Listen: Ether from 18.08.html
- Why did the Lord show His heavenly glory and the lordship of His Divinity?
Everything that we read in the New Testament gospel history is divine and mysterious, and we should not think that every question will find its solution. “What God does, he does not tell anyone,” our pious ancestors thought. Church hymns, the troparion, the kontakion of the feast, the service composed by St. John of Damascus testify to us that before His rising from the tomb, the Lord assures the apostles, strengthens their faith in His divine sonship. And with their own ears, with the spiritual hearing of their hearts, these three chosen ones - John, James and Peter - hear the voice of the Father, as perhaps they have not yet heard Him at the Jordan. The Savior is shining. Glory to the Divine. This is the radiance of Divine Grace.
On this holiday in Russia, autumn begins, because we rejoice so much in spirit, because our heart responds to this radiance of the Tabor light, and in fact it burns, flickers the flame of Divine grace, communicated to us in baptism. We are, by God's grace, calling, sons of the Kingdom, children of the Light. We are called to walk in this light, and it truly illuminates, sanctifies our feelings, the entire circle of earthly existence, if we apply humility, purity and mercy to the right faith. When these green sprouts of virtues sprout in our hearts, then the Eternal Light will shine, and we will make sure in spirit that the King of Heaven and Earth Jesus rests on the throne of our hearts.
Transfiguration is a holiday that tells us that there is a paradise, it exists. And this is the answer to those who say that no one returned from the next world.
Not only the Transfiguration, but also the stay of Christ with Peter in the boat, when the net from the abundance of fish almost broke, and the Zion Room, in which the apostles dined with their Teacher - all these are the threshold of paradise. Where the Lord is, where His peace and love is, there is paradise. Indeed, before the Transfiguration, the Divine Glory never appeared in such fullness, was not revealed to the apostles. And Peter, forgetting himself, said: "Let's put three canopies - Moses, Elijah and You, it's good for us to be here." He really tasted, as the Savior promised the disciples six days earlier, he tasted the power of the Kingdom of God. His spirit was exhausted from the bliss that the apostles felt in their hearts, and Peter did not want this to ever stop. Therefore, he invited the Savior to stay.
What is the reason for the difference: in the Gospel of Mark it is written "and after six days Jesus took Peter, James and John." And in the Gospel of Luke, for some reason, there is a conversation that he took after 8 days?
- "Days of six" does not say exactly what six days are. The apostles, often speaking about times and dates, firstly, call a conditional period of time, and, secondly, we must remember that in the Jewish perception of the day does not completely coincide with our idea of it. So, the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, which took place on the third day, can only be understood if we take into account that even part of the day could be taken as a whole. Therefore, if you open Lopukhin's Explanatory Bible, you will find there a very detailed explanation that harmonizes both of these Gospel narratives. And there are no contradictions between the disciples of Christ, both in this case and in all others.
- Why did the ancient prophets appear on Mount Tabor, and why did they also appear in Heavenly Glory?
When the apostles woke up, you remember, a certain mysterious light cloud descended on them, which seemed to embrace the Savior, and the voice that came from above “this is My beloved Son” was pronounced over one of them by their Teacher. Elijah and Moses were no longer around, but they talked with Christ about His suffering death, about the outcome, the evangelists mention this, before the voice of the Heavenly Father sounded. It is obvious that it was these and not other Old Testament prophets who conversed with the Lord not by chance. Because Elijah, as you remember, has not yet tasted death, and he was transferred from the heavenly storehouses by the power of God here to Mount Tabor. And the lawgiver, that is, the prophet through whom that very covenant with Israel was concluded on Mount Sinai, was returned from the underworld, where they languished, of course, not in such torments as the inhabitants of Sodom, but still they were deprived of the Cross of the Lord, up to Resurrection, heavenly bliss. Thus, both the underworld and Heaven appeared in the person of Elijah and Moses at the feet of Christ. The apostle gave it to be understood that Jesus Christ is the true Son of God, as soon as, revered more than other prophets among the Jews, Moses converses with Him as a slave with a master. This means that Jesus Christ is truly not an opponent of Moses, and He came to complete the ancient law, to renew it. And Ilya is a zealot, most of all he baked during his lifetime about the Glory of God. If Jesus Christ had been an opponent of the Father, Elijah the Prophet would never have bowed his knee and head before Him. Thus, the events of the Transfiguration of the Lord tell us in this trinity assembly of Christ and His prophets that Jesus Christ is truly the Radiance of the Father.
