his own behalf, expresses his own opinion, and this must be clearly distinguished. Forums, for the most part, are useful for getting to know each other, but harmful in terms of the quality of information that their participants receive. As a rule, it is unprofessionally selected, presented, or may turn out to be completely unreliable.

In addition, there are always “forum invaders” - people who penetrate there with their obsessions, without listening to anyone, and you, as a moderator, are forced to kick them out of the forum, close it and the “platform” begins to shrink. And if you don’t take tough sanctions against the “invaders,” the forum turns into a scandalous cesspool where everyone and everyone is preaching. At some point, we realized that we could only be professionally responsible for the quality of the materials of the Foma magazine (and even there there are annoying mistakes), so we apologized to the users of our site and closed the forum, explaining that we cannot pay good experts, who would answer questions at a truly serious level and, at the same time, in accessible language. Now issues are resolved, so to speak, “privately” - by the possibility of the personal presence on the Internet of the editors and columnists of the Foma magazine, to whom one can turn with a particular problem. But such a presence depends on their free time, because our main efforts are naturally directed towards the monthly printed publication.

To sum up this topic, I think that Orthodox forums are not needed, unless it is an intra-church resource, for example, for those who are involved in merciful service, Church Charter, kitchen, etc. Perhaps I am speaking biasedly, based on personal negative experience. But the forum is actually a daily mass media. True, in this case, it is necessary to put several editors, journalists, theological experts, priests, etc. on it, pay them money so that the person receives intelligible and clear information in response to his question, so that any hooliganism is strictly suppressed and incorrectness. But the main thing is for people to see: by coming here, they will definitely receive something very important. I have not yet come across such forums in the Orthodox RuNet. So the topic remains open...

Perpetual crisis?

One of the main problems of online missions is funding. The global network, of course, allows us to save money, but if our goal is to create a high-quality product, and not just splurge, Orthodox resources, like any secular media, must assemble a journalistic team, freelance writers, experts, offer them a decent salary, fees, invest money in good website software, its design. Now, especially against the backdrop of the crisis, everything in our country is built not just on charity, but on small personal donations from individuals, who mostly give small amounts. Naturally, serious problems cannot be solved with such means.

If the global network is an element of modern media, then this requires a professional attitude to one’s work. But no one is in a hurry to invest money in an online mission, because you won’t sell it and you won’t make a big business (unless, of course, the portal has crossed some gigantic threshold of traffic). When a donor gives money to a magazine and then holds it in his hands, he has a feeling of the product, and it is easier to allocate funds for it. You can’t hold the Internet in your hands, touch it, and the benefactor asks the question: is it really so difficult to get by with “little blood”? Therefore, the Orthodox Internet mission is mainly carried out on enthusiasm, and here a problem arises: in order to write, answer a question, give a serious expert comment, a person needs time, and time is life, which, in turn, requires money . You can't earn them on a mission. The circle closes. A person cannot work eight hours a day ordering online resources without receiving a livelihood in return. Therefore, missionary Internet projects lose a lot by working on enthusiasm, because enthusiasts are often less professionals than those who would be called to work for money.

For the same reason - the lack of regular funding - new technologies are coming to the Orthodox Internet very late, but, of course, they are needed. In terms of audio, video, and complex multimedia projects, we are clearly lagging behind secular resources, and the gap is only widening every day. Apparently, this can only be overcome through joint efforts. By the way, there are already some precedents: recently the website of the Neskuchny Sad magazine collaborated with the Internet project Orthodoxy and Peace. It is very important to consolidate and unite for the sake of business, including for the sake of introducing new technologies, but often this does not work out due to differences in positions, inconsistency of projects, purely human egoism and vanity, when people are guided by the logic: “even if it’s small, it’s theirs.” But if we do not unite, we are doomed to forever mark time, scattering our target audience, which, even if it ends up on the Orthodox Runet, simply does not know who to approach in this “land of Lilliputians.”

