How the street mission lives today. "Notes from paradise" and flavor of eternity
2024.11.28 18:30 Yurii_S_Kh How the street mission lives today. "Notes from paradise" and flavor of eternity
 | “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations” (Matthew 28:19) - Christ said to His disciples. Of course, this call to mission applies not only to the apostles, but to all of us. But how do we do it? Go out on the street and start talking to passersby about God? And where do we start? And what if they take you for a sectarian? We go to preach on the street with Priest Alexander Sergeev, clergyman of the church in honor of the icon of the Mother of God “Unburnt Bush” in Otradnoye (district of Moscow).Maria SKUBA, Elena CHERNYSHOVA (photo), Editor Yulia KARPUKHINA https://preview.redd.it/6dwf42jhvn3e1.png?width=1200&format=png&auto=webp&s=dcfe49f9774fe5ba0752c02f4c43e4c215d7c8fc - Hello! Do you believe in God? - Yes. - And in Jesus Christ? - No. - Did you know that Jesus Christ conquered death because He is God? And He can save all people. And this applies to all peoples: Russians, Chechens, Kyrgyz. - All of them, right? - Of course! In our temple we have services in different languages - we serve in Uzbek, Tajik. Come, here's our visit card. A woman with oriental features hides a piece of paper with the coordinates of the Orthodox temple in her pocket. If she wants, she will listen to a talk on how to find the way to paradise by QR code. Priest Alexander Sergeyev and his missionary partner Andrei hurry on - on a sunny Sunday afternoon, the park is full of people. The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few https://preview.redd.it/vnoc7lt1wn3e1.png?width=1200&format=png&auto=webp&s=f4ddd9d95d587e3cc7aeee95783aee678fa169d6 - Why are there very few missionaries, despite the Gospel call? Apparently, it is not easy for modern people to accept it because of the pace of modern life,” says Priest Alexander Sergeev. - Although we, for example, do not spend much time on this ministry: we preach on Sundays for an hour and a half here in the park in Otradnoye. Fr. Alexander tells us that before going out to preach, missionaries are divided into pairs: even if you know a lot of anti-sectarian arguments and quotes from Scripture, as well as all the proofs of the existence of God - someone just has to pray for you. And for the person you're having the conversation with. All sorts of things can happen. The easiest is the accusation of sectarianism. After all, seeing a man with a Bible in his hands, handing out brochures or leaflets on the street, our compatriots immediately remember how representatives of the now banned religious organization actively preached in towns and villages, so they strongly resent it: I do not talk to sectarians. Because of this, one of the Orthodox missionaries began to carry a huge icon of St. John of Shanghai. And people immediately began to see who was who! Others start conversations by asking, “Do you know what Orthodox holiday is today?” That works too! - The most difficult thing is to get people to talk about God,” explains the batiushka. - Most people immediately answer that they believe in God. But if you ask about prayer, confession, the conversation comes to a dead end. On the street, of course, it is difficult to fully talk about souls, but our task is not to bring people to the temple, but to bring him the message of Christ. And when this message will bear fruit is not our business. Complex logic https://preview.redd.it/2feok1mhwn3e1.png?width=1200&format=png&auto=webp&s=9213039682288e97fd3084c0ca89bb657f14ae6d - I've heard something about Christ, but I don't believe... He was a Jew, wasn't he? A Jew suddenly came back to life? - It's God. He was born among the Jews as a man. But He could have been born among other nations. - But He couldn't have been born a Belarusian among Jews, could He? - It makes sense. But we should remember that He is not just a man, but also God. These natures did not mix, He just incarnated. Not as we, ordinary people, are born. - You have to agree, it's a pretty complicated logic. I'm stupid, and I can't explain it to you. - Do you know why it's impossible for you? Because when we study, for example, math, it's the head that solves the problems, that is, the mind. And what we are telling about is more from the heart, heart faith. - I beg your pardon, what heart faith? There, in the heart, valves, there may be salt deposits... - You're not a biologist by training? - I'm a radio engineer. I'm 86 years old now. When Yurii Gagarin flew in space, I dedicated a poem to him. Yes, I'm a poet. They don't teach you the main thing at school, but the most interesting thing in a person's life is creativity. - So a man is a creator? And who gave him this gift? https://preview.redd.it/5f961ggcxn3e1.png?width=1200&format=png&auto=webp&s=63ab738602e62f457ef9e123c76990c0e42b83b0 - Nature made us that way! We have a colossal number of neurons! Even any academic only has half of them. If