- Chairman of the Synodal Department for Church Charity and Social Service, Manager of the Eastern Vicariate of Moscow, Confessor of the St. Demetrius School of Sisters of Mercy, Confessor of the Orthodox Help Service "Mercy" - often meets with young people, including for conversations about marriage and family. At these meetings, questions are raised that are especially concerning to girls and young people: on what foundation can a strong family be built? how to find love in this world? how to overcome loneliness? how to choose your future spouse? How to resist the temptations of modern society? The material published below is about one of these meetings. Bishop Panteleimon said his holy word about love and joy, and then answered questions from those present.
Communication with Christ is the way out of a hopeless situation
We live in a time when the family is being destroyed. It is being destroyed, first of all, because people decided to look for a way out of the problems that are so numerous in the world today. They repeat the mistake that Adam and Eve made in paradise. God was with them. They lived in Paradise. There was no evil there, and God wanted them to become gods by grace. But they obeyed the voice of an evil spirit, who seduced them with an offer to become “like gods” by eating the forbidden fruit, violating the commandment of God. Thus, the evil spirit deceived the first people to seek the path to perfection through the fruits of knowledge of this material world. Modern people follow the same false path of Adam and Eve. People think that science and economics are the most important things for humans. They try to solve problems, but the problems only increase. And we know where this will ultimately lead.
The family is destroyed because people lose touch with the source of love - with God
The family is destroyed because people lose touch with the source of love - with God. And if we want God to arrange our life, to help us in this life find someone who can be our spouse, then we must turn to God for help.
We understand that not every person in the modern world can find a worthy life partner. But it’s better not to connect your life with some unworthy person, because otherwise your life will be even worse. Only the Lord is able to show us the path that will lead us to joy. After all, we all want joy and love. And love is possible not only in marriage.
Jesus Christ talks about love for people. The Gospel contains a commandment about love even towards enemies. 2000 years ago, Christ came to Earth, lived with the apostles, died on the cross, rose from the dead, ascended to Heaven and remains with us. In communication with Christ, all problems are solved. This communication is the way out of the hopeless situation in which humanity finds itself.
People who do not know how to solve family and other problems in this life find all the answers in communication with Christ. I think that if there is unpeace, restlessness, joylessness in your soul, it is not because you do not have a family. There is another reason. It is probably that you are far from God. You do not go to Christ, you do not want to let Him into your heart, you do not want to accept Him, to unite with Him in the Sacraments of the Church.
A believer does not feel alone
The Lord came to earth for this reason, so that we would not be alone
A person who wants to start a family usually complains of loneliness. The Bible said when Adam was created by God: “It was not good for man to be alone” (Gen. 2:18). But the Lord came to earth for this reason, so that we would not be alone. He said: “I am with you always, even to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:20). People who loved and knew Christ said: “What I lack will be compensated by fellowship with the Lord.” The Lord never disgraced these hopes. He always came and consoled, helped and pleased those who had a lack in this life, but prayed to Christ.
Blessed Matrona was blind and disabled, but she found the grace of God and happiness in this life. The martyrs who suffered for Christ sometimes did not even feel their torment. People who gave away everything they had, and therefore had nothing, owned the whole world when they found Christ. “We are saddened, but we always rejoice; We are poor, but we enrich many; We have nothing, but we possess everything,” says the Apostle Paul (2 Cor. 6:10). The monks who renounced everything, shut themselves up in cramped cells and caves, even buried themselves in the ground - received that joy that this world cannot contain, which is incomparable to any other joy.
The main problem of humanity is that people suffer from loneliness. All modern literature, music, and cinema are about this. This problem is considered by philosophers and journalists. They write a lot, discuss what to do and what to do to solve this difficult problem - to save people from loneliness.
But what is the reason for loneliness? Loneliness arises precisely because the soul does not have communication with God. What is the way out? Christians know where the exit is. The way out is to turn to the One who came to Earth and, without ceasing to be true God, became a true Man like us - in Christ Jesus.
When Adam was in Paradise, God was there. But this God, who was in Paradise, was not God incarnate, but an abiding God. Adam saw Him somehow. But when the incarnation of God took place - God came to earth and became Man - the situation in the entire Universe changed radically.
If you don't love God, how can you love a person?
Now we cannot refer to the fact that we have no joy, to the fact that we are alone, because Christ is with us, Who came to earth, we can have communion with Him in the Church Sacraments. Without this fellowship, no individual, no family, no society, no whole humanity can have the fullness of joy. Because if we could have joy without Christ, why would Christ become a Man? No, there are no alternative sources of joy and life to Christ.
Jesus Christ gives us His Body and Blood under the guise of bread and wine in the Eucharist. He died for us and is ready to die for each of us again if necessary. Jesus Christ loves us and will love us as no man can love, as no father, no mother, no groom, no bride, no husband, no wife will love us.
If now, when you live alone, you have no fellowship with Christ, if you neglect His love, if you do not respond to this love with anything, then how will you live with a person like you? Who has shortcomings, who will not love as Christ loves? Think about it! This is the cause of all the unrest: unpeace and pain in your life. This is precisely why your soul is empty, this is precisely the reason for the tragedy of your loneliness. The source of this tragedy is your free choice. Only you decide whether to go to Christ or reject him.
“I’ll have a child”
A child is not a dog, you cannot “have” him. A child needs a family
Someone is trying to overcome loneliness anyway: they decide to give birth to a child “for themselves.” The woman thinks: “I’ll have a child. I’ll select his father based on blood tests so that he’s healthy, with normal heredity, and I’ll give birth to his child.” This is selfishness. These women do not think about the child they want to give birth to, but about themselves. And they don't need a family. But a child is not a dog, you cannot “get” him. A child needs a family. And how can a child grow up without a father?
Give love to those who need help
At the same time, how can you talk about loneliness when so many people need help? There are so many children who need love! There are families where no one loves the child. There are orphanages, there are disabled children whom no one is going to adopt or adopt into their family. Give them this love, try to do it not in your dreams, not in your plans, but in life.
Some people say: “I have love in my soul, but there is no one to pour this love on. I need a person on whom I would pour out all my tenderness, all my love, so that I would take care of him, prepare what he likes to eat, look after...” There are vessels for this love: homeless people, orphans, patients in hospitals, large families where the mother does not have enough love and care for all the children, lonely elderly people, people of all ages and situations. There are a lot of people who need love. We have a community of volunteers who help people who need our help and love.
Sometimes the words: “I’m lonely. I would like to have my own family,” is actually a lie, a deception, a cover-up. We do not know how to love and rejoice. We don't know how to believe in God. But we are looking for some kind of replacement for all this. Some people need a drug, some a bottle of vodka, some a computer game, and some a family. But family is no joke. This is serious business.
Marriage and physiological needs
There is another problem that needs to be mentioned. The person says: “I need to start a family, I can’t be alone because I need to satisfy physiological needs.” A person cannot do without food and drink. But a person can easily live and be happy without “this.” “This” is completely unnecessary for a person. When he has learned “this”, has seen enough of all sorts of rubbish, dreamed of all sorts of nasty things, then, of course, he cannot live without “this”. But you can get used to chewing manure, and then without manure there will be no life.
Marriage is not about satisfying any “needs,” but about learning to love and sacrificially serving others.
What to do? Break the habit! If you become an alcoholic, then you need to go to a doctor and recover from alcoholism. If you are a drug addict, there are centers that help you get rid of drug addiction. In the same way, a person can and should be cured of this supposed need. In marriage, she will only bother you. Marriage is not about satisfying any “needs,” but about learning to love and sacrificially serving others: your spouse and children.
Marriage is a school of love and chastity. An unchaste person, entering into marriage, indulging his passions, can often become even worse. He will need something else to somehow satisfy his passions. But this is some kind of bestiality. A person must live for the soul, for the spirit, he must not indulge his body. This is not a compelling reason to get married.
A believer gets married in order to create a Small Church, to learn to love, to serve, to learn to obey, to humble himself, to be responsible for another, to look after, to care for someone. You need to practice this in advance. Maybe the Lord does not give you a loved one while you still do not know how to love like that, while you only have it in your dreams.
Let's learn this. Let's create such courses. We will give each of you a ward whom you will love and take care of: for some a child, for others a homeless person, for others a sick person. I understand that this is funny, maybe it sounds like I’m exaggerating a little, but in principle this can be done.
And your loved ones need help: mom, dad, grandparents, relatives. There are a lot of people around us who need help.
Live joyfully!
We all have talents. Some can write poetry, others can play musical instruments or sing. It can be very interesting to live in the world. We must take advantage of this opportunity - it is interesting to live while we are still living.
We need to build a schedule for a happy life, a joyful life. There is no need to rush to catch up with something, there is no need to rush to do everything. You need to make life joyful, so that your soul rejoices. Christ, the Church, will help you achieve this. The Church has experience of a happy life.
Well, one little practical advice: go to bed early and get up early. This is important to avoid discouragement.
Morning is the best time for prayer
“The soul, renewed by sleep... asks of itself to be allowed to go where all its joy is - before the face of the Heavenly Father.”
If you are alone, you definitely need to pray. To do this, you need to get up early in the morning. There is a place in the Gospel that talks about how the Lord in the morning, “rising up very early,” went out and retired to a deserted place and prayed there. Saint Theophan the Recluse says: “Here is a lesson to get up early and devote the first hours of the day to prayer in solitude. A soul renewed by sleep is fresh, light and capable of penetration, like fresh morning air, therefore it naturally asks to be let into where all its joy is, before the face of the Heavenly Father, into the community of angels and saints.”
It is more convenient to pray in the morning than later, when the worries of the day weigh on the soul. But, unfortunately, these words were written when the rhythm of life was a little different. You probably won't agree with this. It may be easier for you to pray in the evening than in the morning. But I noticed from myself that I remember the morning prayers by heart, but I can’t remember the evening prayers: in the evening my head gets tired. Some pray only in the evening, and in the morning they are in a hurry, as soon as they wake up, they immediately run about business... But it is very important to start business with prayer. Morning is an important time for prayer.
