Radonitsa

Tomorrow, Tuesday of Thomas Week, is known as Radonitsa (roughly translated, the "Day of Joy") in the tradition of the Russian Orthodox Church, a day on which special prayer is offered for the repose of the faithfully departed. Here is how Radonitsa is described in the Synaxarion of the Lenten Triodion and Pentecostarion (a modern compilation):

On this day, the Tuesday of St. Thomas week, according to the order instituted by our Holy Fathers, we call to remembrance, in Paschal joy, all those who have died from the beginning of the ages in faith and in the hope of resurrection and life eternal.

Having previously celebrated the radiant feast of Christ's glorious Resurrection, the faithful commemorate the dead today with the pious intent to share the great joy of this Pascha feast with those who have departed this life in the hope of their own resurrection. This is the same blessed joy with which the dead heard our Lord announce His victory over death when He descended into Hades, thus leading forth by the hand the righteous souls of the Old Covenant into Paradise. This is the same unhoped-for joy the Holy Myrrhbearing Women experienced when discovering the empty tomb and the undisturbed grave clothes. In addition, this is the same bright joy the Holy Apostles encountered in the Upper Room where Christ appeared though the doors were closed. In short, this feast is a kindred joy, to celebrate the luminous Resurrection with our Orthodox forefathers who have fallen asleep.

There is evidence of the commemoration of the dead today in the writings of the Church Fathers. St. John Chrysostom mentions the commemoration of the dead performed on Tuesday of St. Thomas week in his "Homily on the Cemetery and the Cross."

Today, the faithful departed are remembered in Divine Liturgies, "koliva" is prepared and blessed in the churches in memory of those who have fallen asleep, and the Orthodox graves in cemeteries are blessed by the priests and visited by the faithful. On this day alms are given to the poor. Furthermore, it should be noted that due to the great spiritual joy this jubilant commemoration bears, it is called in the Slavonic tongue, "Radonitsa," or Day of Rejoicing.

There is no mention of a special commemoration of the departed on this day in either the Pentecostarion or the Typikon. Radonitsa is a specifically Slavic tradition (albeit with roots in deep antiquity) not observed by other national traditions (it's even a civil holiday in Belarus). It arose most likely because the Typikon specifically forbids the serving of memorial services from Pascha until Thomas Sunday, making Monday the first day on which the reposed may be formally commemorated. While S. V. Bulgakov mentions Radonitsa as having been celebrated on either Monday or Tuesday of Thomas Week, it is now always marked on Tuesday. (This is most likely because Monday is a fasting day in many monasteries, being the day on which the Angelic orders are commemorated weekly, which would prevent monks from partaking of the festive foods blessed). While there is no special commemoration of the departed in the liturgical services, it is cutomary for a general panikhida to be served in church and for litias for the reposed (a sort of abbreivated panikhida) to be served, accompanied by the singing of the Paschal Canon, at cemetaries and gravesites. (You haven't truly experienced the Paschal Canon until you've chanted it in a cemetary.) It is also customary to bless kutia or kolyva as well as some other special foods, to clean and decorate the graves of loved ones, and to give alms in memory of the departed. Radonitsa also begins the marriage season (marriages being forbidden during fasting periods). May the buyer beware!

For more, see S. V. Bulgakov's handy Handbook; a good explanation by Gregory Orloff of both the theological basis of this commemoration, as well as a description of folk customs, can be found here; the relevant Wiki entry is here; this article, while not written specifically for Radonitsa, provides a sort of "how to" for participation in memorial commemorations; for two brief articles on why we pray for the departed at all, see here and here; those who can read Russian will want also to consult this article for practical guidance on how to mark this day. For a sermon on Radonitsa given by Archimandrite Tikhon (Shevkunov), go here.

An Historical Query

Reading this account of the history of Orthodox Christianity in North America, I came across the following line about St Innocent (Veniaminov):

While in Spanish California, Veniaminov visited the Franciscan missions along the coast, conversing with the Spanish monks in Latin. In a rare gesture of ecumenical goodwill for the time, Veniaminov even built small pipe organs for at least two of the Catholic missions.

