Asked by: Alexander
Orthodox
Hello. It’s difficult to remember all the events, especially since I didn’t immediately start paying attention to the strange coincidences. But, since there are no accidents, I had to think about what was happening in my life. Troubles are associated with cars and church holidays. It seems that everything should be bright and joyful on a holiday, but for me it’s a little different. My wife's grandmother dies. And on the day of the funeral, when we were driving, I made a comment about the bad weather and the road (there was snow). My wife only had time to mentally protest that the road seemed normal when we were spun around (4 turns, good thing at least no one crashed). Negative energy on this day - and then thoughts materialized. In another car with my wife and daughter, after the service we go out onto the road. The road at the intersection is empty, I start moving and a car appears out of thin air, and we miraculously managed to miss each other. Another car. The road is empty. It's a church holiday, but we have to go early in the morning. The result is a severe head-on collision. I have about 20 years of driving experience. I consider myself a careful driver. But after this accident I started thinking about troubles with the car. They cannot be accidental, since everything happens according to the will of God. But I still can’t understand this lesson. It was a miracle that we survived. We recovered after the accident and are taking another car. Again, the accident was not my fault, like the previous ones, fortunately it was minor. But it happens on the 40th day after my father’s death. We are going to church with our family for Christmas, and when we approach the car, the tire has been punctured. Another time we can’t go on a holiday because of disagreements at home. If we managed to leave, we may be late, although we leave with plenty of time to spare. And there were more such cases than I described. At the same time, on a non-holiday day we get to the temple without any problems. We began to understand the significance of God in our lives recently, especially after we survived the accident and noticed a certain connection between us and cars and holidays. Our heads are a mess from a lack of understanding of God’s will for us. What lessons should we learn from all these events? To be honest, on a holiday you subconsciously expect some kind of trouble. My wife, daughter and I are afraid to ride in cars. You have to muster all your willpower during the trip. The problem is not only psychological (the consequences of the accident will take a long time to affect). How to overcome negativity? Why do such significant events happen in church holidays, or during mourning. Thank you for your time. Sincerely, Alexander.
Answers: Hegumen Daniil (Gridchenko)
Dear Alexander! In the spiritual world, as in the physical world, there are laws and patterns. Laws are determined by the commandments of God, first of all, and violation of them, like violations of any law, as a consequence entails destruction of the order of life, and of life itself, one way or another; patterns - a certain collective spiritual experience. One of them, by the way, connects the temptations that God allows to a person with significant events that in one way or another relate to spiritual life - for example, church holidays, anniversaries of the memory of loved ones of deceased people.
The fact is that the spiritual world is heterogeneous. And along with God, there is a force opposite to Him, the goal of which is the destruction of the human soul in eternity. And often, when a person turns to God, some kind of opposition arises through obsessive thoughts, internal mental states, and sometimes external circumstances. However, it is necessary to make a reservation: if all this happens, it is only with God’s permission, and, as a rule, with some intelligible or educational purpose. As the Gospel says, without the will of God and no hair will be lost from your head(Luke 21:18). So, you need to look for the reasons for your life’s upheavals in life itself. Moreover, cause and effect may not be connected in any way outwardly. Roughly speaking, a person sins in one thing, but is punished in areas of life, apparently with his previous sin, which are in no way connected with his previous life. So, for example, a woman who has an abortion to make her life easier is almost guaranteed to make her unhappy. For, whether they believe in it or not, whether they want it or not, the Lord God participates in people’s lives, without taking away their freedom, but still allowing human evil only to a certain extent...
What happens to you should not embarrass you. For the nature of God's punishment is akin to parental punishment - it is driven by love. Figuratively speaking, the Lord has not given up on you, but wants your salvation... Maybe now it would be worth taking your past more seriously, confessing more carefully, trying not to repeat it past mistakes. Then, God willing, the life of your family will improve, be formed, and be peaceful. In what ways may the Lord strengthen and help...
The pre-New Year's revival comes very opportunely in the middle of the cold season: at this time, there is less sunshine and warmth, bright colors and impressions than ever before. Winter holidays make us feel alive again, renewed, full of plans and hopes! But, alas, not everyone is so lucky. For some people, this is a chronically unloved period, while others are overcome with melancholy unexpectedly. There are several reasons for this (and therefore, ways to solve the problem). Let's talk about the most common...