Reading with analysis
You also need to think about what to read. Because not everything needs to be read. No need to read the news! No need! Why immerse your mind in this? Moreover, these news were written by people who do not want to talk about what is really happening, but to form our one-sided opinion about this event, to turn our thoughts in some direction. And they write only terrible things, so it seems: it’s already the end of everything! Why read all this? You will already learn about the most important things. The Third World War will begin - they will definitely tell you, don’t be upset!
You need to read good books, listen to good books - now you can find audio recordings of books on the Internet. Make a list of good books and read or listen to something good in the evening. Reading good books helps a lot to become happy.
To overcome loneliness, you definitely need to do something together: it could be some kind of joint service, sports, recreation, pilgrimages, hikes... You need to be creative. You need to play sports: the body must work. There is no time for sports, just leave the snow when it falls, sweep the yard if there is no snow. Girls should not engage in boxing, weightlifting or play football - the sport that makes them strong and graceful is suitable for them.
For men - wrestling, boxing, weightlifting. Or play football. You can sign up for tennis, you can organize bike rides...
You come to the Liturgy as a sinner and unclean, but you leave as a saint.
The most important thing in life is the Liturgy. It is important to prepare for the Liturgy, to pray in such a way, to participate in it so that it is joyful - as joyful as it was for the holy righteous John of Kronstadt, who said: “When I do not serve the Liturgy, I die.” He denounced the people of his day for their lack of vital participation in the Eucharist. One must love the Liturgy as the saints loved it.
I cannot imagine life without the Eucharist. This is the most important moment of the day, the most important moment in my life. This is such a joy! It's new every time! Each time you listen to these words in a new way, repeat them, read them. You come to the Liturgy as a sinner, bad, bad, dirty, unclean, with some bad thoughts, but you leave as a saint. Liturgy purifies a person, makes him different in union with Christ. During the Liturgy, a Christian receives the gift of the Holy Spirit.
The basis of spiritual life is to have a confessor
Everyone should have their own parish, their own temple, their own confessor
Everyone should have their own parish, their own church, their own confessor. How to choose a confessor? If a person lives in the taiga, where there are few priests, where there are few churches, it is probably difficult to do this there, but in Moscow there are so many good priests.
Should there be a confessor in your parish, or is this not important? In your parish! And it is always better to confess to one confessor. Should there be one mother or how many? There is always only one primary school teacher, and there is also only one English teacher. If there are different teachers, then different pronunciation, different teaching methods. Of course, there must be one teacher, one mother, one father, one Motherland, one confessor, one Church, one God. Fathers are unanimous, but still give different recommendations.
The basis of spiritual life is to have a confessor, a spiritual leader, a teacher.
Recently, the Bishops' Conference adopted a document on the participation of the faithful in the Eucharist. It tells us how the laity should participate in the Liturgy today. It very often says: “This must be decided by a person with his confessor.” How often to receive communion, how to fast, what prayer rule for the Liturgy should a person have? If there is no confessor, how to solve this? A confessor is needed in order to learn to obey at least a little.
Being able to obey is an important quality for family life.
After his speech, Bishop Panteleimon answered questions from those present.
Before you walk down the aisle
– What feelings can serve as sufficient grounds for marriage? When there is no strong love, but there is affection, sympathy, respect, is this a good reason?
– There must be not only feelings, but also reasoning. The heart must agree with the mind. The mind must agree with the heart. Because it is incorrectly said: “You can’t order your heart,” “It’s stronger than me,” and the like. It is very dangerous.
When the mind and heart agree, and the parents give a blessing, and the confessor blesses, then in a year you can think about starting a family
When the mind and heart agree, and the parents give a blessing, and the confessor blesses, then in a year you can think about starting a family. Maybe earlier, if the confessor gives his blessing.
– How to build relationships correctly so that infatuation grows into love?
– I think it is very important to follow the following rule: when a girl starts dating a young man and she develops feelings for him, she must “keep her foot on the brake.” She should not allow these feelings to develop. Because until he offered her his hand and heart, she could be very mistaken in his intentions. Young people are changeable and picky. The “market” for brides is large, and they do not choose a bride right away.
We must keep control of ourselves. Prayer and confession help with this.
For infatuation to grow into love, time and the will of God are needed. Falling in love is a feeling, a desire that blinds a person, when a person does not see the shortcomings of another and is guided only by his heart. Falling in love comes in different forms. It happens that falling in love is simply called attraction to a person of the opposite sex. But this is not falling in love, it is called differently.
Before getting married, you must try to see in your chosen one all the bad things that are in him in order to understand who you are marrying. So that it doesn’t turn out like this: she married one, but married another. But there will be no turning back: the priest has already married. Therefore, we must take our time and see everything soberly, realistically: what is he like? When you try to see it, then love can appear, which is as the Apostle Paul says about it: “Love is patient, is kind, love does not envy, love is not arrogant, is not proud, is not rude, does not seek its own, is not angry, does not think evil, does not rejoice in untruth, but rejoices in the truth; covers all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails” (1 Cor. 13:4–8).
– If you like a young man, but things don’t work out for you as quickly as you would like, does this mean that he is not your man, that he is not meant for you?
- No, that doesn’t mean it. Anything can happen.
After people have agreed that they want to get married, a year must pass. And there is no need to rush under any circumstances
After people have agreed that they want to get married, a year must pass. And under no circumstances should you rush: choosing a bride or groom happens once in a lifetime! It is very important not to make mistakes!
– Is it true that every person has his own betrothed or betrothed, that is, a person prepared by God?
– Everyone has a Guardian Angel, that’s for sure. For everyone, it seems to me, God has prepared a confessor. I can testify to this too. But about the betrothed...
– Can the Lord change His plan for man?
– Do you remember the story about the prophet Jonah and Nineveh (Jon. 1)? The prophet Jonah was sent to the city of Nineveh to tell the inhabitants that in three days the city would be destroyed for their sins. And the prophet did not want to go there, because he knew: God is humane and can change His plan. And if he predicts something that will not come true, what kind of prophet is he? And Jonah wanted to run away from God, but the Lord arranged it in such a way that he ended up in this city and told its inhabitants: “Your city will be destroyed.” They began to repent, cry, and ask God for forgiveness. The Lord had mercy on them. Jonah was so upset! He left this city, sat down under some plant with large leaves - and sat there in despondency because his prophecy had not been fulfilled. Then the Lord sent worms, they ate this plant, and the sun began to scorch Jonah. He became even more saddened. And the Lord said to him: “Are you sad that the plant has withered? But in this city there are so many children who have not yet grown above the stirrup of a horse, well, don’t I feel sorry for them? If they repented, I must forgive them.”
The Lord changes His plans. There was a plan for our Motherland that it would be betrayed to Catholicism for the bad life of the people, and our kings would be foreigners. But the Lord heeded the prayers of the Mother of God and all the saints, the Time of Troubles changed, Moscow was liberated from the Poles, Tsar Michael was elevated to the Russian throne, and his father was elevated to the Patriarchal throne. A wonderful time has come in Russian history.
God can change His plans for us too. Even if a “betrothed” is not ready for a girl, but she is ready for marriage, the Lord Jesus Christ will see that this is a wonderful girl - a future mother of many children who will be able to raise holy children - I emphasize: holy children, - then He will create a husband for her “out of nothing,” because God can raise children for Abraham out of stones.
Or maybe it’s the other way around: a “betrothed” is already ready for a girl, but she begins to behave ugly: she stops going to church, doesn’t take communion, lives without a confessor, doesn’t keep fasts, watches all sorts of nasty things, sits on the Internet all night instead of pray to God. And now this “betrothed” finds someone else. Or he died: he had a heart attack, got hit by a tram... The plan changed. The Lord can punish so severely. Scary? Excuse me. Therefore, try to behave correctly.
– How should an Orthodox girl behave in order to show her interest in the young man she likes?
– If a person is Orthodox, then you need to go to his confessor. If he does not have a confessor, it is better not to communicate with him. If there is a confessor, you can talk to his confessor and say: “So, well, I like this person.” If the confessor sees that you are a good girl, he will give hints to the young man - you know, as only a confessor can give hints. He also thinks about his child, about how to arrange his life.
– If I still haven’t learned to choose, how can I learn this?
“You need to pray and ask your confessor for advice.” The confessor will tell you how to choose. I repeat: the heart and mind must be in harmony. You need to choose a good person. He should be kind, sympathetic, humble, quiet, meek, courageous, joyful... Am I painting an ideal image? We must strive to ensure that these qualities are present. So that he is not a drunkard or a drug addict, so that he does not fight. And so that you don’t sit on the Internet all the time. And for him to be chaste is also important.
Is it possible to pray for marriage?
– When I ask God for a husband, for some reason I always feel ashamed that I am so sinful and unworthy of God’s mercy and attention and dare to ask God for something for myself. Is it true or false?
Marriage is not at all the joy that is usually imagined. This is a feat! This is a cross! It is very difficult
- Of course it’s false! Marriage is not at all the joy that is usually imagined. This is a feat! This is a cross! It is very difficult. And it’s difficult to give birth to children. Anyone who has given birth knows what it's like.
Asking God for marriage is both possible and necessary. There's nothing wrong with that. Marriage is a cross and getting married is a good thing.
“I’ve been going to church for seven years, I went on a pilgrimage, but I didn’t get what I asked for.” Is it worth continuing to pray? Maybe my prayer doesn’t reach God? Am I not pleasing or am I praying in the wrong way?
– It seems to me that you need to include the desire to get married as if in the context of your whole life. So that it does not become overwhelming. You can want it - it’s natural, it’s normal, there’s nothing wrong with it. But life must not be limited to this. We must live happily, freely, joyfully. This desire can be expressed to God, but one cannot get hung up on it. It is absolutely necessary to ask for the Kingdom of Heaven.