- Why were the disciples afraid when they heard the voice of God?
How do you think creation might feel when it hears the voice of the Father? Let's remember another mountain - Sinai. And let us remember how, at the foot of it, the Old Testament Jews prayed to their leader - "Let God not speak to us, but speak only to you, we cannot hear His voice." Even then, humanity did not find a redeemer, God had not yet been incarnated, and therefore Moses was forced to border Mount Sinai with a circular line, so that neither the beast, nor the bird, nor the man crossed this line, for they could die. It was then impossible for a common man, either regenerated or renewed by the Holy Spirit, to see His glory. Therefore, the apostles are depicted on the icon of the Transfiguration as fallen down, as if they are headlong flying from this mountain, covering their eyes and ears, unable to either see or hear the voice of the Heavenly Father. And so it always has been, and so it always will be. Let's move mentally into the events of the Apocalypse, and you will remember that one of the witnesses of the Transfiguration of the Lord, the beloved disciple, taken to the mountain, because he was a virgin, his heart was a pure mirror of theology, already on the island of Patmos, seeing the resurrected Christ also in radiance, John fell at the feet of the Savior while dead. If the Savior had not laid his right hand on the already aged disciple and raised him up, then the spirit would have gone out of the apostle. Therefore, the reverence, that fear and trembling that filled the hearts of the disciples, even in a small world, let it touch our hearts, so that we at least talk about these lofty subjects not on the go, but reproaching ourselves that our lips are not enough pure, as well as hearts, in order to fully understand and rise to what appeared to the minds, ears of the apostles.
Is there any explanation why the Lord did not allow the disciples to talk about what they saw on Tabor?
So after all, in other cases, he often did not allow it, ordered those who were healed by Him, those who witnessed wonderful miracles, for example, the resurrection of a dead maiden, to remain silent. Why? The Savior does everything in wisdom. In some cases, it teaches us modesty so that we do not magnify ourselves before people, when God puts into our mouths or into our hands to do something worthy of His holy Name. But in the case of His Transfiguration, obviously because he forbids the apostles to share what they saw before the time, that he had not yet ascended the cross. For it was necessary first for the Savior to assimilate the guilt that weighed on sinning mankind, it was necessary to atone for Adam's sin with His blood, it was necessary to pass from humiliation to the glory of the Resurrection and Ascension. And if a multitude of people were tempted by the cross, do you remember the Pharisees and scribes who cynically, with incredible hardness of heart, mocked the Lamb crucified on the tree. If some of those who followed the Lord, among the apostles, doubted when they saw Him resurrected, then what can we say about the glory of the Transfiguration?! Many would not believe. That is why the Savior teaches the apostles not to throw beads, but to hide this pearl of Tabor's light. And only after the descent of the Holy Spirit, when the peoples were subdued to faith thanks to the apostolic faith, confirmed by miracles and signs, only after that did Peter record in writing everything that he saw and heard. And today we can read about it in one of his two messages.
The Holy Righteous John of Kronstadt writes in his sermon on the Transfiguration that on this most radiant feast we celebrate not only the Transfiguration of the Lord on Mount Tabor, but also the glorification of human nature in the face of the Lord Jesus Christ. Father, could you explain what you mean?
The Lord testifies to us to what glory and honor we are called. For He took on His shoulders a lamb, assimilated our nature to Himself, and in Him, in Christ, our nature is also glorified. This means that today we too, children of the Church, receive from the Lord by His grace, by His gift, by His grace what He has by nature as a God-man. Indeed, we find evidence from the Apostle Peter that we, who believe in the Son of God, become partakers of the Divine nature in the Sacrament of Communion, and I know that on the feast of the Transfiguration, most of our listeners receive communion. Together with the Life-Giving Blood and Flesh of the Redeemer, they will also receive the grace of the Holy Spirit. Grace will fill our inner world. And we must always remember this. That is why no sane Christian will ever accept the false blasphemous idea that man can borrow his nature from some primates (monkeys). Human body- this is an icon case that serves as a frame for the soul. Our nature is unique.
