Questions of external pious everyday life often concern parishioners of many temples. How to properly address the clergy, how to distinguish them from each other, what to say when you meet? These seemingly little things can confuse an unprepared person, make him worry. Let's try to figure out if there is a difference in the concepts of "priest", "priest" and "priest"?

Priest - g the main character of any worship

What do the names of the ministers of the church mean?

In the church environment, you can hear a variety of appeals to the ministers of the temple. The protagonist of any worship service is the priest. This is the person who is in the altar and performs all the rites of the service.

About the rules of conduct in the temple:

Important! Only a man who has undergone special training and has been ordained by the ruling bishop can be a priest.

The word “priest” in the liturgical sense corresponds to the synonym “priest”. Only ordained priests have the right to perform the Sacraments of the Church, according to a certain order. Official documents of the Orthodox Church also use the word “priest” to denote a particular priest.

Among the laity and ordinary parishioners of churches, one can often hear the address "priest" in relation to one or another priest. This is an everyday, simpler meaning, it indicates the attitude towards parishioners as spiritual children.

If we open the Bible, namely the Acts or the Epistles of the Apostles, we will see that very often they used the address “My children” to the people. Ever since Biblical times, the love of the apostles for their disciples and the believing people was comparable to that of a father's love. Also now - parishioners of churches receive instructions from their priests in the spirit of paternal love, therefore such a word as "father" has come into use.

Father is a popular appeal to a married priest

How does a pop differ from a priest

As for the concept of “priest,” in modern church practice it has a certain dismissive and even offensive connotation. Nowadays it is not customary to call the priesthood priests, and if they do, it is more in a negative way.

Interesting! During the years of Soviet power, when there was strong oppression of the church, all clergymen were called priests. It was then that this word acquired a special negative meaning, comparable to the enemy of the people.

But even in the middle of the 18th century, the term “pop” was in common use and did not carry any bad meaning. Basically, only lay priests were called priests, and not monastics. This word belongs to the modern Greek language, where there is the term "papas". Hence the name of the Catholic priest "Pope" came from. The term "priest" is also a derivative - it is the wife of a worldly priest. Especially often priests are called priests among the Russian brethren.

It is known that a priest serves the liturgy, confesses, and delivers a sermon. What is the sacred meaning of each of these ministries?

Priest - mediator between God and people

Priesthood - people chosen to serve the Eucharist and shepherd - care, spiritual nourishment of believers. The Lord first chose 12 apostles, and then 70 more, giving them the power to forgive sins, to perform the most important sacraments (which became known as the Sacraments). A priest in the Sacraments acts not by his own power, but by the grace of the Holy Spirit, given by the Lord after His Resurrection (John 20, 22-23) to the apostles, transferred from them to the bishops, and from the bishops - to the priests in the Sacrament of ordination (from the Greek. Heirotonia- ordination).

The very principle of the organization of the New Testament Church is hierarchical: as Christ is the head of the Church, so the priest is the head of the Christian community. The priest for the flock is the image of Christ. Christ is the shepherd, He commanded the Apostle Peter: "... feed my sheep" (John 21, 17). To feed sheep means to continue the work of Christ on earth and lead people to salvation. The Orthodox Church teaches that there is no salvation outside the Church, and that salvation can be achieved by loving and fulfilling the commandments of God and participating in the Sacraments of the Church, in which the Lord Himself is present, giving His help. And the assistant and mediator of God in all the Sacraments of the Church, according to the commandment of God, is the priest. And therefore his ministry is sacred.

The priest is a symbol of Christ

The most important sacrament of the Church is the Eucharist. The priest celebrating the Eucharist symbolizes Christ. Therefore, the liturgy cannot be served without a priest. Explains Archpriest Sergiy Pravdolyubov, rector of the Church of the Life-Giving Trinity in Trinity-Golenishchev (Moscow), Master of Theology: “The priest, standing in front of the Throne, repeats the words of the Lord Himself at the Last Supper:“ Accept, eat, this is My Body ... ” Cherubim song, he utters the following words: "You are the Bringer and the Bringer, and the One who accepts this Sacrifice, and the One who is distributed to all believers - Christ our God ..." ... And he does not repeat these actions and does not reproduce, that is, he does not “imitate”, but, figuratively speaking, “pierces the time” and is completely inexplicable for the usual picture of space-time connections - by his actions he coincides with the actions of the Lord Himself, and in his own words - with the words of the Lord! Therefore, the liturgy is called Divine. She served once By the Lord Himself in the time and space of the Zion Upper Room, but outside time and space, in the abiding Divine Eternity. This is the paradox of the doctrine of the Priesthood and the Eucharist. Orthodox theologians insist on this, and this is how the Church believes.

