Automatic writing. A Little-Known Letter from St. Silan What an Orthodox Christian Should Know

Contemporary turmoil over new documents

Dear L. in the Lord!

I, indeed, will tell you that you must adhere to the blessing of the Church hierarchy, for in the church the mind is conciliar. But, if someone has the opportunity not to take cards yet, then don’t take them.

But I don’t know who’s heart will be at peace if he is the only one in the whole family who is “righteous” - without a card, and at the same time eats bread received on this card by a dying loved one.

And I am sure that the Lord will not tempt those who love Him and are faithful to Him beyond the measure of their strength.

And a seal can only be given to someone who unrepentantly lived in sin and who denied the Lord with his life. Before the seal of the Antichrist, the mind will be sealed by sin.

Dear V. in the Lord!

In response to your letter, I will ask you: “in what way is the document you received worse or better than the passport that we all have before?” And there cannot be a mechanical, indiscriminate renunciation; only our personal attitude towards God can save or destroy us. And no one asked you about your religion.

May God make you wise.

Dear V. in the Lord!

Since the times of the apostles it has been said that many antichrists already appeared then. But life goes on. Christianity is already 2000 years old.

And people are being saved, and will be saved until the last days of the world. And people live and work, some according to the law of God, others according to the elements of this world. And you can’t sit by the window, doing nothing, waiting for something. You will be condemned together with the unbelievers for inactivity and for not multiplying the gift entrusted to you by God. I’ve already written to you about the new documents and I won’t repeat myself. The seal will follow only a person’s personal renunciation of God, and not deception. Cheating makes no sense. The Lord needs our heart that loves Him.

The same enemy is sowing confusion, confusion and confusion, and they will lead many away from the Church. So you have already taken the first step towards this. And this is a step towards destruction.

Servant of God T.!

What you are about to run from will find you everywhere. Both in the wilderness and in the capital: a new accounting system comes into effect.

We should all not run from computers (this is technology), but from our own sins. But no, we groom them, feed them to the point of disgrace, and live with them, enjoying them.

And Scripture warns people that difficult times will come, because people will be proud, arrogant, lovers of money more than lovers of God. And nowhere is it said about the dangers from technology. But it has also been announced that they will flee from west to east and from east to west, and all this will be done under the leadership of the enemy. And God is everywhere: in Luga, and in Kostroma, and He will help His children everywhere.

May God make you wise.

Dear Fr. N.!

Yes, the darkest times are coming, the enemy is shaking and trying to overthrow the Church. Many completely non-church people and even non-believers have entered the clergy, and they are doing their job. Well, God is with us, and we must do God’s work.

Forgive me generously. I am sending you my vision of current problems: every Tower of Babel has God’s power and authority, and the current computer horror-beast is probably not so terrible that the Lord is slow to destroy this unreliable “archive.” And the time will come, and the Lord will dispel those fears that the enemy of the human race has taken into his arsenal. We must stand in faith and fear nothing but sin. I ask for prayers.

Dear S. in the Lord!

Christ is Risen!

Regarding new documents passing through the computer, everything has already been said by His Holiness and our Synod.

Now these documents in this form and with this presentation do not pose a danger to us. But, of course, this is one of the stages in preparing for future fear.

S., remember and understand for yourself the will of God: “Son, give Me your heart,” not a passport, not a pension certificate, not a tax card, but a heart.

This is what we need to keep an eye on vigilantly and with all care - who we serve in life, how we live.

Love, joy, peace, mercy - under any state system, God will not be put to shame. And if a person has forgotten God and lives unrighteously, prayer and church have been replaced from the life of even the clergy by television and all sorts of ugly videos, then believe me, S., many people already have the seal, even with old-style documents. After all, through the ugliness with which modern man stuffs himself, voluntarily, with love and desire, nothing divine can pass through and enter into man. Our resistance to the coming fear is one and only - our faith in God, our life by faith. And all those confusions, turmoil and confusion enter into life so powerfully, and because they enter because there is no living faith, no trust in God. And all this enemy crowds out peace of mind and trustworthiness. Live calmly, pray to God and trust Him.

We will not write petitions to assign numbers to us, and if they are carried out without our consent, we will not resist. After all, at one time we received passports and were all in the state accounting system, and it’s the same now. Nothing changed. To Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's.

Look, a computer that has been made the scarecrow of our time. After all, it’s just a piece of iron, and without a person it’s nothing. And one person, with the help of this piece of iron, filled the world with liturgical books, and another - with ugly ones. Who will answer before God and how? And human will is judged by God. That's what it's all about.

I don’t know anything about war other than what every person wages every day.

You need to pray, this is the school of prayer. I won’t explain this to you theoretically. Prayer is best taught by harsh life. In conclusion, I had a true prayer, and this is because every day I was on the verge of death. It is impossible to repeat such a prayer now in days of prosperity. Although the experience of prayer and living faith acquired there lasts a lifetime. The point, S., is not in quantity, the point is in a living appeal to the living God.

Faith that the Lord is closer to you than anyone else closest to you, that He does not hear the rustle of your lips, but hears the prayerful beating of your heart and what it is filled with at the moment of your turning to God. And you are a family man and you are responsible before God for each family member, which means your heart should ache for everyone. May God make you wise!

And start, S., with fulfilling the order of St. Seraphim of Sarov: “S., my joy, the spirit of acquisition is peaceful, and not only your family, but thousands will be saved around you.” That's all. Look how life teaches us to live. If you want to be content and happy, live in God, but if you don’t, there is no happiness.

Truly Christ is Risen!

Dear Fr. WITH.!

I will not participate in the campaign you propose.

The very spirit of such activity, where there is a lot of selfishness, noise and hope not in God, but in man, and even with criticism of the Church’s hierarchy, which is the key in your statements, forbids me this. I have already seen something similar in the actions and spirit of the renovationists, who are rebelling against the quietest Patriarch Tikhon, and in fact against the Lord Himself and His Church. The letter that you didn’t like so much is not a forgery, I wrote it to a private person, but by the will of God it received wider publicity regardless of me, which means it’s necessary. Forgive me generously, the methods you propose are not to my liking.

Dear Fr. A.!

I can’t say anything better about the end of the world than Metropolitan Veniamin Fedchenkov said. I’ll just note on my own behalf that many are worried about this topic, but of those who talk about it and think hysterically, there are few who began to live according to these thoughts, and few who lift a finger, caring about the salvation of their souls. But these thoughts only call for this and oblige. (Already close, at the door.) If tomorrow I must appear before the judgment of God and if tomorrow I must give an answer to the question of how I lived, what I lived with, and did I live by the spirit of God? - So what worries about accumulation, about construction projects? But now, basically, this is all they think about; only a few even in the Church live by the Spirit of God, even those who serve at the Throne, even monastics.

Take a closer look at yourself - does the fear of God guide our thoughts and actions?

Is love for God and people the basis of our existence?

Here, dear o. A., the seal that our way of life sets for us every day, which we set for ourselves in our soul, heart and mind, bringing closer or further the time of the coming of the Antichrist. And his seal will only testify to the one that we have already set for ourselves. Without us, we can neither be saved nor destroyed.

