In the beginning, the word appeared ... And it is the word that becomes for every believer that power that leads to God, opens its hearts to love and kindness, care and creation. Sermons and conversations turn to Christ even those who consider themselves to be atheists.
Metropolitan Anthony of Sourozh is rightfully considered the voice of Orthodoxy in the twentieth century. It was his conversations that for many opened their way to Christ, in the bosom of the Orthodox Church.
Vladyka, the world Andrei Bloom, was born in 1914 in Lausanne into a prosperous family of hereditary diplomats. For some time they lived in Persia, but after the Bolsheviks came to power in their native country, they wandered around the world until they settled in Paris. The reverend in exile had a difficult childhood. At the working school where he studied, his peers brutally beat him.
Appeal of the Metropolitan to God
In his youth, Andrei, who was just 14 years old, listened to the lectures of his father Sergius Bulgakov. The boy felt a deep disagreement, having decided to sincerely deal with such "nonsense as Christianity." The future Bishop Anthony of Sourozh, whose biography from that moment began to take a different course, decided to pay attention to the primary source - the Gospel. As he read, the young man felt the invisible presence of the one he was reading about ...
Metropolitan Anthony of Sourozh was a doctor of a surgical specialty, which served as a reason for his participation in the French resistance. At the end of the war, he decided to become a priest and, according to God's providence, went to England. It is in this country that the monk experiences one of the most significant events of his life.
Poor knowledge of English, Father Anthony gave a lecture on a piece of paper, which turned out to be very gray and boring. He was advised that he should improvise more. Then the priest objected that it would be funny. “This is very good, people will listen,” was the answer. From that memorable day, he always spoke sermons and lectured himself, without a previously prepared text. The teachings and teachings have become a truly precious legacy of Anthony of Sourozh. He spoke sincerely, deeply and lively, which helped to convey the Orthodox faith to modern people in all patristic purity, while maintaining the gospel depth and simplicity.
Lord’s word
After some time, Father Anatoly becomes Primate of the Diocese of Sourozh. At first it was a branch, open to a group of Russian immigrants. Under the leadership of the lord, he became a model, multinational community.
The reverend's word was carried far beyond the English believers, showing the wealth of Orthodoxy to many Western Christians. In addition, his audio recordings, samizdat books, conversations and live sermons brought many Russians back to the path of God. That is how the Monk Anthony of Sourozh remained in the memory of believers. The biography of the Metropolitan ended in 2003, he died in London.
The Shortest Sermon
Vladyka Anthony of Sourozhsky decided to talk about how he went out to preach at one of the services. The Father said: “Just as yesterday a woman with a baby came to evening service. But she was dressed in jeans, a scarf was not tied to her head. I don’t know who exactly made her remark, but I order this parishioner to pray for this woman, a child, until the end of his days so that the Lord will save them. Because of you, she may never come to church. ” Metropolitan Anthony of Sourozh turned and left. This was his shortest sermon.
Works of the saint
Anthony of Sourozh, whose works have never been distinguished by pure orthodox theology, is known in many countries. His sermons and conversations always contain a peculiar Orthodox word of God. In the formation of such thinking of the Metropolitan, a significant role was played by the philosophy of Berdyaev. First of all, he was interested in the doctrine of the opposition of personality and individuality, of being, as a kind of relationship I - You.
Features of theology
In the mature, deep theology of Metropolitan Anthony, three features can be distinguished.
- Evangelism. This distinctive feature of his edifications is that formally and stylistically, the sermons, teachings, and conversations of the metropolitan are structured to be a strong link between the Gospel and ordinary listeners. They seem to reduce the distance that separates modern people from the living Christ. Every believer becomes a participant in the Gospel story, the life of Anthony of Sourozh itself is a confirmation of this.
- Liturgy. The predominantly silent Sacrament of the Church, through the theology of the saint, takes on a verbal form. This difference is inherent not only in any part of the rite or sacrament, but also in the general totality of church communion. His word sounds like a priesthood and brings every believer into the church. Conversations of Metropolitan Anthony of Sourozh were always perceived by people with a special sense of grace and closeness to God.
- Anthropological. Vladyka himself noted such a feature of his lectures. His words are deliberately aimed at instilling in the scared and deafened contemporary life a true faith in himself. Metropolitan Anthony of Sourozh reveals the immense depth of each individual person, its value to God and the always present possibility of communion between Christ and man.
Such communication is in some ways equal. People can turn to Christ, building their attitude to faith like love and friendship, rather than slavery and domination. It is precisely as personal, unique and unique communion with the Lord that the Metropolitan understands prayer and describes this in his writings.
Everyone’s perceived the master’s word sent to the crowd of parishioners as a personal appeal. Due to his focus on the personality in its entirety, the sermons of Metropolitan Anthony of Sourozh to this day invoke every believer in a personal dialogue with God.
The Father liked to repeat that the feeling of the Lord's presence should be immediate, like a toothache. This applies to the reverend himself. Everyone who personally saw him alone or in a crowded temple will never forget that he emanated the special warmth of a truly believing person.
The power of the pastoral word
Metropolitan Anthony is not a teacher, but a shepherd. He talks to everyone about what exactly is necessary for a person at this moment. Personal contact with the reverend helped many believers to realize the fullness of the phrase "God is love." Each person, regardless of his own employment, ill health, exhaustion, he accepted as a son who was lost and sovereign by a miracle.
