The Phanar-Poroshenko blitzkrieg to destroy the UOC failed. But would each of us stand the test of the Tomos if Poroshenko had more opportunities to put pressure on believers? In July 2019, the process of changing power in Ukraine was completed. We have yet to experience its results, but one thing can be said now: with the departure of the old government, the active phase of imposing the Tomos and persecution of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church is coming to an end. The Phanar-Poroshenko blitzkrieg to destroy the UOC failed, the Church survived. Now, recalling the actions of Poroshenko and Co. on the eve and after the presentation of the Tomos, it seems to us that the pressure on the bishops, priests and believers of the canonical Church was exceptional and unprecedented. But was it really so?
The Orthodox brotherhoods of Ukraine appealed to the hierarchy of the UOC (MP) with a request to initiate an anathema to the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew before the Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church. Among other Phanar heresies, the brothers point to “the false teaching about the right of the Patriarch of Constantinople to cancel bans and anathemas imposed by other local churches.” Istanbul endowed itself with this “right” at synaxis in early September 2018, before the invasion of the canonical territory of the Russian Orthodox Church - Ukraine. And on October 11, 2018, in order to have someone “canonical” to grant “autocephaly” in Ukraine, he “restored canonical rights”...
The Moscow Patriarchate called the words of Pope Francis that he would gladly come to Russia solely “words of courtesy” in response to an invitation he received from a private person, which does not oblige him to anything. Earlier, the Catholic website Asianews reported that Russian opera singer Svetlana Kasyan, who was on tour in Italy, and her family met with the Pope, who congratulated her on her birthday. In response, Kasyan invited him to visit Russia and visit her on Taganskaya Square, where the Church of St. Martin the Confessor, the former Pope, stands.
Weitz Alexander
editorial:
Antonina Schneider-Stremyakova
Once upon a time there was a boy, Ivan, who did not listen to his parents. No matter how hard they tried to make their son grow up obedient, nothing worked. When they told him something instructive, he covered his ears with his palms so as not to hear.
Once, in great anger, the parents said: “So that your ears, like in a fairy tale, walk around the world and listen to what animals, birds and people are talking about.” Then, maybe, you will love your parents and understand that when they teach you, they want the best for you.”
Ivan went to bed, and he dreamed that his ears began to wander around the world. As soon as they left the house, they heard mice talking in the hole. The mother said: “Son, before you go out, listen to the rustling sounds, to see if there is a cat sitting near the hole, which is always ready to eat us all.” But the mouse did not listen. He quickly ran out of the hole and fell into the paws of the cat - fortunately, he managed to slip out. He returned home with a scratched skin. “This is what it means to disobey your parents,” said the mother.
Wandering ears heard two jays quarreling in the forest over a piece of meat that their mother had left for them in the nest: “There’s enough for two of you, and don’t quarrel, otherwise you’ll fall out of the nest and a crow will peck you or a fox will eat you.” One bird said to the other: “Why are you fighting?” Another squeaked: “Don’t bother me eating. I’m not fighting, this tree is shaking the nest.”
Only one wise owl knew how it could all end. Pretending to be asleep, he listened to the argument and thought: “Stupid chicks! What are they arguing about? They should be taught a good lesson, but it’s okay, they’ll teach themselves a lesson.” Forgetting caution in the quarrel, one chick fell out of the nest. At this time, a fox ran under the tree and ate the bully. When the jay returned, she saw only one baby in the nest. He was shaking with fear. And then the mother said: “Children who do not obey their parents will face a terrible fate.”
One May day, the wanderers found themselves in a swampy wilderness, where a moose cow protected the elk calf from all dangers. In the morning at dawn, the mother decided to take the baby out of the swampy area to the island. Afraid of slipping, she carefully walked along the unsteady swamp, and the elk calf carefully followed its mother, staying as close to her as possible. But when there were two or three meters left to the shore, he looked at the flower carpet and, losing his support, began to get stuck in the quagmire. Soon she covered him.
While in the village, wandering ears heard the mother telling her son not to go to the pond alone. But the boy went to the water and began throwing stones into it. Suddenly he slipped, fell into the water and began to drown. Fortunately, God sent him a man who pulled him out. From that day on, mother and son began going to church on Sundays and reading the Bible.