Television and video have already penetrated beyond the monastery walls, and who and with what will erase this seal, if we set it for ourselves voluntarily and with desire and love. It is not the Antichrist who will destroy us. Before his arrival, we will have already decided on our spiritual orientation and made a choice. The seal of the Antichrist will be the last point in our choice.

Travel with God to monasteries and elders, if this is for the benefit of the soul seeking salvation. But is it good?! And do you think about salvation when you look at the kaleidoscope of life? Resolve this question for yourself. Is it good? I will fulfill the request for prayer.

Dear father, take a closer look at your life:

for the sake of the cell,

for the sake of study,

for the sake of imaginary help to people

(and, by the way, material help is not required from a poor, non-acquisitive monk, but we cannot give spiritual help, because we ourselves are poor in spirit). We would not lose what we put on the paramon and mantle for.

Sorry for such a sad letter. Don't lose the main thing and don't forget your vows to God.

My dear children of the Church of Christ!

In these days, when heaven and earth rejoice over the ineffable mercy of God - about the birth of his Savior into the world, when the Orthodox Church, with its 2000 years of suffering in the truth and its saving labors, affirms that God is with us, when a host of Russian illustrious new martyrs laid in the foundation of the Church is the fruit of its red sowing, and by God’s grace the people of Russia began to remember their glorious Christian past and now find their way to the temple of God to God - we would rejoice and live with living faith and undoubted hope in God and in His Holy Church. Live and remember daily that the seal of the gift of the Holy Spirit, which we received in holy baptism, has made us children of God and thank God.

But no, in these spirit-bearing and luminous days, the dark shadow of spiritual indignation has agitated the minds and hearts of believers and deprives them not only of the joy of universal and eternal triumph, but also of faith and trustworthiness itself.

My dears, who today boldly gives over the rule of the world to the dark forces?

Who again, as in the time of the Savior, approaches Him with a crafty question: What do you think? Is it permissible to give tribute to Caesar or not? (Matt. 22, 17; Mark 12, 14; Luke 20, 22).

And in modern language it sounds like this: “Should we accept the new tax system or not?”

The answer is paradoxical. Orthodox Christian believers themselves: priests and laity, forgetting about the Providence of God, about God, give power to dark forces.

And just as then the Savior’s co-questioners were not satisfied with His answer and went away until the time was right to invent a new trick against Him, so now the answer of the conciliar church mind and the measures taken by the Church to clarify the situation have not been accepted - and confusion and confusion continues to build up in the fence of the Church and in among the people of God, but in fact all this is done by the enemy of God, the enemy of the Church, the enemy of our salvation.

The state problem of individual taxpayer numbers, through the efforts of the enemy of God, false rumors about the introduction of three sixes into the TIN, acquired great power of turmoil in the spiritual world and became for us a test that revealed in believers a lack of faith in God and trust in the Mother Church...

My dears, this is precisely the goal that the enemy pursued by entering the number “666” into the barcode, and nothing else. But with what ease and how painlessly this fatal number was removed when it had done its job!

The number was removed, the statement about assigning numbers was excluded, and the turmoil and schism in the Church continue to deepen. And talk about the seal of the Antichrist, about the lack of grace of our Church, about the imminent end of the world excites minds. Both sectarian and anti-church sentiments and speeches are already heard from church pulpits. In the history of the Church, such sentiments have been observed more than once, especially during periods of political upheavals, disasters, wars and all kinds of “perestroikas.” Even the great pillars of the Church have made mistakes.

This is how the resident of our holy Pskovo-Pechersk monastery, the great ascetic of piety, Metropolitan Veniamin (Fedchenkov), describes such events: the reason for such phenomena lies “in the human soul: it is always seduced by everything mysterious, extraordinary, supernatural, miraculous; and especially terrible. And at the same time a false “zeal” for God appears... This has all been known for a long time in spiritual life. But from time to time such movements, like volcanic eruptions, begin to come out. Usually this is associated with some kind of political upheaval, disasters, wars, oppression.

It is necessary to fight this spiritual ulcer. The Apostle Paul himself began this struggle by writing the entire 2nd Epistle to Thessalonians (and partly the first), where he forbids believing “the spirit, or the word, or the message” (2 Thess. 2:2-4). Despite this, similar movements have arisen again and again throughout history. And even the great pillars of the Church were mistaken in setting the dates for the “end of the Universe.” For example, Saint John Chrysostom directly wrote that the end of the world should be expected around the “four hundredth” year. “I will not sin”(!), he said, indicating the approximate date of about 400... And he sinned: 1548 years have passed since that day, there is no end of the world. This is written in the 8th volume of his works, in the explanation of the [conversation] of Christ with the Samaritan woman (Gospel of John, chapter 4).

Similarly, during the persecution of icons and icon-worshipers - 6-9 centuries - Saint Theodore the Studite thought about the “near” end of the world. And in general, many, many times were carried away by this idea. In Russia - Father Ambrose of Optina spoke about this" (Metropolitan Veniamin (Fedchenkov) "For Orthodoxy the Lord will have mercy on me..." - St. Petersburg, 1998)

But now we have lived until 2001, and still there is no end to the world, and life goes on. And Christ, who came into the world to save sinners, continues His feat of love for the human race. He gave us the way to salvation, and He is the same for all times for Christians, both first and last times - and this is faith in the Providence of God and life by faith.

Our Lord Jesus Christ Himself, in His high priestly prayer, asks God the Father for all who believe in Him: I do not pray that You take them out of the world, but that You preserve them from evil.

My dears, this is Christ praying for us! So, by God’s command, we, the children of God, are called to live in the world, and the world can be different - Christian, pagan, God-fighting, and in it, in such different things, we are called to carry the light of Christ’s teaching and Truth, and this, according to the word of Scripture, - "love, joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness, goodness, faith, meekness, self-control. Against such there is no law."

In the pre-feast canon for the Epiphany of the Lord, the Church very clearly describes the attitude towards the worldly and the Divine for all who follow Christ. He - Christ - “was written, but you were not enslaved, obeying Caesar’s command, even though he gave us consolation from work, freely obeying and paying tribute to the didrachm, but you freed us who were first sold by the law of sin now and honored you with sonship.”

And following the example of the Savior, we, believers, obey state laws, while remaining spiritually free, as sons of God, sons of Light!

And how can we not remember in our current situation that moment in the life of the Church when it entered the chaos of revolutionary turmoil, and we had to learn to live and preserve the Church in a period of complete lawlessness. And our Holiness Patriarch Tikhon greeted every day with peace of mind, for he believed in God and betrayed the Church, himself, and the people of God to Him.

Faith in God is where our strength lies, our opposition to turmoil and schism in the Church.

The Russian new martyrs left us evidence of the true faith. Thus, the Hieromartyr Metropolitan Veniamin of Petrograd writes before his martyrdom: “I am joyful and at peace... Christ is our life, light and peace. With Him it is always and everywhere good. I am not afraid for the fate of the Church of God. We need more faith, we need more of it for us, shepherds, to forget our arrogance, intelligence, learning and give place to the grace of God" - this is a truly Christian spiritual attitude.

The believer lives in peace with Christ, dies in Christ and goes to Christ. And who will separate us from the love of God: neither sorrow, nor distress, nor slander against God and the Church, which is sowed by the enemy of the human race?

