Nikon I (Serbian patriarch)

Transcription

Life after life Life is nice, life is beautiful, and kind God has create us to live and to be happy Some years ago , i don't live in a monastery i lodge in a small place called "skiti", in a little cell "keli" i hosted a father who is married and has a daughter his only child ,he has no other children only her. He was telling me his joy and happiness for his daughter has graduated medical school , took her diploma , she had met a nice young man they were arranging their marriage details, they prepared their common house all around there was joy and happiness , flowers, laughing, marriage arrangements the wedding dress was lying in the bed and the bride placed a ladder and climbed to fix a curtain and then...... she dropped dead. The doctors said "allergic shock". The next day they dressed her as a bride and buried her and the relatives were trying to stop the young man the groom who was crying , from falling into the grave as he wanted. If life ends like that there is no meaning in this.This is not life. I have met a couple ,young people, married,happy young human beings, but they couldn't have a child . ''Father Nikon make a wish for us to have a child tell our names in your prayers to have a child" they said, to complete their happiness. The girl is a wonderful human creature,overjoyed, with nice sense of humour, brilliant mind and she finally got pregnant. You can not imagine their happiness. She was pregnant , she was taken to the hospital and the time to give birth has come, she is having the baby but along with the baby the doctors extracted her innards because she was having an enormous cancer that could not be operated And the young father started crying,shouting and hitting himself "Father Nikon say to God this is wrong, i am the bad person i'm the one who had to die , tell Him to take me my girl haven't hurt anybody, she is a good girl, don't let my girl die. Tell God to take me away. Children without father can grow up but without a mother how can a kid grow up?" and he was crying and shouting . But good God prefered to take away the mother. What is the meaning of life, if we end like that ? What does life means? Why do we have to live if we end in such way? Look, when Jesus was told that His friend Lazarus was dead Christ did not say that it doesn't matter ,it is better there where he has gone. What has He done? He cried,He cried and He ressurrect Lazarus and brought him back in this life He didn't let him to the other . When in another occasion He saw a widow that was crying and mourning and was going to bury her child, He did not comforted her He did not told her not to worry , that her son escaped from the worries of this world and now is resting and he is in a better place. What has He done? He ressurected the boy and brought it back here in this life. Do you know why? Because God didn't want death. Death is not in God's plan for human beings ''God death did not create" (wisdom of Solomon 13) God did not create death but He allowed it as our church says, so that the evil not to become immortal Death is something strange, an outsider, that's why humans don't want to die If you pay attention to the funeral ceremony it describes the struggle and anxiety of the soul when is devided from the body. Because God did not wanted this separation of the soul and body.It was not in His plan. The person that is agonizing (when soul is getting out of the body) he looks towards the Angels but noone helps him, he reaches out his hands to humans but noone can assist him. Why? Because death is an enemy of life and must stop existing, must get out of the way. Jesus Christ said " I am life" then death is the opposite of Christ and must be abolished Either Jesus Christ will exist either death. Death is an enemy for all " The last enemy to be destroyd is death" (Corinthians 1 ,15:26) But if this is so , we are facing something very strange and contradictory. If death is something so terrible,so horrible that was outside God's plan why is there some people that do want to die? From the early years of Christianity Apostle Paul said " I wish to die", "for me dying is a benefit" why he said that?. From the first christians St. Vivia Perpetua , a young girl around the age of 20 who had just gave birth to a baby they had arrested her and her friend Filikitati who was even younger ,around 18-19 years old and pregnant, they had them both in prison and the next dey they would throw them to the animals with some more persons because they were christians. Because they were christians they had to die as it also happens in nowdays elsewhere Her father went to prison and told St. Vivia " you don't feel sorry for your baby that will not get to know it's mother you don't feel sorry for your youth , at least feel sorry for my white beard" Aimlessly the saint prefered to die and not deny Jesus Christ. And her other friend was crying and shouting because she would not be thrown to the animals due to her pregnancy as the Roman law forbitted to execute a mother who was pregnant, because the infant was not responsible for the crimes of its mother. So the other day she would be released. And young Filikitati was crying and said " please pray for me, to be also thrown to the animals tomorrow, i don't want to be out of this" and so the others prayed and during the night she gave birth to her baby and joyfully the other day she was thrown along with the others Why ? since death is such a frightening thing. And later in another occasion they have arrested a saint bishop named Ignatios from Antioheia. A terrific man whose existence we would ignore, if they hadn't arrested him to execute him He was a phenomenal writer. From his writings very little pieces are saved ( you should read them), only some letters He was caught in Syria and they were taking him to Rome to throw him to the animals and the christians were alarmed trying to save him But he was sending them letters saying " do not obstruct me from being born" They were trying to save him when the ship carried him to Rome...." do not obstruct me from being born" . So he was taken to Rome, he was thrown to the lions...,this is not an immediate death to be shattered and eaten but during that he was saying " now i begin to live". In nowdays ,some years