- Where did the custom not to eat apples before the Transfiguration come from? After all, the harvest is dying!
Quite recently, I read the reflections of a priest who, not without some reason, says: “Friends, but how long can these formulas be repeated?! It's not very pious. The word Spas - Savior should be used in such a phrase - Apple Spas, Honey Spas. Well, somehow it's not good. Batiushka would be right if we put such a meaning into this phrase that it correlates with the personality of the Savior. In this case, we will not transfer linguistic phenomena to the very realities that stand behind them. Because then it was necessary to accuse our most pious, patriarchal people of almost blasphemy - "Peter and Paul reduced the hour, Elijah the prophet dragged away two." Well, how did you get it? Stole, took without asking? This, you know, can be obtained with lightning from Elijah the Prophet, if indeed these phraseological units are so straightforwardly correlated with the very persons who stand behind these expressions. There is no familiarity behind this, you need to see something else - a thousand-year-old Russian culture, such an acquaintance with the month-word, which implies the entry of the calendar itself into working life Russian people. These are phrases traditional for the Russian ear.
And the second question is not to eat apples. This is, undoubtedly, the reality of Russian church life. You know what desperate Greekophiles the Russians were, and still, to a certain extent, remain, because we adopted church charters and Christian bookishness from the beautiful Byzantium, and the typikon prescribed abstinence from grapes. And from our diligence, we also added traditional apples for us. However, that learned priest who was offended by the Apple Savior on our people, he expresses a different idea, that if apples ripen much earlier, then, according to this priest, it is necessary to bring them to the temple. “From the abundance of your heart, thank the Lord,” said the priest, “and eat.” But I didn’t say it, it was that learned father. I would say that you need to cook compote, a whole barrel and invite the employees of the Radonezh radio station to sit by this barrel for the Transfiguration, talk about this and that.
What is a custom? These are rules of conduct that have been entrenched in the minds of the people thanks to repeated repetitions. What customs are, where they come from and where they disappear, read about all this below.
What is custom
As mentioned above, the rules of conduct that have become norms for people through repeated repetition. This includes customs that are performed on holidays, as well as those that turn into a daily routine. Basically, people follow them out of habit, not really thinking about the meaning of actions. Every society has its own customs. Some of them are regulated by the state, while others are observed within the same family. How long does it take for a habit to become a habit? At least a few years, at least 3-4.
How is tradition different from custom?
Concepts are best learned by comparison. We already know what a custom is, but now let's talk about tradition. What it is? Traditions are a complex of various actions that are passed down from generation to generation in order to preserve and develop culture. And here scale plays a role. The tradition can be considered as a local phenomenon, but still more often it is created and maintained on a national scale. No one forces people to observe established traditions, this is a voluntary matter.
Now let's look at the differences. Tradition is much broader than customs, since it most often has a larger territorial scope. People perform various rituals, sets of actions, often without thinking about hidden meaning that their ancestors laid down in them. But such traditions are supported by the state, as it considers them an integral part of culture. And here folk customs often change under the influence of time, government, way of human thinking. But most people don't see big difference in these terms.
How do habits arise?
Man is a complex being. And to better understand what customs are, you need to know how people create them. Initially, such rituals, or repetitive actions, were performed by man in order to survive. It was a kind of reaction to discomfort. People started the custom of killing a mammoth once a week so as not to go hungry. The girls sewed clothes from the skins of animals once a month, so as not to die from the cold. There were many such small local customs in any society, and they still exist today. True, our contemporaries do not have to survive, so the rituals are not aimed at the biological needs of a person, but at creating spiritual comfort. If you think about it, many of the unconscious rituals that are instituted in our society have no logical basis under them. These customs are common among superstitious people. Why do students eat lucky tickets from the bus before the test?