Waking up, Ivan told his parents about the dream. From that day on, he no longer covered his ears with his hands. Having become obedient, he now succeeded everywhere and in everything. Throughout his life, he made it a rule to follow the fifth commandment of the Bible: “Honor your father and your mother, so that it may be good for you and that you may live long in the world.”
Deutsche Allgemeine Zeitung 49-2015 (1)
Association of German Public Associations
Kazakhstan "Renaissance" Almaty.
Once upon a time there was a Teacher to whom two people came and asked to become his students. He agreed, telling them that he took them on with a three-month trial period. For ninety days, the Master did not give them tasks, did not hold conversations with them, and did not invite them to meetings.
When the probationary period expired, he called them into the yard and said:
I want you to go out the gate; there are camels standing there. Let each of you take one camel by the bridle and, climbing over the wall, drag the camel over it.
The first student said:
Master, I have heard it said: use your mind. My mind tells me that this is impossible and my intuition tells me that you gave me this task to test whether I have common sense or not
So, you won't try to drag the camel over the wall?
I won't, Teacher, and don't let it look like disobedience.
Then the Master turned to the second student:
What will you answer?
Without saying a word, the student went out of the gate and headed towards the camels. He took the bridle and, leading the camel to the wall, tried to climb onto it, but he failed, since he was holding the bridle in his hand.
Enough, said the Master, return the animal to its place and return.
A few minutes later, all three of them stood in the yard, and the Master said:
Everyone is well aware that the Path requires a variety of abilities from the walker. This includes intelligence and common sense, and obedience and much more.
Obedience is no less important than intelligence and common sense. Anyone who has tried to teach someone something knows that people prefer to use their intelligence and common sense instead of obedience, thus disturbing the balance of these three qualities. Most people think that finding a clever way out is preferable to doing what you're told, when in fact neither of those things is more important than the others. Now we can find intellectuals everywhere, but where can we find people who can obey?
So the first student failed the test because he places too much emphasis on intelligence. The second will remain with me, since he did not fall into the temptation of evidence, which cuts us off from our abilities. The Master turned to the second student and asked him why he tried to do the impossible.
He answered:
I knew that you knew that this was impossible, so there was no harm in obedience, since I saw where it led. I felt like saying, “This is impossible. I won’t try because of common sense” was the easiest. Everyone has enough common sense to refuse obedience. So I thought you were testing whether I was capable of obeying and refusing easy solutions.
Demanding respect for yourself - isn't it strange? Should people be reminded to respect others?
Yes, this is true if we are talking about strangers, and not about our children, because they need to be taught this.
The Bible says “Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is what justice requires. “Honor your father and mother” is the first commandment with the promise: “That it may go well with you, and that you may live long on the earth”” (Eph. 6:1-3).
If our children do not obey this command of the Lord, they risk not only losing God's blessings, but also having their lives shortened.
The Bible warns. “Whoever curses his father and his mother, his lamp will go out in deep darkness” (Prov. 20:20).
Understanding that we have the power to influence the lives of our children, we must pray for them and raise them correctly, teaching them strict discipline.
But we must also be able to discern the spirit of protest that can quietly settle in the hearts of our children and lead them away from the true path, and resist it.
Disobedience is pride put into action. The spirit of disobedience says, “I want to do what I want, regardless of what God and other people think about it.”
The Bible teaches: “...disobedience is the same sin as witchcraft...” (1 Samuel 15:23), because the result of both is complete rejection of God.
The same verse says that “resistance is the same as idolatry” .
Pride leads to rebellion, and stubbornness prevents a person from repenting and humbling himself before God.
A disobedient person may worship some idol. If children do not respect their father and mother, this first of all indicates the presence of idols in their hearts (and the age of such a child does not matter).
The names of these idols are known: they are pride and selfishness. Therefore, if children do not learn to respect their parents, they become disobedient to God. They state: “I want what I want, when I want it.”
“Woe to the disobedient sons, says the Lord, who take counsel without Me, and make covenants but not according to My Spirit, to add sin to sin...” (Isaiah 30:1).
Our prayer has the power to overthrow the idols of pride and selfishness and humble the spirit of rebellion in the heart of a child.
The opposite of disobedience is obedience or walking in God's ways.
Obedience gives a person a sense of complete security and confidence that he is in the right place and doing the right thing.
The Bible promises blessing as a reward for obedience, otherwise darkness and destruction.