And fear, even without fear, has now paralyzed faith and taken away hope, and the shadow of the enemy is trying to obscure the Sun of Truth - Christ.

It won't happen!

My dears, how did we succumb to panic - to lose our Christian name, replacing it with a number? But how can this happen in the eyes of God? Will someone forget himself and his heavenly patron given at the moment of baptism at the Cup of Life?

And don’t we remember all those clergy, lay Christians who for a long period of life had to forget their names and surnames, they were replaced by a number, and many went into eternity with a number. And God accepted them into His Fatherly embrace as holy martyrs and martyrs, and the white robes of victory hid the prisoner’s pea coats.

There was no name, but God was there, and His guidance led the believing prisoner through the shadow of death every day.

The Lord has no concept of a person as a number, a number is needed only by modern computer technology, but for the Lord there is nothing more valuable than a living human soul, for the sake of which He sent His Only Begotten Son, Christ the Savior. And the Savior entered the world with a census.

What can we say about control and total surveillance, which so frighten simple-minded people? When and in what state was there no secret office? Everything was... and everything is... and will be... but nothing prevents a believer from being saved. And everyone goes through life on their own way of the cross, going through by faith everything that comes along the path of life. And the believer accepts everything from the hand of God with the confidence that everything will advance him to salvation.

It would be better for us to think about what, in fact, an Orthodox Christian should always remember - about the all-seeing Eye of God, which saw how our flesh was woven, about the angel of light and the angel of darkness, guarding our every step, every thought - from infancy from the cradle to the grave. Do we think about this?

Now we are increasingly afraid of the seal of the Antichrist, which will come at that time, at a time to which we do not know whether we will live. But few people even think about the seal of our personal sin. But it is precisely this seal that puts a person under the power of the Antichrist’s elements and deeds and is a real prototype of that seal that is actually worth fearing!

And nothing divine will pass through this terrible sinful seal with which we print our mind and heart every day.

The Lord, knowing our weakness, gave us repentance - permission from sin. But this cleansing of the soul, mind and heart takes place only in the Church, only in the Sacraments.

And it is precisely the Church that the enemy is now taking up arms against.

Yes, all Divine Scripture will be fulfilled without a doubt.

Yes, before the end of the world there will be three and a half years of such hardship as has not been seen since the creation of the world, and this marks the power of the Antichrist.

Yes, there will be a Glorious and Terrible Coming of the Savior, Who will kill the enemy with the spirit of His mouth.

Everything will happen, but when? The Lord God the Father set times and dates in His power, and no most powerful hand can stop God’s Providence or change it.

And we will not be able to bring this time closer or prevent it.

But we must live now, now, we must live in God.

And now people are being invited into the forests, into the desert, into hidden rooms.

Do not take a number, do not enter the new state accounting system, leave the world, leave the Church.

But how can we be saved?

How to live, how to raise children in God, everyone is silent about this.

And already now a stream of bitter, tearful and bewildered letters has overwhelmed the confessors.

Our church already has its own tax number, and you can no longer go to it.

And the old woman, who throughout her life and in the most difficult times remained faithful to God and the Church, now, being at the end of her life, falls away from the Saving Church Ark.

And who will answer before God for the temptation of these little ones, who innocently stumbled over something that has nothing to do with spiritual life - about the tax number...

So look at the test of our faith, its rationality, its spirituality that is taking place now.

The Seal of Christ appeared in the world after the accomplishment of His saving feat. The cross, which was an instrument of shameful execution, sanctified by the blood and grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, became Christ's seal of unlimited power against all the enemies.

Now they only talk about the number 666 as the seal of the Antichrist. But has he already gained power in the world? have state borders been erased, and peace and security soothingly caress our ears?.. And the Antichrist reigned, recognized by everyone as the world ruler, thereby receiving the right to his seal? But the Apostle and Evangelist John the Theologian also says that in his time many Antichrists appeared. What can we say about the present, our time? Unless there are few Christians and many, many Antichrists. There are many of them - Unbelievers, troublemakers, seducers, schismatics and molesters, but this is not the only Antichrist who, by God's permission, will receive power over the world and those living in it for three and a half years. And we must all remember that we are now still living in a time of salvation, a time of grace, when the Savior of the world, Christ, is ready to accept and save every sinner who has sighed to God for his salvation.

So we will be saved in the Church, protecting ourselves with the fear of God from all sin, from wickedness, lies and falsehood, from selfishness and self-will. And it would be good now, when Christian self-awareness is awakening among the people, for all of us to understand who and why now needs such non-Christian methods of fighting for “freedom.”

And what should we be free from?

From Christian church discipline, when the conciliar voice of the Church is challenged by personal opinion?

From the one and only catholic Church, the schismatic part of which calls people into the “catacombs” so that it degenerates into a sect?

From paying taxes, so that, according to the word of Scripture: “Whoever has collected much has no excess, and whoever has collected little has no lack?” And won’t the children of the Church be alarmed by the fact that in their desire to achieve their goal, fighters do not hesitate to use the method of the father of lies, the devil - Slander?

Since the beginning of this turmoil, I have written many private letters regarding the TIN.

And now one of them, by the will of God, was published via the Internet by the Sretensky Monastery to a wide audience. But the letter was declared a forgery. And today I sign my letter again and again.

And it is in it that my perception of everything that is happening sounds, and not in the anonymous letter that unknown slanderers published in the newspaper “Russian Messenger” (Nos. 46-48 for 2000), imposing their opinion on my name.

Now, due to the fact that my name is being woven into their slander by those who fight the Church, I am obliged to say to everyone who is involved in this psychosis:

FEAR DIVISION AND SCHISM IN THE CHURCH!

Be afraid to fall away from the Mother Church, she alone is holding back the lava of anti-Christian revelry in the world now!

Be afraid to judge the church hierarchy, for this is destruction even without the seal of the Antichrist! FEAR SIN! We will die long before the fear that has gripped everyone now appears. But having fallen away from the Church, we inherit exactly what we are so afraid of now.

Let us imprint on the tablets of the heart and mind the spiritual basis of our unity with God:

Son, give me your heart.

The Lord will not give up the soul and heart that is faithful to God to be trampled upon by the enemy! It’s easy for another person to deceive, and the enemy with his centuries-old experience in lying costs nothing to deceive us.

With modern technical capabilities, it is possible to secretly and openly imprint all nations with “numbers,” “chips,” and “seals.” But they cannot harm the human soul unless there is a conscious renunciation of Christ and conscious worship of the enemy of God.

And may the life-giving words of our Savior be our guide and guide through the stormy sea of ​​life: Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives, I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, nor let it be afraid (John 14:27); believe in God, and believe in Me (John 14:1).

Dear in the Lord No.

A person, no matter what time he lives, whether he wants it or not, makes a choice that determines his future in eternity. And what is allowed by God cannot be stopped either by the most omnipotent hand, or by mass protests. What God has determined will undoubtedly happen. But when, how? This is not given to us to know, and Scripture warns us against wanting to know this. For the Lord has ordained this in His power.