Why do people, returning home, if they forget something, always look in the mirror? There were once explanations for these customs, but today they cannot be found. Life is too changeable. Every person has the ability to create own customs. How? Before an important event, he may develop the habit of walking for an hour on the street in order to clear his head, or introduce summing up the results of the day into his evening ritual.
How habits disappear
Time goes by, everything changes. Human life is very fickle. Today one job, tomorrow another, today one love, and tomorrow you can meet a new one. That is why habits have to be changed. An example of such changes is the disappearance of witnesses at weddings.
These people used to play the same important role like a bride and groom. But over time, the custom of inviting witnesses lost its relevance. Today, newlyweds do fine without them, which means there is no need to appoint friends to this role.
Another example is baptismal divination. Used to be girls did this every year. Today, this custom has fallen out of favor. Young ladies do not want to spend time in a dark bath in the company of candles and mirrors. They have more fun things to do. It turns out that customs know how to die due to a change in public interests.
- vital;
- lifestyle;
- imposed from outside;
- rituals and ceremonies.
Why do we need customs
Today there is an American globalization of all countries. Most of goods and services that we are accustomed to consume every day - this is not a product of our culture. Customs and customs must be known and observed in order not to lose one's roots and nationality. After all, Russia is a country with its own original culture, speech and art. Of course, it is necessary to modernize the country by updating customs and traditions, but this does not mean that it is necessary to borrow them from other countries. Why is it so bad to borrow a foreign culture, because before it was the norm of life and when one country was captured by another, culture was imposed against the will of citizens. But today it seems terrible, because, forgetting their history, people restructure their thinking. And as a result, such an option may turn out when one person will rule the society, imposing the only possible way of life on everyone. It is worth reading at least one dystopia to understand how bad it will be to live in this situation.
Examples of customs
Today there are many rituals that people perform automatically, without even thinking about their essence. The sources of custom are folk traditions transmitted in writing or by word of mouth. There are many examples.
When meeting on the street, men take off their gloves for a handshake. It seems to be a sign of courtesy and attention, but this custom has long roots. Previously, men took off their gloves to show that they did not hide weapons there, and as a result, their intentions are pure.
Another example of a custom is Maslenitsa. More precisely, the rituals associated with this holiday. For example, burning a scarecrow. This custom also has long roots going back to ancient times. Burning scarecrows, people see off winter and welcome spring.
Jumping over a fire counts as another Russian custom. True, in Lately few people do it. But before this fun was popular. The guy and the girl jumped over the fire, holding hands. If they did not disengage their hands and successfully overcame an obstacle, it was believed that their living together will be long and happy. But if young people moved away from each other during the jump, this meant that they were not destined to be together.
Unusual customs
It doesn’t seem strange to us Russians to burn an effigy for Maslenitsa or decorate a Christmas tree for New Year. But for Thais, it’s completely normal to lower boats down the river, in which people put flowers, light candles and light incense. It all happens at the beginning of November on the day dedicated to the spirits of water.
The norms of customs are determined by the society in which we live. And in other countries things are the same. In Turkey, for example, there is a custom: before a man takes a second wife, he must give his first darling jewelry worth 10 thousand dollars. This is to prove to the woman that her husband - wealthy man and will be able to feed both her and the second woman.
In Kenya, there is a custom according to which the young spouse must do all the work of the wife for a month. It is believed that after this acquired experience, he will not reproach a woman all her life for doing nothing while doing housework.
Customs are historically established in any locality (or among a certain community) the rules of behavior of people in a particular life situation.
What are the customs
Depending on which event in human life they are tied, all folk customs can be divided into the following large groups:
- wedding customs;
- funeral customs;
- customs for the baptism of a child;
- holiday customs (these include the customs of celebrating church and folk holidays- Easter, Trinity, Ivan Kupala Day, Christmas, Shrovetide, etc.);
- customs for laying a new house;
- customs associated with sowing and harvesting.
wedding customs
- A wedding in Rus' is preceded by a number of customs. Any wedding begins with the bride's bride. After the wedding, matchmakers are sent to the bride's house. After the matchmakers agree on the dowry and receive consent from the bride's parents, the wedding day is set. On the day before the wedding, a bachelorette party is arranged. During a meeting with her friends, the bride says goodbye to her former unmarried life.