Is it possible for Orthodox Internet projects to emerge that will not only make money, but also make a profit? So far, no one is working at this level in RuNet yet. I don’t know how long people invested in Western Christian sites before they started making a profit, but it’s worth noting that in the West, many states give great preferences to philanthropists, while among Protestant donors there are very strict concepts that you need to give no less than a tenth, i.e. tithe. I think that among the Orthodox, the majority does not adhere not only to tithes, but even to “sotina”; besides, in Russia, sacrifices are unsystematic and non-transparent. In the West, charity is legally linked to the taxation system. But if an Orthodox person, even without legislative support for now, has the opportunity to turn his donations into investments, then this will certainly produce results.

For example, if the circulation of “Foma” reaches one hundred thousand copies (currently 36 thousand), then it is calculated that it will be a profitable project. Unfortunately, today we can only dream of such circulations.

News and analytics in the Orthodox Runet

On the Internet, people see a lot of news that is somehow related to Christian ideas. The material is supplied through secular media, which today are very active on the global network. But from the church environment a person does not receive a quick and adequate response to them. There is also no reaction to news that is not directly related to Christianity, but is relevant to everyone, although if this reaction were faster, we would have gathered a huge audience on Orthodox resources and won a lot in missionary terms.

Indeed, the news format is poorly developed in the Orthodox RuNet. But it seems to me that this is not because the church media is staffed by non-professionals. Let's start with the fact that in this system, objectively, there are simply no normal, technically prepared “platforms” capable of not only finding, but also “throwing” information over the heads of large mass media. Here is a painful example that is close to me and, although it concerns a print publication, it is equally relevant for the Internet. The issue of “Thomas” with the topic of the death of the Patriarch was published almost simultaneously with weekly (not monthly, but weekly!) secular publications dedicated to this very event. Naturally, the information in the Orthodox publication was both more voluminous and, it seems to me, much higher quality than in popular weeklies. And readers agreed with this - “Thomas” was sold out in both secular and church retail chains even before the New Year. There was demand, there were orders, they asked for the magazine... But we did not have the means to print it... We simply did not reach the audience that we could reach, we had to convey such a topic.

Then a good issue of “Neskuchny Sad” came out, against the background when there was no longer hysteria and it was possible to speak more calmly, publications appeared and will continue to appear in newspapers and magazines. But together we are not enough. People will continue to “choose” our competitors until, finally, they see that we (not we – “Thomas”, but we – church newspapers and magazines) have seriously and for a long time occupied our niche in retail and are able to hold out in the market, that it is through us that they will receive the main body of information in a timely and guaranteed manner (even if only on a church topic!), and at the same time, during the sales period, the publication can be easily found in newsstands. For now, this is only possible in theory.

But I don’t think that this is the fault of the church media, and it’s not even a problem, but an objective situation. However, it puts pressure on everyone and, accordingly, reduces the interest of the authors of Internet projects in relevant (from the point of view of news policy) information. In my opinion, there is no strategic solution here yet, but some tactical move can be made that follows from the current state of affairs. If there is no news, you need to strive for high-quality analytics, to work on disavowing misleading or simply false news from secular sources and near-Orthodox “well-wishers.” We simply have to do this, but then it really doesn’t make sense to try to be everywhere, especially when there are few people in the editorial offices.

It may be objected to me that there are Orthodox sites, there are news feeds there... However, on the global network the situation is exactly the same. There is no resource yet to directly “share” the news to a wide audience. Even when journalists from Interfax, RIAN, TV channels, etc. for some reason “lose” a news item, they still have enough time to “pick up” it. For example, secular news agencies for a long time did not dare to refute the rumor about the death of His Holiness on the eve of the unification of the Russian and Foreign Orthodox Churches, and our website was the first place to publish a series of refutations, but due to inertia, most readers expected the final “verdict” from secular sources of information.

Another example was when we had to deal with a gigantic surge in traffic on the Thomas website. This happened, unfortunately, in connection with a sad event - the death of radio host Gennady Bachinsky. It turned out that only we have his very sincere and courageous repentant interview, given a year before his death. He talked about why he was not happy with his own career, admitted how harmful what he had been doing for a long time, shared dreams about what he would like to do, and spoke very honestly about his path to Christ and the Church. In just a few days, about 50 thousand (!) readers visited our website. For many, including Gennady’s friends, this was evidence of enormous strength. But still, such attendance is still an exception to the rule and a coincidence of circumstances.

Of course, in this situation, secular news agencies temporarily lose part of their audience, but then strategically they “win back” everything.

