A churched person is a full member of the Orthodox Church who attends church services at least once a month, regularly confesses, takes communion, observes all church regulations, fasts and takes part in events related to the life of the Church (religious processions, etc.). Churched people are also people who are forced or voluntarily living in places remote from Orthodox churches and for this reason are deprived of the opportunity to regularly attend services and take part in the Sacraments, but who adhere to the Orthodox Christian worldview.
What is churching
A person who begins to become acquainted with Orthodoxy will certainly be faced with the question of becoming a church member. Is a churchgoer a real Christian? Or is that what they call religious fanatics? To answer these questions, you need to understand what churching is. This concept has three meanings.
Orthodox worship
Firstly, churching is the gradual familiarization of a person preparing to receive Baptism with the fundamentals of the Orthodox faith and piety (catechesis).
Also in liturgical terminology, churching refers to a sacred rite that is performed on a child and his mother 40 days after birth. This rank appeared no earlier than the 4th century AD. Its prototype was the Old Testament Jewish rite of dedication of the firstborn to God on the 40th day after birth. It was also performed on the Infant God Jesus Christ.
Today, the rite of churching is perceived as the final stage of Baptism and includes prayers of thanks. He is called to bless the mother and child, to accept them into the ranks of members of the Holy Church. The ceremony is also performed on baptized adults.
The need for the rite of churching for the mother is due to the fact that for 40 days she went through the process of postpartum cleansing. According to pious tradition, during this period an Orthodox woman abstains from visiting the temple and participating in the Sacraments. The rite of churching is intended to return her to the usual church life.
What unites people in the Church
A churchgoer is an Orthodox Christian who considers himself part of the Church, and her as his life, and strives to live according to the New Testament commandments. He can be a businessman, an athlete, the father of a large family, but he always puts faith in Christ at the forefront. Participation in services and sacraments is a necessity for him. He must understand the meaning of what is happening in the temple during the service. The majority of churchgoers observe the fasts established by the Orthodox Church, consider it necessary to read certain literature, and know and read the morning and evening prayers of the Orthodox Prayer Book every day. A believer is necessarily familiar with the feeling of spiritual unity with other members of the Church. On holidays it is especially acute. People are united by the desire to share joy and everything that fills the soul.
A churchgoer is a child of the Church
The broadest meaning of the concept of “churching” is the introduction of an already believer and baptized person to a full-fledged church life. To the question “Churching – what is it?” Hegumen Nektary (Morozov) answers:
“Churching is, as it were, a person’s growing into the body of the Church, the transformation from a nominal Christian into a real Christian, an entry into her life so deep that this life becomes fully his life.”
A churchgoer is one who prays regularly, consciously participates in divine services and the Sacraments, and actively strives for spiritual improvement. He fulfills the Divine commandments, does good deeds, studies the Gospel and other soul-helping books. Archpriest Andrei Malkin notes:
“A churchgoing Christian clearly understands the goal of Christian life – salvation. He balances his thoughts and actions with the Gospel and Sacred Tradition preserved by the Church. For such a person, Christianity is the norm of life... A churched person is one who feels like a son of the Church, one for whom any distance from it is painful and tragic.”
The Holy Church is the body of Christ. In this regard, priest Dimitry Shishkin calls the acquisition of the peaceful spirit of Christ an important criterion for becoming a church member. The New Testament says:
“Whoever does not have the spirit of Christ is not His” (Rom. 8:9).
To carry the spirit of Christ within oneself means to love one’s neighbor, to see in him God’s highest creation, to be lenient towards him and strict towards oneself.
Who is an unchurched person?
Nowadays, churched believers, parishioners, are often contrasted with unchurched believers. In common parlance they are called "passers-by" or "passers-by". As a rule, these are baptized people (that is, formally Orthodox), but consider themselves to be Orthodox only in cultural and traditional terms. They are indifferent to genuine church life, and more often than not, spiritually illiterate.
Some of them visit the temple only on major church holidays, as a matter of tradition. Others completely reject the Church, calling themselves “believers in the soul, without rituals or intermediaries.” However, the Holy Fathers taught: “To whom the Church is not a Mother, God is not a Father.” Hegumen Nektary (Morozov) explains:
“The purpose of the Savior’s coming into the world, His preaching, suffering on the cross, death, and Resurrection was the founding of the Church. And if a person does not discover it for himself throughout his life, then he passes by the most important thing, that for which Christ came to earth.”