When it's not time for a holiday
There are, of course, moments in life when there is no desire to celebrate at all. There's nothing to it. Parting with a partner, loss loved one, financial collapse or news of a serious illness will unsettle anyone. Here, in fact, the question “why the bad mood” does not even arise, this is obvious. There are simpler situations - although they do not plunge a person into severe depression, they still significantly “reduce the degree” of the joy of life. On the forums you can find a lot of complaints on the eve of December 31st: the car broke down, I broke up with my lover, a conflict with my boss, the weather is just terrible, I have a toothache (I’ll die, but I won’t go to the dentist on the holidays!) and the like...
But you shouldn't be so ungrateful. By complaining about “bad” events in our lives, we actually refuse to admit that they carry a developmental element. Often, troubles serve as a signal that we are doing something wrong, making us think and change something. Sometimes they can be truly fateful. Imagine a person who was late for a flight that crashed. So how do you know that a broken car did not save you from an accident, that an unexpected useful acquaintance did not await you on the way to the doctor, and that the end of an affair did not save you from boredom, exposure, divorce, division of property? Everything has back side, which we often don’t even suspect...
Unjustified hopes
Let's remember what feelings we get when we anticipate the new year? Of course, joyful. But, unfortunately, often the feelings and expectations of the holiday promise much more than we receive during the feast itself. Then, of course, we feel deceived and disappointed, and utter the standard phrase: “We prepared so much, but the holiday passed so quickly and it was as always.”
Well, how is it always? Basically, in the bustle of December, people try to forget themselves: put off unresolved problems and affairs for later, waste a lot of money on impractical “one-time” gifts and spontaneous purchases, hang out more shiny tinsel, prepare delicacies for a whole regiment, turn on the TV louder, make pretentious toasts in front of guests, eat and drink without moderation... - And it’s not even about the fact that alcohol, overeating and disruption of wakefulness in themselves inevitably lead to depression, and the remnants of euphoria evaporate at the mere sight of a sink, where dirty dishes take the form of a snowdrift. It’s just that you’ve really already seen all this...
A bad mood arises from internal discord, the main node of which remains in the subconscious. Blind faith in the “New Year’s miracle” (that is, that your life will suddenly and magically change without your constant, persistent and well-thought-out efforts) inevitably leads to disappointment. In order for the much-desired feeling of novelty to appear, you really (yes, really!) must do something fundamentally new. After all, this is the only reason why children are able to rejoice and enjoy every day so sincerely - for them there are still so many unexplored horizons! Maybe you should just never stop?
Prostration
For many creative people, preparation for the holiday is more important than the holiday itself. They devote themselves completely to decorating, decorating and cooking, and as a result, the enormous amount of energy they expend leads to exhaustion (burnout, if you will). In this case, there is simply no strength for a full-fledged celebration, and despite all the grandeur of the preparation New year's night turns into a regular feast. While the guests are having fun, the owner himself is not having fun - after all, this is the time that coincides with the body’s forced natural rest to restore wasted energy.
But this is only half the problem. As a result, our “Christmas elf” simply does not have time to thoughtfully analyze the year, remember and smile at the positive moments, think about the future and his plans, dream and make a wish with all his heart. There remains an unconscious feeling of incompleteness, some kind of meaninglessness (indeed, the person did not understand why he lived the past year). But what else is this holiday needed for, if not to sum up the results? - Don’t forget about yourself in the pre-holiday bustle...
When love is not a carrot
Many people think that it is during the holidays that a partner should behave in a particularly polite and joyful way and forgive them nervous breakdowns and reassure, help and inspire. We expect something more, but when we receive in response the same thing we always get, we are offended. Try not to make grandiose plans and perceive each other as you are. Everyday life. Your partner will not change himself just because they have stepped on holidays. Try to understand him, study his preferences and ideas about a particular holiday. Under this condition, you will not have to disappointly claim that you did not rest because your loved one did not support you.
It happens that by our behavior we ourselves push our partner towards rudeness and dissatisfaction, so carefully monitor your attitude towards him during the holidays. Are you notably capricious, do you often have a dissatisfied expression on your face, how many requests and comments do you make? Believe me, many things make us angry, but by and large they do not play any meaning in our lives. So if the dishes break - this is fortunate, if you accidentally fell asleep at midnight - have pleasant dreams, if your partner did not think of kissing you while the glasses were clinking - kiss him yourself. Happy holidays to you!