This raises the following inevitable question: Was St Innocent the first Orthodox organ donor?

Where Are Those Who Say There is No God?

St Kronid, in his remarkable first-hand account of his long struggle with severe depression and blasphemous thoughts, writes: "My only consolation and joy was, in my free minutes, to open the book of The Lives of the Saints to read about Niphont, the wonder-worker of Cyprus, who suffered similar thoughts for the course of four years." He is here referring to the following incident from the life of St Niphon (the Russians call him Niphont), Bishop of Constantia in Cyprus (commemorated December 23):

The Lord allowed a special affliction to come upon Niphon, so that tried like gold in a furnace, he might be proved worthy of divine grace. The man of God was delivered into the power of Satan, and for four years was out of his mind. Once, while keeping an all-night vigil in his room, the saint heard a sudden, frightful noise, moving from right to left. He was terrified and wondered what it might be. Immediately the devil appeared, raging and roaring and filling the blessed one with such trepidation that his thoughts bebecame utterly confused. Coming to himself a little, Niphon tried to pray and make the sign of the Cross. Seeing this, the devil screeched, "Leave off your entreaties to God, and I will put an end to my attacks!"

Niphon answered, "I will never obey you, unclean spirit. If God has given you permission to destroy me, so be it; I submit gratefully. If not, then know that you will soon be vanguished."

"You are deceived, Niphon," lauged the devil. "There is no God; have you ever seen Him?"

The wicked spirit continued raving like this for some time, but the saint repeated, "You speak like a fool, devil, for the fool hath said in his heart, there is no God." Nonetheless, although he wished to pray, Niphon could not. He could say the words, but could not concentrate on them. As a result, he became downcast and his understanding confused; he was deprived of reason and endured great anguish. Whenever he came to hismelf a little, the demon would appear and whisper, "There is no God!" To this the saint could only reply: "I may fall into fornication, I may commit murder, I am capable of any sin; but I will never renounce my Christ!"

"What are you saying? There is no Christ," the devil would snarl. "I control everything and rule over all. Who told you that there is a God or a Christ?"

"You will not decieve me, ruler of darkness! Depart, enemy of righteousness!" Niphon would shout.

The devil, however, would not go away, but continued to assail him, clouding his intellect and trying to force him to renounce God. During that period, Niphon persisted in his attempts to pray. Thus once, while he was making supplication, his mind filled with doubt as to whether God exists, he looked up and stretched out his hands to the icon of the Saviour, and sighing from the depths of his heart, cried, "O God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken me? Grant me firm conviction that Thou art God and that there is none other than Thee, lest I submit to the counsel of the enemy."

With this, the face of Christ on the icon began to shine like the sun, and Niphon could smell a wondrous frangrance. Casting himself to the floor in astonishment, he exclaimed, "Forgive me, O Master, for having doubted Thee! Thou art my God, and henceforth I will believe without question that Thou alone art Lord and Creator of all things." A moment later, while still lying on the floor, he looked again at the icon and witnessed another miracle: the image of the Master moved its eyes and brows as though it were alive. Niphon cried, "Blessed is my God, and blessed is His glorious name, now and unto the ages! Amen." From that day on, the grace of God rested upon Niphon, since he had completed the four years of trial.

The saint's face was ever brigth and joyful, perplexing those who knew him before. "What does this mean?" they would ask. "For years he was gloomy, but now he is always happy." The reason he was constantly cheerful was that he no longer feared the demons; instead, he mocked them, saying, "Where are those say who there is no God?"

May the Lord, through the prayers of Saints Niphon and Kronid, have mercy on us and strengthen us!