Hegumen Nektary adds that by renouncing the Church, a person deprives himself of participation in the Church Sacraments. And they are the most direct and shortest path to God.
Priest Alexander Dyachenko notes that for an unchurched person, the Church and salvation are not the meaning of life:
“Such a person goes to church because he needs to solve his problems. Now he will light a candle for God, cross his forehead - and the Lord will help. A true Christian seeks God Himself. Whether it will be comfortable to walk with Him through life or not, whether it will be satisfying or from hand to mouth, is not the main question for a Christian.”
Priest Valery Dukhanin summarizes:
“Each of us has our own degree of under-church. But an amazing path opens up for everyone - to receive from the Mother Church the untold spiritual gifts that console, strengthen, delight and impart the grace of the Holy Spirit.”
How to find God and where to start churching?
Those who seek God need to remember the following Gospel words:
"Ask, and it shall be given you; seek and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you” (Matt. 7:7).
“If you have faith the size of a mustard seed... nothing will be impossible for you.” (Matt. 17.20)
True Faith is God's Gift. It is given only to those who sincerely and diligently desire to obtain it. Therefore, the priests advise all those who doubt, but want to take the path of Truth, to fervently ask God to reveal Himself. Archpriest Alexander Torik instructs:
“If our desire is sincere and our request is persistent, the Lord will give us both Faith and countless confirmations of its truth.”
What should those who were baptized in childhood do, but only as adults did they seriously realize the need for God and the Church? Archpriest Maxim Pomazansky advises such people to find a suitable Orthodox church and start attending services:
“Gradually you will fall in love with this parish and you will develop a trusting relationship with one of the priests. Ideally, he should become your confessor.”
Father Maxim notes that during divine services, a person who goes to church inevitably has questions. In the search for answers to them, there is a gradual understanding of the service, reinforcing practice with theory. It is necessary to study the fundamentals of faith, the Holy Scriptures. First of all, the New Testament. The priest will suggest spiritual literature suitable for you. It will be useful to participate in special conversations and catechesis courses at churches, and attend Sunday school.
Anyone who wants to join a church needs to pray regularly. You can start by reading the Lord's Prayer in the morning and before bed. Study its interpretation, read the prayer meaningfully, reflect on it. Prayer should not be a formal duty, but a living communication with God. Gradually accustom yourself to a shortened prayer rule. During the day, you can pray briefly: “Lord, help,” “Lord, save and preserve.”
The need to participate in Church Sacraments
Conscious participation in the Sacraments established by God (Confession, Communion, etc.) is a key issue in church life. The entire process of churching is a preparation for precisely this. In the Sacraments, a gracious meeting between man and God takes place, which sanctifies and transforms the soul and body of a Christian.
Metropolitan Hilarion (Alfeev) calls the Church Sacraments a communion with the Divine nature, gaining the experience of heaven, and a foretaste of the Kingdom of God (“The Sacrament of Faith”). In connection with this, true churching can be called gaining the experience of experiencing grace in the Sacraments of the Orthodox Church. Priest Vitaly Semyonov notes:
“A churched person is one who strives in its entirety to be part of the Church of Christ, the Head of which is Christ, and to live as Christ commanded, according to the Gospel - to participate in the sacraments, to repent of one’s sins, to fight one’s passions, to regularly give to the Lord the opportunity to reunite with your body, with your soul in the sacrament of the Eucharist. And if he does not do this and receives communion extremely rarely, then through his ordinary, non-church, non-spiritual life he moves away from Christ and His Church.”
It is best for a baptized person to begin regular participation in the Church Sacraments with the first confession. It should be taken seriously and responsibly. Genuine repentance presupposes a firm intention to “burn all bridges” with the sinful past and take the path of correction. The priest will help you prepare for your first confession.
What is the meaning of churching
The sound of the word “churching” speaks for itself; these are actions performed by people who decided to accept Orthodox baptism and live a full life as a Christian.
The previous step in introducing people into the church family is catechesis - the study of the foundations of Christian life, which is designed to awaken in a person a thirst for knowledge of the depths of Orthodoxy.