We want our children to walk before God in obedience, so that they are confident in themselves, feel safe, so that their lives are long, and there is always peace and tranquility in their souls.
One of the first steps to true obedience is the willingness to obey and respect your parents. However, the child must be taught this, and the learning process can be made easier by prayer.
When our son was fourteen years old, he covered the walls of his room with posters of his favorite musicians. However, the clothes, poses of some of these people, and the very musical content of their work were frankly offensive to us, parents, and did not glorify God at all.
When we asked Christopher to remove these posters from the walls and explained why, he was initially reluctant
fulfill our request, but then obeyed with a clear defiance. After some time, he hung up the posters again—different ones, but no better than the first ones.
This time we were more determined and acted tougher - we took it all off the walls ourselves.
These were not easy moments for Christopher. We realized that we were dealing with the first manifestations of the spirit of disobedience, and therefore we decided to act as the Bible commands:
“Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil...” (Eph. 6:11).
We prayed and turned to God's Word, we declared our faith in God's ability to give us the strength to overcome this obstacle. We fought the battle in the Spirit and watched as the Lord took control of the situation.
Our son's mood changed, and the next time he put up posters that met our parental requirements. It was a direct operation of the power of God as a result of our prayer.
The incident with the posters does not seem very significant today, but at that time we had to face a strong spirit of protest, trying to rise above the will of our parents and God. And we showed him worthy resistance before he could gain a foothold in his rights. We had to win this fight because we knew that God and His Word were on our side, and also because something very important was at stake, namely, the future eternal life of our son.
If your child is already a teenager or even an adult, and you see that he is becoming more obstinate and stubborn, you, as parents, must become more demanding of your child and not forget about the powerful weapon at your disposal - prayer.
Remember, you are not fighting your own son or daughter: “For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against the principalities, against the powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places” (Eph. 6:12).
You are fighting an enemy.
Fortunately, Jesus gave us the authority to “tread on all the power of the enemy...” (Luke 10:19) .
So don't be afraid or doubt, but use this power. The spirit of disobedience may appear in your child's character at any time, but we will be ready to subdue it by prayer and the Word of God, not forgetting such disciplines as discipline and instruction. Don't let your child's rebelliousness bother you.
Remember that Jesus Christ is Lord of all.
Prayer: Lord, I ask You: create in my child (child’s name) a heart that wants to obey You.
Place in this heart a passionate desire to spend time with You, with Your Word and in prayer, listening to Your voice.
Illuminate with Your light every secret seed of disobedience ripening in the depths of my child’s heart, so that it may be discovered and destroyed.
Lord, I pray that pride, selfishness, or disobedience will never arise in the heart of my child. By the authority given to me by Jesus, I “tread on all the power of the enemy” and stand against the spirits of idolatry, disobedience, stubbornness, disrespect, so that my child will never know them and never set foot on this disastrous path.
Your Word says, “Children, be obedient to your parents in everything, for this is pleasing to the Lord” (Col. 3:20).
I ask You: turn the heart of my son (daughter) to his (her) parents and teach him (her) to respect and obey his father and mother, so that his (her) life will be long and glorious.
Turn his (her) heart to You, so that all his (her) deeds and actions will be pleasing to You.
Teach him (her) to recognize the spirit of pride and rebellion and resist it, seek repentance and deliverance from it.
Make him (her) irreconcilable to all sin.
Help him or her to know the beauty of walking before You in a humble spirit. Amen
I probably touched a nerve with this article. This article was very popular on our website.
With this in mind, I thought it would be helpful to go beyond this article and give a deeper and broader Biblical basis for raising and disciplining children. I guess most of us parents rely on our intuition and tradition. It's not bad at all. Being a parent is an art, not a science. And artists usually don't look at the instructions when they draw.
But our human intuitions and traditions must be shaped by God's revelation. So look at this article as a little lesson on some of the things God has revealed in the Bible that provide foundation and guidance for us parents. We'll start with the simplest one.
1. Marriage between one man and one woman for life is God's plan for bearing and raising children.
The lifelong marriage covenant between a man and a woman is God's original idea for mankind. It is modeled after, and rooted in, God's eternal plan of bride redemption for His Son, the church.
