“Open to me repentance” - text:
Open the doors of repentance, O Life-Giver, for my spirit will rise to Thy holy temple, the temple of my body is completely desecrated; but as you are generous, cleanse me with Your gracious mercy.
Translation:
Life-giver! Open to me the doors of repentance, for my soul has been yearning for Your holy temple since early morning, since its physical temple is completely desecrated; but You, being generous, cleanse it according to Your immeasurable mercy.
Instruct me in the path of salvation, O Mother of God, for my soul has been frozen with cold sins and my whole life has been spent in laziness; but through Your prayers deliver me from all uncleanness.
Translation:
Mother of God! guide me on the path of salvation, for I have defiled my soul with shameful sins and spent my entire life in laziness; but You, through Your prayers, deliver me from all uncleanness.
Thinking of the many evil things I have done, I tremble, O wretched one, at the terrible day of judgment, but hoping for the mercy of Your mercy, as David cries out to You: have mercy on me, O God, according to Your great mercy.
Translation:
I, unfortunate one, thinking about the many iniquities I have committed, tremble at the terrible day of judgment; but, hoping for Your immeasurable mercy, like David, I cry to You: have mercy on me, O God, according to Your great mercy.
“Open the doors of repentance, O Giver of Life”: Teachings for Great Lent. About repentance
Bishop of the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad, scholar-theologian, outstanding spiritual preacher, translator, interpreter of the New Testament. Archbishop Averky (in the world Alexander Pavlovich Taushev) was born on October 19/November 1, 1906, in Kazan. Father - Pavel Sergeevich Taushev, a nobleman of the Simbirsk province, an official of the military-judicial department. Mother - Maria Vladimirovna.
Since 1920, the Taushev family was in exile; the future bishop’s childhood years were spent in the city of Varna in Bulgaria. He graduated from the Russian gymnasium (1926; with a gold medal), the Faculty of Theology of Sofia University (1930). He was a student of Archbishop Seraphim (Sobolev). Archbishop Feofan (Bistrov), who lived in exile in Bulgaria, had a significant influence on young Alexander. As Bishop Averky recalled, this meeting “finally decided my future fate: I firmly, without the slightest doubt or hesitation, decided to take the path of monastic life.”
In 1931 he moved to Carpathian Rus (now Transcarpathian region of Ukraine). Since 1932, he was assistant secretary of the diocesan administration in the city of Khust. On May 19, 1931, he was tonsured a monk at the St. Nicholas Monastery in the village of Iza. From May 20, 1931 - hierodeacon, from 1932 - hieromonk. In the summer of 1932 he cared for the parishes of Nankov and Boronyava. From September 1932 he was assistant rector, then rector of the church in Uzhgorod. Since August 7, 1935 - publisher and editor of the diocesan magazine "Orthodox Carpathian Bulletin".
Since 1936 - teacher of the Law of God in the sovereign real gymnasium, in the Russian and Czech sovereign civil and public schools of Uzhgorod. Since 1937 - abbot. In 1938 - rector of the parish in Mukachevo, administrator of part of the Mukachevo-Pryashevsky diocese in Hungary and head of the Bishop's residence and diocesan property in Mukachevo. Since 1939 - the first referent of the diocesan Administration. After Carpathian Rus' was occupied by Hungarian troops, he moved to Yugoslavia in 1940, where he taught pastoral theology and homiletics at missionary-pastoral courses, gave lectures on spiritual life in the Russian House, organized religious and educational meetings .
He served as a priest in the Holy Trinity Church. He was the confessor of the head of the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad (ROCOR), Metropolitan Anastasy (Gribanovsky). Since 1944 - archimandrite. In the same year he was evacuated to Austria, from 1945, together with the Synod of Bishops of the ROCOR, he was in Munich, was a teacher of law in the senior classes of the Good Samaritan gymnasium and in the Gymnasium of the Subjectless in a camp for displaced persons, and taught courses for the sisters of mercy. He gave lectures on the study of patristic works at the Synodal House.
