Once upon a time, at the dawn of my churching, they gave me several pamphlets "for beginners." The place in one of them, which spoke about the method of recognizing the will of God through lots, sunk into my memory. It was proposed to write possible options on pieces of paper, hide them behind the icons in the red corner and pray three times, and then get a ready answer from behind the icons.
To be honest, I don’t see any difference here - to find out the will of God in this way or through the elder - because in both cases the outcome of the answer depends on your personal request to God in the form of a prayer. For before going to the elder, it is customary to also read a prayer in order to create in advance in one’s soul the certainty that the answer will be from God, and not from man. Having prayed before the lot, you are also sure that God will not despise your prayer.
Secondly, "mythological", more precisely, religious consciousness (however, as well as superstitious) is based on the premise that ACCIDENTS SIMPLY DO NOT EXIST IN THIS WORLD.
Thirdly, this method is sanctified by biblical examples. The apostles cast lots for their twelfth colleague. Pagan non-believers cast lots to find out about the guilt of the prophet Jonah (and the prophet himself confirmed this result up to the command to fulfill the will of the lot - to throw the culprit into the sea). The lot also pointed to the culprit of the violation of the universal fast of Jonathan. The Church elected patriarchs in this way... And so on...
There is even a rite of prayer before the lot:
"Lord Jesus Christ, revealing Your will to the Apostles by Your lot, and calling the Apostle Matthias by lot to serve Himself, pointing the lot to Elder Alexy Patriarch Tikhon of All Russia, give, Lord, and I, the indispensable one, to know Your will and give me the strength to accept and fulfill it with humility. And do not impute this petition to me as a sin, let me not be with those God-killers who cast lots for Your clothes at Your Cross, but let me be with those God-lovers to whom You, Lord, revealed Your will by lot. Do not let the enemy of our salvation laugh at me, but do with me according to Your mercy. You, Lord, gave a promise to Your servants that their prayers would be heard, hear my prayer and tell me the way, I will go to it. Amen. "
As far as I understand, there are no specific canons on this matter, so opinions within the church differ greatly. Schiegumen Savva recommended this method to all his children - including Archimandrite Raphael Karelin ("It is possible and even commendable to use lots in bewildered cases. Before that, you need to make three bows with the Jesus Prayer and read "King of Heaven", three times "Our Father", three times “Virgin Mother of God, rejoice” and “I believe.” You just need to have a living faith and trust in God”). However, Father Raphael did not dare to use this advice. At the same time, who asked him a similar question about lots, he replied that if the lot was already cast, then it must be fulfilled. Father Dimitri Smirnov is categorically against it. Compares with divination. In my opinion, he is clearly wrong here, because visiting the elders can be called fortune-telling in the same way - and then all the elders go to the trash along with the face of the Optina monks ... By the way, after all, many refer to the elders as oracles, so. ..))))
Bishop Seraphim (Domnin) wrote about casting lots that there is such a custom in church tradition, and substantiated it with the words of the book of Proverbs: “A lot is cast in the floor, but all its decision is from the Lord.” As the patristic literature says, have scriptural evidence for all your deeds. And here it is, the evidence))
Such a long theoretical preface is very necessary insofar as this ancient custom became the cause of my charm (or "charm" - I'll find out after death). It was he who brought me to the present state. Perhaps I will tell the situation in detail.