Every desire expressed to God in prayer must end with the request: “Lord, it is not my will that will be done, but Yours – as You want.” You definitely need to pray like this. Otherwise, you can achieve your goal, but then it turns out that you didn’t need it, it wasn’t useful, and it was against the will of God.
– You say that you need to be joyful and happy, regardless of whether you manage to start a family. But won’t it happen that a person will come to his senses closer to the age of 40–50 and understand that he lived joyfully, but now there is no joy in life. What should you say to your loved ones who reproach you that, trusting in God, you are carefree and do not take active steps to create a family?
– What active actions can you take? Post your photos on VKontakte or Facebook and get to know everyone who writes? Should you respond to all calls to meet people on the Internet? Go to family clubs? Staring everywhere, buying nice clothes? Behave like “modern girls”: go to nightclubs and bars? How is this “active action”?
They reproach you, then tell your mom this: “Okay, mom, I agree with you. Tell me what I should do."
You can still live joyfully. If you lived a joyless life until you were 40 or 50, would you find yourself a husband? I'm not sure. At least we were happy during these years, which is also not bad.
– Do I understand correctly that we need to ask God for humility and patience for family life, read spiritual literature, get rid of our bad qualities, live a church life, try to follow the commandments...
- Yes everything is correct. I repeat my thesis once again that you need to learn to live joyfully, regardless of what status you are in now.
– Is it a shame not to have a family by a certain age? How can you not be ashamed of this?
It’s a shame to sin, a shame to be disgraceful, but to be a clean girl, to live joyfully, to serve others, to believe in God - what a shame?
- Of course, I’m not ashamed. It’s a shame to sin, a shame to be disgraceful, but to be a clean girl, to live joyfully, to serve others, to believe in God - what a shame? This is joy! This is preparation for the eternal joy of the Kingdom of Heaven!
"Beautiful life" outside of marriage
– What can you say to loved ones who approve of the “beautiful life” - with expensive gifts, long trips - outside of marriage? They argue that you can spend the rest of your life as an “old maid”...
– How can you explain to those people to whom sin seems beautiful, convenient, pleasant and necessary?! Nothing can be said here. You can only pray for them.
– What should you do if a man who claims that he is also a believer insists on intimate relationships before marriage?
“We need to tell him this: “Let’s go to my confessor and ask him. If he blesses me, I’m ready.”
In general, it is better not to know such a person. He doesn't need a happy family life, but something else. We have to be careful.
Young people should be very strict with girls, so, you know, cold. In a company you can communicate with everyone together, but you can’t get close to someone separately if you don’t intend to have a serious relationship.
Is it possible to marry a pagan?
– Is it possible to marry a pagan?
- No you can not.
Girls sometimes respond to marriage proposals from non-church people. In this case, I tell them: “Okay, come to me with him, we’ll talk.” And it happens that a non-church young man agrees to our conditions:
- wait a year until the wedding;
- come to confession;
- read the Gospel.
We must try to gradually lead him to faith. Pray for him. He can become Orthodox. I know such good families where girls converted grooms who became very good husbands.
But you cannot marry a non-church person, an unbeliever! It will be a sin. Then, according to the rules, you will need to be deprived of the opportunity to receive Holy Communion. You have given yourself to Christ, you are united with Christ in the Sacrament of Communion, you partake of His Body and Blood, and when you enter into such a marriage, then you are united soul and body with a person who does not know Christ. This is wrong from the point of view of the Church.
– If a person is on a long business trip for more than a year, how to maintain the relationship?
– It seems to me that nowadays it is very easy: communicate via Skype, the Internet, phone calls, SMS, Facebook... Take pictures every day and send him photos. And let him take pictures of himself. But the main thing is to pray. Love is precisely tested by such separation. If in a year he returns and is just as blazing with love, or at least this feeling is warm in him, then you can prepare for the wedding.
Everyone should have a confessor
– Is it necessary to have a confessor?
- Necessarily! I don’t know how people live without a confessor. I went through a period when I didn’t have a confessor, and, to be honest, I was just depressed and on the verge of despair.
– Why is it so necessary for both spouses to have a confessor?
- Because then they will have fewer quarrels. The confessor will be the “arbiter” in their family disputes. They both respect him, they listen to his words. It is better for spouses to have one confessor, but, unfortunately, this does not always work out.
I repeat once again: everyone should have a confessor!
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Prayer for creating a family takes place regularly once a month in the Church of Tsarevich Dimitri at the 1st City Hospital. You can find out about the date of the next prayer service on the following resources:
Shatov Arkady Viktorovich.
Date of Birth: September 18, 1950 Ordination date: April 15, 1979 Date of tonsure: July 17, 2010 Day Angel: August 9 A country: Russia Biography:In 1977 he entered the Moscow Theological Seminary and was immediately accepted into the second grade.
On August 26, 1978, Archbishop Vladimir (now Metropolitan of Kyiv and All Ukraine) ordained him to the rank of deacon. He switched to the correspondence department of MDS and was sent first to parish service in Moscow, and then to the Moscow region to the church of the village. Nikolo-Arkhangelskoe.
On April 15, 1979, on the feast of the Entry of the Lord into Jerusalem, Metropolitan Juvenaly of Krutitsky and Kolomna was ordained a presbyter and appointed rector of the Trinity Church in the village. Golochelovo, Moscow region. Transferred in 1984 as the second priest to the Tikhvin Church in Stupino, and in 1987 to the Smolensk Church in the village. Grebnevo.
In November 1990, he was appointed rector of the Church of the Holy Blessed Tsarevich Demetrius at the 1st City Hospital. The St. Demetrius Sisterhood was created at the temple.
In 1992, with the blessing of His Holiness Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow and All Rus', the St. Demetrius School of Sisters of Mercy was opened (founders: the Moscow government and the St. Demetrius Sisterhood), Fr. Arkady.
In 2002, he was appointed chairman of the Commission for Church Social Activities of the Diocesan Council of Moscow. Since 2005, he has been Deputy Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Hospital of St. Alexis, Metropolitan of Moscow.
By the decision of the Holy Synod of March 5, 2010, he was appointed chairman of the Synodal Department for Church Charity and Social Service.
By the decision of the Holy Synod of May 31, 2010 (magazine No. 41), he was elected vicar of the Moscow diocese with the title “Orekhovo-Zuevsky”.
On July 17, 2010, in the house church of the Patriarchal Chambers of the Trinity-Sergius Lavra, consecrated in the name of the holy righteous Philaret the Merciful, His Holiness Patriarch Kirill was tonsured into the minor schema and named Panteleimon in honor of the holy great martyr and healer.
He was ordained bishop on August 20, 2010 in the Spaso-Preobrazhensky Cathedral of the Spaso-Preobrazhensky Solovetsky Monastery. Consecrated on August 21 at the Divine Liturgy in the Transfiguration Cathedral of the Solovetsky Monastery. The services were led by His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Rus'.
From December 2010 to 2011, he cared for parish churches in the North-Eastern Administrative District of Moscow (Trinity Deanery).
By the decision of the Holy Synod of March 22, 2011 (magazine No. 14), he was appointed to the Smolensk See while retaining the position of chairman of the Synodal Department for Church Charity and Social Service.
By the decision of the Holy Synod of December 27-28, 2011 (journal No. 161), he was included in the Patriarchal Council for Family Issues and Protection of Motherhood (since March 2012 - the Patriarchal Commission).
By the resolution of the Holy Synod of March 12, 2013 (magazine No. 23), he was appointed by His Eminence Orekhovo-Zuevsky, vicar of the Moscow diocese, with release from the administration of the Smolensk diocese.
By order of His Holiness Patriarch Kirill dated March 16, 2013, he was appointed manager of the Eastern Vicariate of Moscow.
Widower, has four married daughters, 19 grandchildren.
Church charity: results of 2018 and plans for 2019
Bishop Panteleimon: how to pray for the dead and injured in Kemerovo?
Conversation 7. Church life of an Orthodox family
Orthodox educational courses
Commandment about love
The Church's attitude towards donation
Faith "Mercy"
Help those who help
Help before and after birth
About the demographic crisis and protecting the lives of children
About the secret of joy
"Good is stronger than evil"
The root of all human sins is self-love
The topic of attitudes towards people with disabilities should be included in the course of religious cultures and secular ethics
The joy of life cannot be replaced with wine
An open letter to IGUMO students who participated in the round table “Halloween in Russia: pros and cons”
If God is Love, then man is love
“The main joy is the joy of love”
Bishop Panteleimon: the community today is like a fire in the tundra
The feat of Christ's poverty
Is church charity the work of a professional or a way of life for a Christian?
Is God possible in a world of suffering?
“‘Poor faith’ does not threaten Orthodoxy”
The death that awaits
Interview with Bishop of Orekhovo-Zuevsky Panteleimon (Shatov)
Bishop Panteleimon about family and marriage: part 2
Bishop Panteleimon about family and marriage: part 1
The mystery of love. Confession. Why is a priest needed to forgive sins?
The mystery of love. Confession
Adopted Child: A Choice of Heart and Mind
Conversation with Bishop Panteleimon of Smolensk and Vyazemsk
About married life, the causes of orphanhood and helping the family
Bishop of Smolensk and Vyazemsky Panteleimon: “Let them consider us fools, madmen and crazy people”
We are not given the choice to choose our own death.
What can the Church do to save a family?
Bishop of Smolensk and Vyazemsky Panteleimon: Serving your neighbor is the best sermon
At the prayer stand on April 22, we will ask God for forgiveness for what happened
We expected every letter from Father Paul as the Judgment of God.
Memories of Father Pavel (Trinity)
Disabled souls. How to do good deeds.
Conversation with Bishop of Smolensk and Vyazemsk Panteleimon (Shatov)
Is there a difference between good in general and good for Christ's sake?