Since 1950 - Chairman of the Missionary and Educational Committee at the Synod of Bishops. In 1951, Archbishop Vitaly (Maksimenko) invited Archimandrite Averky to move to the USA. In the same year, he became a teacher at Holy Trinity Theological Seminary in Jordanville, giving lectures on the New Testament, liturgics, and homiletics. From 1952 to 1976 he was the permanent rector of the seminary; during his leadership, this educational institution received accreditation from the State University of New York. Since 1952, at the same time, the editor-in-chief of the magazine “Orthodox Rus'” published his articles and sermons in each of its issues. Since May 25, 1953 - Bishop of Syracuse.
From 1960 to 1976 he was also rector of the Holy Trinity Monastery. Since August 17, 1961 - Archbishop of Syracuse and Trinity. Since 1964 - permanent member of the Synod of Bishops of the ROCOR. He was the chairman of the charitable foundation named after Saint Righteous John of Kronstadt. Spiritual leader of the “St. Vladimir Youth” movement, created with the goal of “helping our Russian youth develop for themselves the correct Orthodox and national Russian worldview, so that it becomes the guiding principle of life.” He was a talented preacher. Scientist-theologian, author of widely known interpretations of the books of the New Testament. After 1990, many of Averky’s works were republished in Russia and gained popularity among the conservative part of the parishioners of the Russian Orthodox Church, who are in tune with his thoughts about apostasy and loyalty to their church and national identity. In addition, some of Archbishop Averky’s works are used as educational theological literature not only at Holy Trinity Seminary, but also in post-Soviet Russia. He died on April 13, 1976, in the USA in the state of Jordanville, buried in the crypt of the Trinity Cathedral of the Holy Trinity Monastery in Jordanville.
Basic books and publications:
A Guide to Studying the Holy Scriptures of the New Testament.
Guide to Homiletics
Herald of God's punishment for the Russian people (Bishop Theophan the Recluse)
St. Mark of Ephesus.
True Orthodoxy and the modern world.
His Eminence Theophan, Archbishop of Poltava and Pereyaslavl.
Apocalypse, or Revelation of St. John the Theologian.
Testament of Grand Duke Vladimir to the Russian people.
Seven Ecumenical Councils.
Righteous John of Kronstadt. A living word of spiritual wisdom.
Everything has its time
Four Gospels. New Testament Scripture Study Guide
Open the doors of repentance, O Life-Giver, for my spirit will rise to Thy holy temple, the temple of my body is completely desecrated;
but as generously cleanse with Thy gracious mercy. And now and ever and unto ages of ages, amen: Instruct me in the paths of salvation, O Mother of God, for my soul has been frozen with cold sins and spent all my life in laziness; but through Your prayers deliver me from all uncleanness.
Have mercy on me, O God, according to Your great mercy and according to the multitude of Your mercies, cleanse my iniquity!
Thinking of the many evil things I have done, I tremble, O wretched one, at the terrible day of judgment, but hoping for the mercy of Your mercy, as David cries out to You: have mercy on me, O God, according to Your great mercy.
Open the doors of repentance...
This is the only chant that unites the period of preparation for Great Lent and Lent itself. It appears with the beginning of the singing of the Lenten Triodion on the Sunday of the Publican and the Pharisee. We hear it at every Sunday vigil. Year after year, after the 50th Psalm, the electric lights in the church are extinguished, prayerful silence reigns, and the choir begins to sing “Open the doors of repentance...”
We hear this chant at every Sunday all-night vigil (evening service on Saturday evening) until the fifth Sunday of Great Lent, dedicated to the Venerable Mary of Egypt. So we meet him 9 times over about two months.
In terms of its position at the Divine Service and its importance, “Open the Repentance” could be compared to the solemnly raised banner that accompanies the troops not only during the battle itself, but also immediately before the battle on the march to the battlefield.
I hear them singing “Repentance” again
I hear them singing “Repentance” again. Again: “Have mercy on me, O God,” they sing, Again sighs and sobs are heard, Tears of repentance flow.
And the Lord extends His arms, As if He wants to embrace all sinners And with His omnipotent grace Strengthen, heal, caress.
Why are you hesitating, my soul, in negligence? Hurry to God's temple, come to Christ with humility, tell about your ailments.