- On the first day of the wedding, in the morning, the bride, to the plaintive tunes of her friends, dresses in wedding attire. The groom's boyfriend comes to her house to find out if the young woman is ready for the wedding.
- After this visit, the groom drives up to the bride's house with matchmakers and the inalienable and still the most fun part of the wedding action begins - the ransom rite. The bridesmaids flatly refuse to give the groom their future spouse, ask him and the matchmakers comic riddles and demand a ransom for entering the house and for the bride herself. All this fun ends with the fact that the groom gives his girlfriends money and sweets, picks up his bride and takes her to the altar.
- From the church, the newly-made husband takes the young wife to his house, where they are met on the threshold by the groom's parents with an icon and a loaf in their hands. After receiving parental blessing, the young married couple enters the house, they are seated in a central place at the table and presented with gifts. Then begins a plentiful and long wedding feast.
Funeral customs
- The body of the deceased person is washed immediately after his death. This is done by elderly widowed women. Ablution can only be done during daylight hours.
- In a house where there is a dead person, all mirrors are hung with a dark cloth.
- While a dead person lies in the house, they do not sweep the floor and do not wash things.
- The deceased is carried out of the house feet first.
- When they carry him to the cemetery, in no case do they cross the road in front of the funeral procession.
- After the funeral, a feast (commemoration) is held for the rest of the soul of the deceased.
- On the evening after the funeral, the floor in the whole house must be washed.
Baptismal customs
- They try to baptize the child in a period of time, starting from the eighth and ending with the fortieth day after birth.
- Godmother and father cannot be husband and wife.
- The godfather on the day of baptism gives the baby a cross and the Holy Bible, godmother gives kryzhma - a long white shirt embroidered and trimmed with lace.
- After baptism, a festive dinner is necessarily arranged with a lot of sweets - candied nuts, sweets, cookies and buns. The main treat of such a dinner is baptismal porridge - buckwheat boiled in milk and thickly flavored butter and honey.
holiday customs
The number of holidays is so great, and the festive customs are so diverse that it is simply impossible to describe them all in detail in a small article. Therefore, we will only talk about the most famous of them.
- On Easter, they bake Easter cakes, paint eggs and make cottage cheese Easter.
- On Easter morning people go to watch the "sun play". On a hillock, they wait for the sunrise and look at the sun disk rising from the horizon through a smoked glass. It is believed that on this festive morning the sun scatters rays that sparkle with all the colors of the rainbow.
- On Trinity in the church, green branches of trees and bouquets of wild flowers are consecrated and richly decorated with them dwellings.
- On the night of Ivan Kupala, to cleanse from evil spirits, they jump over the fire and splash in open water. On Midsummer Day, medicinal herbs are collected, which, according to folk beliefs, at this time they acquire a special healing power.
Once upon a time, during the childhood of all mankind, our great-great-great-great-grandmothers and great-great-great-grandmothers lived in the rhythm of nature.
They saw, they knew: everything in the world has its own rhythm and order.
A wave is rhythmic, when it runs and runs away, they go in a secret rhythm - summer - autumn - winter - and spring, day and night, sunrises - sunsets alternate ... Everything is sequential, everything is in order, rhythmically.
Our ancient ancestors - they did not adapt to these rhythms, they lived in them. And they brought the harmony of rhythms into their daily lives.
Ritual is an act of creation, the creation of order.
From obscurity - to certainty, to predictability - a person is drawn to this.
Instability, unreliability, fragility of what we do for the first time - and vice versa, ritual, well-defined actions that seem to say: here is the order, you will go after one to another.
If you do this, you will not miss anything - and you know what you will get later. The fire burns out - you collect coals - you store it carefully, not letting it go out - it means that you will make a new fire, and in right time. If you don’t guard it, the coals will go out, they will become firebrands, which means there will be no fire, no heat.