Is there a difference between good in general and good for the sake of Christ? Is it possible to give alms if you know that they will spend it on drinking? Is it possible to be persistent in communication without being branded an aggressor? Is it possible to jointly repent of the sin of infanticide? How do our passions affect mercy? whether to baptize a child without the permission of the mother who abandoned him, how to behave with Molokan relatives, how to combine concern for the material well-being of the family with the fight against the love of money, or the desire to be a regent...
Panteleimon, Bishop of Orekhovo-Zuevsky, Vicar of His Holiness the Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus' (Shatov Arkady Viktorovich)
In 1968-1970 he served in the army
Married in 1971
Received baptism in 1974
In 2002, he was appointed chairman of the Commission for Church Social Activities under the Diocesan Council of Moscow. Since 2005, he has been Deputy Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Hospital of St. Alexy, Metropolitan of Moscow
By the decision of the Holy Synod of March 5, 2010, he was appointed chairman of the Synodal Department for Church Charity and Social Service
By the decision of the Holy Synod of May 31, 2010 (magazine No. 41), he was elected vicar of the Moscow diocese with the title of Orekhovo-Zuevsky
On July 17, 2010, in the house church of the Patriarchal Chambers of the Trinity-Sergius Lavra, consecrated in the name of the holy righteous Philaret the Merciful, he was tonsured into the minor schema by His Holiness Patriarch Kirill and named Panteleimon in honor of the holy great martyr and healer Panteleimon.
July 18, 2010 at the small entrance of the Divine Liturgy in the Assumption Cathedral of the Holy Trinity Lavra of St. Sergius.
On August 20, 2010, Archimandrite Panteleimon was named bishop. August 21 at the Divine Liturgy on the day of remembrance of Saints Zosima, Savvaty and Herman of Solovetsky.
By order of His Holiness Patriarch Kirill, which was announced at the Diocesan Assembly of Moscow on December 22, 2010, Bishop Panteleimon was entrusted with the care of parish churches in the territory of the North-Eastern Administrative District of Moscow (Trinity Deanery).
Since March 22, 2011, member of the Supreme Church Council of the Russian Orthodox Church.
By the decision of the Holy Synod of March 22, 2011 (journal No. 14), he was appointed to the Smolensk and Vyazemsk departments while retaining the position of chairman of the Synodal Department for Church Charity and Social Service.
By the decision of the Holy Synod of October 5-6, 2011 (journal No. 127), he was confirmed as rector (hieroarchimandrite) of the Transfiguration Avraamiev Monastery in Smolensk.
By the decision of the Holy Synod of December 27-28, 2011 (journal No. 161), he was included in the Patriarchal Council for Family Issues and Motherhood Protection as deputy chairman.
By the decision of the Holy Synod of March 12, 2013 (magazine No. 23), he was released from the administration of the Smolensk diocese due to an increase in the volume of work as chairman of the Synodal Department for Church Charity and Social Service. The Holy Synod decreed for him to be Bishop of Orekhovo-Zuevsky, vicar of His Holiness the Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus'.
By order of His Holiness Patriarch Kirill dated March 16, 2013, he was appointed manager Eastern Vicariate of Moscow.
Member:
- Supreme Church Council of the Russian Orthodox Church;
- Government Commission on Citizens' Health (under the leadership of D. A. Medvedev);
- Council under the Government of the Russian Federation on issues of trusteeship in the social sphere (under the leadership of O. Yu. Golodets);
- Public Council of the Moscow City Health Department.
Widower, four married daughters, 20 grandchildren.
Born on September 18, 1950 in Moscow. In 1968-1970 he served in the army. In 1971 he got married. In 1974 he was baptized. In 1977 he entered the second class of the Moscow Theological Seminary. On August 26, 1978, Archbishop Vladimir (Sabodan) of Dmitrov ordained him to the rank of deacon. Transferred to the correspondence department of the Moscow Theological Seminary. He served at a parish in Moscow, and then in a church in the village of Nikolo-Arkhangelskoye, Moscow region.
On April 15, 1979, Metropolitan Juvenaly (Poyarkov) of Krutitsky and Kolomna was ordained priest and appointed rector of the Church of the Life-Giving Trinity in the village of Golochelovo, Moscow region.
In 1984, he was transferred as the second priest to the Tikhvin Church in the city of Stupino, and in 1987 to the Smolensk Church in the village of Grebnevo.
In 1988 he graduated from the Moscow Theological Academy in absentia.
In 1990 he was widowed.
In November 1990, he was appointed rector of the Church of the Holy Blessed Tsarevich Demetrius at the 1st City Hospital. The St. Demetrius Sisterhood operates at the church. In 1992, with the blessing of the Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus' Alexy II, the St. Demetrius School of Sisters of Mercy was opened at the church, Father Arkady became its confessor.
In 2002, Arkady Shatov was appointed chairman of the Commission for Church Social Activities under the Diocesan Council of Moscow. Since 2005, he has been Deputy Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Hospital of St. Alexy, Metropolitan of Moscow. By the decision of the Holy Synod of March 5, 2010, he was appointed chairman of the Synodal Department for Church Charity and Social Service.
By the decision of the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church on May 31, 2010, he was elected Bishop of Orekhovo-Zuevsky, Vicar of the Moscow Diocese. The ordination, according to the decision of the Synod, was to take place after Archpriest Arkady was tonsured into monasticism and elevated to the rank of archimandrite.
On July 17, 2010, in the house church of the Patriarchal Chambers of the Trinity-Sergius Lavra, consecrated in the name of the holy righteous Philaret the Merciful, Archpriest Arkady was tonsured into the minor schema by His Holiness Patriarch Kirill and named Panteleimon in honor of the holy great martyr and healer Panteleimon, the next day at the Divine Liturgy elevated to the rank of archimandrite. Initially, the episcopal consecration was scheduled for August 10, but “ due to the difficult environmental situation in Moscow"was postponed. Later it was announced that the consecration would take place on August 21 at the Solovetsky Monastery.
On August 20, 2010, during an all-night vigil, Archimandrite Panteleimon was named Bishop of Orekhovo-Zuevsky, vicar of the Moscow diocese. On August 21, on the day of remembrance of Saints Zosima, Savvaty and Herman of Solovetsky, during the divine liturgy in the Transfiguration Cathedral of the Solovetsky Monastery, Archimandrite Panteleimon was consecrated Bishop of Orekhovo-Zuevsky, vicar of the Moscow diocese. The episcopal consecration was performed by Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Rus' and his concelebrant bishops.
Family
Widower, has 4 married daughters and 11 grandchildren.
Awards
- Order of the Holy Blessed Prince Daniel of Moscow, III degree (1995).
The guest of the Bright Evening program was the chairman of the Synodal Department for Church Charity and Social Service, Bishop Panteleimon of Orekhovo-Zuevsky.
We tried to answer the question of whether the existence of suffering in the world can be explained. In addition, the conversation was about hospital ministry, about the St. Alexius Hospital in Moscow, about the achievements of this hospital and about its needs.
You can help the St. Alexis Hospital by sending an SMS to number 3434 with the word “hospital” and the amount of the donation - for example, “hospital 500”.
K. Matsan
- “Bright Evening” on radio “Vera”. Hello, dear friends! In the studio of Konstantin Matsan. Our guest today, not for the first time, and very joyfully, is Bishop Panteleimon of Orekhovo-Zuevsky, head of the Synodal Department for Church Charity and Social Service of the Russian Orthodox Church. Good evening, Father Panteleimon!
Bishop P. Shatov
Good evening.
K. Matsan
Thank you for visiting our studio again, not for the first time. And my colleagues have already discussed various issues with you in this studio. Maybe we will inevitably repeat some things when talking about faith. And for our conversation today, I chose this path for myself: in preparation for the interview, I tried to study your Facebook page in detail. Since some recordings appear there, texts appear there, and very heart-touching video messages, since all this appears there, it means that now you are concerned about this - these are the topics that you are thinking about, with which you are working. And one of the last entries is dedicated to the St. Alexius Hospital - the Hospital of the Russian Orthodox Church, where you are deputy chairman of the board of trustees. Please tell us about this project, about this many of your projects - why is it so important to you now?
Bishop P. Shatov
You know, Kostya, maybe we should start from afar? Sorry. You know, the hospital plays a very important role in my life. I am the chairman of such an association of Orthodox doctors, although I myself am not a doctor or even a nurse.
K. Matsan
But do you work as a nurse?
Bishop P. Shatov
I worked as a nurse, yes. It was from this job as an orderly that I once, in my opinion, talked about it, and my kind of different life began. When I was a young man, I was looking for the meaning of life. I was not baptized, I didn’t know anything about God, I only had some negative knowledge, that God was some kind of grandfather up there in the clouds. And then my life changed when I thought that the meaning of life is to help someone who needs help. Probably sick. The hospital is a place where you can help others.
And when I came to the hospital to work as an orderly, then God was revealed to me, then I was faced with death, then I saw how petty and shallow everything that people live with, what I lived with until now.
And then I returned to the hospital again when my wife fell ill. I began to work at the First City Hospital and became the hospital chaplain there. And for me it was also such a very important moment in my life. And there a school of sisters of mercy was opened, where I helped the director, taught the spiritual foundations of mercy, and this was also very important and interesting for me. And when His Holiness Patriarch Alexy appointed me as his deputy on the board of trustees, I also had to deal with the Hospital of St. Alexy. That is, this is a continuation of some line of my life, which is very important to me, because I often say that Shakespeare was wrong - the world is not a theater, the world is a hospital in which the Lord wants to cure us of sin, of pride, to motivate us from some sinful sleep, to save us from drunkenness and passions. A hospital is a place where a person faces suffering, or suffers himself, or is helped by a friend. There is no alternative in this world: either you yourself are sick, or you must help those who are sick, it seems to me. And the hospital is such a symbol of this world. Therefore, for me, the hospital itself, even the smell of it, is not always pleasant, perhaps, but the sight of the patients is always somehow, you know, something special that touches the soul. I experienced many very joyful moments in the hospital, and difficult, difficult moments. My grandchildren were dying in the hospital. I gave communion to the dying in the hospital. I saw people die in the hospital. Sometimes I saw a miracle of God’s help. So the hospital is such a very important place for me.