“Therefore a man will leave his father and his mother and cleave to his wife; and they will become one flesh." (Genesis 2:24)
“At the beginning of creation, God created them male and female. Therefore a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh; so that they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore, what God has joined together, let no man separate.” (Mark 10:6-9)
“For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh. This mystery is great; I speak in relation to Christ and to the Church.” (Ephesians 5:31-32)
2. Marriage was God's way of populating the earth with people who would reflect His glory through their faith and fertility.
“And God blessed them, and God said to them, Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” (Genesis 1:28)
3. Children should not have been conceived outside the marriage covenant. For this and other reasons, unmarried people were forbidden to have sexual relations, and it was also forbidden to marry harlots.
"Flee fornication." (1 Corinthians 6:18)
“For the commandments are, Thou shalt not commit adultery...” (Romans 13:9)
4. Children are a gift from God; We don't create them.
Job tells us that it was God who gave him children. The Psalmist says that our children are an inheritance from the Lord. And Ruth shows that once a child is conceived, the pregnancy is God's work.
“And he said, Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I will return. The Lord gave, the Lord also took away; Blessed be the name of the Lord!” (Job 1:21)
“This is the heritage of the Lord: children; the reward from Him is the fruit of the womb.” (Psalm 126:3)
“And Boaz took Ruth, and she became his wife. And he went in to her, and the Lord gave her pregnancy, and she gave birth to a son.” (Ruth 4:13)
5. Based on this, parents should replenish the needs of their children.
Parents must provide for the basic needs of their children, from the first breastfeeding until they are able to support themselves. Paul taught the fathers in Ephesus to “nurture” or “discipline” their children. This is the basic meaning of the Greek word " ektrepho” in Ephesians 6:4 – “train.” Paul shows this model of a father meeting the needs of his spiritual “children” in the Corinthian church:
“...and I will not burden you, for I seek not yours, but you. It is not the children who should collect wealth for their parents, but the parents for their children.” (Corinthians 12:14)
6. Parents should instruct their children in the basic skills of cultural life, the truths about God and His way of salvation, and the path of wisdom in this world.
“And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart. And teach them to your children and talk about them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down and when you get up; And you shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as a blindfold over your eyes, and you shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.” (Deuteronomy 6:6-9; see also Psalm 77:5–7)
“Listen, children, to your father’s instruction, and take heed, so that you may learn understanding, for I have taught you good teaching. Do not forsake my commandments. For I too was a son to my father, dearly loved and the only one of my mother, and he taught me and said to me: let your heart hold my words; keep my commandments and live.” (Proverbs 4:1-4)
7. Parents should punish naughty children using appropriate discipline in love.
God teaches us this through direct commands in Scripture.
“Discipline your son while there is hope, and do not be indignant at his cry.” (Proverbs 19:18)
“Foolishness is attached to the young man’s heart, but the rod of correction will remove it from him.” (Proverbs 22:15)
“Do not leave a young man unpunished: if you punish him with a rod, he will not die; you will punish him with a rod and save his soul from hell.” (Proverbs 23:13-14)
“The rod and reproof give wisdom; but a child left neglected brings shame to his mother.” (Proverbs 29:15)
“And you, fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and admonition of the Lord.” (Ephesians 6:4)
God also teaches us to raise our children by examples where fathers failed.
“I declared to him that I would punish his house forever because of this guilt, because he knew how his sons wickedly, and did not restrain them...” (1 Samuel 3:13)
“Adonijah [the son of David] became proud and said: I will be king. And he got himself chariots and horsemen and fifty men who walked. His father never bothered him with the question: “Why are you doing this?” (1 Kings 1:5-6)
And third, God teaches us to discipline our children by showing us examples of disciplining His own children. This is especially true of Christian parents because God has already covered the sins of His children with the blood of Christ, yet He believes that they need discipline to build their faith and character.
“Do not reject the Lord’s punishment, my son, and do not be burdened by His reproof; for whom the Lord loves, He punishes and favors, like a father towards his son.” (Proverbs 3:11-12)
“Those whom I love, I rebuke and punish. So be zealous and repent.” (Revelation 3:19)
“If you suffer punishment, then God treats you as sons. For is there any son whom his father does not punish? If you remain without punishment, which is common to everyone, then you are illegitimate children, not sons. Moreover, if we, being punished by our carnal parents, were afraid of them, then should we not much more submit to the Father of spirits in order to live? They punished us arbitrarily for a few days; and He is for our benefit, so that we may have a share in His holiness. Any punishment at the present time seems not to be joy, but sadness; but afterwards he brings to those who are taught the peaceful fruit of righteousness.” (Hebrews 12:7-11)
No one loves his children more than God. And no one pays so much attention to punishment for our benefit. Every Christian parent should seriously consider that when children are under our care, we are God's representatives to prepare them for discipline from their Heavenly Father when they are no longer subject to us. If God's punishments surprise them, then most likely we have missed something.
