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Excerpts from the Scripture.

“His watchmen are blind: they are all ignorant, they are all dumb dogs, they cannot bark; sleeping, lying down, loving to slumber. Yea, they are greedy dogs which can never have enough, and they are shepherds that cannot understand: they all look to their own way, every one for his gain, from his quarter” (Is. 56:10-11).

“And I will give you pastors according to mine heart, which shall feed you with knowledge and understanding” (Jer. 3:15).

“For the pastors are become brutish, and have not sought the LORD: therefore they shall not prosper, and all their flocks shall be scattered” (Jer. 10:21).

“Many pastors have destroyed my vineyard, they have trodden my portion under foot, they have made my pleasant portion a desolate wilderness. They have made it desolate, and being desolate it mourneth unto me; the whole land is made desolate, because no man layeth it to heart” (Jer. 12:10-11).

“Woe be unto the pastors that destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture! saith the LORD. Therefore thus saith the LORD God of Israel against the pastors that feed my people; Ye have scattered my flock, and driven them away, and have not visited them: behold, I will visit upon you the evil of your doings, saith the LORD. And I will gather the remnant of my flock out of all countries whither I have driven them, and will bring them again to their folds; and they shall be fruitful and increase. And I will set up shepherds over them which shall feed them: and they shall fear no more, nor be dismayed, neither shall they be lacking, saith the LORD. Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will raise unto David a righteous Branch, and a King shall reign and prosper, and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth. In his days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely: and this is his name whereby he shall be called, THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS” (Jer. 23:1-6).

“Behold, I have made thy face strong against their faces, and thy forehead strong against their foreheads. As an adamant harder than flint have I made thy forehead: fear them not, neither be dismayed at their looks, though they be a rebellious house” (Iez. 3:8-9).

“Son of man, I have made thee a watchman unto the house of Israel: therefore hear the word at my mouth, and give them warning from me. When I say unto the wicked, Thou shalt surely die; and thou givest him not warning, nor speakest to warn the wicked from his wicked way, to save his life; the same wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at thine hand. Yet if thou warn the wicked, and he turn not from his wickedness, nor from his wicked way, he shall die in his iniquity; but thou hast delivered thy soul. Again, when a righteous man doth turn from his righteousness, and commit iniquity, and I lay a stumbling block before him, he shall die: because thou hast not given him warning, he shall die in his sin, and his righteousness which he hath done shall not be remembered; but his blood will I require at thine hand. Nevertheless, if thou warn the righteous man, that the righteous sin not, and he doth not sin, he shall surely live, because he is warned; also thou hast delivered thy soul” (Iez. 3:17-21).

“And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel, prophesy, and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD unto the shepherds; Woe be to the shepherds of Israel that do feed themselves! Should not the shepherds feed the flocks? Ye eat the fat, and ye clothe you with the wool, ye kill them that are fed: but ye feed not the flock. The diseased have ye not strengthened, neither have ye healed that which was sick, neither have ye bound up that which was broken, neither have ye brought again that which was driven away, neither have ye sought that which was lost; but with force and with cruelty have ye ruled them. And they were scattered, because there is no shepherd: and they became meat to all the beasts of the field, when they were scattered. My sheep wandered through all the mountains, and upon every high hill: yea, my flock was scattered upon all the face of the earth, and none did search or seek after them” (Iez. 34:1-6).

“Woe to the idle shepherd that leaveth the flock! The sword shall be upon his arm, and upon his right eye: his arm shall be clean dried up, and his right eye shall be utterly darkened” (Zech. 11:17).

“The priest's lips should keep knowledge, and they should seek the law at his mouth: for he is the messenger of the LORD of hosts” (Mal. 2:7).

Advice of Father Alexander Yelchaninov

(+1934 г.) to Young Priests.

Pastoral work must be individual and creative. The method, frequently practiced, becomes routine.

Any word or lecture make sense and have value only if they come from the personal spiritual experience, knowledge. Any word, said only with lips, is dead and false, and the listeners always distinguish this error-freely.

The “pastoral” texts (I extract for the manual):

“But we were gentle among you, even as a nurse cherisheth her children” (1 Thess. 2). “I am made all things to all men, that I might by all means save some” (1 Cor. 9).

It is necessary to teach people to confess. How often instead of a confession you hear the absolutely everyday conversations, boasting, quoting of the good opinions about oneself, complaints on the close ones and on the difficulties of life. Partly this comes from the ignorance, lack of the church culture, partly — from the sinful confusion, weakness, when a person cannot and does not attempt to see himself, when he does not have neither habit, not desire to look into the soul, there is no aversion to the sin, there is no tendency toward the light and thirst for purification.

One should try that all coming for confession, would carry out of each fasting at least one good habit — for example, the compulsory two-times prayer, in a day, non-judging, etc; one should persistently instill, check — then it automatically becomes a need.