It happened one day that my mother brought me money to the monastery and gave it to me so that I could manage it. Previously, before that, I always “kicked” and didn’t take it, but this time for some reason I took it, supposedly to hand it over to the accountant. And she herself was immediately attacked by all sorts of thoughts: if you give it to an accountant or a dean, then by all means this miserable thousand rubles will go to the next ice cream for the inhabitants in mother's absence - there will be only one sin (just at that time all such money transfers ended in ice cream), it is better to give it to the locals poor people with many children, and even better, give it back to your mother, but if you get offended? all the confessors and abbesses were just away, but it was necessary to make a decision as soon as possible in order to get rid of thoughts and return to prayer (and hermits also advise not to let money spend the night at home, it is better to deal with them right away). So, with trembling, horror and prayer aggravated to the upper limit, I cast lots and it fell out - to keep it for myself. I did not expect this option at all, so I decided that, apparently, the will of God arranged it this way - but for what? .. Why do I need money in the monastery? Or for all the items required for my obedience (all sorts of stationery stuff), or does God deign me for my long-standing desire for a hermit? This question excited me even more, the turn of the matter was serious. Therefore, I decided to additionally turn to Rev. Onufry the Great, whose icon for some reason turned out to be placed in the library by someone (no one knew where it came from). I decided that he certainly knows whether I am capable of hermitage or not, because he experienced everything himself ... I asked him to indicate the answer as follows: I will cast lots in the form of paper balls with answers, which one will roll up closer to the icon - that one will be the answer! .. How surprised I was that these lumps flew somehow STRANGE: one of them flew off to the side at an angle of 90 degrees, as if someone had thrown it away, and the second hit the icon directly !.. I understood: this is a sign, the answer is DAN! Hermitage has fallen!.. And as soon as I saw it, a quiet joy came into my heart and the words appeared: "The Lord does not reject your zeal!.."
I was afraid to fall into delusion and went to our Staritsa as soon as she arrived at the monastery. In "Elder Siluan" it is written that it is necessary to catch the very first word of the confessor, and what will not be the first is human ... My first question was: how to relate to lots? She replied that as the will of God, that the Church does not reject this method. According to all the laws of the “first word”, she confirmed the will of God!.. But as soon as I told her in more detail, she began to reason somehow like a human being and didn’t answer anything specifically. By the way, even the abbess said that they had no right to bless hermits... (Only later it turned out that it was not the Naumovites who were hermits in the Caucasus, but the children of Elder Kirill).
I began to passively wait for the denouement of this story, in full confidence that the Lord Himself will do everything.
Meanwhile, the thoughts of hermitage flourished in every detail, and I began to plan the acquisition of the most necessary things. The most essential piece of equipment should have been a cast-iron cauldron of two liters in size, and such that it could be hung on a fire and put on the stove. But it was painful somehow it was a pity to spend money on it out of a single thousand rubles, and the purchase itself, and the search for goods in monastic conditions were almost impossible. And here is another sign! There are no accidents! I went to another obedience - to graze cows. And one fine morning in one of the forests I found just such a bowler thrown out by someone! .. The Lord already materially began to give signs and prepare everything I needed! .. But even then, just in case, I cast lots - should I take this bowler , for me, is he here ... And it fell out - of course, for me! My joy knew no bounds
Six months passed, and one huge temptation happened, with which no one helped me cope, and the Elder clearly said that I had to cope here alone. And I left the monastery. I also determined by lot that right now is the TIME, that you need to go to Altai (and to a more or less specific area; later I looked on the Internet for a map and temples - everything coincides, including with my conscience)).
To be honest, the process of leaving was the first sign that something seemed to be not going according to plan ... The plan was this: I would walk to the bus station, from where I would go straight to Altai. But the sisters on horseback intercepted me, and then for the first time I doubted the correctness of this path ... Something went wrong, something I did not foresee ...
I was deprived of my obedience by taking off my cassock and sent home. In addition, all the monastery things were eventually taken away from me, which means - all things in general, so there was nothing to travel to Altai. I had to take a wait-and-see tactic and stop in the world. And to figure out why the Lord did not let me go to Altai right away.
When I found a lot of usefulness on the Internet on the topic of survival in the wild, I realized that God simply delivered me from premature death. For some reason, I should have lived longer)) By the way, even dying "in a feat" was a chance even in the process of escaping from the monastery - then I almost drowned in a swamp, I was already waist-deep, but I was saved by a prayer to the Mother of God - somehow miraculously stayed on a thin-thin twig, it is not clear how it pulled me out of the quagmire and at the same time immediately broke))
It turns out that not all life goes according to the human plan real plan much smarter!