But wasn’t it for all times and not for all Christian believers that our Lord Jesus Christ offered his high priestly prayer. Read carefully the Gospel of John, ch. 17. There we have an answer to all our confusions, which are nothing more than doubts and hesitations in faith. Pay special attention to the words: I do not pray that You take them from the world, but that You preserve them from evil... And our entire Divine service, all of Holy Scripture speaks about the invincible weapon of faith - “He who trusts in the Lord will not be afraid when Judge everything with fire and torment" (2nd antiphon of the 8th tone). Of course, the Lord knows how to deliver the godly from temptation, and to preserve the wicked for the day of judgment for punishment... (2 Pet. 2:9).

And now everyone is silent about the Lord, silent about His omnipotence, mercy, love. All we can hear is that the enemy is deceiving now, and if not now, then he will certainly deceive tomorrow. Wouldn't the question arise to you why, when all products and consumer goods were labeled with a bar code with three sixes, there was general silence all around: everyone swallowed and is calmly eating everything that is sold at the market? And the barcodes have been removed from the tax document, and there is no need to write an application, but the noise continues, and there is no end to it, and lies are entwined with lies, and simple-minded people in confusion and fear are already fleeing from the Church, fleeing from the ark of salvation, where the helmsman is the Lord Himself. This is the kind of large-scale sabotage that the enemy has planned and is now carrying out.

And about barcodes; If at the moment we look at them from the position of a believer, what can we say? For the non-believer they are not terrible, for unbelief itself is the seal of the future death, which a person does not think about, and for the believer, too, these three sixes do not yet threaten in any way, because in our hands, in our heart and mind there is an effective seal of God - the Sign of the Cross, in the Name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit - even if they drink of death, it will not harm them.

Even though we are protected by the Cross, we resist the enemy, not being afraid of that deceit or entrapment... Lord, weapons against the devil (not only three sixes, but also against the devil himself) You gave Your Cross to us: for it trembles and shakes, not enduring behold His power: for He raises the dead and abolishes death...

But this is with faith in God and undoubted hope. But without faith, everything is scary and life itself is not life.

And what, is the property of the church - the service of God - just a performance for heart-rending emotions? No, no and NO! For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword... And as St. Philaret (Drozdov) said, he will not believe the obvious if it contradicts Scripture. This is the power of faith.

Dear K, live by faith. Work at your job and do it in obedience to God. Not everyone should run around the church with a doormat, not everyone should become altar servers, but according to the Call of God and love for feat, for this is a martyr’s service.

People need engineers, doctors, and teachers - and everyone is needed. There are no extra people in the world. It is important not what to do, but how and in the name of Whom. And this is salvation. And everything that is not according to faith is sin.

Forgive me generously. I am already very old and I still live and live with the old concepts of both faith and salvation. And these concepts were implanted in me by the men of God, the holy men who are now among the host of Russian new martyrs.

This is enough for me and will last me for the rest of my long life.

I ask for your holy prayers for my weakness.

Dear Fr. N.!

You give a very good quote from Theodore the Studite. She tells us that all people and at all times make a choice in their lives - to follow a narrow path or a long one.

And God does not and cannot have injustice - those who lived before the advent of this new technology and accounting system would all have been saved, but after its appearance, everyone perishes simply because they live in this apocalyptic time.

The most terrible thing that lies in all this is the confusion and embarrassment that overwhelms believers.

The Synod has spoken, prayed and considered the problem comprehensively, and this is the voice of the Church.

But we are not imams of faith, we do not trust, but we will listen to private individuals, even if they are spirit-bearing, but they are people and are not guaranteed against mistakes.

Remember at what cost did St. Patriarch Tikhon preserve the Church and under what conditions, when there was external pressure and internal turmoil. And what happened to those who followed the “spirit-bearing ones” - the ka-tacomb church, which has now degenerated into a sect. But the Church still lives and does its saving service in the world.

So forgive me.

Retreat is taking place across the earth, and we must adhere to the Church, for its Pilot is the Savior Himself.

R.S. In the meantime, not a single questionnaire asks about our faith and hope.

Dear M. in the Lord!

The seal of the Antichrist will appear when he reigns and gains power, and there will be one and only ruler on earth, and now each state has its own head.

And therefore, do not panic prematurely, but fear now the sins that open and angle the path for the future Antichrist. And the current documents are of the same quality as the previous ones.

Spiritual guidance for those truly established in the holy Orthodox faith:
1400 church advice to the Orthodox - questions from believers and answers from righteous saints.

A monk who is not ordained is addressed as “honest brother”, “father”.
To the deacon (archdeacon, protodeacon): “father (archi-, proto-) deacon” or simply: “father (name)”;
to the priest and hieromonk: “Your Reverence” or “father (name)”;
to the archpriest, abbot and archimandrite: “Your Reverence.”

Addressing a priest as “father,” which is a Russian church tradition, is acceptable, but is not official. Therefore, it is not used in official address.

A novice and a nun can be called "sister". The ubiquitous address “mother” in women’s monasteries is correctly applied only to the abbess.

The abbess of the convent will consider it quite polite to address: “Venerable Mother (name)” or “Mother (name).”

You should address the bishop: “Your Eminence,” “Most Reverend Vladyka,” or simply “Vladyka” (or using the vocative case of the Slavic language: “Vladyko”);
to the archbishop and metropolitan - “Your Eminence” or “Your Eminence Vladyka.”

The clergy themselves should not call themselves fathers.
When introduced, they name their rank and name, for example: Deacon Peter, Priest Alexy, Archpriest John, Bishop Meletius, etc.
It is inappropriate for the priest to introduce himself: Father Pavel.
As already mentioned, he must introduce himself as Priest Pavel, or Priest Pavel.

In the Local Churches of the Orthodox East, an archimandrite and, in general, a monastic cleric with a higher theological education are addressed: “Panosiologiotate” (Greek Πανοσιολογιωτατε; at the root of the word the word “logos” is added, which in Greek has the following meanings: word, mind etc.).
To the hieromonk and hierodeacon who do not have a higher theological education: “Panosiotate” (Greek Πανοσιοωτατε - Your Reverence).
To a priest and deacon who have a higher theological education: “Aidesimologiotate” (Greek Αιδεσιμολογιωτατε - Your Reverence) and “Hierologitate” (Greek Ιερολογιωτατε).
A priest and a deacon who do not have a higher theological education are addressed respectively: “Aidesimotate” (Greek: Αιδεσιμωτατε - Your Reverence) and “Evlabestate” (Greek: Ευλαβεστατε).
Any ruling bishop is addressed: “Sebasmiotate” (Greek: Σεβασμωτατε), to a vicar bishop: “Theophylestate” (Greek: Θεοφιλεστατε), such an address can also apply to an archimandrite); to the titular metropolitan (i.e., to the bishop who bears the honorary title of metropolitan, but does not actually have a metropolitan under his administration): “Paneirotate” (Greek Πανιερωτατε).

The Patriarch, referred to in the title as “Holiness,” must be addressed: “Your Holiness”;
to the Primate of the Local Church, whose title contains the epithet “Most Beatitude”: “Your Beatitude.”

The specified rules for addressing clergy should also be observed in correspondence with them (personal or official).

