http://orthodox.net/redeemingthetime/2009/05/22/prophet-isaiah/ McKinney TX Homilies, scripture commentary, spiritual reflections Fri, 11 May 2012 16:48:56 +0000 hourly 1 http://orthodox.net/redeemingthetime/2009/05/22/prophet-isaiah/comment-page-1/#comment-1859 Natalia Arzhantseva Sun, 24 May 2009 06:38:50 +0000 http://orthodox.net/redeemingthetime/?p=892#comment-1859 "?hristian culture"...At times this word combination makes me shiver. It's because the "culture" is very widely spread. People like to declare they are Christians, meaning they belong to Orthodox church. "Awareness of impurity" spreads to others, not to ourselves. I realise, analysing myself, not only reading the Holy Fathers, that the more spiritual a person is, the more indulgent he is towards others, the more sins he sees in himself. And the more I try to justify myself, the more strict God's attitude to me will be. "Impurity" is reflected not only in sinful life, but merely in impossibility & reluctance to notice our own sins. Many of us take up radical measures sometimes, trying to obtain spirituality, but we forget that fasts, prayers, deeds are the means for our improvement, but not an end in itself. The revelation of righteousness is humility & love towards others. When we live with "dirty lips", we look at the mirror & see others, we see them in a dim light, we see their imperfections, but we don't see our own reflection. And we rarely think of - what the Church means for us...One of our priests once told us during our Sunday school class, that people turned the Church into the ritual service center. Occasional religios rites, candles, consecrations...Is there anything behind them? Do we feel the sacredness of the place & its real meaning for us as God's house & the place we come to to purify & save our souls? When I catch myself on teh fact that I start wondering about something, when the service is going on, or get irritated at peoples improper behaviour or cell phones souds, or notice when the reader or singer made a mistake...what am I doing there? When I linger on at the empty piece of paper trying to jot down my sins & find out I have very little to mention, or it occurs to me that I write down one & the same thing with "enviable" permanency...is it not a mockery over repentance? May our merciful Lord purify our dirty lips & sould with the Coal of His divine love! “?hristian culture”…At times this word combination makes me shiver. It’s because the “culture” is very widely spread. People like to declare they are Christians, meaning they belong to Orthodox church. “Awareness of impurity” spreads to others, not to ourselves. I realise, analysing myself, not only reading the Holy Fathers, that the more spiritual a person is, the more indulgent he is towards others, the more sins he sees in himself. And the more I try to justify myself, the more strict God’s attitude to me will be. “Impurity” is reflected not only in sinful life, but merely in impossibility & reluctance to notice our own sins. Many of us take up radical measures sometimes, trying to obtain spirituality, but we forget that fasts, prayers, deeds are the means for our improvement, but not an end in itself. The revelation of righteousness is humility & love towards others.
When we live with “dirty lips”, we look at the mirror & see others, we see them in a dim light, we see their imperfections, but we don’t see our own reflection.
And we rarely think of – what the Church means for us…One of our priests once told us during our Sunday school class, that people turned the Church into the ritual service center. Occasional religios rites, candles, consecrations…Is there anything behind them? Do we feel the sacredness of the place & its real meaning for us as God’s house & the place we come to to purify & save our souls? When I catch myself on teh fact that I start wondering about something, when the service is going on, or get irritated at peoples improper behaviour or cell phones souds, or notice when the reader or singer made a mistake…what am I doing there? When I linger on at the empty piece of paper trying to jot down my sins & find out I have very little to mention, or it occurs to me that I write down one & the same thing with “enviable” permanency…is it not a mockery over repentance?
May our merciful Lord purify our dirty lips & sould with the Coal of His divine love!

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