Priest Mikhail Sergeyev Biography

Archimandrite Melchizedek Artyukhin: The beauty of the female soul is May 15-the day of the holy world-bearing wives, you are building a temple in honor of the holy world-bearing wives, you will soon have a throne holiday. Tell us how the construction of the temple is going? In February, public hearings were held, and residents of the district spoke out for the construction of the temple.

Then there were difficult periods. So, when we set up a worship cross, not all of this perceived with enthusiasm - first of all, residents who considered themselves non -Christians. Then, when the construction of a temporary temple began all year, starting in March, we built a wooden temporary temple, I felt a change in attitude - there were no longer those who opposed it.

On the contrary, people came and offered their help-someone could buy boards, someone wanted to participate in the acquisition of the roof of the temple, someone donated funds to the dome, and someone came and just painted, helped the workers. It was joyful to see that the locals participated. We did not have large patrons - people brought those funds that could sacrifice, and those who did not have the opportunity to help with means came and helped on their own.

There were cases that obvious opponents of the construction of the temple later came with repentance and were later zealous builders? But there was one case when a person first expressed with distrust and negative emotions that “there are so many temples, why is it necessary”, but then, when the temple was consecrated and people began to fill it, he came and said that he was wrong because the temple was in demand.

We were able to close the doors only in the middle of the service; People stood on the street, on the site, on the steps, wanting to hear and see Easter worship. It turns out that the temple is in demand, local residents visit it and participate in the creation of the house of God. They chose just such a project, because the park zone and I wanted to immediately open the Sunday school.

Thus, the temple itself is located on the second floor, and on the first - two classes of Sunday school. It turned out that the classes have been filled within two weeks, and now the question arises where to place children, because there are more and more people who want to get to Sunday school. The temple opened in January.

The question of the viewer from Diveevo: “Christ is risen! Tell me, only in monasteries women pray in the left side of the temple, and men in the right, or in any temple, this rule acts? We know that it is not observed everywhere now, although it would be good if it was observed, such a discipline helps to focus on prayer. Often you can hear repentance in confession, especially young people and girls, that they looked at the half of the service at the one who they liked, and did not manage to drive away this thought, focus on the service.

Therefore, so that nevertheless we in the temple pray, and not consider each other, observing this tradition would be correct. There is a tradition in the temple when, first, babies, then men, then women begin to the holy bowl. If the division in the temple into the male and female sides acted, this problem itself would have been solved by this, respect for the elders. If such a practice were instituted at every parish, not necessarily in the monastery, it would be correct and good.

The question of the viewer from Yekaterinburg: “The elder Ambrose Optinsky had such advice:“ To learn the silence of the prudent and blessed, after which there will be no remorse. ” How to understand this and how to learn this, especially a woman? It often happens that a person begins to regret that he speaks under the influence of emotions, especially destructive emotions - anger, anger, revenge.

This advice of the Monk Ambrose Optinsky allows a person to first calm the emotions and passions that are raging in him, and only speak when they subside. Therefore, there will be no repentance that we could not endure something or were angry. Why is the temple dedicated precisely to myrrh-bearing wives? When I met the bishop of the Voskresensky Savva, who was at these hearings, he asked me in honor of whom it is planned to build a temple if the decision was positive.

To this, I replied: "How do you bless, Vladyka." Then Vladyka decided to ask the people. A lot of young girls and women came to the meeting, and when they asked them, for some reason they immediately spoke about myrrh-bearing wives. Perhaps this happened partly from the fact that they themselves wore such names - Maria, John. Maybe this is due to the fact that in Moscow there was not a single temple dedicated to the holy world-bearing wives, but the name of this temple, which the Holy Patriarch approved, was born so.

Vladyka Savva, Bishop of Voskresensky, committed a small sanctification, and, thus, the temple was consecrated in honor of myrrh-bearing wives. Who were myrrh-bearing wives, and why does the church honor them so highly? There are eight such excerpts, and most of them are mentioned by myrrh-bearing wives. These are women who, together with the apostles, followed Christ and performed the work that lies on the shoulders of women - to cook, remove, prepare a place to sleep.Often a person does not notice this, but in fact it is of great importance when the order in the family, food is prepared with love on time and love when the children are well -groomed, completed their homework.

Often husbands come home late, and all this falls on women's shoulders. In the same way, in those distant years they tried to serve Christ in those distant years. In the church, the dominant role still belongs to a man. From your words we can conclude that the woman in the parish is also in demand and, if desired, there will be work for her. If we mean the abbot of the temple, a priest, then this is so, but mostly women do all the work.

