Prayer Life in an Orthodox Home

by Archpriest Roman Lukianov, Holy Epiphany Church, Boston, MA

Hundreds of thousands of Orthodox Christians live in the United States of America. In many places, ethnic communities of Orthodox Christians may be found, usually centered around a church serving in their own liturgical language. Other Orthodox Christian immigrants and their children are scattered throughout the country and live where there are no Orthodox churches, no right-believing Orthodox churches, or even Orthodox friends. Recently, many converts to Orthodoxy have been added from life-long Americans, whose eyes have been opened to the immorality and spiritual vacuum of the materialist, secular culture in which we all live. Perhaps it is incorrect to call it a spiritual vacuum; rather, the Spirit of God is being driven out of our society, replaced by the spirits of darkness, by the powers of the prince of this world. Russian immigrants were perhaps among the earliest to recognize this development, having lived through a similar experience in their homeland. Now this transformation is becoming more and more evident to others in America.

In times of trouble, people turn (or return) to God. This homecoming may be seen in many souls who seek refuge in God's only Church, the Orthodox Church. But Baptism and an occasional visit to a distant parish or monastery are insufficient for an active spiritual life; that is, for the life of prayer, the prerequisite for true repentance and salvation. A soul needs Christian nourishment any day of the week and in every hour of the day.

The late Archbishop Andrew of Rockland (of blessed memory) taught his spiritual children what the holy Fathers of the Church established long ago: to be, as the Apostle commands, in a state of constant prayer, one must have regular prayers at intervals of no more than four hours. Indeed, if one places the daily cycle of church services in its proper, ancient order, one will see that the interval between services is always three hours or less:

6:00 p.m. Vespers

9:00 p.m. Compline and Evening prayers

The Midnight Office

3:00 a.m. Morning prayers and Matins

7:00 a.m. First Hour

9:00 a.m. Third Hour

12 noon Sixth Hour

3:00 p.m. Ninth Hour

The Divine Liturgy is set within this cycle, usually between the first and sixth hour, except in some monasteries and on the eves of certain feasts.

While such an order of services is ideal, in recent memory it has been observed only in the monasteries of the "Unsleeping Ones"—where services are conducted uninterruptedly by shifts of monks and priestmonks. But it is important for us to be aware of the original schedule of the services, that we may humble ourselves as we realize how far we are from fulfilling the apostolic command, "Pray unceasingly."

However, we should not despair if we cannot attain this ideal. Our Lord Jesus Christ and His Church do not demand from us anything more than what is within our capacities. We are expected to do what we can, within our circumstances; as is reflected by the grouping of the daily cycle of worship into morning, evening and midnight services in our monasteries, and into vigils and liturgies only on Sundays and feast days -in our parishes.

Those who live far away from an Orthodox church can participate in prayer with the whole Church by celebrating its feasts in their own homes. Others may have the time and the desire to add the reading of the weekday or the services to the saints to their usual morning and evening prayers. This practice is encouraged by the Church, especially for those who cannot come to church regularly. The Aleuts and Eskimos of Alaska kept the Orthodox faith alive for over 100 years despite the virtual absence of the clergy.

In 1950, when the resettlement of Russian refugees from the Second World War was at its height, Fr. Sergei Shukin, with the blessing of Metropolitan Seraphim of Berlin and Germany, wrote a short Typicon to guide Orthodox Christian refugees how to conduct prayer services if an Orthodox priest were unavailable where they relocated. Today, when many American-born Orthodox Christians find themselves as spiritual refugees from their own society and may soon find themselves subject to persecution, a translation of this Typicon is timely, with a revised list of prayer and service books available in English. Besides its immediate value from a deeper immersion in the Church's daily life of prayer, an Orthodox Christian, who begins reading church services privately, will find that when he goes to church, the services and chants will become more understandable and enjoyable to him and his family, and thus more profitable for their souls.

From Orthodox Life, Vol. 33, No. 1 (Jan-Feb 1983), pp. 39-40.

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What we post as related to those things similar to various articles which might have a political theme, of sorts, does not mean or imply that we are supportive of, or against something articulated in an article, so much as it is NEWS and our faithful should be made aware.

“I prefer a defeat accompanied by humility to a victory accompanied by pride.”

