Why do we go to church? What does God want? How can we be saved? Read the perspectives of the Convent’s clergy on these topics and others.
The closer you become to God, the more painful it is. Every real step towards God tears an individual into pieces. The Lord does not want us to be attached to time, space, or values of any kind; He wants us to be free.
Archpriest Andrey Lemeshonok
The Church lives in a different dimension where the separation between past and future is surpassed, where death, time, and space are no more. The Church is in a dual state, which can be described as a state of expectation and fulfilment at the same time. The Church is looking forward to the Second Coming of Jesus Christ, while at the same time it already is the Kingdom of God who came with power, a place where God and man are already reunited.
Archpriest Demetrius Basalygo
We all honestly wish to be saved. This is why we are here, in Church. Otherwise, what would we be doing here? Just coming here out of habit, listening to chants, smiling at each other, and saying some nice words? That would be too emotional… In reality, we come here because we want to prepare ourselves for death and for a personal Golgotha. Each of us will have a personal Golgotha at a certain point. We should not be afraid to climb that Golgotha because we are Christians…
Archpriest Sergius Khrapitsky
The Church has a simple recipe for all occasions of our lives: cling to the Lord in prayer, in Communion, in everything that brings us closer to Him. It makes sorrows and misfortunes subside, and problems become solved. Doing so takes much effort and self-renunciation. We need to swallow our pride, as the enemy tries to sow anger, resentment, and hostility in our hearts.
Priest Andrey Malakhovsky
The Lord never seeks a pretext to punish or destroy a person. Instead, He seeks to save every one of us.
Priest Alexander Pashkovsky
The greatest accomplishment for us today is, perhaps, to be able to tolerate ourselves and each other with all our... peculiarities, so to speak. We can do it so that the Lord could remove these peculiarities and leave us only the pure gold that He created, the gold of our souls, currently covered with rust…
Priest Valery Zakharov
What does it mean to be grieving to the Lord for one’s sins? It means changing one’s life by following Christ.
Priest Sergius Faley
Whenever we face an ordeal or difficulty, we should remember that our church is always open, and you can just come here and receive comfort. Here you can pray, ask God to forgive you, and receive the thing that we all came into this world for, i.e., unity with Christ.
Priest Rodion Alkhovik
Holiness is not an unreachable height. Holiness is when God begins to act inside a sinful person, in spite of all human talents and even weaknesses. So it is not a human achievement but God’s grace.
Priest Sergius Nezhbort
The Gospel contains words that tell us about the simplicity that we have to achieve in order to be close to God so that He could lay his hand on us as if we were children who have simple and light thoughts and feelings.
Priest Artemius Tonoyan
If we want to be with God, we must treat people like He treats us. Only if we accept our neighbours and try to help them, we will find God.
Priest George Glinsky