people evolved, humanity would be completely different. They told the usual people that one of the Jews was God. What came before him? - You want to know? We'll tell you. - Come on! Missionary Barbara inspiringly tells an elderly engineer how people after the fall into sin became mortal, and that Christ saves our souls, and then resurrects our bodies. - What a complex structure, my friends, - the man sincerely marvels. - I'll read something about it at home. Have you, girl, ever studied complex integrals? - Yes, at university. I'm your colleague, also a technician. - You too? We have contact! The girl and her interlocutor walk together along the path of the park, discussing integrals, the afterlife, and the commandments of God. By the way, missionaries often record street dialogues on a tape recorder, so that they can analyze what worked and what they need to work on. Of course, these conversations are never posted in open sources, because sometimes they are very intimate. Blessing and vocation https://preview.redd.it/k4qcbqjrxn3e1.png?width=1200&format=png&auto=webp&s=817e0aa3f23775cc3dc8a4f921a2890150c18174 Alexander Sergeyev decided to become a priest and missionary when he read a book about Father Daniel Sysoyev, who believed that Orthodoxy was not only the religion of Russians and preached to everyone. First Alexander graduated from the school of an Orthodox missionary at the Church of St. Thomas the Apostle, then he practiced: preaching on the street, preaching to Protestants, preaching to migrants. After that I entered the Moscow Theological Academy. I studied different areas of mission, tried, learned, gained experience. The very word “mission” can be translated from Latin as “message”. According to the Apostle Peter's letter, each of us should be ready to give an answer about our beliefs “with meekness and reverence,” but for purposeful conversations with strangers we still need a blessing. Also, a calling in the highest sense of the word. - Once we talked to a man for about thirty minutes, and he was most interested in priests' cars and the Patriarch's watch: "If they chose Orthodoxy, then they should have nothing,” the priest shares. - It is difficult to convince such a person of anything, but a missionary must remain calm in any situation. Making claims against the Church, people, according to the clergy, often want to justify their laziness, unwillingness to change their lives, to repent of sins. - If instead of priests stood angels, I think people would not go to confession, - says Father Alexander. - Imagine if you had Archangel Michael took confession, how would you get from him? And the priest has the same weaknesses as we do, so indulge people. There are funny cases in these outings in the park. For example, once the priest went out to preach, saw a guy in a sports uniform, talked to him, but he did not even stop. - What to do? I ran beside him,” laughs Father Alexander. - Right in my vestments I ran and preached on the road. The man is surprised, listens, but still does not want to communicate: “I do not have time. I said, “Well, at least take a business card.” He took it and went on running. That is, sometimes we literally have to run after people, adjusting to the modern rhythm of life. Seeing God in everything https://preview.redd.it/0nyrs11tyn3e1.png?width=1200&format=png&auto=webp&s=520aaf556f1c032a139e75a72c2d66b96362493a Fr. Alexander preaches not only in the temple and outside, but also on the Internet. The Nathanael Telegram channel, named in honor of the apostle better known to us as Bartholomew, is full of short videos - just right for the time-conscious twenty-first century citizen. The examples given by the bishop are sometimes surprising. For example, the bishop sat down in the train, it turned out that the wrong way - so immediately thought about the fact that there are people who sincerely think that they know God, going in the right direction, but moving in a completely different direction, being in religious delusions. Fr. Alexander says that he draws inspiration from the saintly works of the Fathers. After all, the saints, speaking of God, always use visual images. - For example, St. John Chrysostom writes: “Every day you go to the stadium, to horse races, and you do not get tired, and you at these spectacles burn through money, burn through time, and in church you can not stand for two hours”. It's understandable that in our time he would mention other spectacles - movie theaters, rock concerts, video games... But like the saints, we must learn to see God absolutely everywhere. How do you muster up the courage to talk to strangers for the first time? By asking God for it, of course, and turning to the saints who had that courage. In order not to be ashamed of God, Father Alexander advises to pray to the Great Martyr George the Victorious. And also - to think about our own spiritual problems. After all, we are happy to talk about our favorite things, our hobbies. But when it comes to God, we are