“I have a deep faith” is a platitude on the lips of all
conceited, limited people who are weak in faith. The
apostles, though they saw Christ with their own eyes and touched Him still prayed:
“Increase our faith!” The Gospels
state with precision the marks of profound faith: “And these signs shall follow those
that believe: in my name they shall cast out demons….they shall lay hands upon the
sick and they shall recover” (Mark 26:17-18). “Nothing
shall be impossible to you” (Matthew 27:20). And all things, whatever you shall ask
for in prayer, believing, you shall receive” (Matthew 21:22).
Does this sound like us? We who are so cold, powerless and spiritually
weak? Our faith is weak because we are
indifferent to the things of God. Can we
assert that we love God sufficiently, that our faith is active and fervent?
That we love every man as our brother in Christ? That we have attained freedom from anger, meekness
and humility? What does our Christianity,
then, amount to? Is it not true that the
indifference of believers is something far more dreadful than the fact that unbelievers
exist?
We know little, and in most
cases do not try to find out anything about our church services, about the life of the
Church. We should fill this gap and become
living members of the Church! Few people
today even realize that the so-called “choir” speaks and sings in the name of
the entire congregation and that in the early Church there were none of those specially
trained professional singers who now perform this duty.” All sang, testifying to their own faith and with a
sense of responsibility for the words they uttered. Sometimes
we do not even know the words. And how many
understand them? When we attend a service in
the Church, we seem to sign a letter we have not read, to assume duties which we ignore.
How can we strengthen our life
in the Church? We are Orthodox and all the treasures of the
Church are at our service—her prayers, her sacraments.
Learn to know these treasures and be nourished by them. The direction of a spiritual father—continual
contact with him. Frequent resort to the
sacraments, careful preparation before receiving them, participation in Church services,
prayer at home, the daily reading of the Gospels and religious books, the observance of
the Church’s calendar of fasts and feast, friendship and frequent contact with people
who believe and who belong to the Church.
Christianity is not merely a
philosophical system, it is a life, a special way of life and this must be studied and
lived continuously—literally, every day. The
Church is alive and will live forever! Let us
not hang like dry, withered leaves on this ever-living tree!
-Father
Alexander Elchaninov (1881-1934) from
his book, The Diary of a Russian Priest
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