Interfax neglected one piece of news we published and didn’t pick it up on time, but then it reprints entire articles from Foma without an interactive link, and people will read Interfax’s or Ryan’s media monitoring, and not us. It is useless to protest: they will be offended and say that we are being advertised, and go argue...

It may seem that I am simply suggesting that we wash our hands of this - of course not. Firstly, because we cannot be deluded by the fact that the secular media now write and speak about the Church in a generally positive manner and more or less often. Possible - always! – a situation of “loneliness on the Internet”, when there will be silence, when only we will look for the truth. As was the case with the then-imaginary death of Patriarch Alexy. And we must be able to move at this moment and have the experience of information journalists. Secondly, if the work is stopped, if the willingness to work in this field has not been proven by deeds, then the information “platforms” will not expand and the situation will never change. Thirdly, we still need to continue to think about other, non-secular, but high-quality approaches to searching and presenting not only church news, but also national news from the Orthodox point of view. This is a very interesting and important creative task, which in itself is inspiring. And, finally, church people need to try - for the sake of their own future! – stop being shy about letting “your own people” go ahead. Otherwise, it turns out that “one of our own” will forever remain in the fold and when his help is needed, it will be too late...

In isolation or on VKontakte

You can often hear that all the problems of the Orthodox Runet stem from its self-isolation, self-sufficiency and isolation. I think this is partly fair, but we must keep in mind that many secular online communities are also closed and self-sufficient.

This is not always a bad thing, if only because sometimes it is necessary to communicate with like-minded people, to acquire new connections and acquaintances.

Personally, it is very important for me that there are Orthodox sites on the Internet that provide specialized information that is not interesting to a non-church person. If you look at the traffic to such resources, it is easy to understand how much demand they have. The number of churched users of the global network is very large and many of their interests can only be satisfied by the Internet. Sometimes in “real life” it is very difficult to get the right book, to get the information you are interested in, and I am very grateful to those Orthodox portals that provide all this, give prompt comments on various church issues, create video and audio archives, because Orthodox television and radio programs exist as if on their own on their own, very scattered, and poorly recorded. For many people, the online version of some Orthodox printed publication is the only way to find it, because the circulation may have long been sold and become a bibliographic rarity.

The problem is that we have very few resources where a common co-creative process and mutual communication with non-church people take place. There is a certain vacuum on the missionary field: there are not enough Internet platforms that are inspired by Orthodoxy, but at the same time are publicly accessible, attracting a large number of people who are far from the Church. In this sense, one of the most successful ideas is the creation of church (or parachurch) groups within large secular social networks. In my opinion, the best here is the analogue of the American network Facebook – the Russian portal “Vkontakte”. Suffice it to say that on this resource the “Orthodoxy” community includes more than 35 thousand people. Naturally, this does not mean that absolutely all of them actively communicate, but the numbers and seriousness of the community’s topics are impressive. By the way, the audience of Foma’s friends here is very different from the one that leaves comments under articles on our website, and I like communication on the Vkontakte portal much more than conversations on the Internet resource of our magazine.

Anti-mission: where are the pests hiding?

But there is also a downside to the penetration of church people into secular networks, and Internet missions in general, when it can cause real and considerable harm. Very often people try to engage in missions and at the same time solve internal church problems, combine missionary work with internal Orthodox polemics, preach Christ and call people to the Church - and then dashingly dance on the bones of their opponents, whom man himself created for himself. Getting carried away by polemics among ourselves, we completely forget that we are Christians, demonstrating the same secular morality, logic and system of behavior, trying to play giveaway with the language and manners of this world.

We saw this recently, when the campaign for the election of the Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus' was in full swing on the Internet. At this moment, serious mistakes were made, unfortunately, not yet recognized by our major missionaries, but while preaching entry into the Church and love for one’s neighbor, they at the same time started a squabble among themselves and threw mud at the hierarchy. One can and should be open and talk seriously about the shortcomings of the Church, but there is a limit to such a conversation.

Behind it begins the absurdity that non-church people see. As a result, a person, instead of answering his question, is once again convinced that “everything is not so in the Church either.” Therefore, no one can harm us more than we harm ourselves.