ago an ascetic man sleeped(died) in the Holy Mountain (Agion Oros) Eeoseef o Eesseehasties was his name (Josef the quieter) He says to his monks that served him "Holy Mary told me that during Her name day she will take me" which means 15th of August and Eeoseef was full of joy that he was going to die He wasn't too old , not even 60 , he was 58-59 years old and full of happiness that was going to die. During the night of 15th of August they have done the vigil and the daybreak has come The sun was rising and he was looking around and thought "why am i still here?" The sun was still rising , time passed and he started to be upset " but why? Holy Mary told me that she will take me , why am i still living?" One of his monks (who is still alive and told me all this) told him "don't feel bad elder , we will do the prayer beads and you will go" And the monks dispersed to the rocks around and started praying. I was stunned (father Nikon) Usually we ask someone to pray for us to get healed and they were praying for him to die. After a while elder Eeoseef calls them, he saw someone, something " come i will leave" The monks went close and took his wish (his blessing) and he says " I'm leaving,I depart, bless me, everything is finished" he closes his eyes, bend his head and sleeped, literally he fall asleep. What's going on? what is that we miss to understand. If death is such a tremendous and horror thing then why these ones we reffered to, wanted to die? What is the thing that we didn't understand and they did ? One thing ,that our life is not ending.This is something that we think a little and even less we understand it From the moment that we will start to exist , we will not stop to exist. Simply , the way of our existence is changing. We exist in another way in the abdomen of our mother as fetus, we exist in another way in the present time,we will exist in another way after. The fetus is so happy in the abdomen of its mother. It lives in a warm place, it's been taken care by another, it's been protected by another, it's been observed by another. What do you say? can a fetus understand that there is another way of life after the status it is? No How can you discribe to a fetus that there is the sun, that there are friends,there are flowers, there are colours , there are songs. Simply it cannot understand them. Does that means that all these don't exist? Because fetus is so comfortable where it is, it don't want to leave from there. And the time is coming when among pains , after a terrible squeeze from a narrow passage it comes to this world crying and screaming. And then we are here, and we also feel happy here and we don't want to leave from here You must be sure that,as when we were in the belly of our mother we didn't want to leave but time comes and we leave yet again we will pass through a narrow passage- the grave passage with crying, paining and shouting to rebirth somewhere else. Be sure that as now you don't want to get back to the darkness of your mothers womb even though you were happy back then and felt nice, then you won't want to get back here once you pass the next passage even if you like it here and feel happy here. It is the same story repeated. Like it or not there is no death. We are condemned to be immortal. From the moment we start to exist we shall not stop to exist. We die only when we cut off from the One who said "I am the Resurrection and Life" We can not get in touch with dead people that did not died in christian way Why? where have they gone, where have they disappeared? Instead we get in touch with those who died in christian way. And i don't mean the saints, but in our everyday lifes. There is a woman in an island , a young mother with many children, she got's ill, she is taken to the hospital and she dies in the hospital. There are 2 certificates of her death one of the hospital and one of the doctor of the island that they've been published in order to bury her. So the woman dies and where she goes she is welcomed by a blessed nun that had lived in the island and had passed away and a very kind and ingenuous man who at the time of his living in the island everybody deceived him. They throwed him vegetables, they cursed him , all the grown people and the children following up the example of the adults. So when she passed away they welcome the woman a blessed nun and a martyr called "mparmpa Thanasis" and we call him martyr because his life during his passage from here was trully a torture This young woman when she got there after dying she was delighted there , but the nun told her "you can't stay here, your time hasn't come yet. Do you see this candle?" and she shows her in a huge celestial dome millions of candles and inbetween them one ''this is yours, you see it's not finished,you must go back" but the mother didn't want to go back and she begged to stay there. The nun replied ''this is not in our will, we will take you to meet Jesus and He will decide". All this story is being narrated by the spiritual father of the woman in many details which i skip , i don't say many things just that they went to a bright palace , there was a throne, Someone sits there and Jesus Christ says" No , you will return" and suddenly the nun and the mother (Ms.K) found themselfes outside this palace And while they were walking through this white brightness she was hearing the thousands of Angels and Archangels chanting continuously without stopping the Lord's prayer "Our Father in heaven...." on and on and on until she has arrived to the point that the nun and mparmpa-Thanasis first met her. And in the meantime she has learned the Lord's prayer by heart. Then she farewells the nun and the nun tells her " Now that you will return you should learn the Creed because within it lies all the truth of our faith (I believe in one God, the Father Almighty....) At this point she opened her eyes while with her lips was saying loudly " I believe in one God,i believe in one God" and sees that she was inside a coffin covered with flowers and her hands crossed and above her hands was the icon of Holy Mary . You can imagine what have followed Husband, children , neighbors sprang screaming and shouting trying to get out of the place from terror. She stood up ,she flicked the flowers from her body and after chanting "Christ is Risen"she started shouting "come hear to talk to you, come hear to tell you" .This woman still lives. I have hosted a gentleman from Athens who had a daughter that studied in the city of Patra The man told me that his father had passed away and he is now nursing his mother, an old lady. One night, his daughter in Patra saw a dream. She saw her grandfather. And he tells her " Now that you will wakeup,make a telephone to daddy and tell him not to worry, because his mother is with me now, i took her and we are very happy where we are now.Tell him not to worry because your grandma is in a beautiful place" While i was sleeping, says the man,i hear the telephone ringing, i open up my eyes it was night and dark, i see the calling number it was my daughter from Patra. I was scared , something happened to her i take the phone " what is it my darling?" "Dad, is grandmother ok?" " she is ok darling "are you sure she is ok dad?" "yes she is sleeping sweetheart" " is she sleeping? please go and check dad". So i went and i saw my mother sleeping. I return to the telephone "she is sleeping sweetheart" ,"are you sure she is just sleeping dad?". The old lady had passed away. So if this was just a dream of the man, i would think that he felt something, he is trying to comfort himself because of the loss of his mother. But the daughter saw it , in Patra That is how we know that these who have gone they exist. One taxi driver in Athens takes from the airport a young woman who arrived from abroad. She was a cultured woman and he takes her to her home in Kallithea In the meantime of the fare they were talking and the driver told me(f.Nikon) that she was trully a notable young woman. They arrive at the destination, she looks the taximeter, the amount she had to pay,she opens her pourse to give the money, but she hadn't enough '' excuse me , i will be back in a moment" said to the driver. So she went out of the taxi and got in the house. The driver waited and waited but the time was passing. What happened thought the driver,did she forget? So he is knocking the door of the house the young lady had entered. A black clothed lady opened the door, " excuse me , i just want my money and i will leave" said the driver to her ''what money" she answered "the taxi fare" said the man. The lady sees the taxi car and asks " what taxi fare you are asking?" ''for your daughter i just brought here from the airport" he said. The woman gazed him " who did you bring from the airport?" " your daughter that had just entered before a little time" When she heard that, the woman screamed and with tears she turned back and got into the house. The taxi driver was taken by surprise and thought that the woman had mental problems. He reconsidered if he said something that he shouldn't, but thinking that the woman could hurt herself he stepped into the house after a moment. He then faced another angry man who told him "what did you say to her,what have you done to her in such a difficult day for us?". "Excuse me sir, you don't know me and i don't know you, i just want my money and i'll be gone" said the taxi driver. "What money" he asked " the money for the distance i made with the taxi bringing your daughter from the airport" he answered. The other man stared at him and ask "whom did you bring from the airport?" ''your daughter sir" . The man didn't say a word but just turned his look to a table where were a big disk with"koliva"(a ritual food for the memory of a dead person) and above the disk was the photograph of the young woman. This "koliva" were in memory of the 2 years since she had passed away. Why should we accept this? Beware, think, don't accept without any argue everything you hear here and there. Your critical mind should work all the time. I always admired people that accepted whatever they have been told. Faith is a big gift from God. I have a friend who says " i have never doubted the existence of Jesus Christ, Holy Mary,the saints" so faith is a gift indead. All we others let our minds work. Why shoyld i accept this? Every story beyond imagination always happens to a taxi driver in Greece Someone said that he was carrying a woman with black clothes and when they arrived to her destination he opened the trunk of the car and he saw a suitcase which was full of soil and blood and the blackclothed lady said that if Greece don't repent this will happen to the country and after that she disappeared and she was Holy Mary... And another taxi driver was carrying an old man with a long hair and beard who told him prophecies about the future and the driver turned to look at him but the old man had disappeared and he was prophet Elias and so on. Why should i accept all these? Was the taxi driver a fool? Can a logic mind accept all these? If we don't experience such things we can not understand them. And the taxi driver start shouting at them "now what are you telling me? that i carried from the airport a dead woman over here? and do you think that we haven't talked during the route? what do you mean "koliva" and dead woman?" and addressing to the mother he said "if this wasn't your daughter how would i know that at this moment you are dealing some inheritance issues in Patmos for the following plots" and then addressing to the father he said "if this wasn't your daughter how whould i know that you along with your cousin are preparing an enterprise with rooms to let in Lefkada write now ?" how would i know if it wasn't your daughter that told me all these?" and asking them to let him, he walked to the interior of the house shouting "Sofia where are you?" opening one door "Sophia where are you?" opening the next door and after walking around the whole house he returns and see the mother to have faint on the couch and the father shivering Later in the church during the memorial liturgy people wondered who was the man who was crying aside to the parents. From the examples we have said we saw that life continuous, but how is the soul after death? After the state of the grave. We maintain our memory, we have self-consciousness, conscience of our existence We have the characteristics that we have in this life.These are things that we cannot understand. Although we read the Holy Bible we read like sleeping. We don't pay attention to what we read , as we