St Kronid on Blasphemous Thoughts and Despair

The Holy New Hieromartyr Kronid (in the world Konstantin Petrovich Liubimov) was born in 1859 in the village of Levkievo, Volokolamsk uyezd, Moscow province. In 1915 Archimandrite Kronid was appointed superior of the Trinity-Sergius Lavra, remaining in that position until 1920, when it was closed by the Bolsheviks. (This detail from an icon of the New Martyrs and Confessors of Russia depicts the expulsion of the monks of the Lavra and the seizure of the sacred relics of St Sergius of Radonezh):

Archimandrite Kronid then lived for seventeen years in Zagorsk (known before and after the Communist period as Sergiev Posad, the town surrounding the Lavra), during which he continued to serve as de facto superior of the monastic brotherhood. Archimandrite Kronid was arrested in November 1937, by which point he had gone blind, and imprisoned in the Taganka prison in Moscow. He was tried with fifteen people, ten of whom were monks of the Lavra. Accused of “counter-revolutionary activities,” eleven were shot and four were sentenced to ten years of hard labor. To the question of how he related to the Soviet power, he replied: “I am by conviction a monarchist, a follower of the True Orthodox Church, and I recognize the existing Soviet power as a believer: it was sent to the people as a test of faith in God’s Providence.” Fr Kronid was sentenced as the “leader of a counter-revolutionary monarchical group of monks and clergy.” He was shot in Butovo and buried in a mass grave.


Archimandrite Kronid was glorified as a saint among the New Martyrs and Confessors of Russia by the Moscow Patriarchate in August of 2000.

The following is my translation of a remarkable, inspiring, and courageous first-hand account by St Kronid about his battles with blasphemous thoughts and the despair that came with it:

“One evening while standing in the Church of Sts Zosima and Savvaty during the Vigil,” Archimandrite Kronid related about himself, “terrible, horrible thoughts of disbelief, doubt, and blasphemy suddenly and unexpectedly appeared in my head, like lightening. This happened so quickly and suddenly that they, like lightening, burnt me with hellfire. Then such thoughts poured like a river through my consciousness. I was dumb from fear and horror. Something indescribable and inscrutable, horrible and strange took place in my soul. These thoughts did not leave me after I went from church to my cell. These sufferings were indeed nothing of this earth, but of hell. I was deprived of food and sleep. Then days, weeks, months passed; a year, two, three, four passed, but these hellish thoughts continued to flow involuntarily, continuing to haunt me. I could find not a place of relief from the anguish and sorrow; I, the sinner, in my despair, even asked the Lord for death. This mental warfare was indescribably difficult. Imagine the state of someone in battle, when two worlds are within you: one world is bright, of faith and hope in God and the burning desire for salvation; and the other, a world of darkness, instilling only destructive and blasphemous thoughts and disbelief. This unbearable warfare visited me especially when celebrating the Divine Liturgy. Standing at God’s Altar before the Holy of Holies and pronouncing the prayer for the action of the Holy Spirit to consecrate the Holy Gifts, I was at that very same moment continuing to be overcome mentally by defiled thoughts of disbelief and doubt. Therefore my tears of repentance knew no boundaries. Even Hierodeacon Jonathan, who was concelebrating with me, seeing how bitterly I wept, considered me deranged of mind. He, of course, thought this out of ignorance. He did not know what was happening in the depth of my soul. My only consolation and joy was, in my free minutes, to open the book of The Lives of the Saints to read about Niphont, the wonder-worker of Cyprus, who suffered similar thoughts for the course of four years. Destructive thoughts attacked me with special force on the twelve great Feast Days. My nerves came undone by all this, and thoughts of despair and depression pursuit me everywhere. Losing control of myself, I was forced to hide from myself knives, forks, rope, and all other sorts of objects and weapons that could be used for suicide. I lack the words to describe everything, and the tears of horror and the suffering I endured. There were moments at night when I was unable to gain control of myself and ran out of my cell, went to the cathedral, and ran around it, sobbing, unable to wait the minute when the cathedral would be opened and I could weep out my grief and unbearable hardship at the relics of St Sergius. I now remember the words of an ascetic: ‘Seek out for yourself an Elder and director not so much of holiness, but of experience in the spiritual life.’ I was able to test this advice on myself first of all. When in my great sufferings I turned to one spiritually respected person and told him of my mental grief, he listened and said: ‘What’s wrong with you? Lord be with you, how can you give way to such thoughts?’ I left misunderstood by him, neither alive nor dead from desperate sorrow. I did not sleep all night. In the morning, as soon as I had gotten onto my feet, I went, according to my responsibilities, to painting class, and on the way I came upon the leader of the painting studio, Hieromonk Micah. Seeing me upset, he cried out with astonishment: ‘Father Kronid! What’s wrong with you? You’re unrecognizable! Your face has a special air of suffering, full of sorrows, unwittingly expressing you spiritual suffering. Speak, what’s wrong with you?’ Then I told him of all my inner sorrows and thoughts. He listened with tears in his eyes, with a special feeling of compassion and Christian love, as if he himself were enduring these pains with me. He said: ‘Relax, Father Kronid. This great warfare, this unbearable enemy, happens to many people. We are not the first. Many, very many suffer from it. I myself suffered from this warfare for seven years and reached such a state that once, going to the Dormition Cathedral for Vespers, I could not even stay there due to thoughts of disbelief and blasphemy. Running out of church, I went to the cell of my spiritual father, Hieromonk Avraamy, all the while shaking and unable to speak. The Elder asked me a few times: ‘What’s wrong with you? What’s wrong with you? Tell me.’ After many tears all I could say was: ‘Batiushka, I’m perishing!’ Then the Elder told me: ‘You are not delighting in these thoughts and are not pleased by them, are you? Why are you so intolerably alarmed? Relax! The Lord sees your spiritual martyrdom, and He will help you in all things.’ Then he read the prayer of absolution over me, blessed me, and sent me away with peace, and from that day, with God’s help, they have completely disappeared. They do sometimes appear occasionally, but I pay them no mind, and they disappear, and I calm down quickly.’ Father Micah’s words were like precious balm poured upon my soul, and from that time I have received a significant lessening of this mental warfare.”