Consequences - from causes. One leads to the other, one follows from the other, follows. Consistently everything goes, in the footsteps.
What gives it?
Feeling of repeatability and reliability.
And even though we are from those distant ancestors, far, far away, and we are separated by centuries and centuries, but we also need it. We are still children of nature. Despite the technical age, despite progress and everything else, we are children of nature, and we simply need a sense of rhythm, rhythm, it is inherent in us from the very beginning.
The son of David, King Ecclesiastes, said: “The generation passes and the generation comes, but the earth remains forever. What has been is what will be, and what has been done is what will be done, and there is nothing new about which they say: “Look, this is new”; but that was already in the ages before us.” (“The Old Testament. The Book of Ecclesiastes or the Preacher. Chapter 1). And these are not sad words. Vice versa. They say that everything is life, that life goes on. And how we keep a good "yesterday" depends on what "tomorrow" will be.
At that moment, when we perform some kind of good ritual, we seem to be stretching a thread from the past to the future. Through today. And we help to believe in ourselves and believe those close to us that it depends on us, our “now”. If we do it with love.
"Homemade" rituals
Somehow one contacted us good mom: « I am concerned about my child. I noticed that when I ask about the lessons, my daughter always knocks herself on the pocket, like this, three times. Asked why? He doesn't speak, he shrugs. The diary, for me to sign, gives me my left hand. Some stupidity. In the corridor, our floor is tiled, the pattern is like this, so she always walks along the pattern, along the lines. If he stumbles, he will return and go first. “What is it, mania and it’s time to take me to a neurologist?».
If you noticed something similar with your child, we hasten to reassure you.
Children often come up with some rituals themselves (and / or pick up from someone and repeat). “I’ll walk on the asphalt and not step on a single crack, which means they’ll buy ice cream ... / ... we’ll go to the circus ... / ... I’ll write a test for the “five”, ... / ... my mother will not swear ... "etc. and so on.
Children often come up with some tricks themselves (and / or pick up from someone and repeat). “I’ll walk along the asphalt and not step on a single crack, which means they’ll buy ice cream ... (“we’ll go to the circus / I’ll write a test for“ five ” / we’ll make up with Mishka / my mother won’t swear if I do this and that ...”) .
Oh, how much we all once thought of, oh, what signs we came up with!
And what is it in essence? A ritual where a clear sequence of actions is indicated. Find out, guess, fulfill ... And what is surprising: it helps! "What has been is what will be, and what has been done is what will be done..."
Actions that make no sense actually make sense. This is also a way to calm oneself down, and / or set oneself up for something good, and / or convince oneself: it will turn out the way I want, and fate is favorable to me.
And we do not think especially, and our children do not think. It's from the past, it's like genetic memory.
Just thinking and performing such a strange action, we seem to go to the origins; that “rituality” in us is from the times when people still remembered: all nature is alive, and they worshiped it. And he considered himself as a part of it. And they turned (and we turn again) to the gods.
Then - they made a sacrifice, and we make efforts, doing this and that.
Then they received a reward, a blessing. And we get: “it turns out the way I thought of it!”
Senseless things like actions actually have meaning, allegorical, and maybe even sacred.
At that moment, when we act as expected, according to the envisioned - conceived, traditionally, we seem to be stretching a thread from the past to the future. Through today. And we help to believe in ourselves and believe those close to us that it depends on us, our “now”.
"What has been is what will be, and what has been done is what will be done..."
A person simultaneously belongs to two worlds: "the world of the valley" and "the world above". And both of these worlds - heavenly and earthly - are combined in us.
The material and the spiritual are within us.
So maybe, by creating rituals and following rituals, we restore (create, maintain!) the harmony of these worlds?! We hear and follow the rules, rhythms, laws by which our world was created. Traditions and rituals link man to man, and the past to the future. And everything becomes one and whole. Like a planet - a single whole together with mountains, rivers, atmosphere, together with people on it. Everything, everything Earth.
So the family is a single whole, one organism.
Little planet.