don't pay attention to what we hear , as we don't pay attention to what we see. The mind has learn to go around and around. It is the second time i visit Mytilini. I had come before in 1970. A woman tells me about St. Raphael "he had beautiful grey eyes" and a man some time later told me exactly the same thing. We keep our characteristics. Six hundred years after his assassination the saint reveals with the characteristics he had back then. I said that the Holy Bible mention it but we miss to take notice .Where does it mention it? When the Lord tells the parable of the poor Lazarus and the rich man. The rich man was living well, the poor Lazarus ate what ever fall from the table of the rich and then the time came when they both died. Lazarus the poor man was under the embrashment of Abraham in heaven, among millions of others ,the rich man burning in hell. The rich man sees the poor Lazarus in heaven and begs Abraham "send Lazarus to drop me some water in my lips because i'm burning here" and Abraham responds "this can't be done because you enjoyed your goods in your life on earth what Lord had to give yo He gave you that in your life on earth, now He owe you nothing more and besides there is a huge gap between you and Lazarus" Then the rich man said again "at least let me go back on earth to explain my brothers what happens here so they don't come here too" and Abraham responded him " they have the Prophets and the writings, they should learn from these" and there the parable ends. We don't think what Christ said, He said that the rich man in hell could actually see Lazarus and recognize him, among millions dead people he recognized the poor man who was outside his door. Lazarus was maintaining he's characteristics. What do we see, if we pay attention to what we read? That the rich man reserves his memories the brothers he left behind "let me go back to tell them what's going on" So they keep their memory and characteristics. There was a gentleman who came to me at that time they have gave me the name of a woman who had cancer to memorize her in our prayers, we did pray a lot, but finally the woman after many suffering passed away. This woman had 3 sons. The youngest of the sons was 9 years old when his mother died One day his father narrates me, the boy comes to him and says "dad tonight mom came and took me and she was shining and took me where she resides" 'where?" the father asked "in a place with trees , flowers and houses, one of them was hers with a garden that she watered and there were singing birds" The father of course didn't believe a thing, as the boy lost his mother, naturally he would dream of her Like a starving man who dreams bread, his mother was lost and his soul comforting himself. So father said " you see how well is your mother, she is in heaven in the sky, don't worry" The next day the same "dad , mom came again'' , the following day the same.And the father (as he tells me) started to ask the boy from curiosity "are there any mountains?" , "no everything is flat" "is there a sun?" "no but everything is bright" Another day the boy said "dad , mom took me where grandmother and grandfather are and they were shining even more and their house was bigger". Father asked again "were they far away?" "no" "what clothes did they wear?" "white" "what shoes did mom wear?" " i couldn't see, because the clothes are too long and the shoes don't appear" '' how was mom's hair?" " i cannot see , the face is shining too much". All these questions and answers in a period of 10 days. Father asked again "is there any other people,what do they say?" " yes there are others but i cannot hear their voices" In one moment the boy said "dad , mom has no scar in her belly (from the surgeries she had for the cancer)" and father asks "did you see her belly?" "no she told me that". This is something that the artists who paint saints should notice. When they paint a saint they should not reflect him with all the disabilities he had in this life Some special characteristics or a bend of the body might be acceptable , but not with glasses or earphones for deafness or so because that's rediculous. Because if he needs glasses where he goes ,then this is not a paradise. So the painters of the saints should care more how they do that So she hadn't the marks from the surgeries, until one day the boy said "dad ,is grandma Stavroula taller than grandpa?" The boy hadn't met grandma neither grandpa. The father stared at his son but he thinked that propably the boy had heard or saw something in a picture where grandma seemed taller "Dad i saw a little kid" "how was that kid?" "shorter than me, brunet, with black straight hair", the father hearing that almost fainted ,as his son was describing dad's brother who at the age of 6 was killed during the German occupation (2nd world war) The son was describing this kid and said "he told me that his name is Lucas" After that the father realized that his son trully see's somethings . I took my son to Aigina to st.Nektarios, says the father and while the boy was leaning it's head to the saint's grave, it slept (maybe because of the hassle of the trip or maybe because God allowed that) and see st.Nektarios who takes him to the place in paradise where his mother were and the mother was upset (as the boy said later) Now take notice , it would be almost impossible for a 9 year old kid to refer to such a detail that her mother was taken by surprise, and why was so? Because the other times mother took the kid near her, but this time it was brought to her by st.Nektarios.So she was taken by surprise So, it was brought to her by st.Nektarios , she embraces her son, she comforts the boy,and told him to tell the others not to worry. Take notice of that too.She hadn't touched the kid the previous times, she took it but never embraced it, now she did because it was the last time they saw each other And the boy "returned" to the grave of st.Nektarios where he was,to recount all these Now, we must be careful and not get scandalized by such descriptions, that paradise has gardens, has birds cheeping, has trees and flowers, that hell has boiling cauldrons. I wish it would be like that but it won't. Also paradise will not be like that , but how they should tell us to understand. These are the "pictures" we know