Every person at least once in his life has encountered such a manifestation of our existence here on earth as illness. But what is illness, why do we get sick and how can we get rid of illnesses? Archpriest Andrei Nikolaidi answers.
So, speaking about the theological understanding of illness, we must understand that illness is nothing more than a depletion of natural human strength, a discord in its nature, some change in its God-created composition. Man, called from non-existence to existence by Divine love, was created perfect, and, therefore, there was no room for disease in his body.
But, having stepped over the Divine will and violated the commandment of his Creator, man introduced distortion into the world through his sinful actions, and his nature underwent changes that can be designated by the Slavic word “decay” - that is, decay, discord, the consequences of which were illness and suffering . Thus, illnesses and bodily infirmities are the consequences of the Fall. It is no coincidence that in the Church Slavonic language the sinful habits of the soul and bodily suffering are denoted by one word - “passions”.
In a simplified way, we can express the spiritual scheme of the occurrence of illness as follows. A person, breaking the commandments of God, turns away from the Lord, the Source of life, and voluntarily chooses a different path. Going along the path leading to dying, people are sure to encounter the harbingers of dying - illnesses, sorrows and bodily infirmities.
Every disease is caused by sin. Sometimes the spiritual cause of an illness can be easily identified; it is enough for the sick person to look deep into his heart. But sometimes, in order to find out why a person is caught in the nets of weakness, it is necessary to very carefully review his entire life and examine his own conscience. It is in one’s own actions that one can see the real, spiritual cause of one’s painful state - unconfessed, unrepentant sin, which, like a pathogenic scab, causes illness of the soul, which, in turn, according to the law of the inextricable connection between soul and body, causes bodily weakness.
Illness, allowed by the Providence of God, is nothing more than a means of admonishing a person who has departed from the truth of God. It is in this aspect that the English writer and religious thinker Clive Staples Lewis views suffering, who expressed a thought that is surprising in its scope: “God turns to man with a whisper of love, and if he is not heard, then with the voice of conscience; if a person does not even hear the voice of conscience, then God shouts through the mouthpiece of suffering.”
But if the cause of the disease is sin, then the fight against the disease should be aimed at eliminating this cause. Orthodox Christians can and are obliged to use medicines and doctors’ recommendations, but they should not forget about spiritual means - the Sacraments of Confession, Holy Communion, Unction and, of course, prayer to the Lord and the holy saints of God.
Archpriest Andrei Nikolaidi
Orthodox Life
Viewed (527) times
Fasting is not for weaklings, says Andrey Muzolf, a teacher at the Kyiv Theological Seminary.
– Andrey, help answer readers’ questions about the growing troubles in Lent . There is an opinion that it is during this period that unforeseen problems and difficulties fall on fasting people. For example, this question from a reader: this year I decided to fast, but I began to have a lot of troubles, like some kind of obsession: my husband broke his arm, I was seriously hurt. How can this be explained?
– There is no doubt: the fact that a person has decided to take such a serious step as fasting will be a considerable irritant for the “prince of this world,” who with all his might strives to lead the person away from the only the right path- the path to salvation, which, in fact, is what Great Lent should become for us.
But at the same time, not everything that happens to us in our lives - especially in such a difficult (meaning spiritually difficult) period of Lent - should be attributed to some kind of temptation, or even more so to direct manifestations of demonic forces. A lot depends on us, on our inner disposition and attitude towards certain extraordinary things.
If we perceive such troubles (such as, for example, injuries that happen to us during fasting) as one of the types of temptations, we should all the more try to control ourselves and refrain from grumbling. Hieromartyr Peter of Damascus says: “ Every temptation, like medicine, is allowed by God to heal a weak soul." Therefore, if we want the period of Lent to bring not only the physical benefits that a regular diet provides, but also, above all, spiritual benefits, we should perceive all the troubles that occur precisely as attempts to heal our immortal soul.
– “Is it true that during fasting all evil spirits are activated - and a person is exposed to more temptations? How to survive all this? Maybe fasting is not for everyone?” Please help our readers figure it out.