A priest cannot be replaced by a layman, not only “because of his human ignorance,” as it is written in the ancient Slavic books, let the layman be an academician - no one gave him the power to do what one cannot dare to do without receiving the gift of the grace of the Holy Spirit through ordination, coming from the apostles themselves and the men of the apostles. "

In some modern Protestant sects, the church hierarchy and episcopate have been abolished, that is, there is no priesthood as a Sacrament. However, the Bible also mentions the first Protestants. Archpriest Sergiy Pravdolyubov:“There is in the history of people a burning experience of protest and an irresistible desire for the universal priesthood in the story of Korah, Dathan and Abiron, who rebelled against Moses and Aaron and declared that“ the whole society, all are holy ... Why do you put yourself above the people of the Lord? ” (Num. 16: 1-4). Moses did not argue with them, but gave judgment to God. In the end, the earth opened up and swallowed up all the "reformers" with sacred vessels and incense smoking in their worldly hands. "

The Orthodox Church attaches exceptional importance to the holy order. The Monk Silouan the Athonite wrote about the high dignity of the priesthood: “The priests carry in themselves such great grace that if people could see the glory of this grace, the whole world would be surprised at it, but the Lord hid it so that His servants would not become proud, but would be saved in humility. ... A great face - a priest, a minister at the Throne of God. Whoever insults him insults the Holy Spirit who lives in him ... "

The priest is a witness in the Sacrament of Confession

The Sacrament of Confession is impossible without a priest. The priest is empowered by God to declare forgiveness of sins on behalf of God. The Lord Jesus Christ told the apostles: “What you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and what you allow on earth will be allowed in heaven” (Matthew 18:18). This power to "knit and decide" passed, as the Church believes, from the apostles to their successors - bishops and priests. However, the confession itself is brought not to the priest, but to Christ, and the priest here is only a “witness,” as it is said in the ordinance of the Sacrament. Why do you need a witness when you can confess to God Himself? The Church, establishing confession before the priest, took into account the subjective factor: many are not ashamed of God, because they do not see Him, but to confess before a person ashamed but it is a saving shame that helps to overcome sin. In addition, as he explains, “the priest is a spiritual mentor who helps to find the right way to overcome sin. He is called not only to witness repentance, but also to help a person with spiritual advice, to support him (many come with great sorrow). Nobody demands submission from the laity - this is free communication based on trust in the priest, a mutual creative process. Our task is to help you choose the right solution. I always encourage my parishioners to feel free to tell me that they have failed to follow any of my advice. Perhaps I was mistaken, I did not appreciate the strength of this person. "

The priest during the sermon fulfills the duty of a bishop

Another ministry of a priest is preaching. To preach, to carry the Good News of salvation is also a commandment of Christ, a direct continuation of his work, therefore this ministry is sacred. True, as specifies Archpriest Sergiy Pravdolyubov, “To be dogmatically and canonically exact, preaching is not a part of the priestly, but of the bishop's ministry. During the episcopal consecration, the grace is given to preach, but to us, as the priest Athanasius (Sakharov) writes, the bishop delegates this grace. That is, he instructs to speak in his place, because he cannot simultaneously preach in dozens and hundreds of churches in the diocese. During the sermon, we perform the duties of a bishop. Personally, it crushes me, I feel that it is not mine, my priestly gift is insufficient. But if the priest delivers an unsuccessful, awkward sermon, it will only benefit him. You understand your place in the hierarchy - you can say good only if God bless. Preaching is an impromptu creation, and sometimes a co-creation of God and a priest. "