If we take, for example, a male monastery, then monks work more there, and on ordinary urban and rural parishes all the work falls on the shoulders of women. The day of the memory of the holy wives of myrrh-bearing is an Orthodox female day, they are an example, an example for modern Orthodox Christians. Your parish is the only one in Moscow is the name of holy world-bearing wives.

On your parishioners, “peer-bearing wives”, is some special responsibility in this regard? It seems to me that those women who work with us feel this responsibility. It's nice to see their care for the temple. Probably, they feel some pride inside for working in the parish in honor of the holiness of women Christians. But this pride is not sinful, not pride - the pride that they have the opportunity to work hard for the glory of God and help decorate the temple, put it in order.

In my opinion, this is a joy for every Christian. The question of the viewer from the Belgorod region: “Christ is risen! The Apostle Paul has almost all the messages in very tough restrictions on women. In a message to Timothy, he advises: "... Baby fables turn away." I understand that he was a monk, unmarried. What is the reason for this attitude to women? Some of them like to talk a lot, someone sometimes adds something behind these conversations, someone condemns someone.

I think it was a question that in the church, in the communication of believers there was no fact that we can often see in ordinary worldly life, so that a woman would not try to bring her weaknesses to the church. We can read the following command: “A woman in the church is silent” see for this case. In this case, you can very carefully bring such a woman the words of the apostle Paul so that she calms down and saw that there are certain limits.

In all other respects, I think the participation of women is very important. Moreover, there are female monasteries, where almost everything except the worship lies on the shoulders of Mother Monachin, who have a blessing to help even in the altar at certain moments. Of course, there is education there, when the nun silently fulfills the obedience that is entrusted to her, and in any way in the temple there is no conversation, nor even more so fables, as the Apostle Paul speaks of this.

Therefore, I think this is such a warning. In a small church - in the family - a woman is also silent? What is the Apostle Paul talking here? That she was afraid to offend him with something so that love is not destroyed, unity is broken. If a woman is afraid to offend her husband, to offend, then this is quite enough. Such a husband, seeing the humility and meekness of his wife, is unlikely to do any not very good deeds that will lead to that his wife is afraid of in the sense that we are afraid of hooligans or people with a intoxicated state, inadequate.

Why is there a distinction in the family - the responsibilities of her husband and wife are different? This is the establishment of God. There is a hierarchy in the church, and there is a hierarchy in the family. A person is so arranged that he should always know his place, determined to him. If the Lord has set you to lead someone or something, you must understand what responsibility you bear.

If you are entrusted and supposed to obey, then in subordination, if a person accepts with humility, he will bring more benefit than if he tried to resist this. So it is in the family. The Lord first created Adam, and already from the deep part of the rib of Adam created Eve, led her to Adam and said that his wife was subordinate to her husband, for she was taken from her husband, and she would be an assistant to him.

When a woman understands that she is an assistant, she gets great joy from this, because she already has a lot of responsibilities - by the birth and upbringing of a child, maintaining order in the house and creating comfort, which allows the family to be holistic, allows love to be in the family. We see that in nature there is a certain hierarchy - it is said: “A different glory of the Sun, a different glory of the moon, other stars; And the star from the star varies in glory.

" In any society, order, prosperity and growth are where there is a clear hierarchy. As soon as it is violated when two or three claim to be the leader of the ruler, then there are disruptions. If a woman tries to take the upper hand and dominance, of course, a wise husband arranges so that this is not, but sometimes this happens, and such families break up. The experience of several millennia shows the immutability of the commandments of God and the wishes that we see both in the Holy Scriptures and in the sacred tradition of the Church.

Not all women understand their place in the family, in life, in society - how to explain and instill it? Often they ask me if an Orthodox Christian woman can be the head of a large enterprise or even head the state? I answer - maybe, but subject to certain conditions: if the family does not suffer at the same time, if her husband is satisfied with the fact that the wife performs public or guidelines if children are not abandoned by virtue of more employment of the mother.

If a woman manages everything, she can be in public life by anyone. Unfortunately, it often happens that, walking along the steps of a career ladder, a woman devotes less and less time to the family, and this is natural, because in days only 24 hours. If the family is suffering - husband and children, it is not useful for a woman or her family such a dominance and leadership.

When a woman is a believer, and her husband is an unbeliever, then disagreements arise. How to overcome them? It is consecrated when a woman is very wisely approaches the question of faith in the family. Unfortunately, this happens infrequently.