and this is the way the saints and the ones that have passed away (who went there and came back) use to illustrate us a situation that we cannot apprehend otherwise. We know the joy of seeing flowers and hearind cheeping birds, so they tell us that paradise has flowers and birds. We know how much we suffer when we are burning, so they tell that in hell are cauldrons and the demons will stir us. It would be nice to be like that but it will be worse,much worse,because not only the body but the soul will be burning from this fire as well Not only human beings will be burned but also demons that have no flesh will be burned from this fire, which means that it is not the fire we know if it's able to burn spirits too. How else can they describe this to us, these are the images we know these images they use. So let us not be temped by this descriptions and don't consider them for little kids. Simply that's the way we understand them. So what do they do in the place they are? We learned that they can be seen ,we learned that they can be recognized , that they keep their characteristics so what do they do? Awaiting... Why? What? They are foretasting... Beware, until this moment none of the saints is in paradise ,none of the sinners is in hell. Why? All saints foretaste the joy of paradise but not completely.These who will end in hell, are suffering and pain from the soreness of hell, but not completely yet. Why? They are all waiting for their bodies. Watch out, there is not only the soul that will go in heaven but the body too not only the soul will go to hell; but the body too. God did not create just souls , He create human being consisted from body and soul What did soul by herself to go in heaven alone? What? The apostle says " we are waiting for the salvation of our body", the soul can do nothing without the body, so can be salved alone. Christ says describing His second presence and the final judgement " Come, you who are blessed by My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world for I was hungry, and you fed me..... I was naked, and you gave me clothing.....I was in prison, and you visited me...."(Matthew). Yes , but how the soul will go to prison if the legs don't walk how will you dress the naked if the hands don't spread? What can soul do without the body? Which Holy Mystery of our church is done without the participation of the body How the priest will do the Liturgy if the lips don't move, how will you say someone that you love him if the tongue won't move? Both are struggling (body-soul) both will be saved. That's why the body fasts, the body bends to pray, that's why we do the cross sign, we osculate icons that's why the body runs for the common purpose. And not only the soul sins, the body sins too and the body can also drift the soul to a sin. They will be both condemned, they will be both salvaged. But this final crisis haven't come yet ,when Christ will say you go there ,you go the other way All of them are pending, they are all in a state of "waiting" There is a clear teaching from our church in this case "the Lord will give life to our mortal bodies" "For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality" (Corinthians1) . As i told you before, we are abstracted, we say some things again and again and we miss to understand them. This is one of the basic articles of our Orthodox faith "I expect for the resurrection of the dead " The bodies are deaden So, because all these happen and will happen we must pay attention how we are mourning when we miss a beloved. It is very natural to cry but let's be careful not to get sin on that. It is obvious that we will pain, you cry even for a little cat or dog that a car accidently kills, let alone for a close friend, your brother, a relative. You will cry of course, you will mourn but up to a limit. Beyond that, it's becoming a sin and is something that makes devil happy. That's why the apostle says: "Brethren, we do not want you to be uninformed about those who have slept so that you do not grieve like the rest of mankind, who have no hope" (1 Thessalonians 4:13) You hear that often to the memorial liturgies we have. The apostle don't tell us not to feel sad, tell us not to feel sad like the rest, the atheists, the faithless. You will feel sad of course, but up to a point. When time passing by, when a year has passed and we still wear black clothes and still moaning then this is not a sign of love for the one who left, but a sign of egoism and pride for the one who is here. Because you do not cry for him but for your loneliness ,cry for yoursef that lost the one who supported you , who gave you joy, who rested you You cry for yoursef because you don't have someone to comfort you , this is not a grief for the departed but signs of egoism and vanity (self-love),individuality and little faith You must know that the departed feel very sorry when we cry like that for years. They think "isn't she an orthodox christian? doesn't she believe that we will meet again? doesn't she believe in the resurrection?" I have seen a photograph from a funeral of a popular preacher named Dimitris Panagopoulos (hear all his speeches,all of them) I see a lady in the funeral who was wearing white clothes, i thought that she was lunatic, "who is her i asked"? "His wife" they told me, "and why she wears white?" i asked again. Before dying her husband told her very strictly " i will not forgive if you mourn when i'll die, i'm going to meet Jesus Christ and you will cry instead of celebrating my delight? I'm going to meet the One i waited all of my life and for Whom i live and instead of sharing my joy for this meeting you will wear black cloths? Alas!!" The lady couldn't dare to wear blacks. That's an example of how the christians should depart. That's the meaning of the cross in graves.Cross is not a symbol of grief but a symbol of victory ''In this symbol i win". That's how cristians pass away and mourn. We have said that souls are now in an intermediate situation of foretasting and awaiting for their bodies. The story isn't finished yet The second Presence hasn't occurred yet, the Ressurection of dead and the final Judgement hasn't been done yet. Until then, the departed that have the frankness, the courage (and we mean the saints) can help us. Everything is still