Our Daily Bread / О хлебе насущном

On our Daily Bread

"Give us this day our daily bread" (Lk 11:3)

Further in the Lord's prayer we find three petitions about us and our needs. How the Lord cares for the nourishment of His children! He fed His people with "the bread of angels," sending this bread directly from heaven each day. He brought forth water for them from a rock in the wilderness. Christ fed the hungry, healed the sick, and suffered need with us not only spiritually, but also physically. In this petition, he teaches where we ought to first seek help. Turning to other people for help and being offended when they are refused, peopls should instead turn directly and simply to the Giver of everything good.

One very poor woman, when asked where she turned for help, responded: "to God, and to other peopl only through Him alone. The heart is in His power, and He can incline it to pity when He so desires." The further we go in our spiritual life, the more we learn about our complete dependence on the will of God the Father, relying on Him in everything, every minute of our lives, until we learn the truth of the words, "without Me you can do nothing" (Jn 15:5). "The body is for the Lord, and the Lord for the body" (1 Cor 6:13).

Even when the Lord refuses us anything, He Himself fills all an hundred times over. His children need not depend on external circumstances, but only on "every word that proceeds from the mouth of God" (Deut 8:3). Even if our earthly bread is sometimes poor, then the Lord may place on it a blessing, may lay in our heart such joy, patience and gratitude, that this poor bread becomes for us rich spiritual food, from which the soul is strengthened through the deprivation of the flesh.

Original Russian text: from http://www.pagez.ru/days/index.php?id=month&month=06&day=08

О хлебе насущном
"Хлеб наш насущный подавай нам на каждый день"
(Лк. 11, 3)

Далее в молитве Господней следуют три прошения, касающиеся человека и его нужд. Как заботится Отец о пропитании Своих детей! Он "ангельским хлебом" питал Свой народ, посылал этот хлеб прямо с неба каждый день. Он из камня извлекал для них воду в пустыне. Христос кормил голодных, исцелял больных, сострадал нуждам не только души, но и тела; Он учит нас и в этом прошении, куда обращаться прежде всего за помощью.
Люди обращаются к людям за помощью и огорчаются, получая отказы, а надо обращаться прямо, просто, к Подателю всех благ.

Одна очень бедная женщина, которую спросили, куда она обращается за помощью, ответила: "К Богу и к людям, только через Него. Сердца в Его власти, и Он их склоняет к жалости, когда хочет". Чем дальше мы подвигаемся в нашей духовной жизни, тем более учимся мы этой полной зависимости от воли Бога Отца, полагаясь на Него во всем, каждую минуту нашей жизни, пока не поймем великую истину этих слов: "Без Меня не можете делать ничего" (Ин. 15, 5). "Тело для Господа, и Господь для тела" (1 Кор. 6, 13).

Когда же Господь отказывает в чем-нибудь, Он Сам восполняет все сторицею. Дети Его ни в чем не зависят от внешних обстоятельств, а зависят лишь от "всякого слова, исходящего из уст Божиих" (Втор. 8, 3). Если и скуден бывает подчас земной хлеб, то Господь может приложить к нему такое благословение, вложить в сердце человека такую радость, терпение и благодарность, что скудный хлеб превратится в Его руках в богатую духовную пищу, от которой при лишениях для тела окрепнет душа.

The Best Portion / Лучшая доля

Continuing this series of translations of the commentary on the Lord's prayer from the book "Day by day," here is a short article on the third clause - "Thy will be done." The original Russian text can be found at :

По-русски: http://www.pagez.ru/days/index.php?id=month&month=06&day=07

The Best Portion

“Thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven” (Lk 11:2).

The best portion for a person on the earth is to do the will of God. Not sometimes, superficially, or unwillingly, but in the manner that it is done in heaven.

The first three petitions of the Lord’s Prayer related directly to the Father: Thy name, Thy Kingdom, and Thy will. Christ is teaching us to put God first, where He belongs, to place things of heaven before things of earth, spiritual things before material things, and things of God before things of man. Christ tears away man’s gaze, chained as it is to his material surroundings, and directs it to the Father and to that which pertains to Him.

We, on the other hand, place ourselves first. Everything else is eclipsed by our own cares, needs, and business and we run with them to God as to the only possible escape from difficult situations in life. He himself, however, has no place in our lives. Because of this, our life is incorrectly led, sinful and aimless. Christ recognizes only one order of things, and proclaims it in this wondrous prayer: “in the beginning, God.”

Only when a person accepts this truth in his heart can he begin to live a genuine Christian life. Seeking first the will of God and fulfilling it as well as he can with the understanding which he has been given, he comes under the jurisdiction of the Kingdom of God and begins to recognize and glorify the name of Him, from Whom proceeds all grace and the fulfillment of every need. Balance is then restored to his soul, and he then begins to accept the will of God, no longer with a spirit of reluctant submission, but with energy and with trust in God’s devoted love.

