English Corner

[redemptor]

It is only the last words that he said, and he was really right.

[tabitha]

A vigilant eye makes the mind pure; but much sleep hardens the soul.

St John of the Ladder

[tabitha]

The Abused and the Neglected in the Church

Very often in the body (population) of many churches there are two very different groups of people: the abused and the neglected. The existence of these groups can be or can become very deplorable to the community of the faithful.

Often the lay and/or clerical “leaders” of the church feel as if the church might collapse without a certain group of people they can call on at any time for anything. This small group never varies. They are the “pillars” of the church who will respond automatically, sacrificing their time, talent, money, etc. – anything for the good of the church. But soon, before either the “leaders” or the “pillars” know it, they have created an indispensable and abused group of people.

When this “abused” group exists, then for sure the other group of the “neglected” exists or is beginning to be formed. The two groups can appear almost simultaneously. The “neglected” people do not relate to each other or to anybody in the church community, and so they are not literally a “group.” But they can be seen as a distinct group of people because they act in the same manner.

The “leaders” of the church like to think they worry very much about the “neglected.” The “neglected” are those who are not regular church participants. They almost never help out in the work of the parish. They have been called on once or twice to help the church in a special way; but, after bluntly or shyly refusing they were never bothered again.
Some may say that being “abused” for the love of the house of God counts as a virtue, while being “neglected” is a pity and a result of the wickedness of the community. I propose that both groups are dangerous for the community.

To the “abused” we might say: we never do enough for God who does everything for you, and to the “neglected” we might say: “You never get involved; although you are free and very welcome to come, nobody can twist your arm to come to the Church and become a part of it.”

The “abused” might say: “I feel good when I sacrifice for the church.” The neglected might say: “I am humble and modest; I know my place in the house of God.” Both groups have legitimate reasoning. Nevertheless, the Church works with the abused while hoping to get the neglected involved. It would like to enlarge the first group to the detriment of the second.

With the existence of these two groups, conflicts will soon appear. There is conflict when we hear the abused calling the neglected “Easter and Christmas Christians.” There is conflict when the neglected group accuses the abused of being "power hungry" and of behaving like they “own the church.” These accusations might not be true on either side, but they do point to a few risks that are present when these groups exist. The abused influence the decisions of the church and thus are tempted by power. By giving in to this temptation, the democratic process of the parish is damaged. The neglected can run the risk of losing their faith; if not in God, at least in the Church, which is the Body of Christ.

Both groups are at risk of being lost for the Church — the abused by burning out and the neglected by dropping out. The abused cannot be abused forever, just as the neglected will not stand being neglected forever. And at the time when they are ready to change their alliance and “switch groups,” they may look for another church where they can do it without being pointed at. And, believe me; it is really hard for both to come back.

It is commonly believed that our work should be to try to get the “neglected” involved in parish life – in other words to stop “neglecting the neglected.” However, I believe that it is much harder to “neglect the abused” than to “abuse the neglected!”

The challenge is to know how to stop neglecting the neglected and how to refrain from abusing the abused without causing them to break away from the Church. A community that can do that has the possibility of growing and of fulfilling the call for the salvation of souls.

~Fr. Cornel Todeasa

[tabitha]

Behind the Monastery Walls

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4WPK...be&app=desktop

[tabitha]

Life of St. Cosmas of Aetolia & His quote on Mercy.
Commemorated on August 24.



The holy, glorious and right-victorious New Hieromartyr and Equal-to-the-Apostles Cosmas of Aetolos was born in 1714 in Aetolia, Greece, to a father who was a weaver and a devout mother. He attended public schools, but was tutored by an archdeacon. He taught and then attended a school on Mt. Athos. He became a monk and later a priest at Philotheou Monastery there. After a time, he felt a calling to do missionary work in Greece, especially in the remote areas where there was a lack of churches and priests for the many unbaptized adults. As an aftermath of four centuries of Turkish oppression in Greece, Cosmas received the patriarchal blessing to travel wherever needed, for however long, with complete independence, to breathe life back into Christianity in Greece. Cosmas traveled in Greece, its islands, and Albania for 25 years, founding over 200 schools, as well as charities and rural churches. He traveled by foot, by donkey and by ship. When he came to a village he would ask the villagers to plant a large wooden cross in the village square. Then he would mount a bench next to the cross and preach to the villagers about the love of God and the Orthodox faith. The Muslims tried him on charges of conspiracy and sentenced him to hang in August 1779 in Albania. However, one account reports that he prayed and gave up his spirit before this could occur. St. Cosmas received from God the gift of prophecy, and was known to have prophesied of the telephone, airplanes, and aerial bombings.

Starting with perfect love, he says:

If you want to find perfect love, go sell all your belongings, give them to the poor, go where you find a master and become a slave. Can you do this and be perfect?

You say this is too heavy? Then do something else. Don’t sell yourself as a slave. Just sell your belongings and give them all to the poor. Can you do it? Or do you find this too heavy a task?

All right, you cannot give away all your belongings. Then give half, or a third, or a fifth. Is even this too heavy? Then give one tenth. Can you do that? Is it still too heavy?

How about this. Don’t sell yourself as slave. Don’t give a penny to the poor. Only do this. Don’t take your poor brother’s coat, don’t take his bread, don’t persecute him, don’t eat him alive. If you don’t want to do him any good, at least do him no harm. Just leave him alone. Is this also too heavy?

You say you want to be saved. But how? How can we be saved if everything we are called to do is too heavy? We descend and descend until there is no place further down. God is merciful, yes, but he also has an iron rod.

– St. Cosmas of Aetolia

[tabitha]

A basic condition for the spiritual life is that we should understand that, on our own, we can do absolutely nothing. No matter how hard we try, the spiritual life is something that someone else gives to us.

And the “someone else” is the Spirit of God, the Comforter, the “treasury of good things and the giver of life”, the treasury from which all the riches of spirituality come forth, the source from which the spiritual life emerges and overflows.

Of course, sometimes we get confused, and think that to be spiritual means to be a “good person”: not to steal, not to kill, not to go to bad places or with bad friends, to go to Church on Sunday, to read spiritual books, and so on. But no, this is not the spiritual life.

A spiritual person, a true Christian, is someone whose entire life is sworn to God.

- Archimandrite Aimilianos of Simonopetra

[tabitha]

Orthodox Prostration

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vFBH1Ws2VmY