Official letters are written on a special form, informal letters are written on plain paper or on a letterhead with the name and position of the sender printed in the upper left corner (the reverse side of the sheet is not used).

It is not customary for the Patriarch to send a letter on letterhead.

Every letter consists of the following parts:
1) indication of the addressee, address (address-title),
2) working text,
3) a final compliment,
4) signatures and dates.

1. Address-title.
In an official letter, the addressee's indication includes the person's full title and position, which are indicated in the dative case, for example:
"To His Eminence,
Your Eminence (name),
Archbishop (name of department),
Chairman (name of the Synodal Department, commission, etc.).”

Clergy at lower hierarchical levels are addressed more briefly:
His Most Reverend (Reverend)
Archpriest (or priest) (name, surname) (Position).

In this case, the surname of the monastic, if indicated, is always given in parentheses.

Address-title is an honorary title of the addressee, which should begin the letter and which should be used in its further text, for example:
“Your Holiness” (in a letter to the Patriarch),
"Your Majesty" (in a letter to the monarch),
"Your Excellency", etc.

2. Working text.
The working text is written in any form appropriate to the occasion.

3. Compliment.
A compliment is an expression of politeness that ends a letter.

4. Signature and date.
The author's personal signature (not a facsimile, which is used only when sending a letter by fax) is usually accompanied by a printed transcript.
The date the letter was sent must include the day, month and year; in official letters its outgoing number is also indicated.
Authors-bishops depict a cross before their signature.
For example: “† Alexy, Archbishop of Orekhovo-Zuevsky.”
This version of the bishop's signature is primarily a Russian tradition.
After the signature you can write: “In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen".
Rules for addressing the clergy adopted in the Russian Orthodox Church

Monastic clergy White clergy Appeal Indication of addressee
Hierodeacon Deacon (protodeacon, archdeacon) Father (name) to Deacon (name)
Hieromonk Priest Your Reverence, father (name) To His Reverence, Priest (name)
Abbot
Archimandrite Archpriest
Protopresbyter Your Eminence, Father (name) To His Eminence, Archpriest (name)
Abbess Venerable Mother Abbess (name of the monastery) Abbess (name)
Bishop (ruling, vicar) Your Eminence, Most Reverend Vladyka To His Eminence, Most Reverend (name), bishop (cathedra)
Archbishop
Metropolitan Your Eminence, Your Eminence Bishop His Eminence, Your Eminence (name), Archbishop (cathedra)
Patriarch Your Holiness, His Holiness the Lord, His Holiness the Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus' (name)

When writing to the hierarchs of the Local Orthodox Churches, one should remember that the title of the Primate of the Church - Patriarch, Metropolitan, Archbishop - is always written with a capital letter.
The spelling of the title of First Hierarch of the Autonomous Church looks the same.

If the First Hierarch bears the double (triple) title of Patriarch and Metropolitan (Archbishop), then all these titles must also begin with a capital letter, for example: His Beatitude Theoctistus, Archbishop of Bucharest, Metropolitan of Muntena and Dobrogea, Patriarch of Romania.
As a rule, the number “II” in the name of His Holiness Patriarch Alexy of Moscow and All Rus' is omitted.

It must be taken into account that in the Orthodox East only the Patriarch of Constantinople is called “Your Holiness” (more precisely: “Your All-Holiness”), all other Primates of the Local Churches are titled: “Your Beatitude”, “Your Beatitude”.
This is exactly how the First Hierarch of the Church of Constantinople addresses the Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus'.
However, in the traditions of the Russian Church it is customary to call the Patriarch of All Rus': “Your Holiness.”

The Russian Orthodox Church has developed standard forms of written appeal to a person holding holy orders.
These types of appeals are called petitions or reports (as opposed to statements accepted in secular society).
A petition (by the very meaning of the name) is a text asking for something.
The report may also contain a request, but more often it is an informational document.
A secular person may well turn to a clergyman with a simple letter, without calling his appeal either a report or a petition.

A type of church correspondence is written congratulations on the holiday of the Holy Resurrection of Christ, the Nativity of Christ, Angel's Day and other solemn events. Traditionally, the text of such congratulations is preceded by a greeting corresponding to the holiday, for example, in the Easter message these are the words: “Christ is Risen! Truly He is Risen!”

It should be noted that in matters of correspondence, the form of letters is often no less important than the content itself.
Speaking about the general style of correspondence, we can recommend taking as a model the letters and addresses of the hierarchs of the Russian Orthodox Church, published in different years in the Journal of the Moscow Patriarchate.

Regardless of the attitude towards the addressee, it is necessary to adhere to the prescribed forms of politeness in the text of the letter, which ensure respect for the official position of the sender and the addressee and any change in which can be understood as a deliberate disregard for etiquette or insufficient expression of respect.
It is especially important to observe the protocol of international official correspondence - here it is important to show the recipients of correspondence the signs of respect to which they are entitled, while at the same time maintaining the relationship of ranks between the sender and the addressee; the adopted protocol is structured in such a way that relations between Churches, states and their representatives are based on equality, respect and mutual correctness.
Thus, when mentioning any clergy person, especially a bishop, in a letter, you should not use the third person pronoun “he”: it is better to replace it with a short title: “His Eminence” (this also applies to oral speech).
The same should be said about demonstrative pronouns, which, when addressing hierarchs, are replaced by titles, which emphasizes your respect for the addressee (for example, instead of: I ask you - I ask Your Holiness); in some countries (for example, in France) this is the only way to address high clergy.

When composing official and private letters, a certain difficulty arises in composing the title address, i.e., the first sentence of a written address, and the compliment, the phrase that completes the text.
The most common form of address when composing a letter addressed to His Holiness the Patriarch is: “Your Holiness, Most Holy Master and Gracious Father!”

The epistolary heritage left to us by outstanding figures of the Russian Orthodox Church throughout its centuries-old history reveals a wide variety of forms of addressing, as well as compliments that complete written addresses.
Examples of these forms, used in the 19th-20th centuries closest to us in time, can still be useful today.
The knowledge and use of such phrases in written communication among Church members significantly enriches the vocabulary, reveals the richness and depth of the native language, and most importantly, serves as an expression of Christian love.

Below are examples of address titles and compliments used in correspondence.

Examples of address-title in letters, applications, petitions:
Your Eminence Vladyka, venerable brother in the Lord!
Most Reverend Vladyka, venerable brother in the Lord!
Your Eminence Vladyka, beloved brother in the Lord!
Most Reverend Master, beloved brother and co-servant in Christ!
Dear and revered Master!
Dear and venerable Master!
Dear and venerable Master!
Your Eminence, most venerable and dear Master!
Dear father, father...!
Beloved brother in the Lord!
Beloved in the Lord Avvo, most honorable father archimandrite!
God-loving servant of Christ, most honorable Mother Superior!
Most honorable one of the Lord...!
Venerable Mother, Your Love for God!
I greet Mother Abbess with kindness in the Lord...!