open, changeable. The saints that have courage across God are helping us and we can help those who we don't know where exactly they are. We can help them indead. The story hasn't ended . We can help them for sure over there,similarly the way they existed here. How? I will just tell you 4 ways and then i'll finish my speech. With "saranda-leitourgo" (means 40 liturgies,is a liturgy in memory of departed), when someone pass away bring his name to the priest to memorize him during the Divine Liturgy That's why Christ offered His blood. "I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full" (John 10:10) What He means "to the full"? Live with and for Christ I was impressed of how beautifull is the wish that the priest says, when he divides the "prosforo"(the bread that transforms to body of Christ) to small piecies and put them with the others to become the body of Christ. The priest says "Wash away, Lord, by Your holy Blood, the sins of all those commemorated" We give a name of a person to the priest to have a ''Saranda-leitourgo" not only for the departed to rest in peace, but also for the living ones to have health , to be saved if someone is ill, is in a hospital,or is in danger we can do "Saranda-leitourgo" for his health. And the whole wish says "Wash away, Lord, by Your holy Blood, the sins of all those commemorated, through the intercessions of the Theotokos and all Your saints. Amen" So the first way is this. The second one. Prayers , prayers like "komboskeenee"(prayer beads), we can do it. Someone is gone , a little bracelet with 33 knots before you go to sleep and say "Lord Jesus Christ remember the soul of your servant..(name)" You say it the first time with the name and then to each knot you say "remeber", "remember", "remember".This all thing takes some seconds not even a minute Do it and you will see why in practice. This knowledge can't be learned but only experienced. There is no logic in this, all our faith is against rationality. We accept them because we experience them and know that is true.Every night if it happens and you have many persons that passed away you can say "Lord Jesus Christ remember the soul of your servants... ....(all the names)" and then after you have said it once completely, in every knot you say "remember","remember", "remember". You don't have to loose anything. It's free, do it and you'll see in practise. Above the city of Volos is a mountain called Pilio and there is a monastery famous for its abbess who was a great saint woman,really great saint In this monastery many pilgrims go because of this abbess that has "slept". You hear stories about father Paeesseos (contemporary saint), i'm telling you that even her little finger was more saint than the whole of father Paeesseos (although,whatever is told about father Paeesseos was trully very little, and if they say more it will be few as well). I'm telling you he couldn't compared with that woman. It's only that some people act in one way, others in another, some get noted some others stay unknown In this monastery the father of a nun died and the nun started to do "komboskeenee","Lord Jesus Christ remember the soul of your servant....", "remember,remember..." Her little cell "keli" was from the outer side of the monastery, she was looking from the window to the garden, it was night and a thought crossed her mind she thought that as it is said "there is no posibility of repentance after we depart" ,so wherever my father had to go he is gone if he deserved to go to heaven he is there, if he deserved hell he is there, what am i doing right here praying for my father's soul? The Holy Bible is correct she thought That is not the exact wording of the Holy Bible but also have in mind that Holy Bible does not teach without mistakes Holy Bible is not without mistakes(in interpretation) Holy Bible teaches unmistakably when it is interpreted by people that have the same mind,the same heart and soul with those who wrote it. Otherwise, if anybody interprets Holy Bible as he wants then everybody can be a new church and a new heresy. All the heretics had Holy Bible as a flag. Holy Bible teaches right when it is explained correctly, within the Christian Orthodox church, by the saints of the church. (Church Fathers) That's why the devil uses Holy Bible against christians, it is his favorite weapon. We can not rely to ourselfs nor to Holy Bible alone (In a question) "Hey priest what does it means here?" or a theologist,"explain me this". So the nun stopped praying. One night she see's a man that was late coming to the monastery The man saw a light from the window of the nun and he was approaching holding a flashlight The nun was waiting and she thought that the man wanted to ask her where was the entrance of the monastery So she waited until he reached right below her window and she found out that he was not holding a flashlight but a little lantern which was kept from a thin wire The man lift his little lantern to his face and told her " this was the only thing i had and you blow it out" and the light extinguished, it was her father. ''this was the only thing i had and you blow it out" They've told me from the monastery that they waited 3 days before the nun start to recuperate She was screaming so loudly at that moment. Now ,as you hear this you may think "he is telling us a good story", myself hearing her story i can think "who can confirm that this is so?" but herself after experiencing this, can she say that this is not true? That's how we learn our faith and everything church teach us Otherwise when we feed our minds with raw knowledge we become devils or mobile libraries We don't benefit anything because all these is known to the devil but he don't experiencing them So do what the church suggests, even if you don't quite understand everything. Let's go to the third way to help the departed after "Saranda-leitourgo" and prayers "Lord Jesus Christ remember the soul of your servant..." The church tell us to make memorial services, to do them on the 3rd day of the departed, on the 9th day, on the 40th day,on the year.Why? There is no reasonable answer on that, you can not persuade someone on this with arguments. One priest passed away in the city of Serres before some time. On the third day the relatives went to the cemetery to do the