It occurs, that, being prepared for confession, a fasting person at times experiences the fear of sin, sincere repentance with tears, and, after coming to a priest, he feels nothing, does not have fear or grief. Is it possible to expand the limits of the sacrament? Cannot it be considered that the sacrament of confession includes everything: fasting, prayers, repentant feelings, and that the moment of the very confession is only the final, although the crucial point?

Any priest must be well informed concerning the sphere of nervous and mental illnesses — this is absolutely necessary in the practice of the spiritual guidance.

This is the usual case, when that being confessed, and together with him a confessor take the phenomenon of the purely nervous character for religious experiences, or when a priest does not know how to determine the hysterical foundation of many phenomena and by the fact only worsens the position. But frequently there happens the reverse — the painful condition of the soul, burdened by the sin and intricate and obscured by the unsolved conflicts is taken for a nervous disease. They know the cases, when one confession cured inveterate and hard, supposedly nervous diseases, against which all the medical means were powerless, without leaving a trace.

The frequently confessing person, not having any deposits of sin in the soul, cannot but be but healthy. Confession is a beneficial discharge of the soul. In this sense the value of confession and generally of entire life is great in the connection with the blissful aid of the Church.

The first, too early confession (there are children of 6 years who are the perfect babies) disrupts the simplicity, entirety, directness by the artificially waked self-examination? For some children, especially “baby-like” I would postpone confession for a year or two.

Today children (10-12 years) asked me (obviously after a great argument between themselves), what the asceticism is. I answered - the “system of the exercises, which subordinates the body to the spirit.” “And what are the very first exercises?”

—1) to breathe with nose,

— 2) to eat not to be totally sated (not to take the second portion),

—3) not to sprawl in bed.

This can be a theme for a big independent conversation with children.

We, allowing the frequent confession and communion, sometimes forget the rescuing force of the fasting duration, which is possible only in the Great Lent with the frequent and special services. Then during a week the man has living and convincing experience of the struggle with sin, the happiness of the victory over it, he sees the results of his prayer.

The hopelessness of the position of many repentant, the apparent hopelessness of their position (“Anyway, I will do the same, there are no forces to fight with the sin”) is in the fact that these people are out of the Church. Their salvation is in entering into the Church Body, into the contact of love with the brothers. Our church practice loses the council nature of the sacraments, including the sacrament of confession.

I frequently note the desire to go through confession painlessly for themselves in those being confessed: either they try to get off with the general phrases or they speak about trifles, hushing up that what could actually burden their conscience. There is the false shame before a confessor and generally — the cowardly fear to begin to stir one’s life, full of small and customary weaknesses, earnestly. However, the true confession, as a blissful upheaval of the soul, frightens by its resoluteness, need to change something, or even simply to think about oneself. Here a priest must be resolute, not to fear to destroy this calmness and to attempt to cause a feeling of true repentance.

To the over-anxious people, suspicious to any motion of their soul, torturing themselves and their confessor by the unstoppable digging in the soul, finally ending by the complete confusion, one should forbid the introspection and the detailed testing of their conscience and transfer them to the simple, but nourishing diet of prayer and good deeds. In these two exercises the soul simplifies and develops the feeling of the Truth; after what one can again return to the personal trial.

For those not repented, hard-hearted, I think, the public confession before the entire church as in the ancient times would be necessary.

In the practice of our pastoral service a question about how a confessor should guide neurotic, hysterical people, those with the abnormal psychics, is little developed. According to my observations, the praying stress and exploits of the fast frequently even more greatly strengthen their internal chaos and not only do not put them right, but cause the explicit harm. Here the own methods are necessary, they can be sometimes directly opposite to those, which are applicable to the normal people.

One frequently does not know how to start confession. It is necessary to help him, wake in him the repentant feeling, to pose leading questions — if within this period there was any spiritual life (fight with the sin, prayer, self-compulsion, the effort to become better), if he succeeded in anything, has not he stepped back? What sin he considers the heaviest? Which virtue — the most important?

It is necessary to advise the most frequent possible resort to the sacrament of Communion. The lesson, taught once a year, will teach nothing.

During confession very many, if not all, most of all need that a priest would pray with them. With this prayer in common the heart softens, repentance intensifies, and the spiritual sight becomes more sophisticated.

The lessons of the past lent.

No matter how you are tired, show maximum attentiveness, do not hurry.

It is better to show to everybody the absolute love, leniency, sympathy, not to frighten anyone away with strictness.

Even if they incorrectly confess (are vain, mention their virtues, tell in detail the circumstances of life), — do not be blunt, do not stop — many unhappy come only in order to cry about their hard life.