And therefore, of course, St. Alexius Hospital is very important to me. She is in a very difficult situation right now, which is why she worries me so much.
And the difficult situation of the hospital is due to the fact that we still have not yet fully developed single-channel funding for hospitals, which is required by law. That is, according to the law, hospitals must receive funds from compulsory medical insurance, compulsory health insurance, and exist on these funds. But all public hospitals, except compulsory medical insurance (well, maybe with a few exceptions) receive additional funding from the state. All private hospitals are often for-profit. Our hospital, not being a state hospital, has not yet received any subsidies from the state this year, as was the case in past years. So we did not receive 170 million and are still alive thanks to the selfless work of doctors, nurses - those people who work in the hospital. We survived these months without additional funding. And our hospital does not provide commercial services - it is free for everyone. And that is why, of course, our situation now is very difficult. His Holiness the Patriarch also helps us - he transfers some funds, of course, and our benefactors. We have increased the level of compulsory medical insurance, we began to receive much more money from compulsory medical insurance thanks to the work of doctors, but, nevertheless, there is still such a shortage of these same funds, and therefore the situation is very difficult for me. Therefore, I appeal to everyone asking for help. And maybe I should immediately talk about how...
K. Matsan
Come on - how can we help?
Bishop P. Shatov
To do this, just dial a short number on your phone, in my opinion, on any phone, from any operator - Beeline, MTS, and other operators. The number is very large: 3434. Then you need to type the word “hospital”, but I think you will type it without errors. There is a soft sign here, here, in general, “o” and “and” - somehow any literate person will not do...
K. Matsan
Type in Russian letters?
Bishop P. Shatov
Yes, in Russian letters type: “hospital”, then skip the space and dial the amount that you can donate from your phone account - the account where you put money to use the phone.
K. Matsan
So let's repeat it again.
Bishop P. Shatov
3434 – short number, “hospital” – in our Russian font, a space and the amount that you are willing to donate to the hospital.
K. Matsan
It is advisable to have a lot of zeros there! (Laughs.)
Bishop P. Shatov
- (Laughs.) Well, at least two... (Laughs.)
K. Matsan
Bishop P. Shatov
A little from a lot - as we say, it saves lives. And, of course, your help will be gratefully accepted by us, and, probably, it will help. I believe that our hospital will not close or change its status. Now, on the contrary, we are talking about the development of the hospital. We would like to create a palliative department there for those people who need such help. There are not enough such branches in Moscow and not enough in the regions. At the hospital we can receive not only residents of Moscow, but also residents of other cities and towns. The hospital is open to help all people who live in the Russian Federation. When there were problems with Ukrainian refugees, we received refugees in this hospital. This hospital is open to everyone, and therefore, of course, it needs such help.
K. Matsan
Did we say that this hospital is legally a hospital of the Russian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate?
Bishop P. Shatov
Yes. There is a board of trustees, which is headed by the patriarch, and the patriarch decides the main personnel issues: he appoints the director of the hospital by his order, and the hospital is accountable to him. The Patriarchate helps the hospital, financially, too, of course, and controls the financial activities of the hospital.
K. Matsan
The fact that you said that it is open to everyone... That is, the fact that the hospital is a church hospital does not mean that only Orthodox Christians, only employees of some institutions can come there?
Bishop P. Shatov
Of course not. It even accepts emergency patients, but, unlike other city hospitals, it does not receive any additional funding from the state. This is probably a very complex system. It’s difficult to somehow explain all this, why this happens, but that’s how it is. There are all sorts of people lying there - atheists and Muslims, Jews, believers and non-believers. We now have a lot of priests and monks in the hospital from other regions, where medical care is not at the same level as in Moscow, and they, rural priests and residents of monasteries, residents of monasteries, of course, do not have the means to pay for treatment, and therefore, of course, they come to our hospital with pleasure.
The hospital is very specialized. There is a surgical department, a neurological department, and therapy. In surgery they perform a variety of operations - we have traumatologists there, we also have gynecologists, and there are a variety of surgical operations. We have an eye doctor. That is, the operations are completely different. There is good equipment in the hospital. And that's why she accepts everyone. And now we have an increased number of priests and nuns.
Well, the atmosphere in the hospital is not the same as in many modern hospitals. It’s much quieter there; you can’t use any loud equipment there. They don’t turn on the TV loudly there, there is a radio, and headphones in many of the beds – most of the beds, through which priests’ conversations on theological topics are broadcast. Lectures are held. There are two churches there, there is a priest who visits the sick, a very good father, Alexander Dokulin.
You can attend services in the hospital, you can call a priest - he will come and confess right at the bedside. There, the intensive care unit is open for visiting relatives all the time.
K. Matsan
This doesn't happen often, yes. It is important.
Bishop P. Shatov
That is, the conditions there are so good, in the hospital, I must say. And towards people they are very kind and good. Maybe because it is so small - there are only 240 beds there now, in my opinion, plus intensive care.
K. Matsan
Vladyka, you said that for you the hospital in general is a special place. You, of course, did not say that you even liked the smell, you did not utter this word, but it was clear that, at a minimum, that usual perception of the hospital as something so bad, undesirable and very disgusting, roughly speaking, - that What we ordinary people have, you don’t. This is, frankly, strange and surprising to hear. This probably does not coincide with the experience of many people. How would you explain this? What is your most vivid impression of serving in a hospital and communicating with people? Why are you talking about this as if it were something very, very important?
Bishop P. Shatov
Well, maybe this is due to some personal experiences of mine, because I started working in a hospital as an orderly when I was young. My friends worked with me at the hospital, in the emergency department as orderlies. And then we were in search of God, became churchgoers, it was such a very important time for us. And maybe the memories of this time somehow overlap. Perhaps this is due to the fact that when the first hospital church opened, where I was the rector, and we began to work in the hospital, our sisters of mercy came to the hospital, cared for the sick, helped others, and all this created some kind of atmosphere in the hospital. This is not a hospital where there is no love, where it’s bad, where it’s hard, where you’re sick, but a hospital where there are people who are ready to share your pain with you, who are ready to help you. This, probably, somehow, perhaps, creates some kind of different attitude towards the hospital, in the departments.
When I am not in the hospital for a long time, I come there, and it’s as if something in my soul, you know, awakens. And somehow I feel better. Although it is not possible to go to the hospital regularly, it is very difficult, but when I am there, I receive some kind of consolation and joy. My conscience doesn’t torment me like that when I manage to visit someone. And it happens very rarely - I give Holy Communion to someone, maybe in a hospital, but it happens.
Or even when you come to the intensive care unit, when you bless someone from those who are lying there, when you see tears of gratitude in people’s eyes, when they ask for your prayers, when you see how they fight the disease, how they endure brave your suffering, then somehow something changes. It's like you're sobering up.
We live in this modern world in a constant kind of intoxication - intoxication with some kind of passion, race, desire for success, desire for pleasure, desire to fulfill some kind of plan we have planned for this day. But in the hospital all this recedes, all this turns out to be not so important. Some other action is taking place.
I really love Pasternak’s poems about the hospital, which he wrote while he was on the verge of death, where he also experienced such a meeting with God, in the hospital.
It seems to me that the hospital is a place where God is especially present. Because God is not only where there are magnificent services, not only where church sacraments are performed, but also where the sacrament of death is performed, where a person touches suffering. Because every suffering resembles the Suffering of Christ, the redemptive Suffering of Christ, and a person, by suffering, makes up, as it were, for the lack of this redemption in the world, probably. And there the very essence of life is exposed, in the hospital - what you want to run away from, but it will overtake you. And there is no place for any false image of this world. There, as it were, the reality of this life is laid bare. Therefore, it seems to me that the hospital is a place where you sober up and become different.
K. Matsan
Bishop Panteleimon of Orekhovo-Zuevsky, head of the Synodal Department for Church Charity and Social Service, is spending this “Bright Evening” with us today.
A huge number of thoughts and questions arise, Vladyka, in connection with what you say. What is it like for a doctor or a hospital chaplain to constantly deal with the topic of human suffering? How does the psyche not become unstable? How to keep yourself from despair? How can you not burn out in all this? You probably encounter this a lot, both through your own example and through the example of your employees and people with whom you communicate. What they're saying?
Bishop P. Shatov
I think that, of course, it is difficult. I occasionally go to the hospital now, and that’s why it’s always a joy for me. And when I was there often, when I was called to the dying at night, of course, I didn’t always want to go there. And we have one mother with many children, who was then a young girl, she began her journey into the Church along with serving as a sister of mercy. And she said that always when she goes to work, it’s as if she has overcome some kind of obstacle. She needs to step over something, she needs to go through some kind of internal resistance. But when she comes there and starts working, it turns out that her soul somehow receives joy, satisfaction, peace of mind, and she leaves the hospital with a calm soul. This is some kind of overcoming - probably the resistance of evil, the resistance of our pride, the reluctance to touch this pain, which, in general, is, it seems to me, the main quality of this world. Because this world in which we live, the earthly world, of course, bears the imprint of the Heavenly world, heavenly harmony. But it differs in that it contains this suffering, this rift. And at every point in space, at every moment of time, there is some kind of flaw, there is something broken in everything. And you can feel it in the hospital. In the hospital, without thinking about it, you feel it somehow - not only with your mind, but as if with your whole being. And therefore it is very important to touch this. But it's difficult to do.
I know people who, of course, in the hospital accomplish a feat - the feat of serving their neighbor, and God himself helps them accomplish the feat. They say, “if you don’t feel sorry for everyone, your heart will break.” But when you pass the suffering of another through your heart and turn him to God in prayer, then the heart, on the contrary, becomes wider and some kind of normal life in your heart is restored.