A priest cannot exist without a people

In the Old Testament Church, the participation of the people in divine services was reduced to passive presence. In the Christian Church, the priesthood is inextricably linked with the people of God and one cannot exist without the other: just as a community cannot be a Church without a priest, so a priest cannot be such without a community. The priest is not the sole performer of the Sacraments: all the Sacraments are performed by him with the participation of the people, together with the people. It happens that a priest is forced to perform a service alone, without parishioners. And, although the rite of the liturgy does not provide for such situations and it is assumed that a gathering of people participates in the service, nevertheless, in this case, the priest is not alone, because the angels, as well as the saints and the departed, bring a bloodless sacrifice with him. Archpriest Sergiy Pravdolyubov: “Thirty-five years ago, in the town of Kirzhach, Vladimir Region, a priest, during a proskomedia, sadly thought that there was no one in the church again. He began to read the notes (mainly about the repose) and take out the particles, and when after a while he turned around, he saw that the temple was full of people. These were the ones he mentioned at the proskomedia. After the liturgy, mother asked why he was so pale, and he told her about the vision. That is why the Liturgy is served even with a small number of people, and even when there is not a single person! Everyone for whom the priest takes out the particles are invisibly present in the church. "

Who can become a priest?

In ancient Israel, only persons belonging by birth to the tribe of Levi could become priests: for everyone else, the priesthood was inaccessible. The Levites were dedicated, chosen to serve God - they alone had the right to make sacrifices, offer prayers. The priesthood of the times of the New Testament has a new meaning: the Old Testament sacrifices, as the Apostle Paul says, could not deliver mankind from slavery to sin: “It is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins ...” (Heb. 10, 4-11). Therefore, Christ sacrificed Himself, becoming both a Priest and a Sacrifice at the same time. Not belonging by birth to the tribe of Levi, He became the only true "High Priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek" (Psalm 109: 4). Melchizedek, who once met Abraham, brought bread and wine and blessed him (Heb. 7: 3), was an Old Testament type of Christ. Having given His Body to death and shedding Blood for people, teaching in the Sacrament of the Eucharist this Body and this Blood to the faithful under the guise of bread and wine, creating His Church, which became the New Israel, Christ abolished the Old Testament Church with its sacrifices and the Levitical priesthood, removed the veil, separating the Holy of Holies from the people, he destroyed the insurmountable wall between the sacred Levitism and the profane people.

Priest of the Orthodox Church, explains Archpriest Sergiy Pravdolyubov, “Any pious virtuous person can become who fulfills all the commandments and rules of the Church, has sufficient training, is married to a girl of the Orthodox faith in the first and only marriage, is not disabled with a physical obstacle to using his hands and feet (otherwise he will not be able to perform the Liturgy, endure the Cup with By the Holy Gifts) and mentally sound. "

To Protestants about Orthodoxy Kuraev Andrey Vyacheslavovich

Why the priest is called "priest"

It is psychologically understandable that Protestant preachers want to expose Orthodox Christians in the greatest possible number of sins and violations of biblical precepts. Psychologically, this is understandable - but it is hardly Christianly justified to focus on looking out for sin and on the most negative interpretation of the "incomprehensible" actions of other Christians.

Among these reproaches, the strangest is the accusation of the Orthodox that they call priests "fathers" in spite of the seemingly clear words of the Savior: "And do not call anyone your own father on earth, for you have one Father, who is in heaven" (Matt. 23, 9).

As in the case of veneration of icons, Protestants throw at the Orthodox like a stone that biblical quote that breaks their own windows. If they really intend to literally understand and apply the Old Testament prohibition on images, then they would have to first destroy all their illustrated publications and all their photo albums, and only then pour petrol on the critics of Orthodox icons. If they really are sure that no one can ever be called a father, then let them begin the religious and linguistic reform from their own homes and forbid their children to turn to the parent as “dad”. If a Protestant leader himself refers to his father as “papa”, if in his sermons he inserts passages like “as my father taught me ...”, if he calls on his parishioners to fulfill the biblical commandment “honor your father and your mother,” then he needs be careful in criticizing the Orthodox. If in the family the address “father” retains its right to life, then is it the Orthodox fault if they feel the whole Church as their big family and family, affectionate words (“father”, “mother”, “brother”) are carried outside the apartment?