But the disappointment in his own planning for the time turned into a disappointment in the lot. And instead of in Once again throwing it, I began to think logically, trying to understand the incomprehensible fate of God. Assuming that the Lord wanted me to study hermitage, I took a trip to. The case ended with a draw. He told me to leave for Russia to marry - precisely for the same former monk, whom fate introduced me to on the Internet immediately after leaving the monastery ... I clarified: when? The lot answered that when my mentor herself kicks me out. It seemed unrealistic to me, but - alas - this happened the very next day! And this again became for me another sign of the fidelity of my path.
Just to be sure, I did one last check. Namely, she suggested the possibility of the fallacy of the lot due to one-person prayer. And I decided to test it with a joint prayer. Bottom line - everything is correct.
My spiritual Sukhumi brother and sister considered that all this was a whim and sheer charm. My argument against this was the case of Abraham: after all, he also decided to openly violate the Commandment (to kill) in full confidence that he had learned the will of God. So in my case, they say, the Lord can stop the hand of Abraham and stop the erroneous action ...
This is where the strangest and most painful thing happened. When I arrived in Russia, my future husband did not meet. And I perceived this precisely as the aversion of the hand of Abraham from the murder ... And I went to the nearest monastery to my old friend.
The three days spent there were the most painful time. I split my brains into schizophrenia, I could not understand in any way - whether the lot was wrong ... And if I was wrong, then there is no God. Meanwhile, His reality is more real than myself... And in the end, I realized that I was required to act. In order to preserve faith and reason, one must still draw by lot.
And when the decision was made, all schizophrenia went away, peace didn’t last in my soul)) And this despite all the canonical curses addressed to me ...
Not for nothing that two people inspired me in Lately that the only cure for charm is to visit it and experience it ... Perhaps, until the end of my life, this issue will not be resolved for me unambiguously, because I fully admit the option of charm. That's why the pain, that's why "keep your mind in hell" is done involuntarily.
Wonderful works of God!
Since ancient times, the word "lot" has been synonymous with the words "rock", "fate", "destiny". He helped make important choice in a person's life when independent decision turned out to be impossible. So what is a lot and how to determine fate with it?
The meaning of the word lot
by lot a small object is called, which is taken out at random from a set of similar objects. Draw lots when resolving disputes or determining the order in something (for example, a draw in football).
In fact, the word "lot" is translated from Old Russian as "piece", "share", "cut". Initially, a piece of wood or metal was called a lot. Perhaps from there came the custom to use matches or coins when drawing lots. Today, various objects are used as fantasies - small pieces of paper and much more.
Lot in historical terms
What is a lot was known in ancient times. The draw was used to determine the will of the supreme deities. The ancient Jews defined it with the help of twelve precious stones with the designations of the twelve Israelite tribes.
The Greeks threw a phantom in case of choosing a starter in a duel. Also, with the help of lots, Athenian officials were chosen.
A famous use of the phrase "the die is cast" belongs to Gaius Julius Caesar. In 49 BC. The Roman general started a war with Pompey. With little support from the legions, Caesar, nevertheless, acted decisively and purposefully. Remembering his previous military failures, before crossing the border river Rubicon, the commander was tormented by doubts. Trusting the will of the gods, Caesar, uttering the legendary phrase, rushed into battle. The battle ended with the victory of Gaius Julius over Pompey and the capture of the Roman Senate. It can be said that the phrase "the die is cast" predetermined
In the history of Christianity, for the first time, lottery occurs for the first time when deciding which of the 12 apostles is destined to take the place of Judas. Since then Christian church began to resort to a method of choosing by lot the most important persons, for example, bishops. However, since 578 lottery in the affairs of the church was prohibited.
What is a lot knew and in ancient Rus'. Until the 16th century, it was decided by lottery which side to take the oath. Henceforth, the lot became an autonomous proof and replaced the oath itself. Two wax balls with the names of the plaintiff and the defendant were placed in the cap. A random person from the watching public was asked to pull out one of the balls. The one with whose name the item was drawn was considered right. Thus, the phantom was dictated by "the will of fate", in other words - pure chance.