There are non-believers who don’t know God - well, I don’t know - as we know him, let’s say. They don’t know the words about God that we know, they don’t know any definitions, they don’t know the truths of the Gospel, but they nevertheless know this joy of serving others, the joy of self-giving. This joy is not only found in people who are involved in Christianity. This joy is in people... I know atheist doctors, very good ones, who have dedicated and are dedicating their entire lives to serving others, who see the meaning of their lives in this, who live by this. And this dedication, this service to others, if a person once felt this joy, then he later returns to it. This joy is amazing. This is not the joy of intoxication, not the joy of forgetting pain, but the joy of passing through it and joining it, but joining it with love, compassion and empathy, and this pain itself suddenly becomes a source of joy for you, is transformed. When you help someone else, that pain becomes a source of joy for you.
The same is true for a sick person - when he sees compassion on the part of another person, he also receives consolation, he also receives joy.
I know that some of our elderly sisters, when they got sick and I visited them, I asked: “How are you?” They were depressed, they felt bad. Well, they got sick - it’s really bad, one of our sisters is completely depressed... They said: “On the contrary, I feel good - everyone comes to me, everyone pities me, everyone takes care of me.” When a person sees sympathy from others, when he sees support, when for others he is not just a place where injections are given and where they are examined and some scientific results are achieved, but when he is sympathized with and compassionate, then he also receives very great joy. He learns this love, which he also learns in the hospital.
And on this path, of course, a person can work in a hospital all his life and not experience any burnout, but, on the contrary, be cleansed and become a saint.
Abba Dorotheos is such a wonderful saint who was the head of the monastery hospital. He has a wonderful book that I love very much, and it also happened that my favorite saint, my favorite book - an ascetic, spiritual book, “The Soulful Teachings of Abba Dorotheus” - was written by just the same person who was involved in the hospital, who lived in a monastery, but lived more in a hospital rather than in a monastery, and whose ministry was related to caring for the sick. And in this book he says that a person who cares for the sick conquers his passions. He says that a sick person does more good to those who care for him than they help the sick person. And when a person learns this, when he joins this, this joy, then, of course, he becomes such a great saint, like St. Luke of Voino-Yasenetsky, like the passion-bearer-doctor Evgeny Botkin, who was killed along with the royal family in the basement Ipatiev House, like other unmercenary doctors, and not famous doctors, and even some doctors who are not believers, doctors of other, perhaps, religions. When they find out, they change somehow, they live differently, and...
K. Matsan
Here it is difficult to resist the eternal question... There is probably no single answer to it. Many people ask themselves and in conversations with priests: why does the Lord allow human suffering? Why should a person suffer at all, cannot help but suffer? The question comes and is simply speculative and philosophical, and even more so, it comes when you are really suffering. How do you answer it?
Bishop P. Shatov
This question cannot be answered without suffering. Any attempt to justify suffering without complicity in it will be a rejection of suffering or will be an elevation above the one who suffers, it will be cruel and wrong. It will be like Job's friends explaining to him why he was suffering. They also explained the meaning of suffering, based on the fact that “you are to blame - the Lord (noun) is on you for something...”... But they turned out to be wrong. And therefore, of course, there is a certain mystery here, which is probably known not in words, but is known in empathy for the suffering of another and in participation in the Mystery of the Cross of Christ. The mystery of Suffering is revealed to those who recognize Christ and learn about His suffering. This mystery is revealed at the Eucharist, when a person participates in the Eucharist, in the liturgy, he joins precisely this Mystery of the Passion of Christ. And why is this suffering allowed by God into the world? Because otherwise it is impossible to transform the world. The transformation of the world takes place precisely, unfortunately, through this suffering.
Here, of course, these words cannot be perceived as a certain form and it is impossible with these words to answer the question of a mother whose child is suffering. This is no way to answer the question of a person who was faced with some horrific crime, horrific violence, some horrific mockery of people - with Beslan, say, or with something else. But this cannot be said to the parents of children...
K. Matsan
Rather, only the person himself can answer this question.
Bishop P. Shatov
Yes. But to find some kind of answer here is somehow not something to calm the soul... It is impossible to calm down completely, because to explain suffering means to somehow justify it, but it cannot be justified, in my opinion. Explain suffering - and the Lord does not justify it. He comes to earth and has compassion for us, and dies on the Cross in terrible agony. Moreover, in the most severe torment, and not only physical - in moral torment. He cries out on the Cross: “My God, God, why have you forsaken me?” He experiences the horror of being abandoned by God - Christ on the Cross, Himself being God, which is paradoxical and completely understandable for us.
And this is precisely the answer. This is what responds to this suffering. And therefore we need to somehow accept this, of course.
Of course, this truth is not immediately revealed to a person, but gradually, and to varying degrees, to varying degrees, a person becomes familiar with it. But this is a path that must be taken after all.
K. Matsan
This is an amazing thought, it seems to me that suffering cannot be justified. That any of our words are not an attempt to say: “Yes, yes, yes, this is necessary, this is important!”, this is wrong.
Bishop P. Shatov
Yes, completely wrong.
K. Matsan
But we live in this irregularity, and there is no escape from it.
Bishop P. Shatov
Of course of course. This is completely wrong. Suffering - well, you can say so: “Suffering for sins.” Well, for Adam's sin and all that. But this will not explain or help a mother whose child dies in suffering.
K. Matsan
That is, only to console.
Bishop P. Shatov
It won’t explain to a patient who has a disease, say, who is slowly becoming immobilized... Or it won’t justify all the violence that is committed on earth, all these horrors that they write and talk about so much now - about all sorts of blasphemy, outrages. Of course, all this is somehow scary to read - scary, impossible to read. But when you remember Christ, Who suffered on the Cross, and, moreover, it was the most terrible picture of suffering, more terrible than which there is nothing... Well, okay, a sinless child - it is always terrible when children suffer. But Christ, God, the God who created the world, suffers from those whom He created, from the people whom He chose to reveal Himself in it, from those people to whom He did so much! It's horrible. And, moreover, he suffers in a sophisticated, mocking manner. They didn’t just kill Him, but they tortured Him, and they deliberately made this torture humiliating and somehow shameful for Him, and terrible. This is terrible! When you read studies of the Shroud of Turin and see how the Lord suffered... The Gospel says this very briefly, and it does not always reach us, but when you read this description of what Christ experienced, it’s terrible what they did to Him! And He goes for it Himself, consciously, voluntarily choosing some path of the Lord.
It seems to me that here is... Here you can find... join this secret. Not to explain it, not to justify it, but to join this mystery.
K. Matsan
Vladyka, another question arises in connection with this. The already mentioned Saint Luke Voino-Yasenetsky has a book called “I fell in love with suffering.” And you talk a lot about the fact that suffering, either when you observe it, and even more so when you yourself suffer, even just a little, even, perhaps, you suffer morally or something like that - this is that experience , which brings us closer to God, one way or another. An experience that concerns our relationship with God directly. And, nevertheless, I know many people who, well, do not quite apply this theme of suffering to themselves, to whom, perhaps, due to life, it is not a little close. Who came to God, on the contrary, from a feeling of the fullness of being, from a joyful meeting, and who - well, perhaps for now, but somehow, due to circumstances - the experience of such direct contact with suffering, strong suffering has passed. What can we say - they have not fully known God, such people?
Bishop P. Shatov
The fact is that man... The saints went to voluntary suffering. The suffering of the saints was voluntary suffering. And they went to this suffering after they recognized God. There is such a wonderful image of St. Seraphim of Sarov. He says that if a person knew the joy of the Kingdom of Heaven, he would agree to spend his whole life in a pit with worms that would eat his flesh. Until a person has seen and knows this, one cannot demand such acceptance of suffering from him. And the saints who felt this then went for it. It’s not that ascetic deeds will lead you to the knowledge of God. On the contrary, when God reveals himself to people, this joy of meeting God, then a person is moved to some kind of feat, to some kind of suffering, of course, if we put it this way, more simply. Only after this already. Before this, of course, a person avoids suffering. Therefore, when a person recognizes God, he then goes...
And all the saints, we know, suffered in different ways. The martyrs voluntarily went to their deaths. Sometimes, however, involuntarily, but they accepted this involuntary suffering as voluntary. This was also credited to them.
Saint Righteous Juliana Lazarevskaya put nut shells in her shoes, exposing herself to suffering, and placed a bunch of keys under her side - the keys of that time were enormous in size. Saint Ambrose of Optina repented that he ate herring, refused such a seemingly simple food and did not want to eat it. And they all walked exactly this way - well, they walked when they had already, at least in part, known this joy - to be with God. And they understood that without this it is impossible to cleanse ourselves to perceive this joy. Suffering cleanses the soul from attachments to earthly things, from false ideals, from imaginary pleasures. And it’s not a good thing in itself, of course... Well, like a surgeon’s scalpel, it’s not just a knife. Well, how - it helps to cut off what prevents a person from living.
K. Matsan
Let's continue this topic after a short break.
Let me remind you that our guest today is Bishop Panteleimon of Orekhovo-Zuevsky, head of the Synodal Department for Church Charity and Social Service. Konstantin Matsan is also in the studio. We'll take a break and get back to you in just a minute.
"Bright Evening" on radio "Vera" continues. My name is Konstantin Matsan.
Our guest today is Bishop Panteleimon of Orekhovo-Zuevsky, head of the Synodal Department for Church Charity and Social Service. Good evening again, sir!
Bishop P. Shatov
Good evening!
K. Matsan
We are talking about such a disturbing topic - about how suffering exists in our lives and why it is needed. And so you mentioned at the end of the last part that there were examples of saints who, for example, specially put something so uncomfortable in their shoes that there was some slight pain or slight discomfort. Does this mean that, roughly speaking, suffering can be small, I don’t know, moral, mental?..
Bishop P. Shatov
Of course of course.
K. Matsan
That is, roughly speaking, we don’t want to tell our audience that “gentlemen, look for more suffering, deliberately run into it, roughly speaking, then everything will be fine”?