--An Elder

There are unscrupulous people on the internet these days. Some of them are not who they claim to be and in order to disrupt honest spiritual pursuits, they are known to send out e-mail under someone else's name or the name of another church or jurisdiction with attachments. Anyone can do this, if they want. Some of them exist in Toledo, Ohio... Some in Texas... Others in Michigan, California and many other places... Some are "haters of truth" who follow (whether they are willing to admit it) those who have sway over less educated or ignorant people... as their are also those who do not even know what they are doing because they seek glory to satisfy their own vanity and selfish pride to take over a church or jurisdiction of another, or to wreck havoc over those whom they hate without considering the Gospel Message of Jesus Christ.

If you should ever receive an e-mail with an attachment purporting to be from anyone at "apostle1.com" - "apostle1.org" or even "apostle1.net" - - - know that our policy is to not send out e-mail from any of our domain names with an attachment. Therefore, don't open it! If you receive any e-mail from apostle1.com, apostle1.org or apostle1.net and have never before communicated with us... even if you have communicated with us... verify, verify and again, verify.

Unless we know exactly from whom an e-mail comes... nothing is clicked on or opened, not even attachments! You would be surprised from whom 'hate' e-mail arrives and what attempts and extremes they go to make their e-mails "look" official when it is a lone person or persons who hate TRUTH and love lies, hate anything from being posted that involves TRUTH because they may be affected with exposure to the LIVING TRUTH of Jesus Christ's Love.

Also: Hang Up Telephone Calls constantly get to you?

We get them all the time. But one thing we do that many are unaware of... We keep an automatic telephone log and then we turn them over to the same group who monitors and interacts with the hackers, etc. (see: Privacy Watch NOTICE to VISITORS ABOUT OUR E-MAIL POLICY UPDATED

It no longer matters if the caller calls once in a day, every other day or every day or several times a week, once a week for several months... All get logged, even those who think they have escaped notice by using the actual I.D. Caller number of "000-000-0000" which is being used of late.

It is known that a telephone number showing up may actually be a telephone service provider phone number, yet... they too keep logs and information as to each individual cellular or local (their locale) phone usage...

In the not-to-distant future, we intend to post some of those telephone numbers which constantly show up as "harassing hang-up" callers. May be, you too have the same? If so, may be we can assist in interacting to go further in bringing them to justice...

Contact us by E-Mail... provide us with your telephone number (U.S. residents only)... so that we may telephone you and assess the information.

Keep Watch!

Those who do such unscrupulous things, HATE some of the news, quotes, and such as to inform the general public. Some of them pose as clergy, while a few are actually clergy from various "other" offshoot AMERICAN ORTHODOX CHURCH or other jurisdiction(s) of the same or similar name of which we are, in some instances, their former MOTHER CHURCH (as is the same named Toledo, Ohio based, an offshoot, who had once been a part of us and unknowingly to our unworthy selves, were once a part of the clergy but they did not obtain permission to leave the jurisdiction they were under, according to Canon, and thus obtained for themselves re-ordination and consecrations, several times... and then using a variety of church names, including our own after they were defrocked and excommunicated, having more than three (3) times being excommunicated by other legitimate apostles/bishops); having joined in and with "Independent" churches who have nothing to do with us or even true Orthodoxy.

They seek to go out of their way to character assassinate and disparage religious web sites who do not meet their own brand of standardization which is evidence of their being not "Orthodox" "Christian" or even "Catholic" no matter what their nomenclature corporate name may be. The Toldeo, Ohio based same name group under their so-called leader has been deposed, defrocked and excommunicated more than three different times by various bishops/apostles. He, and several others, have become just as bad as the modern day Ecumenists of the National Council of Churches, World Council of Churches, the World Council of Bishops and more. Their ultimate aim and goal is destruction to those from whom they had either originated from or gone through to obtain the same named "church" they claim to hold to by the state's civil law in which they reside alone. They are not a "Schema-monk" or even a true "monk" for they were deposed and excommunicated for violations of the Holy Rule they claim to subscribe to, giving and openly providing false misleading and inaccurate information about other more honorable clergy. These 'wolves in sheep's clothing attract other nefarious and questionable persons whose aims are similar: for fame, image, power and glory.