One should distinctly read to that being confessed the prayer before confession:

“…accept also Thy servant [name] who repents of his sins which he has committed, overlooking all that he has done, pardoning his offenses and passing by his iniquities…” , etc. Frequently in the indifferent, after the prayer, wake up the feeling of repentance.

The main thing is to attain the sincere repentance, if it is possible — the tears, with which the details are not necessary, but for the appearance of which the detailed and concrete story is often necessary.

To give penance to all. Penance is the reminder, lesson, exercise; it gets accustomed to the spiritual exploit, gives the taste for it; it is necessary to limit it with the exact terms, for example, to read 40 Akathists and the like (the story of X, how he did not feel like to stop the daily reading of Akathists, when the time ran out). The possible forms of penance — bows, Jesus prayer, getting up for the Midnight Office, reading, fasts, alms — to whom and what is more necessary.
The normal order of confession: The prayer and a brief advice of how to confess. To let one speak out, without interrupting, only helping, if he keeps silent. The prayer about obtaining of the sincere repentance to the being confessed and forgiveness of his sins;

Giving advice. Absolution.

One could not doctor the others’ souls (“help people”), without having cured oneself, to bring into order the others’ emotional property with the chaos in one’s own soul, to bring peace to the others, without having it in oneself.

Our help to people is often not in the system of the deliberate actions, influencing their soul, but in the invisible and unknown for us action of our spiritual gifts on them. When Anthony the Great asked his taciturn visitor: “Why don’t you ask me about anything?” the latter said: “It suffices to look at you, Holy Father.”

How much clothing means. With the clothes, and form is connected the entire complex of feelings, notions, emotional motions. In particular, a priest must not, I feel, put on the civil clothes. Removing his clothing, he unavoidably acquires the “non-priestly” condition, to some degree becomes unfaithful to the personal priesthood.

Any person who is a Christian, and especially a priest, must be always ready to reject everything for God’s sake, when God will require that.

One should not hesitate to visit even the doubtful in the church sense families. I know according to the experience — they will be glad, everywhere they meet you with great happiness, do not let go, say thanks.
Advice of father John of Kronstadt. One should not get accustomed to serve, even religious rites — always should do it with reverence, thoroughly get prepared for the Liturgy (it is possible to divide it into parts during the day). One should not raise eyes during the service.

Not to act.

Not to shut the doors before anyone who comes, whoever it is.

Not to reject money (pride).

To confess everyone who comes in the manner like this is his last, dying confession.

A priest listens to the tearing confessions, with absolute compassion, and, at the same time, he does not get tired, does not feel himself crushed by the avalanche of the human sin and grief, that brings him down, — because he takes it (with the power of the priesthood blessedness) not upon his heart. So it is necessary to live that way.

There is the necessity to have besides parishes and the common church life that, what in ancient Russia was called “the small church” — i.e. such clusters of the church warmth, small churches of the individual families, where would be achieved the contact of people, impossible in the large, intersperse by the complement and fluctuating parishes. The responsibility of a priest is to guide such groups, whose purposes can be different — study of the Gospel or church services, the care of the sick and poor. But the main thing is not even in these tasks, but in the contact of people with each other. It is difficult even to suppose, how many lonely and running wild in this solitude people live among us.

When I think over, what to say, the real process of theological and verbal creation almost always begins in me, and the sermon itself becomes a reproduction. It means that it is necessary to accomplish this first process aloud, in the people’s presence. But for this there are two conditions — the filled heart and total simplicity.

In order to speak without preparation, it is necessary to have in the head the precise theme, dismembered to the basic ideas. But the main creation must happen during the sermon; otherwise you burn out while being prepared, and present only the cold ashes to those listening to.

It is necessary in a sermon or a general conversation somehow discuss the typical “stumbling places,” “domestic heresies,” with which is infected the majority of those coming for confession. Here are some of them, the most common ones: God should not be feared; the primacy of morals; the saints are the egoists; the negation of fasting; the negation of the Old Testament; the superiority of the home prayer.

Members of “the Christian Science” reproach us, the Orthodox, in weak faith and the inability by the force of the spirit to overcome personal illnesses. Their argument is that Christ freed us from the servitude of flesh (Rom. 8).

What to say to this?

— The gift of healing by the Christians is not the gift of omnipotence and divine power above nature...

Indeed the apostles themselves were ill, many righteous men (St. Ambrose) till the end of their days suffered from incurable diseases.

This is explained by the fact that until we live in this “body of death,” we bear all the consequences of this — to the Total Resurrection — “always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus” (2 Cor. 4:10).

Holy Trinity Orthodox Mission

Copyright © 2004, Holy Trinity Orthodox Mission

466 Foothill Blvd, Box 397, La Canada, Ca 91011, USA

The editor: Bishop Alexander (Mileant)

(pastyrskoe_bogoslovie_e.doc, 07-26-2004)