The apostles and Christ Himself do not have the rigorism of Protestants. They apply the word "father" and the appeal "father" not only to God. For example, in Christ's parable about the rich man and Lazarus, the rich man asks Abraham: “Father Abraham! have mercy on me and send Lazarus<…>But Abraham said: a child! .. "(Luke 16, 24-25). As you can see, Abraham accepts such an appeal and responds accordingly, comprehending his relationship with his distant descendant in terms of "father-son". In another parable of Christ, in the parable of the prodigal son, the son turns to his earthly father: “Father! I have sinned against heaven and before you and am no longer worthy to be called your son ”(Luke 15:21). And nowhere is it clear that in both of these cases the Savior condemned the children who call their ancestors the name "father". Yes, both of these children were "sinners", but their sin was not at all that they called their father - father.

Here are the words of the Savior that are very important for our topic: “There is no one who would leave home, or brothers, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or land, for the sake of Me and the Gospel, and would not receive now, during this time, in the midst of persecution, a hundred times more houses, and brothers and sisters, and fathers, and mothers, and children, and lands, and in the age to come eternal life ”(Mark 10, 29-30). According to the “esoteric” interpretation of Helena Roerich, in this text Christ means the principle of reincarnation: “How is it possible now, during this time, to have more mothers, fathers, etc., if the law of reincarnation is not allowed? It is here that the opposition of the time of the local, of earthly existence amid persecution, to the age of eternal life to come is emphasized. " If Protestants do not want to be occultists, that is, if they do not want to agree with E. Roerich, then they will have to agree with me and admit that this Gospel text speaks not about the many upcoming births, but about the realities of the life of the early Christian community. A person who left his home, his city, his family for the sake of Christ, was greeted like a native in any other Christian home, and as Christianity spread throughout the world, in any other city. Any teacher who gives birth to the souls of people to life in Christ became a spiritual father for those who believed. All the apostles were fathers to each of the Christians. And all Christians were brothers and sisters to each other. And here is the question for Protestants: how will Christ's promise that a Christian will have many fathers be fulfilled - if he cannot call anyone with this word?

The apostles, too, probably did not perceive the commandment of Christ "do not call anyone father, except your Father, who is in heaven" as unambiguously as the present "evangelists." Love knows no law. And already the Apostle John addresses his disciples - "little children". The return call was obviously appropriate. The Apostle Matthew, writing his Gospel after he heard the strict words of the Savior “do not call anyone father on earth,” Matthew, in whose Gospel these words of Christ are quoted, nevertheless writes that Christ met James and John “in a boat with Zebedee their father ”(Matthew 4:21). The Apostle Stephen preaches to the Sanhedrin: “brothers and fathers! listen ”(Acts 7, 2). The same address is found in ap. Paul (Acts 22: 1). And the Apostle John uses it: "I am writing to you, fathers" (1 John 2:13). The Apostle Peter also knows other fathers besides the Heavenly one: “The God of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, the God of our fathers” (Acts 3:13); “The God of our fathers raised Jesus up” (Acts 5:30). If we recall also the admonition of the ap. Paul: “Fathers, do not irritate children” (Eph. 6: 4), then it will become quite obvious that, according to the perception of the Apostles, the grace-filled divine sonship, given to us by the True Son, does not cancel earthly kinship, both bodily and spiritual.

Abraham “became the father of all believers,” writes the Apostle Paul (Rom. 4:11), reminding that it is possible, according to the flesh, not to come from the Jewish people, but at the same time be the heir of the spiritual promises that were once given to Abraham. For “all believers” Abraham is a “father”: not only for the Jews who descended from him in the flesh, but also for those who came to the biblical religion at the call of the spirit.

If it is said that we must be more afraid of those who can kill the soul than of those who can kill the body (Matthew 10:28), then is it not true the opposite: we should honor more those who stand at the source of my spiritual life than to whom I owe my bodily life? And if the one who brought me the lesser gift is to be honored and honored with a grateful conversion father, then why is it impossible to apply this word to spiritual birth, to birth in the spirit, which also occurs not without the participation of man (for “how to believe in Him about whom they have not heard? how to hear without a preacher” - Rom. 10, 14) ? Therefore, he writes ap. Paul: “I begat you in Christ Jesus” (1 Cor. 4:15). And he directly explains that this is precisely why he became a father to those who believed: “You have thousands of mentors<…>but not many fathers ”(1 Cor. 4:15). And about a very specific person Paul says: Onesimus, “whom I begot in chains” (Flm. 10). Naturally, the disciples of the Apostle Paul perceived him precisely as a father: Timothy “as a son to his father, he served me” (Phil. 2:22).