Another dangerous point that concerns not only the Internet mission, but manifests itself with particular force on the Internet. Quite a few people who call themselves missionaries begin to divide the Church in their materials: on the one hand stands he and a group of his supporters, and on the other - everyone else - heretics, apostates, atheists, fiends of hell, etc. This attempt to “be a missionary” (it’s difficult to call such a phenomenon in another way) through self-affirmation, elevating oneself above others, unfortunately, is sometimes characteristic of even the largest and most talented missionaries of modern Russia who are active on the Internet. This upsets me very much, because it introduces a deep contradiction into the fraternal atmosphere and unity of the Church. Perhaps, at the first moment, giving some positive effect, such a sermon ultimately brings people to church who are convinced that the Church is another party that consists of factions, and they come there because they liked the leader of one or another party current. But in the Church, people come to the risen Christ, and not to the leader of a faction, even one clothed in holy orders.

For the Orthodox Internet mission, of course, there is a danger of reaching the point of absurdity, but it begins not with the creation of a virtual Internet chapel, but with a real Orthodox fair, when churches and monasteries compete for notes, and inviting people, they say: “we have prayer is stronger and more reliable, our candles burn more gracefully,” etc. But the worst thing in the Orthodox Internet environment is the attempt to connect the incompatible. People consider themselves Orthodox, regularly go to church, take communion, etc., but one gets the impression that they are not familiar with the key commandment of Christ: “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; just as I have loved you, so you also love one another; By this everyone will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another” (John 3:34–35). We very often pass by this new commandment, and the only thing that saves us from despondency is the thought that Christ warned us, spoke about this, because he knew: this is what we will be - passing by the Gospel. But at the same time we still preach...

Love, just like sin and absurdity, is not in form, but in content, in the heart. When there is no Gospel there, there is no contrition for yourself, if you think that you understand everything, and everyone around you is fools, when you forget that if you disagree with your brother, he nevertheless does not cease to be one - you become cruel and your sermon becomes “dummy.” And no matter how hard it is for a missionary (most often it’s slaps on the wrist from “their own”), one must always keep in mind and heart the basic principle of the apostolic mission: in the secondary, let there be differences of opinion, but in the main – unity and love.

Vocation, No. 3

Orthodox icons and prayers

Song 1.

Irmos:

The smitten insect was cut off, and when the sun was seen, the earth was no longer visible; water flooded the fierce enemy, and Israel passed through the impassable land. The song was sung: I will sing to the Lord, for I am gloriously glorified.

Rejoicing at the heavenly face, and rejoicing and rejoicing in this, and worthy of being filled with Divine enlightenment, inspired by God, with your faith, honorable memory celebrating, singing to the Lord, prayer keep it yours.

Angel-shaped souls, shining with beauty and kindness, and again physically, you received the highest dawn of the Divine radiance, God-speaking, lightly and, rejoicing, you cried out: Let us drink from the Lord, praise You'll definitely become famous.

Carrying out your life immaculately, and adorning yourself with the image of beauty, and with good morals, most blessedly, purifying yourself, the prophet of true piety, calling, you were: Let us drink to the Lord, glory be for become famous.

Theotokos:

Pure Mother of God Almighty, Almighty from the royal tribe, Lady, having increased the One God who reigns over all, having given birth to flesh more than nature, save me from troubles, Thy Son singing to him: Gloriously you are glorified.

Song 3.

Irmos:

You are the affirmation of those who flow to You, Lord, You are the Light of the darkened, and my spirit sings to You.

Rejoice now, in vain the fulfillment of the prophecies, blessed, yours and accomplishment, Malachi is most pleasing to God.

Have healing in your wings, the mental Sun of truth will arise, as you prophesied, inspired by God.

Theotokos:

I place all my hope in You, All-Immaculate One, all in You, rejoicing, I extend both my soul and my thoughts.

Sedalen, voice 8.

Having been enriched with prophecies by grace, you have divinely learned the knowledge of the future through the spirit, God-inspired Malachi, and foreshadowed to all the coming of Christ, and of the nations, richest, the Divine calling. Moreover, we celebrate your honorable memory, and we sing of your love, and we faithfully please you, crying out to you, most glorious: pray to Christ, the God of sins, to forgive the taxes of those who honor holy love. crush yours.