vulnerable. We can be pushed away, insulted, and looked at as a weirdo. Fighting the passion of vanity will help us not to worry about what people think. As for the external appearance, the saying “first you judge "how nice" only then "how wise"” is about street missionaries. The main thing here, according to the batyushka, is that a person should look chaste. And, according to him, style does not contradict this. There just needs to be a balance: you don't need to look like a homeless person or a “flamboyant businesswoman". https://preview.redd.it/szrd6vd43o3e1.png?width=1200&format=png&auto=webp&s=3a59d563f07337c6738fea371db77aafa1e75f55 - Ideally, I think it would be good for girls to look like the Virgin Mary. If a person has not yet come to this style, but he wants to bring the Gospel to people, he can wear jeans. Maybe it will even be a plus when he communicates with young people, - says Father Alexander. Sometimes the place of preaching becomes not only a park, but also any other public place. For example, the passenger compartment of a minibus. Everyone around them, of course, has their ears on the top of their heads. - They sit quietly and say nothing. But they listen, because people have spiritual hunger, about which the prophet of God Amos wrote that the time will come when there will be hunger on the earth. The hunger is not a bodily hunger, but a hunger to hear God's Word,” says Father Alexander. Preaching often bears fruit after a while. A person takes a business card on the street and forgets about it, throws it at home among other things. When will it catch his eye again? Perhaps when a person will need consolation. The main thing, Father Alexander teaches, is to interest a person in Christ, and for this we need to learn to see the radiance of God's image in a person, to approach everyone with love. And do not talk like with a student who did not understand the topic of the lesson. - It is not necessary to be cunning, - advises the priest. - It is better to ask questions directly about God, about the truth, about his attitude to the Church. Otherwise a person will think that you are interviewing him about the weather, and when he realizes that you actually secretly preached to him, he will not be happy with such deceit. Notes from Paradise https://preview.redd.it/9vu4a0r8co3e1.png?width=1200&format=png&auto=webp&s=d459868a59268934a080afa7b0e0d7fc11f93833 In Otradnoye, the mission sometimes takes place according to an unusual scenario. For example, a passerby is offered to pull out of a box “a note from paradise”. Many people love fortune cookies. Fr. Alexander filled this trend with Orthodox content. A person pulls out a note - and there, for example, a quote from St. Martyr Elizabeth Fyodorovna about love: “Holy and pure love is inseparable from faith.” Why notes from paradise? Because the authors of these statements are there now. Discussing the quote can help build dialog. At another time, people were similarly invited to write with a marker on a banner a good quality he or she would like to acquire. For example, for Lent. But in the end, the missionaries decided to abandon such innovations. - I can honestly say that I did not notice absolutely no difference, it even seemed to me that people perceived it worse than just a direct conversation on the subject of God, - admits Father Alexander. - More people ran away than when we talked to them just like that. After all, in order for a person to talk to you and his soul opened up, it requires not technology and tools, but divine grace. And you are its transmitter. Therefore, the missionary, according to the bishop, must be attentive to his spiritual life: to observe all the church fasts, to take communion regularly, to read the Scriptures and the Fathers of the Church, to practice Jesus prayer and make bows. - Because these simple things give a person divine grace, - explains Father Alexander. - If you have this grace, you will succeed. People are sensitive to this Divine grace. A person is attracted to something, some flavor of eternity. He feels it and stops. That is why it is very important that the missionary should be after the communion - so Christ His Body and Blood remain in you, and you do not even act yourself. That is the main role in the success of the mission is your measure of grace, your measure of love, your measure of passion for God and all heavenly things. Because if you do not live it yourself, if you do not have any interest in God in your heart, if you do not have any interest in eternal life, another person will feel it, and his soul will not respond. The main reason is love https://preview.redd.it/ioy9ouqmco3e1.png?width=1200&format=png&auto=webp&s=a7636caf71af9a9985e44a110fbe094d0a14eb77 The success of preaching depends largely on whether the missionaries have the support of their loved ones. - My future wife, Lisa, and I went on a missionary trip to Crimea before our wedding, where we preached to Protestants, walked the streets, and went