Remember, anything that is a HALF TRUTH is not truth but a lie! Many there are that you may know who fit those descriptions... pray for them. Pray that God will send his Spirit of Truth upon them and lead them to Salvation through tears of Repentance, conversion of their cold and calculating hearts toward seeking forgiveness from God and those whom they attempt to harm.

Those who receive e-mail from us, know who we are and from where we send mail. There are also many who know that they can send e-mail under another group or person's e-mail address, which has been happening. If you receive e-mail that purports itself to be from us, verify first by hitting your "reply" button and ask, "I received this e-mail but would like verification if it is from you."

If you are of another jurisdiction, you too could find that your parishioners, clergy and faithful might become subject to the same as we have recently found.

Let this be a warning to visitors so as to be safeguarded against unscrupulous e-mails which contain viruses, worms and unsavory material from person(s) organizations or institutions that are more self-serving than uplifting and informatively news worthy.

For ourselves, we have, as in the past, so once again, acquired the assistance of those who are able and capable of tracing e-mails back to their source and taking appropriate action in North America.

We have learned that the organization we subscribe to, whose members come from various legal and law enforcement backgrounds amongst other areas of society, are committed to the faith even though they may hold different theologies. Yet, in their monitoring of electronic communications of various persons or people, they do not always make haste to bring perpetrators to justice until after enough evidence has been gained in order to build a solid case. We do not always know what information they have gained, but we do know the organization, whom we've been asked not to name, has had a 97% success rate in bringing to justice and obtaining a conviction against individuals, people, and sometimes even religious organizations of a persona that gives the appearance of both secular and religious bearing but who abuse and misuse technology. The organization views those who abuse and misuse the internet and other technologies as nothing more than a form of "domestic terrorism" - - - - and, it would seem to appear that the courts are in agreement!

Those kinds of people, organizations, etc. who misuse and abuse communication technologies are no different than those who attempt to use coercive measures, and in some instance, even blackmail for the same idea is involved... to cause havoc and wreckage, to destroy the spirit and activity of those who struggle in the faith out of pain of heart for the Orthodox Church which is TRUTH. The degree that some have been known to go to, as seen by other jurisdictions, is to take advantage of questionably mentally challenged or those who have a lack of education and understanding to get them to make statements, even outright lies, in writing, in order to destroy. Such persons or groups are spiritual terrorists for unholy and un-Orthodox causes, aims and goals.

Yes, our Metropolitan Archbishop, +Joseph Thaddeus, SSJt., Ph.D. strongly defends the Seals of the Confessional for such leads to true Repentance in thought, word and deed whereby the penitent is required to make amends, where possible, to seek forgiveness of those harmed by his actions whether real or imagined, and to give his forgiveness to those who have harmed him before taking the Holy Body and Blood in the Eucharist. The reality of this understanding is bound up in and with the findings for which cause he, himself, had been character assassinated by his detractors who claim the courts prevented him from breaking the Seals of the Confessional which is not the truth at all.... Click here to see what another bishop's findings are...

The workings of Holy Spirit will not be daunted by those who attempt to cause disruption! It is for these and other reasons that you are urged to read what true repentance and forgiveness means for real "Christians".

"It would be better to have ten (10) true repentant X-felons who ask for and give true forgiveness than it would be to have one (1) non-x-felon or common person whose self-righteousness exceeds even the Pharisees, Sadducees, the gossip mongers, slanderers and un-repentant; for the repentant x-felon understands the true meaning of the Church's purpose as being the spiritual hospital." (siq) +Joseph Thaddeus, OSB, SSJt., Ph.D., Metropolitan Archbishop, Archabbot, Primate

Yes... "Prejudice Makes Prisoners of the Hated and the Hater..." (1992-Fr. Alan Stanford)

One can ask, "What part of 'Prejudice' and 'hate' do you not understand? Are you a complacent person? In light of the saying, examine yourself! You may be surprised if you are honest with yourself for your soul may convict you before Jesus Christ convicts you in the times to come!

"When tested by some trial you should try to find out not why or through whom it came, but only how to endure it gratefully, without distress or rancor."

St. Mark the Ascetic.

"Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, Whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord does not impute iniquity, And in whose spirit there is no deceit." Psalms 32:1-2

For further information about how spammers, hackers and those who are angry with you can or will attempt to do damage, we offer the following link as regards some of the computer - internet problems:

http://msn.pcworld.com/howto/article/0,aid,116258,00.asp

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