Examples of a compliment:
May the Lord help you and all your flock, truly believers...
I ask for your prayers. I abide with true reverence and love for the Lord...
Entrusting myself to the continuation of your remembrance and your prayers, I abide with true reverence and love for the Lord...
With brotherly love for Christ, I remain Your Eminence, an unworthy person of prayer...
Bless and prayerfully remember us, here always praying for you...
I ask for your holy prayers and with brotherly love I remain your most humble novice...
With brotherly love in Christ...
Invoking God’s blessing to you, I abide with true reverence...
May the blessing and mercy of the Lord be with you...
With my respect, I remain your unworthy pilgrim, many sinners...
I remain a wisher for your health and salvation and an unworthy pilgrim, a great sinner...
Asking for God’s blessing, I have the honor to remain with my respect for you, your unworthy pilgrim, many sinners...
I call on all of you the peace and blessing of God and, asking for your prayers of the saints, I remain with sincere goodwill. Many sinners...
Asking for your holy prayers, I have the honor to remain spiritually devoted...
Your Eminence, an unworthy novice...
Your Eminence, humble novice...
Your Eminence, the lowest novice...

Asking for prayers before or in a final compliment is good practice in correspondence between church people.

It should be noted that the expressions “With love in the Lord” or “With brotherly love in Christ” are usually used in letters to peers;
letters to secular and unfamiliar persons end with the compliment “With respect,”
and letters from laity or clergy to the bishop - with the compliment “Seeking your holy blessing.”

Forms of address accepted in the heterodox world.

1. The Pope is addressed: “Your Holiness” or “Holy Father”, the final compliment: “Please accept, Holy Father, the assurances of my high regard and of my constant friendship” or simply: “With respect yours...” (from persons who do not have clergy, only monarchs and heads of state enter into direct correspondence with the Pope).

2. The official title of the cardinal is “His Eminence, Most Reverend (name) Cardinal (surname), Archbishop ... (diocese name)” or “His Eminence, Cardinal(-Archbishop)”; cardinals are addressed: “Your Eminence” or “Very Reverend Sir”, “My Lord Cardinal” or “Mr Cardinal” (the addresses “Sir” and “My Lord” are only possible in English speech or in relation to an Englishman); compliment: “With respect, yours...”, “I have the honor to be Your Eminence ______ humble servant” or “Please accept, Mr. Cardinal, the assurances of my highest respect.”

3. The official title of the archbishop is “His Grace the Lord Archbishop... (name of diocese)” (for Canterbury and York), “His Excellency the Most Reverend/Monsignor (France only) Archbishop...”; address: "Your Grace", "The Most Reverend Sir/Monsignor", "My Lord Archbishop" or "Your Excellency"; compliment: “With respect, yours...”, “I remain, My Lord Archbishop, Your Grace’s humble servant”, “I remain, Sir, Your humble servant”, “Please accept, Mr. Archbishop, the assurances of my highest respect.”

4. The official title of the bishop is “His Eminence the Lord Bishop... (name of the diocese)”, “His Excellency the Most Reverend/Monsignor Bishop...”; address: “Your Grace”, “Reverend Sir/Monsignor” or “Your Excellency”; compliment: “With respect, yours...”, “I remain, My Lord, your humble servant,” “I remain, Sir, your humble servant,” “Please accept, Mr. Bishop, the assurances of my highest respect.”

5. Catholic or Episcopal priests, Protestant priests and other clergy have the official title - “Reverend”, “Mr. Abbot/Pastor”; title: "Reverend Sir" or "Mr. Abbot/Pastor"; compliment: “(Very) sincerely yours”, “Believe me, Reverend Sir, truly yours”, “Accept, Mr. Abbot/Pastor, the assurances of my highest consideration.”

The words "Mr" and "Madam" are always abbreviated to "Mr" and "Ms" (except as an address, address or compliment). They are never used independently, without a surname.

It is preferable to write ranks and titles such as general, colonel, professor or president in full, especially on the envelope of the letter.

They address the mufti: “Excellency” and write in a compliment: “in my very high respect.”

For Qadis, it is obligatory to use the address: “Excellency” and the compliment: “In my highest respect.”

Recommendations from Master Kirael “How to receive messages from the Higher Self!”

There are various methods of connecting with your Higher Self. Let's look at some of them. I would prefer that you all learn to connect with your spiritual essence, the spiritual component, through a direct communication method, such as automatic writing. I want to devote a sufficient amount of time to this process today, since this question, how to receive messages from your Higher Self, is asked by a large number of Lightworkers. I want to give you practical recommendations on this matter. So, what is automatic writing, how does it differ from regular writing?

Automatic writing comes to you through channels of spiritual communication; it is not a product of your mind, your earthly brain. It comes from the multidimensional parts of your own essence. This is a message of pure intelligence, and it is not burdened by the filters of perception of your 10% of the earthly brain. This is essentially a message from you to yourself. Your earthly part has filters for perceiving yourself, and therefore automatic writing allows you to bypass these filters, establishing a short and clear connection with the subtle planes. This is the process of reconnecting all of your multidimensional parts with your earthly incarnation in the human body. I will dwell in detail on the stages of preparation for receiving, i.e. receiving a message from my Higher Self using the method of automatic writing. To receive the message, you need to free your brain from unnecessary worries and thoughts. This can be done by focusing on prana breathing. You need to take at least 50-70 inhalations and exhalations. If anyone is interested in how to breathe, I can explain. This will not require any special preparation from you. This is a very simple and natural activity that can be done by everyone without exception. As you inhale, mentally pass the golden energy through your crown chakra, then through the pineal gland (epiphysis) to the level of your highest heart center. As you exhale, you conduct golden energy through your body, filling every cell of your body with golden prana energy.

Having completed the preparatory procedure of filling your body with golden prana energy, you can move on to the main part of your contact with your Higher Self. How to do this? Do I need to read a prayer, is there any other special procedure or ceremony needed? I will answer this way. If you need it, you can totally do it. However, I personally don’t see the need for this. There is simply a task to establish a connection with the Higher Self. To begin the process, you can give yourself a task, expressing it as an intention, to establish a clear and strong connection with the Higher Self. You can say the following phrase: “I express the intention to establish a strong and clear connection with my Higher Self I am here now." This is quite enough for your brain to understand what will follow and not begin to interfere with you in this process. Take a pre-prepared piece of paper and a pen. Sit comfortably and get ready to write down whatever comes into your head. Before receiving information, you can ask your Higher Self a very specific question that interests you, or you can simply wait for a message from your Higher Self. The most important thing is that while waiting for the message, you don’t need to make any plans about what kind of information will begin to flow to you . You just need to simply write down everything that comes to your mind at that moment, without subjecting the incoming information to analysis or doubt. To make the process more natural, you can periodically ask yourself the question: “What interesting things will I write down now?”, concentrating on the technique. The most important thing is not to let yourself doubt whether you correctly perceived the meaning of the message. It is advisable not to even think about the text and its content that is put on paper. You need to let go of the process. Make it as natural as possible, dissolve in it, just tune in to the recording process itself. Concentrating on the recording process is the best way out of the situation. The main thing is not to rush, not to worry and not to build any expectations. Your constant training in automatic writing is the key to your success. Only by tuning in to painstaking daily work and training will you turn the process of receiving messages from your Higher Self into pleasure. Gradually, you will be able to learn to ask questions while receiving messages, but there is no need to rush into this. The most important thing is detachment from the world around you and from your own thoughts. Everything is quite simple. The main thing is to want it, and the main thing is not to doubt anything! Everything will happen in the best and most appropriate way for the situation. What time of day is best to practice automatic writing? It all depends on your concentration abilities. For some people it is easier to do this before bed, but for others, on the contrary, immediately after waking up. Try both. The main thing is not to forget to prepare 50-70 prana breaths.