In one school they ask the children, “How is God’s will done in heaven?” Many write answers such as “willingly,” “immediately,” or “joyfully.” The last voice was that of a very small girl, who piously said, “without asking why!” Yes, those who consciously pronounce these three petitions and arrange their life in accordance with them fulfill God’s will with a trust that doesn’t need to ask any questions.

7th Sun of Pascha 2008 - What is heaven? >John 17:1-13

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John 17:1-13 These words spake Jesus, and lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, Father, the hour is come; glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee: 2 As thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him. 3 And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent. 4 I have glorified thee on the earth: I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do. 5 And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was. 6 I have manifested thy name unto the men which thou gavest me out of the world: thine they were, and thou gavest them me; and they have kept thy word. 7 Now they have known that all things whatsoever thou hast given me are of thee. 8 For I have given unto them the words which thou gavest me; and they have received them, and have known surely that I came out from thee, and they have believed that thou didst send me. 9 I pray for them: I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me; for they are thine. 10 And all mine are thine, and thine are mine; and I am glorified in them. 11 And now I am no more in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to thee. Holy Father, keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me, that they may be one, as we are. 12 While I was with them in the world, I kept them in thy name: those that thou gavest me I have kept, and none of them is lost, but the son of perdition; that the scripture might be fulfilled. 13 And now come I to thee; and these things I speak in the world, that they might have my joy fulfilled in themselves.

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Don't Waste Time! / Не теряйте время!

The following short excerpt from the works of Fr. John Krestiankin is directly related to the title of our Journal, "Redeeming the Time."

Don't Waste Time!

Friends, let us wash, let us cleanse ourselves by tears and the confession of our sins while there is time. Let us struggle in our life to acquire the Holy Spirit, Who will open to us the gates of the heavenly mansions. And let us use all of our earthly possessions to obtain heavenly treasures, by giving alms from a merciful and loving heart. Let us use our earthly life to come to know God, to come to know ourselves, and to prepare our eternal inheritance. Let us not waste time.

Russian original, from http://www.pravoslavie.ru/put/080608145048:

Не теряйте время!

Други наши, благовременно омоем, очистим себя слезами и исповеданием грехов своих. Стяжем трудами жизни благодать Святого Духа, открывающую нам врата в небесные обители. И всякое наше земное имение употребим на приобретение небесных сокровищ раздаянием милостыни от милующего и любящего сердца. Употребим земную жизнь нашу на познание Бога, на познание самих себя, на устроение своей вечной участи. Не будем терять времени.

Из слова о памяти смертной
http://www.pravoslavie.ru/put/080608145048

The Lord's Prayer / Молитва Господня

The Lord's Prayer

translated from the Russian at
По-русски: http://www.pagez.ru/days/index.php?id=month&month=06&day=06

"Hallowed be Thy name; Thy kingdom come" (Lk. 11, 2)

Thy name, the name of my Heavenly Father, I will reverence and hallow above every name. If I defile or soil my own name, I can cleanse it in the name of my Father. Do not rejoice in your works, or in your service, or in your power over evil spirits; rather, rejoice "that your names are written in heaven" (Lk 10:20). Christ alone can teach us how to pray. It is only through Him that we have peace with God and "access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God" (Rom 5:1-2).

Lord, your Name is Truth, Life, Righteousness, Purity, Wisdom, Compassion, Peace, Holiness, Humility, Meekness -- It is everything great, radiant, and good. Let your name be hallowed in my soul, in my heart, in my mind, in my life, and on my lips. Let it be my holy relic, which sanctifies me and by which I sanctify myself! Let it not be blasphemed or defiled by anything, and let it not depart from me!

Thy kingdom come! In this vicious world, where we fight against sin, against the passions, against our very selves - in this world of evil and temptation, where there is so much noise, emptiness, unrighteousness, impurity, and suffering, where evil reigns - in this world we call to God, thirsting for the coming of His Kingdom. We pray that evil be subjugated, that God's righteousness reign, that every tear be removed, that death be no more, that we ourselves may, like the repentant thief, approach His feet and that we may all be united in brotherly love at the Throne of His glory in His Kingdom. O Lord, hear our prayer, and may Thy Kingdom come in our soul, transforming, cleansing and renewing it completely.