memorial service but some ladies stayed at home to prepare the coffees and the crackers that they will offer to the people that will visit the house after the ceremony. Along with them was a grandchildren of the priest, who stayed upstairs At a time the ladies heard the door to open and close and one asked the little boy ''go on darling and take a look who came" so the little boy run down and.... stayed motionless. Inside the house was the dead priest who had entered, with his ''kalimafki''(black hat of the Orthodox priest) his frock (black robe) his ''petraheelee"( priest's cloth over the neck) and he was dripping all over, there was a small lake on the ground. The small kid with it's naiveness asked him " grandad haven't you died? and what is all these waters?" and the priest replied "tell them ,now that they will arrive, that i thank them so much, i have just pull through the torture i had the past 3 days. These are not waters, these are sweat of agony from what happened to me these passed 3 days. Now i'm redeemed,now i breath and you tell them that i'm most thankful ". He turns around, opens the door and gets out. The boy runned after him , looks outside (it was midday) he sees nothing When the others arrived from the cemetery the kid narrated the story and there was not even one of them that haven't tried to taste the waters that were down It was not water, it was salty , it was sweat. These are not logic things I have done this same speech in another place and at the end i always ask the people if they want to ask or say anything A lady stood up , a young married woman , a well educated person , i think she is philologist and she came to the microphone and started to talk about her mother's incident that had been "slept". This young woman was a christian "by habit" like most of us .We were born Orthodox christians, we are christians traditionaly without knowing much about the depth of this So her mother died and the church suggests to do memorial service on the 3rd day, the 9th , the 40th , on the year , why? Make "koliva" and take them to the church , why? Is there any reason on that? If i make another food like lentils instead of "koliva", or chickpeas what will happen to the one who died? I am the one who will eat this, why should i prepare "koliva"? why on the 3rd day? why on the 9th, why on the 40th? is it for the priests to take money from the ceremonies? why? there is no meaning on that. You can't persuade the others with arguments on something that is so far away from sanity. You must do it , if you don't ,you will never learn why. It's not because you feel sorry for the money you'll give to the priest, as for cigarettes we spent a lot more or for cosmetics even more. So it's not a money issue but our egoism and pride that resists and react and so we stay into the dark and we don't no nothing If you don't do it you will not learn it. So she did the 3rd day memorial,she also did the 9th day memorial and the time was passing It was one night, she narrates, and i was lying in bed with my husband My husband was reading something besides and i was ready to sleep by the time i thought i will sleep and i was underneath the sheets , I hear the voice of my mother saying "Anastasia , have you forgot me?" I was frozen, i stood still , i was shuddered and i didn't move not to disturb my husband beside ,who was not a believer and he would start to lough at me So why should we believe that? Why should i believe that? Why do you believe the things i tell you? Shake you heads, wake up We are not doing a sermon,our life is invaluable it will not be given again, the years we loose, the months we loose, these will not be given again Don't loose your life, keep your mind alarmed and working, So why should i believe that? I don't suggest that the woman is a fraud, but a lot of times our ears can hear imaginary things Many times we think that someone talked to us and we turn and see nothing. Wouldn't be possible this voice to come from her subconscious? Yes,all these could be some possibilities not to accept this story. Nevertheless it was not her subconscious, how do i know? Her husband jumped up from beside, the book has fallen from his hand and he asked her "haven't you heard your mother calling you?" Here is how i know it was a true story, that it was not from her subconscious. Yes , she had forgotten that the next day was the 40th, she really did forget. Here is how i know that this mother that died 40 days ago is awaiting "koliva". In what way the prayers of the priest or "koliva" help the departed i do not know, but that they are a help for him this i know. As many theological thoeries we might know the devil knows more, and as much this knowledge is for his benefit as much it is for us. Because he doesn't live and we are called to live The young father buried the young mother and embrasing the baby he nurture it up with a lot of crying (from the second story we have told). I didn't take the kid to the cemetery. I was going every night and I light my candle for my beloved girl and stood ther and cry. I didn't want my kid to have such unpleasant memories and live this situation. Finally at the age of about two,two and a half (when it's about for babies to talk the first words) he thought that it would be ok to take it with him Death is a reality in life so it could learn something.So this time he took it with him in the cemetery. At the entrance of the cemetery he said to the kid "wait for a moment my darling to call the priest". I went to ask for the priest and when i came back the kid was missing "Holy Mary, did they abducted my kid? has he been lost?". I started to shout "Dimitraki, Dimitraki" but no answer from Dimitrakis Both the father and the priest were extremely worried and they run among the graves yelling. Their feets led them both to the grave of the mother and they saw the kid standing on the grave , embracing something imaginery and saying "mom, mom, mom". The grave had nothing characteristic, not even a a picture It's a question how among so many tombs, the kid went to the right one and stood there embracing something and said loud "mom, mom" and was so joyful The father started to cry and asked " do you see me my girl? do you see me?" and he was crying along with the priest while the kid was