Is it necessary to have superpowers in order to communicate with spiritual guides? And is it really only about those mentors who “get in touch” with hereditary shamans or mediums?

In fact, everything is much simpler. You yourself can answer who our spiritual Mentors are and go out to communicate with them.

Maybe you have already communicated with the spiritual world, you just don’t realize it?

From the article you will learn what methods of communication can be used with the Spiritual World.

So, you have decided to get in touch with the Spiritual World. What is needed for this?

It is known that in life nothing is done for nothing; every event needs a reason. In communication with the spiritual world, such a reason will be your inner desire and readiness.

How to prepare for a meeting with spiritual Mentors?

Believe that you can see and hear your spiritual Guides! To communicate with spiritual Guides you do not have to be a psychic or a medium.

If you meditate and know how to stop the racing of your thoughts, this skill will help you achieve results faster. It is already inherent in each of us internal potential for contact with the Spiritual World.

Now it’s no longer a secret that you can train your psychic abilities. There’s just a time, place and readiness for everything. Therefore, we are all potential channels for communication with Mentors, we just forgot about it...

Try to first look at the events of each day a little differently.

How often does this happen? Half-awake in the morning, in a hurry - breakfast, or maybe without it, then work, study, chores, household chores. Everyone has their own list, but the meaning is often the same. And even if you come across something interesting, just pass by. Why think about it if you’re already full of worries!

What if it’s different? Notice everything that happens in your life every day? Perhaps you have already ignored it more than once.

Who is helping us?

There cannot be a consensus on who our spiritual Guides are. There are many views on who helps us. Everyone can

You can contact your guardian angel or the Soul of a loved one. Each of us has our own spiritual friends; we should act as our heart says.

How to get in touch with a Spiritual Guide?

1. Letter

Automatic writing comes to you through channels of spiritual communication; it is not a product of your mind, your earthly brain.

Automatic writing is one of the most effective ways to communicate with the Spiritual World. If you have a direct and specific desire to ask questions to your spiritual Guides, then this is exactly what you need.

To write, you need to get yourself in the mood to mentally allow yourself to write down everything that will come and what the hand (or hands on the keyboard) will write.

From the outside it may seem like communicating with yourself: asked - wrote down. But it is you who are a guide for answers from the Spiritual World.

Therefore, take a comfortable position, put thoughts and worries aside, and turn your attention inward. Watch your breathing to better tune in to the incoming information. And just start writing down everything that comes as knowledge or in the form of a kind of monologue.

2. Prayer

Do not try to control the process of prayer; it should flow freely, like any important conversation. Give yourself over to your prayer completely, accept any feelings and thoughts that come during it.

Doreen Virtue "Messages from Angels"

As already stated, there is no consensus regarding the division of spiritual beings. The same applies to prayers and religion. Some often turn to icons, visit churches and light candles, while others are completely far from religion and do not know a single church holiday.

Prayer can be called not only written texts that are read at services. Prayer is a message from your heart. And the order of the words you pronounce is not so important. The important thing is with what feelings and thoughts you will do this.

Mentally or out loud say your question, your gratitude or wish, and believe me, you will be heard!

3. Drawing

“There is a drawing class in kindergarten. The teacher approaches a girl who is enthusiastically drawing something:

What are you drawing?

But no one knows what he looks like!

Now they’ll find out!”

Surprisingly, drawing can also be a way of communicating with spiritual Guides! Drawing can be used especially successfully to create images of our spiritual friends.

Also, if you wish and intend, mentally set a goal for yourself: depict your spiritual Mentor or Mentors in the drawing.

Maybe you want to answer a certain question with the help of a drawing - draw how some situation will unfold, and this is also possible!

Mentally ask for support in your business, so that spiritual friends can prompt you and lead your hand in the right direction. Often, from such a seemingly difficult task, entire works of art are born!

4. Sleep

In sleep we become closer to that universal, true and eternal Self that hides under the cover of night.

Carl Gustav Jung

Sleep and dreams are a part of every person's life. If someone does not remember his dreams, then it seems as if they do not exist at all.

In fact, brain physiology says the opposite: the brain dreams, but we don’t always remember them. And this is considered just a completely normal physiological process.

But those who can confirm that sometimes these “night films” can be very mysterious and wordy.

And all because dreams are a mirror of our subconscious and subtle mental processes. Consequently, this is the most favorable opportunity for communication with the Spiritual World.

Most people in their entire lives have at least once seen in a dream some interesting character who said important things...

As a rule, half of these important things are erased from memory the next morning... Someone, maybe, and maybe even with those who live now.

Now imagine that this is exactly how communication with the subtle world can take place. Sometimes it is easiest for spiritual Guides to communicate with us through dreams - most of us still believe in dreams.

You can do it yourself call your spiritual Mentor for communication in a dream.

When you go to bed, ask one of your close spiritual friends to come to you in a dream. This probably won't happen the first time. Perhaps the Mentors will get in touch in another way.

However, we fall asleep every night, so maybe it’s worth a try?

5. Meditation

The most important thing about meditation is that you become closer to your true essence.

David Lynch "Catch Big Fish"

The most profound way to communicate with the subtle world is meditation. This is not only a way to immerse yourself and understand internal mental processes, but also an opportunity to go beyond ordinary perception.

In a state of calm and turning off restless thoughts, we become closer to the Spiritual World and to ourselves.

You can independently engage in meditative practices and conscious breathing.

Before starting meditation, you should set an intention: to communicate with the Mentors or to understand the solution to some life problem.

You can also use special practices and lessons to connect with the spiritual world.

It’s so great to just allow yourself not to think at all and follow the voice of the one doing the meditation!

6. Reincarnation

We believe that every person has a Soul and it is eternal. That's why we study Past Lives and make their experience accessible to everyone.

Maris Dreshmanis

Reincarnationism can be distinguished as a special method of communication with the Spiritual World. It not only includes the above methods, but also opens up their more effective use.

It is with the help of reincarnation:

• creative talents and abilities to see and recognize the signs of spiritual friends are revealed;
• you can learn to meditate quickly and efficiently - tune your “broadcast antenna” to the desired channel when necessary;
• many were able

Now you have learned how you can communicate with spiritual Guides. Of course, these are just some of the possible ways.

As much as each person and his communication channels are unique, so can the methods of such communication be varied.