Through people, a person comes to the community of believers, to the Church. Therefore, to see the Church means to see people in whom the power of God is at work. An ancient monastic aphorism says that no one would ever become a monk if one day they did not see the radiance of eternal life on the face of another. That is why Ap. Paul: "My children, for whom I am again in the throes of birth, until Christ is portrayed in you!" (Gal. 4:19); "Imitate me as I am Christ" (1 Cor. 4:16). And so - through the centuries. In their birth from each other, the mentors preserve the image of the spiritual order, which was first revealed by the creator of the tradition. Here is just one testimony about the meeting with the “priest”: “When, after finishing the prayer, the priest blessed me and began to speak, with all my heart I began to listen to him, not to words, but to that new and unusual that was born in my soul in his presence, that it renewed, revived, made strong ”.

Birth cannot happen by itself, "just like that." And it is no coincidence that from time to time a recognition breaks through in Christian literature: “We suffered, giving birth to you with repentance, we bore you with great patience, great pain and daily tears, although you did not know anything about it. Come here, my child, I will take you to God. " So writes St. Simeon the New Theologian to his spiritual son. Is it blasphemy to say to such a confessor - "Father!"?

Protestants forbid calling pastors with this word. Well - “they probably never knew the people we knew in their lives, no one showed them in a living breath what the Holy Church is, no one pressed their head to their chest, on which the chill of the old epitracheli was, no one spoke them: "my dear child" - these fiery words, from which all unbelief melts, and what is even more amazing - all sins. "

Protestants have no confessors, no priests. Perhaps that is why they do not know what a painful and joyful connection is established between a spiritual teacher and a student - such a connection that it cannot be expressed in other words, except as “son!” and "father!" They do not understand the words of Exupery: "You see, a person is generally born for a long time" ...

The apostle Paul speaks of spiritual fatherhood in the first century; Rev. Simeon is in the tenth. But in the nineteenth, we see the same fruit of spiritual love: “Be a mother, and not a father to the brethren, ”advises St. Seraphim of Sarov to the newly appointed abbot.

So, there is no blasphemy in naming a priest "father" and "father". A person must understand that the only source of his life is in God. Here, as in relation to the icon: you can worship and serve only the One God. But it is possible and necessary to honor that through which and through whom we learn about God and receive the gift of life. “Worship God alone,” but “honor your father and your mother,” and, of course, do not forget about your spiritual relationship.

But what do the words of Christ "call no one your father" mean for Orthodoxy? Christ speaks not of the external, but of the internal. He condemns not the conversion itself, but the inner state of the soul that can be reflected in such conversion. And not the one who says "father" is condemned, but the one who demands such an appeal to himself. There is a lust for vanity, there is a lust for presidency of meetings and for tokens of reverence — and this is precisely what Christ condemns. Let's remember the context: “On the seat of Moses sat the scribes and Pharisees<…>nevertheless they do their deeds so that people can see them<…>they also love presentation at feasts and presidencies in synagogues and greetings in popular gatherings, and so that people call them: teacher, teacher! And you do not call yourself teachers, for you have only one Teacher - Christ, yet you are brothers; and call no one on earth your father, for you have one Father, who is in heaven; and do not call yourself instructors, for you have one instructor - Christ. Let the greatest of you be your servant: for whoever exalts himself will be humiliated, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted ”(Matt. 23: 2,5-12). It is not that in any society there really are mentors and there are disciples, not that in any meeting there really is and should be an elder and those who have ceded the primacy to him, but that vain, proud craving that in every one he seeks before is condemned. all obsequious respect for oneself as a "mentor", "teacher", "elder", "father". The desire of a person to become a "teacher", "mentor", "b O lshim ”, striving for self-exaltation. This is not just a sin of the clergy, it is a much more common sin. The parishioner grandmother, who authoritatively explains to the girl who came in, how to light a candle, and how not to light, often all downright radiates with proud pharisaism, although she does not call herself either “priest” or “teacher”. And in the hearts of young Protestants, didn’t something similar stir in the face of the neophyte: “Well, I have been in our wonderful community for a year and a half, I already know everything, I even participated in a week-long theological seminar, but you still don’t know how many books are included into the Holy Scriptures. Well, nothing, come, I'll teach you! "