Lots as a threshold of fun
What can do funny company leisure buddies? Dancing, picnic and various games. Casting lots is required according to the rules of many of these games. The lot determines the order and sequence of actions, as well as who will make the first move. Various things are used as a destiny - scraps of paper with the names of the players, matches, balls, bones. If there is nothing suitable at hand, the draw can be carried out using the Rock-Paper-Scissors game, known to every schoolchild.
Where else is the draw used?
Nowadays, drawing lots is also popular in more serious matters than simple games. Lots are used to determine the football teams at the major UEFA football championships. The procedure is carried out using balls that symbolize teams. Thus, opponents are selected in each group of players. In addition, the lot determines the side football field for each team. The draw in this case is carried out with the help of a coin.
What is a lot is also known in politics. In Spain, election day is overseen by electoral councils of ordinary citizens chosen by lot. In the CIS countries, the draw determines the primacy in the debate of political candidates.
Question: What do you do when you don't know what to do? Which of the two decisions will be the right one, if life can depend on it? They advised me two options: write down answers on paper with different solutions, read “Our Father”, “Our Mother of God, Hail to the Virgin”, “Symbol of Faith” three times, and draw lots. Or read the above prayers, mentally ask a question, and open the Gospel, on which fragment you rest your eyes or finger, read carefully there. The option with the Gospel is not always clear with the answer. Is it possible to do this, is it not blasphemy? Could there be other options? How to do it right, so that it is useful and useful.
Priest Maxim Kaskun answers:
- They didn’t advise you to move your finger on coffee grounds? It also happens, they lead, they look, something has appeared, some kind of figure - that means it is. Then a whole book of interpretations is attached to this, and a person builds his own in accordance with this. later life. In fact, these are all games in which Orthodox Christian not worth playing.
As for the lot itself, it as such has a place to be in our lives. But, alas, I know from bitter experience: I myself saw my friends throwing this lot.
The Lord reveals his will: imagine, a person pulls a piece of paper, takes it out, the Lord says: - You are a monk. -Yes, Lord!
And marry the daughter of a professor at the academy. The second pulls, the Lord again says to him: - You are a monk. - Yes, Lord! Leaves home: marries, gives birth to children, becomes a clergyman.
Therefore, to anticipate the will of God is not always useful, because not every person can bear this burden, because what the Lord wants from us, because in the lot we say: -Lord, what do You want? And the Lord wants us all to be monks. The Apostle Paul says: "I wish you all to be like me!" But to whom as the Lord has determined, and between the will of God and his determination there is a difference. When we anticipate, we try to lift the veil of God's providence, we penetrate into these things, and the Lord says: - I want you to be a monk. And in life, of course, you will not become such a person, and everything will turn out the way it will turn out.
Therefore, in such cases, as a rule, I do this: if I have some kind of business, or two cases, or three decisions of some kind, then I begin to do it, with prayer, with repentance, asking the Lord for help. And my prayer is this: “What, Lord, this is what business will take place and be arranged, it means that You have blessed. Whatever doesn’t work, collapses, so don’t!” Even if sometimes the soul does not feel comfortable, but at the end, when you see the fruits of such an adventure, you understand that in this case some person appeared, began to go to the temple. In this case, too, someone came, some kind of communication ensued. It then bears fruit.
And when we open the veil: so what's the point? Lord, whom should I marry: that one, that one, or that one? You draw lots, the Lord says: - On that one. No, Lord, I don't want her. Therefore, the lot, after all, is for those who are 100% ready to do what he pulls out. So all these things, they are very unpleasant when you don't do them. Then there will be temptations, different sorrows. Therefore, do what will work, and there the Lord will rule.
How does the Orthodox Church feel about the custom of casting lots? Is it possible to be guided for making important life decisions by the result of the lot that has been drawn?