Bishop P. Shatov
Certainly. A person must have some measure. But the development line of the modern world is the desire for comfort. This is an aspiration that is exactly the opposite of this ascetic tradition. And, of course, you need to keep fasts. This is also some kind of suffering for a person. It is not always convenient, it is not always useful, it is not always pleasant - lean food. But she does exist. One must give up oneself in order to serve others. You need to donate some of your money to help other people. This is a prerequisite, it seems to me, for life with Christ. If a person spends all his money only on himself and does not share anything with others, he does not fulfill the commandment that was given by John the Baptist. He said that if you want to repent of your sins, then the fruit of repentance is precisely that you will... If you have two clothes, you will give to someone who has neither. Do the same with food. This is his commandment, which speaks of the fruits of repentance. If you want to repent of your sins, you must do it. But it’s difficult, it’s very difficult. I don’t know if you tried it, Kostya. When I give up something, it’s not always easy for me to do it.
K. Matsan
Oh, very difficult.
Bishop P. Shatov
- (Laughs.) This is also suffering, of course.
And different things happen. There is physical suffering, there is suffering from the fact that you are trying to somehow change your life - for example, take time to pray. This can also be very difficult. Or, there, don’t sit on the Internet for an hour and a half, but sit only for ten minutes, say. Or, there, don’t go to some bad sites. People come to me for confession, they just can’t get rid of it. This causes them suffering. But without this effort... In the Gospel the Lord says that “The Kingdom of Heaven is taken by force.” What is effort? Effort is not movement along an inclined plane, it is not movement at the same speed. This is a constant increase in some speed. But it is always suffering, it is always difficult.
K. Matsan
At the beginning, in the first part of the program, we talked about the St. Alexius Hospital. In your post on Facebook, you write about this hospital and call it an Orthodox hospital, and say that Orthodox doctors work there. Here we, journalists who in one way or another come into contact with the topic of the Church and Orthodoxy, already consider it a code of honor not to use expressions like “Orthodox doctor”, “Orthodox teacher”, “Orthodox businessman”, because our wise interlocutors have already taught us, that a person should be Orthodox. And then he shows his faith, his values, his entire personality, inspired by Orthodoxy, in one profession or another. He must be a good doctor, a good teacher, a good businessman and so on.
Well, and, probably, when the bishop of the Church in your person pronounces this phrase - “Orthodox doctor”, there is some important content behind it. What do you mean by this concept?
Bishop P. Shatov
Well, first I would like to say that I also repeatedly heard words of criticism and indignation when I said: “We had a meeting of Orthodox doctors.”
K. Matsan
I speak without a shadow of criticism or indignation. I'm just citing my experience.
Bishop P. Shatov
I understand. Yes, no, I agree. And now I also use this definition of doctors very carefully, because they say that a doctor should just be a good doctor, and not an Orthodox one.
K. Matsan
You can't argue with that! (Laughs.)
Bishop P. Shatov
And, of course, I recently re-read Gogol’s “The Inspector General,” and, it seems to me, a very modern play. And there, in general, the residents of this city where Khlestakov came, they were all Orthodox - the Orthodox governor, and he really prayed to God to carry him through...
K. Matsan
Interesting look! (Laughs.)
Bishop P. Shatov
K. Matsan
An interesting take on the immortal comedy! I never thought about this!
Bishop P. Shatov
He is Orthodox. He says there... He prays, says: “Lord, carry me through!” If you help, I will light such a candle for you! I will make my merchants so much wax that no one has ever put out candles!” Well, it’s a very Orthodox approach, right? (Laughs.)
K. Matsan
You won’t find fault, yes! (Laughs.)
Bishop P. Shatov
And, nevertheless, you can be an Orthodox scoundrel. You can be an Orthodox bastard. You can be an Orthodox bribe-taker. You can call yourself Orthodox, but at the same time commit some very serious and nasty sins. To be Orthodox and with this to seduce, to turn other people away from Orthodoxy with your Orthodoxy. Of course it's possible, and that's all true. So, of course, I think that people who object to such definitions are probably right.
Well, just what are we talking about here? We are saying that, after all, the doctors who work for us are Orthodox people. (Laughs.) They gather together to pray, they come to the liturgy. They know that a person not only needs treatment, but also needs consolation. Probably, non-Orthodox doctors know about this too. But they are guided by the traditions that have developed in Russian medicine precisely thanks to Orthodoxy. Here is the martyr-passion-bearer Evgeny Botkin, who was recently included in our Synodik by our Russian Church, he was glorified by the Church Abroad, and this year he is included in our calendar, we also pray to him. And now he has a wonderful argument about who is in charge in the hospital. That the main thing in the hospital should be the patient. That a patient in a hospital is his home, that we are all there to help him. These are amazing words. Of course, they can be shared by non-Orthodox people, but still they were created in an Orthodox environment, and the traditions of Orthodox medicine in our Russia now, of course, do not continue everywhere. For example, the commercialization of, excuse me, medicine, the desire for some kind of scientific achievements - this also happens, unfortunately. Or something else. This, as they say, paternalistic attitude towards the patient is being replaced, when the doctor for the patient is not only a doctor, but also a father, but also some kind of comforter, of course.
K. Matsan
Close to what, in my opinion, Saint Luke wrote about - that it is not the disease that needs to be treated, but the patient.
Bishop P. Shatov
Yes of course. And in this sense they are good, Orthodox - in the sense, good. By the way, for me the word “Orthodox” means “good.” I don’t think that the governor... We say that he is “Orthodox,” but still, Gogol, say, can be in quotation marks. Well, I don’t know, such a complex answer to your such a simple question.
K. Matsan
No, the answer is very good, thank you. And he is clear.
And just in continuation of this topic, I will read out a quote that I also took from your page on the social network. It seems to me that it rhymes with the theme at hand.
Here you write: “Just as freshly baked bread differs from the shine of a gilded dish, as the taste of good wine differs from the taste of the edge of a silver cup, as life differs from the train schedule at the Kursk station, so the essence of Orthodoxy differs from external ritualism, beautiful words and rules of piety. On the question of the external Orthodoxy of Gogol's heroes. Why at this stage, just now, recently, you were interested in this particular topic, did you write about it? That is, here it seems that if the bishop writes about this on his page, it means that there was some kind of background of thoughts, events, maybe some situations, I don’t know, in the parish or in the deanery for which you are responsible, What prompted you to voice this thought on your page?
Bishop P. Shatov
Well, this thought just occurred to me. And I wanted to somehow formulate it, although one priest, my confessor, often says to me... well, he used to say (my name used to be Arkady): “Arkasha, don’t speak beautifully!”
K. Matsan
Yes, a quote from Turgenev.
Bishop P. Shatov
I still have this temptation, and sometimes I want to say something beautiful, but it doesn’t always work out correctly and well. (Laughs.)
K. Matsan
It always turns out, in my opinion, Vladyka.
Bishop P. Shatov
- (Laughs.) No, not always, of course. My wife very often told me that “you said something wrong,” in general, she kept an eye on me. There is no one to watch me now. But sometimes things don't work out that way.
It’s just that in times of prosperity and freedom in the Church there is always such a temptation to develop something external, the emergence of greater hypocrisy, the emergence of some wrong tendencies in relation to wealth, to power, to some other realities of the modern world. When the Church was persecuted, when it was semi-underground, when it was persecuted, then, of course, there were other temptations, other temptations, and then, of course, this phrase was not needed, perhaps. But when beautiful vestments appear, expensive bowls appear, when outwardly beautiful words appear, when there is an opportunity to speak beautifully and a lot about something. When all this externality takes place, then, of course, such a temptation appears - to lose the internal thing that lies behind it. There was no such temptation in the camp when people lived in the camp. And then, in times of persecution, hidden persecution, as in the time when I lived, or bloody persecution, people who felt the essence of Orthodoxy, who were ready to die for Christ, became Christians. And then how it was when the first persecution of Christians ended, when the temptation of some kind of external Christianity appeared. Therefore, I think it is important to remind about this.
K. Matsan
Another entry, or rather even a video message, also on your page, concerns raising children. And you say that raising children is, in essence, always raising yourself. It is impossible not to agree with this idea. And to develop it, you mention that love for a person or a child, in particular, can be combined with severity - with the severity of rules. This is a whole problem and a question of how to combine it. Indeed, by love we often mean such kindness, tenderness, rather, such a pat on the head. At the same time, for example, my confessor often says: “Loving a child does not mean filling his mouth full of sweets.” Love can be demanding and edifying, and even punishing. How would you explain how this works, how love can be combined with the strictness of the rules?
Bishop P. Shatov
One wonderful Orthodox psychiatrist... I apologize for saying “Orthodox psychiatrist” again...
K. Matsan
No, no, we already understand what you mean by this. "A good psychiatrist."
Bishop P. Shatov
- (Laughs.) He said that you need to behave with patients the same way as with all other people: an iron hand in a velvet glove. And if we talk about children, then there must be a certain strictness of the rules, which, of course, should not be rude and harsh, and should not hurt the child. The Apostle Paul, when he writes about education and talks about fathers, says only one thing: so that children do not lose heart. “Fathers, do not be overly strict, so that the children do not become discouraged.” This excessive cruelty, severity - of course, it should not exist. And reasonable rigor, the strictness of certain rules, is very important for education. Of course, it is more complicated than connivance. It’s easier to give up and let the child play around, do what he wants, and somehow distance himself from him. Unfortunately, many modern parents do this. And it is much more difficult to deal with him and make sure that he does not violate the rules that have been established. There should be few of them, they should be clear and understandable to the child, but without these rules, of course, it is impossible to raise a child.
K. Matsan
Bishop Panteleimon of Orekhovo-Zuevsky, head of the Synodal Department for Church Charity and Social Service, is holding a “Bright Evening” with us today.