... And in the final analysis, indeed, this text denounces us. We really do not live by these words. We are generally all Christians, not only Orthodox. Where is that confession in which all ministers not for show, but sincerely and unceasingly fulfill this Christ's covenant: “The greatest of you, let the greatest of you be your servant: for whoever exalts himself will be humiliated, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted” (Matt . 23, 11-12)? There are words in the Gospel that are a thorn in the soul of Christians. They do not allow reading the Gospel with a sense of superiority and self-admiration: “Well, they say, we are not like the Pharisees and Jewish scribes; we got to know Christ, believed in Him, accepted His teaching and are fulfilling it in everything. " Yes, yes, this denunciation of the Pharisees applies to us Orthodox Christians as well. But it burns our conscience not because we got the address "father", but something much more comprehensive, deep, important ... In the seminary, at every morning prayer, a passage from the Gospel was read. And I remember what an unusual silence hung in the hall when one day a priest read this very passage: “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees ...” (Matt. 23, 14). The gospel is not only a comforting book, not only touching, not only affectionate. Its thorns and thorns are for everyone, not just for the ancient inhabitants of Palestine.

But in the words of Christ against the Pharisees one cannot find condemnation of those who, out of humility, consider their neighbor to be higher than himself, and consider him to be older. And if Protestants want to fight internal, the spiritual disease of Pharisaism through external language reform, if they hope to eliminate the spiritual temptation of vanity and pride through the removal of one or two words from the vocabulary, then let them be consistent and abolish professorship titles in their seminaries. After all, a "professor" is nothing more than a "teacher".

No one can be forced to refer to this or that person with the word "father". In Orthodoxy, turning to a priest "father" is not a requirement of church discipline or doctrine. This is an extra-statutory, non-canonical, but precisely family, intimate appeal. There are words, there are addresses that are used only between close relatives. And if a stranger, who accidentally overheard them, begins to demand from his acquaintances that they call each other not by household names, but exclusively by first name and patronymic, then he will present himself in a not very favorable light. It is impossible to forbid the manifestation of love. One cannot forbid calling a brother a brother and a spiritual father - a priest.

It follows from this that a priest should not call himself a father. Only by the decline of class ethics can one explain that today some priests present themselves not as “priest Alexander”, but as “father Alexander”. Once I bore the obedience of the secretary of the Rector of the Moscow Theological Academy. A student, who had been ordained a priest a few days ago, entered the waiting room, introduced himself (“I am Fr. John Ivanov, 4th grade) and said that he would like to meet with Vladyka Rector. Having entered the Rector's office, I conveyed this request: "Father John Ivanov from the 4th grade has come, he asks to meet with you." Vladyka's reaction was unexpected: he asked me if Ivanov himself had introduced himself that way, or I call him that. I replied that I had conveyed exactly what the receptionist had told me and how. And then Vladyka said something that became a lesson for me for a lifetime: “Go and tell him that at his parish he will be a“ father ”for his spiritual children, and I myself ordained him only three days ago - and he already creeps into my fathers ?! Let him learn to introduce himself properly and then he will come! ”.

So the address “father” is the result of some kind of “recognition”. Is it possible to address a clergyman differently? There are official addresses: "Your Reverend" (to the deacon, priest, hieromonk), "Your High Reverend" (to the hegumen, archpriest, archimandrite). In principle, you can address in a secular way - by name and patronymic. But - I must warn you - such treatment can leave an abrasion in the soul of a priest. Why this abrasion occurs is evident from the case described in the memoirs of B.N.Lossky, the son of the famous Russian philosopher. For N.O. Lossky, like many other Petersburg intellectuals, “addressing priests by name and patronymic was a habit. He himself abandoned this custom and began to condemn after he called his pre-revolutionary colleague and ideological companion of Father Sergiy Bulgakov, who arrived in Prague in the clergy in 1924, "Sergei Nikolaevich" and heard from him that he took such a name as one of the manifestations of God's punishment for his late conversion to faith. "