embracing and kissing something in the air. This is our faith because this is our life. The mind is unable to accept Christ's teaching and upon this issue our faith was right from the beggining clear and frank. God's words are "a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Greeks" (Corinthians1) Now the last, after we have talked for "Saranda- leitourgo", prayers with "komboskeenee" "remember the soul of your servant...", memorial services the last one is charities. Do charities on behalf of those who have gone,because they help the departed, how? i don't know. I just know that they do help them How do i know? I know in many ways. I hosted one man At Piraeus there was an accident, specifically in Keratsini, in the seashore. A young girl died , at the age of 19 and she was buried . Her uncle was out of his mind "what kind of God is this, why should a girl in that age die, it would be better not to be born if she had to die at 19 years old, what kind of God is this to take her that young" Maybe the uncle was not married or had no children of his own , as he was crying and shouting more than the parents of the girl He was a church man but after that he was shocked and his faith was shaken and put in doubt. "I don't want to believe in such a God" Some time after, he was walking through the seaside and saw a fisherman who was selling his goods "come on my friend take some fishes , they smell fresness" "no , i don't want" as the uncle was still mourning . "come on, you will never find such fishes" the fisherman insisted The uncle was furious but maid the thought that he will buy one for the memory of Katerina (his niece). So irritated he buys one fish and walking a little further he gives it to a poor family and returns home. A week later he met a friend of his "hello how are you" " fine thanks" and they talked for a little. When they were splitting his friend turned and said "oh God i would almost forgot, last night i saw your niece in my dream and she told me to tell you, that she had received the fish and she thanks you a lot what does that means?" " she had received the fish and thanks you a lot, what does it means?" But the uncle hadn't outspoked his thought when he was buying the fish so that the fisherman could hear it or someone else, he just thought it "i'll buy one for the soul of Katerina" That's how i know that charity helps the departed.Be very careful, after 2000 years we can not just believe, we owe to know. Jesus Christ hasn't come to bring a new religion,a new theology or a new philosophy.Earth was full of philosophies enough to export them to other planets too. Christ came to bring a new life. If we don't live , if we don't try to live as Christ wants,if we don't try to keep His commandments we will never learn nothing We will not understand a thing and we 'll remain with the conceit and the self-confidence that we do know. Nonsense That's why we see persons with such a little education to have become saints and we say "Saint of God intercede for us all" and wise men,university professors and theologists, to say rubbishes. Because saints lived their faith and the others stuffed their minds only. That's what the saints knew and they wished to die. They knew Christ's saying "The one who believes in Me, even if he dies, will live" (John 11) That's why apostle Paul said " I have the desire to depart and be with Christ"(Philipians 1:23) to be with Christ That's why saint Isaak from Syria asked God to enable him to hate his own life for the worth of living God's way. Because they knew that what we call death is nothing more than a "perasma"(greek word meaning the passage) and we know that the word "perasma" in Jewish is called Pascha (Easter) and that's the meaning of "Pascha" as we pass from this life to its continuity From death to life that's the meaning of Pascha , we pass from the mouth of the grave to the true life. One saint of our church who's from Thessaloniki named st.Nikolaos Kavasilas says that Living the life of Christ and for Christ is like a tree that has the roots and the trunk in this life and the branches with fruits there It is not the existence of another kind of life,like the life we live now is not another life from the one we had in our mothers belly It is the same life that changed way and it will change again. Just the same. That's why the saint says that living the life of and for Christ is a tree that has the roots and trunk here and branches and fruits there. Saints prove us that life don't ends . There is a saying from St.Gregory the Great which is absolutely valid and right He says that whatever you want the others to do for yourself after you have gone (prayers, charities etc) , it is better for you to do them by yourself before your departure because it's better for you to go unleased there instead of going tied up and waiting others to unbind you with their actions. That's why saints are so invaluable for us, because they prove us what everything Christ said is true. If it were lies they would be the biggest fools, they would not exist When you see st.Raphael toappear,st.Nikolas to appear, st.Nektarios to appear and to talk with people in the midday, not in dreams, that proves that everything Jesus Christ said is true They would have been vanished and perished, if Christ's history was a theory That's why the devil (you should know that) hates the saints more than Christ Because Christ lived a long time ago back then ,and if you want you believe it, and it doesn't matters if you believe it, whatever happened back then And you can also doubt it if you want, about back then. But saints lived and live in the present time and we see them in our face and we can't deny it. That's why devil hates saints. Until yesterday devil attacked the faithfuls, now he attacks faith.Don't let your faith be shaken Let the devil do his job, he does his, we do ours. We will say "Lord Jesus Christ have mercy on us" and "Holy God , intercede for us" and we will say what apostle Paul said (Corinthians 1 ,15:55) and saint John Chrysostom in his paschal homily " Where, o Death, is your sting? Where, o Hades, is your victory? Christ is risen, and you are foiled! Christ is risen,and demons have fallen!" . I wish you to live this Ressurection with the communion of all saints. Amen . With your wishes.