Vladyka, if you allow me to return a little to the topic that we have been talking about for almost the entire program - about helping our neighbors, about consoling those who are suffering. It is very easy for a modern person (I include myself in this category, among other things) to see in your words such an edification, an imperative, that there is a commandment - God told us to help our neighbor, so go and help. And if a person does not have some kind of internal experience, internal living of this imperative, then it is very difficult to respond to it. And only when you yourself try to at least touch the point of putting not yourself, but another at the center of life, and suddenly you feel meaning, feel joy, then understanding begins.
It turns out that this cannot be explained - it can only be experienced. Is that how it works?
Bishop P. Shatov
I think yes. I think you are absolutely right. And here we can offer a person the opportunity to experience this.
For example, we have volunteers who help those in need. And in our hospital of St. Alexius there are also volunteers, it also needs not only money, but also volunteers, say, people who would come, help, sit with the patient. We can teach how to care for the sick. They would take the patient for procedures. Our hospital is located in several buildings, and sometimes patients need to be transported from one building to another, which requires men. Help clean up the hospital, help with something else. There are different ways to help. When a person takes part in this, if he feels joy from this, then he will probably come to us again and again. So, of course, you can simply create some conditions for people so that they can try it. You can’t just come to the hospital now. So I decided to find out what it is. Here we have it in the Church of Tsarevich Dimitri at the First City Hospital: every Sunday at fifteen minutes to twelve we meet volunteers who would like to help in different directions. This includes the sick, the homeless, disabled children, lonely elderly people, helping a person come to church, and helping with home repairs for people who don’t have money. Help with activities with children in large families. Well, there are a variety of forms of such assistance. Therefore, you can somehow touch this, try it - maybe it will awaken interest if you devote your time to it, and will somehow open up another side of life.
K. Matsan
But there is still some possibility of formulating this secret: why, when you put yourself at the center of life, even if you simply try to put not yourself, but another, at the center of life, do you suddenly find happiness yourself? This is against logic. This is against logic – such modern, normal logic.
Bishop P. Shatov
No, it is because man is created as love. He is like God in this. And love is life for another. As someone derived the formula for love: “Love is minus me.”
K. Matsan
Amazing.
Bishop P. Shatov
Love is serving another, living for another. For God, for neighbor. Well, sometimes for some business, maybe. There are people who devote themselves to some idea, let’s say. And I don’t think that this is entirely correct - probably the most important thing is God and neighbors, the commandment about love speaks specifically about God and neighbors. But outside this life there is no person. He's misrepresenting himself, man. Self-love appears in him, and he loses this name, loses his main properties, loses his main qualities. Not even the qualities and properties, but the essence of a person changes. In his being, man also has love. He must live for another. And this is where his meaning of existence is found. Without this, he lives, having lost the main thing in himself, he loses himself.
K. Matsan
If a person, for some reason, is not yet ready to go to a hospice, a hospital, the homeless or the elderly, is it correct to argue that, in general, my neighbor, whom I must serve, is my family, is my the innermost circle, and this is where we should start?
Bishop P. Shatov
Certainly. Certainly! If there are people at home who need help, there is no need to sign up to volunteer. Why leave your father and mother who need help, or your small children and take care of orphans? Of course, this is completely wrong. Of course, a person should, first of all, help those at home who need his help. “Whoever does not care for his neighbors,” says the apostle, “is worse than an infidel.”
K. Matsan
Thanks for these words.
Another phrase, taken, I understand, from the context of your video message on your page. But, nevertheless, if possible, I still wanted to ask you about this. One of your video messages begins with the words: “When I began to doubt that there is no God...” That is, you describe some kind of experience of such doubt. And when such a phrase is uttered by a bishop and a man of enormous spiritual experience, it is amazing. Do you really have situations, I don’t know, doubts in faith, some uncertainties along this path, some questions about spiritual life, life in general, to which you are still looking for answers?
Bishop P. Shatov
I recently read an interview with Bishop Callistus - Callistus Ur, such a famous theologian...
K. Matsan
British.
Bishop P. Shatov
Unlike me, a very educated person who has written wonderful books, very good ones. And in this interview he talks about the doubts that he has or had, I don’t know. When I spoke about these doubts, I spoke about time, after all, the past. But I can say that my faith is getting stronger year by year. I can see how this faith is growing in me. Not because I am so good and accomplish some feats, but because God is merciful and, probably, throughout life he reveals to everyone some important things to a greater extent. After all, a world that is focused only on young people, a world that throws old people to the sidelines, is a wrong world after all. Age gives a person more knowledge and more experience of some kind. And so I can say that over the years my faith has changed. I even know something else about God now that I didn’t know when I began my journey as a believer. Then I had many revelations when God revealed himself to me. And for me it was amazing and very joyful. But to this day I understand that I now believe differently than I believed a year ago, say, and not like I believed 10 years ago. Maybe I’m wrong, maybe I have some subjective “glitches”, I don’t know. Here is faith - it somehow multiplies. Therefore, I am very grateful to God that He allows us to recognize Himself. Maybe, of course, I’m mistaken, I don’t know, but my life has become much calmer and there are much fewer doubts. There are, of course, difficult moments when you... But this, besides God the hedgehog and the devil, who tempts us, and there are such obsessive thoughts, there are some false images, there are some precisely inspired moods, and a person struggles with this all his life. And at the end of life, temptation awaits us - at our hour of death, as was the case with many, when the devil tries to seduce the soul, which is already rising to God in the last movement, and sometimes succeeds. When a person rises... There is such a famous icon - we know about the Ladder of John Climacus, which tells about a person’s path to the top. That is, an icon that depicts monks climbing a ladder, and they sometimes fall from the upper steps of this ladder, pulled down by evil spirits. Therefore, of course, the path of life is not completely a path of quest, a completely path of overcoming oneself, or a complete path of some new discoveries. And I am grateful to God that I have lived to this age, although in my youth it seemed to me that 50 years was already enough to live; why then? Everything has already been lived through and uninteresting. But it turns out that life goes on, and this, of course, is surprising and joyful.
K. Matsan
Here's to the question of doubts, which everyone probably experiences to one degree or another. And, by the way, also to the question of suffering and the situation in hospitals, which probably happens often. There are difficult situations in life, and loved ones pray, pray strongly to God, in fact, for sending a miracle, for some kind of healing. It happens that healing does not occur. What does this mean - the prayer was not heard, or they prayed incorrectly? How can a person in this church even think about God and faith?
Bishop P. Shatov
There are spiritual people to whom the meaning of current events is revealed. There are spiritual people who know the causes of disasters, know how this or that movement of a person in this world will end, know when a person will die, and... Well, a lot has been revealed to them. If a person is not spiritual, then all this is incomprehensible to him - he thinks about something, draws up some of his own conclusions, tries to understand, penetrate into it, but our thoughts are not the thoughts of God, and our ways are not His ways. And the way we think about Him is always a little wrong. Only spiritual people are involved in this - to varying degrees. And therefore, discussing this topic can be very difficult and difficult. And, of course, on the one hand, the Gospel says: “Ask and it will be given to you.” On the other hand, we know the example of the Apostle Paul, whom the Lord called to work harder than all the apostles in preaching the Gospel. We know the Apostle Paul, who three times prayed to Christ that some factor that was confusing him, that was hindering him, would be taken away from him - the angel of Satan. And the Lord said: “My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is made perfect in weakness.” And He continued his life with this aggravating circumstance. And we also know that death - it came to people in different ways and at different times, and sometimes a person got rid of death, sometimes he died. Lazarus was resurrected by the Savior, but then he still died. And therefore it is very difficult to think about how it will be. But you should always pray. And we need to open our souls before God, to open our desires in simplicity before God. Discover how a child tells dad: “Dad, I want this, I want here, I want there,” and dad will decide. "I don't want to go to school." - “Well, son, I’m sorry, we still have to get ready somehow.” - “I don’t want to go to the dentist.” - “We have to, well, what can you do.” - “I want candy.” - "It is forbidden!" - "I want to go for a walk with you!" - “Well, okay, go ahead.” - “I want you to tell me a bedtime story.” - "OK then". - “I want to drink.” - “Well, please, have a drink.” Well, somehow, when it is needed, the Lord fulfills it. And when it is not necessary... But we still need to continue communicating with God, and He expects just this from us. And you can pray, and you can ask. And when it hurts, when you see another person suffering, of course, you need to pray, and pray fervently, and not stop praying. But to end it: “But not my will be done, but Thine,” as we pray when we say the Lord’s Prayer: “Thy will be done, both in Heaven and on earth.” And so, as it is decided, as the Lord decides, so be it, probably. And you have to be ready to agree with this.
K. Matsan
Vladyka, thank you very much for this conversation! At the end of our conversation, let us once again announce to our radio listeners the number for SMS donations to the St. Alexis Hospital. Could you do this?
Bishop P. Shatov
Yes, sure. You know, dear friends, on my own behalf I also really ask you to help us. Because the situation in the hospital is still very difficult - we still haven’t received funding like we did last year, and the hospital is in a very difficult financial situation. And I would ask you to pray that somehow the hospital will continue to exist. Still, many people are grateful that it exists, and the people who work there do not work for money - the salaries there, compared to other hospitals, are lower in the city of Moscow, people there receive less money. But the people who work there are very good, and it would be a pity if this team could somehow fall apart.
Therefore, I would ask you to help. There is a short number: 3434. You need to send an SMS to this number with the word “hospital”. After the word “hospital” you need a space, and after that you can type the amount that you could devote to maintaining the hospital from your account, the money that you put on your phone. The operation there is quite simple, and, of course, if you could help us, then we somehow really needed it now. I would be very grateful to you. Here you go.
K. Matsan
Thank you very much again! Bishop Panteleimon of Orekhovo-Zuevsky, head of the Synodal Department for Church Charity and Social Service, spent this “Bright Evening” with us today. The theme was not easy, but I feel like we still ended it with light.
Thank you very much for this conversation, Vladyka!
Bishop P. Shatov
Thank you, Kostya!
K. Matsan
We look forward to seeing you again on Radio Vera.
Bishop P. Shatov
Thank you, thank you! Goodbye, dear friends!
K. Matsan