8. Parents should encourage their children.
We receive these instructions through the Bible's explicit commands to encourage our children rather than discourage them. The commands are in the negative form of a warning, perhaps because we are so prone to discourage our children with our criticism and so unable to give them genuine, spontaneous praise without trying to manipulate.
“Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, lest they become discouraged.” (Colossians 3:21)
“And you, fathers, do not provoke your children to anger.” (Ephesians 6:4)
God shows us His own example of a Father who encourages His children.
“He did not deal with us according to our iniquities, nor did he reward us according to our sins... As a father has mercy on his sons, so the Lord has mercy on those who fear Him.” (Psalm 103:10, 13)
“Will a woman forget her suckling child, so as not to have compassion on the son of her womb? but even if she forgot, I will not forget you.” (Isaiah 49:15)
The Apostle Paul also cites himself as an example of such an encouraging attitude towards children.
“for you know how each of you, as the father of his children, we asked and persuaded and begged to act worthy of God, who called you to His kingdom and glory.” (1 Thessalonians 2:11-12)
9. The responsibility of parents to demand obedience is emphasized by the duty of submission that God gives children.
We see this in the Bible's direct commands regarding children.
“Honor your father and your mother, so that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you.” (Exodus 20:12 = Deuteronomy 5:16; Matthew 15:4; Mark 10:19)
“Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is what justice requires. Honor your father and mother, this is the first commandment with a promise: that it may be good for you, and that you may live long on earth.” (Ephesians 6:1-3)
“Children, be obedient to your parents in everything, for this is pleasing to the Lord.” (Colossians 3:20)
As we see, it is our responsibility as parents to demand obedience from our children, as Scripture condemns those who disobey their parents.
“And even though they did not care to have God in their minds, God gave them over to a depraved mind - to do lewd things... slanderers, slanderers, God-haters, offenders, self-praisers... disobedient to parents..." (Romans 1:28–30)
“For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, slanderers, disobedient to parents ungrateful, ungodly, unfriendly..." (Timothy 3:2)
And the elders in the church are told to be an example in their home life by having obedient children.
“He who rules his household well, keeping his children in obedience with all honesty...” (Timothy 3:4)
photo — Israel_photo_gallery
10. This dual task of parenting—to encourage and to discipline—is rooted in God's design that true biblical faith grows as Christians (and their children) are regularly reminded of God's grace. And His severity.
“You hold on by faith: do not be proud, but be afraid...You see therefore the goodness and severity of God...” (Romans 11:20-22)
The fear we must cultivate in ourselves as Christians, and in our children, is not the numbing fear that slaves feel of their masters, but the reverent fear of Him whom we love and are glad to please—the fear that awakens when we become distant. from Him and which makes us hurry back. "The beginning of wisdom is the fear of the Lord". (Proverbs 9:10) This is how we feel towards our Heavenly To my father(1 Peter 1:17; Psalm 103:13), and what we expect our children to learn from our fatherly kindness and discipline. "Fear the Lord, my son..."(Proverbs 24:21).
Fruitful parenting requires sacrifice
Being a parent is a very high calling from God. This is one of the most influential roles in the world. We show God to children before children know what God is like. It shapes them deeply. This is the way God has chosen to convey His saving truth from generation to generation. It's not easy, but it's worth it.
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Passive parenting is easy, but it bears bitter fruit. Being a conscientious parent means sacrifice and self-denial. There is no guaranteed success here. The most well-bred children can rebel. God's children did this. “I raised and raised up sons, but they rebelled against Me.”(Isaiah 1:2). This is a great sorrow. But this is not the bitter fruit of parental neglect.
Pour out your prayers to God and give your heart to your children. Give them your strength and give them God's truth. The reward will be great. And you won't regret it.
Author - John Piper/ By John Piper. © 2016 Desiring God Foundation. Website: desiringGod.org
Translation - Maria Babich For