A monk who is not ordained is addressed as “honest brother”, “father”. To the deacon (archdeacon, protodeacon): “father (arch-, proto-) deacon (name)” or simply: “father (name)”; to the priest and hieromonk - “Your Reverence” or “father (name)”; to the archpriest, protopresbyter, abbot and archimandrite: “Your Reverence.” Addressing a priest as “father,” which is a Russian church tradition, is acceptable, but is not official. A novice and a nun can be called "sister". The ubiquitous address “mother” in women’s monasteries is more correctly applied only to the abbess. The abbess of the convent will consider it quite polite to address: “Venerable Mother (name)” or “Mother (name).” You should address the bishop: “Your Eminence,” “Most Reverend Vladyka,” or simply “Vladyka” (or using the vocative case of the Slavic language: “Vladyko”); to the archbishop and metropolitan - “Your Eminence” or “Your Eminence Vladyka.” In the Local Churches of the Orthodox East, an archimandrite and, in general, a monastic cleric with a higher theological education are addressed: “Panosiologiotate” (Your Reverence; at the root of the word the word “logos” is added, which in Greek has the following meanings: word, mind, etc. .). To the hieromonk and hierodeacon who do not have a higher theological education: “Panosiotate” (Your Reverence). To a priest and deacon who have a higher theological education: “Aidesimologiotate” (Your Reverence) and “Hierologitate”. A priest and a deacon who do not have a higher theological education are addressed respectively: “Aidesimotate” (Your Reverence) and “Evlabestate.” Any ruling bishop is addressed: “Sebasmiotate”; a suffragan bishop: “Theophylestate” (such an address may also apply to an archimandrite); to the titular metropolitan (i.e., to the bishop who bears the honorary title of metropolitan, but does not actually have the metropolis under his control): “Paneirotate.”

The Patriarch, referred to in the title as “Holiness,” must be addressed: “Your Holiness”; to the Primate of the Local Church, whose title contains the epithet “Most Beatitude”: “Your Beatitude.” The specified rules for addressing clergy should also be observed in correspondence with them (personal or official). Official letters are written on a special form, informal ones - on plain paper or on a letterhead with the name and position of the sender printed in the upper left corner (the reverse side of the sheet is usually not used). It is not customary for the Patriarch to send a letter on letterhead. Examples of forms used for official correspondence will be given in the next section. Every letter consists of the following parts: indication of the addressee, address (address-title), working text, final compliment, signature and date. In an official letter, the addressee's indication includes the person's full title and position, which are indicated in the dative case, for example: “To His Eminence, the Most Reverend (name), Archbishop (name of the department), Chairman (name of the Synodal Department, commission, etc.)” . Priests at lower hierarchical levels are addressed more briefly: His Most Reverend Archpriest (or Priest) (name, surname, position); in this case, the surname of the monastic person, if indicated, is always given in parentheses.

Address-title is an honorary title of the addressee with which the letter should begin and which should be used in its further text, for example: “Your Holiness” (in a letter to the Patriarch), “Your Majesty” (in a letter to the monarch), “Your Excellency” etc. A compliment is an expression of politeness with which a letter ends. The author's personal signature (not a facsimile, which is used only when sending a letter by fax) is usually accompanied by a printed transcript. The date the letter was sent must include the day, month and year; in official letters its outgoing number is also indicated. Authors-bishops depict a cross before their signature. For example: “+ Alexy, Archbishop of Orekhovo-Zuevsky.” This version of the bishop's signature is primarily a Russian tradition. The rules for addressing clergy accepted in the Russian Orthodox Church are briefly illustrated in the following table.

Religious clergy	Secular clergy	Appeal
Hierodeacon	Deacon (protodeacon, archdeacon)	Father (name)
Hieromonk	Priest	Your Reverence, Father (name)
Abbot Archimandrite	Archpriest Protopresbyter	Your Reverence, Father (name)
Abbess		Venerable Mother
Bishop (ruling, vicar)		Your Eminence, Most Reverend Bishop
Archbishop Metropolitan		Your Eminence, Most Reverend Bishop
Patriarch		Your Holiness, Most Holy Lord

When writing to the hierarchs of the Local Orthodox Churches, one should remember that the title of the Primate of the Church - Patriarch, Metropolitan, Archbishop - is always written with a capital letter. The spelling of the title of First Hierarch of the Autonomous Church looks the same. If the First Hierarch bears the double (triple) title of Patriarch and Metropolitan (Archbishop), then all these titles must also begin with a capital letter, for example: His Beatitude Theoctistus, Archbishop of Bucharest, Metropolitan of Muntena and Dobrogea, Patriarch of Romania. As a rule, the number “II” in the name of His Holiness Patriarch Alexy of Moscow and All Rus' is omitted. It must be taken into account that in the Orthodox East only the Patriarch of Constantinople is called “Your Holiness”; all other Primates of Local Churches are titled: “Your Beatitude”, “Most Beatitude”. This is exactly how the First Hierarch of the Church of Constantinople addresses the Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus'. However, in the traditions of the Russian Church it is customary to call the Patriarch of All Rus': “Your Holiness.” The Russian Orthodox Church has developed standard forms of written appeal to a person holding holy orders. These types of appeals are called petitions or reports (as opposed to statements accepted in secular society). A petition (by the very meaning of the name) is a text asking for something. The report may also contain a request, but more often it is an informational document. A secular person may well turn to a clergyman with a simple letter, without calling his appeal either a report or a petition. A type of church correspondence is written congratulations on the holiday of the Holy Resurrection of Christ, the Nativity of Christ, Angel's Day and other solemn events. Traditionally, the text of such congratulations is preceded by a greeting corresponding to the holiday, for example, in the Easter message these are the words: “Christ is Risen! Truly He is Risen!” It should be noted that in matters of correspondence, the form of letters is often no less important than the content itself. Speaking about the general style of correspondence, we can recommend taking as a model the letters and addresses of the hierarchs of the Russian Orthodox Church, published in different years in the Journal of the Moscow Patriarchate. Regardless of the attitude towards the addressee, it is necessary to adhere to the prescribed forms of politeness in the text of the letter, which ensure respect for the official position of the sender and the addressee and any change in which can be understood as a deliberate disregard for etiquette or insufficient expression of respect. It is especially important to observe the protocol of international official correspondence - here it is important to show the recipients of correspondence the signs of respect to which they are entitled, while at the same time maintaining the relationship of ranks between the sender and the addressee; the adopted protocol is structured in such a way that relations between Churches, states and their representatives are based on equality, respect and mutual correctness. Thus, when mentioning any clergy person, especially a bishop, in a letter, you should not use the third person pronoun “he”: it is better to replace it with a short title: “His Eminence” (this also applies to oral speech). The same should be said about demonstrative pronouns, which, when addressing hierarchs, are replaced by titles, which emphasizes your respect for the addressee (for example, instead of: I ask you - I ask Your Holiness); in some countries (for example, in France) this is the only way to address high clergy. When composing official and private letters, a certain difficulty arises in composing the title address, i.e., the first sentence of a written address, and the compliment, the phrase that completes the text. The most common form of address when composing a letter addressed to His Holiness the Patriarch is: “Your Holiness, Most Holy Master and Gracious Father!”

The epistolary heritage left to us by outstanding figures of the Russian Orthodox Church throughout its centuries-old history reveals a wide variety of forms of addressing, as well as compliments that complete written addresses. It seems that examples of these forms, used in the 19th-20th centuries closest to us in time, can be useful today. The knowledge and use of such phrases in written communication among Church members significantly enriches the vocabulary, reveals the richness and depth of the native language, and most importantly, serves as an expression of Christian love.

http://pravhram.prihod.ru/articles/view/id/4990