Orthodox church
Parishioners who attend church only on holidays and lead a worldly life independent of the church are especially in need of churching. Indeed, as a result, a person is transformed in spirit, changes his morals and attitudes, trying to imitate the image of our savior Jesus Christ.
For an Orthodox person, “to become a church member” means:
- join the body of Orthodoxy;
- be filled with the spirit of church life;
- be spiritually and morally connected with people from the church;
- measure your spirit, character, and relationships with Christ’s commandments.
Important! To become a church member is to become a part of a church community, an Orthodox Church, the most important properties of which are:
- holiness;
- apostolicity;
- unity;
- conciliarity.
Holiness is the main characteristic of a true Christian.
About Christian life:
- How to read the Bible correctly and where to start
- How to find out who my patron saint is
- How to properly thank God
Christian honor, moral purity, piety, and fear of God are not just words for a churchgoer, they are indicators of his life.
Christian life
Apostleship means bearing witness with your whole life to the good news brought by Jesus to this world. Every true Orthodox Christian is to some extent an apostle if he brings the Christian faith to people who do not know the saving mission of Christ.
Unity is an unshakable faith in God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, confession of the integrity of the Holy Trinity.
Conciliarity is manifested in the unanimity and like-mindedness of the community in the church.
To gain real faith in God is to know the real depth of Divine life, to feel the breath of the Holy Spirit.
This cannot be felt on a physical level. It is difficult for a non-church person to understand that becoming a church member is immersion in God’s life in order to soar spiritually upward. This process cannot be divided into components: physically living outside the church, mentally remaining in the world, and spiritually trying to understand God. Only complete immersion in God's presence guarantees churching.
True filling with Church traditions, laws, canons, fasting and prayers transforms and purifies a person. New church people, learning the depth and beauty of life in Christ, pour into the ocean of love called the people of God.
Orthodox people are filled with great pride when they realize with every cell of their mind that they are not only parishioners of a certain church, but also partakers of God, the great Church. This is churching, a difficult but very happy life, filled with the presence of God.
A churchgoer - dangers and mistakes at the beginning of the journey
Churchgoers who have felt the joy of Communion with God are characterized by zealous impulses to radically and immediately change their lives. Archpriest Maxim Pomazansky warns new Christians (neophytes) against fanaticism and excesses:
“Like any bright state, neophyte requires your control. It is necessary to change the way and rhythm of life, but you must ensure that these changes lead to your spiritual growth, and do not make you a hostage to your pious fantasies, needlessly exhausting yourself and your loved ones.”
On the other hand, a person who goes to church is characterized by a deep awareness of his sinfulness, which he had not previously noticed. However, you should not give up and become despondent, because such insight is a sign of true repentance and correction of the soul. And that means getting closer to God.
St. Ephraim the Syrian taught:
“The Church is not a collection of saints, but a crowd of repentant sinners.”
These words must also be remembered by those within the Church who have encountered human shortcomings. Hegumen Nektary (Morozov) warns against condemnation and high conceit in such cases:
“The enemy of salvation (the devil) always seeks to quarrel, divide people, and set them against each other. And here his main weapon is lies. He shows us what really doesn’t exist, presents small mistakes as terrible crimes, makes mountains out of molehills.”
Answering the question “What does a churched person mean?”, Priest Dimitry Shishkin reminds that church life should not be reduced to a set of external rituals and rules. Diligent spiritual work on oneself should always come first:
“You can go to church, confess and receive communion formally and not live a spiritual life. Moreover, due to external observance of church rituals, one can lose living communication with God and cease to be a member of the Church.”
Girl in Church
A churched girl should strive to become a model of chastity, decency, and politeness. By doing this, she indirectly preaches to the unbelieving people around her. She most often does not use makeup and tries to look neat. Clothes imply modesty, taste, moderation, and the absence of any pretentiousness or vulgarity. It’s good if she is always dressed so that she can safely enter the temple. Sometimes such a desire arises spontaneously. You don't have to dress in all black and shapeless clothes. But you need to try not to confuse the people present at the church service with your appearance. Girls usually have more free time than married women, so they often become members of charitable organizations and volunteers.