In addition, for the clergy who have experience of life and service under the Soviet regime, address by name and patronymic is a reminder of that time of calls and interrogations. The Chekists and other co-servants with this appeal emphasized that all there church appeals and monastic names do not exist for them. And therefore, with an emphasized accentuation, the clergy (including the Patriarchs) were called only by secular names (which was still a step forward compared to the pre-war years, when the authorities' appeal to the clergy ranged from “citizen” to “prisoner”). Therefore, addressing a priest in a secular way is an emphasized taking of distance and a clearly expressed unwillingness to see in his interlocutor what he himself considers most important in his life and in his ministry.

This also explains Metropolitan Pitirim's defiantly witty response to the note “How should I contact you?”, Which Vladyka received in 1988 at one of the first meetings of the Soviet intelligentsia with representatives of the Church (as far as I remember, it was in the Central House of Writers). After reading this note, Vladyka smiled and replied: "Call me simply: Your Eminence!"

So, if a person does not have special reasons to emphasize his non-churchliness, then it is better not to use such appeals that, for a clergyman, still have a secular, and, therefore, profane, underestimating connotation. When people ask me how to contact me, I answer: “Usually they turn to me father Andrey, more officially - father deacon... By my patronymic I am Andrey Vyacheslavovich. In personal communication, Patriarch Alexei refers to me as “Father Andrey” ... However, recently “Father Professor” has also begun to address me (with a smile, by the way) ”. You can do whatever is more convenient for you .. I add the last phrase to relieve some feeling of awkwardness in people who are much older than me. After all, here the question is not so much about respect for a person, for a person, it is a question of attitude to the rank, to the service to which a person has dedicated himself.

In general, this is a matter of etiquette, not dogma. To present him as a reason for separation from the brethren and the Church is to keep only in the mind, and not at all in the heart, that strange text of the Apostle Paul, where he says something about the mutual relations of fasting and non-fasting ...

In addition, from a purely linguistic point of view, one should distinguish naming and appeal; these are different classes of words. In the Gospel we are asked not call myself the father of anyone on earth (it is obvious that this does not apply to the real father), that is, not to recognize someone's paternal rights - and these rights in the East at that time were very extensive. Addressing with the use of the so-called "names of kinship" is a common thing in all languages: we simply determine the age ratio with the interlocutor, and - almost imperceptibly - our attitude towards him. Indeed, what kind of treatment is more polite - father or uncle? mother or aunt? Wouldn't it be better to live in a society where boys are hailed with words son, but not kid? The normal use of a normal linguistic means can in no way be blamed on the Orthodox. And the fact that we respect our priests and therefore address them accordingly is our right. The Gospel did not take him away from us.

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Chapter 30. Why did sin not disappear immediately after the coming of Christ? Why did not everyone believe? If anyone thinks to expose our teaching by the fact that even after the use of healing, human life is still defiled by sins, then let one of the familiar similarities guide him to the truth.

(8 votes: 5.0 out of 5)

Roman Makhankov

In the Gospel, addressing the apostles, Christ really utters the words: “... Do not call yourself teachers, for you have only one Teacher - Christ, you are still brothers; and call no one on earth your father, for you have one Father, who is in heaven; and do not call yourself instructors, for you have one instructor - Christ ”(). This commandment is remarkable in that it ... has never been fulfilled by Christians! Since the inception of the Church, priests have been called “fathers” and “mentors”. Outside the temple, for example, in schools, the same Christians, without hesitation, called and call their teachers teachers. And even more so it concerns the appeal to his own father.

Already the apostles, to whom, in fact, the words of Christ were addressed, not only did not forbid, but the first began to call themselves fathers, instructors and teachers. The Apostle Paul in his epistle to the Christians of Corinth writes: “... Although you have thousands of instructors in Christ, you do not have many fathers; I begat you in Christ Jesus with the gospel "(). That is, he calls himself the spiritual father of the Corinthian Church. The Apostle James advises: "Do not many become teachers" (). And in general, in their epistles, the apostles very often used the address: "my children." Only those who, in turn, were called "fathers" could address their listeners in this way.