– As mentioned above, fasting is the path to God, an attempt to return a person mired in his own sins to his Heavenly Father. And it is not surprising that such an attempt is met with hostility by the fallen angels, for whom any spiritual joy is another reason for envy, which, according to the Book of the Wisdom of Solomon, actually became the reason for Dennitsa’s falling away from God. But with all such attempts by demons to tear us away from communion with God, we must remember the words of the holy Apostle Paul: “ If God is for us, who can be against us?"(Rom. 8:31). Consequently, no demonic force, if we do not give it control over the slightest corner of our soul, will be able to overcome the action of God’s grace in us. God knows the strengths and capabilities of each of us and will never give us a cross that would be beyond our strength. Fasting is not some new institution at all. According to St. Basil the Great, fasting is an ancient gift of God to humanity, lifting people above heaven. People have been saved by fasting and prayer for dozens of centuries. And this is the best argument confirming the importance of fasting in the spiritual life of an Orthodox Christian.
– “How not to give in to panic and not be fooled by provocations during this period? From the first days of Lent, anxiety began about rising prices and the situation in the country...” Andrey, how to resist panic?
– If during Lent we are interested in higher prices, then Lent has not yet arrived for us. Rev. Ephraim the Syrian says: “ Fasting does not love the world, nor what is in the world“, and if we care more about the worldly than about the spiritual, then we are still far from fasting. The Holy Fathers advise: if we have any worries or problems in our hearts, we should not try to cope with them ourselves, but ask God for help, remembering the words of the holy prophet and psalmist David: “ Cast your worries on the Lord, and He will support you. He will never allow the righteous to be shaken"(Ps. 55:22). But if we, standing in church during worship or praying at home, think about prices or exchange rates, then we do not give God the opportunity to act in our lives; therefore, that spiritual spring has not yet come to us (this is what fasting is called in the liturgical hymns of the Lenten Triodion), which should change our lives from the inside.
– How does fasting time differ from ordinary time?
– We must remember that fasting is not an end in itself. Fasting, as we said above, is only a certain means, a certain road to that which is more sublime than fasting itself: fasting is the path to Easter, the path towards the Risen Christ. And therefore, the time of fasting is important for us as a period of enhanced self-control and enhanced self-preparation for such a meeting. Each of us, naturally, to the best of our spiritual strength, must make every effort to worthily meet the Resurrection of our Creator and fully “enter into the joy of our Lord” (see: Matt. 25:21).
– There is also this question: “Everyone at home is against my fasting, they say: God is in the soul. I depend on them because we eat together. What should I do? I might get into trouble because of fasting.”
– St. Theodore the Studite wrote that true fasting, which benefits the soul, lies in a peaceful, meek and compassionate disposition towards others. If we eat only bread and drink only water, but there is no peace in our hearts, this is not at all the fast to which the Lord calls us. The Holy Apostle James says: “ Show me your faith without your works, and I will show you my faith without my works."(James 2:18). Consequently, our faith should be manifested primarily in our actions towards our neighbors, and not in any self-restraint.
In the ancient Patericon there is the following story: a certain ascetic achieved such high level asceticism, when his heart was already very close to pride, and God revealed to him that in the same city there lived two people who far surpassed him in the holiness of their lives. The ascetic, wanting to see these people with his own eyes, went to that city and, at the direction of God, met two women about whom it was revealed to him that they were the ones who surpassed his spiritual exploits. At first the monk was confused: how could women living in the world be holier than he, an old ascetic who had spent decades in fasting and prayer? But later the ascetic realized that these two women surpassed him in that they never quarreled with anyone, but always kept peace in their hearts. Thus, maintaining peace in the family can in some cases be an even better sacrifice to God than fasting. Moreover, if we show love to our loved ones, perhaps it will make them our like-minded people faster than any persuasion and stories.
Andrey Muzolf
Interviewed by Natalya Goroshkova
Orthodox Life
Viewed (496) times
It is easier for those who have experienced suffering from illness to experience the happiness of health as a divine gift. Suffering pain, helplessness, fear.
Illness deprives a person of a carefree existence, an easy existence, reckless use of himself and the blessings of this world. Illness deprives a person of something fundamental - a sense of value and joy of being.
The disease casts doubt on whether this joy exists? Isn't the fundamental feeling of life illusory - the value of being, or, as Christian psychologists say, self-worth? In illness, self-worth is not obvious. The patient is in constant doubt whether there is a joyful life, if pain and suffering are so palpable and obvious, if health is so relative, if the opportunity to be oneself is interrupted, ridiculed, devalued.
The first and obvious spiritual test that awaits a person in illness is a test of vitality, love of life, and the joy of feeling one’s being. The disease calls all this into question. As one seriously ill woman said, “Is there really a life in which nothing hurts?” The test of illness is a test of the firmness of faith in life! Faith in the priceless gift of life. Faith in the Giver of Life! The disease, as it were, rebels against the gift, wants to absorb it, devalue it.