As we know from his life, Fr Kronid not only endured this onslaught of what today we might call major depression, but left this life with the crown of martyrdom. May his holy example of patience and longsuffering serve to encourage and strengthen us all!

Holy Hieromartyr Kronid, pray to God for us!

Bishop Benjamin on Thomas Sunday

Here is my translation of a word by Bishop Benjamin of Saratov and Balashov (+1955) for Thomas Sunday entitled "The Power of Christ":

Beloved brethren, today we heard how doubt arose in one of the Apostles about whether Christ was indeed risen. The Apostle Thomas did not believe, he wavered, and the Lord assured him. He appeared when Thomas was together with the Apostles and said to him, taking Him by the hand: Reach hither thy finger, and behold My hands; and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into My side: and be not faithless, but believing (Jn 20:27).

The doubt involuntarily arises in many of us of whether Christ can reveal Himself now in order to comfort us. For no matter how much we weep, no matter how great our sadness, Christ does not reveal Himself to our bodily eyes, and the worm of doubt gnaws at us.

One ought to respond to two questions: is there a power that the Lord God the Comforter can give us; and, if so, how can our hearts receive it? Christ gives us to understand that there is in fact such a power when he says: I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves (Mt 10:16) – and promises that the wolves will not kill His sheep. It is clear that the Lord sends them some sort of particular saving power that protects and comforts them.

To obtain this Divine power we must be sheep of the flock of which Christ is the Shepherd. As rational sheep of His flock, we must be meek and patient, we must have quietness of manner, mildness, and purity of heart, which express repentance and peace with God.

St John Chrysostom says the following about the presence of the power of God among the quiet and meek: “If a person is meek, like a sheep, and wolves fall upon him, they cannot kill him, for he has a particular Shepherd.”

If a person in our times has quietness of manner, meekness, patience, and purity of heart for the sake of Christ, then the Lord will send down upon him this Divine power, and this weak person will overcome great obstacles and pass through great barriers.

John the Theologian speaks in his Book of Revelation about a vision he had. He saw a large book sealed with seven seals, and many wept about who would open it and show them what was written therein. Someone’s voice told him: Weep not: behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, hath prevailed to open the book, and to loose the seven seals thereof (Rev 5:5). When John saw three enormous lions, to his question of who would overcome them, he heard an answer: the Lamb, Who had received the power of a lion to overcome (Rev 17:14).

Facts from throughout all of history bear true witness to the existence of the power of God in the meek. For instance, in ancient times Isaac the Patriarch (that is what righteous people were called then) was always meek and patient. As a nomad, he moved from place to place. The pagans hated him and frequently drove him away from wells and pastures. But he remained silent and obediently went to another place with his household and flocks. This occurred many times, and here is how the Lord rewarded Isaac.