Responsible Hieromonk Job (Gumerov) :
IN biblical times lots were often used to determine the will of God. IN Holy Scripture it says: “A lot is cast in the floor, but all its decision is from the Lord” (Prov. 16:33). Once a year on the day of atonement (Yom Kippur), the high priest cast lots for two goats: "one lot for the Lord, and the other lot for the scapegoat" (Lev. 16:8). The Lord commanded by lot to divide the Promised Land among the tribes of Israel (see: Joshua 18:6-10). This is the wisdom of God. The conquered Canaan land was distinguished by great contrasts in climatic, geographical, economic and other respects. There were entire areas completely unsuitable for habitation (the Judean Desert). Other areas, on the contrary, were fertile, had a mild warm climate, and were close to the sea, such as Galilee. There could be strife. It is notorious from history that the most painful and bloody disputes were over territories. Since all the representatives of the chosen people knew that the Lord God determined the method of dividing by lot, and believed that “all its decision (that is, the lot) is from the Lord,” then throughout the 15-century history of Israel there has never been dissatisfaction with their inheritances between the tribes . With the help of lots, under David, the lines of ministry of priests and Levites were distributed (see: 1 Chr. 24:5; 25:8).
It is necessary to clearly see the fundamental difference between the lot that people faithful to the Lord resort to after intense prayer to resolve issues that are very important for the life of the Church (the election of the Apostle Matthias (see: Acts 1: 21-26); Patriarch Tikhon at the very beginning of the Russian turmoil XX century) or the people (the division of Palestine according to destinies), from those cases when it is determined which chess player will play with white pieces, or when two boys decide who will get the candy they have. All this is just a technique to avoid disputes and quarrels. In these cases, the result of the lot is probabilistic-statistical. IN Everyday life a person has a certain space of freedom in matters that do not affect his life in any way. It would be all the more blasphemous to think about the will of God when the robbers divide the loot by lot.
The pagans also resorted to lot when it was necessary to accept important decisions. It is impossible to admit that in these activities of people who attribute the result of the lot to idols, the will of God could be manifested. In the poem "Against Marcion, in five books", attributed to Tertullian, casting lots by the pagans is equated with their other obscene activities - "following empty idols, producing a crowd of gods, draw lots, to guess, to call the stars by false names, to predict the fate of those born ”(Bk. 1. Ch. 1).
However, in those cases when Divine Providence used some pagans as His instrument, the result of the lot was a manifestation of the will of God. So, at the beginning of 588, Nebuchadnezzar laid siege to the capital of the Kingdom of Judah. The Chaldean king did not immediately decide on this step. At this time, there were several uprisings among the conquered peoples. Nebuchadnezzar was ready to go to the capital of the Ammonites Rabbah. Being in difficulty, the king resorted to drawing lots. And the lot fell on Jerusalem. This is in full agreement with what is written in the book of the prophet Jeremiah: “And now I am giving all these lands into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, my servant” (Jer. 27: 6). The prophet Jonah, contrary to the command of God, boarded a ship to flee to Tarshish. However, “the Lord raised a strong wind on the sea, and there was a great storm on the sea, and the ship was ready to be broken” (Jonah 1: 4). The pagan sailors drew lots to determine the culprit that caused the storm to rise. The lot pointed to Jonah.
In history Orthodox Church repeatedly resorted to lottery to decide contentious issues. It was decided by lot where to place the newly-glorified noble princes Boris and Gleb on the shrine. The chronicle reports that in 1467 in Novgorod they resorted to lottery in deciding which saint to build a temple. In the 17th century, the disputed cases of clergymen, who were forbidden to take the oath, were decided by lot.