It requires spiritual effort, spiritual feat, stability in faith and strong-willed sobriety in order to maintain a resilient faith and a life-loving sense of self.
If illness is only a test, only a test of love for life, then the spiritual task of illness is to persist in the “non-obvious”, to maintain faith in the power of life, to believe in the Divine gift.
Disease for a person is a distortion of his natural, proper way of life. A person must be whole - whole, complete, healed. And therefore Jesus, having come to Galilee and later to Judea, first of all healed everyone, and then preached to them. Therefore, a doctor is a divine service, a due service, a righteous service. A person must be healed, healed of all diseases.
But what makes a person sick. Of course, it is not possible to list all the many factors: biological, environmental, physiological, psychological, behavioral, moral. It is possible to identify only the main sources of morbidity in humans and the human race as a whole. Ancestral heritage, distorted (infected) nature, but most importantly - human behavior. The latter is an image of sin, generic and personal.
Sin is one of the most significant causes of illness, but the reason is not obvious. It is impossible to indicate a specific sin that could be the cause of a specific illness. The cause-and-effect relationship between sin and illness is indirect, and the chain of such mediations is most often hidden from consciousness, long and symbolically intricate.
For example, the connection between alcoholism and cirrhosis of the liver may be understandable, but often the disease does not occur because several other factors influence it. The very facts of non-occurrence of illness due to advanced alcoholism cast doubt on the “sin-disease” connection.
Sometimes, on the contrary, the onset of illness “points” to reasons, to sins, but it is not possible to discern them. Often the sick person is told: “Repent and be healed. God is never unjust!” This is what his friends told Job, but the righteous man did not admit his guilt, and saw the cause of his illness in the will of God. This forces us to look at the sin-illness connection as fundamental, but unconscious, invisible.
However, some saints, righteous and ascetics, saw this connection in themselves and could talk about themselves (and only themselves) for what they suffer. Likewise, every patient can assume about himself that his illness may be associated with specific actions, deeds, choices and decisions.
This is especially true for diseases of the soul, mental and personality disorders. In these cases, it is even more difficult to see, and sometimes to see and admit, to admit to oneself the connection between the chosen strategies and the changes in the psyche that have occurred. But no matter how difficult it may be to find the “root of passions” of one’s illnesses, such a task will remain spiritually obligatory for a mature person. spiritual path. Finding the spiritual and everyday causes of one’s own illness is the task of spiritual healing.
Sin is like a condition, like loose, “fertile” soil on which disease grows. Disease is both a symptom and a freak. As an adaptation to the soil. Illness is like a necessity.
Illness poses a spiritual task for a person - to understand what is hidden behind it, what obvious, and more often implicit, violation, distortion of the truth, the nature of things, inconsistency with God’s plan is behind it.
A person may find himself in a difficult search for the truth about himself, about his inadequacy, about sin. But this is only possible if the value system includes the concepts of responsibility for choice, for action and the concept of sin as a mistake, failure to fulfill a commandment, as an act against God. If a person does not have such a value system, he may find himself facing a wall of misunderstanding. And then even the question “why do I need this?” will be inappropriate. The spiritual dimension here opens up the prospect of finding meaning, while renunciation of the meaning of illness closes the horizon of meaning.
So, we can assume that the point of illness is to get the opportunity to change something in your life. IN otherwise suffering as a spiritual chance will be in vain.
The onset of the disease is often associated with pain and suffering. Suffering changes consciousness. The usual way of life is disrupted. Many opportunities to enjoy life, have fun, rejoice and be happy disappear. All this changes consciousness again and again. It should be said that a patient is a person with an altered state of consciousness, like a person in a trance or hypnosis. And this is an objective difficulty for a person who has fallen ill or fallen ill.
The patient perceives the world and himself through the cloudy and impure prism of such an altered consciousness, and his perception is erroneous, incorrect, and distorted. And therefore it can give rise to mistakes, sins, and tragedies. It is very difficult for a sick person to maintain himself capable of sober thinking, adequacy and criticality. Otherwise, the patient becomes a real punishment for himself and his loved ones. This applies even more so to mental and spiritual illnesses. That is why it is so important, despite illness, to maintain sobriety, adequacy and responsibility.
So, the third spiritual task in illness is the adequacy of consciousness as a special, supernatural spiritual work.