door-to-door,” the priest recalls. - She, of course, was shocked, but I decided that she should understand what I have connected my life with. On the trip there were many temptations, even real attacks of demons, but, thank God, everything was settled. According to Fr. Alexander, he is often at home immersed in his ministry: either preparing an article, or writing a book, or composing a letter to some Protestant. - My wife sometimes complains that I seem to be at home, but not quite. This is also a temptation for a missionary,” sighs Father Alexander, ”he needs to be able to use his time wisely and be a missionary for his family at home. Not in the sense of preaching the Bible and recounting disputations even while eating soup. No. He must be attentive and caring because the primary motivation for mission is love. The priest is sure that if a missionary does not try to stir this up in his family, he will not succeed with other people. But what should we do for those people whose other half is against their missionary service? - Serve God, and learn to respond meekly to reproaches, - advises Father Alexander. - You need to pray for the person - and still do God's work. You can preach not three times a week, but two or one. But still do not stop. Otherwise you will become a slave of people, not of God. Fr. Alexander says that, of course, for him the greatest reward - when a person after communication with a missionary decided to devote his life to God. And recalls how in the temple to him came to talk to two young men. It turned out that they had been baptized in Orthodoxy as children, but had already been going to the Baptists for six months. The priest talked to them, honestly explained that they had fallen away from the Church and called them to the service. They came. After the service they drank tea with the priest and talked. So one Saturday they talked, the second, the third, the fourth. After a few months, the guys decided to return to Orthodoxy, started going to the temple, became altar boys. One entered the Trinity-St. Sergius Lavra and decided to become a hieromonk. https://preview.redd.it/nmu19ip2do3e1.png?width=1200&format=png&auto=webp&s=768813d854e795b78f79e5ac72ecc28e6cece7be - When you see that your hand has participated a little in God's work, it certainly gives you real joy,” Father Alexander admits. - It is clear that there are very few people who have responded and followed Christ, but we are not chasing quantity. In Orthodoxy it is not the crowd that matters, but individual unique personalities. It warms the soul of a missionary to meet a person who listens eagerly. But to be upset if a person is indifferent to your words, according to Priest Alexander Sergeyev, is also not necessary: a person's choice should be respected - and continue to look for those who need it. The Lord will send comfort. Preachers are as if they are sending short telegrams from Heaven to the inhabitants of the metropolis. And sooner or later they will become necessary for someone. - It happens so: you lead years of mission among Protestants - and no result. You try to get closer to them - nothing. You try a lot of things - and all options failed. And then a grandmother comes to the temple and says: I am a Baptist. You talk to her and bang, you baptize her. Then another one, a Protestant, stayed with us. It turns out that the Lord sends people to the temple in gratitude for the Light spread by missionaries. You may have preached on the street for a hundred people, but another hundred came to the temple. This is the spiritual law! People still find Christ, but maybe the Lord does it in a different way, so that you do not fall into vanity. And when you get discouraged, He gives you a cherry on the cake to make you happy. https://preview.redd.it/l6hwqp0fdo3e1.png?width=1200&format=png&auto=webp&s=eb98956bf4355cfd5c403d892b630d0f0391fd04 – Do you know that today is the memory of St. Dimitry of Rostov? Have you heard of him? No? He lived in the XVII century, wrote the lives of all the holy people. He was a very educated man… "You know what," - the man interrupts the priest. – My health is not very good right now... you know what, I'm going to the clinic. Here's what – you'll make the sign of the cross over me. "Bless you?" Ok. What is your name?.. God bless you, Roman. Here, kiss the cross. And the sick need to confess. After all, sin destroys health. "100 percent,– the priest's interlocutor agrees. – Aren't you baptized? And it is also necessary to go to the doctors, but before that it is better to pray. In general, you need to find time, analyze your whole life, write down your sins and come to confession. Roman nods. After receiving a business card with a link to the public catechization, he goes to the doctor – he seems to be in better mood, hoping for the best. ------------------------------- MiloserdieRu Translated by SophiaWisdomOfGod submitted by Yurii_S_Kh to SophiaWisdomOfGod [link] [comments] |
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