Starch accepts and understands all the people who came to him for help and advice in a variety of situations. It can be a dead end of mental search, the last vital extreme. The metropolitan carried his faith to everyone: Orthodox and non-Orthodox, non-Russian and Russian, atheists and Christians. It is as if he were laying on his shoulders a burden taken from every hesitant and tormented person. In return, the reverend bestows a little of his unique freedom, which is manifested in the small: freedom from hypocrisy, bureaucracy, narrowness. He helps to live freely in God.
Theological Conversations
Conversations of Anthony of Sourozh are devoted to the main issues of Christian life and faith. A pastoral word filled with understanding and love has more than once become a real salvation for people who are faced with insurmountable stumbling blocks, insoluble contradictions. The monk was able to heal the wisdom and depth of his conversations.
The main questions that the clergyman covered answered what it means to be a Christian, how to stay with God in the modern world. The metropolitan emphasized that man is a friend and disciple of Christ. This means believing in the people themselves, starting, first of all, with themselves, continuing with all the others: strangers and neighbors. Each person has a part of the Lord's light, and it always remains in him even in the most total darkness.
Metropolitan of Love
The sermons of Metropolitan Anthony of Sourozh were dedicated to love. “Love one another as I have loved you ...” - this is exactly what one of the commandments of God sounds like. These words should reach our hearts, please our soul, but how difficult it is to bring them to life.
The metropolitan noted that love for each person is revealed in several planes: this is the experience of ordinary, simple love between members of the same family, children to parents and vice versa; it is a joyful, bright feeling that arises between the bride and groom and permeates the entire darkness. But even here one can encounter fragility and imperfection.
Anthony of Sourozh said that Christ calls us to love each other, he makes no difference. This suggests that every believer should love the absolute of every person, oncoming, unfamiliar, attractive and not very. He wants to say that each of us is a person with an eternal destiny, created by God from nonexistence in order to make his unique contribution to the life of mankind.
Each of us is called and placed by the Lord in this world to fulfill what others are not able to do, this is our uniqueness. “We must love our neighbor as God loved us all, otherwise we reject Christ himself,” that was exactly what Anthony of Sourozh believed. He always spoke of love as a special feeling that should be directed to the whole world, to God and to himself.
About prayer ...
The reverend noted that for him the Lord's Prayer was one of the most difficult for years. It is logical that each individual proposal is accessible and, most importantly, understandable to everyone within the framework of his experience, spiritual growth, and in-depth faith. “In general, many cannot find the most important key, because turning to God is the whole path of spiritual life,” Antony Sourozhsky believed. He talked about prayer for a long time and thoughtfully, helping believers to recognize the full power and meaning of our word, addressed to Christ.
You can take any prayer in two parts. The first is a call: "Our Father." Next, three petitions. These are the sons of prayer lines, because we are all children of our heavenly father. Then come petitions that can serve as a guiding light to sincerely know the depth of one’s own faith. The heavenly father is the source of our life, the educator, acting on the strength of boundless love for us. We are all brothers and sisters of Christ in humanity.
During prayer, according to the monk, often there is a feeling as if we are calling on the Lord to do something. We pray as beggars reach out. And the Lord sent each of us into the world in order to build the kingdom of God, the city of God, which should be together with the city of man. Therefore, in prayer, we must ask to become faithful creators of this kingdom.
The Lord will never forget us, he will give material, material bread. Believers should seek in God to meet with him, as with a word that is sent in the gospel. It is there that the Lord shows us the path, the path to it and to the kingdom of God.
With fullness and sincerity, Anthony of Sourozhsky spoke of love, prayer, friendship, and the person of man in God.
"Learn to be"
Discussion of the spiritual aspects of old age is a very important issue, which was repeatedly mentioned by Anthony of Sourozh. “Learn to be” is a special sermon that reveals to believers the concepts of old age and the problems that are inherent in this age.
The metropolitan noted that in the old or old years, those problems that lurked in the past, are present in the present and, possibly, will appear in the future. We must not close our eyes to our past, we must have the courage to meet him face to face. Painful, ugly, abnormal situations help us gain inner maturity and finally resolve, unleash these issues and become truly free.
Old age and solving the problems of the past
Every old or old person should tackle the problem of the past, if there really is a belief that God is the God of the living, that we are all alive in Him and exist for Him and for Him. It is impossible to simply say that reconciliation with evil, which was caused by others, needs to be reconciled with the circumstances ...
There is still a problem of the present. When time brings old age and selects everything that made up the young years, people always face certain problems. Physical strengths are weakening, and mental abilities are no longer the same ... Most people try to reignite coals in a dying flame, wanting to become the same as before. But this is the main mistake, and artificially inflated coals are rapidly turning into ashes, and the internal pain becomes only stronger.
Instead of completing
It is difficult to describe all the beneficial effects of the metropolitan’s sermons on the modern world. First of all, this is the true, pure influence of the shepherd, who, by the power of the word, acts on the inner world of people, on their cultural activities. Conversations of Anthony of Sourozh instill hope, faith and love in souls and hearts to this day. Many Christians perceive the late Metropolitan as a saint.