How many times have you angered the Creator, How many times have you broken your vow, How many times have you amused your enemy, Forgetting your baptismal vow.
Remember how many times you secretly sinned with a wish, with your gaze, with your mind, Although sometimes you didn’t commit a sin, But you wished, dreaming about it.
How many times have you insulted your family, not even considering it a sin? How many times have you seduced people, brought them to tears, to laughter.
How many times have you condemned people, Spread bad rumors, How many times have you cowardly grumbled In dissatisfaction with life, with fate.
How many times did you get irritated over a trifle, didn’t want to bear the insult, didn’t forgive those who insulted you, and now don’t you want to forgive?
But Christ became incarnate for you. He shed His blood for you, He was nailed to the Cross for you, He reconciled Heaven with the sinful earth.
So don’t hesitate, soul, try, make peace with those who insulted you, go to church and repent to God, partake of the Body and Blood of Christ.
“Open the doors of repentance for me...”
Repentance
The word spoken
on Forgiveness Sunday in the Church of the Resurrection, that on the Arbat of Moscow
I lost my way, like a lost sheep:
Seek Thy servant, for
I have not forgotten Your commandments.
Ps. 118, 176.
WITH
With such feelings as the prophet of God David confessed in one of his psalms, we enter the sacred field of the seven-week Great Lent and today we stand at its threshold.
For several weeks now you have been hearing at Saturday all-night vigils, and you will hear several more times during Lent, the sacred song calling us to repentance: “Open the doors of repentance for me.” These words are sung not only by the choir: it sings on behalf of all of us, but also by the heart of each of us.
“Lord, open the door of repentance for me.” Why are we asking this door to be opened for us? Can't we ourselves repent of our sins? It is easy to imagine a traveler caught at night by a winter blizzard on his way to the house where he expects to find shelter for himself. The snowstorm blinds his eyes, his feet sink in deep snow. He finds it difficult to find the home he is striving for. He approaches, but cannot open the doors with his frozen hands. If this house is not familiar to him, he does not know the way to open this door. He knocks and shouts: “Open up, I’m freezing.” They open the door for him, he enters, and warmth and relaxation await him here.
And each of the sinners, mired in their grave sins, is like a traveler lost on a snowy night. Sins blind our spiritual vision; sins bind our hands and feet in a spiritual sense. Corroded by passions, entangled in sins, we often lose the very path to repentance: we cannot realize our sin, nor understand its destructive power, nor find within ourselves the determination and boldness to go to God with repentance. We often do not have the strength to be inspired by faith and hope in God’s mercy.
How varied is the sin that poisons our soul! We sin in words, deeds, and thoughts. We sin against each other, against ourselves, our immortal soul, against the Lord God, our Heavenly Father, paying Him for His countless gifts, for His inexhaustible love for us, with the cruel ingratitude of our hearts and unwillingness to fulfill His will.
What power sin has over the human heart! We, clergy, often have to accept the confession of sinners. We see sincere, bitter tears condemning sin; we see people crying, fervently promising not to return to the path of sin. And how often after this the soul again falls into the same sinful swamp, for deliverance from which it so sincerely cried.
We know how sins are interconnected: one sin introduces another into the heart. Let us remember the Christian virtues. They are inextricably linked to each other, forming a golden chain. Whoever teaches himself one virtue, acquires one good quality, will at the same time acquire another. Thus, the true prayer of a Christian, which embraces the whole world, all people, is inextricably linked with the love of the human heart for fellow humans. Love with its mercy, compassion, pity for people cannot live in the heart of a person without humility. The Christian virtues are a ladder, the steps of which form one whole. Sins form the same chain among themselves - only, of course, not a golden one, but a vicious one. They are all organically connected with one another: one certainly entails the other. Like snakes, sins creep one after another into a person’s heart. Is not it? He who envies begins to condemn; whoever condemns means that he kindles the seed of anger in himself, and so on.
We are filled with sins, but often we do not realize that our heart, our immortal soul, is in the power of sin. We do not notice that we are floating on sinful waves, and they are carrying us, our immortal souls, to eternal destruction.
End of introductory fragment.