Glory, and now:

The prophetic face, preaching, rejoices, the baptism of Christ flows forth from life. Isaiah calls: draw cleansing water. The Godfather writes: How does the sea run away from the face of the human race with the favor of the saving God?

Song 4.

Irmos:

I have heard, Lord, the sight of Your sacrament, I have understood Your works and glorified Your Divinity.

The prophet of God, blessed, blessed, preached with all his tongue your former deliverance.

Having learned by the Spirit the natural incarnation of the Word, the unspoken sacrament, blessed Malachi, you proclaimed.

Theotokos:

I place on You all the hope for my salvation and nourishment of my life, O joyful Mother of the Virgin.

Song 5.

Irmos:

Enlightening the ends from the night of ignorance with the knowledge of God, enlighten me with the morning of Your love for mankind, O Lord.

The terrible day of Christ’s coming was proclaimed by you, O God-wise Malachi, enlightened by the Divine Spirit.

Taking away the filth from the soul and washing it with grace, like the white of the feathers, glorify thee, God-wise.

Theotokos:

You destroyed the power of death, O Young Lady, with Your life-giving Christmas, O All-Holy Virgin, and You poured out Life into the indestructible.

Song 6.

Irmos:

I will pour out a prayer to the Lord and to Him I will proclaim my sorrows, for my soul is filled with evil and my life is drawing near to hell, and I pray like Jonah: from aphids, O God, lift me up.

Your wise thought was enlightened by the Divine illumination itself, and you departed from those things that would be worthy of reason: you prophesied the call of the tongues and the law of cessation.

The Lord, Whom we joyfully seek, will come to the temple, Whom He Himself from the Virgin created blessed by wisdom, just as He said, shining from God, the glorious Malachi.

Theotokos:

The Beginningless Father and the Only Begotten, the One and Only Begotten of the Virgin was incarnate, and was ineffably born, and preserved the Virgin who gave birth: God is true, and even human nature is acceptable.

Kontakion, tone 4.

Prophecies by the gift of the rich man, prophet, Christ foretold the coming of reality and the salvation of the world, whose radiance the world was enlightened.

Song 7.

Irmos:

The youths of Judaism in the cave boldly trampled the flame and turned the fire into dew, crying out: Blessed are you, Lord God, forever.

Thou hast most honorably prophesied the coming of the Ruler of all, O glorious prophet Malachi, calling: Blessed art thou, O Lord God, unto the ages.

Receive the glorious prophet Malachi praying, O Generosity, for those who piously sing and cry: Blessed are you, O Lord God, forever.

Theotokos:

To all of me, unmergedly, art thou united according to Hypostasis, the Word of God, from the Pure Virgin was wrapped in flesh, Generous, blessed art thou, O Lord God, unto the ages.

Song 8.

Irmos:

Conquerors of the tormentor and the flame of Thy grace, let us earnestly obey Thy commandments, O children, we cry out: Bless all the works of the Lord, the Lord.

Having alienated yourself from every material phenomenon, from the sacred manifestation of the Divine dawn, you appeared as an undefiled mirror, saying: bless, all your works, the Lord and exalt Him forever.

You were a spectator of unspeakable glory and the mysteries of heaven, blessed one, a preacher who constantly said: bless the Lord, all you do, and exalt Him forever.

Theotokos:

Having known the life of You, the Mother and Mother of God, by the Orthodox faith we bless you all, O Virgin Mother, blessing together Your Nativity, Most pure and exalting, Pure, for all ages.

Song 9.

Irmos:

Fearful of all the hearing of God's indescribable condescension, for the Most High came down to the flesh by the will of a girl, from a girl's womb he became Man. Moreover, we magnify the Most Pure Mother of God.

This is the holy and holy holiday of the prophet, illuminating those who come with faith and singing with prophetic brilliance, and bringing healing to the souls of all, and enlightening the clear wisdom of God.

Keep Thy life-giving right hand, O Most Merciful One, Thy Church, through the prayers of Thy saint, who prophesied to us Thy inhumanity, whereby salvation and deliverance for souls will arise.

Theotokos:

I will embrace life to a mature one, undamaged by the tree of reason: For you, All-Immaculate One, are the tree of Life—Christ, you have grown cold, you have shown the entrances of your belly to everyone. Therefore, we proclaim You, the All-Pure Mother of God, the faithful.