How can we explain this contradiction between the Gospel quotation and the behavior of the apostles? Either they went against the commandment of their Teacher, misunderstood and distorted His teaching - or Jesus, not allowing Christians to be called “teachers” and “fathers,” nevertheless meant something other than a formal prohibition to use these words in addressing people.

If we accept the first option, we find ourselves in a dead end: all the Gospels are written by the apostles. It turns out a logical contradiction: if they themselves were called “teachers” and “fathers,” then why in general it was necessary to leave this commandment of Christ in the Gospel? For the sake of exposing ourselves?

If we trust Christ's disciples and, in the end, just common sense, then this commandment must be understood somehow differently. Then what exactly did Jesus mean?

It is necessary to read this phrase in context, without pulling it out of the gospel narrative. After all, the Bible is not a collection of quotations, but a coherent and coherent text. Christ spoke the words about fathers and teachers in Jerusalem a few days before the crucifixion. Then the city was especially crowded, because the Easter holiday was approaching. Christ, knowing what will soon happen to Him, uses this time to deliver His last sermons.

However, the then religious teachers of the people - the Pharisees and scribes - used the people who came to Jesus for their own purposes. Considering Christ as a false prophet and false messiah, they tried to discredit Him with a large number of witnesses, to catch Him in some phrase, which could later serve as a reason for accusation.

After yet another failed attempt by the teachers and fathers of the Israelite people to “catch Jesus in his word,” Christ turns to people with harsh denunciations against their religious leaders:

This is how a bloodless sacrifice is offered to God. In the censer, aromatic substances are burned, and fragrant smoke - incense - ascends into the sky.

The censer consists of two, usually spherical, halves. The lower one is called a bowl; it contains burning coals and incense lying on them. The upper one is the lid of the bowl, which is very similar to the dome of the temple, topped with a cross. Chains are attached to the lid and bowl on three sides. Sometimes they have bells - balls with metal cores. They ring melodiously when they burn incense.

This tradition is more than one hundred years old. Censing has been performed since the apostolic times. In the Old Testament, the Lord commands Israel, among other gifts to the true God, to bring aromas of aromatic incense, and indicates the special composition of aromatic substances, which includes pure Lebanon. This is the name of the fragrant tree resin, which is collected from trees and shrubs that grow in eastern countries, including Lebanon - hence the name. But in Russian this word gradually turned into incense.

Not a single service takes place without incense. Both this action and the censer itself have a deep symbolic meaning. According to the interpretation of the holy fathers, the fire of curing coals signifies the Divine principle of Christ, the coal itself - His human nature, and incense is the prayers of people brought to God.

The censing is complete when it covers the entire church, and small when the altar, the iconostasis and the people coming from the pulpit are censed.

Botafumeiro from Santiago de Compostela. Botafumeiro is a Spanish word translated into Russian that means "emitting smoke." This is the name of the world's largest censer, which is located in the Cathedral of St. James in the Spanish city of Galicia. It weighs over 80 kg and is suspended from the ceiling with a rope.
Such a censer can hold 40 kg of incense and coals. It is set in motion by eight people. To burn incense in it, you need to swing the bowl of coals to a speed of 60 km per hour.

Before the censing begins, the priest says a prayer: "We bring the censer to you, Christ our God, into the stench (smell) of the Spiritual fragrance, hedgehog reception into your heavenly mental altar, grant us the grace of Your Most Holy Spirit." In it, the priest asks, in answer to people's prayers, to send the grace of the Holy Spirit to them. The visible smoke of the censer is an image of the invisible grace of God, therefore, in response to the incense, it is customary to bow your head.

The frankincense tree is native to Southwest Arabia on the dry mountain slopes of Somalia. This country became the main center for the procurement of incense

In February-March, cuts are made on the tree, from which tree sap flows abundantly. In the air, the juice hardens, after which the dried resin is collected from the tree

Frankincense is one of the oldest incense, which was brought to kings as a sign of special favor. Among other gifts, the wise men brought incense to baby Jesus

The blessed power of the Holy Spirit purifies and sanctifies believers and the entire temple, driving away the spirits of darkness. Censing prepares people who have come to the service for sincere, heartfelt prayer and worthy contemplation of the service.