Following the example of the holy apostles, the Patriarch was chosen three times by lot. The first time - on March 20, 1642, Archimandrite of the Simonov Monastery Joseph. Metropolitan Macarius (Bulgakov) in a multi-volume history of the Church describes this event in the following way: “When the hierarchs who arrived in Moscow presented themselves to the sovereign, he asked them, first of all, to raise fervent prayers to God, that He would grant His Church a new supreme shepherd and teacher. And when they left, he ordered to prepare six lots and write names on them, on each lot one name of those six persons whom he himself had previously chosen (including two archbishops - Serapion of Suzdal and Pachomius of Astrakhan, one archimandrite - Simonov Monastery Joseph and three abbots - the Moscow Epiphany Monastery of Jonah, Solovetsky Markell and Pskov Svyatogorsky Macarius), sealed all these lots with his royal seal and sent through the boyar his prince Alexei Mikhailovich Lvov to the cathedral church to the saints who were there so that they, having prayed to God and the Most Pure Mother of God , took out before her miraculous icon Vladimirskaya one of the lots sent, “whom God wills and the Most Pure Mother of God will choose to be patriarch,” and that lot was sent unopened to the sovereign. The saints first took three lots, placed them in the precious panagia worn by the former patriarchs, placed the panagia in an icon case on a veil before the miraculous icon of Our Lady of Vladimir, and began the prayer. At the end of the prayer service, the eldest of the bishops, Metropolitan Afony of Novgorod, ordered Metropolitan Varlaam of Rostov to take out one of the three lots that were in the panagia and hold it in his hands, and set aside the other two. Then they put in the same panagia three more lots out of six sent by the king, placed it before the same miraculous icon on a shroud, again performed a prayer service, and another lot was taken out of the panagia by Metropolitan Serapion of Sarsk, and the other two were set aside. Finally, two lots previously taken out of it were placed in the same panagia and placed before the miraculous icon of the Mother of God. At the end of the third service, one of these two lots was drawn by Archbishop Serapion of Suzdal and presented to Metropolitan Affoniy and the entire Council. Affoniy, without opening the lot, gave it to Prince Lvov for delivery to the sovereign. The tsar unsealed the lot in front of his entire royal synclite and announced that “God and the Most Pure Theotokos be pleased to be Patriarch Joseph, Archimandrite of the Simonov Monastery,” and immediately sent Prince Lvov to the cathedral church to announce this to Archimandrite Joseph himself in front of the entire consecrated Cathedral ”(Kn. 6. Chapter 3). Patriarch Joseph took great care of the strict fulfillment of church charters, the splendor of church services, the improvement of churches and spiritual enlightenment.
By lot, Metropolitan Nikon of Novgorod (1605-1681) was chosen as patriarch. Arising with him church schism does not give the right to question that this election was the will of God. The first king of the chosen people, Saul, ended his reign extremely unfavorably, but he was chosen by God: “The Lord revealed to Samuel the day before the arrival of Saul and said: tomorrow at this time I will send you a man from the land of Benjamin, and you anoint him as the ruler of My people - Israel” (1 Sam. 9:15-16). We are not to evaluate the ways of the Lord with the limited human mind.
The election of the patriarch at the Local Council on November 5/18, 1917 took place in the Cathedral of Christ the Savior after a prayer service in front of the miraculous Vladimir Icon Mother of God. Elder Alexy Zosimovsky, a man of holy life, chose the one who scored less than the first two. Metropolitan Anthony, who received more than half of the votes (309) in the voting, later wrote to Patriarch Tikhon: “This election must be called primarily a matter of Divine Providence, for the reason that it was unconsciously predicted by your friends of youth, your comrades in the academy. Just as a hundred and fifty years ago, the boys in the Novgorod bursa, in a friendly way, joking at the piety of their comrade Timofey Sokolov, incensed in front of him with their bast shoes, singing the magnificence of him as a God-pleaser, and then their grandchildren already made a real censing before imperishable relics his, that is, your heavenly patron Tikhon of Zadonsk, so your own comrades called you patriarch when you were still a layman and when neither they nor you yourself could even think about the actual implementation of such a name.
It is necessary to say especially about those who, being faced with a choice, like to resort to drawing lots. It shouldn't. The Lord has given us reason so that, gradually ascending in spiritual life, we can acquire the gift of reasoning. If it is so easy to decide questions with the help of lots, then experienced mentors and labors would not be needed to know the truth. A person who resorts to casting lots easily falls into temptation. After the lot, not having strong faith, he begins to be tormented by the doubt that the lot indicated the will of God. Doubts grow, but he is afraid to refuse to fulfill what is indicated by lot.
If it is difficult to make a decision, one must pray intensely, reading akathists or canons to the Lord or the Mother of God for some time. Starting to read and after it each time ask for enlightenment. Experience shows that the struggle of thoughts subsides and it becomes clear what needs to be done. “Pray that the will of God be done; you know that there is nothing better than the will of God” (St. Philaret of Moscow).