Once he planted seeds of wheat on a small piece of land and had such a crop, one hundred times over, that the pagans, as the Holy Scripture says, gnashed their teeth out of envy. Thus the Lord rewarded and blessed Isaac for his meekness.

In the earlier days of Christianity, Patriarch Sophronius of Jerusalem relates the following instance. A certain pious rich man had a son. Before his death he called him to himself and said: “My son, chose which you desire: either take the riches, or I will leave you with only God’s blessing.” The quiet, meek youth did not want the riches, and decided it was better to be left with God’s blessing. The father left his entire estate to the poor and died, leaving his son without any means whatsoever. And the Lord rewarded this meek youth. A certain grandee lived in that city that had a daughter for whom he wished to find a husband. He was tormented by the question of to whom to give her, given that among the rich there are evil and dishonest people. He decided to pray, and said to his wife: “In the morning go to the Church of the All-Merciful Savior, and the first person who enters therein will be the husband of our daughter.” When the wife entered the church in the morning, she saw there a poor youth who was in the habit of praying there. She spoke with him, and he related everything to her. Then she went to her house and gave thanks to God. The grandee arranged the marriage of this youth with his daughter, making him once again rich and fortunate. Thus does the Lord comfort and bless those who have meekness and quietness of manner.

The Lord can comfort us in our difficult and sorrowful life if we apply ourselves on our side.

If we are irritable, we should not say that we will not defeat this passion – but instead we should defeat it. The rain that falls on the earth nourishes only those plants that have the power of life in them; the withered, no matter how much rain falls on them, will remain dry. If we upbraid ourselves for our irritability and pride, then the Lord will help us also.

Let us all work on this, so that the Lord will comfort us unto the ages. Amen.

Bishop Mefody on Thomas Sunday

Here is my translation of a short word by Bishop Mefody of Campanie (+1974) on Thomas Sunday:

Thomas Sunday is a day of reflection about doubts. First of all, one should not be particularly surprised by doubts or be lead by them to spiritual confusion. If doubts tempted the Lord's disciples, if the Apostle Thomas had doubts, then why should it be surprising if they appear to us? Faced with a doubt, one need not accept it like an undoubted, obvious truth. One needs to allow for the possibility of mistakes in one's thought and in one's judgment. It is best, when such tempting thoughts arise about one or another question of faith, when you are unable immediately to agree with that which the Church says about it, it is best then to put off resolving that difficult question for a certain period of time. A year or two will pass, and that which you had doubted, which had seemed unclear and contradictory, will resolve itself.

Where do these doubts come from? Often simply from misunderstanding, from our ignorance; because we try to judge and resolve questions without any schooling whatsoever. This is namely the case with questions of faith. For we would simply laugh at free thinkers in other areas, in medicine or astronomy, for instance. But we often try to interpret questions of faith and theology with great self-assurance without any schooling whatsoever, or after having read a book or two.

Another source of our doubts in faith is our sinfulness, for the Lord said that "the pure in heart shall see God'; we do not have this purity, and it follows that we do not have a clear contemplation of the Lord. Sometimes it can be seen clearly how someone, having descended morally, also departs from the Lord.

It can also happen that evil just whispers bad things to us, and this sometimes happens in the holiest minutes of our spiritual life. In such cases it is best to drive away these bad thoughts, as we would drive away an annoying mosquito, arming ourselves with the Jesus Prayer: "Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me the sinner."

May the Lord grant us simple and pure faith. And may the Lord give us a correct attitude towards doubts.

See also a lecture given in 1987 by Metropolitan Anthony of Sourozh: The Church of the Councils: The Onslaught of the Intellect and the Potential of Doubt.

Curing Unbelief with Unbelief

St Gregory the Dialogist writes:

When the doubting disciple touched the wounds in his Master's body, He cured the wounds of our unbelief. Thomas' unbelief was of more advantage to our faith than the faith of the believing disciples, because when he was led back to faith by touching Jesus, our minds were relieved of all doubt and made firm in faith.