Adoption to Sonship

"Our Father, Who art in the heavens"
(Lk. 11:2)
by St. Theophan the Recluse

From the Russian book, "Day by Day." Translated from the Russian text at
По-русский: http://www.pagez.ru/days/index.php?id=month&month=06&day=05

Our Father! How little we understand what this means! Christ gave us the Father; often during His earthly life He repeated the words: "your Heavenly Father," and he proclaimed the news of this adoption with additional strength just before and after His death. He says to the Father, "You have loved them as you have loved me" (John 17:23). These words should cause us to be gripped with fear: is it really possible that the Father loves us with the same measure of love that he has for his Beloved, Only-Begotten Son? This is what Christ said! Knowing the Father, he asked for him that we be giving this adoption, as the reward for His suffering. Rising from the grave, He proclaimed: "I ascend to my Father, and to your Father" (John 20:17). The adoption which He accomplished was complete.

The Apostle John, fully understanding the great value, the joy, the abundant inheritance of this adoption, proclaims: "Behold, what manner of love the Father has given unto us, that we should be called the children of God" (1 John 3:1)!

This adoption unites all of the faithful. "Our Father"... and in Him we are brothers and sisters of one another. This is relationship is higher, closer, and stronger than any other. We have unlimited access to the Father, and we should bring to Him all of our sorrows and cares. He is an inexhaustible fountain of all good things for those who trust in Him, and in Him all hearts are united, for "There is one God and Father of all, Who is above all, in through all, and in you all" (Eph 4:6).

6th sun of Pascha - The Blind Man - It really is about character too.

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John 9:1-38And as Jesus passed by, he saw a man which was blind from his birth. 2 And his disciples asked him, saying, Master, who did sin, this man, or his parents, that he was born blind? 3 Jesus answered, Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents: but that the works of God should be made manifest in him. 4 I must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work. 5 As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world. 6 When he had thus spoken, he spat on the ground, and made clay of the spittle, and he anointed the eyes of the blind man with the clayp, 7 And said unto him, Go, wash in the pool of Siloam, (which is by interpretation, Sent.) He went his way therefore, and washed, and came seeing. 8 The neighbours therefore, and they which before had seen him that he was blind, said, Is not this he that sat and begged? 9 Some said, This is he: others said, He is like him: but he said, I am he. 10 Therefore said they unto him, How were thine eyes opened? 11 He answered and said, A man that is called Jesus made clay, and anointed mine eyes, and said unto me, Go to the pool of Siloam, and wash: and I went and washed, and I received sight. 12 Then said they unto him, Where is he? He said, I know not. 13 They brought to the Pharisees him that aforetime was blind. 14 And it was the sabbath day when Jesus made the clay, and opened his eyes. 15 Then again the Pharisees also asked him how he had received his sight. He said unto them, He put clay upon mine eyes, and I washed, and do see. 16 Therefore said some of the Pharisees, This man is not of God, because he keepeth not the sabbath day. Others said, How can a man that is a sinner do such miracles? And there was a division among them. 17 They say unto the blind man again, What sayest thou of him, that he hath opened thine eyes? He said, He is a prophet. 18 But the Jews did not believe concerning him, that he had been blind, and received his sight, until they called the parents of him that had received his sight. 19 And they asked them, saying, Is this your son, who ye say was born blind? how then doth he now see? 20 His parents answered them and said, We know that this is our son, and that he was born blind: 21 But by what means he now seeth, we know not; or who hath opened his eyes, we know not: he is of age; ask him: he shall speak for himself. 22 These words spake his parents, because they feared the Jews: for the Jews had agreed already, that if any man did confess that he was Christ, he should be put out of the synagogue. 23 Therefore said his parents, He is of age; ask him. 24 Then again called they the man that was blind, and said unto him, Give God the praise: we know that this man is a sinner. 25 He answered and said, Whether he be a sinner or no, I know not: one thing I know, that, whereas I was blind, now I see. 26 Then said they to him again, What did he to thee? how opened he thine eyes? 27 He answered them, I have told you already, and ye did not hear: wherefore would ye hear it again? will ye also be his disciples? 28 Then they reviled him, and said, Thou art his disciple; but we are Moses' disciples. 29 We know that God spake unto Moses: as for this fellow, we know not from whence he is. 30 The man answered and said unto them, Why herein is a marvellous thing, that ye know not from whence he is, and yet he hath opened mine eyes. 31 Now we know that God heareth not sinners: but if any man be a worshipper of God, and doeth his will, him he heareth. 32 Since the world began was it not heard that any man opened the eyes of one that was born blind. 33 If this man were not of God, he could do nothing. 34 They answered and said unto him, Thou wast altogether born in sins, and dost thou teach us? And they cast him out. 35 Jesus heard that they had cast him out; and when he had found him, he said unto him, Dost thou believe on the Son of God? 36 He answered and said, Who is he, Lord, that I might believe on him? 37 And Jesus said unto him, Thou hast both seen him, and it is he that talketh with thee. 38 And he said, Lord, I believe. And he worshipped him.

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